UHWKT 33

Chapter 33

Step, step.
Sway, sway.
Step, step.
Sway, sway.

Each time Caius took a step, my legs—having lost their destination—swung uselessly in the air.

I could feel, in real time, my precious human rights disappearing.

“Uh… could you please put me down now?”

I do have two legs, you know.

“Tch. The baggage talks.”

He’s really laying on the guilt.

This time, I looked pitifully at Eden walking behind us. It was a silent plea for rescue, but what I got in return was cold indifference.

“You deserve it.”

Whose side are you on?

You’re my contractor.

So why aren’t you taking my side?

Unbelievable.

“I’m seriously about to get motion sickness. I’ll walk on my own, so please put me down.”

I pleaded to Caius again, practically begging. Only after I swore—about five times—that I would never again make him perform an emergency solo escape, was I finally allowed to stand on my own two feet.

Whew.

That was exhausting.

Human rights are important.

But now that I think about it, it’s unfair.

I saved his life in a dangerous dungeon—shouldn’t it be ‘thank you’ instead of this guilt-tripping?

But if I said that out loud, I’d obviously end up dangling like luggage again, so I wisely kept my mouth shut and just walked. I’m quick to read the room.

“By the way… doesn’t it feel like we’ve been circling the same area for a while now?”

Basel, who had been walking behind us, spoke up.

Huh?

Now that he mentions it…

Didn’t we pass this way earlier?

Sure, all the corridors looked similar, but once I became aware of it, the déjà vu was unmistakable.

“Seems so.”

Caius nodded and pointed to one wall. Between the bricks, there was a faint knife mark.

“I felt something was off earlier and left a mark. We’ve only been walking forward, yet we’ve returned to the same spot.”

“So we’re trapped.”

Figures.

I thought the sixth floor was way too much of a reward floor.

There’s no way an ancient dungeon would be that generous.

So this is how they lull you into a false sense of security and then stab you in the back.

“Directional interference magic… Typical of an ancient dungeon. Predictable and old-fashioned.”

A dungeon without directional interference magic would feel disappointing. I quietly agreed with Eden.

The fortunate part was that this kind of interference magic could be resolved by destroying the magical device somewhere in the area. Of course, if we went poking around carelessly trying to find it, a trap would trigger in the blink of an eye and we’d all meet our end.

Given the vicious traps we’d already encountered, it wouldn’t be surprising if touching the wrong thing got us roasted alive or crushed flat under a rock.

“Eden, don’t you sense anything?”

“Why are you asking me? Aren’t you the mage?”

“Honestly, I’ve been so hungry I can’t concentrate…”

Clutching my empty stomach, I confessed. Maybe because my mana had been drained dry by the mandrake and I’d only just recovered, my stomach was growling thunderously.

Eden’s expression soured.

“Am I your lackey or what? Huh?”

“I’m asking because you’re competent. Think about it—if it weren’t for you, how would I have made it this far? Just help me once.”

I smiled sweetly and showered him with praise. Eden’s lips twitched.

“Well… it’s true that I’m competent. Ahem! You’ve got a good eye.”

So simple.

He’s ridiculously easy to handle.

With his chest puffed out, Eden activated his authority. The red power that flickered like an aurora in his hand pointed in one direction.

It was toward one of the unlit torch holders mounted along the corridor wall at regular intervals.

“Hmph, easy. It’s right there.”

“As expected of Eden! You’re amazing!”

“Ahem.”

He’d hidden it clumsily.

A torch holder, huh.

So if we’d gone around smashing things while searching for the source of magic and accidentally hit another torch holder, the whole place would collapse and pillars of flame would shoot up to roast us alive?

It’s obvious.

Mages.

“I’ll do it.”

While I was clicking my tongue, Basel stepped forward. He drew his sword and, without the slightest error, sliced through the torch holder.

Slash—thud!

Wow…

Not clang, but slash.

Metal got cut like a radish.

Every one of them is terrifying. I really shouldn’t get cocky just because I can use a bit of magic.

A section of the corridor wall warped, and beneath the severed torch holder, another path opened up.

“Let’s go.”

Caius crooked his finger at me.

So he wants to hold hands again.

Even though the party’s grown, is there really any meaning to the two of us holding hands? I wondered—but somehow, it felt like I shouldn’t argue, so I obediently followed.

Behind us, Eden muttered while glaring at our joined hands.

“Damn it.”

After about thirty minutes of moving forward, we stood before a gigantic door. It was incomparably larger and more majestic than any door we’d encountered on the lower floors.

“There’s no handle.”

“There must be a way to open it.”

There’s no way they’d make it easy.

Just then—

Rumble, boom.

The floor suddenly opened, and a small pillar rose up. On top of the waist-high pillar lay a stone tablet.

“Ancient language.”

Below the densely inscribed ancient text were two diamond-shaped grooves side by side.

I bent down and, relying on the light from my mana orb, slowly read the text.

“It looks like you have to fill both grooves using white magic and black magic.”

“…You can read ancient language?”

“It just kind of happened.”

Because ancient language is English.

Good thing I’m a sloppy author. If I’d made the setting more complicated, I wouldn’t have been able to read it.

Ignoring Caius’s suspicious gaze, I continued examining the tablet.

From the looks of it, this dungeon had been created thousands of years ago by a white mage and a black mage who were on good terms. That explained why there were so many traps designed to counter mages—and also why this ancient dungeon had remained uninvaded for so long.

When was the last time white mages and black mages got along? How many pairs would willingly join hands to explore a dungeon together? Practically none. Which meant this dungeon was, for all intents and purposes, impossible to enter.

Well, for ordinary people, anyway.

But I’m a hybrid mage.

“Seriously. Who knew I’d end up showing off my talent like this?”

Now, watch.

This is what a hybrid mage looks like.

With all my might, I arrogantly poured mana into the tablet.

In the left diamond, blue-tinted mana gathered. In the right diamond, dark purple mist-like mana pooled.

Rumble.

A violent tremor shook the room from floor to ceiling, and slowly, the door began to open.

“It worked!”

Beyond the door was a breathtaking sight.

In the vast space, ornately carved stone pillars lined both sides in majestic rows, and from the end of the pillars, stone steps ascended neatly toward an altar. A pale, hazy light descended from above, wavering like heat haze as it quietly blanketed the entire space.

It looked like a legendary temple that had slept undisturbed for ages.

“So the golem is sleeping in this room? I don’t see anything that looks like one.”

“It’s right there.”

I pointed toward the top of the steps.

That rough, altar-like mass was the steel golem that had been sleeping for thousands of years.

But… how do we wake it?

The golems in the swamp weren’t deeply asleep—you could wake them just by rubbing them with a tree branch—but a steel golem wouldn’t so much as twitch from something like that.

[Kyuu!]

“Oh, Golsun!”

Suddenly, Golsun, who had been quietly nestled in my arms, sprang down.

[Kyuu, kyuu!]

Golsun dashed forward, scampered up the steps, and began bouncing energetically on top of the altar.

“Hey, Golsun! If you jump like that—!”

At that moment—

Clank, boom.

The altar began to move, kicking up clouds of dust.

The structure twisted grotesquely, then transformed into the shape of a giant woman wearing a shining helmet.

Boom!

A massive sword blade was driven straight down into the floor.

The two eyes hidden beneath the helmet slowly opened.

[Who is it that has awakened me from my slumber?]

[Kyuuung!]

…This actually worked.