episode_0081
by admin
“Sword of Tintalus?”
While they were leisurely spending time with Gus’ moans as background music as usual, Medea suddenly spoke up with a rare expression of concern.
Medea had a boisterous personality, so she had a lot of facial expressions and emotional expressions, but she never looked as serious as she does now.
Just as Lina avoids and ignores painful and arduous tasks, Medea, whose soul is on the same wavelength as her, also has a tendency to avoid painful tasks.
The fact that she spoke with a frown on her face meant that something troublesome would happen soon.
“… Is that like a weapon?”
“The sword of Tintalus is not a weapon, but a skill. This is a skill that can be obtained by overcoming trials in the mountain called Woodland. This skill is a skill that brings out a dungeon hidden in space to the outside world.”
“That means… .”
“It means that this dungeon we are hiding in may be exposed to the outside.”
When dungeon-building magic was developed, the greatest fear of those in power was that an invisible fortress was lurking nearby.
Therefore, in order to check this magic created with their own hands, they borrowed the wisdom of demons and created a skill called the Sword of Tintalus.
Of course, it’s closer to something I obtained through a contract with the devil rather than making it myself, but it’s not particularly important right now.
“Even if you obtain the same thing in a contract, the number of tributes required for the contract decreases depending on the process of obtaining it.”
For example, each time you use it, you have to sacrifice 10 years of your life to the devil you contracted with.
If there is a restriction that the effect will be weakened if a special process is not performed when using a skill, the value of the skill is judged to be low and the tribute to be offered is saved.
In the case of a useful skill like the Sword of Tintalus, to obtain it once, you had to pay a huge tribute that even the king of a country would frown upon.
However, they succeeded in saving the number of tributes by imposing three restrictions.
1. To acquire a skill, you must pass a trial.
2. Anyone can take the test.
3. If the candidate dies during the ordeal, the soul becomes possessed by the devil.
Raise the difficulty of acquiring skills by imposing restrictions on having to overcome trials.
By imposing a restriction that anyone can take the test, there is an added risk that even enemies can acquire this skill.
By adding the clause that if one dies during the ordeal, the soul is returned to the devil, the devil can still profit from it afterwards.
Thus, with only a thousand lives, the kingdom’s army was able to acquire the skill to take the dungeon built by the enemy beyond space and into the outside world.
“If we use this skill, the dungeon we are hiding in will appear above the kingdom. If the Kingdom Army on Earth sees this, they won’t leave us alone.”
“… So what should I do? So you knew that such a place existed before? Haven’t you come up with some sort of countermeasure?”
“That mountain belongs to the devil. Destroying the altar so that one cannot undergo trials means enmity with the devil.”
Hostility to the Prince of Hell is more foolish and reckless than declaring war on the entire world.
Although they could not destroy the altar itself, they did take measures to release the demonic beasts into the forest.
However, that happened over 500 years ago.
Although demons live longer than humans, they were not capable of surviving for 500 years.
Even if there were survivors, it would not be enough to stop them as they regained their past powers.
“So all I could do was cast a spell around the mountain that would let me know when someone passed by. That magic is spreading, and those two people have invaded the mountain.”
“… So what should we do? Isn’t that what you expected anyway? Then won’t there be a solution?”
Lina’s voice became sharper.
Medea said when she first joined this plan.
If they fight one by one, no matter how many times they fight, Medea will definitely win, but if two people join hands, there is no chance of winning.
Even if we left the dungeon and attacked those two people now, we wouldn’t have a chance of winning.
Those two people must have sensed Medea’s magic just as they sensed the two people here.
“Hmm, maybe it’s good… !!”
“Don’t be so fierce. There are no problems right now. Because they might die without being able to overcome the ordeal. But I think we need to move the plan forward a little.”
“Even if you say it’s a plan… !!”
It’s not particularly great.
The plan is to kidnap Felt, who is somewhere in the royal capital, to this dungeon and separate his body and soul.
The problem is that I haven’t been able to find the felt so far.
There is a limit to the range that can be observed in this space, but even taking that into account, it is strange that not even a shadow can be found for several days.
