Chapter 224: Deep Layer Magic (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 224: Deep Layer Magic (3)
“The exit gate.”
We still hadn’t found the stairs leading up from the Deep Layer, but there was one exit gate.
“Let’s go out that way.”
Everyone’s eyes went wide.
“Wait. There’s a gate here?”
There is. Probably.
We had defeated the Dagger Raptor, the exit boss in Sohen, in the basement of the Magic University’s alchemy lab.
According to the laws of the Labyrinth, an exit gate would have appeared in that spot, and no one has used it yet.
The Magic University that was moved to Canada had all its facilities, buildings, items, and even people perfectly intact.
With just one exception.
“The Dagger Raptor’s exit gate.”
So where was that gate?
In the Labyrinth, unless you cross through the space between walls, an exit gate connects to the nearest entry point.
For example, if you enter the Sohen Labyrinth and clear an exit gate, you come out in Sohen.
So, if the Possessor Caleb, who entered the Labyrinth of the Abyss game, were to exit through the gate obtained by killing the Dagger Raptor, where would he end up?
“Right here.”
I threw open the door to the second bedroom, which I was using as my study.
Inside, a blue gate shimmered. Right in front of my computer.
‘What state is the game in?’
I tried the computer, but it wouldn’t turn on.
It might actually be off, or perhaps this computer was beyond the Labyrinth Master’s ability to replicate.
It might be a different story if I brought in a new computer like Isel did, bought Labyrinth of the Abyss on Steam, and installed it.
But at the very least, in this illusion, my computer had to be ‘the computer that served as the medium for Kim Jeong-hoon’s possession of the character Caleb.’
That particular setting might be difficult for even Deep Layer Magic to realize.
Therefore.
“Let’s try the gate.”
Like the computer, this gate likely existed on the boundary between reality and illusion.
If the Dagger Raptor’s exit gate truly led to the real world, then this gate, an illusion mimicking it, should also send me to the real world.
But it probably couldn’t actually do that.
Weren’t Possessors said to be the Labyrinth Master’s antithesis?
If he could undo possessions that easily, the Labyrinth Master wouldn’t have needed to tell the University Assembly that he had to be one of the top ten.
He could just infinitely replicate illusionary gates and say, “Esteemed Possessors, the exit is this way,” and be done with it.
This exit gate, like that computer, was an object that surpassed the Labyrinth Master’s abilities.
So, if I step through it, I’ll probably end up…
“We’re here.”
It was Sohen.
The basement of the Magic University’s alchemy lab.
A familiar sight.
Just as I expected.
“We weren’t in Mexico or Korea. We were in the Labyrinth’s Deep Layer.”
Yernil, Back Attack, and Aimus looked dizzy and confused.
“It’s only natural to end up in a Labyrinth City when you leave the Labyrinth through an exit gate.”
That’s why I thought we might be able to get out this way.
Of course, I’d never tried it before, so I wasn’t certain.
Anyway, as long as the result is good, then—
“Huh?”
Leaving the alchemy lab, we entered the main university building’s lobby.
And came face to face with Clorence.
“Caleb!”
He jumped back in shock.
“All of Sohen has been looking for you. Where have you been?”
I couldn’t hear a word he was saying.
Why?
“Professor!”
Because Clorence was holding an iPhone and shouting into it.
“Professor! I found Caleb!”
“Wait a minute. Where did you get that smartphone?”
“After your party entered the Labyrinth, all sorts of incredible phenomena started happening all over the world.”
Dammit.
‘We haven’t broken the Deep Layer Magic!’
So it wasn’t going to be that easy.
“It’s not just a few human Possessors coming over; entire continents have just shown up!” Clorence exclaimed.
It seemed this world was one where the opposite had happened.
Here, the Labyrinth continent was the base, with countries from the real world layered on top of it.
The Japanese archipelago in the sea east of the Fairy Forest.
Korea and the Manchurian region near the forests of the Unmarked Tomb and Fox Pass.
In the west, everything from the African continent to Western Europe.
Northern Europe and Russia in the vast lands of the northern barbarians and Frostian mages.
And China was scattered throughout Wyndham.
“The guy who calls himself the Chairman of China declared war on the Emperor of Wyndham. They’re at war right now.”
This was a real mess.
I passed through an exit gate in my house within the Fusion Continent created by the Deep Layer, only to arrive in another illusory Fusion Continent.
I couldn’t even tell what was the Labyrinth and what was a trap anymore, what was an illusion and what was real.
“Is the Labyrinth open right now?”
“What? Ah, yes.”
