Chapter 21
#21. Underground Dungeon (2)
“An underground dungeon?”
No, why is there something like that beneath the temple?
[This cavern was originally created to seal and preserve the most dangerous of my nine holy relics.]
“Ah!”
At the World Tree's explanation, Iris finally made a gesture as if she understood.
“So that's why it was so difficult to discern the spell formations within the barrier?”
[That is so, child. This barrier does not welcome visitors who do not bear the royal family's mark, nor does it permit them to leave.]
The spell formation surrounding the underground cavern uses spatial separation to prevent anyone without the royal family's mark from either entering or leaving.
There are no lethal restrictions imposed on the interior itself. The only restriction is that no one can leave.
“But... hearing you call it a dungeon makes me uneasy. There isn't anything strange down there, is there...?”
Come on, surely not.
[Monsters will block the path leading to the depths. And my avatar, which will have been sleeping to guard the holy relic, will awaken the moment you enter the dungeon.]
“...I'm only asking just in case, but what are the odds that a Second Circle mage will come back with all four limbs intact?”
[About as likely as that child eating meat.]
For the record, Iris was a vegetarian.
“Iris, are elves unable to eat meat?”
“Yes. It's physically impossible for us to eat meat.”
If it had merely been a matter of personal preference, there might have been the slightest possibility, but if it was a racial peculiarity, there was no chance.
In other words, there was no chance I could clear that dungeon safely with my current abilities.
To make matters worse, Iris was unable to display her full abilities because of her restraints. I would effectively have to clear most of the dungeon myself.
Of course, if I took my time and continued growing by traveling back and forth between Earth and this world, I could probably manage it someday.
But when would that be?
Five years? Ten? Twenty?
Wouldn't that avatar guarding a god's holy relic be at least as strong as Iris in her prime? Even if not, it should at least be one rank below her.
Seventh Circle, huh.
Of course, I had created a mana circle in half a day and reached the Second Circle in a week using the app's abilities, but the Seventh Circle was a distant, lofty realm so far beyond me that I wasn't even qualified to look up to it.
There were only ten Seventh Circle mages on Earth.
How much time would I have to pour into reaching that realm?
Just thinking about it made my vision seem to go dark.
Just then, warmth gently enveloped my hand.
“Mr. Hyunwoo, don't worry too much.”
Iris held my hand tenderly and leaned against my shoulder.
“You don't have to be so impatient. I'll look for a way to help you too.”
“...”
“So, shall we do our best together?”
Without saying a word, I pulled Iris into my arms.
“Thanks.”
Right now, I felt as though I could enter the underground dungeon alone.
“And I'm planning to research how to disable the restraints too, so if things work out, you might not even have to enter the dungeon, Mr. Hyunwoo.”
“I can't do that...”
Passing the work off to a woman and simply waiting in a safe place was unacceptable to me as a man.
I'd rather die in the dungeon.
I couldn't even imagine doing that.
[Child, forgive me for interrupting your conversation, but only Kang Hyunwoo is to enter the dungeon.]
“What?!”
Iris looked at the World Tree in surprise, her eyes filled with undisguisable confusion.
“W-why, Mother...? If Mr. Hyunwoo enters the dungeon alone...!”
[Because it is what is best for him.]
The World Tree's ensuing answer left us bewildered.
I had thought she was merely a doting mother who didn't want to send her precious daughter into a dangerous dungeon, so what did it mean that this was instead a choice made for my sake?
“What do you mean, it's for my sake?”
[When do you think a mage grows?]
It was a simple question.
“When they study magic and acquire new knowledge, I suppose?”
It was common knowledge that while knights grew through physical training and aura cultivation, mages grew by acquiring new knowledge or conducting research.
[Is that not common knowledge that applies only when one dreams of becoming a scholar?]
“...Ah.”
[There is no difference between a knight and a mage when it comes to walking the line between life and death, undergoing countless real battles, and growing from those experiences. I believe you are aiming to become a mage specialized entirely in actual combat.]
She was right.
Holing up in a study and researching nothing but magic wasn't my style.
[Kang Hyunwoo, go to the dungeon alone. Of course, with your current abilities, you will likely manage no more than the first floor, but even so, the perilous experience of actual combat will help you grow quickly.]
“The first floor...”
There wasn't the slightest flaw in the World Tree's reasoning.
If anything, I found myself dominated by the thought that I should head to the dungeon immediately.
Squeeze-
“No, Mr. Hyunwoo...”
Iris's face was filled with worry as she clutched my sleeve.
“It's too dangerous. You still don't know the special nature of a dungeon...”
“You trust me, right?”
“...”
When I met Iris's eyes, I was more serious than ever.
It wasn't that I didn't understand her concern. Part of me wanted nothing more than to spend my days holding Iris in my arms.
