The Guardian laughed heartily. —But do you have time to curse at me right now? The alarm went off, so the Spiders will be swarming you in no time. “Damn it.” I ran toward the prison bars with a bunch of keys in my hand. “Hamustra’s believers! Anyone who is a believer of Hamustra or believes that the Indoor Librarian to be the greatest Constellation in the universe, make a sound! Just a groan is fine!” Weak groans could be heard from all around. My hearing, enhanced by aura, didn’t miss even the slightest sound. There were twelve groans in total. I quickly went through the keys, trying to find the right one... “Screw that. There isn’t enough time!” I threw the keys on the floor and drew my holy sword to cut through the iron bars. The metal bars were incredibly strong, as if they were under some kind of spell, but when I poured aura into the sword, they were cut down like corn stalks. “Come on! Those who still have the energy to get up, hurry—” An ominous roar rang out from afar. I didn’t know what kind of monster that howl belonged to, but what I did know was that it wasn’t howling to announce the dawn’s arrival. [The Labyrinth-Dwelling Eye is intrigued by your crisis.] [The Lonely Seeker watches closely to see how you will overcome this situation.] [The Incarnation of Love and Lust is excited to imagine a future where you are held captive!] I cut down the followers’ restriction devices. “Follow me! Let’s escape!” Some of the prisoners had been tortured so much that they didn’t even have the strength to stand up, so I used their acupoints to help circulate aura in their bodies and poured potion bottles into their mouths. I gave each of the believers a bottle of the Chemist’s special potions and yelled, “Drink up!” “Don’t throw up! This is really good for you!” The potions were so popular nowadays that paying a premium wasn’t enough to get them. The Chemist was such a loyal friend that she had told me she would always give me a discount. Thanks to that, I was able to use them whenever I needed them, just like now. “Unbelievable. The bottle is tiny, but the effect is...!” It seemed that the Chemist’s skills were still unmatched on the fiftieth floor. —She’s quite a psycho, too. Now that I think about it, doesn’t this Charumu guy remind you of her? Most of Hamustra’s believers took the medicine, but most didn’t mean everyone. “Hold on. Who are you to ask us to follow you?” a woman asked. She had sharp eyes that would probably look good with glasses. Her hair was tousled due to her imprisonment, making her look quite intimidating. “I am on Hamustra’s side,” I said. The woman frowned. “I’ve never seen a librarian like you. Before you tell me what your intentions are for getting us out of here—” There was no time for this. “Please concentrate for a moment.” I accelerated my aura to slow down time and looked around me. Hamustra’s followers were looking at the woman with anxious expressions as if she was their superior, not their colleague or subordinate. They wanted to run away quickly, but they seemed to not want to make a move until the woman gave them permission. I immediately realized why. She’s the Assistant Writer. Hamustra had said that among his believers, she was treated almost like an apostle. To lead the believers, I had to gain her trust first. If she’s good enough to be considered a Constellation’s apostle, she’ll be able to receive Aura Transmission even if I speed it up. While time was still moving slowly, I said, “The Indoor Librarian has personally asked me to do this, Miss Assistant Writer.” I spoke at a speed that ordinary people could never imitate. To a low-skilled person, each of my sentences would sound like a single word or completely incomprehensible noises. She frowned. “He asked you?” As expected, the Assistant Writer was at a level where she could still pick up the sped-up transmission. “Yes, he asked me to take care of his followers because he’s currently—” “I don’t believe you. We’re far below the Indoor Librarian’s favorite character ranking, but he sent you to help us escape? That’s ridiculous. Him ruining his character settings like that is a storyline development that is too convenient and unconvincing.” Favorite character ranking, character settings, storyline development? It seemed she was Hamustra’s follower for a good reason, but again, I didn’t have time for this. “I knew this would happen, so I asked him for proof.” She frowned. “Proof?” “He said that there is a line that only the two of you know. When you entered an apocalyptic book, someone told you, ‘I am looking at your face now.’” The Assistant Writer’s eyes grew wide. “‘You’ll also die someday. If you think of my face when you close your eyes, the two of us will die looking at each other. It’s the same as looking at each other. It’s the same. I’ll stop here and wait until you close your eyes.’” The Assistant Writer had an indescribable look on her face. “Okay, I get it, I get it. That’s enough.” The Assistant Writer seemed sad, looking both angry and surprised, too. The emotional scars, which everyone got at least once in their lives, were evident on her face. “Yes, he definitely sent you. It’s hard to shake off the feeling that this development is too convenient, but... Well, if you think about it, I’m not the main character anyway.” The Assistant Writer shook her head bitterly. Soon, her eyes came into focus again. “I’ll talk to the believers. What’s the escape plan?” “Um. Originally, the plan was to sneak out—” With time moving slowly around me, the alarm sounded very odd in my ears. “But now this fucking thing happened. We’ll have to bulldoze our way out of here.” “Can you do that?” she asked. “The sooner we can finish this conversation, the higher our chances of escape are. Even though I’m using aura to talk quickly, we don’t have forever, so let’s hurr—” “This man is the Indoor Librarian’s messenger!” the Assistant Writer shouted to the followers around us. “Everyone, follow this guy’s orders! It’s time to get out of the Spiders’ goddamn lair!” “Yes, ma’am!” the believers answered loudly as if they had been waiting for those words. The monster also seemed to have been waiting. Finally, it turned around the corner and rushed into the