Chapter 90: The Ruined Laboratory
Chapter 90: The Ruined Laboratory
Soon, Imprison began to emerge from the magic circle. Its appearance was unimpressive. The spirits summoned by Spirit Summoners in the past were often magnificent, but frankly, many of the magical beasts Vivian summoned were grotesque. Of course, I acknowledged their performance, but as the saying goes, if you're going to get something, you might as well get the pretty one.
Its emaciated body was wrapped tightly in what looked like chains, and a single eyeball rolled around on its forehead. Its head, which rose to a triangular point, was inexplicably repulsive. But since it was an ally, I decided to watch it calmly.
Vivian looked at her summon, Imprison, with a proud gaze and immediately issued a command.
“Imprison? Bind the arms of that thing in front of you. Show everyone here the dignity of the ruler of the 49th Legion.”
“━━━━.”
Imprison’s mouth opened slightly, and incomprehensible words flowed out. I could only assume it was a reply expressing its intent to obey Vivian’s command. As the ruler of the 49th Legion, Imprison was slightly inferior to Queritatus of the 14th Legion she had summoned before, but it still displayed its abilities without reservation.
Clang! Clang!
The chains wrapped around Imprison’s body came undone. Emitting an unknown energy, they shot fiercely toward the giant. The giant crouched as the chains rushed at it, but with its large frame in such a narrow space, dodging them was a hopeless endeavor.
I took that opportunity to look at Ahn Hyun and speak.
“Ahn Hyun.”
“Yes, sir!”
I smiled faintly at Ahn Hyun’s crisp, disciplined answer. His face was anxious, as if worried I might be disappointed by his failed attack. I became even more certain when I saw an indistinctly pleased look on Yoojung’s face as she held the Keeper position in the rear. I continued calmly.
“Once Vivian’s Imprison has it bound, I’ll move in and completely block its movements. You use that opening to get to its side or back and thrust your spear in deep. You don’t need to stab it multiple times. Just once will be enough. Understand?”
“This time… I will definitely meet your expectations.”
After confirming that Ahn Hyun was gritting his teeth and gathering mana at the tip of his spear, I turned my head back. Imprison’s chains were already wrapping themselves tightly around the giant’s arms.
“Grrr! Grrrr!”
The giant tried to resist, but with its right hand burst open, there was no way it could remove the tightly winding chains with its remaining hand. Seeing its arms completely bound, the creature let out a mournful howl. The moment Vivian gave the signal, I kicked off the ground with all my strength.
If I went in low, I could get kicked. A wounded beast’s actions were unpredictable, so it was best to be cautious. I soared into the air, pulling my sword back as far as it would go. Then, as I descended and the giant’s body drew near…
The giant’s arms were forcibly pulled back, causing it to push its chest out further toward me. It was Vivian’s doing. And I fully intended to repay her for her support.
Shunk.
I thrust my arm forward and drove my sword into the center of its chest. The giant’s hide was tough, but it was no match for the Authority of Sword Specialist. Once I felt the blade sink deep, I used the remaining force of my descent to slash straight down. The sensation of chopping into a rotten log with an axe traveled along the blade into my hand.
“Kuraaaaaaaaargh!”
“Ahn Hyun! Finish it!”
“Haaap!”
I saw Ahn Hyun, who must have circled around to its back at some point, pulling his spear far back in a stance for a one-hit kill. The moment I shouted, he thrust his spear toward the howling giant’s neck. He had poured so much magic into it that the sound of it tearing through the air echoed throughout the room.
“Kuh! Kuuuh! Kuuuuuh!”
Perhaps lamenting such a futile end after being trapped for so long, the giant shed tears of blood. It must have been incredibly resentful. But that was none of my business, and there wasn’t a shred of mercy in Ahn Hyun’s thrust. The tip of the spear flew true, striking the back of the giant’s neck hard.
“Gack… Grrr…”
Thwack! Crack!
