Ch.126Reunion

What the hell is written here?

Could it be an ancient language? Naturally, it was a language I’d never seen before.

I could at least tell that at least two different people had written it.

The character shapes were different from each other, and there were subtle differences in the angle and depth of the engravings on the wall.

Beyond that, I couldn’t understand anything.

Still, if someone took the trouble to carve it here, it must contain important information.

I’ll have to investigate it later.

I unwrapped one of the less blood-soaked bandages and copied the wall inscriptions using my own blood.

It was a crude writing tool, but the best I could do. I hadn’t brought a pen or paper with me.

Other than that, there wasn’t much to find.

No path leading outside was visible.

There was nothing but debris, debris, and more damn debris.

That couldn’t be right.

Every dungeon has a way out. Especially in an isolated space like this.

At least, that’s how it worked in the game.

This might be reality, but that aspect shouldn’t be too different.

Dungeons were originally someone’s living quarters.

Without an exit, everyone would just starve to death.

So there must be an exit somewhere…

Surely it’s not at the bottom of the lake?

I prayed it wasn’t.

Even if I could safely descend to the lake, I doubted I could withstand immersing myself in that enormous mass of dark mana.

Even Mana Resistance has its limits.

My anxious heart searched for something to calm my mind.

I took out a cigarette and lit it.

Though it would heighten my senses and make the pain a bit worse, the desire to satisfy my craving was stronger.

I inhaled deeply. The smoke spread deep into my body.

It does hurt a bit more…

As my head cleared, intense pain surged from my wounds.

The cigarette tip clenched between my teeth became crushed and distorted.

The exhaled smoke drifted toward the ground.

The ground?

I hurriedly examined where the smoke was seeping into the floor.

There was a very faint impression.

Something had been engraved and then scraped away to hide the traces as much as possible.

I placed my hand on the floor.

Faintly engraved seals gradually began to glow, revealing themselves.

Just like when I was transported into this cavity after unknowingly touching the door, mana flowed along the floor.

– Rumble…!

The temple floor shook as if an earthquake had struck.

This wasn’t a spatial transfer manifesting.

Of course not—the size of the seal and the scale of mana were completely different from before.

What unfolded before my eyes was child’s play compared to spatial transfer magic.

Slowly, the floor opened.

The wave that started from where I placed my hand pushed the floor downward, revealing what was inside.

I see, a secret passage.

When the vibrations that had been rumbling for a while finally stopped, a hole wide enough for three people to pass through at once gaped open before me.

Underground stairs.

A dim blue light leaked from inside, as if mana lamps were lit.

I couldn’t tell where the stairs led, but they probably connected to an exit…

Well, I wouldn’t know until I checked it out.

The exhaled smoke stretched forward.

A faint breeze from behind brushed past my back.

If air was flowing as soon as it opened, didn’t that mean there was a space connected to the outside on the other end?

With the cigarette still in my mouth, I headed down the stairs.

See? This thing is so useful.

Without it, how would I have discovered a magically concealed passage?

I went down the temple’s underground stairs, waving the cigarette up and down.

Soon, familiar noise and vibrations came from above.

The secret door was probably closing again.

I hoped that if the Deathknight, who was likely still crawling up from the lake, returned to the temple, he wouldn’t notice I’d gone this way.

—-

The passage was longer than I expected.

Or rather, deeper might be the right word.

The stairs seemed endless.

Just when I thought I’d reached a dead end, they continued in the opposite direction, burrowing deeper and deeper.

I wondered if I’d eventually reach the lake-flooded area if I kept going down.

Fortunately, a door appeared before I encountered any water.

Unlike the previous doors with engravings, this was an ordinary door with a lock.

I crushed the lock and flung the door wide open.

This is…

Inside was a space that looked like some kind of ritual chamber.

A two-step staircase. A wide platform occupied more than half the room.

Beyond the platform, the wall was covered with unfamiliar characters and complex engravings surrounding them.

I shifted my gaze to the floor. A circular seal filled the platform floor.

The outline formed two concentric circles, with five smaller circles surrounding the perimeter.

Geometric shapes and characters filled the interior of the circle.

This is clearly a magic circle.

One circle in front, four circles in the back.

Four glass pillars stood on each of the circles in the back.

Up close, the glass pillars were filled with red liquid. Actually, only three of them were.

The remaining one was shattered from the inside.

The stain on the floor had a faint metallic smell.

…Blood. Though it had dried up and turned into black stains, there was no mistaking it.

That means this red liquid is all blood.

Were they performing human sacrifices?

Looking closely, something was floating in the blood inside the glass pillars.

Human heads. Or more precisely, skulls that had once been human heads.

