Chapter 296: I’ll Find Out
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 296: I’ll Find Out
I wasn't sure if it was because the forests were identical, but just like the 1st Stratum, a mountain path began once I passed the halfway point.
Flying would obviously be much faster, but one can't always fly everywhere comfortably. I tried to think of a way to move quickly while staying on the ground.
Since the trees were packed so densely, running in a straight line was difficult, making it hard to build up real speed.
One easy way was to simply run while smashing through the trees.
—Thump! Crash!
"I don't think I need to go that far."
After transforming my entire body into a form similar to a rhinoceros and running for a bit, I decided this method wasn't particularly helpful. Another option was moving through the ground.
It felt similar to when I confronted those twelve Cobalt-grade explorers back in the 4th Stratum. I moved by extending thin muscle fibers; for the brain and other organs that couldn't be shrunk, it felt like stowing them away for a short time and then re-summoning them on the other side.
It was certainly fast and quiet. The problem was that it left me vulnerable to attack, but if I went a bit deeper, it shouldn't be an issue.
—Rustle...
"The surface is better after all."
I regenerated my body from the muscle fibers that suddenly burst through the ground. For having arrived in an instant, I hadn't used much energy. While not as fast as flying, it was still incredibly quick.
It would be quite useful for infiltration, but I wondered if I’d ever actually need to infiltrate anywhere.
"I guess I'll have to infiltrate Sera's room."
I arrived at the final floor of the 7th Stratum without any significant combat.
"What is this?"
The difference from the previous floors was that there were no towering trees or rugged mountain terrains. Instead, a vast plain stretched toward the horizon, covered in a wide expanse of blooming snow-white flowers. There was nothing else in sight, and more importantly, my Explorer’s Plate had stopped working again.
"Is this entire flower field the domain of a Spirit Species?"
I didn't really want to use napalm again. Should I try calling Iris first?
"I feel mana."
As I scanned the surroundings, I began to sense a very faint, minuscule trace of mana coming from one direction.
The entire stratum was already saturated with dense mana, making it extremely difficult to pinpoint anything, but this specific mana felt uniquely distinct. It seemed like it would be the clue to solving this problem.
If I burned everything down again, it might cause issues. I didn't have any more sap from the Ether Tree to restore things this time.
About 2km away from the arrival point.
"This is..."
An unidentified woman was lying on the ground. At a glance, she didn't look like an explorer. She looked like someone who lived on this floor.
"Is she even human...?"
She had snow-white hair and pale skin. She wore a pure white dress and a tiara that looked like it was made of silver. She seemed to be breathing, but lying in this field of white flowers, she was almost invisible to the naked eye.
Unless one had learned Mana Detection to a certain degree, they could walk right past her without noticing, so perfectly did her colors blend in.
"Excuse me. Hello? Could you wake up?"
There was no reaction even when I shook her. This person was definitely the key.
As I sat in front of the unconscious woman, pondering what to do, two things resembling wisps flew over from somewhere and spoke to me.
"A human!"
"It's a human!"
"Yeah, I'm a human. Nice to meet you."
"He understood us!"
"He understood us?"
"Sure did. I once ate something like you guys, you see."
"Run! It's death!"
"Run! We're going to die!"
Despite their frantic fuss, they didn't actually run away. They probably realized I had no intention of harming them right now.
And above all, this woman seemed to be something they were protecting.
"Human! Get away!"
"Human! Disappear!"
"I want to get out of here too, but I don't see a way."
Two pure white wisps with no other color. No, they weren't wisps at a glance. To ordinary people, wisps look like formless clusters of light, but to my eyes, they looked like colorful butterflies.
These things... looked like floating flames. Very white flames.
"Do you guys need anything by any chance?"
"Need something?"
"Yeah. Like, is there something you want me to do for you?"
Since they were the only ones around, doing something for them might open a path. The amount of mana these white fireballs possessed was minuscule, but you never know.
"Must go back!"
"To where she belongs!"
"Go back? Where?"
"She has to sit!"
"The throne! I have to be sitting there!"
From what I could gather, they used to be seated on some kind of throne and needed to return to that spot.
The smaller white flame said it was the one who sat on the throne, and the larger one next to it seemed to be trying to return the smaller flame to its original place.
"Then just go. Is it because it's far?"
"It's far! But that's not the problem!"
"Then what is?"
