Chapter 137: Day Trip Dungeon (5)
Chapter 137: Day Trip Dungeon (5)
“I knew it was about Resonance!”
I still don’t really get it, though!
“Of course, you’ll be able to master it without any trouble, Master… but it hasn’t even been six months since you started learning magic, has it? That’s probably why it’s taking a bit of time.”
“I don’t know about that…”
I didn’t feel like I’d be able to do it even years from now.
As I tilted my head in doubt, Carla gave me a bright, reassuring smile.
“But don’t you worry! I’ve prepared a method that might be of some help to you this time! Let’s try it out as soon as we get back to the dormitory!”
“…….”
Carla was practically radiating anticipation. Unable to bring myself to voice my doubts, I gave an awkward nod.
“Yeah… I’ll give it a try.”
*
After following the left path to its end, we finally arrived at the Core Room.
The places we had called 'rooms' until now were actually just slightly widened sections of the drainage system, empty spaces without even doors.
But this place was an exception.
The Core Room was originally a sort of staff room that controlled Atlantis’s sewage treatment facilities.
It was a proper room in every sense of the word.
Furthermore, because spatial distortion had occurred centered around this location, the Core Room preserved its original form from 300 years ago perfectly.
That’s right. 300 years ago. It meant the scene from the middle of the War of the Gods remained exactly as it was.
The walls of the square room were completely splattered with blood, and the corpses of mermaids were strewn across mysterious devices.
However, not a single one of those corpses was intact.
There was a corpse with its eyes gouged out and stones shoved into the sockets; a corpse stripped naked with one breast severed and stuffed into its mouth; a corpse with the skin of its face torn off, and so on.
Everyone frowned at the horrific sight that suddenly unfolded before them.
“This is…”
“Ugh…!”
“This brings back unpleasant memories.”
“Is it… a ritual?”
“No, Senior Fay. It’s not a ritual; it’s play. Fishermen are monsters of the Narrow-minded Usurpation line. You know their characteristics well, don’t you?”
“…Discord. And cruelty toward the defeated.”
The attribute held by Narrow-minded Usurpation is Jealousy.
The cultists and monsters who follow him cannot tolerate anyone being better than them.
Even if they bow their heads for the moment, they are filled with the desire to eventually drag the other person down.
The only exceptions are their master, Narrow-minded Usurpation himself, and the high-ranking officials he personally appoints.
Beyond that, they never truly follow anyone, even if it’s another Evil God.
Consequently, the followers of Narrow-minded Usurpation cause discord wherever they go and act with excessive cruelty toward those they defeat.
“You’ve seen what a Fisherman looks like, right? There are differences in the parts, but they’re half-human, half-fish like mermaids. Yet, Fishermen were treated as monsters while mermaids were treated as demi-humans.”
“Isn’t that because Fishermen act like monsters?”
I patted Iris’s head as she tilted it in confusion.
“Exactly. Fishermen have intelligence and their own civilization… but they’re too savage and violent.”
If they had been at a reasonable level, they would have been considered barbarians of the water. There are truly diverse races on the Eurelia Continent, after all.
But the Fishermen were too much. They had been the bane of the sea even before they began serving Narrow-minded Usurpation.
Unlike barbarians, who would respond if you requested a dialogue without drawing a weapon first, these guys were always intent on killing and enslaving the other party regardless of any attempt at peace.
They had even stabbed people in the back more than once after making them feel safe by pretending a negotiation was successful.
That’s why creatures like goblins and orcs are classified as monsters no matter how high their intelligence is.
It’s simply impossible to live alongside them.
“But the Fishermen themselves think there’s no difference between them and mermaids other than their appearance.”
“…But they differ in technology, temperament, and martial prowess. They differ in many other ways as well.”
“They’re called narrow-minded because they refuse to look at those 'minor' details.”
“I see.”
Iris nodded as if she finally understood.
To be blindly jealous of others.
That is the sole condition Narrow-minded Usurpation demands of his followers.
In any case, the Fishermen had envied the mermaids for a long time, and because of that, the massacre that took place when they usurped the position of rulers of the sea was incredibly brutal.
Mermaids were famous for their beauty regardless of gender, even though they had been extinct for a long time.
However, not even a glimpse of that beauty could be seen in the corpses here.
Every part that might have looked even slightly beautiful had been hacked to pieces.
“This is why I hate the Evil Gods and those beneath them.”
