Ch.3734 – Abyss

“Thank you so much for saving Refi!”

While Laura and I were busy arguing with the trackers, a man named Daniel burst in and helped us out.

He claimed to be Refi’s guardian and expressed his gratitude to us.

“Brother Daniel!”

“I’ve been looking everywhere for you, Refi! What happened?”

“I… I was so scared! Waaaaaah!”

“And where did you leave the laurel?”

Refi’s finger pointed at us.

More specifically, at Laura’s head.

“The laurel…? Are you elves from Arsheria’s Forest?”

Daniel’s eyes widened.

[Yes, that’s right. / You’ve got some nerve stealing our property.]

Suddenly the world froze, and I was presented with choices.

Laura looked at me, confused.

‘Which one should I pick?’

“I don’t think it matters which one.”

Laura nodded after hearing that.

“Yes, that’s right.”

“I thought so, those ears… Then you must be here to retrieve the laurel.”

Ears?

Come to think of it, Laura’s ears had become more pointed than before.

I touched my own ears and found the same situation.

It seemed that in this story, we were playing the role of elves.

“The Laurel of Arsheria, a medium that can wield two-dimensional magic. But we only have this one in our possession.”

[Where are the other laurels? / Stop hiding them and hand them over right now!]

“Where are the other laurels?”

“The remaining four must be in the possession of the Bahamut Empire! They claim that their delegation was attacked and lost the laurels they were supposed to return, but they’ve already secretly planned to transport them to the imperial palace through various lords.”

“How do you know that?”

The point was this:

One year ago, the Bahamut Empire borrowed five laurels from the Arsheria elves.

They said they needed magic for a large-scale forest purification project and asked for help.

The elves didn’t trust humans, but based on their experience of exchanges over the past 10 years with Daniel and others as delegates, they proposed a conditional loan.

The condition was to allow the use of the laurels only if accompanied by delegates and elven elders.

The Bahamut Empire agreed to this, and for several months, everything seemed to go smoothly.

The Empire continuously reported on the purification work, and the elves were quite satisfied with the results.

But while the delegates and elves were returning home with the laurels, they were attacked by unknown assailants, and the five laurels were scattered.

“I was part of the Arsheria delegation at that time! Thanks to the help of skilled individuals, I barely survived… but the Empire is still hunting down survivors.”

But the survivors had nowhere to go.

The Bahamut Empire, intent on eliminating witnesses, was out of the question, and they couldn’t apply for asylum in other countries that had closed their borders due to the cold war.

“We’re currently with an organization called ‘Abyss.’ I know it’s considered a subversive group against the Empire, but we had no choice if we wanted to stop the Empire’s conspiracy.”

“So what does Refi have to do with all this that she’s traveling with you?”

“Everything, of course.”

Daniel widened his eyes as if stating the obvious.

“She was the head of the delegation. Refi is destined to become a Saint.”

* * *

“So the Empire is planning something bad with the laurels, and we need to stop them?”

“Hmm…”

“What? Am I wrong?”

Daniel and Refi took us to one of the Abyss branches in District 15 of the capital.

They had arranged a meeting with the branch leader to find the locations of the remaining laurels, and we were heading underground.

“Daniel is cleverly mixing in lies. For now, our goal is to find the laurels, so let’s go along with them.”

Above all, doesn’t the name “Abyss” sound suspicious?

But I liked the fact that they were rebelling against the evil Empire.

I suppose I could cut them some slack for now.

Knock knock

“Enter.”

A cold voice echoed through the corridor.

Beyond the dimly lit room, illuminated only by a small lantern, came a phlegmy voice.

“Please understand, I’ve always lived in darkness. Even now, it’s actually too bright for my eyes.”

“You’re not human.”

“Haha, you figured that out already? But it hurts my feelings when you say it like that. Human blood definitely flows in me too. There are no chairs, so please excuse me for making you stand.”

‘Sis, that person is super ugly.’

‘Shh!’

Would our private conversation affect the NPC?

“Ahem! AHEM!”

Unfortunately, it did.

