Chapter 13
ON MIRA’S THIRD MORNING in the sixth level, she rushed through prepping and got right to dungeoneering.
First, she would have to descend to the lower tier. Given how complicated the sixth level was, her route to the destination would change greatly depending on where she descended from. This was another thorn in Mira’s side; if one went directly from the shrine to the lower tier, they would have a very roundabout way to the next key symbol. By changing where she descended, however, she could greatly shorten the distance. Much scrutiny and planning had led to the optimal route, which Mira soon followed. She mentally thanked the volunteers who had devised this route so long ago, as she continued on her way.
There were other kinds of routes through the Ancient Underground City as well. One was especially dependable. Another took longer but avoided as many monsters as possible. A third went through the working facilities, and the last one was the optimal, time-saving route that used as many shortcuts as possible. Mira took the latter.
***
Early in the afternoon, Mira descended to the lower tier and obtained the key symbol. She sat down on the spot—monsters wouldn’t appear here, so it was a safe place to rest.
“I’m famished. How about a little break?” She took out bread and cheese for a simple lunch.
Back then, I’d have logged out and gone to grab food, Mira thought nostalgically as she ate.
She was pleasantly surprised to learn that the cheese she’d bought was rich and flavorful, so she made a mental note to buy more later.
***
After lunch, Mira resumed her quest with vigor. It would take four hours, at minimum, to reach the spherical shrine. About halfway into her trek…
“Hrmm? What a familiar feeling…”
Following after her dark knights, Mira picked up magic stones with a big smile until she suddenly heard—no, sensed—a voice. The sensation was just like when she’d found the mansion spirit days ago. There might be another atrophied spirit nearby.
“Well, best not ignore that.”
She deviated from her route, relying on the sensation to lead the way. After circling around a corridor and entering an alleyway, she peeked into the small living spaces within. The presence was extremely weak, so she only knew that it was in the general vicinity. She’d have to search with a fine-toothed comb in order to find it.
A street tightly lined with buildings containing various shops culminated in a dead end. From there, a staircase led down to an abandoned home. Another slope spiraled upward, with buildings piled up high alongside it. There were so many bizarre sights that she wouldn’t have seen if she had only stuck to the optimal routes.
Mira stopped in the midst of it all and focused on the auras around her. When it was too weak to grasp, she moved and refocused. She repeated this process several times.
At the end of the spiraling slope was a featureless chamber, perhaps fifty square meters, at the very bottom of the lower tier. Upon arriving, Mira encountered a Skull Dragon that seemed to be trapped in the chamber. The moment she set foot inside, there was a ferocious, deafening roar.
“You spawned here, of all places?”
The Skull Dragon was a rare monster that occasionally popped up somewhere in the sixth level—a sort of mini-boss. Its strength was on par with A-rank parties, making it difficult for most who farmed on this B-rank floor. Furthermore, it only dropped one big magic stone; it might have been worth thirty of the other magic stones found on this floor, but it was easier and safer to just fight thirty skeletons. The Skull Dragon’s size only allowed it to appear in particular locations, often hidden in empty chambers like this one.
It was a famously disappointing monster to run into.
Hrmm… Unfortunately, I have bigger priorities.
The Skull Dragon was formidable, but only for the average adventurer. Now that she was obsessed with making pocket change, Mira only saw thirty magic stones. But she was more worried about the atrophied spirit than her side hustle.
“I just wish I knew which direction it was in…”
While the Skull Dragon continued to roar intimidatingly, Mira turned back to the narrow path and left. She closed her eyes and focused on her surroundings. According to the Spirit King, she would be able to locate spirits once she was much more accustomed to his blessing. For the moment, it would remain difficult. He also struggled to search Mira’s surroundings through her, for he could not perceive things that she could not. She was on her own.
Roooar!
It was clear that she was closer than when she’d first noticed it. The vague presence was becoming more tangible.
ROOOAR!
Mira focused more deeply. She still couldn’t grasp where it was, but that was her most fruitful search yet. An even more vivid image came to mind, and the fuzzy outline of a spirit came into view. It seemed to be a primordial spirit, as it had a humanoid shape. However, its face was still too hazy to make out.
“Where…? Where are you?”
