The ground collapses, and Rikrakamur falls along with it.

Desperately struggling to avoid falling into the abyss, Rikrakamur flails about.

However, with no swamp left to support him, he could no longer move, and his struggles only backfired, leading to an even worse outcome.

!!!

In the end, with a terrifying roar, Rikrakamur plunges into the depths of the abyss.

Alon immediately follows him, descending into the abyss, and thinks to himself.

‘This completes all the necessary conditions.’

In truth, accomplishing all of this wasn’t something that could be done at once.

Originally, it was meant to proceed through three distinct phases.

The first phase involves fighting Rikrakamur in Psychedelia.

Initially, Eliban fights alone in the swamp.

Then, the companions who followed Eliban operate the four pulleys located in the north, south, east, and west to drain the swamp, signaling the start of the second phase.

Once that phase is also completed, the ground collapses, and the third battle begins underground, in a chasm resembling the abyss.

In other words, it was originally supposed to be a long and drawn-out fight, but Alon effectively skipped two of the three phases.

By deliberately bringing in allied forces to turn the pulleys in the four directions, he handled both the first phase and the occasional monster waves.

By inflicting effective damage on Rikrakamur, he forced the creature to spew out black ichor, nullifying the magic that prevented the swamp floor from collapsing.

Thus, he broke through the ground and skipped the second phase entirely.

Now, all that remained for Alon was the third phase.

While falling into the abyss, he gulped down a mana potion and formed seals in preparation for his final plan.

‘It might be a bit of a strain, but there’s no other way to kill this thing.’

BOOOOM!!!

A massive explosion echoes from the bottom of the abyss.

It signaled that Rikrakamur had reached the bottom.

Alon spoke as he completed the seal.

“Connection—(連結).”

He chanted the incantation while forming the seals.

When he finally descended into the underground space, faintly illuminated by the pale moonlight,

Alon froze in his tracks, baffled.

The reason?

Rikrakamur, who should have been convulsing violently and destroying everything around him upon impact, was no longer moving.

“……?”

A small mental hook caught hold in Alon’s thoughts.

“…!”

Only then did he confirm a shocking fact.

‘…A hole?’

At the center of the monstrous creature’s belly, which lay overturned and lifeless, was an enormous hole far larger than anything Alon could have inflicted.

***

From the very first encounter with Rikrakamur, Alon had sensed something strange.

It was Rikrakamur’s eyes.

This monstrosity was supposed to go through three phases before being defeated.

Upon reaching the third phase, when its health dropped below 30%, its eyes would turn red, and it would enter a berserk state for its final desperate struggle.

However, even from Alon’s first attack, Rikrakamur’s eyes had already been red.

In other words, Rikrakamur had entered a berserk state before Alon even attacked.

No matter how effective Alon’s attacks were, they couldn’t have been lethal enough to deal a fatal blow.

After all, Rikrakamur was a fiendish creature.

Even Eliban, who possessed protagonist-level abilities and absurd powers due to plot armor, would have found it challenging to deliver a decisive blow to Rikrakamur in a single strike, unless he had taken the path of a mage.

Alon stared intently at the fallen creature.

There, in the center of the beast’s abdomen, was a massive hole far beyond his own doing.

‘…What is this?’

His head tilted to the side in confusion.

Of course, this situation was extremely advantageous for Alon.

He was able to handle Rikrakamur, which he needed to capture even at great cost, with ease.

However, he couldn’t simply dismiss the mystery.

‘Why did Rikrakamur have such a wound? Or was it originally intended that he would be wounded by someone around this point in the story?’

Pondering over it, he shook his head slightly.

No matter how he thought about it, that seemed unlikely.

That enormous hole would take Rikrakamur, whose regeneration ability wasn’t particularly high, decades to recover from.

Even if it did recover, it would leave significant scars.

Thus, only one plausible scenario remained.

Someone must have fought with Rikrakamur before Alon arrived to handle the monstrosity.

Who could have engaged in such a duel with Rikrakamur?

It wasn’t difficult to narrow down the list of candidates.

Someone capable of not only fighting the monstrosities guarding the artifacts of the Five Great Sins but also inflicting such a wound.

As far as Alon knew, only a few existed.

‘At most, a few hidden powerhouses and the Four Great Factions.’

Of course, this world held far more vast and intricate secrets than Alon originally knew, so making hasty assumptions could be premature.

However, at least among those Alon was aware of, only that few could inflict such a wound on a monstrosity.

‘Was it the work of Juju?’

He speculated with a strange feeling but soon shook his head again.

Juju wouldn’t act hastily without a clear “purpose.”

After much deliberation, he decided to proceed.

His goal in dealing with the monstrosity was nothing other than obtaining the artifact of the Five Great Sins.

Alon stepped into the gaping hole in the lifeless Rikrakamur’s belly.

