Chapter 110: The Possessor, Henry
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 110: The Possessor, Henry
Right after Caleb and Maria flew off with the Wall-Clinging Phosphor.
“Sending message.”
Isilof immediately took out a note and sent it.
The recipient was Dalstream.
“Are you worried about Professor Dalstream?” Meldini asked as they rushed out of the club.
“Yes, I am. For Caleb to suddenly worry about Professor Dalstream in that situation… I feel like there must be a reason.”
“Caleb is a sharp one, so he might have noticed something we missed. But still.”
There was a saying in the Labyrinth City.
To be old is to have survived.
To have survived is to be strong.
“He may be long past his prime, but he was once the dean of the university, was he not?”
“Yes, that’s true. He’s not someone who would be easily taken down.”
“When we were going through the inter-floor village, he was still as spry as ever.”
“Even so, I’m still worried…”
“Over there.”
Meldini pointed to the massive cumulonimbus clouds floating outside Sohen’s outer wall.
“Let’s hurry.”
“That way!”
Consul Peterson also began to dash off, directing his constables.
“Shall we go too? I’m curious to see how this ends.”
The Krom party followed suit.
And…
“You two, stay right here.”
Inspector Adrian tried to hold Bipa and Mugol back, but they wouldn’t listen.
“Didn’t you hear what we said earlier? We’re going to come to an agreement with Caleb. And we have nothing to do with the murderer.”
“Even so…”
“We’re a bit busy right now. We’ll report to the Public Security Headquarters ourselves later. Just proceed with a non-detention investigation.”
With Bipa in tow, Mugol was the first to leap over the wall and catch up to Caleb.
By the time the professors went around the gate and reached the gathering storm of clouds, the situation had already been resolved.
The Consul had arrested Maria and was talking with Bipa and Mugol, while Caleb…
“Hurry up and find Professor Dalstream.”
…was hounding the constables.
“Caleb!”
“Professor!”
“Why are you looking for Professor Dalstream? Is something wrong?”
“The monster that came out of the Labyrinth might be after him.”
“A monster?”
“It’s…”
Caleb glanced at Krom.
“The White Lion.”
“The White Lion!”
The Orc Berserker jumped in shock at the traumatic name.
Pop!
A message arrived.
It was from Dalstream to Isilof.
[I am currently in the Public Security Headquarters archives. With Yernil of Caleb’s party.]
Pop!
At the same time, another message arrived for Caleb.
It was from Yernil.
“What… what is this…”
[Caleb. I’m with Professor Dalstream right now, studying the data from the Labyrinth Eruption 12 years ago. I’m sending this because I found something you might be interested in.]
Caleb’s face turned pale as a sheet.
*
[Detailed Record of Thomas Henry’s Activities Over the Two Weeks Prior to the Labyrinth Eruption]
-July 3-4: Remained at home.
-July 5: Purchased a baguette from <Rice and Wheat> Bakery in the morning. According to the testimony of Mina, a part-time worker at the bakery, ‘He seemed extremely anxious and agitated. He kept looking around.’ After buying the bread, he went straight home.
-July 6-10: Remained at home.
※Researcher’s Note: Henry (Thomas) was not a person who normally spent so much time indoors.
-July 11: Cleo, a fighter from the same 2nd-floor party, visited his home around noon. She inquired about their next Labyrinth adventure, but received no answer.
-July 12: Remained at home.
-July 13: Henry was spotted loitering near the Labyrinth Union. He was wearing a mask and hat to cover his face as much as possible, but reportedly fled as soon as Robert recognized him.
-July 14: Contacted the Elf wizard Lilweed, who was staying at the university. They spoke briefly in front of his house, after which Lilweed left. (Testimony of his next-door neighbor, Sloy.)
What the hell is this?
Why is Lilweed showing up here?
-July 15: Went on an outing outside Sohen with Lilweed. The message he left for his party’s rogue, Jenny, was ‘I’m going to the Mist Cliff.’
Henry’s movements were becoming more and more confusing.
He went to the Mist Cliff with Lilweed?
But why?
-July 17: Returned home in the evening. The Labyrinth Eruption occurred afterward.
“…”
Let’s think.
Lilweed, an elf, wasn’t a particularly skilled adventurer, but he had a decent knack for business.
