Chapter 214: Heightened Spiritual Power
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 214: Heightened Spiritual Power
‘I can see it.’
The moment I woke from the dream, I could spot the gaps in the Sealing Ground. My spiritual power had increased to an absurd degree. The effect of the black bead given to me by the Evil Spirit of the Ring was far beyond my expectations.
‘A hole. I see a hole.’
Lutred had bored a hole, and my enhanced Spiritual Eye found it instantly. A path out of the Sealing Ground had opened. All we had to do was slip through that opening.
In any case, my eyes had become much more efficient. Since my ability to see the unseen had been further strengthened, it felt as though I could see anything I wanted.
I could see souls, I could see mana, and now I could even find the gaps in the Sealing Ground itself.
Starting from Night Vision to the Demon Eye of Insight and even Synesthetic Sight—it felt as though my visual abilities had finally reached their peak.
“Everyone, wake up. It’s time to leave.”
First, I woke my sleeping companions. As of today, our rest was officially over, and it was time for us to head back up.
It was time to escape this stifling, empty Sealing Ground. We had rested here for three weeks, which meant it was time to get back to work.
“Is the situation resolved? What happened to the Roa that escaped?”
“A Villainess appeared in my dream. It seems that Roa is dead. I was told the King of the Sewers has been hunted down.”
“Really?! It’s finally over! Does that mean we can leave now?”
“Yes. Once we head straight to the 5th floor and settle the remaining matters, the 6th floor will practically be ours.”
The Villainess had informed me that thanks to the King of the Sewers devastating the 6th floor on his way up, the monsters we were supposed to subjugate had essentially been wiped out.
Now, we just had to go up to the Underground City, finish off the dead King of the Sewers, and claim the 6th floor for humanity. Thanks to being trapped here for three weeks, we had managed to settle the matter without lifting a finger.
The King of the Sewers had brought about his own destruction. Even he probably hadn't realized there were three Roas on the 5th floor.
“Do you know the way out?”
“I can roughly see where we need to go. We should be able to get there if we head that way.”
Thanks to the Evil Spirit of the Ring strengthening my spiritual power, I could see the hole bored into the Sealing Ground. As long as we could reach it, getting out would be trivial.
In the first place, there was nothing here that could threaten us. In fact, the air of the Labyrinth was flowing in through the hole Lutred had made. My Spiritual Eye allowed me to see the flow of the incoming wind.
“To be able to see the flow of the wind... how remarkable.”
“It’s quite fascinating to me as well. When I open my eyes wide, I can really see everything. It’s like the great currents of the world are being captured in my vision.”
I could now see the flow of the air as it escaped. I no longer had to feel the direction of the wind with my skin; I could see it with my eyes.
As my spiritual power heightened, I became able to perceive everything around me. My head was starting to throb slightly, but I felt that if my brain capacity were sufficient, I might even be able to use clairvoyance.
‘Thanks to the Synesthetic Sight I took from Kairan, I could see smells and sounds, but I couldn't see such minute air currents.’
But with my Spiritual Eye strengthened, I could now perceive even the previously invisible flow of air. While I didn't possess the specialized pathfinding skills of a guide, this was more than enough to escape the Sealing Ground.
“You really found it right away. Is that the hole the Villainesses made?”
“Most likely. They said they successfully caught the King of the Sewers.”
“We’ve been living the dream for three weeks. It’s a shame it has to end.”
Freya looked reluctant to leave the Sealing Ground, dreading the fact that she had to start working again. She was truly a lazy person. I had no idea how someone like her ever went around hunting heretics.
Then again, she was currently inhabiting the body of a bird, so perhaps her mind was following the tendencies of her physical form.
Helena remained sharp, perhaps because she was in the body of a dragon, but Freya... how should I put it? It felt like she had completely let herself go.
She had literally become a bird, as if consumed by the bird's body.
“By the way, Freya. Can’t you just walk?”
