Chapter 162
Chapter 162
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 162
Chapter Title: The First Trial (4)
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"Wait a moment."
Talion said that as he brought Feynol to a halt.
Ahead lay a pitch-black corridor.
"We should turn back. The risks of entering this way are too high."
It was a reasonable judgment.
In a dungeon, pushing through a passage like this was suicidal. Dungeons were full of threats lurking everywhere. If you couldn't secure sightlines, your chances of dying skyrocketed.
But.
Feynol Lifek continued forward at a leisurely but steady pace, utterly unfazed.
"...Miss Feynol? Wait, what are you—"
Talion tried to speak up in alarm, but.
Before he could even finish his sentence.
Traps scattered everywhere, artificial magic beasts, and intricately placed mana disruption devices all sprang to life at once, their sounds echoing through the darkness.
It had all happened just from Feynol stepping into the depths.
"...What are you doing back there?"
Feynol turned and tilted her head at Talion, who stared at her in bewilderment from behind.
Her expression suggested she had no idea why he was lagging behind alone.
"..."
Talion stared blankly for a long moment before letting out a hollow laugh.
He'd momentarily forgotten just what kind of monster she was.
How many obstacles had this woman casually swept aside while progressing through the dungeon so far?
It had only been a few days since he'd been suddenly appointed as her "attendant" and dragged into the hero selection, but he still couldn't get used to her prowess.
"...No, nothing. I just couldn't see a thing beyond this point."
"Is that so."
Feynol gave a wry smile.
Whether to call it fortunate or tragic, he couldn't say.
She wasn't the type to rely on her five senses. She was far more accustomed to substituting them with near-divine mana manipulation.
She probably couldn't even properly perceive things like lighting.
*That's why it doesn't make any sense.*
Even among the Knight Faculty, those who mastered physical reinforcement to its limits could function despite most of their sensory organs being damaged—but that was a forced necessity born from a profession rife with injuries and the need to keep fighting in such states.
For a mage to achieve the same with mana—an entirely different power—spoke volumes about the extent of her extraordinary abilities.
"..."
But.
Unlike Talion's admiration, the one even more flustered was Feynol herself.
*...It feels like it's getting stronger.*
What the Red Devil had taken as the price for reviving her after her first death was everything she could "feel."
In other words, now that her emotions were starting to awaken again, that dominion should have been weakening progressively.
Yet, even without deliberately invoking the devil's energy, demonic power was naturally infusing the mana she wielded.
As if the devil's authority itself was growing stronger.
*...This is weird.*
The only explanation that came to mind was him.
Dawood Campbell.
Ever since that man had declared he would "make her happy," her emotions awakening seemed to coincide with the devil inside her "coming alive" as well.
It was an effect utterly unlike what she'd anticipated. Considering her original plan to prevent the devil's fragments from fully assembling and rampaging by taking her own life, she should cut off contact with him immediately.
But.
-I will make you happy, Feynol. And you have no right to refuse.
"..."
Recalling those words, Feynol cautiously touched her lips.
To keep an unwitting smile from forming.
He was clearly someone reason couldn't touch, at the very least.
From what he'd said, he knew full well what "atrocities" she'd committed in the past and why she'd chosen death.
And yet, he spouted such things.
"..."
She didn't know what he believed in, what he'd prepared, or what he intended to do.
But something told her that man could resolve this "anomalous phenomenon" afflicting her too.
So.
*...Just a little longer.*
She would trust him a bit more.
Focus more on the throbbing in her heart every time she saw that man.
If he could truly restore "happiness" to her.
Then she, in turn, would pay him a price worthy of it.
As those thoughts crossed her mind, Talion, standing beside her, spoke up.
"I'd say we're probably clearing the dungeon faster than anyone right now. We've been bulldozing every obstacle in our path."
"Shall we take a short break, then?"
Talion tilted his head at Feynol's words.
"Resting... I can see the logic in that. But I'm not sure if this is the time to get complacent. Aren't all the other hero candidates remarkable in their own right?"
"...Who knows. Honestly, I don't care about any of that."
Feynol brushed back her hair as she replied.
"I'm not interested in who becomes the hero from the start."
"...Pardon?"
"As for picking you—someone I'd only met once—as my attendant, your identity as my partner didn't matter to me either."
"..."
Talion blankly echoed her words amid this bizarre turn in conversation.
"...Then why did you participate in the selection at all?"
"Because I was ordered to."
She belonged to the Heresy Inquisition, after all, and its overseer, Prime Minister Sullivan, had pushed hard for it.
Whether she tried her best or not, she had to be in "this spot," he'd insisted.
