The White Mage, Part 2
“…I never imagined a facility like this would be hidden right at the roots,” Erian Belgard said, swallowing hard.
Traces of humanity situated right in the middle of vast, sprawling nature.
Who could have possibly imagined such a thing?
Even the monsters appearing here bore the unmistakable touch of human hands.
“…Setting that aside, these bastards are seriously out of their minds,” Debi Jane muttered, staring down at the monster she had just dealt with.
It was a four-legged beast, charred black by her magic.
A creature that normally belonged on the plains.
Yet, human limbs sprouted grotesquely from the beast's underbelly.
“What on earth are they doing to create something like that? They seem way crazier than those black mages.”
“They certainly are madmen,” Cedric Rowell agreed.
“They call it ‘healing,’ but what they’re actually doing is fusing humans and monsters.”
“You sound awfully dignified for someone who was cowering in the back,” Jane shot back.
Jane’s bone-deep jab left Rowell slumped, thoroughly deflated.
But their lighthearted banter didn’t last long.
Screeech… skrrrrt…
A bizarre, grating noise rang out, instantly snapping their tension taut.
It was the deeply unpleasant sound of grinding metal.
“…Did you hear that?” Belgard asked, her throat dry.
“It’s inside,” Del Roan replied. “And it feels a bit different from the ones we’ve faced so far.”
An unidentified monster was lurking just beyond the door.
But if they were the type to run away, they wouldn’t have come here in the first place.
“Opening it now,” Roan said, grabbing the handle.
The heavy iron door groaned loudly as it slowly ground open.
“…Claw marks?”
Deep, chaotic scratches gouged the inside of the door.
These were no ordinary claws.
To have shredded a thick iron door like this…
They didn’t have to look far to find the culprit.
“…What is that?”
It was a bizarre entity shaped like a giant egg.
A human face was embedded right in its center, with spindly, skeletal limbs protruding all around it.
Despite its pathetic appearance, its claws looked terrifyingly sharp and solid.
This was the monster that had shredded the door.
“I’m getting some really bad flashbacks.”
“The Magic Tower?” Roan asked.
“Yeah. That sick shit the black mages pulled. Though this is slightly different.”
At a glance, it looked like the same atrocity, but the fundamental nature was different.
“The black mages’ creations were just discarded test subjects that fused together on their own. But this White Mage… he made this thing like this on purpose.”
Either way, it was equally disgusting.
Jane began to channel her mana.
Right then—
—Uh…? Intru… intruder.
“…It speaks?” Belgard gasped.
—Intruder. No intruders. Must stop them.
The monster, which they had assumed to be a mindless husk, was actually speaking.
—No. My key. Can’t give it to you. Can’t let you get the other three keys from the other rooms.
It was spilling its secrets in a slurred, clumsy voice, but no one laughed.
“It’s coming!”
Swish!
Boom!
Because it was incredibly fast and powerful.
Deep gashes tore through the air along the path of its sweeping claws.
“…It’s absurdly fast,” Rowell muttered.
He wasn’t praising the enemy.
It was a compliment directed at the three who had instantly shattered their casual atmosphere to react.
“Jane.”
“I know!”
The moment Roan called her name, Jane reacted.
A fireball manifested in an instant, catalyzed by her rune stone.
It was a basic spell, but the sheer volume of her mana gave it an entirely different weight.
The heat surged as if to consume the entire room, even reaching toward her allies.
“Urgh…! Are we supposed to just dodge the backlash ourselves?!” Rowell panicked.
“Of course not.”
Unlike the panicked Rowell, the other three showed no intention of moving.
“Belgard.”
“Yes! I’m ready!”
Belgard extended her hand.
Condensed holy power flowed from her fingertips, enveloping them like a protective bubble.
The scorching heat broke against the barrier, softening into a gentle warmth.
Of course,
—Ahhh…! It hurts… No….
The enemy outside received no such mercy.
The firestorm swept through and subsided.
All that remained was a charred corpse and a single key.
And the fleeting glimpse of a human expression on the burning face.
“…This is sickening,” Jane muttered.
Her tone was completely different from her usual sharp self.
“What do you mean?” Rowell asked.
“It spoke a language we could understand. And it’s not like it wanted to end up like this.”
If Rowell’s information was correct, these creatures had once been ordinary humans.
They had likely suffered from plagues or injuries, only to fall into the clutches of the White Mage.
Roan felt a bitter pang of regret as well.
If only I had more information.
Knowing that atrocities like this had occurred frequently in his past life made the reality of his lack of information cut even deeper.
I need to find a scout as soon as possible.
Roan resolved to search for a scout the moment this mission was over.
“Alright!”
He clapped his hands to dispel the heavy atmosphere.
“Let’s shake it off! We need to stop that bastard before he can do this to anyone else!”
“He’s right. If we delay, he might escape. We should hurry,” Rowell agreed.
Escape.
If the mage fled, he would only repeat these horrors elsewhere.
Staring at the corpse, the two stood up, steeling their resolve.
Howling giant primates.
Slithering mollusks.
Cutting through the various grotesque test subjects to secure the final key.
In a way, it was a straightforward process.
But the reality was far from simple.
“…Even the ones wandering around are strong. An ordinary party wouldn’t have even made it to the keykeepers.”
