Chapter 26

“... Do we really have to do this?”

“There’s nothing to lose. No one’s come after us so far, which means there aren’t any reinforcements.”

Before setting out for the lake, Woojin had returned to where the collectors had been earlier.

“If there’s anything we can take, of course we should take it.”

He spoke to Irurin as he thoroughly searched the corpses’ pockets and bags.

“Here.”

Woojin handed her a dagger he had found on a corpse.

“But I’m a mage.”

“A fifth-grade mage, right? Unless your mana keeps flowing like a spring, you’ll need it.”

In the game, a fifth-grade mage was someone who had reached level 50 and was ready to head to the central continent. In short, her abilities were only just sufficient to attempt the Labyrinth Tower. He really couldn’t expect much help from her.

“You said you don’t know what we’ll find at the lake either, right? We’re not in a position to spare anyone to protect you.”

“...”

At his words, she gazed at the old dagger, then tucked it inside her robes without a word.

“... Huh?”

Then she gripped her staff, and the collectors’ corpses floated into the air and gathered in one spot.

“This should make the search a little faster.”

Irurin began going through the equipment on a corpse that had landed in front of her.

‘So she’s not all pride.’

Woojin gave a small chuckle at the sight. If she had been an arrogant mage whose skills couldn’t back up her attitude, he would have been better off going into the dungeon alone. When clearing a dungeon, neither its difficulty nor the players’ skills mattered most.

It was discord.

Unless they outclassed the opposition by an overwhelming margin, even skilled players were more likely to fail if they couldn’t work together. At the very least, they needed to recognize their own place and know when to yield.

“Magic is convenient.”

“You could learn it if you’re interested.”

“Magic? How, when I don’t have any mana?”

“What do you mean, you don’t have mana? Where on earth did you come from that you don’t even know how mana works?”

“... What do you mean?”

Irurin stopped searching the corpse and looked at him.

“There’s no such thing as a person without mana. The only difference is the size of the vessel that holds it. Anyone can use magic as long as they can sense mana.”

‘Everyone can use mana?’

Woojin frowned slightly.

‘When I used the Brand on Sig Elric in the Alchemist’s Laboratory, it said I couldn’t use it because I had no mana...’

Were things different in this other world? Something about her words felt strangely at odds with what he knew.

“... I’m sorry I can’t be of any help.”

Ruen, who had been watching them, spoke with a downcast expression. She said that although she possessed immense mana, her Mana Vessel Disease prevented her from casting proper magic. She couldn’t summon spirits either. In terms of fighting strength, she was practically a noncombatant.

‘In the game, it looked like Mana Vessel Disease could be treated one stage at a time...’

Had she not received proper treatment? Judging by her condition, she actually seemed worse off than the Ruen in the game.

‘I need to use this chance to find out whether the Verdure’s blood can cure Mana Vessel Disease.’

Not just for the Ruen here, but for the one in the game to survive as well. Whatever happened, he had to find the Primordial Sacred Spirit’s corpse.

“What’s the way to the lake?”

“I know the way. It isn’t far from here, so we can leave right away.”

Goun spoke while putting on armor and a sword taken from the corpses. The sword sat awkwardly in his hand. A single glance was enough to tell that he wasn’t used to combat.

“So it’s the four of us going to the lake.”

Woojin, Goun, Irurin, and Ruen.

‘She’s the only other one who can fight at all.’

“...?”

Irurin tilted her head as Woojin stared at her.

“Let’s do our best.”

Looking bewildered, she took his outstretched hand. It was rough and callused.

* * *

The party passed the Bloodstained Cave and continued along the mountain ridge.

“Are you all right?”

“Yes. I can manage.”

Woojin kept checking Ruen’s complexion as they walked. Around the third day, a large lake appeared before them.

“Be careful. The ward starts at this entrance.”

Where Irurin pointed, a long pole covered in strange ornaments stood planted in the ground.

“We’ll have to dispel this first.”

Woojin held the Pilgrim’s Cross he had received from Kihari in front of the pole.

HUM...

Pure white light poured from the cross, and the pole crumbled to dust in an instant. As the pole barring the entrance vanished, the lake’s pale green water turned blue.

“We’ll have to be careful from here on. I can only use Remove Curse once a day.”

“Huh? Really? What if we find another ward later?”

“We sleep on it.”

“... Oh.”

Irurin looked sheepish as Woojin answered casually and walked into the lake.

The water didn’t even reach their waists. The lake was so shallow that it might as well have been a giant puddle.

“At this depth, it should be easy to find, shouldn’t it?”

Goun splashed a foot through the water, his expression hopeful.

“Here it is.”

Leading the way, Irurin strode across the lake without hesitation, as though following markers only mages could see. At one spot, she reached into the water and found something.

CLICK.

A lever turned.

RUMBLE...

The ground shook. Astonishingly, the lake began draining into it like water down a sink. As the water receded, a staircase leading underground appeared beneath the lake.

“... Perhaps it won’t be so easy.”

Goun smacked his lips as he gazed down the seemingly endless stairs.

“We’ll need a light.”

Irurin nodded and conjured a small, flickering ball of light above her palm. As they descended the stairs, the party involuntarily held their breath.

“Urgh...”

Stuffed animals and monsters packed the walls, while the organs that should have been inside them sat in glass jars below.

“Wouldn’t be surprising if something jumped out at us here.”

Woojin offered his brief assessment as he surveyed them.

“D-don’t worry too much. Everything here is dead...”