Her inclusion among the candidates was the result of his immense influence in the first place.
"..."
He could more or less guess the reason.
There was only one possible motive for the prime minister to invest so much in this selection.
*...The prime minister, the Tristan Duchess, the Grand Assassin...*
As Feynol mentally listed off the people "coveting" that man, she chuckled softly and spoke.
"...Hey, Talion."
"Yes?"
"How many pieces do you think Dawood will end up chopped into later?"
"...Pardon?"
"With the number of women swarming around him, and every single one being so dangerously formidable..."
"..."
Talion stroked his chin.
He seemed to be pondering it seriously.
"...At least twenty, I'd say?"
"...I was joking."
"How am I supposed to react when you ask something that doesn't sound like a joke at all and then say that?"
"..."
Fair enough.
"But Brother's Brother, after all—he'll no doubt pull off all sorts of insane antics and eccentricities every time his life's in danger—"
"Yahoooooo—!"
"..."
"..."
The utterly incongruous cry echoing through the dungeon left even Talion and Feynol staring blankly in that direction.
Far below the entry path they'd chosen, a group was charging ahead at breakneck speed.
"...That path over there—isn't it the one where magic beasts poured out in the hundreds, so even we turned back?"
"..."
Unlike other routes, it was an open plain leading straight to the deepest part, guaranteeing the shortest entry time if you could just run unimpeded.
But it unleashed enemies so overwhelming that even with Feynol's output, she couldn't handle them—which was why she'd changed course after Talion's briefing.
The scale of the magic beasts' footsteps thundering from all sides even now was enough to send chills down anyone's spine.
And yet.
"...So, that means..."
Talion spoke in a voice of utter disbelief.
"...They're using a live person as bait to 'control' the magic beast wave?"
From here, it was clear as day: Eliya Chrisanax carrying someone on her back as she ran.
Dawood Campbell following close behind.
And the massive horde of magic beasts chasing them.
What defied comprehension was.
The person slung over Eliya's back was "tied" to a pole with rope.
Like bait dangling from a fishing rod to lure fish.
"Teacher! They're catching up at this rate!"
"...Hand it over."
Dawood said that and took the pole—and Lana tied to it—from Eliya's back.
"Shoo."
With those words, Lana's body swung wildly in all directions.
The horde's eyes gleamed even fiercer at the scent of blood flowing from her battered body. Instinct drew their masses toward where Lana flailed.
"How does shaking the line even a little make them all bite...?"
"I did a lot of fishing as a kid."
"Is that supposed to be a skill you get good at just by trying hard?!"
"I would've starved otherwise."
Their flat, casual banter matched the absurdity of the situation perfectly—and yet, the results were phenomenal.
Like taming beasts in a circus, the entire wave swayed in rhythm with Lana's wobbling body.
Magic beasts lunging to strike or bite her disrupted the horde's formation, slowing their advance.
Naturally, Dawood and Eliya found it far easier to flee as a result.
Lana's body, serving as bait, accumulated more wounds, but the victim herself burst into cheerful laughter instead of rage.
"Wahahahahaha—! Mr. Campbell really is the funniest guy! You're the first to think of using me like this to get through!"
Her booming voice rang out.
"You used me as a raft to cross the River of Stronghold Rapids, jammed me into the crusher traps repeatedly to break them and pass, and now you're using my whole body as bait for a massive magic beast wave!"
"..."
"I'm such an idiot, I never imagined ways to use my own body like this! You're truly amazing!"
"...I suppose I am."
As Eliya narrowed her eyes and muttered that, Dawood broke into a cold sweat but forced a nonchalant expression while reeling back in the "human fishing rod."
Talion, who had watched the whole scene, opened his mouth in a daze.
"...Hey, Miss Feynol."
"Yes."
"Aren't 24 pieces too generous an estimate?"
"..."
"..."
A heavy tacit agreement settled between the two.
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"...Still, thanks to you, Teacher, we're blazing through incredibly fast."
Eliya shot me a narrow-eyed glare even as she said that.
Having breached even the magic beast wave, the dungeon's deepest chamber was now right before us. Just pass that massive stone door ahead, and we'd reach the goal.
*...Good.*
If we could push through to there like this, we'd clear the first trial without issue.
It pricked at my conscience something fierce, but all things considered, we'd navigated this pretty smoothly—
[System Message]
[ An act of personality so shattered it's jaw-dropping! ]
[ 'Title: Waste Material' has been added! ]
[ When equipped, it amplifies the target's outrage when you commit misdeeds! ]
"..."
This bastard?
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