Chapter 260

Chapter 260. Reunion and Infiltration(3)

“What kind of lunatics are these!”

Foul language rose up without me realizing it, and I spat it out immediately.

After all, the sound of the fiercely blowing wind was so overwhelming that nothing could be heard in this situation.

Whether I cursed, shouted, or whatever, there was no need to worry about being heard by anyone at the moment.

But if seen from the perspective of preference rather than the realm of possibility and impossibility…

I was hoping that the mages could hear the curse I just uttered.

“What did you say… Whoa!”

At that moment, someone inside my armor peeked out, showing his face.

Simultaneously, he was swept away by the wind.

Fortunately, I managed to catch him just in time.

It was Dennis Reol, the pink-haired fairy I had met once before.

We exchanged a brief introduction, and it turned out he was the prince of the fairy tribe.

“Don’t climb out carelessly!”

As soon as I snatched Dennis, I yelled at him and shoved him back inside my armor.

“Squeak, squirm…”

Was it because my movements caused his body to sway?

Rice Cake, tied to my back with a rope, shivered.

Not stopping there, it even covered its eyes with his front paws.

‘Yes, you’d be better off not seeing.’

I was currently climbing a massive wall of rock and dirt, with Dennis and Rice Cake.

The problem was that the wall was floating in the air, flying at a speed of 40 to 50 km/h.

The curse I had uttered earlier was directed at the mages who had made this situation possible.

‘I had fully anticipated they might relocate the hideout.’

On the monster’s side, if there was black magic and messeo, then on our side, we had divine authority.

If Irel had thought it was possible that the records leaked while she was unconscious, then relocating the hideout was a given.

‘But this is just ridiculous, isn’t it?’

Who would have thought they would create a new hideout entirely and float it in the sky?

The ridiculousness of it all wasn’t just a thought, as the mages had actually gone through with it.

Because of those insane people, I found myself climbing, something never in my fate to do, thousands of kilometers in the air.

How could I not curse this situation?

On top of all that, a massive magic circle was drawn on the outer edge of the floating artificial island.

It was packed with all sorts of magics, such as a no-entry magic, a barrier magic, a shattering magic, an alarm magic, and even a mana disturbance magic.

“It’s like they’ve piled on everything they could think of”, I mumbled.

I had to commend the mages’ dedication to their work.

Despite their efforts, none of it posed any obstacle to me.

There was a simple enough reason for that.

‘Giolan’s Invisibility Cloak.’

I was wearing a 7-star artifact.

Originally, it belonged to the Player Association’s Korean branch and had been given to me by Yang Hyewon.

‘It’s all because I’ve had to remain cautious about my surroundings every time I’m purifying.’

Being constantly surrounded by players I had never met was truly uncomfortable.

I didn’t know what artifacts they might have had.

Nor with whom they were secretly communicating.

So when Yang Hyewon gave me this cloak, I didn’t hesitate to take it.

‘Once every 24 hours, it completely erases the wearer’s presence for one hour.’

It’s just like a barrier with the same effect, but it’s mobile.

It neatly erased even symbols and presences that couldn’t be hidden by Invisibility.

Even things touching my body passed through if I didn’t wish to be touched.

It freed me from physical threats.

Thanks to that, I could concentrate fully on purification during that disaster.

And today, it allowed me to infiltrate the island safely.

“Human, over there! There! Quick!”

As soon as I got back on the ground, Dennis popped his head out again and pointed north.

However, instead of rushing towards the direction he pointed out, I untied Rice Cake first.

He had grown large enough to rival, if not exceed, most large dogs.

Because of that, I had changed his magical food tank to a larger one too.

I put him down between my legs, from where he had been lying quietly on my back.

As I hung a leather pouch around his neck, I spoke.

“You know what to do, right?”

“Bark!”

When I confirmed with Rice Cake, holding his face in both hands, he answered shortly.

His confident attitude suggesting he had things under control made me smile involuntarily.

Right after I gruffly patted his head.

I let him bite on an Invisibility magic stone.

Snap.

The magic stone shattered, and Rice Cake’s form disappeared.

Even his presence became faint and soon began to grow distant.

Only after Rice Cake had left did I turn around as well.

In the direction Dennis had pointed earlier with his finger.

I had to hurry before the cloak’s effect wore off.

‘It’s been 19 minutes since I put on the cloak.’

I needed to move as much as possible during the remaining 41 minutes.

Given the wide area, I felt a bit rushed.

‘Based on Dennis’s records, it seemed about as large as Jeju Island.’

What I saw upon arrival wasn’t far off.

It took me 20 minutes just to reach near the central tower built around the outer area of the island.

Upon spotting the tower in the distance, I asked Dennis.

“Where exactly is the second tower?”

“Look at the top of the tower! The second tower has two spires!”

The second tower, which mostly consisted of facilities for magic research.

It was our final destination and the place where Irel’s laboratory was said to be.

* * *

Dennis knew more than I expected.

– He said it had been over a year since the first disappearance occurred.

– Mother had repeatedly spoken to the mages about it.

