Chapter 168
Chapter 168
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 168
Chapter Title: A Dangerous Deal (5)
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[168] A Dangerous Deal (5)
“Ah…”
Hearing Shirone’s words, Amy realized it too. How had she not thought of it? Harvest was a magical lifeform that had inherited all of Arcane’s memories.
Viltor Arcane, the great mage who had once commanded the world.
A man like that might know secrets about the Kergo ruins that others did not.
Shirone and Amy looked at Canis, their eyes filled with conviction. But Canis’s attitude remained noncommittal.
“Hmm, if I were to give my opinion, you’re half right and half wrong.”
“Half and half? What does that mean?”
Canis was sparing with his words. It wasn’t the right time yet. The secret surrounding the Kergo ruins was a far more serious matter than Shirone imagined.
Amy leaned in close.
“Are you going to keep being like this? If you have to tell us eventually, just say it now.”
“I don’t understand. Why should I? Surely you’re not going to bring up the meal I owe you?”
“Of course that’s part of it. But you’ll have to spill it for other reasons too. Because you need us. Otherwise, you wouldn’t even be trying to negotiate like this, right?”
Canis shut his mouth and let out a long sigh. Of course, he had expected this. It was just that timing was crucial.
“Fine. To be honest, I want something from you too. In that sense, I guess you could say we both have something the other needs.”
“What do you want from us? Are you talking about the pass?”
“I can take care of something like that anytime. Using mental magic, all I need to do is hand over a piece of paper. Arin’s telepathic abilities can even control the realm of language.”
“Ah, so there was a way like that.”
Shirone understood how the two of them had been able to enter the altar without even an interpreter.
“The reason we didn’t choose that route is that someone has to pass through the trial gate. But as you know, we failed, which is why we’re trying to borrow your help. In that sense, I want to negotiate with you.”
Amy analyzed Canis’s words. Then, a question suddenly veered off in an odd direction.
“By the way, what score did you get?”
Caught off guard by the unexpected question, Canis blinked. Then he subtly averted his gaze, evading the answer.
“I don’t want to say.”
“Oh my, why? What did you get? Huh?”
“Why should I tell you? If you want to know so badly, why don’t you go first?”
“No, you tell me first. Then I’ll tell you.”
“No. You first.”
Shirone, giving up on listening, cut in. At this rate, they would be repeating the same thing all night.
“That’s enough. Let’s continue what we were talking about.”
As if both their legs were trembling, Amy and Canis promptly shut their mouths.
Once the situation settled, Canis continued, his eyes looking more haggard than before.
“Anyway, what I want to propose is this. The trial route. If you pass through the Room of Accomplishment and Sacrifice, let’s talk again then.”
Amy frowned.
“Isn’t that a little strange?”
“What’s strange about it?”
“You couldn’t pass it either, right? If Shirone passes, there’s no reason for us to take you inside. A deal is only valid if you have something to offer us.”
“That might be true for now. But trust me. This won’t be a losing deal for you.”
“Then prove it. You can prove it without revealing the core details, can’t you? Otherwise, this deal is off. We can’t let you use us without knowing the purpose.”
Canis looked back at Arin with conflicted eyes. It wasn’t a decision he could make on his own.
Finally, when Arin gave her consent, he opened his mouth as if he had no choice.
“Alright. Then let me put it this way. You said you were going to the autonomous zone to learn about Miro, right? Do you absolutely have to go, no matter what?”
“Yes. We want to learn more about Miro.”
“In that case… the information I have might just save your lives.”
Feeling the silence, Shirone’s heart pounded. Save their lives? It was incomprehensible. What in the world was in the autonomous zone to warrant such a statement?
“Let me be clear. If you approach Miro’s dimension without my information, you will die with a probability close to 100 percent. But if you work with me, you might live. In short, this is a deal with your lives on the line.”
“That—!”
Amy shot up to her feet and shouted.
“You think a threat like that will work? This isn’t proof. It’s just a scare tactic. The Freeman organization went in and out of there. No matter how dangerous it is, it’s not a matter of life and death.”
“That’s why I said it. The autonomous zone itself isn't particularly dangerous. The problem is when you enter through the trial route. And Shirone.”
Canis turned to look at Shirone.
“I also know what you're planning to try in the Room of Accomplishment and Sacrifice. You're thinking of opening your Immortal Function in Miro's dimension, aren't you?”
All eyes focused on Shirone. Receiving everyone’s attention, he remained silent for a long while before finally speaking.
“That’s right. When I first saw the Room of Accomplishment and Sacrifice, its structure was unique. I thought that if it was just to test a warrior’s power, there was no need to rotate Miro’s dimension in eight directions. The atmosphere there was too serious for it to be mere decoration. So I had a hunch. I thought that what the angel’s eyes were watching might not be something like physical strength.”
