Floor 25: Protecting the Pope (2)

An acrid smoke tickled the tip of my nose, but my sixth sense sent up no signals at all.

Dobby, meanwhile, couldn't settle on a direction either.

I would have to navigate by my own thoughts and instincts.

A massive temple stood at the heart of the castle, but that wasn't it. If the Pope had been there, some other climber would have found him ages ago.

Whew. It was about time somebody found the Pope anyway, even if it wasn't going to be Alexei…

Roughly two hundred thousand climbers were inside this enormous castle. Counting the enemies, it was no exaggeration to say there were people everywhere within its walls.

Forty-five minutes was plenty of time for someone to have run into the Pope by now.

Could he be using some kind of secret passage?

The thought came to me out of nowhere, and I immediately convinced myself it was very likely true.

I'd heard ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that medieval castles often had hidden tunnels. And this was the residence of the Pope of the continent's only religion — surely there was a secret passage built for emergencies.

And once the Pope saw the chaos inside the castle, he would have headed straight for it.

So now the question is how to find the passage…

Should I search around the temple first? Just as the doubt surfaced, Komet's ring flashed through my mind.

The ring that held the power of the Dawn Wind.

If the goddess knew about my current situation, wouldn't she be using the ring to tell me something?

She's the Wind Goddess, so… say, through the wind, for example.

I concentrated my mana into the ring and pressed my right hand against it.

And amazingly, the moment I poured mana into the ring, I felt a faint breeze stir around me.

So this actually works…

Even I found my own success a little absurd.

Regardless of the surrounding air, a wind spilling out of the ring pointed toward seven o'clock.

Just as I was about to set off across the rooftops, Dobby caught my eye.

If I know the direction, there's no need to drag Dobby along.

To push through the crowded castle, running along the tops of the buildings was the better option. Going alone would be faster than taking Dobby with me.

Hmm. I'd leave him with Handrake and go.

Because the Pope was on the move, the direction indicated by the ring's wind shifted subtly from time to time. Still, the overall bearing never changed, so it posed no real trouble finding my way.

Ten minutes of movement later, I confirmed that my guess was right — the Pope was using a secret passage.

The problem lay somewhere else entirely.

The ring's wind revealed the Pope's location, but it did not reveal the entrance to the passage.

In a narrow alley where a few corpses lay sprawled, the wind pointed straight down, beneath the ground.

Damn it. How the hell did Alexei find the Pope?

What am I supposed to do with this?

My eyes fell on the packed earth below. It was the secret passage the Pope was using. Surely the entrance wouldn't be in a shabby alley like this.

Which meant that to reach the Pope, I would have to smash through the ground…

Even ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠as strong as I'd become, could I actually break through the floor? I was a little skeptical. If I had a shovel, maybe — but I couldn't dig through earth with an axe.

And I couldn't exactly punch my way through the ground with my bare fists, either.

Should I just trail him and wait for him to come out of the passage?

No. That was far too complacent a thought.

If ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the Pope could have escaped the castle through the secret passage, this trial would never have been given in the first place. Something must have gone wrong inside that passage — that was why the Tower was ordering us to find him.

Damn it. If I'd known this would happen, should I have carried bombs or something?

A useless, too-late regret. Bombs weren't on the supply list Ha Heijeong had written up for me, anyway.

Whew. I needed to bring back a mage as fast as possible. Preferably someone with serious firepower.

The two names that came to mind at once were Ha Heijeong and Handrake.

I don't know where Ha Heijeong is, so grabbing Handrake is the better bet.

Tracking the wind's direction had taken me about twenty minutes to get here… but I could just push the pace a little harder. Twenty minutes would be enough to bring Handrake back with me.

Wait — no, that's wrong. I've got portals.

What an idiot, actually considering running all the way back. I must have panicked a little, because my brain had locked up.

Well, I'd remembered. That was what mattered.

Just as I moved to open the portal, an odd feeling crept over me.

Come to think of it, the wind's direction hasn't changed for a while now.

Beneath the ground, the ring's wind was still pointing at the exact same spot.

The moment I realized it, urgency seized me. There was only one reason the fleeing Pope's movement through the secret passage would have stopped.

He'd been ambushed by the enemy inside the tunnel.

I pressed my ear to the ground and focused my hearing. Faint, distant clashes of metal reached me.

I hastily opened a two-way portal. There was no time to waste.

The instant I stepped through the golden shimmer, I turned my head, scanning for Handrake.

"Wh-what the hell?"

"Is that a portal?"

"It's Kwon Suhyeok!"

As the climbers in the plaza stared at me in wide-eyed confusion, I spotted Handrake three meters away.

His mouth hung agape, his face frozen in a dazed expression — he was clearly more than a little startled.

"Handrake!"

"Y-yes?"

"I need you to come with me!"

"Yes? But why so suddenly—?"

There was no time for this. Instead of answering, I grabbed Handrake by the wrist and hauled him along.

Handrake, bewildered, was dragged over without offering any resistance.

Oh, right — Handrake was the one commanding the plaza.

Just before stepping through the portal, the fact belatedly registering, I shouted back at Alexei.

"Alexei! I'm borrowing Handrake — take over command here!"

