Chapter 218: 9:1 (13)

"..."

"One minute has passed..."

Rubia took my hand and stared at me with a gentle expression, but I could tell she was just as nervous as I was.

"Don't worry too much."

Is she saying it was okay if I didn't get it right? That the answer will come to me soon enough?

However, no matter how much I thought about it, nothing came to mind. In fact, this whole quiz thing felt fundamentally unfair. Wasn't it just making up some nonsense riddle and expecting me to read its mind?

"It's been two minutes."

The enormous turtle announced the time again. I still didn't have an answer. Nothing came to me. It wasn't like I could sit down calmly and ponder it either. Not with a monster of this size in front of me, and the threat of death if I failed twice in a row.

"It's been two minutes and thirty seconds. The answer doesn't have to be fixed. If you make something up and convince me, it counts. But... you still don't know?"

A flicker of irritation rose in me. I didn't have to put up with this. Maybe I should just cut through it and force my way forward. However, that didn't seem like a viable option either. More than just the S-rank displayed in the status window, its overwhelming pressure alone told me everything I needed to know.

Above all, I had no idea how to even fight such a thing. Its sheer size alone made it feel like trying to battle the terrain itself. I felt the slight urge to blame Isaac. Nevertheless, I shook off the distraction and refocused on the riddle.

Something that carries both truth and lies. Can something like that even hold those things?

"Three minutes passed. You've failed."

"What was the answer?"

"Oh, no... To not know such an easy one... I pity you!"

"Could you just shut up and tell me? The question's over now."

"Riddles are hard to make. I don't reveal the answers afterward—"

Rubia interjected, "The answer was words."

"Words...?"

"Yes. They can carry truth or lies, and they can pierce someone like a blade. They don't have feet or wings, but they can travel across an entire continent in seconds."

"Correct! But you're not allowed to give answers for someone else’s riddle, okay? If you break the rules... scary things might happen!"

The tone sounded almost silly, but the way that house-sized claw twitched toward Rubia told me it was dead serious. Would our lives end here? I considered running, but there was no way I could outrun the sandstorm summoned by this thing. All it would take were a few steps from those massive legs, and we'd be done.

We could've just walked into the temple and taken the Lurium in peace. Why had Isaac awakened this thing? He had to know we couldn't beat it. Did he trust Rubia that much?

"One chance remains!"

WUUUUUUUUNG!

Dark rune letters swirled around the giant turtle, appearing like a prelude to a devastating attack.

"Human woman... This might be the last riddle of your life. Are you prepared?"

"Yes. I'll solve it."

"You throw it away when you need it... and you pick it up when you don't. What is it? Wadluth gives a fair three minutes. Just because you're a fragile human female who'd die from a grain of sand doesn't mean you get five."

Its massive head leaned forward. As if its vision had adapted to the desert light, its pale blue eyes widened slightly, glancing at Rubia. She shut her eyes tightly in concentration. Her eyelids trembled.

Could she really solve this? What the hell was Isaac even doing right now? Did he really think we'd get through this with no plan? Thinking back, its explanation for the first riddle made the answer seem obvious in hindsight. Perhaps, I could've solved it, but this one?

You throw it away when you need it... Pick it up when you don't? What the hell was that?

Rubia opened her eyes. Was she about to protest how ridiculous the question was? Instead, she nodded slightly, confidence in her gaze.

"The answer is an anchor. You drop it when docking, and haul it up when you depart."

"Ahh... correct! Wadluth is pleased."

The black letters hanging in the air vanished all at once.

"You actually got that?"

"I like riddles. And most riddle logic follows a pattern... I'm a little embarrassed to be praised for something so minor."

"That wasn't minor..."

Those floating glyphs would've launched straight at us if she'd gotten it wrong.

"Then... next question..."

The giant turtle kept going. Rubia continued solving them. I kept failing.

"Speak my name and I disappear. What am I?"

"Silence."

She didn't even take ten seconds.

"Correct! Someone so good at riddles is precious! Wadluth feels joy with every solved riddle!"

"

Whew...

" Rubia let out a soft sigh, not appearing worn out in the slightest.

If anything, she seemed more relaxed. Her response time was getting faster.