"Guarding it!"
"Guarding it? The throne? Who?"
"Me!"
And the large flame said it was the one guarding the place. What on earth did that mean?
"Didn't you say she needs to go back?"
"Right! She has to sit on the throne! But it's hard because I'm guarding it!"
"I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about."
Both the small flame and the large flame wanted the small flame to return and sit on the throne. But the large flame said they couldn't go because it was guarding the throne itself.
"Are you... okay in the head?"
"It hurts a lot! But I can't stop guarding it!"
"Hmm... yeah, you do look like you're hurting."
It seemed like a mental issue, but it wasn't really my business. I didn't have a clue what they were saying anyway, so I figured I'd only understand once I reached this "faraway throne."
"Lead the way. I'll take you there."
As I stood up and began to walk, the two flames flew over and blocked my path.
"No! You have to take me!"
"You? You can just follow me!"
"I'm over there! Me!"
The small flame wobbled and circled around my body before heading toward the woman lying nearby.
"It's me! Take me with you!"
"This... is you?"
I didn't really get that feeling, but the small flame was insisting that this woman lying in the white flower field was itself. Was she a Necro Species? I thought a High Spirit Species might appear, but were they Necro Species?
"Are you dead?"
"No! I don't die!"
"Then what is this? Isn't it like the body you had when you were alive?"
"It's a doll! But it's me!"
Was it a doll meant to house a Spirit Species? I suppose it's a convenient way for formless Spirit Species to gain a physical form, but was such a thing even possible?
"This is a doll? It doesn't look like one."
I didn't see any mechanical joints, and she was actually breathing. When I poked her cheek, it felt soft like human skin. Even using all my eyes to examine her, I could only see it as a human body.
"He made it for me! He's amazing!"
"Who made this? A human body, not a machine... Wait."
Surely, it couldn't be.
'Is it the Emperor of Sinew?'
This labyrinth was created by the Emperor of Sinew. And the monsters here, including these spirits, were likely placed here by him.
To create a physical body... I remembered hearing a story about someone who lost an arm and a leg trying to perform human transmutation, so this was quite shocking.
"What did he look like? That guy."
"Um... I don't remember!"
"But I'll know if I see him! He's amazing!"
"Right, I see."
So he made bodies for Low Spirit Species? It was a baffling story, but this was the only plausible explanation.
"So I just need to move this?"
"Yes! Carefully!"
"Because she's very weak!"
"Fine, I got it."
At the request of the two spirits, I lifted the body of the soulless woman. No matter how I looked at it, she seemed like a living person just deep in sleep. Did it mean she would never wake up unless a Spirit Species was inside?
"You there. Why are you guarding that throne?"
"To make sure no one can come! Because I'm strong!"
"But you said she has to go there. What if you stop her too?"
"No exceptions! But I don't want to do that either!"
It was a bit absurd, but I didn't really need to understand it. My job was simply to avoid the large flame guarding the throne and return this woman's doll-body to it.
"Then do you have a doll too?"
"Yes! My doll is guarding the throne!"
"So that's how it is."
I thought it was a split personality, but that wasn't it; the large flame's doll was currently guarding the throne.
"Wait, then shouldn't you go into that doll and control it?"
"Impossible unless I'm at the throne!"
"You mean if you leave the throne, neither of you can enter your dolls?"
"Yes! That's right!"
"What a strange condition."
The large flame's doll currently had no ego but was instinctively guarding the throne. The large flame wanted to enter and control the doll, but that was impossible unless the small flame's doll was seated on the throne.
My task would be over once I seated the small flame's doll on the throne while avoiding the large flame's doll.
"Do I get anything once this is done?"
"Um... yes! Something to give!"
"But it's a secret! I won't tell you!"
"How stingy."
I didn't know why the Emperor of Sinew had set this up, but for now, it was better to do something than nothing.
I had heard that the boss entity of the 7th Stratum had been defeated once before. I didn't know if those people had properly performed this gimmick or if they had simply smashed the large flame's doll guarding the throne.
"Let's go. Lead the way."
For now, since the Explorer’s Plate wasn't working, it was impossible to find the portal in this vast plain. I predicted that the portal was likely being guarded by the large flame's doll as well.
"This way!"
"Follow closely!"
"Yeah, yeah."
I'd find out why the master of the labyrinth made such a thing once I got there.