Chapter 183
Chapter 183
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 183
Chapter Title: The Night Before the Decisive Battle - 1
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We arrived at the capital and first secured rooms at an inn before gathering in one.
It was for an emergency strategy meeting.
Neril spoke in a somewhat cynical tone.
“We’ve got to make Idria pay dearly for this debt. Even if it’s something we need too.”
“No need to worry. I plan to collect it with interest. It’s not just about putting on a show of fighting Idria.”
Remembering what I’d said before, Neril’s expression softened a bit.
“Well, if that’s the case, then we’ll at least break even.”
“Now let’s get down to business. What should we do?”
Everyone fell silent as if by agreement.
Our party members were always the ones tossing out ideas at gatherings like this, but this time, even they seemed unsure where to start.
That’s when it happened.
Risel, who’d been staring with wide eyes the whole time, finally spoke up.
“Um, I didn’t want to say anything rash in case I was way off base again.”
“Yeah? It’s fine. You nail the core perfectly one out of a hundred times, Risel. You’re the one who got me thinking of Aktian’s name in the first place.”
Serein nodded along as she backed me up.
“That’s right. One out of a hundred! In fancy terms, it’s a ‘one-in-a-hundred shot.’”
“Oh. Hehe. Thanks, Serein.”
“……Yeah.”
Oblivious to our awkward smiles, Risel continued earnestly.
“What if we just exclude Bellosian from the plan this time?”
“Huh? Why?”
“He’s asleep, isn’t he?”
For a moment, I felt like a complete idiot.
Risel’s point was too damn reasonable.
I recalled the brief exchange I’d had with Kaild Wake before our fight at the starting line.
-Didn’t you just say you know I got my power from Bellosian?
-Yeah. And I know that’s why he got himself locked in that special chamber.
-Hmph. Locked? More like knocked out cold.
-Huh?
-Something about using too much power. He passed out flat. Sleeping like a baby, the world’s troubles be damned.
Right.
He’d said Bellosian was asleep.
That’s why Bellosian couldn’t escape the special chamber—nothing more, nothing less.
Our faces lit up in an instant.
“What if Kaild’s actually on our side?”
“I think we can start believing that now. In a way, he’s more trustworthy than anyone. We can trust him to screw something up, no doubt.”
“Good thing he’s not a real teammate.”
“Hmm. Conversely, knowing he’s the enemy puts my mind at ease.”
“How about we kill him cleanly and painlessly as thanks?”
“No, even so, that’s a bit much.”
Our party members were firing off wild shots left and right.
In any case, thanks to Kaild’s loose lips, we’d gained priceless info, and the heated discussion continued.
Neril spoke up.
“Still too early to let our guards down completely. Even if he’s asleep, he’ll wake up eventually.”
“Like an alarm spell?”
“Doesn’t seem like that monster would rely on basic magic like that, but the effect would be similar either way.”
“Then we’ll have to proceed as stealthily as possible.”
“The question is what plan. We’ve got nothing solid yet.”
That’s when it happened.
Adwin, who’d been deep in thought, finally spoke.
“What if we connect with Idria?”
“……?”
Question marks popped up on everyone’s faces.
Adwin continued explaining.
“You said Idria and her minions are trapped in that special chamber, right?”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“Then wouldn’t it be easier if they cooperated with us?”
“That makes sense, but how the hell do we even connect with them?”
Neril frowned and pulled out a communication orb.
“This is the one linked to Idria. As you can see, it’s completely dead.”
“…….”
“Everyone knows the gate under the imperial palace leads to a separate realm. No communication orbs work from inside to out.”
Right.
And even if they did, I doubted they could have a secret chat without Aktian’s eyes on them.
…….
Wait. Secret chat?
I jolted and asked Adwin.
“You don’t mean talking through souls, do you?”
“Yes.”
“……That might dodge Aktian’s surveillance. But doesn’t that require seeing Idria’s soul?”
