Fetid Tunnels and Feral Guardians
-Squelch, squelch.
The sound of wet mud clinging to the soles of our shoes.
Our footsteps echoed through the long, cave-like passage.
"Ugh... the smell is so bad... Lady Elise..."
Aria, clinging to my back like a cicada, whimpered.
It was definitely a stench. A mix of rotten water and fishy rot, mold, and some unidentifiable chemical odor that made my head throb.
"Hang in there. Breathe through your mouth instead."
"Breathing through my mouth makes it feel like the smell is in my throat..."
Aria shook her head in disgust, burying her nose deeper into my back while gripping my clothes tighter.
The light orb hanging from the tip of my staff offered limited visibility.
Moss-covered walls dripped with water droplets like slime, and black sewage oozed stickily across the floor.
-Squeak, skitter.
Every time I felt a rat or some unknown bug scurrying away underfoot, Aria let out a shriek.
"Kyaa! W-what is that?!"
"Rat. Just a rat."
"Why is the rat so big! It's cat-sized!"
"Must've been eating well down here underground."
I brushed it off casually and kicked one away with my foot.
With a squeak, the fat rat vanished into the darkness.
"Ugh... I wanna go home..."
"We're almost there. Just a bit further."
I soothed Aria as I quickened my pace. That said, I wasn't entirely sure myself.
My memories from the game were starting to fade, and I couldn't quite get my bearings anymore.
Was the underground dungeon I played back then structured like this?
Karihim's map hadn't marked anything like this place either.
Is this the right way?
At every fork, I'd been relying on gut instinct, but doubt was creeping in.
The repetitive scenery was dulling my sense of direction.
What if we got lost? We might end up greeting the morning in this stinking underground sewer.
Then, Aria, who was latched onto my back, tugged urgently at my clothes.
"L-Lady Elise. Hold on a sec."
I stopped.
"What? Something there?"
"No, not that... um..."
Aria peeked around and pointed to the left wall.
"Over there... the wall looks a little weird."
"The wall's weird?"
I looked where she pointed.
An old brick wall shrouded in darkness.
Covered in patches of moss, discolored black from moisture. Just an ordinary, grimy wall to my eyes.
"What's weird about it? It's just a wall."
"No. Look... the mana flow is off."
Aria raised her staff toward the wall.
The light from the tip illuminated it, but nothing seemed different to the naked eye.
"Mana's leaking through the cracks between the bricks."
"Mana?"
"Yeah. Feels like some kind of illusion magic..."
Aria gripped her staff tighter.
"I'm sure of it. There's space beyond that wall."
"Ho ho."
Good call bringing her along.
I'd have walked right past it a hundred times without noticing if I'd come alone, mana-blind as I am.
I approached the wall and tapped it with my hand.
-Thud, thud.
A hollow sound.
Definitely different from the other walls.
But it felt physically solid too.
Wonder if I can break through.
I could probably blast it with a Bullet from my finger, but if I misjudged the power, it'd be a disaster.
The ceiling could collapse, burying us alive.
Plus, the noise would tip off whoever was inside.
"Can you dispel it?"
Aria stepped closer to the wall at my question.
She traced the mortar lines with her staff tip, muttering to herself.
"Hmm... the structure itself isn't too complex. Just fooling sight and touch—probably around 3rd circle... but the array's a bit unique..."
She pondered for a moment, then nodded.
"I'll try dispelling it."
She pressed her staff to the wall and chanted softly. A blue ripple emanated from the tip.
As it hit the wall, space shimmered.
Like a stone dropped in a pond, it rippled, and the solid-looking bricks blurred like a mirage.
And then.
-Shhh.
The wall vanished like erased ink.
In its place stretched a dark, long passage. Smoothly hewn stone floor and walls revealed themselves where the illusion had lifted.
"Whoa."
"Wow..."
Aria gaped, unable to close her mouth.
"Th-there really was a path."
"Yeah."
An intentionally hidden space.
The most suspicious spot imaginable.
