Chapter 115
Chapter 115
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 115
Chapter Title: The Trial of the Empty Sky
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"This is absurd."
Ledin Bial Oser walked and crawled through the tunnel, feeling a touch of bewilderment.
Up until then, Ledin had thought everything was fine.
It was merely a blunder by Changryu's priests and the kobolds.
Besides, Ledin had always taken pride in being a troll.
What couldn't a troll accomplish that kobolds handled with ease?
"Damn kobolds. How much do they love digging tunnels?"
But after a bit more time passed.
Contrary to Ledin's expectations, navigating the tunnel on foot or by crawling proved far from easy.
He stooped to walk, then dropped to his knees and crawled when it narrowed.
Repeating unfamiliar movements required using muscles he rarely employed.
Even with a troll's robust physique, his stamina inevitably flagged.
Worse still, there was another issue.
The torch he depended on was flickering out.
"I haven't even finished checking the tunnel..."
Ledin had already deemed methods like the left-hand rule for ancient ruins too time-consuming, opting instead to walk passages and backtrack. Yet time still ran short.
A chill ran down his spine, followed by cold sweat. Tension gripped his groin.
"...No, it's nothing. No need to panic."
In the pitch-black tunnel, Ledin suddenly recalled his status, briefly forgotten.
The days of being the twenty-first son, ignored by all, were gone.
Now, he attended diplomatic events as the king's proxy, the most renowned among Dermaldin Bial Oser's children.
"Even without that, they wouldn't dare ignore Sekmyun's name."
Ledin imagined Changryu's priests frantically searching for him even now.
The thought eased his tension, drawing a smirk to his lips.
"I'm not some infant. How could I fear the dark?"
Yet Ledin felt sitting idly, waiting for the torch to die or the priests to arrive, clashed with his nature.
"...Come to think of it, I just need to dig upward and I'll be out, right?"
It was essentially a ritual experience. As the priest had said, a little digging upward should suffice.
Realizing this belatedly made him feel foolish. Ledin headed to the spot he judged closest to the surface and began excavating.
The tunnel's dry soil crumbled easily from the pickaxe amid the wooden supports.
"Should have started moving sooner."
Then Ledin realized it was harder than expected.
Swinging a sword differed from wielding a pickaxe.
Beyond subtle muscle differences, a sword could clinch victory in a dozen swings in battle, but a pickaxe yielded nothing even after hundreds.
"Still far?"
The torch went out completely.
"...Still?"
He took several short breaks to cool off and wipe sweat.
He descended the tunnel to relieve himself twice.
When his arms grew too sore to lift, Ledin halted.
His eyelids grew heavy; shaking his head vigorously once barely roused him.
Now, even Ledin had to admit it.
"This is strange."
The nap might have been shorter than thought.
The torch could have extinguished quickly due to poor ventilation.
But Ledin considered himself a warrior inheriting ancient warrior blood, well-versed in his body's limits.
Without light, he couldn't gauge time precisely.
Still, this fatigue meant at least half a day since starting to dig.
"What a colossal joke."
In truth, Ledin doubted if he was digging straight toward the sky.
The tunnel had to zigzag.
Occasionally, massive boulders defied even troll strength, or worry of soil collapse forced detours.
Yet he was confident of some upward progress.
"All matter falls downward."
Ledin crumbled a handful of soil and felt it land on his instep.
Thus, breaking overhead to extend the tunnel meant ascending.
Yet he remained underground.
"...A trap?"
If a trap, whose?
His father's? Sekmyun lay too far from Mangul.
Besides, it was too crude.
What if Ledin hadn't dozed and dug vigorously?
He'd had no intention of burying himself in soil at the festival.
Even when the Changryu priest urged at the end, Ledin was half-minded to quit.
"...Then why?"
Ledin dozed off, head nodding.
Hours, or perhaps mere minutes later, he awoke ravenous.
His pocket held some grass.
Mangrocho.
"...They said this gives strength?"
He hesitated, then chewed the Mangrocho.
Unable to count on rescue, he must dig out himself.
To endure, he needed sustenance—and to dig steadily while strength remained.