As far as she could tell, it didn’t look atrophied. That was a relief, but the spirit looked sad and lonely, so she tried to speak to it.
RRROOOAR!
Just then, the spirit perked up—perhaps noticing Mira’s presence or hearing her voice. A hazy face turned toward her. She felt a tenuous connection between them. The spirit might be found by tracing that connection, so she focused on it even more.
GRAAAAORGH!
“Shuuut uuup!” Mira shouted back at the ever-echoing roars of the Skull Dragon.
Its incessant roaring was ruining her concentration. If only she could focus a little more, she might have found the spirit already—but someone had to go and ruin that. This lit a fire of animosity within her. She stopped her search for the spirit and moved to eliminate the problem.
Mira returned to the chamber and found the Skull Dragon still glowering at the sole entrance. Upon her reappearance, it let out a ferocious roar as if in anticipation.
Seems someone has some anger issues.
A red glow appeared in the empty eye sockets of the menacing Skull Dragon. Was it mad at Mira, who’d so boldly returned after walking away from its rage before? Or was it furious at its own captivity? Did it only look enraged? Whatever the case, it finally ceased its roaring and began a silent stare-down with Mira.
“Well, I’m already wasting my time on you. Might as well use you to experiment.”
Mira hadn’t fought such a large foe since the battle against Chimera Clausen. As such, she hadn’t had the opportunity to try out useful, new techniques she’d thought up along the way. And here the Skull Dragon was, begging for a fight—a suitable target, indeed.
As it was a dragon, it was over ten meters long. Mira faced it warily, glancing at her surroundings. She was fixing summoning points.
Now, how much can I damage this giant oaf? Let’s find out!
Her motions were masterful, fixing over a hundred summoning points in midair in the blink of an eye. This was only one-tenth of her army summoning. However, summoning an army was an unprecedented technique that required Immortal Arts to perform. Summoning even one-tenth of her complete army of dark and holy knights would come close to depleting even Mira’s mana.
But what about a partial summoning, with its reduced cost?
Apparently growing impatient at Mira’s eerie smile, the Skull Dragon let out a bestial roar and charged. Its fangs and claws were deadly weapons, and its size alone made it dangerous if it collided with her.
As her looks suggested, Mira’s physical abilities were lacking. She would be in real danger if she took a hit head-on. However, she had fought countless enemies stronger than the Skull Dragon. She’d never tank an attack like that; instead, she evaded with simple footwork and prepared for her turn with a glint in her eye.
“Now, take this!”
A hundred magic circles appeared in midair. Each one materialized a dark knight’s arm, sword in hand.
The Skull Dragon struck the wall, shaking the chamber. Before it could regain its balance, the dark knights’ arms swung down mercilessly. They hadn’t merely swung their arms, though; they had thrown their weapons, a hundred black swords shooting from their hands like spears. Black swords rained down like hail. Each one was thrown with the perfect time delay to account for their various distances from the dragon.
There was a boom just as loud as the dragon’s previous roars. The dark knights’ arms and swords disappeared without a trace. Only the marks they made remained.
“Incredible. Just incredible.” Mira gazed at the Skull Dragon, which had turned from dragon to rubble in mere seconds. That dragon could stand toe-to-toe with A-rank adventurer parties. It couldn’t make someone as strong as Mira struggle, but it would take five minutes or so for six dark knights to fight it head-on. This time, it had lasted only seconds.
Partial summoning required only one-tenth the mana of regular summoning. In other words, Mira could near-instantly kill a Skull Dragon with the mana required to summon ten dark knights.
The Skull Dragon debris turned to dust and disappeared. Mira picked up the giant magic stone that had been left behind and smiled at her results.
“This is surprisingly effective!”
It required preparation, as many summoning points had to be designated ahead of time, but since she had done so tens of thousands of times already, it didn’t take much effort. Partial summoning was also based on her best skill, so the rain of black swords didn’t take much time to activate, for all the power it had. As a means of attack, it was, indeed, effective.
Gladdened by her new power, Mira made another mental note: “I’ll have to think of a cool name for it!”
***
The incessant roaring was gone now, so she stood in the center of the chamber, ready to continue her hunt without disturbance. She focused, searching for the spirit’s presence.
