46. Old Tale (7)
Zeliel could say it with absolute certainty.
Compared to the time when she had personally led an expedition and explored the ruins before, this was far more difficult and exhausting.
Of course it had to be.
This place, the Forest of the Silent Labyrinth, was what Baek Yuseol would have called a “high-level field.”
And so, precisely because of that—
perhaps this was a place even more familiar to Baek Yuseol.
A low-level field could be bulldozed through with items and level advantages, but a high-level field could not be handled that way.
There was only one way to break through an extreme field like this with ease…
Study it, memorize it, collide with it yourself, over and over, again and again.
Dying endlessly in the process.
There was no choice but to become personally seasoned through direct mastery.
A mage of insufficient level could not even properly hear sound in this place, and even if one reached a certain standard, they would still completely lose their sense of direction.
Now she understood what it meant that, in exploring the Forest of the Silent Labyrinth, mental strength mattered even more than physical stamina.
Barely any light filtered in, making it difficult even to secure one’s vision, and from within the hazy mist, powerful monsters kept leaping out without warning.
Not for a single moment could they relax their guard.
The slightest carelessness brought disaster.
“This way.”
Fortunately, they did not need to wander the forest.
They had a clear guide.
Following Baek Yuseol’s special compass, the expedition advanced rather easily deep into the forest.
Even when sudden variables arose that would fluster veteran mages, Baek Yuseol dealt with them calmly and led the party onward.
Of course, whenever monsters appeared, he never forgot to quietly slip toward the back.
To be honest, with his current level of skill, he could not so much as scratch the monsters in this place.
Kiiiiiieeeek—!!
“W-What was that?”
“What kind of sound was that?”
As they were passing a ridge veiled in thick mist, an ear-piercing screech rang out from somewhere, but Baek Yuseol said, as if it were nothing worth worrying about,
“Mist Devourers.”
“Mist… Devourers? What’s that?”
“They’re not even in the field guide.”
The Labyrinth Forest had never truly been explored properly, so whatever field guides existed contained very little of real substance.
But Baek Yuseol’s head was full of information about this place.
“The mist surrounding the Labyrinth Forest exists because of a supermassive monster called Mistri, which sits at the center of the forest. Every time it exhales, it emits mist laced with narcotic properties, and the creatures that live by breathing that in are Mist Devourers. It’s a positive sign. If predators are nearby, your senses return to some extent.”
“Oh… I see.”
“Come to think of it, I feel like I can see better than before.”
“You’re right. It was hard enough even holding a conversation earlier, but now I can hear just fine.”
“Let’s move quickly while we have the chance. Those predators don’t feed for long, so they’ll be back soon.”
Just as he said, the Mist Devourers disappeared very quickly.
Everyone shared the same thought at once—How does he know something like that?—but no one asked.
The expedition headed deeper and deeper into the forest, and by the time the mist had thickened to the point where they could not see even an inch ahead—
Fwaaash—!
suddenly, the mist parted.
…And the ruins appeared.
The ruins of ancient Carmenset.
“Ah…!”
“At last…!”
Everyone let out small exclamations.
Though the time they had spent was short, the Forest of the Silent Labyrinth had truly been a horrifying place.
Feeling as though they could finally breathe again, the expedition slowly walked toward the ruins.
And yet, something felt strange.
“These… weren’t these supposed to have moved here only recently?”
The ruins of ancient Carmenset were a “shifting dungeon,” their location changing from moment to moment, making them extremely difficult to find.
But look at this.
“These traces… it’s as if they’ve been standing in this spot for thousands of years, fully assimilated into the place, aren’t they?”
Tree vines hundreds of years old wrapped around the ruins, and the moss, the weathering, the erosion—none of it looked even remotely fresh.
The mages felt a deep curiosity at this mysterious phenomenon.
The answer came soon enough.
Because Baek Yuseol, who had been staring fixedly at the ruins, casually spoke.
“Yesterday, I said the ‘Spiral Time Theory’ was wrong, didn’t I?”
“Y-Yes? You did. Because it had appeared in a different place after only two weeks.”
“I was wrong. The doctor was right. The ruins of ancient Carmenset relocated themselves by transcending not only space, but time as well.”
“Wh… what?”
“I imagine the place they moved to was the Labyrinth Forest of several thousand years ago. They must have remained here intact ever since.”