It’s just that he was backstabbed by his partner, Ingelam.
There was one thing that had always puzzled me.
What was the elevator Lilweed was digging used for before it reached the 4th floor?
Constructing the elevator must have taken a tremendous amount of time, and breaking through to the 4th floor would have taken over a decade.
During all that long time, was the elevator connected to the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd floors just left unused?
Was Lilweed, who was so obsessed with money, the type of person to let such a resource go to waste?
Judging from Bipa and Mugol’s case, it seemed he provided a ‘secret Labyrinth entry’ service to outsiders, but that was possible without digging all the way to the 4th floor.
What if, for example, the elevator had just barely broken through to the 1st floor 12 years ago, and he had allowed someone like Henry to use it?
What if that was why Henry visited the Mist Cliff?
Then…
‘Then why did the Labyrinth erupt?’
My mind descended into chaos.
‘Henry followed the two-week rule.’
According to the record of his activities, he had refrained from going out as much as possible, staying home, and looking around with extreme anxiety and agitation.
As if he were being chased by someone.
Why was he loitering in front of the Labyrinth Union? Why was he just standing there with his face covered by a simple hat and mask, without any disguise magic, and not registering for his next Labyrinth adventure?
If his goal was to follow the two-week rule, couldn’t he have just registered, gone in, and come right back out? He’d been doing that for the past three years.
But what was he so afraid of that he couldn’t even do that, that he couldn’t even trust the Labyrinth Union?
Who was he being tracked by that made him hide away in his house like that?
Why did he suffer like that?
‘Fuck…’
The dying message he left flashed through my mind again.
To All the Possessed.
Watch Out for the MAGIC UNIVERSITY.
Henry…
What in the world did you find out?
I don’t know what happened 12 years ago. Henry might have uncovered some grand conspiracy or secret beyond my imagination.
But only one thing comes to my mind right now.
‘The White Lion’s identity.’
Perhaps, Krom. You might have been wrong.
The White Lion might not have emerged during the Labyrinth Eruption 12 years ago.
In fact, the one who caused the Labyrinth Eruption 12 years ago might not have been Henry, but the White Lion.
“Caleb. Are you all right?”
When I came to my senses, I found I could barely breathe.
Isilof was looking at me with concern.
“We… we have to…”
There’s no time.
“We have to go to the archives. Quickly!”
Pop!
Pop! Pop!
Suddenly, a series of messages flew in, all for Consul Peterson.
“What…”
Peterson’s hands trembled as he read them.
“What is the meaning of this?”
[The Public Security Headquarters is under attack.]
“Maria, Bipa, and Mugol.”
The Consul bit his lip.
“All the suspects are here. Who in the world could be doing this?”
*
Yernil had sent the message because names like Lilweed and the Mist Cliff had appeared.
She sent it thinking Caleb would be interested.
“You did well.”
Dalstream gently stroked her head.
“But… Professor. From upstairs, I keep…”
Yernil’s anxiety wouldn’t subside. The commotion from the floor above was growing louder.
CRASH!
Something was seriously wrong. A continuous stream of sounds—something bursting, exploding, and shattering—poured down.
“Aaargh!”
Screams came with them.
The front line of the battle, which had started at the entrance of the Public Security Headquarters, was gradually moving inward toward the main building.
As it drew closer to the archives, the sensitive ears of the sound-mapping specialist began to capture the voices more clearly.
“It’s a monster!”
“A m-monster…?”
“What the fuck!”
“Is it a Labyrinth Eruption?”
“We haven’t heard anything from the Union!”
The shouts of the constables.
The roars of monsters.
The clash of swords and axes, the crunch of shields being crushed.
A flurry of magic.
A shower of arrows.
Documents in the main lobby scattered as desks collapsed.
“P-Professor.”
Growing increasingly anxious, Yernil looked at Dalstream.
The professor…
“Hahaha.”
…was laughing.
His expression was complex.
His eyes were filled with ecstasy, his sighs with regret.
The crazed laughter of the old man began to echo through the archives.
“Hahaha.”
“Professor…?”
Terrified by the bizarre and abnormal reaction of the centuries-old elf, Yernil took a step back, slowly drawing the bow from her shoulder.