"Hey — wait! What the—?!"

Leaving Alexei's yell behind me, I crossed through the portal.

The mana powering it was vanishing at a frightening rate, and I shut the portal's door immediately.

Only then did Handrake collect himself, his face stiff as he asked:

"Kwon Suhyeok… nim?"

Granted, it had been a rude way to go about it, but this was no time to quibble over manners.

"I'm sorry. The Pope is right beneath us. Can you break through the floor?"

"Ah… so that's it. I understand. That ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠would explain the urgency. Wait — hold on. Beneath us?"

"Yes."

Hearing my words, Handrake seemed to realize he'd gotten ahead of himself, and dropped his gaze to the ground.

"How on earth did you find him? Ah! No, that's not important. You're saying he's under here?"

"Yes. Directly beneath the spot where you're standing."

"Hmm… so he was escaping through an underground secret passage. No wonder the climbers couldn't find him."

Handrake promptly knelt, spread his palm flat, and pressed it against the earth. Feeling the pulse of mana radiating from his hand, it seemed he was projecting his mana downward into the soil.

Ah. So mana can be used that way, too.

Even as I was realizing this anew, Handrake rose to his feet and backed a few steps away from the spot.

"I can dig through it, I believe, but there's a massive stone wall underneath. It appears to be rather deep. We'll simply have to try and see."

Instead of answering, I nodded and stepped back. Immediately after, Handrake began chanting his spell.

As if a sinkhole had opened, the earthen ground sank away in an instant.

A hole roughly three meters across yawned open — the original soil nowhere to be seen, as if it had simply vanished.

I lifted my head to peer down and saw pale blue bricks below.

"That would be the ceiling of the secret passage."

"I see. I'll use an explosion spell — please step back a little further."

At Handrake's words, I retreated another two paces.

Standing at the rim of the sinkhole, Handrake began chanting once more.

I waited for the explosion — but a barrier sprang into being first.

Which made sense. Even having stepped back, we were still close. Handrake was standing right at the edge of the hole.

A barrier was essential if he didn't want to take damage from the blast.

The moment Handrake finished his incantation, a thunderous BOOM followed.

Black smoke, soil, and brick shards erupted out of the sinkhole into the sky.

Did it break through?

I started forward on hope — but Handrake's expression was grim. Apparently the firepower had fallen short.

Handrake chanted again.

BOOM! BOOM! KRA-BOOM—!

Three more explosions in succession. The ground trembled beneath our feet, and the force was enough to make the sinkhole's edges collapse inward.

Smoke still obscured the view, so Handrake peered down into the sinkhole, brow furrowed.

I couldn't just stand there waiting behind him, so I stepped closer to the rim.

"Did it break?"

"No. I didn't hear anything collapsing. The bricks must be harder than I thought—"

And then — GRUUUUMBle — came the sound of rock tumbling down.

There it was. We'd done it.

I exchanged a brief look with Handrake, then leapt down into the sinkhole without a backward glance.

Pat, patter—

Fine grit and fragments of rock, loosened by the explosions, pattered against my armor. Dust still hung in the air, blurring my vision, so I widened my senses.

On the ground below lay shattered brick debris — and before and behind it stood heathens with weapons drawn.

"Wh-what the hell is that?!"

"Clear your sightlines!"

I landed on a broad slab of broken brick that my danger sense had picked out, and the moment my feet touched down, I swung the axe in a huge arc.

The blade split through the backs of the heathens at the front, then, sweeping a full circle, tore into the chests of the ones behind.

"Kghak!"

"Ghuk!"

The shockwave from the swinging axe kicked up the sandy dust around me in a violent swirl, and in an instant the view around me cleared.

The heathens who had turned at their comrades' screams stared at me with faces frozen in panic.

I paid them no mind and turned my gaze forward.

At the head of the heathen formation stood an old man in blue vestments, flanked by ten knights in full plate armor.

The Pope — and the holy knights guarding him. I had finally found them.

The heathens chasing the Pope were numerous — that was all. Cutting them down posed no problem; what came afterward was the harder part.

I had no mana left to reuse the portal, which meant I had no choice but to push straight through a castle crawling with heathens.

The old Pope's pace was slow, and as time passed, more and more enemies converged on us. One of the holy knights took a wound along the way, but we made it back to the plaza without any real trouble.

And the moment the Pope laid eyes on the countless climbers filling the plaza, tears sprang to his eyes without warning.

"So the reinforcements truly were sent by the Goddess… She has not truly vanished after all."

"We told you, didn't we? We are the reinforcements the Goddess sent."

Honestly speaking, I found it a little absurd.

When we'd first met the Pope, we had clearly told him we were reinforcements sent by the Goddess.

Saying that now meant he hadn't believed a word of it.

Fifty years had passed since the Goddess disappeared, sure — but wasn't the man's faith awfully thin for someone called the Pope?

Well, they did lose the power of divinity overnight…

I couldn't fully understand how they felt, but even so, it seemed like too much.

Whatever. Not my business how strong anyone else's faith was.

Fifty-seven minutes remained until the time the reinforcements would come for the Pope.

With him found, Floor 26 was as good as complete…

So now I just need to gather up the climbers scattered across the floor?