Luckily, it didn’t seem to affect the story much, as the branch leader proceeded with his planned speech.

“We’ve found another laurel at ‘Remnant Academy.’ But we don’t know its exact location. How do you plan to enter the academy?”

[We’ll enroll through the proper procedures. / We don’t have much time.]

“We don’t have much time. I assume ‘Abyss’ already has a plan prepared?”

[Entering Nightmare difficulty]

“Haha, I can’t handle this! Does that mean you’re willing to join our ‘Academy Invasion Operation’?”

“Invasion? Invasion?”

“Invasion. It means we’re going to storm the academy.”

It’s certainly the fastest way to seize the laurel.

Since I already held the belief that the Empire’s academy should fall at least once, I nodded in satisfaction to the branch leader.

“Very well. I’ll provide details on the invasion plan later. In the meantime, explore the city to familiarize yourself with the geography.”

The branch leader soon dismissed us.

However, he seemed to have one more thing to add, as he didn’t extinguish the lantern when we turned to leave.

“I see you’re not officially dispatched forest guardians from Arsheria. Did you run away from home? Well, it’s not my business, but I’d like you to at least know how to use the laurel before you go. Daniel will kindly explain if you ask him.”

* * *

World of Arsheria’s system is unique.

Physical attributes like strength, agility, and mana affinity were all governed by the system.

Players could receive quests from NPCs and increase their stats through hunting, dueling, or completing missions.

But the truly unique aspect was that when equipped with a laurel, players could use a limited range of any magic they knew in real life.

This was why WoA was so popular.

In a strictly controlled game world, they added just one element of freedom, but the ways to utilize it were endless.

For example, with just one laurel, you could freely use magic below the 1st circle.

This system was especially effective when playing as a duo.

While one person fought hard, the other could find and support with appropriate magic.

[Cast: Inertia Tensor Adjustment]

“Wow, it’s not heavy at all!”

This was why Laura, lacking in strength stats, could wield a two-handed sword without hesitation—thanks to this magic.

Since a two-handed sword could be treated as a sufficiently integrable rigid body, rather than simply reducing its weight, I could manipulate the physical quantity of the inertia tensor to preserve its power.

Using the Kronecker delta, the formula wasn’t complicated, and it was easy to modify the secondary magic circle governing the non-inertial coordinate system terms to respond to the constantly changing path of the sword.

Laura, combined with a decent swordsmanship assistance system and my magic, was showing such overwhelming performance that you might believe a legendary hero had been reincarnated.

“To defeat the hydra so easily…!”

Daniel exclaimed in shock.

[You have defeated all 10 hydras within the time limit]

[Magic difficulty adjusted to 10]

When firepower was insufficient, we could also wrap the sword in plasma by employing higher-level casting.

[1st Circle Higher Casting: Plasma Frequency Control]

“Hyaaaah!”

Laura’s sword drew a semicircle as it struck the ground.

Sparks of various colors flew along its path, truly befitting her epithet “Warrior of Aurora.”

[You have broken through the Incomprehensible Labyrinth]

[Exploration difficulty adjusted to 10]

Laura and I cleared various sub-quests one by one until the academy invasion.

We stormed into a strange laboratory to defeat hydras released by an eccentric doctor, and explored underground dungeons with valuable treasures.

The realistic sensations were amazing, but even this would become dull after playing the game for a while.

[You have defeated the Knight Commander]

[Infamy difficulty adjusted to 10]

I was annoyed by the strange system windows that kept popping up with incomprehensible content, so I set them to only show on Laura’s side.

“Did you clear the quest?”

I asked Laura, who had just won the duel against the Knight Commander.

Laura stared into space for a moment, then rolled her eyes around.

[Nightmare: Magic10/Exploration10/Infamy10 · Duo]

[Special rewards will be given]

“Yes! I got something like a gift!”

[Prologue: Child of the Oracle END]

“Shall we stop here for today? Professor Cheon said he brought some delicious chicken.”

[Nightmare Part 1: Remnant Academy Invasion Operation]

“Chicken? I love it!”