Chapter 190: Isn't This a Bit Strange?
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 190: Isn't This a Bit Strange?
"What on earth is this place...?"
I entered the temple after receiving permission from the 4th Stratum Boss. Surprisingly, the moment I showed it the Knight's Oath, it suddenly cleared the way and opened the doors.
—Whirring...
As the creature stood atop a circular magic formation drawn on the floor in front of the temple entrance, the doors opened on their own.
"I'm going in, right?"
—Creak.
"Right, I get it."
It didn't speak, but it seemed to understand me. It nodded, the sound of mechanical joints grinding as it moved. It didn't seem like there was a person inside the suit. Since this was a stratum where only golems appeared, I hadn't expected to find any humans anyway.
"The inside is cleaner than I thought."
The Boss followed me into the temple, and shortly after, the doors shut behind us. It didn't seem like it intended to trap me and beat me down; rather than guiding me, it was just trailing along behind me.
Much like the other buildings in the 4th Stratum, it was a well-constructed structure made of pure white stone. Well-sculpted lion statues that looked like the work of a master and various other artworks lined the halls.
"What's this?"
Passing through the wide central hall and heading down the left corridor, I found a dining hall that felt surprisingly lived-in. Rectangular stone tables, each seemingly able to seat about five people, were arranged in many rows, much like a cafeteria used by a large number of people.
Exiting that area and heading down the right corridor, I found a large round table with thirteen chairs. Judging by the red silk tablecloth, it looked like a meeting place for high-ranking individuals.
"Is there anything worth seeing here?"
—Creeeak...
The Boss looked up at the ceiling for a moment, then shook its head from side to side. I didn't know why it brought me here if there was nothing to see.
"You lead the way. There must be a reason you brought me inside this temple."
After a nod, the Boss took the lead this time. It should have done that from the start. I didn't know why it had summoned me here, but I doubted there would be anything particularly special.
This was the 40th Floor, after all. This Boss must have been smashed by other explorers several times already, and they would have forced the temple doors open and looted anything useful long ago.
—Creak, clank...
Despite its over-engineered, high-tech appearance, the sound of metal clashing echoed from its joints every time it moved. Does this world not have WD-40? Based on their tech level, these guys should have developed WD-80 by now.
"Where are we going?"
In response to my question, the creature raised a mechanical arm and pointed. Perhaps because the hand was so intricately made, the way it extended its index finger to point was remarkably human. Is this thing actually a person?
"There's something over there?"
As it had been doing, it simply nodded without a word. The place it pointed to was the deepest part of the central hall. It was beneath a chandelier made of brass and crystal, now covered in dust and partially broken, no longer functioning.
"It's a book."
A single book rested atop a wooden stand, the kind professors use. By now, it should have rotted and crumbled away after so much time, but the paper was of surprisingly high quality and had maintained its texture well.
Unfortunately, I couldn't read what was written inside. It was a script I had never seen before, and it was a complete mess, like chicken scratch. Well, maybe that's just how the language was supposed to look.
—Flip, flip.
I flipped through a few pages, but there wasn't a single phrase I could understand. They could have at least included some pictures; they were being awfully stingy.
"I can't read this. Is there anything else?"
The Boss stared at me blankly for a moment, then picked up the book from the wooden pedestal and slammed it onto the floor.
—Thud!
"W-what? What's gotten into you all of a sudden...? You didn't have to throw it just because I can't read it...?"
At that moment, starting from where the wooden pedestal stood, spiderweb-like cracks suddenly spread across the floor, and a yellow light began to seep out from the ground.
"What is this...?"
Don't tell me throwing the book on the floor was some kind of secret trigger? That's an incredibly crude method.
"Am I the first one to reach this point?"
I didn't know why the book was still there, but I suspected it was under some kind of magic that prevented it from being taken outside. Or perhaps it was replaced with a new one every time it was lost, which was why the paper looked so fresh?
Regardless, since no one else would have been crazy enough to just hurl the book onto the floor, I was likely the only one who knew what was happening inside this temple right now.
—Rumble...!!
As a low vibration spread through the temple, the mysterious magic formation, glowing with a bright yellow light, surged up the walls and reached the ceiling. Just as the once-dim interior of the temple was filled with brilliant golden light—
—Creeeak...
"It's a door."
The area beneath the wooden pedestal split into thirteen directions, revealing a spiral staircase leading downward. There was a massive amount of dust accumulated under the pedestal, suggesting this was indeed a secret passage no one had known about.
"You want me to go in?"
—Nod.
"Alright, let's go."
It was a long spiral staircase, its depth difficult to gauge. The darkness inside made it even harder to see.
"What, you're not coming?"
For some reason, the Boss showed no intention of following. It seemed I would have to go on alone from here. It was a luxurious staircase with a plush blue carpet centered around a white stone pillar.
Though dust had settled, there were no signs of anyone having come in and rummaged through things like on the floor above. When I wiped the dust off the marble railing lining the edge of the stairs, it regained the pristine white appearance it had when it was first made.
