Ch.54Perpetual Motion Machine

Even after a long time, the cogwheel that had not a speck of rust began to slow down. The blue mana flowing along the metal surface had caused significant damage to the power mechanism installed inside.

Creak- Crack-

The noise grew louder. As the power driving the cogwheel cut off, the doll’s joints screamed in protest. The internal mechanism that had been operating flawlessly now misaligned, parts flying in all directions. The cogwheel had dislodged from its position, and the spring installed inside burst through the joints.

Nevertheless, the doll continued to move for its intended purpose. Unable to release the greatsword in its hand, it swung at the girl before it. But its speed was nothing compared to before. With its power cut off, it had no strength, and its misaligned parts prevented its joints from responding properly.

Screech-

Se-eorin stood still with her hand on the chest of the doll that had met its end. Her mind was hazy from the jumble of complicated memories. She must not forget. She needed to remember her name, her origin.

After envisioning the white expanse of snow, the first thing Se-eorin recalled was her younger sister’s face. The body of her sister, which was now her own physical form.

Rather than anger toward the reincarnator, or recognizing herself through her own information, she became aware of herself through her sister. That was because it was Se-eorin’s most intense memory.

‘Who is the most beautiful in the world?’

It was a question she asked herself in the mirror every morning when she woke up. Se-eorin answered without hesitation. Among the memories that had crossed countless dimensions, no one was more beautiful than her sister, Se-iran.

‘It’s me.’

Right now, she was the one using this body. So she wasn’t wrong. As Se-eorin became aware of herself, numerous memories began to settle. Her physical senses returned, and her sense of self was established.

It was the natural outcome. The dominant memory in this body had to be either Se-eorin herself or her sister Se-iran. All other memories were merely stepping stones for growth.

She discovered an unexpected drawback to what she thought was only a blessing. If she absorbed too many memories in a short period, she would lose herself. She had just been lucky. She wasn’t confident she could recover her sense of self this way next time.

‘Whirlpool Storm Strike…’

Se-eorin recalled the name of a martial art technique as she retrieved her White Dragon Sword. It was also the name of the technique she had just performed. The sequence of movements that should have flowed naturally was broken. It must have been because the sword broke while she was receiving memories through it.

The incantation was also unstable. The beginning and ending parts had vanished. What Se-eorin remembered started from the middle.

‘It seems I can’t use it right now…’

It appeared she would need to make separate modifications, just like when working on other martial arts. Her past ignorance of martial arts was gone. She had acquired various memories through the sword. Knowledge from different dimensions hinted at the potential of the incomplete martial art.

Se-eorin didn’t immediately leave the room the doll had been guarding. More precisely, she couldn’t leave. She had expended too much energy, and the wounds she had treated were reopening, causing blood to flow.

This was a place where she didn’t know what might appear next. She needed to recover her body at least to a level where she could fight immediately. Se-eorin took the key from the doll’s neck, then sat in the corner of the room, treating her wounds while chewing on dried jerky.

Se-eorin shook an empty potion bottle in front of her eyes. The moment she sprinkled it on her wounds, new flesh grew as if by magic. It had an effect similar to the legendary storm bird’s feather passed down in the White Frost tribe.

If she had had this potion, could she have saved her dying brothers?

The small girl soon shook her head. It was just a meaningless supposition. The past couldn’t be changed.

It was about three hours later when Se-eorin regained her strength. As she got up and approached the door, she stopped in her tracks.

‘The sword…’

Se-eorin’s gaze fell on the greatsword held by the doll. Like the steel doll, it had existed in this room for a long time. Yet its blade remained undamaged. It couldn’t be considered an ordinary sword.

‘I want to take it…’

Se-eorin’s greed for swords far exceeded that of an ordinary swordsman. She had been restraining herself because she was conscious of others’ gazes. Now, with no need to be mindful of others, Se-eorin decided to be honest about her greed.

The greedy girl’s hand carefully moved to extract the greatsword from the doll’s hand. The motionless doll easily surrendered its weapon.

“Oh…”

The weight was tremendous. So much so that she couldn’t move it at all without using mana to strengthen her body.

