Chapter 28
Chapter 28
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 28
Chapter Title: Clicking Map Hack in a Dungeon Game (2)
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The authority I received from Elenaia: Astral Projection.
While I was holed up in the inn, unable to even go sightseeing, I wandered the Threshold every night using this power, so I'd grown quite accustomed to this state.
The method was simple.
First, I lay down on the bed and closed my eyes.
Then, I focused my mind between my eyebrows, as if there were a third eye on my forehead.
'Rise.'
And with a line I'd picked up from some webnovel, the engine started—
Float—
Along with the sensation of my body lightening, it floated up into the air.
'Map hack on.'
Thus began the era of heroes.
No one could stop me now.
-Shwooo!
I raced down the castle corridors while floating in the air.
Now and then, walls and butlers blocked the way ahead, but—
'Do not block the king's path!'
My soul passed right through them without any interference.
'Ahh, that's refreshing.'
The things that had hounded me so much before were now no obstacle at all.
It felt like a weight had been lifted off my chest.
'This is why people become ghosts.'
It's not for nothing that some ghosts stick around in this world until an exorcist grabs them by the hair.
The freedom unbound by worldly ties. You just can't resist it.
'Alright, first... let's find Marie.'
As I wandered the opulent mansion with those thoughts—
'Hm?'
I spotted the four guests already gathered in the lobby hall.
-Wah wang wah wang. Wah wah wang wang!
-Wang wang wang wang, wang wang wah wah wang...
Their voices echoed like shouts from a distant cave, so I couldn't make out the words, but they seemed to be having a serious conversation.
'Too bad about this.'
The authority from Elenaia wasn't omnipotent.
Perhaps because I was separated from my body, ordinary people appeared to me as if covered in mosaics, all blurry.
Their voices didn't come through clearly either, making it hard to eavesdrop.
'Eh, none of my business anyway.'
It wasn't my problem, so no need to worry about it.
I kept racing through the mansion in search of Marie.
And then—
'Is this the lord's chamber... Huh?'
In a massive bedroom at the edge of the mansion, I discovered something unexpected.
'A loom? Why's this here...'
A spinning wheel and loom, like something from a museum, sat in the middle of the room.
It had a lived-in feel, not like it had just been placed there today, and the half-woven fabric clearly showed it had been in recent use.
'Marie said she came from the countryside after weaving cloth.'
But the piles of fabric filling the surroundings weren't the work of a day or two.
Anyone could see the lord had been spinning cloth as a hobby.
And on top of that—
'A portrait...?'
Tucked away in a corner of the room out of sight, there was a single portrait.
This one also looked quite old, covered in stains with colors faded in several places.
And the person depicted in it was—
'Marie?'
Long platinum blonde hair and blue eyes.
She looked just like the Marie I'd seen.
'No way...'
Somehow, the chair that seemed too small for the lord, the loom in the lord's room.
And now this portrait that resembled Marie so eerily.
Having spent my days half-paralyzed in bed devouring countless stories.
My brain, tempered by all sorts of narratives, arrived at one hypothesis.
'Time for the elevator.'
I phased through the wall and flew toward where the elevator had been.
All the answers to my questions would be down there.
"...The lord still hasn't arrived?"
Ten minutes to midnight.
Extrawus and the other guests sat in the hall, waiting.
"That guy's not coming."
Zamov said as he tinkered with the crossbow in his hand.
"Obviously? He's not on our level. An Iron-rank trying to butt in."
"Haha, let's not badmouth someone who's absent."
"Hmph."
Vince seized the chance to diss Will, while Extrawus tried to rein him in.
"By the way, I'm disappointed the rookie from the Threshold didn't show. I wanted to meet him."
Extrawus said as if it had just occurred to him.
"...You mean that top scorer."
"Yes. I heard from a contact at the Association that during the exam, he cooperated with them to resolve a disaster at the test site. Though, rumors being what they are, who knows if he really handled it himself."
"Hah, just empty talk. Being top scorer isn't that impressive. You don't die here based on grades."
Vince shot back, clearly displeased for some reason.
"...Come to think of it, you were second place at the Magic Tower, right? I heard the top one was the greatest in Magic Tower history..."
"Agh! Don't even mention that bitch. Just thinking about her pisses me off."
