“I can’t believe this.”
The Guardian of the First Floor is a bit special.
Because the Protagonist is the one who captures the Guardian of the Labyrinth for the ‘first’ time.
As such, various settings have been attached to elevate the Protagonist and make them unique, and the fixed power gacha is precisely that.
Originally, a party that captures the Guardian for the first time has a low chance of obtaining some of the deity’s powers from that floor.
From the second floor onward, it’s impossible, so they must capture guardians from other floors.
For example, if they defeat the Cyclops, the Guardian of the Second Floor, but fail to gain power, they will never acquire the War God’s powers no matter how many times they try.
Yet, if you want divine powers, you had better hope you have a good affinity with the War God, stumble upon a location rich in divine energy… or aim for the powers of gods from other floors instead.
However, unlike the regenerated monsters, if you defeat the Guardian who appears for the first time in the Labyrinth, you can definitely obtain powers.
Of course, this doesn’t mean everyone involved in the battle will receive them; it’s limited to a few with high contributions. What powers you might gain is entirely unknown.
In any case, it’s far better than the already captured Guardians from other floors, who might grant you powers that you might or might not receive.
No matter who receives what kind of blessing, isn’t it a definite given?
It’s like this: it feels like receiving a guaranteed 5-star gacha ticket given to users who achieve the top 1% in competitive content in a gacha game.
Truly a frustrating and annoying system, but just thinking about receiving it makes the system feel right.
By chance, the Protagonist ends up summoning the Guardian of the First Floor, and finds themselves in a one-on-one situation without anyone’s help, but somehow manages to defeat it and obtain an incredibly overpowered ability, allowing for rapid growth.
This is the setting I wanted for the Protagonist.
…It might seem like an unbelievably convenient development since I haven’t thought of any important details, but that’s okay!
The Protagonist can afford a bit of an advantage!
I don’t know what kind of being the Guardian of the First Floor is, but I set it up this way to explain how to summon it.
The scene of summoning the Guardian for the first time is essentially when the story kicks off in earnest, so I need to put in some thought here.
For this reason, I devised the idea of killing countless monsters in front of the World Tree and leaving their corpses untouched without extracting mana stones.
How I came up with this method is a mystery. It’s almost like I have another reincarnator in me, but this novel hasn’t even been written yet.
Even if there is another reincarnator, figuring out how to summon the Guardian of the First Floor would be impossible.
The One Who Devours the Twilight definitely holds something.
And because of that something, my bet—the wish ticket—is on the line.
“…I have no idea what they’re up to, but it’s definitely something horrendous, evil, and should never happen!”
“I agree with Jonah. That’s why they attacked immediately upon seeing both our faces.”
I tilted my head at Karen’s words.
“So, you both attacked without knowing I was an Inquisitor?”
“That’s correct. Thanks to Jonah, if it hadn’t been for the Lord Goddess’s favor, we would have surely been attacked together in that first ambush.”
“Huh.”
That means Karen, who didn’t meet me, would have been killed alongside Ian in the last battle.
It sounds absolutely insane, but perhaps it was the Goddess of Love who orchestrated the meeting between Karen and me, causing her to have a misunderstanding and reach enlightenment.
“Could you elaborate a bit more? I have a hunch this might be quite significant.”
“Of course. First, I’ll explain what happened when we encountered those guys.”
According to Karen’s continued narrative, it seems the One Who Devours the Twilight is indeed attempting to summon the Guardian.
However, it’s not clear how exactly.
They understood that they needed to offer a sacrifice before the World Tree’s illusion, but they didn’t know what kind of sacrifice, so they were just going around killing anything in sight.
“That’s a relief…”
“Does that mean whatever they’re plotting isn’t that serious?”
“No, it’s huge. If we leave it be, it could turn genuinely dangerous.”
My wish ticket is at stake.
“However, I’m glad they still haven’t pinpointed the exact method.”
“…As expected, Jonah, you’ve pierced through the intentions of the One Who Devours the Twilight.”
Karen said, her eyes sparkling. Since that ambush cult was itching to participate, I poked Lydia lightly in the side and asked.
“Lydia, Lydia.”
“What.”
“How strong are you, exactly? Could you defeat the One Who Devours the Twilight?”
“If it’s against low-level minions, I don’t care how many come at me. But against mentors, the variation in strength is considerable. Ah, and about mentors…”
“That’s fine. I have a rough idea of the hierarchy of the One Who Devours the Twilight.”