A shattering sound. The giant’s neck was pierced. No, it wasn’t just pierced; it would be more accurate to say it was shattered. Spewing bloody foam from its mouth, the giant cast a resentful gaze around the room before its body slowly collapsed. It was the giant’s end.
“Hehe. Good job, Imprison. You can go back now.”
With a thrilled expression, Vivian unsummoned Imprison and gave me a mysterious smile. I gently stroked her head. No matter what anyone said, Vivian was the MVP of this battle. If she hadn’t bound its arms, Ahn Hyun would never have been able to approach its back. At my touch, Vivian squirmed and gave a smug smile.
Still, the final blow had been decent, so I didn’t forget to praise Ahn Hyun.
“Ahn Hyun. That last strike was good. You did well.”
“Hoo… My heart is still pounding. Thank you.”
Ahn Hyun let out a long breath at my praise and finally smiled. Shin Sangyong and Jung Hayeon, who had contributed little in this fight, looked apologetic. Sol was relieved that no one had been hurt, while Yoojung whined at Ahn Hyun. I ignored her. I could give Yoojung a chance next time.
I planned to explore the entire first floor today at the very least, so we needed to move quickly. Just in case, I had them search every inch of the room, but this time we came up with nothing. And so, we left the giant’s cooling corpse behind and exited the room.
“Ugh. For something so huge, it’s completely broke. What kind of laboratory is this!”
I heard Yoojung grumble. Ahn Sol frowned slightly, but inwardly, I was satisfied. Her words were proof that she was finally starting to understand the nature of the Hall Plain. If they were still spouting nonsense like ‘life is precious’ or ‘you shouldn’t kill carelessly,’ I might have abandoned them. But they were slowly changing. Now, they wouldn’t even bat an eye at seeing a life extinguished before them.
“Well… after all the effort I’ve put into them, it would be a problem if they didn’t at least come this far.”
I muttered to myself for a moment before moving to the front of the formation. Ahn Hyun’s breathing was still ragged, the afterglow of the fierce battle lingering.
“Alright. We’re heading in again.”
After speaking to the group in a low voice, I walked into the shadows of the flickering hallway. There were still five more rooms to check.
*
“Haaah. Five empty rooms in a row. This is so sad.”
“Cheer up. We did get something, didn’t we? Even if it’s less than 10 gold…”
I heard Jung Hayeon’s voice from behind, consoling a complaining Yoojung. But the bitterness in her tone told me she was also feeling a bit drained. I understood how they felt, so I just walked forward in silence.
Some explorations are fun. Explorations where you find lots of gold coins and fortuitous discoveries like various magic armaments. Those are the fun ones. The more you do them, the more energized you become, because you naturally start to wonder, “What else will I find next?”
But our current situation was the exact opposite. The more we did, the more exhausted we became from fighting, and we had gained almost nothing. Of course, we did get rewards. The small amount of gold was the result of scraping every last bit from the rooms we had passed through. Compared to the battles we’d fought, it was a pathetic reward.
To be more specific, we had opened five rooms, including the first one with the giant, but the results were a complete bust. In fact, four of the five rooms had contained monsters, and none of them were pushovers.
The first room had held the giant, the second the Dead, the third a Mud Golem, the fourth had been empty, and the fifth contained more Dead. We fought battle after battle and gained less than ten gold. With Vivian and me present, none of the battles had been life-threatening, but the lack of reward was still dispiriting.
And now, we stood before the sixth and final room on the west side. Unlike the previous rooms, this one had a wooden door instead of an iron one. The door wasn’t the only difference. When we stood before the other doors, we could feel a desolate chill or a presence from within, but this last room felt completely ordinary.
“This place looks like it’s just for storing cleaning supplies…”
Ahn Hyun tilted his head and spoke. The slight edge in his voice suggested he wasn’t entirely without complaints either. To make matters worse, Vivian added her own sharp-toned comment to his.