If everything had gone according to the original plan, he would have had to enter through Rikrakamur’s mouth, face the thorny tentacles inside, and endure another grueling challenge.

However, with the belly already pierced, that was no longer necessary.

It wasn’t long before Alon discovered an enormous cavity that was unlike anything one would expect inside a living creature.

In the vast space, one thing stood out.

At the center, he immediately spotted one of the artifacts of Wrath—the crimson spear.

Without hesitation, he approached it and pulled it from the ground where it was embedded.

The crimson spear came out effortlessly, without requiring any special force.

Its design was remarkably plain for something considered an artifact of the Five Great Sins.

Other than a rounded groove carved at the end of the spear, it had no patterns or decorations.

Moreover, it exuded no particularly sinister or malevolent aura, but Alon was certain it was an artifact of the Five Great Sins.

He had already seen this item in the game.

Alon swiftly secured the spear.

Boom! Crashhhh~!!!

“?”

It was then that he realized the entire cavity was collapsing.

The very reason Rikrakamur had become a monstrosity was due to the artifact of the Five Great Sins.

Now that the artifact inside its body had been taken, the creature was beginning to crumble.

What puzzled Alon was the speed at which it was happening.

‘It wasn’t this fast before.’

After briefly questioning it, he started to move to escape the collapsing area.

“Ah.”

Letting out a sigh, he turned his attention to the area surrounding the cavity where the spear had been embedded.

The moment a crimson pearl caught his eye,

Snatch!

He grabbed it and dashed out of the cavity.

Upon safely escaping, Alon was greeted by the sight of

“???”

Blackie, absorbing Rikrakamur’s crumbling remains.

***

The next day.

The expedition team, having dealt with Rikrakamur, began moving back toward the border.

However, they were somewhat disappointed that they couldn’t uncover the reason why Rikrakamur had sent monster waves toward the fortress wall.

Nevertheless, having taken care of the root cause, the expedition wasted no further time and left the swamp—now reduced to just a forest.

They returned to the border with no significant changes from their departure.

The only noticeable difference, if any, was…

“……”

The knights and soldiers who had joined the expedition were staring at Alon so intently that their gazes felt as if they were drilling holes into him.

Moreover, their expressions were uniformly filled with respect and admiration.

Alon glanced around at the group, meeting their gazes briefly.

‘This is a bit too much.’

Of course, Alon understood that their admiration and reverence stemmed from genuine awe, so he didn’t plan to scold them.

But he couldn’t help feeling burdened by it.

Especially since, in Rikrakamur’s case, it wasn’t as if Alon had handled it entirely on his own.

Sure, he’d landed the finishing blow, but it felt like someone else had already done most of the work, leaving him to deliver the coup de grâce, which left him feeling a bit uneasy.

However, putting that aside, Alon had something else occupying his mind at the moment.

“……”

Blackie, clinging to his chest.

The creature turned its head toward Alon, seemingly noticing his gaze, and let out a small ‘Meow?’ sound.

‘…Is it really okay?’

Alon had witnessed Blackie absorb Rikrakamur’s collapsing body in its entirety just the day before.

Although about half of the massive creature had crumbled into dust, the remaining portion had been absorbed by Blackie, who had leapt from Alon’s chest to do so.

“Hm.”

Alon turned Blackie’s small body from side to side, inspecting it closely.

‘There doesn’t seem to be any change.’

Its appearance remained exactly the same.

Its size hadn’t increased, and it didn’t seem particularly stronger either.

Even when Alon tested its magic abilities just in case, they were unchanged as well.

For a creature that had absorbed such a powerful monstrosity, the complete lack of transformation was puzzling.

Alon had only recently discovered that shadow dragons could absorb something, but to see absolutely no changes afterward was strange.

‘…Lainisus knew about the Unity of Shadows, but even he didn’t know anything about shadow dragons. Should I ask Ri e for more insight?’

As Alon scrutinized Blackie, the little creature merely tilted its head quietly in response.

It was a warm spring day, yet the sunlight felt particularly intense.

***

Exactly three days later, upon the expedition’s return to the border:

“Welcome back, Marquis.”

“Yes.”

“It seems you’ve made history once again.”

“What do you mean?”

“I didn’t hear any specific stories, but judging by the reactions of the soldiers and knights, you must have done something noteworthy again.”

As Evan gestured toward the still-admiring soldiers and knights,

“You’ve arrived, brother.”

“Yes, Saint. I’ve just returned.”

“That’s a relief.”

Yuman approached with his usual warm smile.

But soon, his expression turned serious.

“…Did Cardinal Yutia do something?”

“No.”

“…Cardinal Yutia?”

“No, nothing at all.”

With an even graver expression than before,

“Brother, I must insist once again—stay away from Cardinal Yutia.”

“What?”

“She is dangerous.”

Yuman whispered this to Alon yet again.

‘…What’s with this all of a sudden?’

Alon was inwardly puzzled once more.

Still, their return had been a safe one.