“There might be another way.”
“You don’t mean.”
“Yes.”
He swallowed hard and continued.
“Please take me to the underworld.”
The necromancer’s bell we’d gotten from under the imperial palace before.
That artifact, made by the great hero Leon Siok, allowed one to visit the underworld while still alive.
The underworld I’d visited with Impellium’s guidance was a world of infinite soap bubbles clumped together.
Impellium had said each bubble was a person’s world.
I’d casually explained the underworld’s appearance to the group… especially to Adwin, who showed keen interest.
Adwin had drawn inspiration from that to come up with this brilliant plan.
“Wouldn’t Idria’s bubble or her minions’ be in the underworld too?”
“Probably.”
“Please take me there. Then… well, I’ll figure something out.”
Adwin scratched his head after saying that.
“Honestly, old me wouldn’t have even suggested it, but somehow I feel like I can pull it off now.”
“Because you turned fame into power?”
“Yes. It has an expiration, but power is power. Like I mentioned before, my understanding of souls has deepened tremendously.”
He’d even erased Kaild’s soul, bolstered by Bellosian’s support, with that ability.
Adwin might actually be okay to bring along.
As I pondered, Jenia spoke up.
“That’s too dangerous. To go to the underworld, you first have to separate body and soul. Can you even separate your own?”
“Yes. That’s something I think I can do now too.”
“Adwin.”
“Don’t worry too much. I’m not going alone—I’m asking Big Bro Maide to guide me.”
He turned to me.
“I’ll lightly bind my soul to yours, Bro. Then I’ll naturally follow you without any extra effort.”
The group’s faces relaxed considerably.
It was like they thought, *As long as he’s with Maide, it’ll be fine to some extent…*
Considering we were talking a stroll through the underworld, it was an absurd level of faith.
[Honestly, you think you could do it too, right?]
*Yeah. It’s a path I’ve walked once before. The issue is finding Idria’s bubbles in that infinite sea of them.*
[We’ll know once we go. If not, we can always come back later.]
Trail was talking about underworld trips like neighborhood walks now.
The problem was I had no real counter to his nonchalant attitude.
I chuckled and opened my mouth.
“Got it. Let’s go.”
“Yes! Oh, who should we ask to ring the necromancer’s bell?”
Neril said matter-of-factly.
“I’ll do it. I did it last time too, and we can’t entrust delicate work like this to Offense.”
“I never said I would, so why am I getting dragged?”
Serein chimed in with a giggle.
“It’s all warm wishes for Offense to live a long life.”
Some unique consolation.
The underworld trip proceeded right away.
Adwin first separated my soul.
When I came to, the vast world of giant soap bubbles from before welcomed me.
*Jingle. Jingle.*
I heard Neril’s bell tolling.
And with it, Adwin’s voice.
“Ke ke. So this is where this body will one day rest.”
“I figured you’d say something like that. Anyway, first time in the underworld.”
“I can hear the wails of souls.”
“Come back quick. Should I tell Neril?”
“Spare me.”
“Anyway, as you can see, this is the underworld. Feels different seeing it yourself versus just hearing about it, right?”
Adwin looked around.
Then he gave a somewhat ambiguous smile.
“No necromancy lore on the continent describes the underworld like this. Not even Master Grade, Lady Repia, or Lord Leon.”
“Impellium said even past heroes couldn’t shatter their own worlds.”
“Then how did you see a place like this, Bro?”
“No idea.”
“Well, thanks for the amazing experience anyway. Thanks, Bro.”
Not sure if this is something to be thankful for.
On the continent, “I’ll send you to the underworld” means the same as “I’ll kill you.”
I scratched my head and looked around.
“Last time, Impellium helped me find Serein’s and Pirensha’s worlds. But now, I’ve got no clue where to even start searching.”
Pinpointing features of each bubble world was impossible to begin with.
From here, it was Adwin’s domain more than mine.