Laughing together at silly jokes and happily filling our stomachs with food I'd brought from Earth would be such happiness that I could die content just imagining it.
But if I ran away from reality like that, nothing would ever begin.
[Remaining matching time: 11:32:47]
I had eleven hours left.
It seemed the time limit had increased as a result of my bond level with Iris rising.
That was a lot, but it wasn't even a full day.
“Just as I said before, no matter what happens, I'll get you out of here.”
I smiled lightly and stroked Iris's head.
“Do you know what our people's defining trait is?”
“...I don't know.”
I headed toward the stairs leading down to the dungeon.
A heavy, cold wind blew up from below the spiral staircase.
Perhaps because of the dungeon's special nature, I could even feel the oppressive weight of ominous mana.
“We do everything quickly, quickly.”
[Equipping Assistant Monocle]
[The flow of mana is now visible]
[Equipping Magic Ring]
[Magic power slightly increased]
[Wood Wand]
[Casting time slightly reduced, and magic power slightly increased]
“Iris, I'll get you out of here as quickly as possible too.”
I descended toward the bottom of the dungeon.
***
[Entering Pelledia's Underground Labyrinth]
The stairs continued endlessly.
I felt as though I had walked down at least five hundred steps, but I still couldn't see anywhere that could be called the first floor.
The longer it went on, the more my tension mounted.
With monsters potentially appearing at any moment, there was always a blind spot in my field of vision.
That was because the path downward was a spiral staircase.
Perhaps because of that, my five senses grew sharper than ever, and my mana seethed fiercely, as if it might manifest a spell at any moment.
How much time passed like that?
“This is the entrance to the first floor...”
I arrived before a stone gate carved with a golden tree.
Once I opened this gate, I would be stepping into a dungeon teeming with monsters and traps.
“Phew...”
It would be a lie to say I wasn't nervous.
But whenever I felt that way, I steadied myself by thinking of Iris.
I had an obligation.
An obligation to repay the love I'd received from a woman far too good for me: Iris.
I owed Iris the chance to take revenge on Resilia and whoever stood behind her—those who had stained her reputation and imprisoned her here for no less than two hundred years—so she could escape this wretched prison.
Creak-
I shoved the massive stone gate with all my strength.
Contrary to my expectations, the gate opened easily.
The moment I opened the gate and took my first step into the dungeon, torches lit one after another in the dark space, revealing a corridor whose end could not be seen.
It looked much like the dungeons commonly seen in games.
“I'm glad I brought a notebook and pen.”
The most important thing in a dungeon from a work of fiction was mapping. And that applied in real life too.
Lower-ranking hunters reportedly brought their own means of mapping whenever they entered a gate. The rich carried magical tools that mapped automatically, but with my current bank balance, that was out of the question.
“The corridor is wider than I expected.”
It was wide enough for six adult men to walk side by side.
It also seemed to be at least five meters high.
It didn't seem too narrow for me to cast spells or swing a sword.
Of course, if you asked whether that was a good sign, I could answer with an emphatic no.
“They wouldn't have built it this way for the sake of people entering the dungeon.”
Nine times out of ten, it was best to assume there was a monster large enough to require a passage this size.
Just thinking about it made me break out in a cold sweat, but I tried my best not to dwell on it.
I had to avoid getting swept up in negative thoughts as much as possible.
I walked for a long while after that.
Strangely, no monsters appeared. But it wasn't exactly reassuring.
The World Tree had said there were traps inside the dungeon too.
For the record, I had no idea what traps looked like or how they worked. Because of that, I had to devote my full attention to every step I took.
Thanks to that, fatigue was building quickly.
I was sweating as if it were raining, even though I hadn't encountered a single battle yet.
‘Phew, if I had more mana, I could keep using barrier as I walked.’
That would have been convenient, but it was impossible for me right now.
With no other choice, I had to manage my stamina by moistening my throat with some water, lightly filling my stomach, and taking breaks.
How much time had passed?
At last, the straight stretch ended, and the path split into two in the distance.
“Which way should I go?”
In truth, I might have to explore both eventually.
Even so, for now, I wanted to avoid the more dangerous path as much as possible.
‘I’m sure I’ve seen a way veteran hunters deal with this sort of thing on an online community...’
Step.
“?!”
Just as I reached the fork, I sensed something coming from the path on the right.
The footsteps were unmistakable—far too clear to dismiss as my imagination.
“...This is fucking ridiculous.”
Then, emerging from the strangely dark corridor, was a muscular, bipedal bastard of a dog.
Graaaargh!!!
Its roar raised goosebumps on my skin.
My mana began to churn in response to an undeniable survival instinct.
Reflexively gritting my teeth, I raised the wood wand clutched in my right hand.
It was the first monster I had encountered in the dungeon.