The Greatest Warrior of All Time Returns-Chapter 384

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Chapter 384

It was a statement that was difficult to understand, yet deeply unsettling.

I fell silent for a moment, my thoughts tangled.

The frozen time around us began to crackle with noise here and there, as if it were nearing its limit.

Perhaps the very act of conveying certain information was itself the trigger.

“…So who made the Labyrinthos?”

“That, even I do not know. In the faint memories that remain, when the Devourer that endlessly consumed worlds first devoured a world, you fell into the Labyrinthos. I don’t know what happened there, but at that time, we created the Hall of Swords and then perished.”

The phrase a very long time ago sounded chilling.

“Don’t tell me… every single hall I’ve experienced…”

“Yes. Through dozens, hundreds of world closures, they increased one by one, very slowly.”

The truth left me dumbfounded.

So… all of that preparation, over and over, was to kill Yog?

“I guess there’s no point asking about how many times. So… you failed too, and now it’s my turn?”

“More precisely, you are the last. There will be no more chances.”

In other words, this was the final coin.

“It’s absurd. Still… that means the odds are better than before, right?”

“The current you is no different from me. However, there are three things you must know.”

“What are they?”

“First, I abandoned and discarded most of the authority I had accumulated.”

I frowned.

“Doesn’t that just mean you became weaker?”

“During the long confrontation with Yog, most of your authority was secretly contaminated. With contaminated authority, it is absolutely impossible to defeat him. That is why I distributed much of my authority to Isna and preserved part of her memories. I also planted fragments of my authority in various other places.”

Because you couldn’t win—so you bore all the stains to prepare for the next cycle, ensuring victory then?

The reason for going this far… must be because I have a family I need to protect.

So many things differ, yet even across repeated cycles, that never changes.

“…What exactly is Yog?”

“I cannot answer that question here. Simply responding to certain keywords has already consumed most of the authority maintaining this conversation. Find another core of a Transcendent. If it’s a core in which I planted my authority, we’ll be able to meet again.”

Ah. If I’d known, I should’ve asked about Yog first… I regretted it, but this conversation hadn’t been fruitless.

“Then I’ll ask that later. What about the other two?”

“Second. As I said before, the Outer God Yog drives everything around him insane and corrodes it simply by existing. To deal with that, you must slowly peer into his abyss and grow accustomed to it. That is why I used the protection of the Labyrinthos to expose you to the power of the Red Moon.”

You cannot die in the Labyrinthos.

You cannot go mad in the Labyrinthos.

So that’s what those rules meant.

“And the last?”

At my question, he smirked.

“Grind. For your sake, after tens of thousands of repetitions, the final hall left behind by us is sealed deep within your innermost self. When the time comes, you’ll be able to touch it.”

My inner self?

Ah.

The Hall of the Martial God.

“What is that? I’ve never seen anything like—”

Bzzzt… crackle!!

At the same time, a crashing sound erupted, and everything returned to normal.

The staff reacting with the core—Void Enchanter—fell silent again, having fulfilled its role.

“Is something wrong?”

Meryl asked.

I thought for a moment, then shook my head.

“No. It’s nothing. I learned everything I wanted to.”

Honestly, I needed time to sort out my thoughts.

Before that—

‘Librarian.’

[Confirmed.]

‘What happens in a case like this? I’m lacking authority, but I learned the information anyway.’

[Currently under review. However, most of what he said is true.]

‘And the rest?’

[A very small portion of information remains, but it is under far higher restrictions than anything before. The category name is The Origin of the Labyrinthos.]

‘Origin?’

[Yes. Given your current state and questions, it is estimated to be unnecessary information for now.]

Perhaps that was information about the very foundation of the Labyrinthos.

Leaving behind Meryl’s puzzled gaze, I pressed my throbbing temples and walked on.

* * *

Despite Luna being beside me, I couldn’t sleep—something that hadn’t happened in a very long time.

It had been about four days since using the Void Enchanter.

I did absolutely nothing, holed up in my room.

There wasn’t any deep reason.

The strange fatigue simply wouldn’t subside.

[Preparations to download a hall are complete. Please select the hall you—]

“Can I download that Hall of the Martial God?”

[That hall is beyond my authority. Considering the circumstances, it likely requires specific conditions, similar to special hall transfers.]

Maybe it meant I wasn’t ready to receive it yet.

My intuition told me that the power of the Hall of the Martial God—enough to terrify even Dagon—was probably more than my current body could handle.

“Let’s put it on hold for now. Taking it recklessly would be dangerous.”

I could choose to receive ordinary halls anytime.

Even now, I wasn’t fully utilizing the power of all the halls I already had.

Meanwhile, Cascadia began mass-producing and selling hair-loss medicine made from Ardra petals across the continent.

The reaction?

Explosive.

Even considering the price, sales were phenomenal.

Humanity on the Lazarus Continent had effectively overcome baldness.

As enormous amounts of money poured in, Melissa walked around with a smile so bright it nearly reached her ears.

Seeing her happy about being able to provide better equipment and rest areas for the knights guarding the Demon Realm made me chuckle.

When the Phoenix Silkworm arrived, Lispa Elde holed herself up in the succubi workshop, promising to make something impressive.

