Chapter 36: The Tin Knight and The Mysterious Underground Labyrinth (5) +Illustration Added
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 36: The Tin Knight and The Mysterious Underground Labyrinth (5) +Illustration Added
You looked around.
A large, cavernous space, like the ones that appeared every five floors, spread out before you once again.
There was only one difference: there were no more stairs leading down.
“Phew, finally, this is the last floor!”
Adelaide said, looking around just as you were.
Her voice was filled with relief, and beads of sweat trickled down her neck.
The cart Adel was pulling was quite large for a single person, and it was made mostly of metal to ensure it wouldn't break from rough handling.
The cart itself was considerably heavy, but now it was also packed with various items, unlike when they first started. It was only natural that Adel was struggling.
In fact, it was a little surprising she hadn't complained until now.
A thought suddenly occurred to you.
[The Tin Knight proposes that he will pull the cart on the way back!]
At your words, Adel jumped in surprise.
“Oh, no! I’m fine! But, thank you for your concern. It makes me happy.”
A wide smile spread across Adel’s face as she spoke.
It wasn't just polite lip service; she seemed genuinely pleased.
You spoke again.
[The Tin Knight says that in exchange, Adel must defeat any monsters that appear on the way up!]
Adel froze, the smile still fixed on her face.
From your perspective, while there were quite a few monsters in this labyrinth that Adel couldn't defeat, there were no enemies strong enough to kill her instantly.
[The Tin Knight insists that a trial that cannot kill Adel will only make her stronger!]
“But, wouldn’t that be meaningless if I die?”
[The Tin Knight says that he will not intervene, no matter what happens!]
“Please intervene…!!”
[The Tin Knight asserts that trusting one’s pupil is also a virtue of a teacher!]
Adel’s smile was long gone, replaced by a tearful expression, but you were simply delighted at the thought of letting your pupil gain some real combat experience.
Ignoring you and Adel’s chatter, Dorothea approached a stone monument near the main gate.
The skull opened its mouth as if this was all too familiar.
《Gather all the treasures from the Treasure Rooms and offer them here. The path forward shall then be revealed. That is what is written! Witch!》
“Ha.”
Dorothea let out a short laugh.
It was an undisguised sneer.
“So this is why the exploration has been at a standstill for months. There was a reason after all.”
At first glance, the condition seemed simple enough to solve if one had opened the treasure rooms sequentially, but in reality, it was an absurd and unreasonable demand.
There was no guarantee that the parties who obtained treasures from the various rooms were all the same, and even if they were, it was highly likely they had lost or sold the treasures during their trips back to the surface.
It would have made more sense if each treasure room contained a piece of a code that needed to be combined, or puzzle pieces that had to be assembled. A condition like this was practically impossible to clear.
Therefore, Dorothea declared.
“This interpretation is fake.”
The skull shrieked in alarm.
《Witch! We have not lied! It is not a lie! It is not a lie!》
Dorothea tapped the birdcage lightly to calm the skull.
“I’m not saying you deceived me. But the interpretation you know is what the archaeologist dispatched from the Guild told you. It all makes sense if the Guild intentionally gave the adventurers the wrong information.”
The skull fell silent.
Dorothea took out the Animal Compass.
As she infused mana into one of the eight emblems, a single goat materialized.
The wine-colored goat paced restlessly near the closed door of the 30th floor.
“The Guild probably knows the ‘real condition’ to open this door. Controlling access to this place must be related to that. I don’t know if they don’t want the door to be opened, or if they’re just trying to block competitors until they can meet the condition themselves, but—”
Dorothea took out the ‘Key of Opium’.
“—that’s none of my business.”
The Key of Opium, upon touching the main gate, floated into the air.
Geometric patterns leaked from the door, entwining themselves around the key like the rings of a planet.
The rings tightened around the key as if trying to resist, but the key ignored all resistance and continued to pick the lock.
The patterns, twisted like a complex tangle of yarn, were steadily unraveled and dismantled, and at the very moment they were neatly sorted…
Rumble-rumble-rumble-rumble!
The entire floor began to shake violently, as if an earthquake had struck.
“Kyaa!”
Adel lost her balance and collapsed, while Dorothea had to lean on her staff for support.
You looked forward.
The thick, wall-like door was opening, revealing the scene beyond.
A corridor filled with gray and green.
The gray was stone, and the green was thorny vines.
Vines bearing sharp thorns grew indiscriminately over the ground, walls, and ceiling.
A moment later, the earthquake stopped. The goat Dorothea had summoned skillfully leaped through the gaps in the vines and walked forward.
Dorothea grimaced.
“This looks like a pain to walk through. Adel, leave the cart there for now.”
“Ah, yes!”
As you had done all this time, you began to walk at the very front.