“Yernil.”
The professor drew a wand from his belt.
“I’m sorry.”
*
The Public Security Headquarters’ forces had been cut in half.
Half were at the headquarters, and the other half were on an operation at the Blackdog.
I knew from the start that it was an excessive deployment. But why did I let it happen?
Because I thought Bipa or Mugol might be stalking me.
But when it came down to it, they weren’t much of a threat.
Fuck.
Maybe this is my fault.
I’m being serious. The Spider Doctor, the White Lion…
This battle of wits against these monsters is on a completely different level from the tactical confrontations with plunderers inside the Labyrinth.
Spider Doctor. Yes, you were right.
Professor Dalstream. You were right.
We might be playing a game of chess against the Labyrinth Master.
If you consider an infinitely small unit of time as a single turn, then all real-time battles are, in fact, turn-based.
And when compared to the infinitely long history of the Labyrinth, a single human life, a few Labyrinth Eruptions, even the life of an elf like Dalstream who has lived for centuries…
Perhaps all of it is nothing more than a fleeting moment.
That’s how it is.
If this is one grand game, the Labyrinth Master is using the piece called the White Lion to stir up Sohen. And we have to capture it.
“Monsters.”
As they ran toward the city center, the faces of the wizards and constables alike grew grim.
“There aren’t many of them,” Meldini said.
“All forces, prioritize the safety of the citizens! Request additional support from the Magic University, the Adventurers’ Guild, and the Temple of Nathaniel!” the Consul yelled, gritting his teeth as he ran.
‘Yernil!’
My heart sank.
Yernil was in the Public Security Headquarters archives with Dalstream.
In the most dangerous place.
*
“It’s because of me.”
Dalstream gave a bitter smile.
“What…?”
“I’m sorry. This whole mess happened because of me. Yernil. Because I… figured it out.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I will open an exit. You must escape and find your comrades, Yernil. You have no part in this fight. However.”
The reason for the old professor’s laughter was that his research was finally complete.
“When you get out, please deliver this. To Professor Isilof, or Professor Meldini. Or…”
Dalstream handed her a bundle of documents from his bag. It was an unfinished thesis.
“To Caleb.”
[Regarding the Labyrinth’s Abyss and the Nine Inter-floor Lords]
“What… is this?”
“Compared to the history of the universe, a person’s life is but a fleeting moment, Yernil. A centuries-old elf elder, a human who lives for a few decades—we are all mortals, with little difference between us.”
Long ago, the kings of certain kingdoms hated their mortal lives.
And so they prayed to the Labyrinth Master.
‘I will offer my entire kingdom. In return, grant me power. Grant me the power of the gods the Labyrinth has devoured.’
The Labyrinth gives adventurers what they desire most. Everything it possesses. Even the power of gods and eternal life.
Those lords buried millions of their people and their entire kingdoms within the Labyrinth and obtained what they wanted.
But Dalstream was not like them.
He could willingly accept and love his mortal life.
It was just that…
“I am simply glad to have fathomed the universe in my fleeting moment.”
An old, withered tree must fall for the sapling beneath to receive sunlight.
An elder elf knows exactly when it is their time to depart.
CRASH!
The iron door connected to the archives was shattered. At the top of the stairs, a monster appeared.
Its white mane flowing beautifully.
Its build was as massive as Mugol’s, its eyes filled with a sneer and killing intent.
“White Lion.”
“I only let out a little bit. Just a speck. I want to conserve the Master’s power too, you see.”
“Which floor’s lord were you?”
The monster’s footsteps thudded, one by one, as it approached the archives.
“Floor 9.5.”
To Yernil’s eyes, it was as if death itself was walking toward them.
“Hah…”
The killing intent radiating from the monster alone was enough to make Yernil stagger, feeling as if she were suffocating.
“The Ethereal Abyss.”
But the old professor was different.
The withered-wood wand that blocked Yernil’s path pointed toward the floor.
“Silent Lake.”
A Tier 8 spell erupted.
The neatly paved brick floor instantly gave way, and a vast body of ‘water’ appeared, causing people, monsters, and objects to float gently upon its tranquil surface.
All except for one person.
“Go to your comrades, Yernil.”
Yernil sank beneath the surface of the water.