Chapter 171 - Burning (3)

Once we discovered that Aynar had hit the jackpot with [Wings of Greed], Raven put her through her paces like a puppet, testing its capabilities.

First, the most important point.

"I-I can't fly...!!"

The wings couldn't be used for flight. And since they were made of light, they couldn't attack or defend, either. She couldn't even move them at will.

They simply moved according to her mood.

The wings fluttered furiously.

Oh dear. Looks like she's upset.

But you have to consider game balance. Wouldn't it be ridiculously overpowered if this one skill let her fly, too?

"... Still, they do suit you wonderfully."

"Yeah, yeah! You look really strong, nyah."

"Really?!"

At the mere mention that she looked strong, the wings started fluttering again, giving an exuberant flap.

Hmm. She's clearly happy now.

To be fair, even I thought the wings looked seriously cool. The effect of sucking in the surrounding air whenever she healed was pretty flashy, too.

"If we'd known, it might have been a good choice for you too, Mr. Jandel. Don't you regret passing it up?"

"Huh?"

"You lost your Vampire's Essence, so you don't have any health regeneration abilities anymore."

Oh, that's what she meant.

But this Essence wasn't a good fit for me. For starters, its passive didn't suit a tank. Besides, I could get a certain amount of regeneration from stats alone, and there were plenty of much better options. Why bother?

'Above all, it synergizes well with Aynar.'

The effect of [Scars of Explosion] was simple: hit the same spot twice, and it caused an explosion.

In the game, it had felt something like a critical hit. Raising Precision or fighting slower monsters made it trigger a little more often.

But paired with [Double Slash], it was a different story.

"Let's keep moving, then."

Not long after we resumed exploring, a group of monsters appeared, and everyone got to see Aynar's growth firsthand.

BOOM!

An explosion erupted the moment she used [Double Slash]. The rank-seven monster's head burst instantly, and it vanished into light.

The power was enough to fluster even Raven as she watched.

"... Don't tell me this is why you had Aynar absorb that Essence? Just because I guessed that hitting the same spot caused an explosion?"

Well, it wasn't a guess to me.

Of course, I couldn't say that, so I offered a convenient explanation.

"You're our team's mage. Of course I trust your judgment."

"Uh... I appreciate that, but..."

As expected, Raven fell silent, unable to come up with a reply. Meanwhile, Aynar was tearing through the monsters, unable to contain her excitement.

"BEHEL-RAAAAA!!!!"

Explosions blossomed with every swing of her sword.

BOOM! BOOM!

Thanks to the dual stats—Strength and Agility—on the Vertars Essence, her movements were far smoother and more powerful than before.

Of course, without me drawing aggro up front, her injuries kept piling up...

"Wings!!!"

But using [Life Power Absorption] and [Wings of Greed] together healed her wounds in no time.

'I guess that settles her character concept.'

The Berserker barbarian.

I watched Aynar fight, making no attempt to hide my satisfaction. I was a little envious, too. Until I discovered the shield barb, I'd always built my characters that way.

After all, exhilarating combat was every man's dream.

'... It might not be a bad idea to raise her Strength some more and have her dual-wield greatswords.'

I pictured it for a moment. A barbarian warrior with a massive greatsword in each hand, spinning across the battlefield like a whirlwind.

And with a pair of glowing wings as a cosmetic skin on her back?

Oh, shit.

'That's fucking awesome.'

Maybe I could live vicariously through her.

"B-Bjorn!"

"All right. I'll help now."

Her build wasn't developed enough to overcome the numerical disadvantage yet, so I finally joined in and finished the fight.

Still, had that alone been impressive enough?

"Wow, a single Essence can make you that much stronger, nyah..."

Misha looked on with a hint of envy.

Then again, she didn't have any Essences of rank five or higher yet. Seeing Aynar with rank-four and rank-five Essences might well make her feel left behind. Especially since Aynar, like me, hadn't even been an explorer for a full year.

"Don't worry. You'll get stronger, too."

"Yeah..."

Misha had suddenly grown dispirited, but there was nothing else I could tell her right now. I wasn't planning to go after that Essence until we'd gotten everything we needed from Hellfire Rift.

Would that take about half a year?

And I'd have to allow a few years to acquire that sword, the core of an ice dual-wielding swordsman's build.

'Now that I'm on the fifth floor, there's a mountain of things to do.'

After collecting only the magic crystals, we continued exploring.

The vast forest's blazing trees exuded a desolate beauty. As we fought our way through the monsters, time flew by, and before we knew it, dawn had broken on day thirty.

[08 : 10]

Only sixteen hours remained until the Labyrinth closed.

'Finally here. That was cutting it close.'

An enormous stone monument came into view between the trees.

"Everyone, stop!"

"Huh? Is it a trap, nyah?"

"I don't know. But it could be."

Raven immediately went on guard at the sight of a man-made structure. An admirable attitude, certainly, but...

'It's just a stone monument.'

In the game, that monument had no function whatsoever. Identical monuments also stood in the fields in the other directions, serving as landmarks of sorts.

Like a sign saying, "You're at the center."

Well, there might have been some hidden feature I'd simply failed to discover...

'But that's unlikely.'

I'd found it suspicious myself and tried every fucking thing I could think of, but nothing had come of it.

"Then what should we do?"

"Get ready for combat first. It might summon something when we enter its radius."

"All right."