Asking if they could investigate whether monsters were abducting fairies.

– The mages just kept repeating that they would look into it but never allowed us to search ourselves.

The fairy tribe had special abilities but, individually, were not very strong.

Moreover, compared to humans, the number of fairies with attribute mana was small.

To make matters worse, their numbers were few in general.

‘I’ve seen statistics that their population is even lesser than the beastfolk.’

Even after being popular as scapegoats, they had never managed to voice their concerns adequately.

Unable to withstand the persecution, they left the demi-human union, but their situation didn’t improve much.

Monsters didn’t eat fairies but didn’t care for them either.

It was better when there was only that indifference.

‘After the collective betrayal of the mages, it wasn’t much different from living with demi-humans.’

It seemed mages, filled with superiority complexes, looked down on fairies.

And amidst this daily existence, the fairies started disappearing, with their numbers decreasing gradually.

In the end, unable to bear it any longer, Dennis snuck into the mage’s tower.

– I believed they were hiding something.

– If not, they would have allowed us to investigate the incidents!

Looking at the results, his intuition wasn’t wrong.

In the second tower, where research mages gathered, he found several fairies asleep under the influence of poppy mana.

‘It’s amazing he found something amidst such unplanned, unprepared searches.’

It was due to Dennis’s smaller stature compared to most mages that it was possible.

In reality, Dennis’s reckless infiltration led to his discovery, but it ended in his capture.

Attempting to escape, he inadvertently entered another laboratory.

‘An experiment was ongoing there using messeo to open a portal to desired locations.’

The enemy had found a way to penetrate Temoria’s barriers using messeo about a year ago.

Then, before launching a full-scale attack, they were practicing adjusting the gate’s location.

That’s precisely when Dennis met me.

He got entangled in the experiment and fell into the front lines where the main storyline was unfolding.

Whether fortunate or unfortunate.

‘I freed him, only for him to be recaptured by the mages who tracked him.’

Afterward, he remained under the influence of poppy mana, regaining consciousness miraculously once.

– Even if we are physically apart, we can communicate within dreams.

– That’s why losing connection in dreams made us think the missing ones were dead.

I conjectured their species had a natural trait suited for survival as a group, given their individual weakness.

Of course, I hadn’t specialized in natural science or evolutionary theory, so it wasn’t certain.

But knowing fairies’ traits, the mages didn’t just lock them up; they made sure they stayed in a poppy-induced daze.

Dennis too was overly shocked to alert anyone after getting caught up in the gate.

– Once I regained consciousness, I informed Mother of the gravity of the situation.

What followed was simple.

The Queen sought to rescue her people immediately.

As both a queen and a competent mage, she attacked the tower.

Various chaos broke out in the process.

Fairies attempted an escape only to be devoured by monsters.

Some were recaptured by the mages.

Their fleed goods scattered amidst the escape.

Again, they were captured by wandering monsters in corrupted areas.

There were cases like Dennis, who managed to escape and hide.

Still, they were separated for fear of moving amidst the corrupt lands.

‘It was utter chaos.’

I confirmed everything that happened to Dennis repeatedly with Finelpenia’s authority.

This way, I had no reason to doubt the location of the artificial island he communicated during dreams with other fairies.

‘Thanks to him, I reached this place smoothly.’

If I had to do everything alone, I would still be wandering through the forest.

That led me to the second tower, guided by Dennis.

Infiltrating wasn’t hard as long as the cloak’s effect persisted.

I checked the remaining time of the cloak’s maintenance, about 17 minutes, looking around vigilantly.

“…”

The sight left me stunned in countless ways.

Players with their hearts pierced, connected to strange hoses.

A Ventri head immersed in what looked like grapefruit juice.

A jelly-like, constantly twitching object.

Various more grotesque spectacles unfolded before me.

It felt like a fantasy set in medieval times.

Seeing this made it seem like an SF fantasy.

I sighed silently and approached a player hanging on the wall.

‘Meferoseta, Senoa, Agnotia… and even Palao.’

As far as I could see, there were at least 12 people.

How many more might be in places I couldn’t see or hadn’t seen?

Did they agree to this bizarre experiment willingly?

Or were they kidnapped unknowingly?

‘Are they victims or traitors?’

Considering known facts and newly discovered insights.

It’s certain that the traitors were artificially creating Inheritance Candidates.

Creating beings that could control authority and divinity artificially.

‘Like what the system did to me.’

And these people were likely the subjects of such experiments.

‘There are no dots appearing on the map.’

It was hard to believe they were alive.

Even if they were alive, I wouldn’t have done anything special.

‘I came here not to rescue them.’

I suppressed my conflicted emotions and turned my back on the players.

‘If there’s anything I need to rescue from here, it’s the fairies.’

That was the price for guiding me here.

I intended to find them while the cloak’s effect persisted.

Moving from the first floor to the second, and then the next.

Checking places where materials for experiments were said to be based on Dennis’s testimony and records.

There was a certainty I learned from that.

‘Mages haven’t yet developed means to counter relics.’

Damned System