His hysterical reaction screamed inferiority complex.
Zamov and Extrawus, grasping the situation, wisely shut their mouths.
That was when it happened.
-Clack, clack.
The sound of footsteps echoing down the corridor.
"Sorry to keep you waiting."
Beneath the dim candlelight, the house head appeared before them.
His speech was the same as before. But the explorers sensed the eerie aura emanating from his body.
A sticky darkness licking their skin, like lying in a coffin on a hot summer day.
"You've arrived, House Head. Then please explain."
As the three explorers bristled with caution, Extrawus was the only one who kept his smile and spoke up.
"Yes, Holy Knight. But first... let me add an answer to your question. Or rather, not Holy Knight... perhaps Inquisition Hound of the Papal Court."
"...What do you mean."
Extrawus's smile hardened rigidly.
His lips curved up, but his eyes weren't smiling.
"What you really want to ask Broken Spear isn't about the exam content, is it?"
Not waiting for a response, the house head kept talking.
Black glints flashed chillingly from his sunken eyes.
"Why his vaunted holy power doesn't activate in the Threshold. Why informants from countless nations go missing here."
"Haha, it's an uncomfortable topic, isn't it? But what do you gain by bringing it up now..."
"Why the inquisitors sent by the Church to judge the Threshold's heretics ended up as rat-eaten corpses in the sewers before the Papal Court."
"..."
At those words, Extrawus's smile vanished completely.
Icy killing intent gathered in his blue eyes as he stared at the house head.
"Judging by you spouting such things... it seems inviting us wasn't out of goodwill."
A battle mace studded with blades emerged from beneath Extrawus's robe.
"Who knows. I always keep possibilities open. There are no eternal enemies or allies in this world, and even the Papal Court's virtuous gods join hands with evil ones at times. Perhaps you... could become the true master of this castle."
"Just get to the point."
The house head chuckled helplessly and slowly raised his hand at Zamov's sharp reaction as he leveled his crossbow.
"I will now open the door to the labyrinth. From this moment, you are in—"
-Flash!
In that instant, before the house head could finish, a streak of light severed his neck.
"Baldo, you bastard! What the...!"
"...Baldo."
As if satisfied with executing him before any nonsense, he adjusted his conical hat.
But—
"It's no use. This is my absolute domain, where even life and death hold no meaning."
The severed head kept speaking.
Spewing blood, with eyes gleaming full of malice.
And then—
-Rumble!
-Screeech!!
The scenery before them lost perspective and began twisting like crumpled paper.
What tore through space was a long stone staircase and an endless underground passage.
"Before you lies the labyrinth. Ninety-nine trials to help you tame the madness."
The house head's severed head bared teeth stained red with blood and shouted.
"Reach it. If you reach there... you will know all, and possess all."
Like a bard praising heroes, he urged them to thrust their necks into the darkness-filled labyrinth.
"Advance, advance, adva...!"
-Crush!
Extrawus's mace smashed the skull,
-Crush! Crush! Crush!
Until it was an unrecognizable pulp.
"...Is there a way out?"
Extrawus wiped the blood from his mouth and asked about the situation.
"What's the point of saying it? Everything's blocked. It's like the walls have paper with doors printed on them pasted to them."
"Agh! Why is this happening to me!! Hey, Baldo old man! Do something with that sword at least!"
Zamov responded relatively calmly. Vince screamed and flailed.
"...It's not Baldo."
"What?"
"My name, pronunciation, Waldo. Wa-al-do. Sounds like Baldo because it's slurred. Even after repeating, you don't get it."
"...Fuck, thanks for that super helpful fact."
And then Waldo casually revealed this irrelevant tidbit.
"Haha... well then, shall we go?"
And so, the four gathered in Broken Spear's cursed mansion set foot on the staircase leading to the darkest labyrinth.
As expected, below the elevator stretched an endless vertical shaft where the elevator traveled.
Unable to use the elevator, I passed straight through its doors and plunged into the infinite passage.
'Kinda scary.'
The pitch-black abyss stretched on forever, giving me chills.
What if a ghost popped out?
Come to think of it, if we're being technical, I'm the ghost here.
...Nothing to do, maybe I should sing the national anthem.