‘Your voice is shaking too much for that to be reassuring...’

Irurin was the palest of them all, both hands clenched around her staff.

“Right. They’re dead, just like you said. That’s what makes this even more worrying.”

“What?”

“This laboratory belonged to a dark mage.”

The dead and dark magic. Wasn’t that a match made in heaven?

‘Besides, if the ward was still active...’

That meant the other spells were likely still in place too.

For example...

[SCREEEECH!!]

As they neared the end of the corridor, the monsters mounted on both walls opened their mouths and began to roar. Upward-jutting fangs and long jaws. Trolls.

“...!!!”

Their shock at the monsters’ sudden appearance lasted only a moment.

“Move!”

Woojin instinctively thrust his sword at the troll on the left wall.

CRUNCH!

He drove the blade into its neck and slashed sideways with all his strength.

[ROAAAR!!]

The troll screamed as though in pain.

“How can a corpse...!”

Even so, Woojin cut its head clean off.

“Framera!!!”

Flames erupted from Irurin’s staff a moment later, roasting the remaining troll black. It was an offensive spell from the second row of fire magic in the mage skill tree.

‘Casting with just the activation word. Her grade may be low, but she’s talented. No wonder the head of the Red Tower took her as a student.’

Woojin looked at Irurin standing before the troll’s corpse. Casting magic required an incantation. The higher the spell’s tier, the longer its incantation, and a mage’s ability was judged by how much they could shorten it.

‘Like composing music or solving an equation, players have to work out the shortened incantations themselves.’

That was both what made the mage class difficult and why mages were so highly regarded.

“Doesn’t seem to bother you, does it?”

Woojin pointed at the horribly burned troll. Unlike in the game, the monster’s corpse hadn’t disappeared.

“No. It’s a monster, not a person. I saw more monster corpses than I ever wanted to in anatomy class.”

Irurin dipped her head and started forward again. Despite her youth, she remained unshaken. Woojin began to hope they might finish this more easily than he had expected.

* * *

Irurin’s shoulders trembled uncontrollably, like leaves in the wind. Unfortunately, Woojin’s hopes from a moment earlier had come to nothing.

‘Unshaken, my ass...’

Then again, it was hardly surprising with that sight before her.

Beyond the passage lay an enormous cavern. All manner of experimental subjects littered its floor: severed orc heads, gnome fingers, fairies with their wings cut off, dwarven teeth, and more. The corpses and severed limbs piled inside the laboratory would have shocked even the collectors.

But that wasn’t why she had fallen into such a panic.

“M-Master...”

A lone figure sat at the far end of the field of corpses. It was Ratan Gray, former head of the Red Tower. Sitting before a large slab that resembled an operating table, he looked just as he had in life, but there was no more vitality in him than in any of the other corpses.

“Calm down.”

Woojin gripped her shoulder, but her trembling showed no sign of stopping.

“Stop! That’s not your teacher anymore.”

He blocked Irurin, who looked ready to rush over at any moment.

“My. Dis. Ci. Ple.”

That was when a voice rang out, slipping through the cracks in Irurin’s resolve as she struggled to steady herself.

THUNK. THUNK. THUNK.

Lights came on in the dark chamber.

CREAK... CREAAAK...

As the lights reached the center of the cavern, Ratan Gray raised his head, creaking like a broken doll.

“D-do you see that?”

Goun pointed behind Ratan. Something indistinct lay on the slab resembling an operating table.

It was Camilla’s corpse.

“It really is here... We’re saved! Everything will be all right now, Your Majesty!”

Woojin frowned as he caught Goun by the scruff of the neck and pulled him back from his tearful shouting.

‘One after another...’

“Everyone, get a grip!!!”

It wouldn’t have been strange if there were traps everywhere. Woojin stepped forward and shouted to rein in his agitated companions.

“My. Dis. Ci. Ple.”

At that moment, Ratan called to Irurin again.

“I. I was... de... de... deceived. Please... help... me...”

With a plaintive voice, Ratan Gray stretched a skeletal hand toward Irurin.

“Help... me.”

“Hey. You’re not actually buying that bullshit, are you?”

Woojin looked at Irurin. But the sight of her face, looking ready to burst into tears at any second, left him uneasy.

“Yes, I always... thought of you... as my daughter. Come... here, Irurin.”

“M-Master...!!”

At last, Irurin’s feet moved.

“Damn it!!”

Before he could stop her, she ran toward Ratan.

“Th... at’s right!!! So... now... become... my flesh... and blood... K-krrk...! Krrrr... KAAAAARGH!!!”

As though he had been waiting for this, Ratan’s body twisted grotesquely.

CRACK...! CRACKLE...!!

The corners of his mouth split all the way to beneath his ears, and his gaping jaws lunged to bite into Irurin’s head.

BOOM!!!

It happened then. Astonishingly, an explosion erupted from Ratan’s head as he lunged at Irurin.

“...?!”

[GACK... G-GACK...]

With half his head blown away, Ratan rolled his remaining eye toward her as though unable to believe what had happened. The others were staring at her in astonishment too.

“Master. What the hell are you talking about?”

As if to defy her companions’ fears that she would lose her composure, fierce flames flared from Irurin’s staff with a whoosh.

“You never once thought of me as a daughter.”

BOOM!!

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!!!

The fireballs summoned from her staff transformed into arrows and rained down on Ratan.

“Finally found you. You piece of shit who destroyed the Red Tower.”

[“W... wait...”]

Dozens more volleys of fire arrows poured down on the mangled corpse.