And then, in the distance, I saw something emitting a faint yellow light.
I had descended quite deep and reached a basement level. Knight statues elegantly lined the right wall in a symmetrical fashion, while mage statues filled the left wall.
As I approached the end, the source of the light became clear.
"A person...?"
It was a person.
Beyond a transparent glass pane set into an arched frame in the wall, a person was stationed inside.
She looked like a young woman. I had mistaken her for having white hair because it was so faded, but looking closer, she was blonde.
Her arms were spread wide and fixed to the wall, and her limp body was draped in a white dress. I didn't know if her hair was still growing, but her long tresses were spread out like a cushion at the bottom of the glass cage.
"What am I supposed to do? Sigh, should I break it?"
Should I break it and get her out? I didn't know what was happening inside. Judging by her complexion, she didn't look dead, but could an undead person even exist here?
"Is her mana... being drained?"
Looking through my mana-detecting vision, I saw mana pouring out of her chest, flowing through the restraints on her arms, and spreading throughout the temple.
I see. In that case, they must have captured an explorer to exploit their mana... No, that couldn't be it.
I couldn't understand it at all. Wasn't the Labyrinth a place where monsters lived? I didn't know why a human was here, nor did I understand why the 4th Stratum Boss had led me to this place.
"This has nothing to do with the Knight's Oath..."
The Knight's Oath was ultimately just a greeting taught to me by the Knight Lord I saw in my mental image. Why did the 4th Stratum Boss clear the way and lead me into the temple after seeing that?
And why did it go further and reveal this situation—a person embedded here—to me?
What were they doing with the mana? Was that person actually alive? Who on earth was she?
"I'm breaking it."
—Boom!!
I threw a punch with all my might, but the thin pane that looked like glass didn't budge. An immense hardness traveled through my hand. It didn't look like I could break it even with full strength.
"Then I just have to cut out the wall."
—Thud!! Thud!!!
"Why is it so hard...?"
I tried to pierce a hole with the tip of my tail to cut out the entire section of the wall where the blonde woman's glass cage was embedded. It was just as hard as the glass pane.
"Haah, what am I supposed to do with this?"
Maybe a slashing attack would work. I pulled the Knight Lord's mana core, which I had temporarily stored away to explore the interior, back out of my chest. I tried to cut the glass pane using an Aura Blade, but—
—Rumble...!!!!
"Whoa, whoa."
As soon as the Knight Lord's mana core was inside my body, the temple suddenly reacted and began to vibrate violently. The eyes of the statues lining both sides flared with blue light, and the swords and staves they held pointed toward a single spot.
"Is it over there...?"
For a moment, I thought the statues were coming to life to fight me, but that wasn't it. They were pointing in the opposite direction of the spiral staircase, away from where the nameless blonde woman was embedded.
—Step, step...
Every time I passed them, the statues that had changed their posture returned to their original forms. Eventually, after moving slightly past the spiral staircase and approaching the opposite wall, something rose from the floor.
"It's obviously telling me to put my hand on it."
But what if I wasn't the hand this locking mechanism wanted? Would the temple suddenly turn upside down and rush to kill me?
"Let's just try it."
If that happened, I'd just have to fight my way out. For now, let's do this.
—Whirring...
Perhaps what this key wanted wasn't someone's 'hand,' but the Knight Lord's mana core. It was the Knight Lord's mana that the temple had reacted to, and come to think of it, the reason the Boss had cleared the way at the temple entrance was because of the Knight's Oath the Knight Lord had taught me.
"What in the...!"
Another new door opened. I hadn't expected a door to open this time, but the wall cracked open with a creak, revealing the interior.
And inside, I witnessed a truly shocking sight.
"Isn't that... the guy from before...?"
They were making the Boss. Inside a space so vast the end was nowhere in sight, that Gundam-like Boss that had guided me here was being manufactured.
Is this how Bosses are normally generated...?
"All the mana is coming from that woman..."
The machines were running on mana extracted from the blonde woman's body. There wasn't a single person; it was a fully automated factory. They were mass-producing the 40th Floor's Boss entity in a factory?
"They can... create Boss entities?"
As far as I knew, dead Boss entities were said to 'eventually' reappear. Even though hundreds of years had passed since the Labyrinth appeared, it was said that no one knew where some Boss entities came from.
"Even the regular golems."
The magic golems roaming the 4th Stratum, the automated attack turrets, the flying drones, and so on. Everything was being made in this temple basement.
No, then who on earth... was that woman supplying all this mana?
"Wait."
I hadn't looked closely before, just a passing glance. But isn't this a bit strange?
The Boss entity was being mass-produced? There were more than enough Boss shells—already completed but sitting still as if the power was off—to form a mountain.
A person supplying such a vast amount of mana... No, there's no way she's human. I stepped back out and looked at the woman more closely, more accurately, and then I realized.
"That's definitely... a mana core...!"
In her chest, there was a mana core instead of a heart. Which meant....
"Is this person... the real 4th Stratum Boss...?"