I hurriedly led my party and ran back.
We took the elevator to the 10th floor of the Labyrinth.
We took the stairs that dropped us right back into the Deep Layer.
The place that unfolded when we threw ourselves through the gate was…
The first-floor lobby of Yongin City Hall.
CRASH! BANG! BANG!
The gate spat out four people in succession with a loud noise, then vanished.
When I lifted my head from the floor, countless people were filming me with their smartphones.
Among them were people from the other world.
“Whoa, awesome. It’s my first time seeing Caleb.”
A beastfolk mage bounced on the spot.
“Caleb?”
Then, from near the automated civil service kiosk, a young woman came running toward me.
“Caleb! It is you!”
I didn’t know her.
“Who are you?”
“I’m Kim Min-ha.”
“Gah!”
“Growling Chihuahua!”
She’s the one I killed!
“That’s right. I thought it was all over back then, but when I came to my senses, the possession was broken and I was back in reality.”
Kim Min-ha said.
“And then suddenly, Labyrinth cities started popping up all over the world, and all this chaos broke out.”
When we were taken to my apartment in an NIS limousine, I thought things couldn’t get any weirder.
I never imagined the day would come when I’d meet and talk to the original, un-possessed body of someone I had killed.
“For the record, I’ve forgiven you for everything. When the possession broke, it just felt like I’d woken up from a terrible nightmare. How about we grab a coffee? Your whole party, too.”
“I don’t think we can.”
I politely declined.
Because someone was here to get us.
“Caleb!”
The NIS agent. The same man who gave us a ride in the limousine was chasing me, looking furious.
“I told you to stay put in your residence! After we went out of our way to accommodate you!”
“I’m sorry.”
“Actually, there was something I wanted to show you, Caleb,” the NIS agent said.
“What is it?”
“The world is now full of all kinds of people from another world, but among them are some very special types. This is top secret.”
The NIS had obtained the identity of one such individual and secretly brought them to their headquarters.
“I’d like you to meet this person.”
We took a limousine onto the Bundang-Naegok Urban Expressway. Then we turned onto the road in front of Heoninneung in Seocho-gu and entered the NIS headquarters.
“Do you happen to know him?”
In the basement was a giant cobra. With arms.
I recognized it in an instant.
‘An Inter-floor Lord.’
And there was another party that had been arrested (?) with him.
“Caleb!”
Birtanen’s party.
And Paladin Bernard’s party.
“Hello, Caleb.”
“It’s been a while.”
From what I heard, they had been fighting this Inter-floor Lord at the 5th-floor oasis.
“Because the Labyrinth Master said he was summoning the Inter-floor Lords to capture you!” Avison shouted.
“So we were holding him up at the oasis to buy time.”
“I see. Thank you.”
It couldn’t have been easy for them to take on an Inter-floor Lord at their level. It was quite touching.
“You fought the White Lion right after clearing the 4th floor too, Caleb,” Avison added.
“Ah.”
Looks like I set a bad example, Avison. Next time, just let the Inter-floor Lord go instead of fighting him. I’ll handle it myself.
“Still, it’s amazing that even an Inter-floor Lord came here,” Yernil remarked.
“To be precise, the expression ‘came here’ isn’t quite right.”
“Why not?”
“Why? Because… it’s an illusion.”
“Ah! Well, of course it is.”
“An illusion?”
I had to keep my head straight.
The cobra, Birtanen, Avison, Bernard’s party, the NIS agent—they were all illusions.
“Haha. That’s a funny thing to say.”
The NIS agent laughed.
In fact, this was the usual reaction.
Over the past three weeks, I had already tried telling people a few times, ‘You’re all illusions,’ but they mostly just ignored it.
Or denied it, like Bernard.
“That’s absurd!”
The Paladin Lizard shook his head violently.
“That can’t be. I am real! I swear it on Nathaniel!”
“Yes… well. I understand.”
Of course, this was the natural reaction. So, to avoid unnecessary friction, it was probably best for us not to talk about the Labyrinth Master’s illusion.
We were short on time as it was, just focusing on finding the stairs.
“Conversely, you could be the illusions.”
But the Trap Cobra said something unexpected.
“Us?”
“I am the Inter-floor Lord who commands all the traps in the Labyrinth, but the traps of tangible illusion that the Labyrinth Master creates directly from the Deep Layer are far deeper and more dangerous.”
“…”
“How can you be so sure? You people.”
He pointed at our party.
“How can you be certain that the four of you, who were struck by the Labyrinth Master’s magic together, were truly ‘people’?”