"Then the next question is for the other one. I know he'll get it wrong, but I'll ask anyway because rules are rules."

The turtle was growing increasingly affectionate toward Rubia, and just as increasingly dismissive of me. Not that I could complain. Rubia had solved five riddles, whereas I'd failed all five. This would be the sixth.

"The one who made me doesn't want me. The one who buys me doesn't need me. The one who uses me doesn't know me. Who am I? Was that difficult? Of course it was. Easy questions won't help you anyway, since you get them wrong regardless. So I made it hard."

That bastard. Why did the marquis go off to hunt a basilisk instead of eliminating this thing? What a damn shame. There's an S-rank target right here, practically in his backyard. If he doesn’t know about it, I'll rat this thing out in my next life.

I mulled over the answer, but time ran out.

"Three minutes! Time's up!"

Click.

I clenched my teeth. I thought the turtle might just move on and ask Rubia another question, but instead, it twitched its front foot and spoke.

"Hmm... it seems I can't consider the two of you as a team. The human woman must enter the temple alone to receive the goddess's blessing. The other is prohibited from entry."

"Alone? That's... going to be a problem..."

RUMMMMMMBLE!

"A problem? Weren't you the one so eager to enter that you made Wadluth ask so many questions? Or... are you saying you tricked Wadluth into playing? Is that it...?"

Wadluth slowly began to rise. Watching what had seemed like a dune erupt like a sand mountain was nothing short of horrifying.

[S-rank wide-area effect triggered!]

[Resisting pressure based on total stats, skills, and racial traits.]

[Total Stats: 328]

[Possesses Insight (C+).]

[Experienced Clear Mirror, Still Water.]

[Partial resistance achieved.]

[Next available action: Escape]

FWOOSH!

I scooped up Rubia and hurled myself backward. What we thought was a sand dune was just a part of its shell. As the creature stood on all fours, more of its massive physique emerged from beneath the desert. The sand rippled like liquid.

"Where do you think you're going...?"

Its neck stretched toward us, blocking the blazing sun as it cast a pitch-black shadow over the desert. Rubia struggled to breathe under the weight of its presence. The only reason the turtle hadn't crashed down on us was probably because it

wanted

to take her alive. If it had decided to crush us with raw pressure, her heart would've stopped already.

"You solved my riddles so well... and now you refuse to enter the temple?"

A flush of blood-red spread through Wadluth's once light-blue eyes. Its brown shell darkened, turning pitch-black throughout. The moment it fully rose to its feet, something unexpected occurred.

"What... is this...?"

The desert wind began swirling around it, forming strange characters of light and shadow on either side of the beast.

ZEEEENG!

A dot, darker than shadow, shot toward its exposed underside.

"Many hyponis, lichisteo. Peta o rata pragmata sas. Nio ton exapani per Theo (Sink into sleep. Slip away. Lay down all your burdens. Feel the touch of the vanished god.)"

The letters floating in the sand to the right were sucked toward the black dot, like a net pulling tight beneath the turtle's belly.

"Chato ou penebma so ichio to telachini. (Let your consciousness slip with the sound of the final snowfall.)"

As Wadluth stood, the letters on the left were also drawn in. They threaded together like a string on a needle, heading straight for its underbelly.

"Spathe to riche ponyor! (Break upon the cliff of slumber!)"

The writing burst into a foggy gray mist and slammed into the creature's underside. I didn't know the theory behind magic or curses, but after handling so much power, I could recognize the flow of energy. The ritual had been prepared in advance all around us, set to trigger the moment Wadluth began rising.

The instant its belly became exposed, the massive turtle collapsed, slumping forward onto the sand.

"Wadluth... gets sleepy... when his belly's tickled..."

RUMBLE...

It sank halfway back into the earth.

The pitch-black dot shot toward us and shouted, "

Hahaha!

Perfect timing! The main character always shows up at the end!"

I asked, "What the hell did you just do? Why'd you provoke that monster?"

"Because the temple doesn't reveal its true form until this guy wakes up."

Rubia, still pale and shaken, finally managed to speak. "The... temple's true form?"

"That's right. Hurry now. Get inside. Only once you're inside can we seal this thing properly again."