Chapter 87: The Shattering Truth [1]
The elevator quickly ascended.
The view from above unfolded.
"Nice view."
I smiled.
Whoosh.
The wind blew fiercely.
The shadow put on its helmet again and threw the decapitated goblin corpses far away.
But could that really be called a shadow?
The towering figure, over 2 meters tall, seemed closer to an ogre than a human.
Covered head to toe in black armor, without a gap.
Gauntlets on the hands, sabatons on the feet, not even a needle could penetrate.
A walking fortress.
That was the presence it exuded.
The sound of the elevator moving was heard.
The armored figure's gaze turned toward the entrance of the elevator.
As if it had found its purpose.
His hand reached for an enormous greatsword.
Clang!
The door opened.
And a man came out.
It was Max Celtrine.
The armored figure shook its head as if it had lost interest.
The greatsword was released from its hand.
"Phew."
Breathing in the fresh air, I took a deep breath.
The air, incomparably fresher than underground, cleared my mind.
"But that guy… He doesn't even think to hide."
I chuckled at the armored figure sitting idly in the distance.
The so-called armored person, or armored monster.
An enigmatic figure, shrouded in mystery.
None of the users, including myself, knew his true identity.
But a few things were certain.
First, he was the one who brutally killed those who ascended from underground to the surface.
Human, undead, monster, it didn't matter.
Once on the surface, they were sliced by the armored figure's merciless greatsword.
A monster with superhuman abilities, once on the surface, anyone was as good as dead.
Normally, I would have been dead by now…
"But there's an exception."
Students of Saint Lepheria Academy are not killed.
The most important exception.
Without this condition, the quest itself would have been impossible.
That's why I could ascend to the surface without any hesitation.
"And another condition"
Even if you're a student of the academy, revealing the existence of the underground space to others means death.
Many users who blabbed without knowing at first proved this fact by dying.
Well, that's something I'll have to warn **Kamian** and Annette about thoroughly later.
"It's almost 10 seconds."
If I want to shock those below, I better go down quickly.
I got back on the elevator and closed the door.
Perhaps I'm the first to operate this device and go down on my own.
"Hey, take care."
I waved at the armored figure.
The armored figure didn't even pretend to hear and kept looking down at the ground.
Quite a shy fellow.
"Enough."
Click.
I operated the elevator to go down.
The familiar mechanical sound and the elevator quickly descended.
I smirked to myself.
I couldn't help but laugh at the thought of how Gwen and the other residents would react.
"Now the tables have turned."
***
Annette collapsed to the floor on her knees as if drained of strength.
"Cough, to the very end, acting all high and mighty...... You really......."
**Kamian** bit his lip hard and clasped his forehead.
Both of them seemed to be in great shock.
Regardless of personal liking or friendship, this was a senior who had shared life and death with them twice, albeit for a short period.
The shock of losing such a senior right before their eyes was inevitable.
"Tsck, all sorts of crazies are coming in."
On the other hand, Gwen seemed to be in a bad mood.
It was because his expectations had been thwarted.
Most of the guys who doubted they couldn't get out usually turned pale and started trembling in despair with a horrified expression when they were shown a grand execution show with monsters.
The rest would just beg for their lives in terror if they even saw an attempt to force them into the elevator.
There were even special cases where some would go completely mad if put into the elevator, but those were simply sent up and neatly killed off.
Then the rest who survived would become docile sheep and follow orders, so it wasn't a bad thing.
But what about that guy?
He crawled into the elevator of his own volition and even had the audacity to say, "Enjoy rotting in there," before trying to go up by himself.
This was truly the first time he had come across such an insane person.
So he impulsively activated the device before the suicide could take place.
If you only looked at the results, it was a satisfying end to a crazy man.
But it wasn't as satisfying as usual.
That guy's expression.
It was because he had seen a face blatantly filled with scorn.
A greenhorn, a newcomer, dares to do this to me, who has survived for decades in this hellish place!
Gwen barely managed to suppress his renewed frustration.
It was all over, after all.
The guy was dead.
That was a confirmed fact.
"It's coming down."
"Che, I'll feel better after seeing that crazy bastard's dead face."
"It'd be perfect to throw his severed head for fighting the undead as a projectile once."
