Room of Infinite Regression (3)
Undead surged forward with a murderous aura. I hurled a flame spell without hesitation. Whoosh! The creature burst into flames and crumbled into ash. I had taken one down, but the monsters’ howls from outside only grew louder. In fact, they were swelling into a deafening chorus.
I rushed to the window and peered down. The sight below made me click my tongue. Damn it.
Undead were swarming up the walls in a writhing mass. Their numbers were beyond counting. They looked like a living mountain, clawing over one another in a frenzied scramble to reach the top. The ones in front were crushed beneath those behind, yet the tide never slowed.
“Kyahaaa!”
“That human is mine!”
“I will offer him as a sacrifice!”
In mere moments, the horde had multiplied. There are so damn many of them. I had never seen this many monsters crawling like cockroaches. It should have been terrifying, yet a strange thrill raced through my veins. My heart burned hot, but my mind stayed ice-cold. Even while being overwhelmed by sheer numbers, my thoughts remained sharp.
Fighting them one by one is impossible.
I ran a quick mental simulation. The moment they crested the windowsill, they would pour in like a flood. I would be trapped inside a sealed room with every exit cut off. That was a losing position no matter how I looked at it.
I have to finish them all before they cross the window.
I gathered my mana. Three spells ignited at once.
「Ignition」 「Fire Stream」 「Multi-Point Explosion」
Roar! Flames erupted like a wildfire and swallowed the graveyard of skeletons in an instant. Five chained explosions followed in rapid succession. Boom! Boom! Boom! Fireworks of destruction tore through the undead ranks. Shattered bones and rotting flesh sprayed in every direction.
While a single-point blast struck one location, Multi-Point Explosion detonated several spots simultaneously. It was like setting off multiple bombs at once—devastating against crowds. With a hundred enemies, I could wipe them out without engaging them individually. Of course, at my current level, a hundred was still impossible. Right now, I could affect five targets at most.
But five is enough.
I layered another spell to amplify the destruction.
「Explosion Enhancement」
Boom! Boom! Their formation collapsed. Undead plummeted, consumed by the inferno. The monsters’ cries fell silent. Only stillness remained, along with scorched walls and black ash drifting like snow through the air.
I stepped onto the windowsill and leapt outside, using magic to land lightly on the ground.
The green door.
It had already appeared before me, urging me toward the seventh room. I had only been trying to survive the undead swarm, yet I had somehow cleared every last one in the sixth room.
That ended faster than I expected.
Just as I was about to step through the green door, an odd sight stopped me. The blood-red sky was returning to its normal blue. The ashes of the fallen undead, scattered across the ground, were being swept up by the wind and carried away.
Curiosity stirred. Nothing happened without a cause. Something had to be pulling those ashes—some force strong enough to command them.
There’s something here.
If I followed the ashes, I might find the source of the undead. Something interesting, perhaps.
Let’s go.
I turned my back on the green door and chased after the drifting ash. It led me into a cave, deep inside to a black pond. The ashes sank into the water and vanished without a trace. The once-still surface began to churn and boil.
So this is where the undead came from.
Even as ash, they had returned here. It seemed the pond was their nest. When the sky turned blood-red, they must have crawled out to hunt sacrifices in the village.
What’s that crystal orb?
A pure white orb floated at the center of the pond. Against the dark water, it looked almost sacred. A soft white light pulsed from it. The moment the light flared, the boiling surface calmed instantly. The stench of decay that had filled the area disappeared as well.
The orb is suppressing the pond?
It was no ordinary item. That white light clearly possessed the power to bind and seal the skeletal horde beneath the water.
It doesn’t feel like magic, though.
The strange energy radiating from the glow awakened a greedy hunger inside me. I wanted to understand that light, to claim it for myself.
I want it. If I could have that power…!
It was sitting right there, practically begging to be taken.
Only an idiot would ignore a meal already served.
I used magic to lift the orb from the water and tucked it into my robe. Just as I turned to leave, something burst from the pond.
Splash!
Water sprayed violently. A humanoid figure emerged—a man with long hair, pale skin, crimson eyes, and pointed ears.
A Trueblood!
He gripped a sword with both hands and raised it high above his head before bringing it down like an axe. Clang!
「Barrier」
Sword met barrier with a thunderous crash. The force behind the strike was heavy. I had sensed the faint ripple on the water’s surface just before he leapt out and raised my defense in time. I pressed my hand forward, channeling pressure into the barrier.
「Pressure Scale」
Crack! The barrier shattered like glass. The Trueblood was hurled backward. He landed gracefully and a blue aura briefly swirled around him before fading. That same heavy, crushing power I had felt in his sword seemed to come from that aura.
He smirked. “Pity. I could have killed you in one strike.”
A thin trickle of blood ran from the corner of his mouth. He wiped it away and spoke again. “Pretty good reflexes for a brat.”
“You thought you could kill me in one hit without even knowing who I am?”
“What are you supposed to be, kid?”
“A mage.”
His expression stiffened slightly at my confident reply. “A mage brat, then. Hand over the orb and I’ll let you live.”
I let out a short laugh. Why else would he have been hiding beneath the pond? He had been waiting for someone to retrieve the orb so he could kill them and take it for himself. I narrowed my eyes, gauging his level.
At least three steps above me.
He had hidden so perfectly that even my senses had missed him. His movements were swift, and the way he held his sword spoke of rigorous training and real combat experience. Most importantly—
That blue aura.
It was different from the energy I had sensed from other Truebloods in the canyon. It felt like steel—solid, heavy, unyielding. This must be what they called heavy swordsmanship.
“Don’t come crying later, brat.”
He twisted his lips into a grin and adjusted his grip. The tip of his blade angled downward, his stance lowered. The air around him grew dense. A blue aura coiled around his sword like a dragon.
Thud!
He stepped forward. Each movement carried the weight of iron, yet he closed the distance with terrifying speed. In an instant he was right in front of me, swinging his sword upward in a diagonal arc. A streak of blue light flashed.
I retreated quickly.
「Flowing Step」
A spatial evasion spell carried me backward.
“Running away, little mage?”
He advanced two steps and followed with a vertical slash. The blow felt like a mace. I measured the distance and slipped away again with another evasion spell. Crash! His sword struck the ground, sending sand flying. At that moment, I released the spell I had been chanting.
「Freeze」
I poured freezing intent into the space around him. Crack! Ice began to spread across his legs. To make sure it held, I layered two more binding spells.
「Paralyze」 「Double Freeze」
The Trueblood’s movements stopped dead. Ice raced up from his lower body, encasing him completely. He stood frozen like a statue. Even under three layers of binding magic, his blue aura still flickered faintly inside the ice. The sheer vitality of that energy was monstrous. It might even break the ice if I gave it time.
I had to finish this now.
End it.
I focused my mana.