No way they'd hide a secret passage in a sewer wall with illusion magic for no reason.
And it was pristine too—proof someone had been coming and going recently.
"Let's go in."
I stepped forward without hesitation.
-Click.
Something caught under my toe.
A faint resistance.
"Huh?"
Looking down, a thread-thin wire, barely visible, had snapped.
What the—
-Rumble...
The ominous vibration from the ceiling hit right as the wire broke.
No time to think.
I spun and tackled Aria, who was following behind.
"Kyaa?!"
With her scream, we tumbled to the floor.
-Boom!!!!
The impact shook the ground.
An iron grate dropped from the cracked ceiling, slamming into where we'd stood moments ago.
Dust billowed up thickly.
"Cough! Cough!"
I hacked in the dust cloud.
A second later, and we'd have been skewered.
"U-ugh..."
Aria trembled in my arms.
She clutched my clothes tight, eyes squeezed shut.
"W-what was that just now...?"
"Trap, looks like."
Probably set up in case someone dispelled the illusion.
Disarm the magic, trigger the physical trap on entry.
Vicious design.
"You okay? Hurt anywhere?"
Aria nodded, her face pale as a ghost.
"Y-yeah... thanks to you, Lady Elise..."
Her gaze flicked to my elbow.
My sleeve was torn from the roll, skin scraped raw.
"Lady Elise! Y-your arm...!"
"This is nothing. Just a scrape."
From her reaction, you'd think I'd lost the arm saving her.
I brushed off the wound casually.
A bit of blood, but that was it.
"More importantly."
I eyed the long passage stretching into the dark.
"A trap like this means there's something really important ahead."
"We're... going further in?"
Aria's voice quivered with fear.
"We've come this far. Can't turn back now."
I stood.
Aria's legs were jelly; she grabbed my hand and struggled up.
Might be too much dragging her along like this.
"Scared? You can wait here if you want."
No more magic traps from here, probably.
They wouldn't booby-trap their own base.
Having her stand watch wasn't a bad idea.
But Aria shook her head furiously.
"N-no! Being alone is scarier!"
She latched onto my arm in panic.
"I'm not letting go!"
"Fine. Then hold on tight."
We pressed on.
The passage dragged on long and tedious.
"Lady Elise... are we close yet?"
"This time it's really almost there. Just a little more."
"You said that earlier too..."
Aria grumbled behind me, but this time I had solid reason.
The air flow had changed.
In cave-like places like this, wind blows toward the exit, I'd heard.
The breeze that had been blowing from behind us had shifted forward.
Meant our destination was near.
Cautiously advancing, faint light leaked from the passage ahead.
"Aria. Kill the light."
"Okay."
Aria lowered her staff, and the orb faded.
Pitch black settled again, but the light from the passage end dimly lit our way.
At the tunnel's mouth loomed a vast underground cavern, carved artificially.
That's it.
A massive magic circle etched into the floor.
Aria's hunch had been spot on.
Someone had built a huge teleportation array under the academy.
Then, a beastly musk and thick coppery blood hit my nose.
-Grrrrr...
With the growl emerged wolves shrouded in black fur.
Flesh rotting off exposed bone, red magic stones embedded in place of eyes—undead wolves.
Mana-beast wolves, huh.
Easily over ten of them.
They'd caught our scent and were closing in.
"Eek! Wh-what are those?!"
Aria's hand shook on her staff as she backed away.
"Sh-should we really run this time? How do we fight those?!"
"You think we can outrun them?"
Mana-beasts had physical abilities several times beyond normal.
No way we could escape on foot.
"Stay put."
I pulled Aria fully behind me.
"I'll show you how it's done."
"Huh? No, Lady Elise!"
Ignoring her horrified cry, I thrust my hand toward the first leaping wolf.
It bared razor fangs for my throat, but I didn't dodge.
Instead, I stepped forward and shoved my finger into its maw.
"Bang."
-Boom!
The black mana bullet detonated inside its mouth.
Its head burst like a watermelon, and the wolf crumpled lifelessly.
"One down."