Chapter 28
The Erged Sea Temple (3)
Progress through the labyrinth went smoothly. At least, for ...
“Phew. Hoo. Are you alright?”
“I’m fine.”
“...Duhein really is strong at sea.”
The newly made compass guided us toward the correct destination. Our pace quickened, and along with it, the density of surrounding magic increased.
As soone born of the Duhein bloodline, I felt even more energized, but the aide, who wasn’t, struggled physically under the burden.
He said it felt like the sticky sea magic was dragging his body down, and we had to take breaks more often.
“I’ll handle it.”
“...I'm starting to fear how much the reward will go up.”
Even as he said that, the aide didn’t stop . I blasted away every monster we encountered as we walked.
Thanks to the sea’s magic, my body was fired up, and I took the opportunity to raise the proficiency of my divine skills.
Mages are versatile. But their most effective role is as long-range area-of-effect nukers—professionals that deal massive damage over a wide range from a distance.
To that end, the aide conserved his magic power. Just in case we ran into a powerful monster.
“Do you think the others are doing alright?”
“They’ll be fine. Every one of them is more than capable.”
The aide’s face was full of confidence. In the beginning, he’d been worried, not knowing the level of the monsters or anything else.
But as we progressed through the labyrinth of the Sea Temple, those worries gradually faded. No one in the Imperial Knight Order was weak enough to die in a maze like this.
“I’ll need to develop a spell that finds cold.”
“Wouldn’t the Vice-Commander hate that?”
“Then I just need to beco soone unimportant.”
I chuckled. It might have looked strange—two n having a lighthearted conversation like this—but we got along surprisingly well.
With nothing but bizarre deep-sea creatures in the gloomy surroundings, without sothing like this, it would’ve been boring.
“I have sothing I’m curious about. May I ask?”
“Yes, go ahead.”
Our ongoing conversation as we walked was aningful. As our internal closeness grew, so did the depth of what we shared.
“It hasn’t been long since the attack happened—was there a reason you pushed ahead with this temple expedition anyway?”
That was what I’d been most curious about. The attack had left the Imperial Knight Order quite busy.
Their mission was to protect the academy’s personnel. Being forced to wait outside helplessly had left the knights in a frustrating position.
Especially considering the Imperial Princess, currently a third-year, was enrolled. If things went wrong, it could cost all of them their heads.
I’d heard, one way or another, how they were working hard to manage the fallout. In such a situation, pushing through with this kind of expedition wasn’t exactly normal.
“There is a reason. A reason why this must absolutely be done. Would you like to hear it?”
“No, I’m good.”
The aide’s cheerful laugh rang out. With that, I could more or less guess.
There must’ve been either a direct order from the Imperial Family or the Imperial Princess herself, or so entanglent with massive families like the Duheins or the Ulbushis.
I didn’t want to hear about either. I had no interest in getting involved and ending up in trouble.
“I just want to say... we're looking for sothing.”
“Ah. I... see.”
The aide said sothing that he didn’t really need to. I paused for a mont, then continued walking naturally.
When I t Ethan, the Knight Commander, and when I explored the labyrinth with this aide—both tis, it was clear from their reactions that this Sea Temple was unfamiliar to them.
Yet these people claid they were looking for sothing inside the Sea Temple. Sothing that they knew about with certainty, despite not even knowing the labyrinth existed. That sothing wasn’t an object.
“Do you have a small pouch by any chance?”
“A pouch? Just a mont.”
The aide took out two small pouches from inside his clothes. I divided up the glass marbles I had brought and placed them inside.
Being an event dungeon, the Sea Temple obviously had sudden event triggers. Among them, there was only one that affected the storyline.
eting the lost rfolk princess. That extrely rare event occurred when players wandered the maze and happened to co across the rfolk princess.
The rfolk princess had fled from the attacks of a hostile sea tribe and ended up trapped inside this Sea Temple. The player was ant to rescue her.
Unfortunately, the difficulty increased drastically. In addition to the usual deep-sea monsters, sea creatures hostile to the rfolk would also appear as enemies.
“What are the glass marbles? They look... unusual.”
“They’re our lifeline. You can think of them as single-use bombs.”
“...Aren’t bombs single-use by default?”
I lightly ignored the aide’s jab. Now was the ti to stay alert. The reason the Imperial Knight Order was searching for the rfolk princess? I didn’t care. It was probably political.
What the Imperial Knight Order knew must have co from soone telling them about it. I figured they might be in an alliance. The opposite was also quite possible.
“Did you know?”
“Know what?”
“That a tiger always shows up when you talk about it.”
“...Never heard that before.”
My mood took a sharp dive. Ten minutes since we’d set off. About four hours had passed since we entered the labyrinth.
We reached a section where a path, barely wide enough for four people to walk side by side, suddenly opened up into a much larger space. Gars referred to this place as the First Terminal.
The First Terminal was a massive chamber. A sacred space ant for undergoing the temple’s trials. The foul stench of blood and fish that filled the air greeted us as we entered.
“...We didn’t even say anything this ti.”
“I was just thinking it.”
The massive statue worshiping the god of the sea was clearly old and worn, but that only added to its strange atmosphere.
At the center of the chamber stood a giant statue of a man surrounded by tentacles. His rugged muscles gave the impression of a tough sea veteran.
The only downside was the small lifeform perched atop the head of that rugged man, and the disgusting creatures positioned below it.
“It’s ti for action.”
“I’ll give it my best.”
The appearance of the disgusting creatures was, quite literally, disgusting—especially in terms of visuals.