Each snow-white skull had a single character engraved on its forehead.

The same characters as those engraved in the magic circle directly below the glass pillars.

The broken pillar probably had the same. I read the characters on the ground.

[ ᛏ ] [ ᚲ ] [ ᚨ ] [ ᚻ ]

Three were unfamiliar, but the character under the broken pillar looked familiar.

It was the character engraved on the Deathknight’s sword.

What did he call it…?

Hagalaz?

That was roughly the pronunciation, I think.

There wasn’t anything else special, but…I had a rough idea of what I needed to do.

I headed toward the empty circle opposite the glass pillars.

It was obvious—the shape clearly suggested I should stand there.

I put out my cigarette and took a deep breath.

Perhaps because I felt a bit tense, my exhaled breath was rough.

It was hard to suppress the rising anxiety.

A magic circle created through human sacrifice—I had no idea what effect it would have on me.

In the worst case, I might transform like that Deathknight.

The fact that only the pillar with the same character as on his sword was shattered strongly suggested a connection between the two.

Will this be okay…?

There was no point in hesitating—there were no other options. Nothing else in this room seemed promising.

Praying it wouldn’t be the worst outcome, I stepped onto the magic circle.

With a “woong” sound, a storm of mana swept over me.

The mana that briefly brushed my body flowed into the magic circle on the floor.

The magic circle, now saturated with mana, glowed red. The vivid crimson spread throughout the entire room.

I swallowed hard. This will be fine, right? This is okay, right?

The mana flowing along the engravings eventually concentrated in one place.

Inside the second glass pillar. The blood inside boiled instantly, and the skull engraved with the “ᚲ” character melted away.

Then the mana rushed back toward me,

carrying a strange heat.

A vivid flow of mana enveloped my body and surged upward.

Like dozens of snakes, it coiled around my legs and concentrated on my right wrist—specifically, the inside of my wrist.

Perhaps judging this wasn’t an attack spell, my Mana Resistance didn’t even try to resist.

“Nnngghh…!”

My wrist felt like it was on fire.

No, it was worse than being on fire—it felt like a burning blade was digging into my wrist. Very slowly.

A groan escaped involuntarily. I gritted my teeth and endured the pain.

Damn it, whatever this is, it hurts like hell!

A minute that felt like an hour. Finally, the light subsided.

Looking down at my wrist, which still throbbed with a burning sensation, I saw the character “ᚲ” clearly branded there.

Considering what the Deathknight showed earlier, this probably has some magical significance…but how do I even pronounce this?

If you’re going to give me something like this, you should at least include instructions.

Would mages perhaps know about this character?

Not that I could just go to a magic tower and ask.

High-level mages obsessed with magical research are nothing short of lunatics.

If this turned out to be a magical character even they weren’t familiar with…

They’d forget about status or consequences and immediately try to subdue me and cut off my wrist for study.

Even if Demian’s party with their holy sword visited them, if Demian’s level was too low, those crazy bastards would neutralize them with traps, steal the holy sword for “research,” and disappear without a trace.

Thanks to my experience as a player, I made an easy decision. I definitely shouldn’t ask mages.

If they already knew about this type of magic, they would have created permanent mana lamps by now.

I’ll have to keep my wrist covered from now on.

Well, time to leave.

The incoming breeze cooled my burning wrist.

A section of the wall had opened wide.

Before leaving, I looked at the magic circle once more.

Another pillar had been destroyed.

The second pillar, like the fourth, had shattered to pieces. As if its purpose had been fulfilled.

The other two pillars…remained intact without any reaction, suggesting this was all I could get.

I’d like to put Frider or Demian on that magic circle too, but that would be too dangerous.

Setting aside the fact that they probably couldn’t enter due to level requirements, let’s say I somehow managed to bring them here.

What if that Deathknight appeared before us as if he’d been waiting?

We’d be completely wiped out.

Disappointing, but I’ll have to give up on that idea.

I stepped through the opened wall.

At the end of a short passage stood a familiar-looking door.

Finally…!

I strode toward the door with excitement. It was definitely a transfer door.

The surface was covered with the same engravings as the door that had thrown me here.

I placed my hand on the transfer door. Mana swirled and emitted light.

With a blinding flash, I saw the surrounding space gradually distort.

Like wet oil paint melting away.

The next moment—I found myself back in the clearing where I’d separated from my companions.

Wide-eyed gazes stared at me blankly.

“H-Haschal?!”

Millia, who met my eyes, exclaimed in surprise.

…Why are they still here? It’s been quite a while since I was transferred.

Don’t tell me they’ve just been sitting here resting instead of looking for me?