They simplified their organizational structure tremendously, believing everyone is equal under the Goddess of Love.
The mentees are at the level of ordinary low-level adventurers. They’re still receiving teachings, and mostly handle various menial tasks, posing little danger.
Next are the mentors, who have the strength reaching from mid to high-level adventurers. They help their mentees grow from being preceding figures…
It’s a title only those who possess one or more divine powers or something equivalent can obtain. They are also the main force causing chaos in Pangrave.
There are masters in this structure, though it’s more of an honorary title.
The One Who Devours the Twilight operates in a fragmented manner, with the heads of numerous sub-branches referred to as masters.
It’s a position that’s given to someone among the mentors who is adept in organizational management or has a particularly deep faith, so it’s unrelated to strength.
Lastly, there are the Grandmasters or Progenitors, who are referred to within the heretics and who were the forerunners of the organization named after the wreckage.
There was the first traitor, Baneus, but by now, he’s likely struggling to survive deep in the Labyrinth, so there’s no way he would suddenly show up on the first floor.
Given this operational structure, it’s difficult to estimate their precise combat capabilities just from hearing their titles.
But we have Karen, who has faced them directly!
“Inquisitor Karen, what was the level of the enemy?”
“The scale was small. There were only about a dozen mentees and two mentors. But one of them had an unusually strong power.”
“That must be the one that put Ian in this state.”
“That’s correct. The rest were manageable for me alone, but that one was a step above me.”
“…Was that one strong enough to have any recognizable features?”
No matter how adept the One Who Devours the Twilight is at hiding their identity, one cannot help but remember someone seen frequently.
If you know their face, you just need to remember it. Even if you don’t, you can note their gender, size, voice, abilities used, weapons employed, expected age, etc.
They often attach code names based on distinctive traits.
I haven’t set any up myself, but living in Pangrave, I’ve heard a few names.
The Master of Chimeras, the Combat Maniac, the Lustful Woman, etc.
Yet, with none fitting that description, Karen shook her head with a serious expression.
“I didn’t know who it was at all. They had their face covered by a mask, so I couldn’t see it, but the voice sounded unusually youthful.”
“A new mentor? This is a hassle.”
I sighed deeply as I continued.
“They must have reported to the temple by now. What did the Pope say?”
“…They’re preparing reinforcements and told us to stand by.”
“Uh, that sounds like they might accomplish their goal and hide before we get there.”
They didn’t seem to know the exact method, but they were clearly close to figuring it out, probably within just a few days from successfully summoning the Guardian of the First Floor.
After hearing my words, Karen nodded gravely.
“I think so too.”
“Requesting help from the guild… that’s useless.”
“Yeah. The guild belongs to the temple. If the Pope is aiding the One Who Devours the Twilight, they’ve likely already set plans in motion.”
“Ugh. So what should we do…?”
There’s no option to give the Guardian of the First Floor a divine power.
The wish ticket aside, I can’t let the Protagonist’s growth, somewhere in this world, be stifled right from the start.
That’ll mean losing an invaluable national-level talent that could solve countless future incidents.
Given how many foreshadowing threads I’ve laid out, that’d be a problem.
The point is, I need someone stronger than Karen who can fight alongside us soon…
While I was pondering, I suddenly hit my head lightly and said,
“Jonah. Did you forget something?”
“Lydia? Well, I know Lydia is strong, but judging from the atmosphere when she’s acting tough, she feels similar to Inquisitor Karen. They might be okay together, but that sounds a bit risky.”
“…You’re right, but that’s infuriating.”
Wham!
“Ugh!”
Out of nowhere, Lydia delivered a smack on my head. I gritted my teeth at the throbbing pain and looked up at her.
Before I could prepare to wail in protest against this absurd violence from deep within, Lydia shook her head vigorously and spoke.
“Don’t forget about Ellie, onee-chan.”
“Hmm?”
“Even without one arm, she’s probably stronger than either me or this Inquisitor.”
“…Is she really that strong?”
“Yep.”
Oh my, why did such a person retire…
“Ah.”
Right.
Ellie’s retirement wasn’t due to struggling to make a living as an adventurer. She wanted to enjoy all the dirty things she never got to try while living a debauched life.
I don’t think there have been any risqué events beyond her merely touching my stomach.
…Suddenly, I felt sorry for Ellie.
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