Chapter 90
Chapter 90
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 90
Chapter Title: Mirror Maze Breakthrough
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After calming down Marun, who was half out of his mind, Arsen sent a few more people inside to test the illusion.
In the end, he learned quite a bit about this illusion.
Standing at the precarious spot just one step away from falling into it, Eloise spoke up.
“What an absurd trap. I can’t even figure out how it works.”
From what they had pieced together, the first person to enter would see an illusion of a labyrinth covered in mirrors on all sides.
To the person experiencing the vision, the mirror walls felt completely solid and real.
On top of that, while trapped in the illusion, they couldn’t hear the voices of people beyond the mirror walls.
The mirror walls were so tough that no amount of physical force or magic could break through them, making shortcuts like smashing or bypassing the labyrinth impossible.
Even scratches or marks made with paint would vanish immediately, so leaving signs was out of the question. Naturally, wandering around would lead to getting lost in no time.
Escaping wasn’t all that hard, though.
When you first entered, the path behind seemed blocked, but in reality, you were right in front of the staircase area. So, groping around for the exit would eventually lead you out without much trouble.
Of course, if you wandered deep inside, that would be a different story.
And contrary to Marun’s desperate claims, there was no mind magic inducing terror in people.
“No, really, something was off! That’s not who I am! As soon as I went in, my heart started pounding and...!”
Marun insisted frantically, but aside from him, the others had been a bit rattled at most and hadn’t reported any intense fear.
Maybe there was some magic that only affected knights, or perhaps the others didn’t feel much terror because they’d already seen Marun come out unscathed.
Either way, the most crucial discovery from testing the illusion was that Arsen himself, and anyone physically touching him, was immune to the mirrors’ effects.
To be precise, those touching him could still see the mirror walls, but they wouldn’t be physically blocked by them, allowing them to pass through freely.
The effect extended through secondary and tertiary connections, like holding hands in a chain.
In other words, linking hands and advancing like a train was the trick to getting through this illusory trap.
They’d first tried using ropes for convenience, but at some point, the ropes snapped when they moved together, forcing them to resort to this method.
“Alright, follow me slowly. If you lose your grip, shout right away.”
“Yes!”
“Got it!”
Arsen led the mages with one hand and Rino and the soldiers with the other as he stepped forward.
Glancing back at those following, he couldn’t help but chuckle.
From his perspective, it looked like he was leading blindfolded people through an empty parking lot.
The followers, meanwhile, kept gasping in awe at the sights around them.
In the endless world of mirrors, their companions—hands linked—kept phasing in and out between the walls like ghosts. The scene was utterly bizarre and mystical.
Savoring entirely different views, they traversed the labyrinth.
After walking some unknown distance, Arsen, leading the group, spotted something odd ahead.
Someone leaning against a pillar.
Arsen turned toward it.
“Captain?”
When Arsen changed direction, Rino—who was linked to him from the civilian side—voiced his confusion.
“There’s a person.”
Drawing closer, Arsen realized it was a corpse that had been dead for quite some time.
The clothing matched what they’d seen of the excavation team from above, making it easy to guess this was one of them.
Judging by the body’s state, death had occurred just a few hours ago.
A bloodied dagger and a wound on the neck clearly indicated the cause.
Eloise, linked to Arsen on the mage side and thus able to see the scene vividly, asked,
“Suicide?”
“Yeah. No other wounds, and the position fits.”
The body was scraped and bruised all over, likely from frantic attempts to escape right up to the end.
He’d probably pounded and clawed at the mirror walls in desperation.
What thoughts had gone through his mind from realizing no escape was possible to deciding on death?
Shaking off the grim musings, Arsen tugged Eloise lightly and started walking again.
“Let’s go. We’ll grab the body on the way back.”
After a short while, they spotted another person lying on the floor.
Thinking they might be dead too, but hoping they could be alive, Arsen approached to check.
‘Still breathing?’
Surprisingly, this one was still alive.
A faint rise and fall of the chest and abdomen showed traces of breath.
As they got closer, Eloise and Rino—holding hands with Arsen—could see the survivor too.
“A survivor?”
“Take them with us?”
Rino’s question carried clear implications.
They had no intention of letting anyone know they’d successfully breached this ruin.
Bringing the survivor along meant they’d witness the whole group passing through.
Arsen answered Rino’s query simply.
“We’ll take them. If they wake up, wipe their memory.”
“Ah...”
Arsen wasn’t thrilled about erasing memories, but it beat leaving them to die inside.
Rino, suddenly remembering something he’d overlooked, glanced toward the mages.
He could only see Eloise from his position.
Still mounted on Jin, Arsen used its front leg to lift the woman’s body and place it on its back.
“Let’s move.”
After going a bit farther, walls and a door finally came into view.
As they neared the door, Eloise muttered,
“It’s over.”
Arsen turned to look, but of course, he couldn’t tell if the illusion had ended from his view.
Realizing this, Eloise explained in detail.
“The illusion fades starting from where the third person is standing. Looks like we’ve cleared it completely.”
After that, they pulled everyone through one by one past the exit point, and finally, Arsen’s group emerged from the labyrinth entirely.