“I know I’m me, so I know,” Back Attack said with a shrug.
“Then what about the three companions by your side?”
“…”
“What if the Labyrinth Master has deceived even your party members?”
The expressions on Aimus, Back Attack, and Yernil’s faces hardened.
It seemed they hadn’t considered such a possibility during the past three weeks.
“You said the entire Deep Layer turned into Cancún, right? The ceiling vanished to reveal the sky, and people and cars from this world appeared on the streets?”
The Trap Cobra’s point was certainly sharp.
“What if, at that moment, your party members next to you were also caught in the spell? What if, right now, you are standing silently before the Labyrinth Master with your eyes closed, wandering through an illusion all by yourself?”
It shatters the boundary between illusion and reality.
And it creates the world you’ve dreamed of.
That world isn’t perfect.
Discrimination, jealousy, and conflict against people from the other world still exist here. This Fusion Continent is far from a utopia.
But even that imperfection is intentionally arranged.
It’s more effective to have the Wizard King raise his grown daughter and grandson himself over 170 years than to just hand them to him.
‘I’m genuinely worried.’
Returning to the apartment with nothing to show for it, I lay in the master bedroom, lost in thought.
To get straight to the point, what the Trap Cobra had pointed out during the day was wrong.
At least I, Yernil, and Back Attack are real. I can confirm it with my turn-based commands. That means Aimus, Krom, Nimue, Rococo, and Blackdog, who were hit by the magic with us, must be real too.
That’s the problem.
I can confirm it with my turn-based commands, but Blackdog can’t.
He must be suffering from a similar fear and anxiety right now.
Perhaps because of the suspicion that Krom, Nimue, and Rococo, who are right beside him, might be fakes.
The Labyrinth Master shattered the boundary between illusion and reality, created the world Blackdog dreamed of, and made him improve its imperfections himself.
‘He made it so you can’t trust anyone.’
It’s a way of slowly diluting the trust in his companions—Krom, Nimue, and Rococo—who fell into this world with him, who shared their lives with him.
In complete isolation, Blackdog’s will to resist will gradually break. Eventually, he will come to love this illusion and bet on the idea that if he helps the Labyrinth Master defeat Wizus, he can make this world a ‘permanent reality.’
‘There’s really no time.’
I have to settle this before then.
The plan to use the gate in front of the computer failed.
But there are still a few more methods worth trying. I’ll have to test them early tomorrow.
Click.
I went out to the living room and drank some cold water.
My apartment has three rooms.
The master bedroom, where I’m sleeping now.
The guest room, which I gave to Back Attack and Aimus.
And the study, which Yernil is using.
—Yeah, honey. Everything okay?
I could hear Aimus’s voice from the guest room. He seemed to be on the phone with Mrs. Renick again. An illusion, but still.
—Babe, want me to recommend something good on Netflix?
I could hear Back Attack’s voice too. He was also on the phone with his girlfriend. Likewise, just an illusion.
To be honest, both of them must be exhausted. The more they struggle to wake up from this dreamlike world where even the enemy’s existence is unclear, the more they must feel like they’re sinking into the depths of that confusion.
‘Is Yernil okay?’
Worried, I gently put my ear to her door.
It was quiet. As if she were already asleep.
I returned to my room.
I was tired too.
I lay down on the bed and closed my eyes, trying to sleep.
Click.
That was, until I heard my bedroom door open.
“Yernil?”
“…”
Yernil silently closed the door and pressed the lock.
Click.
Then she came over to my side.
“Maybe that cobra was right,” she said.
“Maybe you’re an illusion too, Caleb.”
“I’m not an illusion.”
“That’s what they all say.”
Yernil silently climbed onto my bed.
The look in her eyes, her entire aura, was unusual.
“Yernil…?”
I had known for a while what Yernil’s feelings were. I’m not a teenager; how could I not know?
I just wanted to maintain a simple, uncomplicated relationship because of my situation as a Possessor.
But in a Fusion Continent like this, even that part became ambiguous.
And unlike Aimus or Back Attack, Yernil has no one to contact.
On this land, teeming and overflowing with a staggering number of people from countless races, where two worlds have merged…
Yernil is alone.
Just like when she first entered the Labyrinth as a slave of the Magic University.
She must have needed someone to lean on, a place to rest her troubled mind.
“I thought this might be the only chance I get…”
So it was natural for her to come to me.
I should have expected it.
“I know you’re not interested in me, Caleb, but…”
Yernil started sniffling.
‘Blackdog isn’t the only one in danger.’
Yernil threw her arms around me.