The Festival of Flames
How much time had passed? The tent flap opened, and Maya and Arin poked their heads inside.
“The elixir work is finished.”
I stepped into the alchemists’ tent. In the center was a transmutation circle drawn with geometric symbols. Floating above it was a golden liquid. The substance hovered in the air, emitting a strange resonant hum. It gave off a warm golden glow overall, but it was the kind of material you absolutely wouldn’t want to touch. That was the Elixir the alchemists risked their lives to create.
“From now on, we’ll be producing healing potions and fleshification potions,” Maya said, gathering the explorers around her.
“I’ve written down the necessary ingredients here, so please gather them for us.”
Under the alchemists’ direction, we began the potion-making process. They’d said they needed materials, but aside from fetching water, there wasn’t much difficult work.
“Shall we begin?”
With Maya’s support, Arin started crafting the potions. The golden liquid floating above the transmutation circle gradually turned green. Maya quickly transferred it into bottles. The sight felt oddly familiar.
“Is this the healing potion?”
“Not yet. It needs to be diluted with water.”
Maya placed the diluted liquid back onto the transmutation circle. Only then did it become the healing potion I recognized.
“Normally you’d add red dye here…”
So that’s why healing potions were red—because of the dye. I’d never known. No wonder the effect itself was green.
“Mmm…”
Haneul, who had been sleeping in the corner, stirred awake. I called her over and had her drink a healing potion. It should help with her recovery.
“How do you feel?”
“…I think I’m okay now.”
In the meantime, the alchemists prepared another potion. A milky, rippling liquid. It was the fleshification potion. Arin poured the completed potion over Roa’s statue. Then something astonishing happened.
“Mmm…”
The hard stone flakes peeled away like dead skin. Beneath the black rock, Roa’s pale, bare skin was revealed. The petrification curse had been lifted.
“Roa!”
“Mm… Oppa?”
Roa opened her eyes into narrow slits. She seemed to be trying to figure out what was going on.
“What about the others?”
“They’re safe. No one died.”
At that, Roa shakily raised one arm and gave a thumbs-up.
She must have been utterly exhausted, because Roa collapsed like a chick that had taken medicine and immediately fell asleep.
Roa had woken up safely. What a relief.
“Then we’ll go distribute this to the tribespeople.”
“I’ll come too.”
“No. You stay here. We need someone to watch over the girls.”
Maya and Arin took the finished fleshification potions and headed outside. They planned to cure the petrified tribespeople. Once the two of them left, a peaceful silence settled over the tent.
We had faced death several times, but somehow we’d made it through. It still didn’t feel real. A Level 3 fighting a cockatrice and surviving. Sure, nearly thirty of us had ganged up on it, but an achievement was an achievement. If there was anyone to brag to, I’d want to brag.
“Huu…”
Seeing Haneul and Roa sleeping so soundly, sleep began to pull at me too. The moment I closed my eyes, I fell asleep as if by magic.
#
“Oppa. Oppa!”
Someone shook me awake. Purple hair swayed before my eyes.
“Roa.”
“Come outside! Hurry!”
Why was she so worked up? Her usual calm demeanor was nowhere to be found. She was unusually excited.
I did as she asked and stepped out of the tent. An unexpected spectacle unfolded before me.
“Ah…”
Now I understood Roa’s reaction. In the middle of the tribal village stood an enormously tall tower of flames. A tower at least ten meters high was burning entirely. The blindingly intense light. The heat that could be felt throughout the entire body. Around the tower of flames, the tribespeople danced in a circle.
“What is all this?”
“Please don’t worry. It’s a festival.”
Dwarf Bori appeared, holding a cup filled with some strange liquid.
“The Red Tent tribespeople worship the sun god Kwas. Building a giant tower like this and burning it is a common tradition in the Kwas faith.”
Bori chuckled warmly.
“The fact that they’ve made a Tower of Flames means this is definitely a joyous occasion. It signifies the highest level of festival in the Kwas faith.”
“Is it to celebrate our victory?”
“There are several reasons, but… it might be better if you see for yourself.”
Bori led me closer to the burning tower. The masked chieftain and a tribesman with an innocent face approached.
“Necromancer!”
He spoke in the surface language.
“You are…?”
“Alap! Warrior of the Sun!”
I realized it belatedly. The leader wearing the ornate mask and commanding the tribal warriors was this man. Without the mask, he looked surprisingly gentle.
“Wait, when did you learn our language?”
Dwarf Doran grinned.
“I taught him! You know, it’s not that civilized people are smart or that barbarians are stupid. This friend here is actually quite bright!”
…As expected of an academic class, he had a lot of useless knowledge.
The warrior who had pierced holes in the cockatrice’s eyes shouted cheerfully.
“The Goddess of Fire saved the warriors!”
When I turned my head, I saw Maya and Arin in the distance. The two of them were sitting in front of a mountain of food piled so high it looked like it might collapse.
“They used the fleshification potion.”
“Yes. We worked with the alchemists to cure all the warriors.”
So that’s why everyone was so excited. Thanks to Arin curing every single petrified warrior, the atmosphere had grown festive. To the cave-dwellers, an alchemist’s potion was nothing short of a miracle. They laughed, chattered, and sang of their joy.
“Thank you for helping us. Thanks to you, we were able to defeat the demon of the earth.”
The warrior named Alap smiled innocently and extended his hand. It was as hard as iron. When we shook, I felt a tingling grip.
“The Goddess of Fire saved our comrades. The demon of the earth has fallen, and the tribe has regained peace. It’s all thanks to you.”
There were multiple reasons behind it, but in any case, it was a festival to celebrate joy. Good is good.