He wandered, scanning the bubbles this way and that.
Like a kid out at the market for the first time, holding Mom and Dad’s hands.
“Hey. Don’t go too far.”
“Oh, right! Let’s check a bit that way.”
“Sure.”
And so I roamed the underworld with Adwin for a while.
*Jingle. Jingle.*
Come to think of it, in the real world, Neril’s been shaking that bell nonstop?
Her arm must be killing her.
Might wanna head back soon to avoid an earful.
With Adwin and the necromancer’s bell, we could always revisit anyway.
“Adwin. Time to…….”
“Father.”
“Huh?”
“My father’s not here, is he?”
His voice trembled.
I straightened up.
“When you found my father’s statue back home, I definitely saw his soul dwelling in it.”
“……!”
“I didn’t tell Mother to worry her, but Father’s soul was extremely frail. Like a critically ill patient barely hanging on.”
Which made sense, if you thought about it.
I wasn’t an expert in necromancy, but body and soul were inseparable partners, each vital to the other.
A soul stuck with a statue for a body? No way that ended well.
“And back then, my sense was…… it wouldn’t be long.”
“W-what?”
“The time Father could hold out.”
He called it a sense, but from a necromancer like Adwin, it was as good as confirmed.
When was it I first met Adwin?
Before I could calculate, he said.
“It’s down to less than a few months now.”
“Why didn’t you say something sooner?”
“Well…… we’ve got way more pressing stuff right now.”
“Adwin. To me, you’re just as important as any of that.”
*Stroke. Stroke.*
I absentmindedly patted Adwin’s head.
“No need to wait months—we’ll yank Idria out this time and make her lift the curse right away. Your father will be fine.”
“Bro…… *sniff*.”
He swallowed his tears and rubbed his face furiously.
He acted all grown-up in all sorts of ways, but Adwin was still a kid at heart.
No, this wasn’t about adult or kid.
No one in the world could stay completely calm when it came to their own father.
I felt endlessly proud of Adwin, and endlessly sorry for him.
To shake off the embarrassment, he spoke in an exaggeratedly cheery tone.
“Ahem. Anyway, it’s confirmed—Father’s not in the underworld yet, overall feel!”
“So that’s why you wanted to come along.”
“Oh, no, not really? That was just a bonus.”
“Heh. Sure, let’s say so.”
Adwin turned his head around.
“Let’s check that way. Smells suspicious.”
Honestly, to me they all looked like identical bubbles, but I decided to trust the once-in-a-generation necromancy genius.
But as I followed Adwin, I realized he was right.
*It’s real.*
Something was different.
What was different…….
“See? This one’s weird too, right?”
“Yeah. It’s way separated from the other bubbles.”
That was it.
Of course, all bubbles in this underworld were separate worlds, so they didn’t touch.
If they did, it’d mean souls like Serein’s and Pirensha’s were the same—big problem.
But these were excessively far apart.
From afar, it looked like a hole ripped in space just there.
Up close, it almost felt like this spot wasn’t the underworld at all.
“Why’s it so isolated from the others?”
“Guess? Probably because they’re not human.”
I nodded at Adwin’s words.
So the Demon King and her minions were alien even in the underworld.
I could see a bit why Idria was so desperate to escape to a fake world.
The world excluded “non-humans” like this.
“Great, we found it. Now what?”
“Hmm…….”
Adwin cautiously placed his hand on the bubble.
I freaked and tried to stop him, but he’d already touched the wall.
“Hey, hey.”
“It’s fine, Bro.”
“Gave me a heart attack.”
“Sorry. But I couldn’t get a read without touching it.”
“…….”
“The bubble I’m touching right now? This is Idria’s world.”
I felt my interest pique involuntarily.
“Can we talk through the bubble?”
“Yes. No, more than that…….”
He trailed off and flashed a mischievous grin.
Seeing that expression on Adwin was pretty rare.
“Want to experience it directly?”