Honestly, that was probably better than her going insane over vengeance against archangels or gods.

Her rage hadn’t faded, but simply redirecting her focus elsewhere yielded significant gains.

“Professor.”

“……”

“I graduated. Teach me magic.”

I quietly stared at Ashuria, who had left the Imperial Academy and come to Cascadia.

She carried a small bag in her hands and a large pack on her back—daily necessities peeking out.

“What, are you planning to settle down here?”

Ashuria Abelgard.

The successor to Luteon Abelgard, the greatest archmage on the Lazarus Continent—she seemed intent on sticking by my side.

“…Fine. A promise is a promise. Stay for now.”

She nodded and walked off lightly.

Watching her back, Luna asked,

“You’re unusually accommodating. That’s not like you.”

“I need to change my way of thinking.”

If everything my closed-world self said was true, then against the Red Moon, Yog, it was best to secure as many means as possible.

If trained properly, Ashuria had the talent to become the greatest mage aside from me.

While teaching her magic, I planned to raise both necromancy and elemental magic to the 9th circle.

I immediately dragged Ashuria and Melissa—who was chatting happily—out together.

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“Utopia.”

Crunch!!

Activating the phantom ability of the Spirit Sword Utopia, I dragged them into an isolated ability space.

“Ah—no!!”

Melissa instinctively tried to flee, realizing what I was about to do, but it was too late.

“Yes!”

Dragging her struggling form, I returned us to the original spot.

“Melissa.”

“……”

“How’s your relationship going?”

“W-Why do you care?!”

“Introduce them to me sometime.”

At least as an older brother, I could support her, right?

She looked at me, surprised.

“…That’s it? You’re accepting this way too easily.”

“Yeah. I’ll meet them, fight them once, and if they’re below standard, I’ll erase their memory and kick them out.”

“You bastard!!”

She screamed and charged me with her sword.

Looks like she wasn’t completely indifferent after all.

“Ashuria, you too. Let’s see what you can do.”

Without hesitation, Ashuria began chanting, extending one hand toward me.

Crackle—!

Ice serpents formed at incredible speed, coiling around her before lunging at me.

The cold was intense.

She was effectively at a 6th-circle archmage level.

Melissa, already a Sword Master, needed no further evaluation.

Ashuria didn’t stop there—she caused the ice to internally react, wrapping it in massive lightning.

Ice particles in the air reacted, naturally forming lightning.

Impressive.

At some point, Luna entered the illusion space, set up a rocking chair, and started eating popcorn.

Her spell control was excellent.

But—

“You’re focusing too much on detail. Not enough output.”

The moment her magic touched the faint red mist around me, it evaporated in a burst of steam.

Melissa seized the moment, charging through the obscured vision with killing intent.

I twisted slightly and stepped forward.

Boom!!

The steam was blasted away like it had been hit by a shockwave.

Melissa was powerful—more dangerous than most Sword Masters.

After all, I taught her the Heavenly Demon Divine Sword.

She locked eyes with me at close range, stomped down hard—

Like something straight out of a wuxia novel—Heavenly Demon Dominion Step.

Overwhelming aura crushed everything around her as her heavy sword descended.

Kwoong!!

I didn’t need complex defense, but I was teaching—and testing.

And I needed to push my body, impose limits, and raise its operating capacity.

Breaking through circles required conditions.

I had brute-forced them through adaptation before, even Grandmaster—but it had strained my body.

Muscles need time to grow.

A blade of aura flicked from my hand, deflecting her strike—but she pressed on stubbornly.

Golden sparks erupted around me—Ashuria’s magic.

I mixed mana and necromantic mana.

This would overload me nicely.

“I’ll only defend. Break through my defense within the time limit. Any method is allowed.”

Clang!

They exchanged looks.

“…How long?”

Melissa asked cautiously.

“Three days. I’ll be right here. Learn from Luna if you want. Items, ambushes—anything goes.”

She eased her stance slightly. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Whether from experience or caution, either way—

Slow judgment on a battlefield is deadly.

I sat at the center of a violet barrier and pulled out a small notebook.

Melissa’s face went pale.

“Y-You… don’t tell me that’s—!”

“You recognize it? Yes. It is.”

A silent scream escaped her.

“This is your old diary.”

One filled with embarrassingly earnest struggles of her youth.

“You said you destroyed it?!”

“Nope. Would be a waste.”

I’d secretly kept it long before falling into the Labyrinthos.

“At regular intervals, I’ll read one page aloud for everyone.”

Now she’d fight desperately.

As Melissa detonated her aura, I imposed dozens of restrictions on myself.

The strain became horrifying.

Then—

Wooooong!

Utopia began to vibrate.

I grabbed it—and it pulled my consciousness elsewhere.

A ruined world.

A red moon.

The Labyrinthos.

“…Damn.”

PTSD surged as I stood.

Utopia had grown stronger than I thought.

A white-masked woman appeared before me.

[Calamity of the Mage Who Faces Extinction.]

I called her the Mage Counter.

Utopia wanted me to clash with her using only magic and necromancy.

Whoever made this thing… it works well without being told.

In one hand, 8th-circle lightning magic.

At my feet, writhing black necromancy.

The battle began.

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