Canis nodded as if it were the right judgment.
“For now, we can only hope that method is correct.”
“Huh? Don’t you already know?”
“I told you, it’s half and half. But I also suspect it has something to do with the Immortal Function. Of course, I could be wrong.”
“In that case, Canis, what is it that you want?”
“Let’s talk about that after you pass the trial gate. The only reason I’ve revealed this much is because you’re an Unlocker. I’ve given you quite a lot of information, trusting in that slim possibility.”
“Hmm, what should we do?”
Amy’s eyes met Shirone’s, and she nodded. In any case, they had decided to challenge the trial gate even before meeting Canis, so making a deal wouldn’t put them at a disadvantage.
Amy issued instructions as if to organize the situation.
“Alright. Shirone will go into the Room of Accomplishment and Sacrifice. We’ll use the passes to go to the autonomous zone first. There’s no problem with that, right?”
Amy sought confirmation one more time. It was a testament to how powerful the card Canis had played was.
“No problem. The smuggling route is just an easy way in. As long as one person gets a passing verdict from Miro’s dimension, it’s fine.”
Amy’s head throbbed. She could sort of see the bigger picture, but with so little information, everything was blurry.
“Haa, I have no idea what’s what. Anyway, I guess we’ll find out if Shirone passes. Let’s get going. If we walk now, we should make it in time.”
The group left the pub and split into two parties. Amy’s group merged with Canis’s, and Shirone was scheduled to head to the altar alone.
“Well then, Shirone, do your best. Don’t overdo it.”
Amy was worried. Hadn’t he recklessly opened his Immortal Function before and almost departed for a place of no return?
“Yeah. I won’t overdo it. If it doesn’t work, I’ll just give up. You be careful too, Amy. Something unexpected could happen.”
Now that the topic of life and death had come up, a sense of apprehension was inevitable. Amy turned her head to survey her party’s spectrum. There was Rian with his great strength, the agile Tess, and now the addition of Canis, who specialized in defense, and the mental-type Arin.
They were insufferable as enemies, but in a crisis, they were mages who could more than pull their own weight. The thought was, in a way, reassuring.
“As for us… I don’t think we have anything to worry about.”
“Haha! I guess you’re right. It’s a relief our combat strength has been reinforced.”
Amy couldn’t just laugh it off. It seemed Shirone also had a feeling that this would be far more dangerous than expected.
As Shirone left for the altar, Amy led her friends and turned her steps to the west.
“Arin, let’s go too.”
As Amy’s group distanced themselves, Canis turned to Arin. But she was staring at Shirone as if she had discovered something fascinating, unable to tear her eyes away.
“Arin? What is it?”
“Hey, Canis… Is Shirone a blonde, by any chance?”
The mechanism by which Arin perceived objects was different from that of ordinary humans. Because she couldn’t connect the form of a specific object with its name, she couldn’t even distinguish its true form.
Therefore, for her to perceive the blonde Shirone as a blonde was certainly a peculiar situation.
“Shirone? Yeah, he’s a blonde. Why? What do you see?”
Arin blinked, then turned away.
“No, it’s nothing particularly strange. Let’s go.”
Canis shrugged and followed after Amy. Arin also began to walk, silently lost in thought. Then, at some point, she suddenly turned back as if she had realized something.
‘Ah, I see. That child is…’
For a long time, Arin could not take her eyes off Shirone.
* * *
Shirone arrived at the west altar. He approached a native who was glaring at him with fearsome eyes and spoke the password.
“Kertia, lo hoima. Akrasia, widmia venzen.”
The native nodded, operated a mechanism, and opened the door. As Shirone stepped into the dark entrance, a spiral staircase lit by torches appeared.
Shirone slowly descended the stairs. He had been here before, but perhaps because he was alone, the atmosphere felt completely different.
At the bottom of the stairs was the familiar passage. The natives said something to him and guided him along.
He couldn’t understand their words, but he could guess their meaning. It was all part of the ritual protocol, so there was no need for further communication.
Passing through the iron gate at the end of the passage, a familiar scene came into view. Eight spheres floated in an octagon on a wide altar. The so-called angel’s eyes, Miro’s dimension, were waiting for Shirone.
The gatekeeper had changed, but the man with the white tattoos on his face was the same as before. Or maybe not. He still couldn’t accurately distinguish the faces of the Kergo people.
“May I take the test?”
“This is the Room of Accomplishment and Sacrifice. The eight eyes of the angel will judge you. To enter Kergo, you must pass through Miro’s dimension.”
Waiting for the man to finish his explanation, Shirone stepped onto the altar. Before trying the Immortal Function, he planned to strike Miro’s dimension with a laser.
Shirone decided to give it his all and focused a laser in front of him. As it emitted an eerie red light, even the stoic, white-tattooed man showed a surprised expression.
