Chapter 268: Silent Moonlit Night (6)
Crack.
A twig burst with a pop in the fire. Amidst the scattering crimson embers, Dalen hesitated to answer.
And at the same time, he wondered. Why am I hesitating to answer?
Descending into the underground palace wasn’t particularly difficult. He had even managed to break through it with a transcendent character of about the fifth rank in the game.
By the time he had defeated the evil gods, overcome the apocalypse, and dealt with the remaining forces on the island, retrieving the body of the first witch would be as easy as flipping his hand.
It was only then that Dalen realized why he was hesitating.
“I’m not expecting an answer right away.”
Sienna spoke, brushing off her clothes as she stood up.
“I should get some sleep. I’ve got the early morning watch.”
“Goodnight.”
“You too.”
After tossing a few dry branches into the fire, the witch retreated to her tent. The air settled heavily in her absence.
Crackle. Crack.
Beyond the campfire, the swamp was silent. The stillness of the night air was the same, whether in the labyrinth or on the surface.
It was one of the few things Dalen liked about this world.
The damp night air wrapped around him comfortingly. Having grown up amidst the noise of the city, he had never experienced such tranquility.
Staring blankly at the swamp, Dalen reached into his pocket. His hand grasped a crumpled piece of paper.
“21st-century Korea… liberal democracy… loves games…”
Words scattered across the torn and burnt paper, words only he could read, words steeped in nostalgia.
During the early days of the tutorial, before reaching Falcion, Dalen had often written such journals for solace while working as a mercenary.
He kept them tied in an envelope, carrying them like a talisman in his backpack or pocket.
Those mercenary days were long past. The paper, having endured countless battles, was a testament to those years.
He never stored the journal in the subspace, fearing Arvor might see it. Only one page remained, torn and burnt, with barely any words visible.
“Afraid.”
Why did the witch’s words from before suddenly come to mind?
“I’m afraid that at the end of this journey, you won’t stay with us.”
On the ruined walls of Revivach, the twilight cast a reddish shadow on Sienna’s face.
That face was one of the things he had to protect. Precious bonds he had vowed not to lose again.
He had come this far for that reason. He had willingly crossed the line of death time and again to defeat an apocalypse he had never overcome before.
He had never thought about what came after. The enemy called the apocalypse was just that immense.
If he were given a choice in exchange for obtaining the Stone of Wishes, what would he choose?
Between a sleeping bag in a stinking swamp and a futon in an office smelling of diffuser, which would he pick?
Sienna’s question about accompanying her to the underground labyrinth was, in truth, a question about that choice.
Above the crackling campfire, in the silent night air, an answer slipped out.
“I…”
“So… this is the entrance to the fourth floor?”
Rumble…!!
Amidst the deafening roar that shook his eardrums, Bjorn asked with a bewildered expression.
The group stood atop a waterfall. More precisely, on a rock jutting out where the waterfall began.
In the middle of the vast swamp, a hole several hundred meters in diameter was pouring hundreds of tons of water below in real-time.
The humidity made his nose feel slightly stuffy. Dalen nodded.
“That’s right.”
”…With a waterfall like this, isn’t it just water down there?”
The dwarf cautiously peered into the hole again. The mist from the waterfall obscured the bottom from view.
“It’s water. Dive under the lake and swim through, and you’ll reach the fourth floor of the labyrinth.”
“A world beneath the sea… what a strange and perilous place…”
Bjorn shivered, trailing off. Dalen raised an eyebrow. What’s with him today? Did he eat something bad?
“Technically, the third floor is beneath a scorching desert, and the second floor is similar.”
”…No, that’s not really the issue.”
“Then what is?”
“Did I mention I can’t swim?”
The dwarf squeezed his eyes shut, clutching his beard tightly. Dalen couldn’t help but laugh.
[Father, it seems dwarves are inherently fearful creatures. They’re afraid of forests, dragons, and now water…]
“Akasha! Fearful? There’s no race as brave as dwarves in this world!”
[Then can we consider this a unique trait of yours, Bjorn? Perhaps you grew up confined to a mountain mine during your youth…]
“Akasha. That’s enough.”
It was Sienna. The dragon, now grown from a boy to a young man, still listened well to those he called mother.
Ignoring the dwarf’s grateful gaze, Sienna sighed softly. She spoke.
“Actually, I’m afraid of water too. Crossing a bridge is fine, but vast seas or deep diving, not so much.”
”…Are you serious?”
“Why would I lie about something like this? I thought at least you would know.”
Sienna shrugged lightly. Dalen rubbed his face with his hand.
Thinking back, even in the game, Sienna would take sleeping pills and stay in her cabin whenever they boarded a ship.
He had assumed she just had severe seasickness. Who would have thought she was afraid of water?
“Two barrels of trouble.”
