Chapter 188
Chapter 188
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 188
Chapter Title: Special Room - 3
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Now only one thing left.
‘Acteon and... First, show me the secret of Impellium. A secret that reveals his weakness.’
Impellium seemed like something it would know.
[Th-that’s right.]
I waited with hope.
But.
[Error. ‘The secret between Acteon and Impellium.’ is ??? rank.]
[Requires Eye of Omniscience level ??? to view.]
Damn it all.
Level insufficient again.
Just what more do I need to do to obtain the complete Eye of Omniscience?
That was when it happened.
“Now, you’re all done talking, right? So, have you left your final words?”
“…….”
“Then die, all of you. Idria, you stay behind for a moment.”
Acteon waved his hand dismissively.
And in the next instant.
My breath caught.
An immense pressure crushed in on my entire body.
What the hell is this? Where are we?
I grasped the situation in less than a second.
Fortunately, Adwin was still acting as our relay from the afterlife, so I could shout without issue.
[The sea! It’s the deep sea.]
[Ugh.]
[Neril, Serein. Hurry!]
Serein cried out urgently first.
[Shield!]
Even if we could wield divine power without needing to pray to the heavenly gods, it was still a refreshingly novel invocation.
Whirr.
Soon, a shield spell enveloped our bodies.
The bone-crushing water pressure vanished.
Next.
Swish.
Neril formed hand seals with lightning speed.
And just like that, we could breathe again.
“Phew. Thought I was a goner.”
“Neril, what spell was that just now? The water inside the barrier disappeared.”
Neril smoothed back her wet hair and replied.
“I converted the water into oxygen.”
“Ah. Right. Makes sense.”
“…….”
“What do you mean, ‘makes sense’?”
“You know that elemental deletion spell Iori invented? I tweaked it a little. Water and oxygen share some base elements...”
“Sorry. I won’t get it anyway.”
In any case, the water pressure and breathing issues were both resolved.
I looked up beyond the barrier.
Truth be told, calling it “looking” was a contradiction. It was perfect darkness.
Risel asked cautiously.
“We’re at the bottom of the sea, aren’t we? You mentioned it earlier, Maide.”
“Yeah.”
“We were definitely on land just moments ago, right?”
“Yeah.”
“How in the world... Ah! Did Acteon teleport us into the ocean in an instant? Does he have spatial authority too?”
No.
I shook my head.
“He didn’t teleport us.”
“......?”
No one seemed to understand at all.
Surprisingly, that included the Fingers of Falsehood.
Phirensha, the most affable among them, asked.
“What kinda nonsense is that?”
“Shut your mouth while I’m being nice? Serein.”
“You shut it. Serein.”
“Both of you, shut it.”
Neril silenced them and waited for my response.
I took a light breath and said.
“He turned the very spot we were standing on into the sea.”
It was a form of attack I’d never encountered before—pure creativity.
Even Adin spewing light from his mouth felt more realistic by comparison.
Who would’ve thought he’d transform the location itself into the deep sea?
I started to sigh, then realized the air inside the barrier wasn’t infinite and gave up.
Offense spoke up.
“I don’t get what happened, but we need to head up first.”
“Yeah.”
“My shadow spell’s useless without a speck of light. Though light’s easy enough to make with magic or whatever.”
“But it’s no good if you don’t know the shadow’s shape at the destination, right?”
“Mm.”
“No choice, then. Idria, one more favor.”
I said as much, but no reply came.
We glanced around.
The deep sea’s blackness concealed everything, as expected.
Neril cast a simple spell.
“Light.”
A round orb of light soon floated at our center.
It was far too weak to illuminate the entire deep sea, but more than enough for the barrier’s interior.
That’s when we saw it.
“Mom?”
“Mother!”
“Mother-nim.”
“Damn. Could one of you just speak for the group?”
“You shut up. Can’t you see Mother’s missing?”
Yeah.
That was when Idria’s voice reached us.
It was her soul voice, relayed through Adwin.