Shirone fired the laser with all his might. It took longer than usual for a number to appear on Miro’s dimension, likely because of the continuous impact.
Finally, a number appeared on Miro’s dimension. The first number Shirone saw was a mere 200. Then, the number changed every second, and the digits finally began to climb.
From 400 to 782. From 1,311 to 2,643. It eventually soared past 4,874 to reach 6,822.
Discovering a glimmer of hope, Shirone clenched his fist. But at that moment, the number reset and began to climb again from 72.
It seemed Miro’s dimension itself had a time limit. After the tallying cycle went through two rounds, the maximum score of 6,822 finally appeared one last time.
Miro’s dimension emitted a red glow, announcing Shirone’s failure throughout the room.
“Hoo.”
Shirone let out a breath, feeling dejected. The laser had clearly been effective. But Miro had evidently anticipated such a loophole for energy accumulation and placed a restriction on it.
What was most frustrating was that even though he had achieved a personal best score, he still hadn’t received a passing verdict.
Shirone suddenly recalled Canis’s words about possibly losing his life. Just how much had the Headmaster anticipated when he permitted this ruin exploration?
As he was lost in such thoughts, the man with the white tattoos spoke in a solemn voice.
“Will you leave, or will you stay? If you wish to prove your skill, pass through Miro’s dimension.”
Shirone shook his head as if to shake off his fear. He couldn’t give up after coming this far. Weren’t his friends already in the autonomous zone?
“I’ll try one more time.”
The man waited silently with his arms crossed. Taking that as permission, Shirone positioned himself in the center of the altar.
Immortal Function.
If this method didn’t work, then it would be impossible. Whatever Canis knew, he planned to give up cleanly.
“Hoo.”
Shirone calmed his mind and entered the Spirit Zone. The defensive zone expanded, swallowing the eight floating dimensions in all directions.
After a final check of the Spirit Zone’s perimeter, Shirone’s eyes shot open as he activated the Immortal Function.
“Heok!”
At that moment, something unbelievable happened.
An uncontrollable amount of mental energy flowed in, all of it being sucked into Miro’s dimension.
‘Th-this is…!’
The speed at which his mental energy was being absorbed was tremendous. Under normal circumstances, his zone would have shriveled in an instant. But just as much power as was being absorbed was flooding in from the infinite realm, maintaining a precarious balance.
Shirone was terrified of the current, uncontrollable situation. It felt as if his own value had completely vanished, and he had become a mere gateway connecting the power from here to there.
‘No! I have to get a grip!’
In this state, his consciousness would disintegrate just like before. The good fortune of being reassembled by Miro’s will would not happen again.
“Uggghhhh!”
Shirone structured the defensive frame to its maximum and pulled the zone taut. He could feel the tense support, but the mental discharge was so strong that the form remained unchanged.
From there, he entered a state of invincibility and desperately held on.
He couldn’t think. He just prayed for it to end quickly, prayed that he wouldn’t scatter into pieces.
At that moment, the eight dimensions of Miro shone brilliantly. Eight beams of light shot towards Shirone simultaneously, and centered on him, they expanded into a white sphere of light, completely engulfing the altar.
“Haaaaaack!”
Shirone trembled with an intense sense of deprivation. It was a feeling similar to when he had first opened the Immortal Function.
“Oh, ooooh!”
The natives, watching Shirone enveloped in light, shouted in astonishment.
Shirone’s body was floating up to the ceiling.
As if in a hallucination, his eyelids didn’t blink, and his pupils trembled in shock, though it was unclear what he was seeing.
Having absorbed a near-infinite amount of spirit, Miro’s dimension was now using that spirit to transmit information to Shirone.
It must have been something that could only be shown when the eight spheres were filled with power to their limit.
The natives shouted at the top of their lungs.
“Ra! Anke! Ra!”
At that moment, a blinding light exploded, completely filling the altar room.
The natives turned their heads and squeezed their eyes shut.
And when the light faded, Shirone was standing on the altar, gasping for breath.
“Hahk! Hahk!”
Shirone still couldn’t get his bearings. He couldn’t even tell where he was.
What was it that he had seen? Was it a place that truly existed? What was Miro thinking, creating such a device and waiting for an Unlocker?
‘Was it a hallucination? Or was it real? I don’t know anything. What does any of this have to do with the Immortal Function?’
Shirone suddenly snapped out of his thoughts and turned his head. All the natives who had flocked to the altar were on one knee, their heads bowed.
“Wh-what are you all doing?”
Shirone tried to stop them with a bewildered voice. But the natives didn’t even make a sound, maintaining their posture of submission.
The man with the white tattoos looked up at Shirone and said,
“Deliver the will of Ra, O Messenger of God.”
(End of Volume 7)
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