Bad End: The Mage (2)
......Oleg hasn't returned.
Darkness. When Lily opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was pure darkness. A blackness so complete it might as well have been smeared with ink swallowed her entire field of vision. From within that void came a voice that didn't sound human at all.
"The scroll was originally designed to carry at least two people. The caster and one additional person chosen by the master. It only reacts to living beings, after all. So the fact that Oleg hasn't returned means..."
The voice sounded like someone forcing themselves to mimic human speech, yet the emotion behind it was still readable. It carried something like sorrow. Something like pity.
"Yes... Oleg is dead."
Lily tried to move. Though she couldn't see anything in the suffocating dark, she could guess what kind of magic had been used on her. A teleportation spell. She'd been hit with Transition.
In situations like this, the best move was to escape first and think later. But her attempt was immediately thwarted. Something sticky clung to her entire body, restricting every movement. From the sensation against her skin... it felt like spider silk.
"Well then, let's see the face of the fool who was dragged here in Oleg's place."
At that moment, the lights that had been extinguished finally ignited. Torches blazed to life one by one throughout the dark chamber. The sudden brightness stung her eyes, but Lily could only stare in wide-eyed shock.
The entire space was packed with monsters.
High-ranking ones, every last one of them, stretching as far as she could see. And she was trapped inside a cage of spider webs. In other words, completely surrounded.
The voice spoke again.
"Hello there, little one. Welcome to the heart of the Demon Realm."
The owner of the voice was a colossal spider. An Arachne. A grotesque creature with a spider's body and a human face. Capturing even one typically required at least three knights. And it wasn't alone. Cyclops, ogres, banshees, gargoyles, and countless other high-ranking monsters filled the chamber.
"And you've only just arrived."
Lily's instincts screamed that the situation was dire. Warning bells rang at full volume inside her head. A vague terror slowly began to consume her. No matter how close she was to the level of a grand mage, there were limits to what she could handle. Especially bound like this, facing this many enemies... her body would be torn apart in less than an hour.
Perhaps her fear showed on her face. The Arachne stroked her cheek with a leg and spoke in a soothing tone.
"Oh my, are you scared, little one? Don't worry. Oleg's death is certainly infuriating, but I won't kill you over it."
Lily swallowed hard.
"I'll simply turn you into a puppet instead."
The creature continued. "Lord Net gave an order. One of the hero's party members would be sent here. Keep her safe. When he arrives, he'll brainwash her and use her as a combat asset. I can't wait to see what kind of face the hero makes when he sees his former comrade turned against him... Hehehe, I'm already looking forward to it."
Lily's face twisted. So they planned to brainwash her. To use her as both a hostage and a weapon.
"Go to hell... Just kill me, you bastards."
Of course she resisted. Even though she'd been dropped into the heart of enemy territory, Lily wasn't the type to simply tremble in fear. She was a full-fledged member of the hero's party, carrying the same heavy burden of the world on her shoulders as the rest. Better to die than to be used like this.
She cursed them while gathering her mana, intending to self-destruct.
...Or she tried to.
"Now, now. That won't do, little one."
If the Arachne hadn't acted. The enemy's preparations had been thorough. The moment she tried to draw in mana, the barrier formation around her glowed to life. It was a restraint specifically designed to control a target's magical power. They had anticipated resistance and prepared accordingly.
"Just sleep for a while. Don't worry. I won't do anything unpleasant to you."
Sleep magic was cast directly onto Lily's struggling face. She hurled every curse she knew inside her mind, but there was nothing she could do. If only the barrier hadn't been there, she might have had a chance...
As her consciousness sank into complete darkness, the creature's voice drifted over her.
"Oh, and one more thing. Don't even dream that your comrades will come rescue you. This is the center of the Demon Realm. The Four Heavenly Kings don't reside here, but there are thousands upon thousands of monsters instead. Even if the Empire's knight order launched a full assault, they'd find it nearly impossible to break through."
Hehehe...
The Arachne's low, grotesque laughter echoed. It was a sound that suited a monster perfectly.
With that laughter as the last thing she heard, Lily fell unconscious.
Three days passed.
Lily remained completely bound inside the barrier. Fortunately, the monsters seemed to be keeping their word. They didn't harm her. Meals were provided three times a day. The taste was utterly disgusting, but the nutritional value appeared to be excellent.
It made sense. As they'd said, she was a valuable asset meant to be turned into a puppet. Only the Puppeteer could perform the brainwashing. That was why the monsters held themselves back even when faced with a human.
And during those three days of captivity, Lily drowned in self-loathing.
What an idiot...
She had gone off alone to investigate and ended up captured like this. There were plenty of excuses, of course. She'd let her guard down because Oleg was already dead. She never expected to find a scroll that would normally require at least a year of preparation. And she certainly hadn't anticipated that the scroll would be laced with interference magic.
