LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 96
Crack-crackle-!
A small line began to spread across the hallway, wrapped in a white silence that felt as if time itself had frozen. When the thin line enveloped Aphep and crashed into the White Wave, everything came crumbling down.
Sssss—
The scene of destruction spewing white smoke reminded me of the snowy mountain landscape.
Yet, despite everything being frozen white, something remained intact. It was the Magic Book held by Aphep. The wicked mana that had been flowing from the Magic Book disappeared with the user’s death, but the stiff-textured book still floated there.
“This is…”
Given its tremendous power, it couldn’t possibly be an ordinary Magic Book. I gathered the scattered possessions carelessly and shoved the Magic Book Aphep had been using into my bag.
Beyond the crumbling skeleton wall, the appearance of my party members came into view. Unlike at the beginning, their numbers had been halved. The condition of the survivors was not good either.
“Seris?”
Suddenly, my gaze met Terra’s. Her face, mixed with blood and sweat, only had one eye barely open as she dug out her great sword buried in the white ice.
Her body was covered in wounds. Large and small cuts enveloped her, emitting a terrible smell of blood.
“Is it… over?”
At Terra’s question, the surviving party members looked at me with hopeful anticipation. Everyone was waiting for my answer. For the ending of this fight.
I nodded, and the party members exhaled roughly, collapsing to the ground. Fragments of shattered ice dusted their clothes white, but no one cared.
It was a short time, but an enormous amount of stamina had been consumed. It would be the same for every party member, including me. I walked silently and plopped down among my fellow party members.
There was no repulsion. Instead, I felt a strange familiarity from them. They were comrades who didn’t flee and held on against the Death Knights until the end. Without them, we wouldn’t have defeated the dark mage known as Aphep.
*
We had defeated Aphep, who seemed to be the master of the dungeon, but the dungeon exploration wasn’t over yet. This dungeon was still fulfilling its role faithfully.
“It seems that dark mage created this path as he came this way…”
After taking a sufficient rest, when we began exploring the dungeon again, I found stairs revealed on one side of the corridor. It was the path taken by Aphep, who led the army of the undead.
It was different from a typical path. It seemed to be a narrow passage specifically prepared for the dungeon’s master.
The party had to make a decision. Should we follow this path or look for a new route? The party members engaged in a brief discussion.
“It could be dangerous…”
“It’s a corridor the dungeon master used. There’s no way there would be traps.”
“I agree with Terra. He wouldn’t set traps in the corridors he walks through.”
The majority opted to follow this passage. I naturally looked up at Alfonso. On the surface, he was the leader of this party, so I was waiting for his final decision.
However, Alfonso hesitated to step forward. The confident demeanor he had shown while exploring the dungeon had vanished. He looked at me hesitantly, along with the other party members.
Everyone was waiting for my answer, as if they were willing to follow my lead.
“Let’s go down.”
In the end, I began to lead the party down toward the depths of the dungeon. The leadership of the party had naturally shifted. Every party member asked for my opinion before acting and followed my orders.
Even Terra, of all people.
As expected, during our descent into the depths of the dungeon, no significant traps were encountered. I moved ahead to prepare for any unforeseen situations, and the party members followed me closely.
We refused to let our guard down. Given our current condition, if another enemy appeared, we would be in serious trouble. Our goal was to reach the dungeon exit without having to fight as much as possible.
“This is…”
While descending the long corridor, I spotted a fallen knight on the floor. Clad in old full plate armor like the other Death Knights we encountered, he held a sword in one hand.
He didn’t move. With the dungeon master gone, the mana that animated his body had also vanished, and he had undoubtedly returned to rest.
To prepare for any unexpected events, I tore pieces from the fallen knight’s body and scattered them around. It was an act of desecrating the corpse of a dead man, yet no one criticized my actions. In fact, some seemed to share a similar thought and even helped me. One party member took the knight’s helmet and skull and stuffed them into their bag.
The deeper we went into the dungeon, the more we found fallen Death Knights and crumbling skeletons.
It seemed that the sight of skeletons and Death Knights that revived even after dying had traumatized the party members. Each time they found such traces, they stomped on them, turning bones to dust.
The sense of time was vague. The endlessly dark interior of the dungeon provided immense stress. The fact that we couldn’t get proper sleep certainly contributed to the unease. The anxiety of not knowing when or where death could resurrect loomed over the party members’ minds.
How much time had passed? As I stepped down the never-ending stairway, feeling staggered and weak, a large space suddenly revealed itself.