prison. Because of that, the followers’ energetic “yes!” became a confused “yeeeees?” The Guardian laughed. —Oh, a chimera. Man, it’s been a while since I’ve seen one of those. The monster didn’t waste time studying its opponents. The advantage of beasts was that they always lived in the present. Right now, it charged at us with drool dripping from its mouth. —That’s a mutant that was bred by mixing slime with a manticore. The stone floor shook as the monster ran toward us. Sticky green liquid continuously flowed down from its empty eye sockets. The Guardian clicked his tongue. —Gosh, those perverts are the same as they were a hundred years ago. I ran forward. “I’ll take the lead! All of you, follow me!” “Ah! M-Mr. Intruder!” Charumu swallowed a groan and tried to say something. However, I just rushed in because I had a good hunch of what he was trying to say. He’s probably going to say that the chimera can’t be killed without using a special method. Most of the monsters on the fiftieth floor were special. In short, to kill a Half-Split Death, I had to split them exactly in half, just like their name suggested. To kill Screamers, I had to overwhelm them with sound, not just slash them mindlessly. The chimera in front of me was a monster of the Magic Tower. In other words, it only appeared in the dungeon with the highest difficulty level on the fiftieth floor. There was no way it would die if I just cut it down. I slid down and got under the chimera. Before it could even react, I plunged my sword into its stomach. So I just have to get rid of it completely so that not a single speck of dust is left! The sword flashed. Something like a red lightning bolt shone, and the monster’s stomach burst. No, it wasn’t just the stomach. The monster’s internal organs, torso, spine, head, and even the slime in its eye sockets burst in an instant. Charumu screamed. Just now, I used my holy sword as a kind of syringe and poured in an insane amount of my aura. The monster burst into pieces after being injected with an unusually high amount of aura. I set my aura on fire. Instead of being content with simply exploding the chimera, I burned every last bit of its hide and bones, down to the last bit of flesh. For a brief moment, ash flew into the air, but even that was quickly burned away. It literally erased that monster from existence. “Okay!” I jumped up and looked back. “Who cares about the right way to kill it if I can just erase its existence? Let’s go, quickly!” Charumu, the Assistant Writer, and the believers stared at me. “What are you doing? Let’s go!” “Oh. Okay, let’s go!” The Assistant Writer was the first to come to her senses. She grabbed the other believers’ shoulders and sometimes kicked their butts to urge them to walk faster. Everyone started running. [The Lonely Seeker is speechless at your aura mastery skill.] [The Labyrinth-Dwelling Eye is amazed at how tireless and calm you are.] [The Incarnation of Love and Lust is already preparing a feature-length campaign just for you.] Yeah, yeah. Thank you, thank you! But let’s talk about that later! Charumu followed me, panting. “Th-that chimera was the Big Spider’s favorite...” He had a hard time running, but he tried his best to look at my face whenever he had a chance, seemingly shaken from what he just saw. “The heart that forms the chimera’s core is liquefied like slime. It constantly moves around inside the body, so if you don’t hit it, it won’t die.” “Ah, I see. So that’s why my method worked, huh?” Charumu opened and closed his mouth. It seemed like he was trying to concentrate on running. More monsters kept appearing in the hallways. It made me wonder where in the world they were all coming from. I swung my sword without slowing down. “Get out of the way if you don’t want to die, you bastards!” Every monster that brushed against my sword swelled up like a balloon and burst. Every three seconds, another scary-looking monster crawled out, but since I was eliminating one every second, there were no obstacles in sight. Forty seconds later, I was done bursting about fifty monsters. Something was off. Even though I had been very tense as I sneaked in and I was still very tense right now, I wasn’t tired at all. The monsters were certainly scary, but I could just infuse an insane amount of aura into them and blow them up. It’s easier than I thought. It wasn’t as difficult as I imagined. Maybe, maybe... Am I stronger than I thought? “M-Mr. Intruder. Just a little... huff, slower...” I could hear the group panting behind me. It was strange. I didn’t even use the Lightness Art; I just strengthened my legs using aura and ran, but my group was out of breath and struggling. I looked up, holding the holy sword. We were underground, still in the basement of the Magic Tower. Beyond that wall would be the city of the fiftieth floor. I gripped the hilt of my sword tightly and activated the Skill. Here I go. I give up the memories of the Hunters who chatted with me in the open-air tavern. With a soft vibration, the holy sword became wrapped in a red aura. A Torn Goddess’ Salvation was the Skill that allowed me to have an instant power boost by sacrificing my memories. Using the Skill I got from the Constellation Murderer, I swung my sword toward the ceiling. A blood-red storm swept in. The sound of the stone ceiling collapsing rang out, and the storm’s roar raged. Right behind me, the believers screamed. I looked up, swatting away the boulders that were falling on the believers’ heads. Before I knew it, the ceiling was completely cleared. [The Labyrinth-Dwelling Eye is shocked.] Dark clouds shone through the cracks in the ceiling. The sky on the fiftieth floor was always gloomy, but even that grim sky was bright compared to the underground hallway. It was looking up into a hole from the bottom of a well. “Does this work?” I murmured. The believers looked at me with their mouths agape. “Please stand here one at a time. I will help you get out. What are you doing? If we waste any more time, more Spiders will come, and that’s nothing short of a headache. Let’s stand in line politely and sensibly.” Charumu was trembling. “M-Mr. Intruder, w-who in the world are you?” I shrugged. “An evil mastermind.”