“That can’t be…”
Spatial movement had become so commonplace that it was no longer surprising.
But time travel… magic had not even properly managed to set foot near that domain, let alone conquer it.
An impossibly distant wall.
Everyone fell silent, unable to say a word.
…That included Hae Seongwol as well.
No matter that he was a 9-Class mage.
Time was a realm beyond dominion.
No wonder they’d be shocked.
…In truth, Baek Yuseol had known about this “setting” from the beginning. He had only pretended not to know yesterday because there had been no point in saying it ahead of time.
Time travel, huh.
Even in Aether World, there were exceedingly few beings who dealt with time.
No—Silver Age November was effectively the only one.
But since Silver Age November, as one of the Twelve Divine Moons, could bestow blessings, it was impossible that there were absolutely no other beings capable of interfering with time.
Carmenset, who had lived in the ancient age, was one such example.
Once, he had received Silver Age November’s blessing, only to have that power taken from him, leaving him a pitiful soul condemned to wander forever.
Yet even after losing that power, he had already trained himself to handle time to its utmost limits, and in the end, he learned how to interfere with time even without the blessing.
“Let’s go in. From here on, I’ll follow behind. There are experts here who know far more about exploring ruins than I do.”
“R-Right… Then we’ll take the lead.”
Until now, Baek Yuseol had led the expedition from the front, but that was only because he had not wanted to waste time wandering around in the maze. There was no need for that once they had reached the ruins.
Inside the ruins lay countless magical traps, gimmicks, and puzzles.
You had to work your mind quickly at every moment to move on to the next stage, and the briefest mistake could lead to fatal consequences.
But as expected of veterans, not a single casualty occurred.
It was a completely different result from Zeliel’s Starcloud Expedition, which had needed to move very slowly while still enduring a certain amount of damage.
“…We’ve arrived.”
With a complicated expression, Hae Seongwol stared at the huge door towering ahead of them.
Beyond this door, the spirit of ancient Carmenset was waiting.
“I don’t know… whether this is truly the right thing to do.”
Was it really acceptable to stop the disaster caused by Carmenset… with Carmenset himself?
He did not know.
But this was the only method they had.
There was no turning back now.
“I’m going in alone.”
“I’ll handle the chess—”
“No. I’ll go.”
Zeliel hurriedly reached out, but Baek Yuseol shook his head.
“You met Carmenset before and beat him, right?”
“He’s already read your patterns. He’s the god of chess.”
“That can’t…”
The reason Zeliel had won before was because, by pure fortune, Carmenset’s chess strategy had been familiar to her.
She had run simulations thousands upon thousands of times in order to figure out how to beat him.
Under those conditions, of course she had won.
But now it was different.
The god of chess knew every single one of her patterns.
How could she possibly beat an opponent like that?
It was impossible.
“Then you’re saying you can win?”
At that, Baek Yuseol gave a crooked grin and shoved open the door leading to Carmenset.
“Have you already forgotten who taught you how to play chess?”
“Ah…!”
Creeeak—thud!
The heavy iron door opened far too easily, and beyond it appeared two red lights, wavering in midair.
They were unmistakably someone’s glowing eyes.
The spirit of Carmenset flashed its gaze and spoke in a bleak voice.
“Heh heh heh… A great and noble soul has come to find me. What reason have you for waking me?”
“Shut up and set up the board.”
At the sight of Baek Yuseol bluntly throwing out abuse even before an ancient being, the mages of the Full Moon Tower were left speechless.
Even Carmenset looked taken aback, as if this were the first time he had encountered such a case.
“Foolish one. Insolence will not serve you well with me.”
“What are you even talking about? You’re terrible at chess. I don’t use polite speech with players worse than me.”
“……This will not do.”
Kugugugugung!!
The floor began to overturn in an instant, and the mages waiting before the door hurriedly stepped back.
The ground Baek Yuseol stood on was swiftly painted black and white, forming a gigantic chessboard.
Chess pieces larger than a person crashed down with heavy booms, though the seat of the king remained empty.
“You will become the king and play Soul Chess against me. If you win, I shall grant your wish. If you lose, your soul will be mine.”
“Yeah. I know.”
Baek Yuseol nodded.
And just as the game of chess was about to begin—
…Kugugugugung!!!