‘There are no memories…’

No memories were transmitted through the sword. That was because the sword’s user had not been a living human. Just as Se-eorin was sighing with disappointment…

The mana within her body rapidly drained out through her hand. It was a moment of confusion for Se-eorin as the movement was completely contrary to her intention. A strange cogwheel sound seemed to come from inside the heavy greatsword, and then its size suddenly decreased.

“What…”

The weight hadn’t changed. Only the size had. The sword, which had appeared to be well over 2 meters, had shrunk to less than half its size, and its width, which had been wider than Se-eorin’s torso, had contracted.

“Quite…”

Quite good. No, incredibly good. With its reduced size, it was easier to wield. The weight remained the same, but it wasn’t impossible to use if she strengthened her body with mana. However, it was extremely inefficient. Even now, mana was draining through her hand where it touched the sword.

Any ordinary swordsman would suffer mana depletion just by holding it. Se-eorin had no choice but to put the sword down. How should she carry this? After pondering for a while, Se-eorin untied the leather scabbard from her back and wrapped it around the sword’s handle. The long extension looked like a dog leash.

In fact, its role wasn’t much different. Se-eorin dragged the sword connected to the leather scabbard to the door.

The firmly closed door still showed no sign of opening. But with the key, there was no problem. Se-eorin inserted the key she had obtained from the steel doll’s possession.

Click-

The massive door opened.

***

“How curious!”

“Pardon?”

“I said it’s curious! With that fellow’s speed, he should have overtaken us long ago!”

“That’s…!”

Envy continued running while looking back. The reincarnator’s expression, maintaining a constant distance behind them, was clearly visible in the torchlight. A face distorted like an evil spirit. There was no urgency in those eyes.

Shave’s words were not wrong.

“Do, do you think he has some purpose?”

“We have to assume so!”

Nevertheless, the two did not stop running. Because they felt they would die if they really stopped. They didn’t understand the reincarnator’s intentions, but for now, they had to keep running.

“Shave! Ahead!”

“I see it!”

The surrounding scenery changed rapidly with a whooshing sound. The two magicians had to disarm various traps blocking their way. Traps like walls closing in or spikes shooting up from the ground were easy to handle. They simply had to emit mana to momentarily paralyze the dungeon’s mechanisms.

Even when the path suddenly ended with a cliff, it wasn’t a major problem. They could create small platforms using mana and step across them. The real problem was the steel dolls that occasionally appeared.

Magic didn’t work on them. The special metal composing their bodies greatly reduced the effectiveness of magic. The two magicians broke the dolls not by direct magical attacks, but by manipulating the surrounding terrain.

For instance, they would intentionally trigger dungeon traps to crush the dolls or pierce their bodies with sturdy spikes. The reincarnator didn’t approach when the two were fighting the dolls.

He just shouted from the darkness where he was hiding.

By this point, even the most oblivious person would have noticed the reincarnator’s intentions.

“It seems… he wants us to clear the path for him…?”

“That’s what I think too…”

Even though the two had figured out the reincarnator’s intentions, there was nothing they could do. What could possibly be at the end of this dungeon to make him act this way? Shave bit his lip, feeling miserable.

As the battles continued, the two magicians grew exhausted. Their mana reserves were nearly depleted, and the backlash from sustained physical enhancement made movement increasingly difficult.

Nevertheless, the distance between them and the reincarnator neither increased nor decreased. The reincarnator slowed his pursuit to match their reduced speed.

After hours of pursuit, just when they felt they had reached their limit, the two magicians were able to enter a different, wider space. Shave and Envy were mesmerized by the massive mechanical device before them.

They couldn’t help it, even with the reincarnator pursuing from behind. Any magician would have reacted similarly. The golden cogwheels of the massive machine rotated, generating mana.

The vast wall surface filled with magic circles emitted light, amplifying the mana.

“The dungeon’s power mechanism…?”

It wasn’t just a simple power mechanism. It produced mana, and the magic circles amplified it. The amplified mana flowed into the mechanical device, maintaining its endless movement. The perpetual motion machine that many magicians had desired was right before their eyes.

At that moment, there was a rumbling sound from above, and a small girl along with five massive dolls fell down.