Maderkin Lilgreams.
I didn't expect it to be him, of all people...
The sight of his face did not awaken any impulse to celebrate his survival or to question him about how he had achieved it. The only thing I felt was confusion. «Were you... killed by the village chief?».
«Sorry...?» He seemed to have heard my murmur because he looked at me with his own confusion. «Died by the village chief...? What do you mean?»
«We discovered a short sword with your clan's insignia in the village blacksmith shop», I inquired, thinking that since we were on the subject I could go deeper.
«Ah...»
«Why was he there?»
«Well... I don't know. However, before leaving the island, some members of our clan traded with the villagers. They handed over most of their non-essential items and obtained a large amount of mana stones in return.»
His testimony completely matched the boss's claims, which left me even more perplexed.
Was the boss really innocent? So why did I escape from the village? Did I do that huge scene for no reason?
Despite the questions flooding my mind, I quickly shook my head to free myself from those lingering doubts. I could come to a conclusion after hearing everything he had to say. «Speak. Tell me what you did after leaving the island».
«Excuse me? Oh... Yes!» His relief at having been rescued quickly faded before my cold interrogation. He was quick to answer my questions. «First, we left two days after you left the island, Your Honor».
There was nothing special about his story. He had left the island with his clan because he felt he needed to do something productive, but after being burned by his experience on Boss Island, fear led him to head to Library Island in hopes of taking advantage of its relative safety. Just when we were here to do some farming, it seemed like he had decided that he and his clan also needed to get stronger.
However...
«It was a beast we had never seen before. It had horrible looking wings and its body was similar to that of a slime. However, he had all kinds of disgusting, twisted limbs protruding from his entire body».
They came across a new monster that not even I had in my database.
He had completely annihilated the Silver Lion Clan, and the ship they had been using was also destroyed. But after diving into the water, certain he was lost, Maderkin woke up on Library Island. His team had gotten caught on some rocks near the shore just in time to save him from drowning.
«After that... Well, I was worried that it would be too dangerous to stay outdoors, so I went down here. And then... I waited here only for someone to find this place again...».
He had rationed his food and water as much as possible just in case and had not fought any monsters, but had sat here, totally isolated, fighting only his loneliness. That summed up his story.
«Ya veo.
But I didn't find it a particularly sad story. Reading between the lines, I had the feeling that as soon as he came to the conclusion that his clan was going to be annihilated, he abandoned ship and jumped into the ocean to save himself.
That's what it seems, at least.
From what I knew about Maderkin Lilgreams, he was definitely the kind of person who would do something like that.
Anyway, enough questions.
I had heard his story, so now was the time to check if it was true.
«Versyl ».
I ordered our wizard to cast a verification spell. Unfortunately, due to Lilgream's high Mana Stamina, the verification magic didn't really work. Still, I didn't obsess over it and instead took an object out of my personal subspace.
It seems like a waste to use the last load here... but no matter how you look at it, this is too suspicious.
«Maderkin Lilgreams.»
«¿Sí?»
«Now I'm going to check if what you said is true.»
I didn't bother asking for his consent. It wasn't like I had a choice to start.
Clack.
I immediately activated Wrong Trust. With this, even if he was hiding something, everything would be revealed.
«Alright, let's start with a simple question.»
But what was this?
«Tell me. What is your name?»
Just like in Doppelganger Forest, I started with a test question to make sure it worked correctly.
And the bastard said absolutely nothing. Why wasn't he able to answer such a simple question?
Tick, tock.
The only sound that could be heard was the constant, repetitive clicking of the compass needle running across the Confianza Equivocada album. As the silence dragged on, the tension in the room began to increase.
My warrior body calmly carried out the actions it had to take at that moment, even without my intervention. When I realized what was happening, my fingers closed around the handle of the hammer on my back, driven by some subconscious instinct.
I breathed a sigh. Even if it was just that, having a hand on my gun helped me calm down a little.
«Speak, Lilgreams», I demanded again. «What's your name?
He avoided my gaze. But the way his eyes wandered to the right was beyond strange. A feeling of restlessness and discomfort invaded me.
«I'll ask you one more time». I took out my hammer and pointed it at him. «What's your name?»
Once again, he did not respond.
Okay, so you're going to stay quiet until the end? In that case, I'll break his arms and legs and try again.
Once the decision was made, I pressed my hammer and prepared a blow.
«...Ah.»
But at that moment, he broke his silence and spoke.
«Me. Trapped».
It was a short sentence, but I immediately had the feeling that there was something strange in his voice. And that feeling ended up hitting the nail on the head.
«Trapped. Trapped. Trapped. Trapped. Trapped. Trapped. Trapped. Trapped. Trapped. Trapped. Trapped. Trapped. Trapped. Trapped. Trapped».
Like a jumping CD, he repeated the same word over and over again, his pupils constricted and his voice screaming with anxiety. I was panicking. Terrified.
«Trapped. Trapped. Trapped. Trapped...»
"¿Que eres?"
My hand shot out to go around his neck and lift him into the air. As he hung up, his dialogue changed. «What do I do?»
Dudé.
«What do I do? What do I do? What do I do? What do I do? To do? To do? What do we do? What do I do?»
I had never experienced this sensation before. I was the one holding him by the neck, so why did I feel so restless?
«What to do? What do I do? What...?»