Ignoring our mage's opinion in this situation wouldn't look good, so I obediently followed her instructions. Fortunately, Raven was cautious, not the type to waste time needlessly.

"I don't sense any mana. Still, I'll approach slowly, just in case."

We gradually closed the distance and stood before the monument. Naturally, no monsters sprang out.

"Mr. Jandel, could you try touching it?"

Right. You always make me do this sort of thing, huh?

Knowing it was safe, I simply put my hand on it. As expected, the monument didn't react at all.

"Could we stay a while so I can check a few things?"

"If you want."

I agreed to Raven's request without fuss. This was the real-life version, after all. I figured she might find a clue I'd never discovered in the game.

Thirty minutes passed.

"Raven, that's enough. Let's go."

"N-no! A man-made structure sitting right in the middle of a forest like this? There has to be a story behind it!"

It seemed she'd fallen into the same trap I had.

Just how many months had I wasted thinking that?

"Ugh, I feel like I'll figure it out if I have just a little longer..."

A little longer, my ass.

"We don't have much time left. If you're that curious, look for relevant records once we get out."

Once I firmly drew the line, Raven reluctantly let it go and followed my lead. For all her quirks, she hated inconveniencing other people.

In short, she was easy to handle.

"All right, let's go."

After that, we explored the area around the monument, on the grounds that there might be something nearby. We wouldn't get far in the remaining day anyway, so everyone agreed without complaint.

'After this much searching, it should turn up soon...'

We'd spent about two hours scouring the area when it happened.

"Bjorn! Over there! Look over there, nyah!"

Misha shouted, pointing.

"... A house?"

In the middle of a forest teeming with monsters and burning on all sides stood a two-story brick house.

'Whew. Looks like I won't have to come back for this.'

It was exactly the place I'd been looking for.

* * *

The blackened wooden door swung limply open.

CREEEAK.

What a noise.

It grated on my nerves, so I simply tore the door off and tossed it onto the floor.

"Excuse me, could you please stop breaking things at random?"

"... Always nagging."

"No, I'm not nagging—"

"All right. I'll be careful."

She sure had a lot to say over one broken door.

"... This place is kind of creepy, nyah."

The building's interior was practically a ruin. We'd used magic to confirm there were no monsters, but we searched cautiously in case there were traps.

Even so, it didn't take long. Everything, from the sofa to the outer walls, had been burned down to its framework.

We finished searching the first floor in no time and headed upstairs. There, in what looked to have been a bedroom, we found a book.

"Raven! A book! You like these!"

Perhaps because it had been inside a drawer, the book was relatively intact. Its exterior was completely charred, of course, but some pages inside were still in fairly good condition.

'... Was this here before?'

An item I hadn't found in the game.

Eyes shining, Raven took the book from Aynar and carefully opened it.

"It's written in the ancient language."

"Can you read it?"

"Yes. This sort of thing is my specialty. Anyway, it looks like a diary."

Raven began reading aloud, almost as if showing off her knowledge.

The contents were quite interesting.

[Day 192. The rescue party didn't come today, either. Only three of us expedition members remain now. Tarbian suggested building a house, and I agreed. Demon meat tasted like shit again today.]

[Day 271. We've finished a fairly respectable house. The three of us drank the wine we'd been saving. How long has it been since we laughed and talked like this? Damn it, I'd still feel fantastic if Zephyros hadn't gotten drunk and started spouting nonsense.]

[What's the point of living when the world's ended, he says?]

[Even if everything burns to ash, there is hope.]

[The proof is that we're still alive.]

[Day 467. Tarbian is pregnant. Whose child could it be? Neither Zephyros nor I asked. Ah, Tarbian. A woman wiser and more pitiful than anyone. I desperately want a drink today.]

[Day 672. No, is it 673? I don't know, but something terrible has happened. The Orb of Fire has begun losing its power. The outer walls are already gradually getting scorched. Only Tarbian, our mage, can repair it. But even if she sacrifices her life to buy more time, what's the point?]

[Day 711. For the first time in a very long while, Zephyros and I agreed on something.]

[Today, we die.]

[If the world hasn't been destroyed at the witch's hands, and someone finds this place someday, I hope they use the object in the basement to save the world.]

The diary didn't even mention its writer's name. And only four pages were intact.

But as Raven read the final entry, she was overcome with shock.

"The witch..."

"Why are you so surprised, nyah?"

"I suspected it because of the ancient language, but... The person who wrote this diary was from our dimension!"

"Huh?"

Misha gave her a look that said, 'So what?'

But Raven was in no state to offer a helpful explanation.

"What does this mean? Ah, because this is another dimension? Is that why records from that time remain here? No, then how did these people get here?"

Raven muttered to herself as if sorting through her thoughts. Surprisingly, though, it didn't last long.

"The basement! Let's check the basement first! If this is true, there should be something down there."

"Good idea."

We returned to the first floor and cleared away the collapsed furniture, revealing a passage underground. It was quite dark, so a light-orb spell was cast.

STEP, STEP.

At the bottom was a small space measuring about three pyeong. It looked as if it had been used to store food and supplies...

And there was a chest that looked valuable at a glance.

"I'll open it."

"Oh, would you?"

Right. Taking charge of all those things earlier was finally paying off.

'That sounded natural, right?'

With that thought, I opened the chest. Inside was a single orb.

Before Raven could say a word, I reached out and touched it.

「You have been registered as the user of the Orb of Fire.」

This was a bound item, you see.