“This is…”
Sturdy columns, smoothly carved, stood firm. A carpet made of human skin extended along the columns. Human expressions, hair, and even fingernails were found scattered throughout the flesh-colored carpet.
“How horrible…”
“Oh my…”
As it wasn’t decomposed, it looked like it had been treated with special chemicals. At the end of the carpet made of human skin, there was a throne made of pure white bones, beyond which a dark sphere hovered ominously.
The party members began to light the area with small lamps around. The area sprawled around the large throne was a stark, desolate space.
I naturally approached the floating sphere. I could feel the strong flow of mana. What connected to this sphere was a flow of untainted mana.
“This is…”
I shifted my gaze along the flow of mana. As it ascended towards the ceiling, I realized what mana was flowing into this place.
A gigantic magic circle was engraved on the ceiling. The strange shapes and incomprehensible symbols on the magic circle greedily drew in the surrounding mana, corrupting it as it absorbed it.
“Alfonso.”
“Oh, did you call me?”
“Yes.”
“What’s the matter?”
As I called him, Alfonso approached me. He looked down at me with a tense expression.
“This land used to be a dense forest, right?”
“…That’s what they say. But that’s long before I was even born.”
“Perhaps we can restore it to that former state.”
“What do you mean by that now…”
It wouldn’t be happening anytime soon. Once the absorbed mana returned to its rightful place and stabilized, this land would inevitably move towards regaining its past form.
I drew my sword from behind me. As the cold blade emerged and reflected the light of the lamp, starlight mana began to entwine around it.
No powerful magic was necessary. It was enough to have enough power to damage the magic circle engraved on the ceiling. Considering the amount of recovered mana, this was the best method.
Zwoosh-!
The moment I kicked off the ground, my body flew up. There wasn’t enough mana left to enhance my body. I leaped purely with the strength of my physical body and stepped on a nearby column, making another leap diagonally.
At that moment, when my body approached the ceiling, a white star traced a long arc and scraped away at the giant magic circle. The circle that maintained the magic’s continuity broke. The characters that guided the mana flow were erased.
As the tail of the white light began to stretch downward, the magic circle that had been greedily consuming the mana of this land lost its light.
Boom—! Rumble—!
The moment the magic circle lost its power, the entire dungeon began to shake.
Tap-tap-!
“What… is this!”
“The dungeon…! The dungeon is collapsing!”
The party members’ frantic voices filled the air. I looked up at the ceiling of the dungeon with a stunned expression.
Rumble—!
The surface of the ceiling began to misalign, and small fragments of stone fell like rain. It was unmistakably the beginning of the dungeon itself collapsing.
I never thought that the moment the magic circle would be damaged, the entire dungeon would start to fall apart…
I swallowed dryly with a pale face.
“Over here! A path is opening up this way!”
Just then, I heard Terra’s voice. When I turned my head slightly, there truly was a previously unseen passage wide open in front of Terra.
“Run!”
All the party members, including myself, raced toward that narrow passage in a frenzy.
Rumble—!
As the dungeon began to collapse, a massive dust storm swirled in. We ran endlessly up the stairs leading upward, not daring to look back.
Even as the dusty earth obscured our vision, we didn’t stop. Just as we pressed on, with a rumble—! the ground began to collapse before us.
As that horrifying scene made everyone halt, a flash of pink hair shot forward. It was Terra.
“Hyah!”
Terra stabbed her great sword deep into the wall. Upon seeing that, I understood her intention immediately. She was creating a temporary ceiling with her sword. There was no way it could hold for long. Without wasting time, everyone dove under Terra’s sword.
Rumble—!
The moment Terra, who clutched her sword until the last moment, escaped from that narrow space, the area behind her completely caved in with her sword.
“Run!”
Even without showing any hint of regret for losing her sword, Terra shouted ahead.
At the end of the endlessly dark expanse, small light and fresh air began to pour in. With just one step remaining to reach the surface, the party members pulled every ounce of strength they had, screaming silently.
Their rough movements stained the bandages red. The slightly healed wounds burst open, pouring out crimson blood. Yet, no one groaned in pain.
The small light gradually grew larger. As we rushed through the narrow passage without stopping, the view opened up, revealing a vast plain ahead.
“Urgh!”
“Hiiih…”
As I lay on the ground, gasping for breath, the green breeze began to spread widely from the passage we had emerged from.
It resembled ripples spreading across a calm surface. The green flow that continuously spread seemed bent on covering this lifeless land, pushing towards the ridge.