[I’m fine. You lot don’t look like you are.]
“Mother? Where are you?”
[Acteon kidnapped me again. I’m bound in those cursed chains, staring down at this ocean that popped up out of nowhere.]
Floating above the sea’s surface?
[He must’ve gotten the idea from our talk earlier. Didn’t you say it, Maide? Lava or the seabed—we’d survive either.]
[Yeah.]
[The mouth is the root of all evil. Etch that into your soul, hero.]
[No. This isn’t on me.]
He’d eavesdropped on my words and decided to test if we really could survive by dumping us in the sea.
What kind of thought process is that?
[What’s Acteon doing?]
[Just grinning beside me and peering at the sea. Probably waiting to watch you all die.]
[Can’t you help us out?]
[Like I said before, these chains seal all my authorities.]
[You’re the Demon King, aren’t you?]
[Shut it.]
I finally couldn’t hold back and let out a sigh.
Neril said.
“Infuriating, but no helping it. Let’s head up first.”
“How?”
“I’ll tweak the flying spell... Nah, no need to explain. We’re ascending now.”
Swish.
Our bodies began to rise.
But it wasn’t as swift as true flying magic.
Cold sweat beaded on Neril’s forehead.
“It’s rough. The pressure’s too intense. Mana consumption feels like ten times that of flying magic.”
“You’ll hold till the surface?”
“No clue how far it is, but yeah. 720,000 fame isn’t for show.”
At least that was a relief.
But one more stroke of misfortune remained.
Crack.
A sound that shouldn’t have been possible.
Cracks began spiderwebbing across our surrounding shield spell.
We all turned to Serein.
She flashed a wry smile and muttered.
“Fuck.”
Crack.
From the moment the cracks appeared, Serein had been fiddling with the Branch of Corruption.
She didn’t have Maide’s instincts, but somehow she knew.
There was no way her current power could sustain the shield all the way to the surface.
She’d once briefly blocked even a heavenly god’s attack alongside Jenia.
‘But this pressure’s way stronger than that. Just how deep are we?’
In the end, the depth didn’t matter.
The barrier was on the verge of shattering right now anyway.
That was when Maide asked.
“You holding up?”
“No. This is gonna break any second. Maybe three minutes tops.”
“......”
“Don’t worry. I kinda saw this coming.”
Serein drew out the Branch of Corruption.
But she didn’t snap it right away.
Maide said.
“Don’t push yourself.”
“No. Don’t paint me as the villain here? It’s not just my life—everyone in the party’s on the line. You think I’d hesitate out of greed?”
“Huh? Then?”
“I’m not sure what my wish even is.”
Everyone tilted their heads.
Risel said.
“It’s money. Your wish, Serein.”
“Wow. You’re so sure about it.”
“No way it isn’t.”
“......”
“Yeah.”
“Sigh. It was money at first...”
It had been, originally.
But not anymore. Not since recently.
It was when Offense entered the special room and snapped his branch while saying:
-I’ll endure the solitude and loneliness of being left alone.
The moment she heard those words, Serein had the exact same thought.
‘I don’t want to be left alone anymore either.’
After joining the party and sharing those joyful times with everyone, she no longer desired solitude.
She hadn’t expected it to rise to a wish rivaling gold, though.
Muttering half to herself, she said.
“To be precise, I can’t tell which one’s my top wish anymore.”
That was when Offense asked.
“You have another wish? What is it?”
“Can’t say.”
No way she’d admit it was the same as his.
Serein calmly closed her eyes.
“Thirty seconds.”
“Mm.”
She slowly turned inward, contemplating herself.
What do I truly want right now? What do I desire most?
Serein pictured a scale in her mind.
She imagined piling all the gold in the world onto one side.
Party members on the other.
“......!”
What? No need to agonize at all.
The scale tipped dramatically toward the party members’ side, nearly breaking.
She smiled softly.
‘I won’t make the same mistake as Offense.’
She’d chant the wish inwardly.