Events after the cultist uprising—in other words, when playing the latter half of H&A—often involved encountering scenes even worse than this.
It was unpleasant enough even when I knew it was just a game, so how did it feel now that it was reality?
I clicked my tongue involuntarily, but my gaze soon shifted to a corpse in the center.
It was the only corpse with an intact face.
But as if in exchange, not a single part from the neck down to the tip of the fins was left unscathed.
Lying on top of a desk, it almost looked like a human sacrifice.
Well, it actually was a sacrifice.
“That mermaid’s corpse is the core of this dungeon.”
The final administrator of the drainage system that became the invasion route. The 3rd Princess of Atlantis. And the sacrifice offered to praise the achievements of the Evil God, Narrow-minded Usurpation.
This made her the perfect candidate to be the dungeon’s core.
“…I thought cores were objects, Master?”
“A corpse isn’t a living thing.”
“…….”
It was only because we were a bit far away; if we got closer, it would emit the characteristic five-colored brilliant light of a core.
The other women looked dazed, while Iris simply gave a bitter smile.
The excited atmosphere from just a moment ago, when everyone was thrilled that the dungeon clear was near, had vanished in an instant.
I lightly clapped my hands to change the mood.
Clap, clap.
“Alright, alright. This is all stuff from 300 years ago. Let’s just focus on getting what we came for.”
“Ah, right. Junior, you said you needed my alchemy, right? What do I need to do here?”
“It’s simple. This was the place that controlled all the drainage systems in Atlantis. Because it was such an important facility, the administrator was traditionally one of the royals…”
“High-ranking people always have a habit of hiding important things somewhere. Is that what we’re looking for?”
“I already know the location. The locking magic probably broke when Narrow-minded Usurpation forcibly lifted Atlantis. It’s just that I need Senior Fay’s alchemy to open the box inside.”
I tapped the floor near the desk where the mermaid princess’s corpse—the core—lay. I felt a section that sounded slightly different.
“Invisible power, become my hand. Force Grab.”
The strongest of the telekinesis spells I could use. On top of that, I poured in a generous amount of mana; it would easily bend thin metal.
Creeeak—crack!
With the sound of something breaking, the floor was forcibly torn open.
Inside were a small box and a letter.
When I peeked at the letter, the contents were exactly the same as what I had read in H&A.
It was basically a story about how she was the 3rd Princess of Atlantis and had come to handle the drainage system to somehow block the swarming Fishermen.
And then a long list of things she hadn't been able to say while she was alive followed.
It was a will with a somewhat solemn yet tragic tone.
But the important part was the single line written at the end.
‘If only I had a little more time, if only this elixir had been completed, would things have been different?’
Naturally, that elixir referred to what was inside the box.
I handed the chest, made of an unknown metal, to Fay.
“There should be a half-finished potion inside. Please finish it, Senior Fay.”
“…Is there a recipe?”
“No. If there were, the ingredients wouldn't be sitting there in an unfinished state. However, I do know what the finished result is supposed to be.”
A legacy of Atlantis that grants permanent underwater breathing and a slight ability to manipulate water.
The Blessing of the Sea.
Originally, it was an item they intended to create to bring in Sword Masters or Archmages of other races.
What if Master-class powerhouses, capable of exerting their full strength underwater after drinking the Blessing of the Sea, had come to support them?
Since an Evil God had intervened, the fall of Atlantis might have been unavoidable, but perhaps the extinction of the mermaid race could have been prevented.
Well, that’s all just 'what ifs.'
“I’m certain it can be made by combining the potions inside. But you’ll have to figure out the method yourself, Senior Fay.”
“A Multi-combination potion? It looks like it’ll take some time… Can’t I just take it back and make it?”
“One of the ingredients is a potion called the Essence of Atlantis, and that loses its effectiveness the moment it leaves this place.”
“Then I guess I have no choice. I’ll give it a try, so just wait a moment.”
Mixing several potions to create a complex and new effect is called Multi-combination.
300 years ago, it was a theory that had only just begun to emerge, which is why they couldn't complete it in time, but…
It was possible now.
The long wars and the passage of 300 years had led to rapid advancements in various technologies, including alchemy.
And since haughty high-ranking alchemists had begun to share their knowledge…
By now, it had reached a point where any alchemist with a bit of skill could figure out the combination method.
In fact, it didn't take very long for Fay to create the Blessing of the Sea.