Chapter 136
Chapter 136
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 136
Chapter Title: Betrayed by Flames
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Jereks learned the ancient teleportation method to travel from the Eastern Continent to the Western Continent through the voice emanating from the spirit embedded in the rock.
"Hmm... It's not as complicated as I thought."
[Draw the formula I just told you on the ground and place the essence of fire in the center. The path of fire will open. Throw yourself in, and you'll arrive in the Eastern Continent. Remember this. Without the Ice Dragon's Heart...]
"Don't worry. I have no intention of dying. Then, I'll head to the deepest depths by ten o'clock tomorrow morning, Western time."
After ending the communication, Jereks pulled a watch from his pocket to check the time. It was already three in the morning. He had to steal the Dragon Heart and go even deeper than this place.
Time was running short.
He hurried upward, his feet moving briskly.
Jereks moved all night without rest, but desire gripped him so tightly that he didn't feel any fatigue.
First, he needed to steal the Dragon Heart. Pacheom's vault was the thickest in the entire Sleeping Fire Mountains. It couldn't be opened by anyone except the two people who had locked it initially—not even the master.
It was one of the first things Jereks had created when he arrived here.
"I prepared for a time like this. Heh heh heh."
When designing the vault, Jereks had built in a backdoor that only he could open. Even knowing its location, no one else could access it—only a dwarf could.
Jereks returned to the workshop.
With no intention of coming back, he selected only his valuables and stuffed them into his bag.
"I've been in this damned place for far too long..."
He packed his things and took one last look around the workshop. He had spent a full ten years here. He had no desire to associate with filthy beastmen or other races, but he had no choice if he wanted the essence of fire.
But now, it was time to reap the rewards of that patience.
With the essence of fire he already had and the Dragon Heart in hand, he could craft an item worthy of legends.
His mind buzzed with ideas as he headed to Marcelo's house next to Pacheom's workshop.
It was the dead of night, so Marcelo was surely asleep, but tricking the keen senses of a cat beastman wouldn't be easy.
Jereks pulled a lamp from his bag that resembled a teapot with a long spout.
He carefully drilled a small hole in the door with a sharp awl, inserted the lamp's spout, and lit the wick on top.
Gray smoke sank heavily and slowly spread into Marcelo's house.
Jereks set the lamp down and waited quietly.
After about five minutes, he lightly tapped the door handle with a hammer.
The door handle and lock crumbled apart and fell to the ground.
He could have picked it carefully, but time was short. In a few hours, he'd already be on his way to the Western Continent anyway. No need to worry.
Jereks pressed a mask to his face and tied the straps tightly behind his head.
Entering the house, he saw smoke blanketing the floor. It was a gas potent enough to put down an ogre, but specialized for mine work, it allowed a dwarf's body—resistant to gases and dust—to endure with just a mask.
He cracked open the bedroom door.
It creaked faintly, revealing the interior.
Marcelo slept soundly, oblivious to the world.
He closed the door again and slowly headed to the basement.
He knew the layout of this house perfectly. It had originally been his own home. But he had chosen a distant spot to avoid seeing Pacheom's nosy face.
The basement was filled with Marcelo's junk.
"Filthy beastman."
Unlike when he had lived there, it was a complete mess.
Jereks roughly shoved aside the clutter covering one wall. The house was well soundproofed, so he no longer needed to fear the noise.
He placed his hand on the now-exposed wall. It bordered Pacheom's workshop.
Jereks smashed the bricks with his hammer.
Behind them lay densely packed earth.
He tapped the hammer against the soil.
What looked solid crumbled like sand, forming a hole just big enough for him to enter.
The collapsed earth flowed like water, piling up in Marcelo's basement.
Jereks entered the hole and repeated the process of tapping the soil, carving out a passage.
After advancing about ten meters, he encountered a metal wall.
He felt along the wall, searching for the backdoor he had made.
"Huh? What's this?"
The backdoor was still there, but new magic had been layered around it. Jereks checked what spells were on it.
"Damn you, Pacheom! You set an alarm spell!"
Pacheom had placed alarm magic over the entire vault. The moment anything breached it—backdoor or not—Pacheom would know.
He checked the time. Nearly six o'clock—the blacksmiths would be waking soon.
No time to think. In four hours, he had to reach the deep tunnels and engrave the formula on the ground.
"I've come this far. No turning back."
Steel ing himself, Jereks adjusted his bag strap and gripped his hammer tight.
He wasn't confident in his speed, but he was determined not to die without trying.
"Hoo..."
He slammed the hammer into the section with the backdoor.
Boom!
He had planned to open it quietly, but with the alarm spell anyway, noise didn't matter. Speed was key.
[Beeeep----------]
Piercing through the deafening alarm, he entered the vault. In the center of the modest vault sat the Dragon Heart.
"Ooh..."
The Dragon Heart resembled a transparent gem shimmering with blue light. Jereks forgot he needed to move, lost in its beauty.
But the alarm snapped him back, and he quickly stuffed the Dragon Heart into his bag.
* * *
"What... what is that?!"