Focus. Focus.
Now that she had no distractions, she was able to feel the connection to the spirit more strongly. As a result of the distance between them, her mental image of the spirit was hazy and indistinct. But when she used their connection to call out, the spirit reacted. It turned to Mira’s voice longingly.
Wait there. I will find you. I promise, she called out, and focused more. Quietly, slowly, she reeled in the connection. Good, good. Over there.
Twenty minutes after she’d started concentrating, Mira finally managed to strengthen the connection until she could tell which direction the spirit was in. Height and distance separated them, but she could feel the spirit strongly enough that she’d only have to keep calling out to it. The spirit felt her through their connection as well, just as she felt the spirit. It answered her call again.
“My word!” she gasped at the response. Then, she ran to the other end of the chamber and looked up at the big, white wall. “You say you’re on the other side of this wall?”
Indeed, the strong connection placed the spirit’s location at the end of the Skull Dragon’s chamber, blocked off from Mira by a white, sooty wall.
Mira knocked on the wall and furrowed her brow. “Well, this is a problem.”
The white wall had no apparent doors or holes, which meant she’d need to find a different route to the other side. But she was already in a corner of the sixth level, far from her planned route; she had no way of knowing how to get to the other side. Worse, some places in this sixth level could only be found by going in from the tier above or below. If the spirit were in such a place, it would take quite some time to find. All Mira’s efforts would go to waste if Soul Howl finished his work and departed.
But she couldn’t simply abandon a spirit.
“If only I could open a hole in the wall…” Mira knocked a little harder on the wall. Almost all of the buildings and walls in this level were unbreakable, like those of the fifth. Because they were so close to the deepest part of the dungeon, the builders had made liberal use of algorest alloy. “Still, I’m amazed that there’s another space behind this wall,” she muttered. Mira desperately pushed on the wall, looking for any sort of switch that might open a hidden passage.
As this place was down a spiral staircase from the lower tier, it was probably at the very bottom of the sixth level. She found it odd that there would be anything else here. If there were another route, it would have to be a path leading to this same depth.
I would think that the most empty-looking spaces should be the most likely to contain secrets.
Some of this was Mira being hopeful, of course, but she naturally doubted places that seemed meaningful yet looked empty. What if these dead ends were only known as places where Skull Dragons spawned as a means of concealing the truth?
Mira suddenly recalled a map of the sixth level that volunteers had once made. The maps had disappeared along with the floating islands, but there was a very noticeable feature among them: the halls at the ends of spiraling stairways were long. Now that she knew there was space behind the wall, it would be stranger if there wasn’t something in there. Knowing this, Mira began searching the entirety of the wall. Was there no spot on the wall that could be pushed, or a hollow for something to be slotted into?
While Mira proceeded from the middle to the left, and finally to the right of the wall, the Spirit King spoke up. “Mira, touch that spot again.”
“Ooh! Understood. Around here, correct?”
How handy it was for the Spirit King to speak up every time she needed him.
She didn’t know what would happen; she just obeyed his instructions for the time being. When she touched the spot he’d indicated, the symbols of his blessing appeared on the back of her hand. The sensation told her that he was analyzing the wall through her. After several long moments passed, the symbols thinned and faded.
“Did you figure anything out?” Mira asked expectantly.
After a moment, he replied, “This is a shock.” When pressed further, he first stated that this was the birthplace of primordial humans. He then explained the reason for his surprise: The wall in front of her was definitely algorest alloy, which was nearly unbreakable. However, the spot she’d just touched—and that spot alone—was made of a different material.
“A different material? I certainly can’t tell the difference.” Mira squinted at that spot and then another one, but their appearance and texture were exactly the same. She’d never have figured this out on her own. Mira stared down the white wall. “So…what is it made of?” she asked, hope evident in her voice.
“Divine mineral,” the Spirit King replied with a measure of pride, happy to see her this way.
“Divine mineral? The very same kind used in the sealed oni catacombs? In that case, would this be…?”
Divine mineral was a substance created by divine power. The catacombs where oni—such as the one that had formed Chimera Clausen—had been sealed had been built with the same substance, so the memory of it was fresh in Mira’s mind.
