Chapter 98
Chapter 98
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 98
Chapter Title: Mirror Lake
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The imperial palace was a place where even a single stone lying in the grass was meticulously maintained.
The abandoned tower where Damian had once discovered the Book of Hell in the past.
Contrary to its name, that place too was recorded in the imperial registry, and it received maintenance once a year.
There was exactly one spot in the palace that wasn't. A location not listed in the registry, one no one specially tended to.
Mirror Lake.
It was a small, deep pool, ambiguous enough that calling it a lake felt like a stretch.
It appeared utterly ordinary on the surface, yet no imperial records made any mention of Mirror Lake.
Moreover, none of the palace servants ever maintained it, but it always stayed pristine.
The surroundings, however, were devoid of any vegetation. Not even fish, insects, or birds paid it any mind.
That was because of a certain existence no one in the palace knew about—at least, not anyone but Damian at present.
"I can feel it, I can feel it. It's something huge. Just one? Anyway, it's creepy."
Paruzan sniffed the air repeatedly.
Just as Damian had said, she'd felt an eerie sensation ever since arriving at the palace.
Standing before Mirror Lake made it all the sharper.
Her hunter's instincts screamed that something lurked here.
Paruzan's father had left her with a curse.
It had accelerated her aura's growth at a terrifying rate, but it had also implanted an obsessive drive for revenge.
Paruzan had vented it by hunting beasts.
The curse was gone now, but her thrill for taking on powerful monsters remained.
It wasn't a bad thing. That mindset was what kept pushing Paruzan to grow.
"But why the hell is something like this here? This is, y'know, where the empire's top dog lives, right?"
Even Paruzan, who didn't grasp imperial culture well, found it bizarre.
The life force emanating from that lake rivaled the dangerous beasts of the great desert.
For something like that to exist right in a place where people lived...
As a hunter who'd dealt with beasts for years, she couldn't easily accept it.
In truth, no one knew how long Mirror Lake had been in the palace.
At the very least, far longer than anyone currently living there.
And since it had never caused any particular trouble, no one paid it special attention.
The Emperor Lucas probably didn't even know there was a pool like this in the palace.
"So, what now?"
"We're going under the lake. Stick right behind me."
"You're hunting this thing because of that kid?"
Saliba had stayed at the detached palace.
By now, he was either reading the magic books Damian had prepared for him or receiving etiquette lessons from Anna.
Damian had already informed the palace management about Saliba. There hadn't been much pushback.
They were descendants of traitors, sure, but even the details of their ancestors' rebellion had long been forgotten.
So letting just one young boy enter the palace at Damian's invitation wasn't a big deal.
"It's not just because of that."
"Then what's the other reason?"
Damian gazed steadily at Paruzan.
"Me?"
Paruzan widened her eyes and pointed at herself with a finger.
"Don't I need to see how much you've grown?"
Paruzan grinned, flashing her teeth.
"You won't be disappointed."
Paruzan threw her arms around Damian's back. He could feel her confidence in the arms wrapping around him.
"You're not scared?"
They'd have to dive pretty deep, after all.
Damian had some experience from before his regression, but Paruzan had lived her whole life in the desert.
She'd probably never been in water beyond bathing in an oasis.
"I'm fine. You've got my back."
It didn't sound like an offhand remark. It was something she could only say because she truly trusted Damian.
Splash! Raising a spray of water, the two plunged beneath Mirror Lake.
The water below the surface was crystal clear. But not a single living creature could be seen.
That was why the palace servants didn't like coming near here.
...!
Paruzan's arms tensed up. Despite her words, she was still scared.
They kept descending until they reached the lake bottom. Right beside them loomed a massive boulder.
A mana-blocking stone. Who would ever think to dive beneath Mirror Lake?
Who could guess something like this existed?
It nullified mana entirely. Only raw physical strength could move it.
However, its purpose here differed from the one in the abandoned tower.
The one there had been a kind of test, but this one was meant to block access.
From both sides.
Rumble. As Damian applied force, the mana-blocking stone slowly slid aside.
It was smaller than the one in the abandoned tower, but the water made it far heavier.
Whoosh! As soon as a gap opened wide enough for a person, a fierce current surged over them.
......!
Paruzan's body tensed even more. There was still a chance she could get swept away, so Damian pulled her into a tight embrace.
"Puha! Haa... haa..."
The current carried them back to the surface.
Haa, haa, haa. Finally free of the water, Paruzan gasped for breath.
"Where...?"
The space connected to the lake bottom was a vast cavern. Glowing plants inside kept it from being too dark.
Damian climbed onto dry land and lit a portable stove, then harvested some of the plants clinging to the walls.
These were unique to this cave, brimming with considerable mana.
Of course, they couldn't be used as-is; they needed further processing. Before his regression, no one had figured out how.
'I can send it to Dillon.'
He was a mage with exceptional talent in this area.
With his skills, he'd uncover not just how to extract the mana from these plants, but how to cultivate them too.
"Ah... so warm."
Damian pulled a portable heater from his subspace pouch, and Paruzan's face melted in relief.
To her, the lake water had been colder than a desert night breeze.
"Who knew there was a space like this under the lake? Damian, how'd you find out?"
"Saw it in some document someone left behind."
"Really?"
Paruzan eyed him suspiciously. But Damian just smiled softly, so she let it slide.
*A lie, though.*
There were no records of Mirror Lake itself, let alone this underground cavern.
Damian had heard about it.
From Paruzan herself, before his regression.
-I visited the palace once for work.
The monster quietly waiting at the bottom of this cavern would, a few years later, break through the mana-blocking stone and emerge on the surface.
Mana-blocking stones nullified aura and magic, but they were surprisingly weak to physical force.
By then, the creature here would have grown large enough to push it aside.