After a brief conversation with the two, I walked over to Maya. Roa and Haneul had joined by then. The four of them were happily sharing food and laughing together.
“Hajun.”
Maya called out to me.
“Do you need me to do something?”
“No, that’s not it.”
Maya spoke with a slightly embarrassed expression.
“We’re going to rest a bit and then head back to Oricil.”
Maya and Arin exchanged glances. Without needing to decide who would go first, they both burst into laughter.
Maya said, “We’re going home now.”
The atmosphere between the two had changed completely. Before, Arin had acted like she wanted to devour Maya, but now they simply looked like close sisters.
“Then the Magnum Opus…”
“Yes. We learned it properly. Arin taught me, and we even practiced it.”
When Maya spoke affectionately, Arin turned her head away with a huff.
“I didn’t teach you anything. You’d already finished most of the theory anyway.”
Watching the two of them put my mind at ease. As expected, family should get along well.
“Alright. We’ve done everything we needed to, so let’s head back.”
At that moment, Alap approached Arin.
“Queen of Fire! Festival!”
With terrifying strength, Alap lifted Arin into the air.
“Kyaa!”
It wasn’t just that Arin was small—lifting a person like a piece of luggage required incredible power. The ‘Queen of Fire’ was dragged straight to the bonfire. The warriors danced around her, asking for her blessing. Arin pulled out a handful of strange powder from her pocket and tossed it into the bonfire.
Boom!
The flames instantly glowed green and emitted a tremendous burst of light.
“Uwooooooh!”
The warriors went wild with delight. Even the chieftain’s eyes bulged as he jumped up and down on the spot. Only Bori shook his head.
“I’m worried this might be too much stimulation for a primitive civilization.”
Even in the middle of this, the dwarf dungeon seeker was going on about civilization.
“Who cares? It’s fun.”
Haneul grinned and patted Bori on the shoulder.
Then someone tugged at my collar. It was Roa, who had pulled her hood down again.
“Um… Oppa.”
“Yeah?”
Roa fidgeted, then lowered her head and said,
“Thank you…”
We’d been traveling together long enough now that I could guess what she wanted to say. Helping a comrade in danger. In one sense it was common sense, but in another it was something people easily ignored. Roa was grateful for things like that.
“Hey, sis! That’s not how you do it!”
Haneul suddenly shouted. She quickly linked arms with Roa and yanked off her hood.
“Ah…”
Then she said to me,
“Oppa! Wanna go out for a drink together?”
She wiggled her wrist suggestively.
“You have to do it like this. Come on, try it. Hurry.”
Unlike the playful Haneul, Roa twiddled her fingers in embarrassment before finally managing to say,
“Um… let’s drink… together.”
Then she pulled her hood back on again.
“You can’t even drink, can you?”
“Ahem! My nickname was the Walking Brewery! Doesn’t Hajun oppa drink at all?”
Bullshit.
“If you get drunk, I’m just going to leave you on the floor.”
While we were laughing and chatting, the bonfire gradually died down. The festival was over. But the lively atmosphere lingered like embers.
#
Before writing in the exploration log, I went to find Bori. I wanted to discuss our plan to return to the surface.
“Bori, are you asleep?”
Inside Bori’s tent, the Seer Lantern glowed like an incandescent bulb. I wasn’t jealous of the Dungeon Seeker class, but I was a little jealous of that lantern.
“I was just about to turn in. What brings you here…”
“I came about heading back to the surface.”
Even after the festival ended, the dungeon seekers had mountains of work left. Their base camp had been destroyed during the battle. So they needed to collect the research logs stored with the Red Tent tribe and return to the surface.
“We were already preparing to withdraw.”
Bori clicked his tongue.
“We absolutely must not hire raiders next time. They can’t be trusted.”
Bori shuddered as he recalled the chaos with the tribespeople.
“We should’ve used that money to hire a necromancer instead.”
Bori spoke jokingly. It was one hundred percent a joke. I let out a small laugh.
“I guarantee you, necromancers are completely useless. You’d be better off hiring a mystic or a guardian.”
Since I was a necromancer myself, I knew it well. The fundamental problem with necromancers was that they needed corpses to use their magic. It had been the same in this battle. Until the cave-dwellers started dying, I hadn’t had much to do. In the late game, the corpse issue gets resolved. That’s why necromancers become complete and turn into carry classes in the endgame.
“Then that means you’re special, Hajun.”
“Pardon?”
“You said necromancers aren’t worth much. That must mean there’s something special about you. You’re always calm. You have strong leadership. You’re knowledgeable. And yet you’re a necromancer.”
“You’re putting too much pressure on me.”
I leaned back slightly. I had no idea why he was suddenly praising me so much.
“You’re truly impressive. I’ve met several necromancers before, but I’ve never met anyone like you. How many people could defeat a cockatrice with only four Copper and Bronze-rank explorers?”
Bori smiled brightly. For some reason, I got a bad feeling.
“While I was helping the alchemists earlier, I heard something interesting.”
“What is it?”
Bori whispered as if sharing a secret.
“That you… are looking for the Crown of the Forgotten!”
“If anyone else said that, I’d tell them to stop talking nonsense.”
Bori smiled slyly and pulled out a notebook.
“Even if everyone else calls it nonsense, I don’t! As one of the explorers who ventures into dungeons, I too am searching for the ancient goddess’s treasure!”
Bori proudly opened the notebook wide.
“I believe the Crown of the Forgotten truly exists. And this is the proof!”
◈ A divine artifact said to grant the power of a god.
◈ Located in the deepest part of the final dungeon.
◈ I have discovered traces of its existence in three different ruins.
◈ The ancient goddess’s blessing will surely lead the worthy one to it.