It was a meticulously crafted trap. In the end, it had been unavoidable.
But no matter how true that was, the fact remained that she had been captured. So Lily spent three full days desperately searching for an escape method. She considered ways to break the barrier, ways to free herself from the spider silk, and even routes to slip past the thousands of monsters afterward.
None of her plans could be put into action.
Her hands were bound, preventing her from dismantling the barrier. She couldn't draw mana to free her body first, which severely limited her options. To make matters worse, there were always one or two monsters watching her.
Even for her, breaking through all of that was impossible. So for three days, she could only remain quietly trapped.
On the fifth day, she allowed herself a faint hope. Maybe her comrades would break through this enemy stronghold and reach her. Or perhaps the Empire's knight order would send reinforcements. After all, she was one of humanity's most critical assets. They would find a way to save her.
But while her heart clung to that vague expectation, her reason remained coldly rational. It was impossible. This was the Demon Realm. A place where all humans except the hero and his party grew weaker. Even the hero himself would need to carve through thousands of monsters to reach this depth. In short, it meant advancing with a mere handful of people against an army the size of a full knight order. No matter how exceptional they were, there were limits.
Besides, none of them had fully matured yet. At their current level, they couldn't break through.
So Lily quickly abandoned even that hope.
On the seventh day, she began looking for a way to self-destruct. There was no escape. Rescue seemed impossible. If that was the case, she would at least make sure they couldn't use her.
Fortunately... this seemed possible.
She would need to plan carefully, but it looked feasible. From that point on, Lily started thinking about putting her affairs in order. She had plenty of time. A week had already passed without any sign of the Puppeteer. He must have been away on some distant errand.
She could detonate her body when the time came. With that thought, Lily spent one more day.
The change happened the following day.
"This is bad! This is really bad!"
"Intruder! There's an intruder!"
"Calm down, you idiots! It's just a small group! Overwhelm them!"
The noise outside the prison grew chaotic. From the sound of it, someone had broken into the fortress.
For a moment, a wild hope surged in Lily's chest. Could it be? Had someone actually come? Even after seeing that army of monsters?
It was impossible. It was reckless. Her reason told her that, but the hope refused to die.
From what the monsters were shouting, an intruder had definitely entered. For now, all she could do was wait and see.
The monsters believed the intruder would be subdued quickly. After all, it was only a small number. There was no way they could break through a fortress packed with high-ranking monsters.
That was what they thought.
But after three hours, six hours, twelve hours...
The monsters were forced to change their minds.
"The cyclops line has been breached! The golems have been destroyed!"
"Why can't we stop him even after sending hundreds at once! Kiriric!"
"They say he's getting tired! Keep pushing without pause!"
The intruder had drawn close. The monsters fought with everything they had, but they couldn't stop him. From the way they spoke, he seemed more monstrous than the monsters themselves.
Though hope bloomed in her chest, the question that echoed loudest in Lily's mind was how?
As she'd thought before, this place was swarming with monsters. And not weak ones, either. So how had he broken through so quickly?
The answer came soon enough, in a way that brought her no joy.
There is no such thing as a free miracle in this world. Great feats demand equivalent sacrifice. To turn the impossible into reality, a price must be paid.
"...Huh?"
Some time later, a man stepped into the chamber. He had cut down even the prison's gatekeeper to reach this place.
Lily couldn't hide her shock at his appearance.
The man was missing one eye. The ring and pinky fingers were gone from both hands. Countless arrows and thorns protruded from his back, and there wasn't a single uninjured spot on his body. Blood—bright, fresh blood—dripped steadily from his mouth, suggesting even his internal organs had been damaged.
It was a man she knew.
The hero, Luke. A suspicious figure shrouded in mystery in every other regard. The only thing she truly knew about him was that he possessed absurdly powerful recovery skills.
And that man now stood before her in a state of complete ruin.
It was clear he had gone through something terrible.
"Ah... Found you."
After glancing around for a long moment, he spotted her and muttered. His voice was exhausted, completely drained of strength.
Luke approached and began carefully undoing the spider webs one by one.
"You really... are a handful, you know that...?"
His tone was heavily suppressed. It sounded bitter. Relieved. Sad. He smiled faintly with his mangled face, but all she could feel from it was a profound sorrow.
Lily forced her frozen throat to work and asked.
"H-how..."
"How? I just broke through. What else was there to do?"
"But how did you..."
"Yeah. It was a lot harder than I expected."
"...Why?"
"A long time ago, I decided I would save all four of you. Like an idiot..."
She couldn't understand what he was saying. She couldn't understand any of this situation. The man she had suspected of being connected to the Demon King's army had come to rescue her, even at the cost of his own body. There was nothing left to doubt.
The moment the spider webs were removed, she supported him. Luke spoke quietly.
"Let's go back. For now."
Until that moment, Lily's heart remained in complete turmoil.