Could there be oni sealed behind this wall? The thought concerned her.
“You don’t have to worry about that. I still remember the locations of the catacombs, and there are none nearby. More importantly, the divine mineral’s presence is proof that whatever lays beyond here is enough to earn the attention of the gods.”
Gods were beings that watched over humanity; they didn’t interfere with the world unless absolutely necessary. The mineral that remained as proof of their interference was right in front of Mira.
What could be sealed behind this wall? Was the spirit itself what was locked away? Something powerful was nearby.
Mira didn’t know what it might be, but she asked, “Hrmm. Spirit King, are you able to open this?” She felt through the Spirit King’s blessing that the spirit beyond would not be harmed. As such, she wasn’t about to leave the spirit in such a strange place.
“Yes,” he answered after a moment’s pause. “Though it will take some time. Are you sure you want to do this, Mira? We don’t know what we may find.” His voice bore genuine concern for Mira. She answered simply that she couldn’t abandon this spirit.
He’s right, however; it may be dangerous. Mira was confident in her strength, but she knew well that there were things in this world that even she could not defeat. If such a thing lay beyond this wall, fighting would be reckless. However, she wouldn’t give up; she would regroup and devise a plan.
Instead of destroying the spirit mineral, was there any way to open it like a lid so that it was usable again? After thinking as best she could, Mira suggested, “Spirit King, if something terrible lies behind this wall, we may need to seal it again. If possible, I’d prefer to open it so that it can be closed again right away.”
“The fastest way would be to turn the divine mineral into mana, but you do have a point. Very well. We’ll give it a try,” the Spirit King replied.
He directed Mira to touch the portion of wall again. Mira obeyed, and the symbols of his blessing covered her once more as her skin began to gleam. His power ran through her body, flowing from her hands and into the divine mineral. He first seemed to analyze the crystal. Unlike the catacombs, he had not been involved in this wall’s creation, so he needed to scrutinize it first.
Twenty minutes passed. Even the Spirit King couldn’t quickly destroy a substance made by gods; Mira felt his immense focus through the symbols of his blessing. Once thirty minutes had passed, the blessing shone suddenly brighter, and a tunnel large enough for Mira opened in the wall.
“Ooh, it really is a hidden passage!”
When the divine mineral had disappeared, a tunnel through the algorest-alloy wall opened. It looked as if someone had dug a hole into it.
As a result of much trial and error, the Spirit King had managed to turn the mineral from a physical substance into a sort of spiritual one. He proudly explained that, if the situation called for it, he could quickly close the tunnel by changing it back from spiritual to physical. Mira half-ignored his detailed explanation, but all this was apparently made possible by the special traits of divine mineral. Either way, once she’d confirmed that he could change it back, she stepped foot into the tunnel.
“A dead end?”
“So it seems.”
Ten meters into the tunnel, the path ended abruptly. There were no side paths along the way—just a straight shot. Mira hadn’t missed any intersections, yet here she was, at a dead end. However, this place was clearly suspicious. It couldn’t possibly end here. There must have been something hidden. Mira was certain of this as she faced the white wall before her.
“Spirit King, what of this wall?” Mira asked, feeling around for any hidden switches. Perhaps there were two layers of divine mineral.
While Mira pushed and knocked on the wall, the Spirit King offered his thoughts based on what he felt. “This is simple algorest alloy. I can’t find any—” But before he could finish the sentence, he interrupted himself and said sharply, “There. Right there, Mira.”
“Right here?” She excitedly touched the spot on the wall she’d just felt.
“Exactly. I’m certain of it,” the Spirit King replied, prompting the symbols on Mira to light up once more. Then, incredibly, a small hole appeared in the dead-end wall. A hole about 20 centimeters in diameter opened at waist height. When she looked inside, Mira saw a protrusion at the back.
I’m starting to feel like Indy! Remembering old movies she’d once seen, she reached her hand into the hole without hesitation. Then, she seized the protrusion and pulled. The rock wall quietly slid sideways, revealing yet another hallway.
“Just as I’d expected!” Mira puffed out her chest proudly.
“This is quite the cautious design,” the Spirit King mused, impressed. Having solved this puzzle, they triumphantly continued through the hallway.
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