Just as she was about to murmur it in her heart.
Offense asked again.
“Still going?”
“Done now.”
“If it’s tough, I could give some advice.”
“Told you, I’m good. Besides, anyone else and maybe, but never you, Offense.”
“Why not?”
“Why? It’s the same wish as yours.”
With that, she snapped the Branch of Corruption cleanly.
And inwardly, she cried out with resolve.
‘I’ll endure the solitude and loneliness of being left alone!’
She looked at everyone with a confident expression.
“Mm. Perfect. Now I’ll reinforce the shield spell.”
“......”
“Why’re you all staring like that?”
“......”
“......Ah.”
What did I just say?
Serein’s shield grew sturdy.
And absurdly massive.
It shoved back the water pressure, carving out a space hundreds of meters across.
Neril gazed up at the enormous barrier and said.
“With this much room, we can move way faster.”
“......”
“Good work, Serein.”
“No......”
“Now just move the barrier in sync with our ascent speed. We’ll reach the surface in no time.”
Serein’s ears turned beet red as she could only nod.
Risel said teasingly.
“Same wish as Offense, huh.”
“......”
“Same as Offense......”
“I hear you the first time?”
Offense nodded along.
“Truly unexpected, Serein.”
“......”
“No need to be embarrassed. My original top wish got bumped down too.”
“Argh. You’re the biggest problem here!”
Whirr.
Neril’s spell picked up speed.
We rocketed toward the surface like lightning.
I approached the Fingers of Falsehood.
Phirensha was the first I saw—grinning, surprisingly.
But the moment she spotted me coming, she wiped the smile away like a ghost.
“What?”
“Why were you grinning?”
“Just thought Serein was pretty dumb too.”
“Why bite the hand that feeds? You were the same soul once.”
“......”
“Anyway, not the point right now.”
I extended my hand toward Sovieus.
He scowled.
“What?”
“Hand it over.”
“What?”
“The hero’s sword. Give it.”
“Acting like it’s on deposit.”
“Then go rescue Idria bravely with it yourself.”
Sovieus fell silent.
Sabak glanced around before chiming in.
“Might be best to just hand it over, Sovieus.”
“......This sword holds memories with Idria-nim.”
“Wasn’t it from one of the three great heroes’ tombs? Empire tradition and all.”
“It was. And Idria-nim sent me an ‘official writ’ saying......”
I cut in curtly.
“Spare me the reminiscing. Hand it over.”
“Maide.”
“Why should I indulge your ramblings? Forgotten? You’re humanity’s betrayer. A vile liar.”
He opened his mouth in a growl.
“You think I joined hands with Mother for no reason? I was born into a fallen knight family and......”
“No. I said stop.”
“......!”
“Flip it around: Do you give a damn about our circumstances?”
Those words left Sovieus speechless.
I pressed on.
“You don’t, right? And honestly, I don’t care if you don’t care about us.”
“......”
“Because I’ve got zero interest in you lot. You’re the Demon King’s minions. We’re human.”
“......”
“All we’re here to do is kill each other. No telling whose sword will pierce whose throat, but there’s no need to understand one another until that final moment.”
I lowered my voice there.
“Not accusing or condemning. We’re just different races, that’s all.”
“......”
“But one thing’s crystal clear. This world was made for humans. It’s not your resting place. That’s why Idria’s trying to create a fake world and leave, right?”
“And you’re the one standing in her way.”
“Of course. I’m human, so I think from a human perspective. And from that view, you’ve piled up far too many sins against humanity.”
I clicked my tongue lightly and continued.
“So face humanity’s judgment.”
“Kuku. That plan you mentioned to Mother back then?”
“Yeah. But to get there, we escape this special room first, right? Last chance: hand over the sword.”
His hand trembled as he offered the blade.
I took it and drew it from its sheath.
Shing.
Its edge was no less keen than the fake hero’s sword...
Perhaps even sharper.
Neril said.
“It’s finally found its true master. That sword.”