A sudden deafening roar shook the entirety of the ruins.
“Uwaah?!”
“W-What’s happening?!”
“Kgh…!”
The ground lurched so violently in every direction that it was hard even to keep one’s balance.
Each mage used magic to anchor themselves in place, and Baek Yuseol hurriedly drew his sword and lowered his stance, driving it into the floor.
What the hell?
What’s going on?
Even he could not help but be startled.
He had not foreseen an accident like this at all.
“…This is bad. It seems Mistri has begun moving.”
Staring toward the exit of the ruins, Hae Seongwol frowned as he spoke.
“M-Mistri, you mean?”
“That’s right.”
Mistri normally slept so deeply that people said it only stirred once every hundred years.
But when it woke, it made noisy sounds in its sleep and overturned the terrain in every direction.
Because it happened so very rarely, no one had paid it any mind.
And yet, of all times, Mistri had to wake up now.
“Baek Yuseol. Return.”
“…T-Tower Lord!”
Hae Seongwol made a cold judgment.
“If we do not evacuate outside, we may be swept into a major catastrophe. If ordinary terrain collapses, I can stop it as much as I wish. But if we are caught in the collapse of a Spatial-Type Dungeon, surely someone as clever as you knows exactly what happens.”
He knew all too well.
If you were caught in the collapse of a dungeon, you could be erased on the spot.
But…
this place was a little different.
As he had said before, Carmenset’s ruins were not a Spatial-Type Dungeon.
They were the one and only Time-Type Dungeon in the world.
If so, then perhaps—
even if one were swept up in it, one might not be erased.
“No. I’m staying here to play chess. Please lead the expedition out and evacuate first.”
“…You’re insane.”
“There’s no helping it. A Time-Type Dungeon existing twice in the same era is already a miracle. If we lose Carmenset’s ruins now, we may never find Chairman Melian again.”
After finishing those words, Baek Yuseol turned around and looked at Carmenset.
Dudududududu!!
Even as they spoke calmly, the dungeon continued shaking violently this very moment.
“T-Tower Lord!”
“We have to get out now!”
Hae Seongwol gazed silently at Baek Yuseol’s back for a moment.
With his magic, he could have forcibly dragged Baek Yuseol out and made him cling to the hope of the future.
But he did not.
“Let us go.”
“Ah…!”
The instant Hae Seongwol gave the order, the expedition hurried to escape the dungeon.
One could call it cold-hearted.
But staying behind to wait for Baek Yuseol would not have been compassion.
It would only have been foolishness.
As the mages frantically fled the dungeon, Soul Chess between Carmenset and Baek Yuseol began.
And with his back turned to them, Hae Seongwol shouldered his burdens and walked away at an unhurried pace.
No—
he would have.
If not for one girl, standing there alone, intending to remain and watch Baek Yuseol’s chess match.
“Zeliel.”
“Go on ahead. I’m staying here. I’m going to watch Baek Yuseol’s chess match to the very end.”
“No. That cannot be allowed.”
“This is a fight to get my father back. I can’t go back firs—”
Tap!
“Ugh!”
Before Zeliel could finish speaking, Hae Seongwol placed a hand against her forehead.
Immediately, strength slowly drained from her body, until resistance became impossible.
Zeliel tried somehow to move her trembling body, but no strength entered it at all.
She looked up at Hae Seongwol with resentful eyes, but he paid it no mind.
“I’m sorry. Your father would not wish for you to die like this.”
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From the beginning, she had never possessed the authority to make that decision.
From the start, Hae Seongwol had never intended to let Zeliel do anything dangerous.
Using magic to guide the completely weakened Zeliel out, Hae Seongwol did not look back even once.
…What a bitter thing.
That genius boy, who had made such a striking impression from their very first meeting.
Though he had been born with a body that could not use magic, perhaps one day he might have become a great archmage who would lead the world.
What a tragic loss of talent.
Leading Zeliel out, even as she struggled desperately despite her strengthless body, Hae Seongwol emerged from the ruins last of all.
…Shoook—!
And in that moment—
the ruins of Carmenset vanished completely, disappearing from the world.
“Ah…!”
Thud.
At the sight, Zeliel collapsed to the ground where she stood.
Her empty eyes stared at the place where the ruins had been for a long, long time…
but there was nothing there anymore.
