No matter how unpredictable this world may be, at least give some hint and move me or something.
“Phew… I guess those who aren’t swayed by such things are considered divine beings.”
I calmed my anger for a moment and gathered my thoughts.
“Anyway, I’ve done everything I needed to do in China… Does it really matter? I can take the reward from Inessa later. Still, I wanted to have a proper chat with ‘that guy’ uncle. That’s a bit disappointing.”
It’s true that meeting someone familiar in a foreign land can be such a joy.
“What do I do about her, though? We fell together somehow.”
Suck-suck-
The breath escaping Liu Xiao-Wo was nothing short of alarming.
Her breaths were faint and barely hanging on.
Droplets-
It’s been several minutes since I started pouring Irmana’s water and potions into her tiny cracked lips.
Even if I dug a hole and filled it with water, it wouldn’t be enough.
“Why isn’t she recovering? Well, I guess that makes sense. She was half-digested in the dimensional passage after dealing with that horrific digestive fluid.”
I never thought that would even be possible; what incredible mental strength.
But thanks to that, she ended up transported to the same space as me, so her efforts weren’t in vain.
“At least her face is saved. That’s a relief.”
Suddenly, I was reminded of Yeon-hee from my past life.
In a world where one in ten are Awakened and unlucky ones can be killed by monsters even while sleeping, external appearances still matter greatly for both genders.
Was it lucky that I wore the Infi-Meno crown?
Only her face was intact, but other parts of her body were riddled with holes, and her skin was a pitch-black dead shade.
“With such severe injuries… She might not fully recover. If Ham Eun-young had been here, it would have been a great help.”
“Beeep!”
“Gori” was now left alone.
Liu Xiao-Wo was too drained to even maintain her black cat form.
“Ughhh!!”
Her body trembled as she seized, going into convulsions.
This was the second time I’ve seen her in this state.
I gently pressed down on her to wait for the seizure to stop.
“How do I get her out of here? Just giving her a life potion… No, I should observe her a bit longer.”
Sure, escaping alone would be possible if Yeon-hee called me whenever, but escaping with Liu Xiao-Wo wouldn’t be easy.
But I couldn’t just leave her behind.
I knew my actions would influence the future, so I had to refrain from cowardly acts.
If all else fails, I might have to resort to giving her the potion.
As for her personality shifting… Well, I guess I could deal with that? I just hope it doesn’t become a disaster.
“More importantly, here… The flow of mana is much slower than any other dimension I’ve traveled. If the concept of time diverges too much from our world, that would be a problem.”
Worrying about that, I started down the path with Liu Xiao-Wo on “Jim’s” back.
[Creeeak…]
“Are you happy to carry a pretty lady?”
[Creeeak?!]
“Don’t be surprised, let’s head over there for now.”
[Creeeak!]
There wasn’t really a path, but normally walking along a route where mana flows at least a bit stronger leads to an exit.
“I’m going to hold off calling Jung Tae-hyung for now.”
Unless it was absolutely necessary, I wouldn’t call him and unnecessarily increase my burdens.
“If anything happens, I told him to return to Korea anyway.”
My feet sinking into the sand was quite amusing, but my minions didn’t seem too pleased to be in this space.
In particular, “Gori” looked much more anxious than usual, though I didn’t know why.
“This place is boring. It’s definitely a dungeon, but there are no monsters. I wonder if a mana stone mine will show up.”
After moving for about an hour, alternating between flying and walking…
“Something is approaching…”
A bizarre being was flying toward me at a constant speed.
A little over one meter tall dwarf wearing a brown cone hat.
With sharp arms and uniquely dark round eyes that reminded me of the dawn, I was sure I had seen this creature before.
It came closer with a whoosh, as if it had some teleportation abilities; it was already too late to avoid it.
“A mad archaeologist from the desert… This one is different from the one I saw before. The aura is subtly different.”
It’s not surprising to find multiple archaeologists.
They are treated as treasures in dungeons, which A-rank hunters simply want to grab once.
“If I’ve met that guy even once, I wouldn’t say such things. But it’s less of a shock than when I saw it last time.”
It’s clear that it was misclassified as an easy opponent.
It felt just like running into a mimic.
Countless people lost their lives to mimics, but the dead cannot speak.
In the end, only the exaggerated tales of heroes who survived would spread as truth.
“Speaking of which, I wonder how Tanya is doing.”
Oddly enough, I felt no fear even though I was about to encounter an archaeologist. It was evident just from the fact that I thought of Tanya so leisurely.
Golden Mimic Tanya.
She was like a friend I made after being reborn as a skeleton.
“When I almost got taken out by Hyeon Il-hwan while fighting Hyeon Woo-seok, I guess it was Tanya who helped me?”
Back then, I thought it was either Goddess Irmana or Tanya, but I can see it now.
Goddess Irmana hardly intervenes in reality, and when such events happen, it’s only in response to specific entities.
“I probably won’t meet Tanya again…”
That was something Tanya said directly, which is why I tried not to think about it too hard.
“Seeing that guy reminded me of her for no reason.”
– Peeehahahaha! Pihihi?
The mad archaeologist approached with a dizzy laugh.
It seemed his peculiar laugh was his unique trait.
He quickly approached me, stopping a few meters away, and stared.
“…Should I just take him down?”
I was confident I could slice him in half with a casual swing of my great sword.