“Hey! My legs are short, so I’ll fall behind if I walk. But if I fly, I’m too fast and you guys won’t be able to keep up. Right?”
“That’s true, but... could you at least get off my head?”
“This is the most comfortable spot. Don’t mind me and just keep walking.”
“No, it’s because I do mind...”
It was hard to keep my balance with Freya sprawled out on my head. I was worried she might fall off. Still, since she insisted she liked it there, I decided to endure it.
“It’s finally coming into view. That must be the hole.”
“Yes. Helena and Freya, please return to the bracelets for now. Lady Leah, you’ll come with me.”
“It’s over already?”
“Let’s get in, Freya.”
Helena grabbed Freya by the scruff of her neck and returned to the bracelet, while Lady Leah took my hand firmly.
“Run on the count of three. The hole will likely close as soon as we exit.”
“Understood. Hold my hand tight.”
I gripped Lady Leah’s hand and sprinted toward the hole.
As soon as we passed through, the hole in the Sealing Ground fluctuated violently before sealing shut completely.
The outside looked no different from three weeks ago. It was exactly as it had been when we first entered the Sealing Ground.
“Uuugh...”
Just in case a monster appeared, I drew my weapon. A Gravekeeper with its lower half missing crawled toward us, and I quickly threw a spear, bursting its head.
It seemed this was the only monster left in the Necropolis.
“There’s something I must find before we leave the Necropolis.”
I had to retrieve the sarcophagus for item transmission that Prodo had asked for.
Known as the Traveler's Sarcophagus, there was one on the 7th floor and another one here.
With this, we could retrieve items placed in the sarcophagus on the 7th floor.
They were linked like a Bluetooth connection; if we put an item in our sarcophagus, it could be pulled out of the Traveler's Sarcophagus on the 7th floor, and vice versa.
Normally, the Gravekeepers of the Necropolis should have been guarding this, but since the King of the Sewers had unintentionally used them as soldiers and led them all to the 5th floor, it was easy to find.
“This looks like it. It’s identical to the drawing Prodo gave me.”
Among the numerous sarcophagi abandoned in the Necropolis, the one that looked particularly massive was the Traveler's Sarcophagus. Now that I had found it, we needed to escape the Necropolis quickly.
“Over here! The stairs leading up!”
When we came down, we had tumbled through a hidden gap in the barrier, but to go back up, we had to walk up the stairs.
The path down and the path up were completely different. It was a peculiar structure where one couldn't even go down using the upward path.
“It disappeared.”
“Yeah. It looks like the exit vanishes the moment you step through.”
Which meant the exit could only be used as an exit.
Regardless, we successfully escaped the Necropolis.
As we ascended past the layer division, we could see at least a glimpse of what had transpired here over the past three weeks.
It appeared the King of the Sewers and the Mother of the Flesh Zone had fought each other. Corpses were everywhere, and dead lumps of flesh lay abandoned, reeking of rot.
Furthermore, the mana concentration across the entire 6th floor was strangely low, likely due to how much mana had been drawn out. Even as we moved, almost no monsters appeared. There were only corpses and the various insects gathered to feast on them.
It felt as though the 6th floor’s ecology had been completely ruined by the King of the Sewers' rampage.
“By the way, being alone like this reminds me of when we escaped the Breeding Grounds.”
“True. Though the difference in our skills between then and now is like heaven and earth.”
“It is.”
In the span of half a year, the Young Lady and I had truly become absurdly strong.
The Young Lady, once a mere fledgling, had grown enough to survive even on the 6th floor, and I, who was once nothing more than a porter, had gained power beyond imagination.
We had ascended to heights that ordinary adventurers could never reach. The scary part was that it still wasn't enough. We had to become even stronger.
“I think we’re almost there. Let’s hurry.”
As she scouted the path, the Young Lady informed me that a Transfer Stone should be nearby.
Just as she said, it felt like a Transfer Stone was close. The mana concentration had noticeably thickened.