Even the mindless test subjects possessed formidable strength.
Just as Rowell said, an ordinary party of adventurers might have ended up joining their ranks.
“Some of them probably did end up like that, right?”
“Most likely. The test subjects practically walked right into his lap.”
At Rowell’s words, Belgard looked down at one of the fallen test subjects.
Perhaps it was because of what he said, but she could have sworn she saw a tarnished adventurer’s badge clinging to its flesh.
“…We have all the keys now, right?”
“Yeah. That makes three.”
“We’re going straight in, right?”
Her eyes suggested that if Roan said no, she would charge in alone.
Since Roan had no intention of stopping anyway, he nodded without hesitation.
Back at the center.
Together, they unlocked the locks and pushed the door open.
“…The atmosphere here is completely different from the rest of the facility.”
“Yeah. It’s surprisingly clean.”
Roan and Rowell, standing at the vanguard, peered inside first, followed by Jane and Belgard.
The smooth, pristine white corridor seemed to match the name White Mage.
“Those filthy bastards keep their own living quarters spotless. It makes it even more disgusting,” Jane spat.
Just as Jane said.
The cleanliness of the interior only made their deeds feel filthier.
The damp, heavy air hung low, and the faint whisper of death seemed to beckon from the shadows ahead.
“I’ll lead. Rowell behind me, then Jane and Belgard at the rear.”
Since they were entering uncharted territory, Roan made sure their formation was secure.
He stepped into the stark white space.
Squulch…
“Huh?”
“What is it?”
“The floor feels weird.”
It didn’t feel like solid ground.
It felt like stepping on loose, inelastic flesh.
It was a deeply unsettling sensation.
“There are no monsters nearby, right?”
“Yeah. I don’t sense anything yet.”
Reassured by Roan’s answer, the other three cautiously stepped inside.
Squish. Squulch.
The moment that bizarre texture enveloped all four pairs of feet—
Slam…
As if it had been waiting for them, the door began to close.
“Wait, hold on.”
“What? Haven’t we dealt with self-closing doors plenty of times by now?”
“No, I know, but isn’t this a bit different from usual?”
“Different how?”
“Well… when we opened it, it slid left and right.”
But now, it was closing vertically.
Like a mouth snapping shut.
Ruuumble…
The moment Roan finished speaking, the ground began to vibrate violently.
“W-What is this?!”
Tremors from a monster’s footsteps? A natural disaster?
Both were wrong.
It was the mastication of a living, breathing labyrinth.
“Whoa! We’re tilting! Hold on tight!”
“T-There’s nothing to hold onto!”
“Just grab anything! The walls, whatever!”
“No!”
A sharp refusal cut through the panic.
It was the shout of the only person who remained perfectly calm while the others struggled to keep their footing.
“What do you mean, Del Roan?! What if this is an enemy trap?!” Rowell yelled.
Rowell’s suspicion was entirely plausible.
It could be a mechanism designed to feed intruders directly to whatever lay below.
But Roan didn’t think so.
He didn’t have a logical reason.
Instinct.
As always, for a man who had crossed the boundary of death countless times, instinct was his greatest weapon.
And that instinct was screaming at him.
This is a provocation. A taunt saying he can easily crush us.
He felt it clearly, but there was no way to explain it to the others.
Actually, I don’t need to explain.
If they didn’t want to play along, they didn’t have to.
While it was important for his comrades to gain experience and grow, their safety was always his top priority.
But before he could even offer them a way out—
“—I have no intention of backing out,” Jane declared firmly.
Jane, who had once dismissed him as a mere doomsday theorist, was now defending him.
“Besides, what are we going to do? Twiddle our thumbs and let him handle everything alone? Just sit back in safety and leech off the rewards?”
Her sharp words pierced Rowell right to the core.
“Belgard. What about you?”
“Me?”
Seeing Belgard’s expression, Jane nodded.
“…I didn’t even need to ask.”
Having confirmed their stance, she yelled to Roan.
“Roan! Belgard and I are with you! Leave that coward behind if you want, I don’t care! The three of us are more than enough anyway!”
“…Of course!”
If they wanted in, he wouldn’t stop them.
In fact, he welcomed it.
They were the ones who could provide the decisive offensive power he currently lacked.
Without waiting for another word, the three of them moved in unison.
They marched straight down the slope, heading toward the very center.
“Y-You crazy lunatics…! Fine! Alright! I’m coming too!”
Seeing the three of them charge ahead, Rowell quickly scrambled to follow.
The corridor squirmed as if welcoming them.
Passing through it, they emerged into a circular plaza.
If only that were all.
But it wasn’t.
“Is that… a human?”
“…It really is a human. After seeing nothing but monsters, a normal human looks… even more suspicious.”
“This has to be a trap… Shouldn’t we turn back while we still can?”
Their reactions varied.
But they all shared one unspoken realization:
That person is the White Mage.
And the man had no intention of hiding it.
“To think you managed to gather all three keys. Howev—”
“You bastard!”
CRACK!!
“Guh!”
Roan's Flying Kick!
It was super effective!
The man in the white robe tumbled across the floor before slamming hard into the wall.
He hadn’t even been able to finish his sentence before the surprise attack cut him off.