The gods—just what did they see, and what did they realize?
I wonder if I, a mere human, could discern it with my own eyes and mind.
A swell of tension rose from deep within my body. I swallowed it along with a dry gulp and took the remaining five steps, coming to stand right in front of the well.
“Don’t get too close—it’s dangerous.”
Reed sounded like someone who’d posed a riddle and was now leisurely waiting for someone to solve it.
I looked into the well. The black water did not reflect any light, as though it absorbed every beam. I couldn’t see my own reflection.
It looked more like a hole than a well, something that might lead to the abyss or the night sky. The slow, counterclockwise swirl of the water somehow reminded me of a gate…
“…!”
A flash of insight, like lightning, shot through my mind.
A gate.
Yes, a gate.
I understood how this place, the “Altar of Chaos,” had been structurally designed.
A dungeon within a dungeon.
In other words…
“A double-layered dungeon!”
A mirthful voice echoed in my ear.
“So you’ve figured it…