‘…We have to endure. This is all necessary.’
‘I can’t! Please….’
‘Then are you giving up? Does that mean you want to give up everything… all of it?’
I checked the face of the dead dark wizard.
Suddenly, a strange echo washed over me.
I felt nauseous in an instant.
A disgusting feeling twisted inside me.
‘…What is this?’
The face of the dark wizard.
Familiar.
I might be familiar with it since I saw him in the Sun Symbol Temple.
But something felt… different….
“Hey, what’s wrong? Are you hurt?”
Richard approached and asked.
“Is it because of that magic from earlier? You seemed fine, but you should rest.”
“No, that’s not it.”
Others started to gather around, looking worriedly.
I shook my head and forced a light laugh.
“It’s just the smell.”
I hadn’t been directly affected by the dark wizard’s magic.
But my body reeked of the stench from being covered in corpses and blood.
“Is that so? Well…”
I tried to recall the memory that had just emerged.
But it wouldn’t come back.
It brushed past me like a dream, and I couldn’t remember it clearly.
‘Hmm… what was it?’
The more I tried to focus, the less it came to me.
It was frustrating.
I kept thinking while I soaked a dry cloth in drinking water.
I wiped my face and armor sloppily.
Though it didn’t get rid of the smell of blood and guts, it was better than doing nothing at all.
I rinsed my mouth while I was at it.
After all, we were going back anyway, so I could refill the water then.
While I washed up quickly, Dillon started giving instructions.
Thanks to that, I snapped out of my thoughts.
“There might still be other dark wizards or enemies left. First, let’s investigate this cave and regroup.”
We decided to explore the Underground City in teams of three.
I was with Jerry and Perlyn.
“We’ll gather back here after 15 minutes. If there’s still a place left to investigate when the time’s up, we’ll discuss it separately then.”
Each team took a torch and dispersed.
Jerry and Perlyn chatted excitedly while looking around the cave.
“Wow, is this place really real? It’s so amazing.”
“It’s a bit creepy too.”
Unlike a huge anthill, the internal structure wasn’t particularly complicated.
It was rather simple.
We explored one room after another.
None of the rooms looked like they’d been used normally.
“Ugh, disgusting dark wizard bastards…”
There were quite a few things that looked like altars.
They came in various shapes.
Magic circles drawn with blood.
Bones of something tied up in veins and hanging in a line.
Most were human bones, but there were also bones of monsters and beasts.
Some old, yellowed bones were stacked like a tower, while others looked freshly rotting.
“Ew…”
Jerry, who was about to vomit, got patted by Perlyn.
I pinched my nose and focused on another detail.
‘With this much, there should be some decay gas. This Underground City must have some kind of ventilation system.’
We continued further.
Soon, we reached the end of this path.
There was a room at the end and another room that branched off just before it.
We checked the side room first.
“This one looks a bit cleaner?”
“Relatively speaking, yes.”
However, there were strange chains scattered around.
The steel device fixed to the wall seemed designed to restrain a person’s limbs or neck.
When someone stood there, it matched the position roughly.
One around the neck.
Two on the arms.
Two more on the ankles.
The device, shaped like an ‘S,’ was embedded in the wall.
I took in the sight before me.
Consciousness faded.
Amidst my daze, someone whispered.
I recognize this.
I was here before….
What was it… for…?
“Is this not, like, for doing that? Where lovers are bound and stuff…”
Jerry’s secret desire snapped me out of my thoughts.
Perlyn shook her head in disgust.
“Talking about lovers in a dark wizard’s dwelling… Would you even think of such a thing in a place like this?”
“Come to think of it….”
“And it seems there wasn’t just one person, was there?”
There were several restraint devices fixed to the wall.
They varied in size, likely prepared for different ages and genders.
“It looks like it was a room for keeping sacrificial victims.”
I glanced at the child-sized restraint device.
Seeing it made my stomach twist uncomfortably.
Was it simply the disgust of treating a child like this?
There was nothing particularly special.
We headed to the last room.
Finally, a room that seemed lived in appeared.
“Looks like someone used this one?”
“Must’ve been the dark wizard we encountered earlier.”
A desk, bookshelf, bed.
It was a pretty cozy space, but it had everything needed for living.
‘What’s this?’
I read a paper placed on the desk.