The corridor was a single, straight path with no forks, and it was incredibly long.
You noticed something strange and pointed it out to the other two.
[The Tin Knight points out that the thorny vines are gradually turning redder!]
“What?”
Dorothea narrowed her eyes and examined the surrounding vines.
Then, she clicked her tongue.
“…There’s a limit to how oblivious one can be. To only notice this now.”
[The Tin Knight offers consolation, saying that everyone makes mistakes!]
“It’s not about the color of the vines. These things are brimming with mana.”
Dorothea poked a thorny vine with the tip of her staff.
The sap that flowed out was so vividly red it looked like the blood of a living creature.
Adel asked, a hint of fear in her voice.
“I-I’ve heard that many magic beasts take the form of plants and prey on people. Could this be one of those?”
“Who knows. If it really were the type to attack adventurers and suck their blood, it would be worthy of being called a magic beast… but this place was sealed until just now. How would it have gotten any food?”
Dorothea frowned, unconvinced, but even as she pondered, the goat continued to advance without hesitation.
The situation was unsettling, but for now, they had no choice but to proceed.
They walked, and walked, and walked for some time.
An area appeared that was wider than the previous corridor, yet it couldn't be called a separate room as it had no door.
A stone monument stood in the center of the space.
There were words carved into it, but the skull in the birdcage remained silent.
“Tsk, I can’t tell what it says… Huh?”
Dorothea, who had been clicking her tongue, suddenly stopped.
She looked around with a suspicious expression, then struck the ground with her staff.
Thud, thud, thud.
Again and again, Dorothea’s mana spread out like ripples.
Adel spoke, fidgeting anxiously.
“Um, the goat is getting away?”
“Wait.”
Dorothea flipped her staff, gripping it upside down.
She slammed the blunt head of the staff into the ground with all her might, not the slender tip.
A torrent of mana erupted, so immense that even an ordinary person could see it.
And then.
A faint will-o'-the-wisp-like light rose from below the monument.
Toward the soul, whose presence was fainter than any she had seen before, Dorothea spoke.
“Become my guide and answer my questions. In return, I will grant you rest.”
The soul did not stir.
It didn't seem to be intentionally ignoring her; rather, it appeared incapable of reacting at all.
With a look of resignation, Dorothea opened the birdcage and forced the soul inside.
“Speak. What does this monument say? What lies beyond this point?”
The skull, now merged with the new soul, trembled violently before staring straight at the monument and opening its mouth.
《The heretic who denied paradise. The sinner who pursued the forbidden. The foolish monster who coveted the fruit that must not be coveted.》
《Condemn. Punish. Hang them on the rack and make an example of them. Denounce their sin, as swiftly and as brutally as possible.》
《Thus, we shall declare our non-involvement.》
《Thus, we shall claim we are without fault.》
《Thus, we shall prove our innocence.》
《Oh, great ones of the heavens. Truly, truly, I profess.》
《Do not count the folly of this witless one among ours, do not, do, do-do-do-do.》
The skull, which had been stuttering like a broken gramophone, developed a large crack before its body finally shattered into several souls.
“…The soul has degraded too much. This is probably the limit.”
[The Tin Knight fumes that there is nothing more infuriating than someone stopping mid-sentence!]
“There’s no point in complaining to me, you know?”
Dorothea scratched her head.
“Haaah, I have a bad feeling about this. But the compass is pointing this way, so we have to go.”
[The Tin Knight claims that at the end of every dungeon, there is a final boss!]
[The Tin Knight expresses his anticipation at the premonition of a new boss battle!]
“It hasn’t even been that long since we slaughtered those golden monkeys, and now this.”
Dorothea gave you a look of disbelief, but you paid it no mind.
The Tin Knight’s intuition sensed the signs of a formidable battle.
To catch up with the goat that had gone ahead, you all quickened your pace once more.
And then.
What greeted you was the sight of the goat, brutally crushed, turning to dust and disappearing.
Thump.
The culprit that had crushed the goat turned to face you.
Its body was made entirely of a large tree from head to toe, and it stood about twice your height.
It was so massive that if you were in the previous corridor instead of this large, open space, it would have struggled to even move properly.
Kee-hee-hee-hee.
Winged humanoids the size of a palm circled the rock monster, laughing.
Their overall shape was similar to a human’s, but their skin was a deep green, and their eyes were compound eyes like an insect’s.
The wooden Golem and the fairies stared at you all.
Dorothea placed a hand on your back and poured her mana into you, right up to the limit of what you could handle.
“You take the Golem, we’ll handle the fairies. Got it?”
You nodded and stepped forward.
Behind you, Dorothea and Adelaide stood side-by-side, as if to protect each other.
[The Tin Knight’s fighting spirit ignites!]
You charged toward the enemy.