Pacheom jolted awake from the noise. He wasn't the only one. Everyone on the street woke up.
"Seal the entrance!"
Pacheom rushed out and directed several approaching guards to the entrance.
"Marcelo! Where's Marcelo?!"
Pacheom searched for Marcelo but felt something off when he didn't appear. A sensitive cat beastman sleeping through this racket? Impossible.
"Master! What's going on?!"
Jaein, freshly woken, plugged her ears as she asked Pacheom.
"Shut off the noise first! Come here!"
Pacheom dragged Jaein to the workshop vault.
Placing their hands on it together opened the door, and finally, the blaring stopped.
"Now I can breathe..."
Jaein rubbed her ears.
"Gasp... gasp..."
Pacheom was wheezing as if his breath was failing, and Jaein followed his gaze.
"...Where is it?"
The Dragon Heart was gone.
Pacheom rushed inside and scanned the area.
"Jereks! You conscienceless fat furry bastard!"
"Jereks?"
"No one else can drill a hole like this."
Pacheom shoved his head into the hole and peered inside.
"Urgh... No good. He used sleep gas."
He opened all the doors in Marcelo's house for ventilation, but Jereks was gone.
"Is Mr. Marcelo okay?"
"Yeah, just sleep gas. He'll wake up later. More importantly, guards! Has anyone left the workshop district?"
"No one has gone out since midnight."
"...What is he planning?"
"Master! The door to the underground tunnels is breached!"
Another guard reported to Pacheom.
"He went underground?"
"Is there a path from the underground to somewhere else?"
Jaein asked the puzzled Pacheom.
"No, the underground tunnels are sealed. Even for that dwarf, he couldn't drill out... Anyway, we'll pursue him."
"We'll go too."
The search party was quickly formed, with Jaein and Nayeong joining.
"Isn't this an abandoned tunnel sealed long ago? He went here?"
At a tunnel fork, Pacheom found Jereks's traces and tilted his head.
"Why?"
"It's a tunnel that goes deeper. Away from the surface. That Jereks... what's he thinking?"
The search party quickened their pace. Jereks was infamous in the mountains for his nasty personality, but he wasn't stupid. He clearly had a plan, and they had to stop it.
Jereks hadn't bothered hiding his tracks—he had smashed through every barricade in the sealed tunnel.
"Hurry! He passed recently!"
The search party closed the distance. The tracks were less than thirty minutes old.
* * *
"Huff... huff... huff..."
Short legs carrying a heavy load, running for hours.
He had packed only essentials, but the tools were all heavy, making his shoulders feel like they would snap.
His breath came to his throat, but he kept his legs pumping. If he stopped and got caught, even as an exiled dwarf, Pacheom wouldn't forgive him. And now he had the essence of fire too. If they found it, they'd seize it and kill him for sure.
While running, Jereks paused briefly, pressed his ear to the wall, and felt vibrations to gauge the pursuers' distance.
"Damn... thirty minutes away? They're fast."
He had one glowstone attached to his forehead, but it wasn't enough to fully illuminate the sealed tunnel's darkness. Without a dwarf's eyesight, he couldn't have run this fast.
Finally, he reached his destination. The deepest tunnel in the Sleeping Fire Mountains of the Western Continent.
He set his bag down and used his chisel to carve a magic circle into the rock floor.
Despite the loud crashes of hammer and chisel on stone drowning out everything, Jereks kept glancing back, imagining the pursuers' footsteps.
He worked his hands even faster.
"Done... done!"
After hastily carving a two-meter magic circle, Jereks embedded the spirit into the rock to open communication.
"It's done! You're ready on your side too, right?"
[We've been ready ages ago. What took you so long?]
"...Pursuers are coming. Let's start now."
[Fine. Place the essence of fire in the center of the formula you drew.]
Jereks did as instructed, placing the essence in the center and stepping back.
[Done?]
"Yeah. Flames are spreading across the magic circle."
[Good? Heh heh heh...]
Jereks sensed malice in the laughter.
[Did you think you could steal a dwarf's treasure and get away with it?]
"What have you done?!"
[The Ice Dragon's Heart is a waste, but destroying the Western Continent's greatest workshop isn't bad. And taking care of a traitor as a bonus.]
Realizing the betrayal, Jereks tried to retrieve the essence of fire, but the uncontrollable flames forced him back.
"Damn it!"
[Pay your respects. It's the Fire Incarnate, Salamander. The being who will burn even your rotten guts. With this, the Western Continent's trash will all burn...]
The communication cut off.
"No... no!!! I can't die! I just got the Dragon Heart!"
A lizard-like creature emerged from the magic circle. About three meters from head to tail, not huge, but its entire body was made of fire.
The heat from the Fire Incarnate Salamander melted the floor stones and reached even Jereks where he stood.
"Ha... haha... hahaha!!!"
Jereks lost his mind amid the uncontrollable blaze.
Salamander licked its lips as if eyeing a tasty morsel.
Then, with a massive inferno filling the tunnel, Salamander lunged at Jereks.