It seemed to be a letter.
The name at the top was the sender. Taboo? Was that the dark wizard’s name?
The contents… I can’t quite tell.
It seemed like they had hurriedly gotten up while writing, as the ink pot had spilled.
Most of the letter’s content was obscured because of it.
‘Crown of Thorns? Objective? Sun? The words I can make out are only these….’
There wasn’t even a recipient written at the bottom.
Perhaps they stood up in haste.
I stepped away from the desk.
We rummaged around for hidden spaces, wondering if there was anything worth investigating.
Perhaps there’s a clue hidden in a book.
I took a book that seemed recently used from the shelf and opened it.
‘Nothing really here… Is it a diary?’
It contained dates and brief records.
There was no encryption.
[Received Gaston and Salaman back. Plus, a guy named Envinil.]
‘…Envinil? The guy who’s supposedly from the same Judeca as me? But Envinil was supposed to be dead… Did he die during the experiment?’
[Reinforced to the maximum extent researched so far. The result was a success. With the power of the omen placed in the corpse, it was even possible to enchant a weapon. If I can insert this with a suggestion to the target…]
The power of the omen.
A term used to refer to the dark force wielded by dark wizards.
As far as I know, Gaston and Salaman had been killed by Eliya and then returned to their respective families…
‘Did this dark wizard receive them back? Could this place be related to the Molsin Church?’
In the future I know, there’s no such connection.
I took out another sheet.
This time, the oldest one.
Again, no key or anything.
It was hard to read due to its age.
The color-faded paper, crumpled creases, and faded ink.
The date was roughly ten years ago.
[…the brainwashing and suggestion have been lifted…. …the guild… first mission… Mari… returned…. again… …for…. psychological shock… resistance…. suggestion… only… consumable…. …if they finish and die….]
‘Ugh, my eyes hurt.’
I couldn’t read any longer, so I closed the diary.
There was no useful information left to investigate.
“Fifteen minutes have passed.”
Jerry said as he checked his wristwatch.
We retraced our steps.
At about the same point, twelve of us regrouped again.
It seemed there were no remaining enemies.
While we were piecing together the information, Gauss spoke up.
“There was something like a magic laboratory here. Not dark magic, but a real one used by wizards.”
“Huh? So this guy is a wizard and a dark wizard?”
“Why would such a crazy person exist?”
Surprisingly, a few exist among the crazy people.
Those intoxicated by power, unsatisfied merely with magic.
They clutch at dark magic with fervor.
“There were a lot of research materials related to magic, too.”
“On our side, there seemed to be facilities that conducted dark magic. Like altars.”
“It doesn’t seem like they solely occupied this large place, but at least it doesn’t appear that any other enemies are left here.”
Dillon summarized the situation.
“Since we achieved our goal, all we need to do now is return with the corpses….”
I thought quietly for a moment, then suddenly became curious.
Would Eliya need the research materials from this dark wizard?
At the very least, it might be of some help.
I asked Dillon.
“Is it alright if I call for the lady?”
“…Hmm? What do you mean, oh.”
I waved the necklace.
“It might help the lady.”
“There might be materials that a regular wizard could use, so it makes some sense. But, um, I don’t think it’s my place to decide this… Is it really okay to use it without permission?”
I scratched my head.
This was meant to protect Eliya, not to call her whenever I wanted.
Still… I guessed it might be fine?
“If she doesn’t want it, she’ll refuse.”
“In that case, sure.”
Everyone took a step back.
I channeled mana into the necklace.
“I sent a signal…”
“Ah.”
Barely opening my mouth, Eliya appeared.
She nosedived into my chest like the first time I used it.
As usual, she had a cat doll in her arms and draped a red blanket like a scarf around her neck.
She rubbed her nose.
Her nose turned bright red in no time.
“I messed up the coordinates….”
‘What’s up with her, why is she acting so forgetful these days?’
Unlike me, the others were startled and knelt on one knee.
Eliya was about to leap into my arms, so I raised my hand and took a step back.
Even though I washed up a bit, I was still not in a normal state.
The disgusting smell still lingered.
Taken aback, Eliya’s eyes widened.
She blinked rapidly, as if she couldn’t believe the reality she was seeing.
Her trembling red lips were pressed together.
“…What are you doing right now? Are you rejecting me?”
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