And then, suddenly it cut off.
«...Ah.»
He raised his head to look at me. His pupils, which had twisted to the right unnaturally, had bounced forward to meet mine. And slowly, brokenly, he began to speak.
«Lo sé.
It sounded like he had realized something. A new wave of unease came over me as I raised the hammer.
«What I have to do».
¡Boom!
The body he was holding exploded immediately. The explosion itself was nothing special. The hand around his neck stung a little afterwards, but even that looked less like a wound than a normal rash.
However, that explosion had torn the stranger's flesh and blood and scattered hundreds of small bone fragments across the room.
«A priest... won't do much good here».
The shock of being covered in human remains lasted only a moment before he let out a long sigh.
Damn, I screwed up.
Although my mind was quick to make excuses, in the end, I could only attribute this failure to a lack of foresight on my part. I had always considered myself someone who always acted with the worst case scenario in mind, but I hadn't seen this coming at all.
...No, even then, how could I have foreseen it?
Even reflecting on my flaws, I couldn't get that thought out of my head. It would have taken me a long time to predict that particular outcome, and it wasn't something I could have dealt with even if I had known.
After all, how was I going to stop the Emergency Escape?
It was an ability that defied any attempt to counter it. After all, unless you were a god, you couldn't raise the dead. Theoretically, it was arguably the best escape skill in the game, but that was only because the cost of the skill was the caster's own life...
Let's stop thinking about it and deal with the immediate problems.
«¡Yandel...! »
«I'm fine, so don't be scared. Oh, and I need to think about it, so leave me alone for a moment».
I calmed my companions, who pounced on me in panic, and then replayed the situation in my mind as I took some time to think.
The last minutes could be summed up in one sentence.
Something was impersonating Maderkin Lilgreams.
Who was to blame?
I could only think of one answer.
The head of the town. No, to be more precise, someone or something sent by the village chief.
He doubted that the village chief would panic as soon as he was caught.
In any case, with a possible culprit identified, my next step was to address the fundamental questions that formed the basis of any good hypothesis.
Because? And how?
For what reason and with what method did you do it? Many possibilities crossed my mind, but no concrete answers. It remained a mystery.
Did he want me to believe he was innocent? No, maybe he just wanted to secretly keep an eye on me...
It was still unclear what his goal was.
And what did he use to do something like that?
I couldn't think of any essence that would have helped him do it. There were some active abilities that could steal someone else's body, but they didn't fit in this case. Most of them required the caster to be close, and when he took over the body, there was a thread running from the caster to the target that was visible to the naked eye.
That's how it is. So it's not an essence. Which means...
The thing I saw was probably functionally similar to an evil spirit.
That thought caused cold sweat to stain my palms.
Still, I ignored the chill and forced myself to continue reflecting, even asking my allies for their opinion, but I got nowhere. All I had was a theory without much evidence.
The boss has a habit of stealing the bodies of others like an evil spirit.
However, it didn't hurt to be cautious.
***
Once we finished dealing with the aftermath of the Lilgreams Emergency Escape, as unsatisfying as it was, I led the group through the library. We immediately noticed two key differences regarding how we had left the place.
The books... They are back.
The summoning books we had used last time had been replenished. When we left the island, the lower shelves were practically empty, but now even the books we had left scattered had been cleaned and put back in their place.
The stairs were also restored.
The stairs leading to the upper shelves with the rank three monster books had also disappeared, returning to their original state.
Hmm, so what triggers the reboot? It's time?
If that was the case, it was probably tied to the rainy season in some way, but there was no way to know for sure right now.
«Yandel, this is a good thing if you think about it. This means that we can get essences much more easily.»
«Ah... it's true».
As Amelia said, this was ultimately positive. Although the restarting stairs were a bit annoying, this practically confirmed that we could do unlimited and continuous farming here.
Well, that didn't mean there weren't disadvantages.
If it resets as we continue to move through the batteries, it will be difficult for us to reach the top of the shelf with just hard work.
Library Island, which was already difficult enough, now also had a time limit. However, it was too early to start complaining. We might complain later, when our goal went from simply cultivating essences to achieving it.
Since we know it will reboot at some point, let's stop wasting time.
I put aside any lingering frustrations or worries and decided to focus solely on the reason we had come here in the first place.
To be honest, games that required grinding were my type of game. As soon as I got into the zone, it was as if all my thoughts were silenced, leaving me with only a constant sense of progress.
[You have killed a Frost Wolf.]
[You have killed a Stone Golem.]
[Has matado a un Hobgoblin.]
[You have killed an Ice Orc Warrior.]
[You have killed a Yeti.]
[You have killed a Luture Talisman...]
After that, we divided our group into two teams: one dedicated to finding books with good prey, and a combat team.
Rank nine, rank eight, rank seven...
As the number of shelves we had climbed increased, so did the difficulty, and once the rank four ones started appearing, we changed our focus and started looking for specific monsters in the books.
Mana stones fell.
We gain experience.
The...
«An essence!»
Although none of the essences that appeared could be given to Anabada members, as we accumulated multiple essences a day, our group as a whole became stronger and stronger.
«That's enough for today! We'll stop here for tonight. Everyone, rest!»
On our eighty-fifth day in the labyrinth, the day finally came.
[Your soul has resonated and is being drawn to a different world.