The chaos it caused was beyond words.
The palace was already in turmoil from the reformists versus the orthodox faction, and then a monster rampaged right inside.
Abigail and her children reached their limit. Michael and Rubia ignored the summons.
So they called in specialists. Paruzan was one of them, and her feats brought the incident to a close.
That was after the palace terror attack had already occurred.
Damian had been wandering the continent at the time, and later, upon meeting Paruzan, he'd heard the full story.
"Now, I'm gonna explain how we'll hunt it. First..."
Paruzan signaled with her eyes. Something was approaching.
Whooosh. A sound echoing through the cavern—not so much a beast's cry as a whistle.
It wasn't just one or two.
Their height matched an ogre's, but their bodies were twig-thin. Their backs were severely hunched, and their arms dragged along the ground.
The most striking feature, though, was the "material" making up their bodies.
Transparent stuff that hardly seemed organic.
Like gazing at a glass sculpture. Inside, blue liquid sluggishly swirled.
"For now, the explanation..."
"It's fine."
Paruzan held Damian back as she took position.
"You said you wanted to see. How much I've grown."
Paruzan meant to prove it by facing this unknown foe.
"Alright. I'll be watching."
At Damian's words, Paruzan flashed a grin and stepped forward.
She was so confident; he had to give her the chance.
Professional beast hunters handled foes differently from knights or mages.
Knights and mages relied on their strengths to confront beasts, while hunters targeted weaknesses.
Neither was inherently superior. But when facing beasts with little known information, the latter approach had the edge.
Before his regression, Paruzan had reached the pinnacle of that method. With keen analytical skills and her 「Pursuit」, she'd strangled her prey.
And that style wasn't limited to regular beasts. Since humans used mana too, they were beasts in the broadest sense.
Even the Hashashin, about whom little was known, fell prey to Paruzan's tactics, giving her the advantage in battle.
Michael coveted her skills and talent enough to want her on his side.
...
She didn't move rashly. The first step in a hunt was assessing the prey.
Inorganic appearance.
Slow movements. But it's clearly hostile to us.
So it might speed up in combat.
Those long arms look like weapons, but it could do ranged attacks too.
What's that liquid? Like innards?
More importantly, the sensation Paruzan had picked up first.
'There was definitely just one monster in this cave.'
So what were these?
'Clones.'
Fighting them endlessly was pointless. As long as the main body stood, more would keep coming.
That didn't mean she could ignore them. As the monster's defense mechanism, the clones surely had some intent.
Time to introduce a variable and observe.
Pew! An arrow left the string and struck one clone.
Crack! It didn't pierce, but a clear fracture etched into its body. Just like glass.
────! Was it reacting to the stimulus? Changes rippled through the monsters.
The struck one sped up first, then the others extended their arms and charged.
Damian stayed out of the fight. Paruzan had asked him to. He couldn't let any harm come to him.
Oooom. A translucent aura poured from Paruzan's body.
A mana circulation unlike that of typical continental knights.
She sacrificed defense entirely to maximize her physical agility.
Tatatak! Paruzan dashed along the walls, drawing the enemies' attention.
The clones had no facial features. They must sense via vibrations.
If one spot thrashed wildly, they couldn't focus elsewhere.
'As expected.'
Just as Paruzan predicted, the clones ignored Damian. Instead, blue liquid shot from their fingertips like bullets.
Sizzle! The stone wall it hit smoked and melted. Power on par with a desert giant scorpion.
But it couldn't match Paruzan's speed. Only the innocent cave walls suffered.
Pew! Pew! Paruzan kept firing arrows too. But the cracks mended almost instantly.
Insane regenerative power. She couldn't close in for melee or use explosive arrows.
Getting near risked the blue liquid, and explosives might chain-react.
Whooosh. Then, a new wind sound came from deeper in. The main body kept spawning clones.
Their numbers had already doubled. Attrition warfare was this mystery monster's style.
She had to fight efficiently. Hunt the maximum foes with minimal resources and attacks.
Light gleamed in Paruzan's eyes. Using the intel she'd gathered, she'd found the optimal way to strike.
Pew! Pew! Pew! She fired relentlessly while wall-running. But she wasn't aiming at the clones.
The arrows pelted the ground. Nearby clones turned toward the noise.
Exactly what Paruzan wanted. It restricted their movements, herding them into one spot.
Whooosh. The clones surged toward Paruzan and Damian. Some even tripped over the press of bodies.
Dozens of clones swarmed like undead. Just the sight was intimidating now.
But their attacks never reached Paruzan. A hair's breadth short, and it never closed.
Paruzan kept stalling. Dodging blue liquid, gathering them up.
Until no more clones emerged.
'Time to finish.'
She nocked three explosive arrows. Aiming for the ceiling.
Boom! The explosion sent a massive boulder crashing down. Sized perfectly to crush just the clones.
Paruzan hadn't only been running.
Through her 「Pursuit」, she'd read the cavern's structure and calculated exactly where to hit for the rockfall she wanted.
Misjudge the force, and she or Damian could've been in danger. But she always trusted her instincts for this.
"See that?"
Battle over, Paruzan pressed her forehead to Damian's chest.
"I've worked really hard. To become your arrow."
The curse that had empowered her was gone. Her heart felt lighter, but fear crept in too.
Would her strength hold? Could she grow enough to help him?
"You did great."
Damian stroked her wet hair.
Even without the curse, Paruzan's 「Pursuit」 remained razor-sharp.
This adaptability was exactly the strength Damian wanted.
But.
Rumble rumble rumble. The cavern shook. The fallen boulder shattered, countless glass shards floating up to reform.
Crunch. But they couldn't fully reshape.
Stone Scales rising from the ground pulverized them again.
"You still need to get stronger."
Damian's frank assessment.