Suddenly, astonishing vitality coursed through him, surpassing expectations.
Dizziness as rumored, but more bearable than imagined.
Ledin dug steadily onward.
When his arms grew heavy again, he grabbed another handful of soil.
"It feels like I'm heading up for sure. Maybe Mangrocho works only on kobolds, not trolls like me. Still, better check."
He crumbled and dropped the soil.
The grains fell toward his face.
"...What?"
With mouth agape, soil poured in.
Realizing he was inverted, he tumbled forward.
He'd thought himself upright, but actually leaned head-down against the wall.
He hadn't noticed.
He'd merely assumed fatigue made him lean back.
"This can't be."
Gravity's truth—that all falls earthward—couldn't change.
The issue lay in the tactile sensation itself.
Ledin concluded Mangrocho exceeded rumors.
It wasn't mere disorientation; it induced tactile hallucinations.
"No other explanation."
Beyond the effect, Ledin realized he faced the exact 'Trial of the Empty Sky' Changryu's ascetic priests endured.
No—worse.
His only food was Mangrocho, no senior priest to aid collapse.
Terror of death pierced him.
"A futile, unknown death. Nothing worse."
But even that thought erred.
He dug directionless.
Hunger forced Mangrocho, breeding more disorientation.
Faint survival hope drove him, but mounting horror turned nightmarish.
Despite upward intent, perhaps delving deeper.
Best efforts culminating in self-doom—an existential dread.
His free will proved worthless now.
Ledin cursed, pickaxed, then halted screaming.
Conventionally believed god's name now called desperately.
Exhausted and collapsed, Ledin opened his eyes at the voice resounding in his mind.
He closed them again.
In darkness, open or shut made no difference.
Having endured hallucinations in the dark before, Ledin ignored it.
But the inner voice persistently called.
Deeming this hallucination different, Ledin replied.
"I'm no pilgrim."
"Suppose that's true. Who are you?"
The voice replied.
"...What nonsense."
Ledin assumed madness had fully gripped him.
A creation born between two gods—claiming to be the child of Sokseon and Changryu.
"Why would that happen?"
This rang true.
"Why appear to me?"
"Hallucinations like that have come and gone many times. I'm still trapped."
"What?"
The voice continued.
Oddly, no rage stirred in Ledin.
All was bizarre; perhaps he'd strayed in the gods' grand design.
What use raging at divine whims?
Curiosity welled instead.
"Why?"
"What?"
"No, but why ahead, not overhead..."
Ledin hesitated but obeyed.
Only after swinging did he realize he lay flat on the floor.
This time, he recognized handstanding.
His instincts screamed all illusions—ignore the absurd inner commands.
But Ledin had no strength left.
Following the voice was his sole resolve.
"Damn it, how much longer..."
"Hm."
Ledin hesitated, then extended his hand.
No stubborn density blocked advance.
A ring of light encircled his wrists.
"No way."
He flung the pickaxe aside, clawing earth frantically with both hands.
Down... was up.
Ledin thrust his head skyward.
An empty sky.
A wilderness vista never before seen.
Morning well advanced past sunrise; the breeze carried sharp morning chill, cooling sweat he hadn't noticed.
Ledin scanned about, intending thanks to his guide.
Then the voice spoke icily.
Enlightenment dawned.
The voice's power was undeniable.
Ledin viewed his entire life through a third party's eyes, not his own.
Not just tunnel terror.
Every moment bore gods' touch.
Dreamt mother's vengeance, father's rage, death's fear—all suppressed acts—mere fabrications.
He had glimpsed divine machinations.
Emotions, senses: worthless.
One truth shone clear.
"...Only the gods' will."
Wisdom muttered.
"If a game makes entity control inconvenient, just tweak it for easy handling."
Jangwan concurred.
"Good thing our playstyles align."
Beyond the gentle hill, Ledin saw countless Changryu priests prostrated toward him.
"I see."
The voice declared.
Ledin Bial Oser, now an apostle, rose amid kobold priests' corpses.
Mangrocho's effects had faded.
Ledin now knew his path.
He headed north—toward his father.