They had passed through the legendary ruin said to have devoured countless people. With an unbelievably simple method.
Gazing self-mockingly at the now-passed labyrinth section, Eloise said,
“Now I get why it didn’t explain how to get through.”
It truly was so straightforward that no explanation was needed.
Anyone lost in the illusion would figure it out just by the successor coming to help.
Marun nodded in agreement beside her.
“The wisdom of our ancestors, no doubt.”
Arsen nodded silently in assent, then set down the survivor slung on Jin’s back.
He ordered one soldier to tend to them.
“Just make sure they don’t rush back into the labyrinth. Take their weapons, just in case.”
“Understood!”
A quick check showed no injuries—just exhaustion from collapse.
That was precaution enough.
Turning his gaze to the door, Arsen heard Marun quickly flip open his book and read aloud.
“Now’s the time this book really shines. Here, the successor just places a hand on it and says ‘Open the door!’ Simple, right?”
“So it seems.”
Agreeing, Arsen placed his hand on the door.
A grotesque noise, like a radio frequency being twisted, began emanating from it—just like before.
At the same time, an enigmatic message drilled directly into his mind, conveying its meaning.
-Greetings, visitor. We confirm your arrival accompanied by 1 combat doll and 11 combat doll-like subspecies. What is your business?-
“...What.”
Arsen nearly blurted out his shock but quickly swallowed it.
Fortunately, no one else seemed to hear it.
‘Combat doll?’
His mind raced at the incomprehensible term.
It said ‘accompanied by,’ so Arsen himself was likely excluded from the count.
There were exactly 13 people standing before the door right now.
Arsen, Eloise, Rino, Marun, five soldiers, three mages, and the one survivor they’d just rescued.
One of them designated a ‘combat doll,’ and the other eleven ‘like subspecies.’ What did that mean?
As he pondered, Marun called out to him curiously.
“Sir Arsen?”
“...Ah, no. One moment.”
Pushing down his questions, Arsen spoke as Marun had instructed.
“Open the door.”
-Order acknowledged, visitor. Welcome.-
With a grinding rumble, the door slid open.
* * *
A completely different scene from the ruin’s interior they’d seen before unfolded before them.
The previous site they’d explored felt like a medieval laboratory, but this place resembled living quarters far more.
Built for habitation, yet devoid of any signs that people had actually lived here.
Like an emergency bunker, perhaps.
“Let’s all spread out and search.”
At Marun’s suggestion, the group scattered to scour the surroundings.
As expected, nothing particularly special turned up.
This was a ruin the Starburmi had already excavated once, stripping it of anything worthwhile.
The only reason they’d come here was that it was one possible spot where the previous Starburmi leader might have left a cipher.
That said, there were still a few things worth taking.
Trinkets like cups made of rare metals, even artifacts for water supply.
A handful of items that could fetch a price outside.
Arsen instructed them to gather those too, then asked Marun,
“More to salvage than I thought. I figured it’d be empty.”
“That makes sense. Back then, they were short-handed, so they left behind anything too heavy or useless. Some of that might be valuable now...”
As he said, even the decent relic—a water generator—was no lightweight. It took four burly soldiers to lift it, impossible to carry by hand.
If there’d been more artifacts inside, they probably wouldn’t have bothered with something like this.
While debating whether to take the water generator, a soldier called out to Arsen.
“Captain, think we found it!”
The item the soldier brought was a stone slab. Plain and unmarked, just as described.
Arsen took it and handed it to Marun.
“Here.”
“Thank you! Now, watch. A simple heating spell...”
Light glowed from Marun’s hand, and soon, something began trickling down the slab.
Moments later, neatly engraved letters appeared, as if etched by magic.
‘Third clue—‘Sailed,’ written by Abate.’
Arsen held up the slab toward Marun.
“This it?”
“Yes! The previous leader wrote it himself.”
Marun beamed with joy, lifting the slab and stroking the engraving.
“I met him a couple times as a kid. Kind man. He patted my head and told me to become a great mage.”
Marun caressed the slab with the wistful expression of someone lost in fond memories.
Arsen waited until he’d savored the moment, then asked,
“That’s the cipher written there?”
“Yeah. Let’s memorize it quick. Never forget...”
The Starburmi elders had said a specific cipher was needed to summon the library.
Known only to the leader for security, he’d proposed secretly storing it in a few of the ruins they’d explored.
As a backup in case the cipher was lost, and a small reward for future adventurers who might come up empty-handed after they took the relics.
From this tale, Arsen could tell the previous Starburmi leader was a secretive romantic, borderline eccentric.
Thanks to that, at least the cipher hadn’t fallen to the Giant King of the South—a bit of foresight.
After reciting it several times to commit it to memory, Arsen gripped the slab tightly.
“Ah...”
Marun sighed regretfully but didn’t stop him.
It was pre-agreed.
Arsen pressed his thumb hard, and the slab split cleanly in two.
He crushed the pieces in his fist a few more times.
Soon, nothing remained in his hands but ordinary stone dust—no trace of the cipher.
With a final shake to scatter the crumbs, Arsen completed the concealment.
“How many clues total?”
“Four. Three left now.”
“Three, huh.”
Arsen glanced at the now-sealed door.