The residents started making remarks as they watched the elevator descend with the new arrivals.
It seemed nobody was in a good mood on an important day because of the strange lunatic who had entered.
"Alright, open it! Open it and show them clearly what happens to those who didn't believe us."
Gwen shouted with more force than usual.
It was to regain control of the unsettled mood and boost morale.
"Understood, Captain."
A resident approached to swing open the doors of the elevator.
At that moment.
Thud!
The door opened from the inside.
And something sprang out.
"Huh, huhhhhhhhhh!"
The resident screamed in surprise, falling backward with shock at the completely unexpected event.
"Uh, ughhhh!"
"Hiiiiiiiiiiik?!"
"Huh, huk....?! Gh, gh, gh, gh, gh, ghost?!"
The other residents who saw that something a moment too late screamed as if their souls had been shaken out.
Their legs gave out as if they might collapse backward, trembling uncontrollably.
"Hiiiiik........?!"
Even the stern leader, Gwen, let out an involuntary shriek.
But even in the midst of it all, he tried to hold onto his sanity and shouted with a trembling voice.
"What, what, what is it! Are, are you a ghost?"
The crazy guy he had himself sent to the other side.
The crazy guy had come back down.
With his head intact.
It was an absolutely impossible event.
He bit his lip so hard he thought he might see blood, but only clear pain came through.
Sweat trickled down Gwen's forehead.
Nervous saliva kept swallowing down his throat.
His legs trembled, but he forced himself to stand firm.
He wouldn't have been this tense in front of an undead or a horde of monsters.
It showed just how shocked he was.
Then.
Thump thump thump thump thump!
The bizarre creature (?) that had been standing there began to run crazily towards Gwen.
The dead eyes, with no clear focus or emotion, were even more chilling.
"Uh, uhhhhhhhh!"
Gwen, who had barely held onto his sanity, started to retreat in a panic with a pale face.
And then, eventually.
Thump!
He fell to the floor in an unsightly heap, as if his legs had given out.
The bizarre creature approached him closely.
Now, its neck was twisted in a strange way, and its tongue was sticking out.
"Uh, ugh... ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
Pure terror appeared on Gwen's face.
His heart raced as if it was about to burst.
At that moment.
"Waaaaaaah!"
The bizarre creature suddenly let out a loud scream right in front of Gwen.
"Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiek!"
Gwen, overwhelmed by a shock beyond his limits, finally lost his senses.
Gurgle...
Foam on his mouth, Gwen's eyes lost their strength.
Thump!
He fainted right there.
"Hic・・・・・・ Hic, hic......."
"Hehehehehehe."
"There is no God......... There is no God... There is no God... No... there is... there is...
I'm sorry... I'm sorry...... I'm sorry... I'll believe... I'll believe. I'll believe...
I'll believe…"
It wasn't just Gwen who was devastated.
No resident in the vicinity was in their right mind anymore.
Only the outsiders, **Kamian** and Annette, were in a slightly better state amidst the shock.
"...Se, senior? Is it really you, senior? Are, are you alive?"
Annette asked tremblingly.
The answer to her question was short.
"Did I take the joke too far?"
It was indeed a strange atmosphere.
Nobody dared to start a conversation easily.
Gwen and the residents were thoroughly embarrassed.
But even that embarrassment was nothing in front of the serious and significant event that had just occurred in front of them.
For the first time, a human from underground had gone up to the surface and returned alive!
An incredible event that could change the lives of the underground dwellers in an instant.
The weight of this unbelievable event silenced everyone.
Finally, as if tired of waiting, Max was the first to speak.
"It turns out I was right. Your words were lies. Why did you lie?"
Crunch.
"It's not a lie, I tell you."
Gwenn clenched his teeth.
He still wanted to die when he thought of the shameful act he had committed earlier.
It was the shame of a lifetime.
The cause was all because of that guy.
He deliberately approached like a madman, making grotesque faces on purpose, and then suddenly yelled out loud.
He wanted to smack that annoying face cleanly, but that wasn't the point right now.
As far as he knew, for over 50 years, the exit of death, which had only spewed heads of living beings, had returned a human alive for the first time.
The residents faces were colored with unbearable anticipation and excitement.
But still, the fear was inherent.
The fear of the exit of death was not so light that it would disappear with just one incident.