Since he often went to the dungeon, he may not have returned yet, but Lina was starting to suspect that Felt had left the capital altogether.
“… I need to search a little more actively. If you release the familiar into the royal capital, you might be able to find at least one clue.”
“Won’t you get caught then?”
“It’s not impossible, but it’s probably slim. Even if they were discovered, they would think it was just a trick by the opposing faction. There’s no way it can reach here.”
Although she was saying that, Medea was also feeling anxious inside.
Although there are limits to the range of observation, it is strange that it has not been discovered until now.
Thinking about the possibility that Medea might have left the capital a long time ago or died in a terrorist attack, it seemed like Medea would follow Lina and tremble with anxiety.
“… You’ll find it soon.”
While saying those words as if she was criticizing herself, not Lina, Medea thought of a story Lina once told her.
A story about a white-haired woman with cow-like horns on top of her head and Felt walking around together.
Long ago, the strongest shadow that everyone worked together to bury.
When Medea first heard the story, it felt like a nightmare from her childhood had crawled out from the other side of the swamp of oblivion and resurfaced.
‘I guess it’s not me… .’
Perhaps there are surviving descendants of the Wooin tribe somewhere.
Even if this is not the case, there are many races that are similar in appearance to the Wooin race.
Medea dismissed it as thinking too much and began observing the royal capital again.
*****
After passing through the village of the sick and the memories of the old king, we finally arrived at Pluto’s garden and were stopped in our tracks by the dazzling sight that seemed to blind our eyes.
Beneath the huge golden tower that seemed to overlook everything in the world, it was a barren land where not a single sprout had sprouted, but there were countless statues carved out of gold lined up on the ground, as if to replace the splendor of life with gold.
The statues were mostly in the shape of trees or flowers, and it seemed like they had a snobbish attitude, as if they wanted to buy life with money.
This is the garden of Pluto, the god of the underworld.
The cracked ground where not a single blade of grass had sprouted was far from being called a garden, but its strange splendor was second to none.
Sarah, who was momentarily speechless in front of such a bizarre sight, pointed to a wooden statue made of gold and asked me.
“… That statue is alive.”
“Do you know that?”
“Yes, I can feel that there is a soul inside, perhaps because I absorbed it.”
Sarah says that not only the statue she first pointed to, but everything around it has a soul.
These statues are the words of those who challenged Pluto and were defeated.
Their bodies turned into gold and became flowers that decorated Pluto’s garden, and their souls became soldiers to repel invaders.
If we defeat him, we too will become one of the golden statues that decorate the garden.
Well, I have no intention of challenging it.
“Don’t worry. Pluto is cruel like NTR’s childhood friend from the game, but he is not a violent god. They won’t turn us into statues unless we commit rudeness first. So, ooh. There’s nothing to be so nervous about.”
“Umm… .”
“What is that metaphor? I don’t know the meaning.”
“There is such a thing. then… .”
Taking a deep breath, I moved forward and stood in front of the altar located deep in the garden.
On the path leading to the altar, there were pieces of equipment that appeared to be the relics of those who had attempted this place. It seemed as if at least a hundred years had passed since traces of time were felt.
Seeing as there was nothing that looked new, it must have stopped coming at some point.
This might be welcomed.
With such a funny thought in mind, I stood in front of the altar, closed my eyes, put my hands together, and prayed.
[Hey, this bastard… !!!]
In my ear, I heard the voice of the World Tree, enraged, asking how dare you pray to a god other than me, but even though that tree gets angry, it doesn’t do anything directly, so it’s okay to ignore it.
If you give her a few flowers later, she will feel better on her own.
[Do you think that will make you feel better!!!]
… I’ll feel better later when I cleanse several lands tainted by fraud.
[Forgive me.]
Forgive me.
How much time has passed since I prayed to Pluto again?
For some reason, the surroundings seemed to suddenly become quiet, so I gently opened my eyes… .
[It’s been a while since a lovely visitor came. I’ve been doing well without any difficulties so far.]
Empty, empty eyes were staring at me from the altar, accompanied by an eerie voice sounding the alarm for life.
Pluto, the god of death and wealth.
He descended on the altar.
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