Through my heightened spiritual power, I could sense even the mana concentration in detail. The reason the depleted concentration was thickening again was likely because of a Transfer Stone in the vicinity.
We ran, driven by the desire to leave the 6th floor as quickly as possible. Fortunately, the 6th floor was much quieter than expected, and almost no monsters appeared.
“Shouldn't we look for Chloe and Maximus before we leave?”
“We could find them if we tried, but let’s make reaching the 5th floor our top priority. It would take much more time to bring both of them along.”
With my spiritual power strengthened, I could roughly sense the locations of the two people bound to me by Spirit Chains, but the problem was the distance.
It would take at least two more days to go and get them. It seemed better to head to the nearest Transfer Stone and escape first.
‘Besides, they’ve stopped moving.’
Whether they were buried in a wall or something else, Chloe and Maximus showed no movement.
It was highly likely that their consciousnesses were not fully intact. They had probably fallen into a state of suspended animation and ceased all activity.
So, I could come back for them later. For now, ascending to the 5th floor was more important.
“There it is!”
Soon after, Lady Leah found the Transfer Stone that offered the shortest route.
Thanks to her, we reached the chamber with the Transfer Stone only two hours after leaving the Sealing Ground.
It was an exceptionally fast pace; thanks to the Young Lady, we hadn't wandered and had come straight to the stone.
If I had to find the Transfer Stone alone, it would have taken several times longer.
“The traps are all broken. And the monsters are all dead.”
“It looks like the King of the Sewers went up this way as well.”
The flesh monsters and Golden Goblins were already dead and rotting. The traps that should have been set along the path were also completely destroyed.
It seemed the King of the Sewers, who had taken the Transfer Stone to the 5th floor earlier, had wiped out all the monsters and traps gathered here.
“You go first.”
“Okay.”
After activating the Transfer Stone and sending the Young Lady up first, I looked at the corpses and summoned my snakes. Since they were going to rot anyway, I sacrificed them all to summon Serpents. They would eat the remaining corpses and fill the 6th floor with snakes.
By doing this, when I returned later, the monsters of the 6th floor would naturally become food for the snakes, preventing any new threats from arising. I also commanded the summoned snakes to find Chloe and Maximus in advance, so they would eventually locate them on their own.
‘That should be everything for now.’
I had originally entered to scout the 6th floor and find the Necropolis, but I ended up spending three weeks inside.
Still, it was a relief. Thanks to that, the dangerous 6th floor had been neutralized, and the sealed Roa had gone up and died on his own.
In a way, it was a massive gain to have the situation resolved after a three-week vacation.
It was the definition of winning without lifting a finger.
—What are you so happy about? You have a mountain of backlogged work to do now.
“Excuse me?”
As soon as I arrived on the 5th floor, I heard Lutred’s mocking voice.
She said I had backlogged work. Three weeks' worth of it...
“He’s here!”
“Lord Sion! Why did you come so late?!”
The residents of the 5th Floor Underground City came swarming toward me.
They looked incredibly happy. There was only one reason those people would be so glad to see me.
‘Work.’
Since they had likely been splitting up the tasks I was supposed to do, they were probably thrilled to see me.
Because now, they could be liberated.
“First, regarding the conflict between the Elves and the humans...”
“Wait a moment! The Beastmen are breaking the regulations. This is more urgent!”
“Before that, we must resolve the issue with the unstable food supply!”
“No, no! People, that’s not the problem right now. We have to deal with the damage to the Farm Section caused by that monster from the 6th floor. Monsters are backflowing!”
The work came pouring in.
Perhaps because I was the practical manager of the 5th floor, all sorts of miscellaneous tasks were being funneled to me.
To make matters worse, two of the Three Villainesses were still asleep, so there was no way to resolve this quickly.
“Let’s go see the corpse first!”
I dispersed the crowd and headed toward the corpse of the dead Roa to resolve the most pressing issue first.