It was an unexpected complication. The boundary between the third and fourth floors of the labyrinth was a massive lake formed by the accumulated water of the bottomless swamp.
There were a few other ways to reach the fourth floor, but they all involved diving to the lake’s bottom.
If it were just crossing a lake or sea, they could knock them out and carry them on a boat.
But diving was different. Especially with the labyrinth’s nature, anything could happen…
“So, as long as you don’t have to swim, it’s fine?”
Felber’s voice cut through his thoughts. Dalen turned his head.
“If that’s the case, I have a good solution.”
The wizard spoke, raising his staff.
Whirr…
A streamlined, copper-colored body sliced through the water. From a distance, it might have looked like a fish, but it was actually a hunk of metal.
A metal vessel carrying Dalen and his companions through the water. Dalen knew what it was called. A submarine.
“A submarine in a medieval land.”
He had never been on one on Earth, and now he was riding one here.
Felber’s golem-crafted submarine boasted performance rivaling that of modern tourist submersibles.
Powered by magic, with a sturdy golem body, it could cloak itself and automatically circulate air inside.
It was a moment that reminded him of the saying that advanced science is indistinguishable from magic. Though in this case, it was advanced magic indistinguishable from science.
Thud!
The submarine jolted slightly. Sienna and Bjorn turned pale in an instant. Felber laughed heartily, trying to reassure them.
“Don’t worry. We just bumped into some debris.”
”…”
“This thing crossed lava before I reinforced it with a dragon bone staff. It won’t crack from a little bump.”
According to Felber, the Elgaia Magic Tower had partnerships with mines across the continent. The mines would offer a portion of their profits to the tower, and in return, the tower would solve various operational challenges.
Most requests involved collapsed tunnels or unbreakable bedrock, but occasionally, they were asked to traverse lava.
Such requests were common enough in volcanic mines rich in precious metals, happening once or twice a week.
“After a stint in such places, you become quite adept at golem crafting. A lake like this is no problem! Hahaha!”
Felber patted the dwarf’s back heartily. It seemed he was trying to ease the tension, but judging by the dwarf’s expression, it wasn’t helping much.
Still, being able to descend to the lake’s bottom with both feet stretched out was a great relief.
Unlike surface lakes, this was where the stagnant water of the bottomless swamp gathered.
The water quality was filthy, sticky, and full of sediment.
Swimming in such dirty water wasn’t something Dalen was keen on either.
“At least it’s fortunate.”
Felber’s apprentice, Tommy Valentino, sidled up and whispered. Over Tommy’s shoulder, the dwarf looked ready to vomit.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, this submarine doesn’t have any protective features.”
”…What?”
“If the creatures from the depths hadn’t swept away the monsters in the lake, we’d be dealing with leaks all over the submersible by now.”
A sigh of relief escaped the lips of the blond young man. Dalen pressed his fingertips against his brow, trying to ease the tension.
He quickly adjusted the straps of his armor with practiced ease and stood up. After giving a reassuring pat on the back to Felber, who was focused on piloting the submersible, he spoke.
“I’ll be back shortly.”
“Where are you headed?”
“We’ve got a guest following us.”
A guest that sees us as prey. The added remark cast a shadow over Felber’s face.
“Head down first.”
“Farewell.”
With a brief farewell, Dalen stepped forward. In that instant, a gray shadow enveloped him, guiding him outside the submersible.
Rumble…
The moment he emerged, he was met with a fierce current. As the murky water threatened to invade his eyes, nose, and mouth, a gust of wind enveloped his skin, pushing the water away.
“Spell Armor.”
“Wind Armor.”
“Damn.”
He drew the axe from his waist, regaining his balance in the water. Even though the wind had pushed the water away, the stench of the lake remained.
Dalen focused his vision, peering through the decaying swamp water and the debris floating within it, to identify the presence approaching from afar.
It was a dragon.
A massive dragon with three pairs of glowing violet eyes piercing through the darkness.
Its tattered wings easily sliced through the water, propelling its hundred-meter-long body forward.
Dalen recognized it.
He had defeated this creature once before while playing as a dark sorcerer character.
“The Cursed Ancient Dragon, Guardian of the Gate.”
Normally, it would be coiled deep within the fifth level of the labyrinth, guarding the “gate” to the sixth level—a mandatory boss monster of sorts.
“And like any dragon, it could speak. This is a fortunate encounter.”
What could have driven the usually dormant creatures of the labyrinth’s depths to rise? And why was this dragon the only one left in the lake when all the others had ascended?
As the ancient dragon opened its massive jaws, Dalen smiled. In a situation where information was scarce, this was a perfectly timed meeting.
The dragon’s alien words reverberated through the water, and its violet breath engulfed the spot where Dalen had been standing.
Swoosh—
“Huh?”
A beam of light sliced through the breath and the water, landing precisely between the dragon’s three pairs of eyes.