Chapter 56
Chapter 56
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 56
Chapter Title: Deep Sea Dungeon Conquest (6)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
As soon as the sea goblin shaman died, the spell it had cast seemed to lift. The sea goblins snapped out of their trance and began fleeing.
Of course, not many managed to escape unscathed. El and Lloyd made sure of that.
"A few got away."
El grumbled about the sea goblins that had slipped through.
"That's only a handful, so it's fine."
I brushed off El's complaint and examined the staff the goblin shaman had wielded. It was crafted from dead coral and an assortment of bones from deep-sea creatures.
'It seemed to channel some seriously powerful shamanic magic, but with a staff like this?'
I kept my suspicions and inspected it closely—every bone fragment, every tooth, scrutinizing them one by one.
"Of course..."
There it was. I spotted a tooth about the size of my finger, ancient and worn, and pried it loose from the staff. Though faded with age, it began emitting a faint glow the moment I touched it—barely noticeable, but reacting to my mana, no doubt. I turned the sharp tooth this way and that, studying it.
How did it work? Would channeling mana reveal anything? I infused it with the tiniest trickle of mana, barely a pinch.
-BOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!
An enormous explosion erupted. A bubble the size of a ship rose toward the surface, and I clutched my pounding chest, gasping for breath. Holy shit...
If this weren't underwater, it would've been disastrous. My head might've been blown clean off. Even here, with the Donar Temple's blessing active, my head was intact by sheer luck. And that was from just a speck of mana? What the hell is this thing?
But that wasn't the only issue.
'What I just sensed...'
An unidentified mana pulsed from the tooth—something I'd never felt before, yet strangely familiar, like something I'd known since time immemorial.
"..."
Eerie.
With proper refinement, it could become something incredible...
But it felt ominous.
'Can't just toss it, though.'
Storing it in my spatial ring was too risky with that mana; who knows what might happen? For now, wrapping it in roaju leaves would have to do. Not sure if it'd help... I tucked the wrapped tooth into my pocket.
"What was that noise?"
Lloyd asked, returning from patrol.
"Nothing. Just mishandled the staff."
"..."
He didn't press, and neither did I. We still had a long way to go. We ate a quick meal and pressed on. The cave ahead opened into a vast expanse, like a whole new world, so we mounted the armored shark Sharp and ventured deeper.
"It's getting colder."
Roshanak noted. She was right; the water temperature was dropping steadily. I split a dawnstar fruit and handed it to her. Its faint warmth would help.
We dispatched the occasional deep-sea monsters that appeared as we advanced. How far had we gone?
"Look over there."
Lloyd pointed to a hazy glow in the distance.
* * *
We couldn't help but stare in awe at the sight before us. A massive 'door' loomed ahead—one that shouldn't exist in the ocean, no, couldn't exist.
Covered in ancient script and grand carvings, the door looked incredibly weathered, as if abandoned for thousands—no, tens of thousands of years. Flecks of gold that might once have covered it now only made the colossal structure seem more pitiful.
"This is..."
I placed my hand on the door. The mana flowing from it was one I recognized.
'Same as the mana in that tooth.'
No idea how they were connected yet, but the mana matched perfectly.
"It won't budge."
Lloyd shoved from the side, but the door didn't stir. Well, it's a dungeon. No way it'd open that easily.
"We'll have to find another way."
With that, I pulled the tooth from my pocket. This had to be the key. No clue how to use it, but...
I showed it to Lloyd, El, and Roshanak.
"The door's mana matches this exactly. So it's probably the key. The question is, where does it fit?"
The massive door was covered in countless carvings. Checking them all could take days.
Gods, demons, heroes, monsters, and humans...
"There has to be a spot."
"You want us to search for it now?"
"Exactly."
Lloyd examined the tooth closely. El nodded, and Roshanak pouted.
"Upper left for me, upper right for Lloyd. Lower left for Roshanak, lower right for El. Let's divide the sections and search."
We each started from the corners of our assigned areas, scrutinizing the carvings.
"..."
How much time passed? I checked my clockflower; one petal had fallen. Four hours just on the carvings. We'd only covered half, so either another four hours or we'd never open it.
I meticulously inspected my section's carvings. After four hours, I'd realized they depicted scenes from continental myths and history.
'Some I don't recognize... Lost myths?'
Beyond the twelve gods and continental heroes I knew, there were unidentified 'somethings.'
Things that looked like gods or demons—eerie 'somethings.'
'No way...'
I began tracing a 'something' that seemed rooted across the entire door. Previously, I'd focused near Donar's carving, hoping for hints from the god of rivers and seas. Now, shifting my perspective revealed new details.
The 'something' spanned every carving—from the high sun god Arjan to the low demons. It hid behind gods and heroes, hard to spot, but it unified the whole.
-Thump, thump.
My heart raced.
'Is this tied to the Origin God?'
It would explain everything, even the unknown myths.
'I have to get in.'
At this point, Katarina's request was secondary. The 'Origin God' quest was my ultimate goal.
Start over from scratch.
Forget the myths I knew; follow the 'something' etched on this door.
I slowly examined Donar's carving, where the sea god drove sea monsters into the abyss with his massive spear, claiming victory. That tale was famous.
'...But what if there's a hidden story?'
I fiddled with the tooth. At first, I thought it might be from Donar's beloved steed—no, beloved fish. But the carved sharks all bared perfect teeth.
'Then...'
Donar's carving had one spot: a shallow groove on his shoulder. I'd assumed it was wear from age. A god's body must be perfect.
But if that 'scratch' was a real 'wound' on the god's flesh?
Coincidentally, the tooth fit the groove perfectly.
What if Donar was wounded by sea monsters while driving them into the abyss—that's the true 'story'?
Nothing to lose.
I fitted the tooth into the groove on Donar's shoulder.
-Click.
Then infused a tiny bit of mana.
A massive explosion roared, like with the first infusion. No, not an explosion.
-Rumble...
The 'door' was opening.
"Everyone, back away from the door!"
I distanced myself too, watching it part.
The tooth acted like a mana amplifier, explosively providing the mana needed to open this colossal door—a 'key.'
The goblin shaman had abused it to amplify its shamanic power that much.
I'd kept it for similar use... but wasting it on the door was a shame.
'No, not a waste. Not with my real goal in mind.'
"Amazing, Master!"
El exclaimed in admiration. Lloyd watched impassively from behind.
"How'd you figure it out?"
"...Luck."
Brushing it off with a smile, I approached the open door.
Beyond lay endless darkness.
I'd thought the deep sea was maddeningly dark without light, but this was darkness incarnate. Even holding a dawnstar fruit, no light spread; vision was pointless.
I took a swig of liquor brewed from shadow carrots and dawnstar leaves. It acclimates the eyes to darkness. I offered some to Lloyd, but he refused. As if he already knew what lurked in the shadows, he strode inside without hesitation.
As a half-breed, Roshanak's eyes would adjust soon. I cast [Owl's Eye] on El, then took rear guard as we entered.
Inside was eerily silent. No sea goblin squeaks, no cave echoes.
*Ahem, ahem...*
To shake off the tension, I coughed deliberately and scanned around. This vast hall, like a corridor, had carvings on the walls like the door. Some ancient script was legible, but much was too faded to decipher.
We put Sharp, with his far superior senses to humans, at the front and advanced cautiously.
How much time passed?
-BAM!!!!!
Just as I reached for the clockflower, an ominous thud echoed.