Sanctum
by Afuhfuihgs
The raccoon with the bag didn’t get far before being caught. With Ellie’s indiscriminate magic barrage and my space magic, escaping wasn’t easy for even the fastest raccoon. The raccoon, having lost the bag to the Demon King, scurried away from us with hoda-dak- footsteps.
The Demon King, already having achieved his goal, completely ignored the receding raccoon and licked his lips, wearing an expression full of anticipation.
“Alright, it’s gacha time!”
The Demon King turned the bag upside down, spilling its contents onto the floor. A piece of wood that looked like a door frame material and a handle rolled around on the floor. As the bag emptied completely, the materials moved on their own as if by magic, creating a door.
“Everyone, pray! For the best place to come out!!!”
At the Demon King’s shout, Ellie and I pretended to pray, not even knowing where the best place was. The Demon King, rubbing his hands together like a fly and earnestly calling out the names of Buddha, God, and other unknown deities… anyone who could help with the gacha, soon approached the completed door.
“If you turn the handle three times, knock on the door twice, and then open it, you have a better chance of getting to a good place.”
“Are you sure? It sounds like superstition to me?”
At my doubt, the Demon King looked back at me over his shoulder and said.
“Hey, that’s disrespectful to a Labyrinth veteran. Interpret it as a positive routine rather than superstition.”
In the end, he’s saying it’s a useless act. Ellie seemed to interpret it that way too, as she immediately approached the door, pushed the Demon King aside with her shoulder, and grabbed the handle.
“Surely, it wouldn’t be good if an unlucky bastard turned it.”
“An unlucky bastard? Who is that?!”
I ignored the Demon King, who turned his head this way and that, thinking he wasn’t the one, then fixed his gaze on me and nodded as if he understood. Meanwhile, Ellie opened the door without a moment’s hesitation. Whatever came out, it would all be new to us anyway, so there was nothing to worry about.
Click-!
“Oh- my- God!”
The Demon King, seeing the door Ellie opened, went into MAX excitement and suddenly ran inside. Seeing that, we immediately followed him through the door. The view changed, and I heard the sound of the door closing behind me, the last one to enter.
“Where is this…?”
My first impression was that it was enormous. I could say it was the largest interior of any building I had ever seen in my life. Light flowed from somewhere, completely illuminating the interior, and the ceiling was so high that it was impossible to tell if it existed. Numerous doors existed on the pure white walls.
Numerous staircases floated in the air, moving sequentially to allow movement to the doors installed on the walls. Somehow, I couldn’t hide the sacred and holy atmosphere. Perhaps it was because I often saw white marble in churches or libraries that I felt a similar atmosphere. Looking around a bit, I realized that there were no people or other living beings anywhere in this vast place.
While Ellie and I were blankly admiring the surroundings for a while, the Demon King suddenly knelt on the floor, raised his arms in the air, and let out a shout of joy.
“…Hoo!!! Gacha success! This is the Sanctum! The safest and best place among the end points of the Labyrinth!”
“Sanctum?”
“Hoo! Hoo! Hoo~!!!”
“…”
“Hey, I’m asking what the Sanctum is.”
The Demon King, who had been excitedly waving his arms at my question, immediately stood up at Ellie’s question and explained kindly.
“It means the most sacred place. It’s the most important place in the world, and it’s where everything is. You could say it’s the original version of the Saintess’s Akashic Records that you know. Because Jinshian-nim’s subconscious had an image of the Akashic Records like this. A collection of vast, complex, and incomprehensible things, so it’s like… a giant magic library.”
The Demon King snapped his fingers, pondered for a moment, and then stroked his chin, adding an explanation.
“A giant building with a self, a library where everything trivial in the world is recorded. In the past, I’ve arrived at the Sanctum a total of 4 times while completing the Labyrinth. During those 4 times, I identified 8219 floors of the Sanctum.”
I asked the most important thing first, rather than anything else.
“Do you know how to get to the 9th floor?”
“I know. I have information that was arbitrarily updated in my head.”
That’s a relief then. I didn’t want to wander around this huge and vast place looking for an exit. I followed behind the Demon King, who confidently moved his feet. As we waited quietly, the staircase floating in the air stopped in front of us as if it were a taxi that had spotted a customer.
“Lucky. A friendly staircase. Everyone be careful. Sometimes there are staircases here that collapse when you step on them or disappear in mid-air. There are also staircases that flip over at certain locations.”
At the Demon King’s warning, Ellie and I nodded at the same time, trusting the Labyrinth veteran. The staircase floating in the air went up for a long time before arriving at a certain wall. The Demon King skillfully opened the door and went inside. Following behind him, I could see a restaurant with the smell of delicious food.