Bulging eyes that looked like they could pop out at any mont. Gills drooling with sli. Skin covered in algae-ridden scales, and unusually long limbs.
Topping it all off was a stench of rotting fish so revolting it overwheld everything else. It was enough to seriously question the taste of the design team.
The aide, steeling his resolve, drew out the mana he’d been conserving. A torrent of magic swirled around him.
“Wow.”
The Vice-Commander’s ice magic, Canis’s crystal and earth magic—all of them were wielded by highly skilled users, and it had been satisfying to watch them in action.
Especially the Vice-Commander’s ice orb used against the Guardian, and the crystal barrier Canis summoned to face Coco—those had silently earned my admiration.
But the aide’s magic was of a completely different nature.
“The sll’s no joke.”
His elent was wind. Subtle, sharp, and swift. The jade-colored blades of wind he summoned tore through the monsters in an instant.
They sliced through whatever stood in their way and advanced relentlessly, embodying a wild ferocity. The fact that they were hard to see due to the wind’s nature only made them more compelling.
The gaze of one barely surviving monster turned toward us. It had finally noticed us. Naturally, I didn’t just stand by.
They fell helplessly to the aide’s magic. If that were all, I wouldn’t have needed to stay on guard. The real issue with these things was their regeneration.
“They’re recovering fast.”
“Hm. Maybe we need to burn them.”
I struck my chest twice and dashed forward. It wasn’t fire, but burning things was my specialty. Lightning, born from the stigmata on my chest, wrapped around my body.
Only then did my shovel truly co alive. The lightning that surged through my body flowed into the shovel I gripped tightly.
I swung it—sotis with the blade, sotis with the flat. Each strike severed the monsters’ heads and scorched their bodies.
The lightning clung stubbornly to their flesh, burning through their cells until all energy was spent. Their counterattacks were fierce as well.
Razor-sharp teeth and claws flew toward . But the lightning wasn’t idle. It lashed out violently at anything vile that dared approach.
It was as easy as a massive whale devouring hundreds of shrimp.
“I’ll finish them off.”
The aide didn’t stay idle either. The ones twitching from electrocution or still trying to regenerate had to suffer under a barrage of fireballs.
About five minutes. Thanks to the aide’s wind magic, which severed many of their limbs, we were able to clean up far more easily than expected.
Only after burning the last one to ashes were we able to catch our breath. Around us lingered only the stench of burnt ash mixed with fishy rot.
“Shall we finish this?”
“Hm. I think that might be what we’re looking for.”
I pointed at the statue’s head and asked. The aide shook his head with a bitter expression.
It was a statue representing the god of the sea. A unique kind of divinity that even marine creatures had difficulty approaching.
And perched atop it was a small creature. A strange combination.
“I’ll go bring it down.”
“I’ll rest a bit.”
The closer I got to the statue, the more I felt a cool and refreshing sensation. My mind grew calm. It was similar to when I heard the song of Anaye’s Silent Bell.
Even without any prior familiarity, positive effects began to manifest all over my body.
“Ugh!”
The mont I sat against the statue, a holy scripture dropped onto my head. I let out a dry laugh as I caught the falling book.
Sohow, this prickly Goddess had decided to show her jealousy.
“How could I ever look at anyone else when I have you, my Goddess?”
Talking like this to a holy scripture was absurd, but it worked. The scripture trembled once and then vanished from sight.
The aide, who had flown to the top of the statue using magic, quietly ca back down. His face was flushed red.
“That’s the one?”
“Ugh! Y-Yes! That’s right!”
In his arms was a small creature. Its bizarre form resembled an orca with limbs.
But since orcas were actually quite cute in appearance, the limbs didn’t seem too off-putting.
To be precise, it wasn’t exactly an orca. The outside of its body was black, but the front was white. Its head resembled a whale’s, but the body was closer to that of a human child.
Instead of hair, a whale’s body extended from the head. Overall, it had a cute appearance. It was my first ti seeing a mber of a different race, and that was my impression.
“Oh dear.”
The aide, seemingly burdened by the weight, grunted and let go of it.
The creature landed nimbly on the ground with surprising reflexes and toddled toward with quick little steps.
“Gyeeek.”
“Do you happen to speak this language?”
“...No.”
The creature sniffed around my face. For a marine creature, it sure had a good sense of sll outside the water.
I waited patiently. Eventually, it seed to make up its mind and began pressing its smooth face against .
It felt like a cat kneading, so I patted its smooth head. It was warr and much softer than I expected.
“Hm, despite appearances, this is a princess of another race. It seems the princess has taken a liking to you, so please handle her with care.”
“I’ll be careful.”
The Duheins are loved by the sea. More precisely, loved by water.
That’s probably why this other-race princess seed to feel close to . It must be similar to how I felt invigorated by the sea’s magic.
I petted the princess so more. The silky and moist sensation was addictive. It even made want to raise one of these.
The aide gave us a strange look as we bonded so quickly. I didn’t really understand it myself—I just felt like doing this and acted on it.
“What’s your na?”
“Gyeeek.”
“You really are a princess, right?”
“Gyeeek.”
Can whale sounds even be heard above water? I tilted my head, but it was a aningless question. I just accepted it as it was.
Apparently enjoying being petted, the princess sprawled her belly across my thigh. I ran my hand from her protruding snout to the curving fins.
To think she would open up this much on our first eting—even I was a little taken aback. Naturally, the aide’s expression kept getting weirder.
“...This is odd.”
“...I didn’t expect this either.”
“Are Duheins usually popular with sea creatures?”
“If we were, we would’ve made it here without fighting.”
“Ah.”
We decided to take a short break.
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