But still, I had a strange intuition that he wouldn’t die even if I did.
“Beeeeep!!”
As soon as the archaeologist appeared, “Gori,” who was perched on “Jim’s” tail, hid behind me.
It was clear he was trembling in fear of the archaeologist. Why was he acting like this again?
“Pihihih…”
The archaeologist stared at me with what seemed like eyes of deep insight that could penetrate everything.
“I must have definitely risen in rank compared to when I saw the Dragon Turtle… But fighting him feels like it would yield no results.”
His combat power… didn’t seem too significant at first glance. What a genuinely fascinating fellow.
The creature that was spinning a wizard’s hat-shaped item overhead nodded and then gestured for me to follow.
That was also an unexpected development.
I thought there would be either a fight or a chase scenario.
“……Should I follow for now? Honestly, it feels like if I don’t go, I’ll face trouble.”
The pressure radiating from him felt too immense, almost as if this space itself merged with him… So it felt like I couldn’t kill him.
As I casually glanced around, I concluded that my instincts were sharpened thanks to my newly gained achievement, [Harmonious Wisdom].
“Pihihih, Pihihi?”
He spoke up to me with a grin. Oddly enough, it wasn’t hard to understand what he was saying.
“Huh? Oh, this lady?”
“Pihihi!”
He asked about the woman beside me.
“Could you fix her up a bit? I’ve done everything I can, but something went wrong while crossing dimensions—”
“Pihih!”
The archaeologist displayed disinterest and began to walk away as I formally requested assistance regarding Liu Xiao-Wo. Why did he even ask then? What a weird guy.
“……”
How long have we been moving together?
“Hmm?”
Countless prisons began to register in my senses.
I also detected monsters and other living beings trapped inside them.
“Are those chimeras? No… No way. Those aren’t such rudimentary beings. They seem to create new life…”
Merged living beings stared at me, their eyes gleaming.
But once the archaeologist casually glanced around, they began to flee in fear.
The strange familiarity I felt was probably due to “Gori” who nestled in my arms.
“Could it be… the Hook Bat was created here?”
Since it was such absurd speculation, I shook my head.
There, gradually revealing itself in front of me, was a gigantic dimensional door.
“What on earth is that…?”
The door soared higher than I could see, half ajar, and thick chains wrapped tightly around it.
Inside, I saw hundreds or thousands of black creatures struggling to break free.
It was literally hell unleashed, but the chains stopping them were top-tier sealing magic.
“Pihihihihih!”
The archaeologist found this sight comically delightful. Questions of what amused him, as well as the reason ‘mad’ was his designation, arose in my mind.
He seemed pleased with my surprised reaction, hastily switching directions and leading us further.
After moving for about ten minutes, we arrived at an unexpected place.
“What’s this again?”
“Pihihihih!”
A massive cavern.
To my surprise, there were hordes of kobolds inside, all wearing glasses and expertly handling some rather complex experimental tools.
“Oh dear… I feel dizzy! It’s like I’ve stepped into some strange Alice in Wonderland.”
If Liu Xiao-Wo were awake, she would have empathized with my feelings, but she had only stabilized her breathing without any significant changes from the start.
The kobolds scurried back and forth through the hundreds of passages connected to the cavern, doing experiments on the creatures trapped within and recording results.
“Kobolds are said to be inherently smart, right? That can’t be true?”
“Pihihih!”
According to the archaeologist, that’s no lie.
“Then why does ‘Ddung-i’ act differently?”
Regardless, I had been following the archaeologist around, feeling like a guest at a housewarming party.
It was clear that visits like this were rare for him. He was chattering excitedly, drooling as if talking nonstop.
Eventually, the archaeologist stood in front of us, crossed his arms, and then spoke with a serious expression.
“Pihihihih!”
“What does that mean? He wants me to go clean up the chaos within the door filled with chaotic demon beasts?”
He was basically telling me to enter the massive dimensional portal. What a complete lunatic.
I had just finished a one-on-one with a Great Beast, but the ones screeching on the other side of that door possessed a different energy than any monsters I had faced thus far.
It wasn’t even about winning or losing; they were entities that instinctively provoked a sense of aversion.
Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!
As I stepped closer to the dimensional door, the cries of the black demon beasts gnawed at my ears.
“The sound is absolutely horrific. I have a nagging suspicion I’ll regret this.”
I had no idea why I felt that way just yet.
“Pihihih!”
When I didn’t readily show a reaction, he became agitated, asking me to at least guard the door. Just to discipline the creatures that occasionally popped out.
“……That’s just the same, isn’t it?”
“Cheh……”
The archaeologist clicked his tongue, looking dejected.
Does he really think I’m some fool…?
Regardless, as I continued to listen to the archaeologist, it became clear that he had reasons behind his request.
For some reason, he has acted as a guardian of that door for a very long time, severed from other dimensions.
He claimed he couldn’t even remember how he started this job; honestly, how was that even possible? It was hard to digest.
“A reason or not, lately the balance of the dungeon crumbled, and he could no longer manage with the forces he created, and now he stated it’s down to the final stages for some experiment.”
“His forces” surely meant his creations—originally attempting to create new species by mixing various beings seems to be his treasured pastime.
“But what kind of monsters will spawn from the completed experiment?”
“……”
He went silent and suddenly began waving his hands in a dismissive manner.
– ‘The Mad Archaeologist of the Desert’ requests a minor quest!
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