“…I was hungry anyway, so this is good.”
“Really? Then let’s fill up here before we go. The food is free.”
The restaurant was a franchise store that sold common hamburgers. There were no employees, but when the Demon King skillfully operated the kiosk, a hot hamburger set immediately appeared on the counter. There were hamburger stores in the capital city too, but this place had carbonated drinks. Ellie, trying carbonated drinks for the first time, grabbed her neck and reacted as if she was about to faint.
“Why do you eat something that hurts your throat like this?”
“Heh heh, a delightful reaction. Hey, drink some more. Then you’ll know why you eat it.”
Ellie, tasting it with suspicious eyes, soon realized how delicious carbonated drinks were with french fries. After filling our stomachs with hamburgers, we moved again. Following the Demon King into a room labeled “Staff Room,” the Sanctum reappeared.
“This is the 193rd floor. Moving through connected doors like this, rather than using the stairs, saves time and is safer.”
Usually, isn’t it safer to use the stairs? But it’s not a newbie’s place to argue with a veteran. Nodding as if I understood, the Demon King led us from the front with a satisfied expression. Passing through a zoo, a desert, and a valley, we arrived at a castle and were walking inside.
“Now, if we go straight ahead, a door will appear.”
Contrary to the Demon King’s words, what appeared to us as we walked forward was a fork in the road divided into left and right.
“…What? It’s different from what you said?”
I could see the Demon King’s shoulders shrinking at Ellie’s cold voice. Before I could ask anything, the Demon King turned to us and suddenly asked me with a serious face.
“Hey, do you remember IU’s ‘The Red Shoes’ song?”
“…Suddenly?”
“Sing it.”
“…Out of the blue?”
“It’s important.”
It’s out of context, but there must be a reason why he’s saying it so seriously. I pondered for a moment. It was a song I had heard a long time ago, so it wasn’t easy to recall. To help me, the Demon King hummed the melody, and finally the lyrics came to mind. I cleared my throat and sang.
“Ahem, I’ve lost my way~♬ Where should I go- wait, don’t tell me?”
The Demon King, raising his thumb as if I was right, soon grabbed his crown and rolled on the floor.
“You confidently shouted at us and now you’re confidently raising your thumb!”
“Aaaagh!”
It seems he really lost his way. As I sighed, grabbing my forehead, the Demon King, who was being mercilessly trampled on by Ellie’s foot, wriggled and shouted urgently.
“Wait! Give me one last chance to explain!”
Ellie, who had raised her leg high, stopped her leg in the air as if telling him to speak and looked down at the Demon King with cold eyes. The Demon King swallowed hard, looked at me and Ellie in turn, and then smiled.
“This is joint responsibility- Kueeeek!!!”
I let out an even deeper sigh.
***
“So, originally, the spectators remembered the way and gave instructions, so you didn’t need to remember it… but now the connection is broken, so you got lost?”
As I roughly summarized the situation, the Demon King, whose face was swollen, nodded diligently. When I sighed, Ellie took it as a signal that she could hit him more and gripped her staff even tighter, causing the Demon King to shout urgently.
“But I’m not completely lost!”
“…Then?”
“We just need to find the Ross in another world who knows the passage to the 9th floor!”
“?”
When I tilted my head, not understanding, the Demon King quickly regained his confidence and got up from the floor.
“I told you! This is the Akashic Records. Surely there’s a record somewhere about the Ross in another world who went to the 9th floor. If we find that, we can find the way to the 9th floor!”
“If you’re wrong again, you’re dead this time.”
At Ellie’s fierce warning, the Demon King brushed the dust off his clothes and retorted.
“Aish! These people, really! Just trust me! I’m a veteran here! You guys just trust me and take the bus!”
Saying that, the Demon King led us again and soon arrived at a place where we could see records about the Ross in another world. He certainly seems to know a lot about the Sanctum.
“Can we find out just by opening this door?”
When Ellie and I asked with expectant faces, the Demon King said as if it were obvious.
“What are you talking about? Of course, we have to check from here one by one as we go up? Already such a free-loading mentality, aish… kids these days are hopeless.”
“…How much do we have to check?”
The Demon King, stroking his chin and pondering at my question, answered.
“Hmm… maybe 100 floors? About 10 floors up and down?”
I immediately turned to Ellie and said.
“Just kill him halfway for now.”
“Okay, I got it.”
“Wa, wait―! How can you only kill me halfway― Kueeeeeeeek!!!”
Ellie did her best to resolve the Demon King’s question.
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