“Tch. It obviously looks like an ordinary storeroom. Soohyun, open it quickly so we can go somewhere else.”
I glanced back at the party. A subtle fatigue was creeping onto their faces. It seemed the repeated battles were wearing them down again. I looked at Sol, the only one quietly watching me, and my expression hardened. I had planned to take a break after this room anyway, but there were things that needed to be addressed.
“Everyone, focus. We’re right in front of a door. Get into formation… What is everyone doing?”
At my sharp rebuke, Ahn Hyun and Vivian, who had just been grumbling, flinched and backed away. My god. No matter how poor the results, we were right in front of a door. What were they thinking they’d do if they opened it carelessly and a horde of monsters poured out?
As if reading my thoughts, the party members each raised their weapons and faced forward warily. I sighed and kicked the wooden door wide open. Unlike the iron doors, it opened without any trouble.
Thankfully, we weren’t immediately attacked like we had been in the first room with the giant. I scanned the inside for a moment, and when I detected no response, I spoke in a low voice.
“Hmm. Nothing’s coming out. But it’s too dark.”
“—Light!”
Jung Hayeon immediately cast the Light spell. Soon, a brightly glowing orb was created and could be seen floating gently inside. I craned my neck to get a better look.
“Hm…?”
As the orb of light entered and illuminated the room, a sound of surprise escaped my lips. I sheathed the sword I had half-drawn. Having just stepped inside, I stopped a few paces from what I saw. I could feel the party members scrambling in behind me. And then…
“Whoa…!”
“Woooow.”
“Ooh! Th-This is amazing!”
Exclamations of awe erupted from the entire party at once. The others who had followed me in were now standing beside me, their minds completely captivated by the sight before them.
The room could certainly be called a storeroom: roughly sixty-six square meters with not a single piece of furniture. What astonished us were the weapons and armor scattered across the floor. Objects glittered among them as well—gold coins and gems, by the look of it. When color instantly returned to the kids’ faces, I spoke calmly.
“It seems this is an armory, stocked with weapons for an emergency.”
“You’re right. But aren’t these weapons ancient? If they really are ancient weapons…”
Jung Hayeon couldn’t hide her excitement, a thrilling smile on her face. Indeed, if these were ancient weapons from a prosperous era, there was a high chance they did more than just improve mana efficiency—they might have more direct effects, like increasing stats. Such equipment was extremely rare, but it did exist.
“O-Oppa.”
Yoojung called to me in a pleading tone. When I turned, she was fidgeting with her hands, looking incredibly anxious. I met her expectations with a nod.
“Let’s start by gathering anything useful. Just in case, I need one person to stand guard outside the door.”
“Eh…”
As soon as I finished speaking, I saw them all look at each other, gauging the situation. I see. It seems none of them want to miss out on this. Realizing what they were thinking, I gave a bitter smile. Still, I figured I should do it myself and was about to walk toward the door when someone spoke.
“Ah. I-I’ll do it. Leader, you should stay here.”
I turned my gaze to Shin Sangyong’s voice and saw him raising his hand with a bright smile.
“It’s fine. I can see several pieces of equipment for Mages as well.”
“Ah, no. I can’t receive any of the benefits from the expedition anyway. So it’s really fine. I’ll, I’ll stand watch.”
With that, Shin Sangyong headed for the door before I could stop him. But I could guess his true intentions. It seemed he had grown fond of our party’s atmosphere. He didn’t want to see trouble arise over something trivial, so he was volunteering to take on the less desirable task himself.
Of course, he wanted to participate too. Despite that, he willingly stepped aside with a pleasant look on his face. Watching him diligently stand guard outside the door, I was lost in thought for a moment. If he kept acting like this, it was only human nature to want to take care of him.
After watching him for a moment, I turned my gaze back to the floor. Before I knew it, everyone except Shin Sangyong was completely absorbed in a treasure hunt.