Chapter 48: Twisted Things (3)

“It’s complete.”

Aegis held up the doll with a trembling voice.

A doll embedded with a Starlight Stone instead of a heart.

It was a kind of golem, possessing the power to draw in and contain certain forces.

SHUUUUUUUU—

As proof that it was properly completed, starlight pouring in from the wide-open ceiling was filling the doll.

No. 5 kept tilting its head, as if feeling a strange sense of familiarity.

Evan rubbed his sore eyes.

It was easier than I thought!!

The time it took was roughly 2 hours.

When I focused a bit, it just flew by.

Fortunately, the method of making it was easier than expected.

Aegis was beside me, and the shrine maiden was there to assist properly too.

It’s not without regrets, though.

Evan smacked his lips as he looked down at the first volume of Elixir Arts.

Originally, he had planned to get a little used to elixir arts.

But it failed.

The reason?

It was simple.

You can’t learn this here. At least… it would require the old folks helping directly.

It was too difficult.

It required a high understanding of the human body.

He wasn’t some doctor.

It’s a shame.

What Evan wanted was elixirs.

The content in this book was related to human anatomy.

Still, it wouldn’t be bad.

If he learned it, it would be a great help.

He might even improve his frail constitution with this.

The drawings of the brain are a bit grotesquely done, making my stomach churn.

The first volume of Elixir Arts mainly dealt with the human body, especially the human ‘brain’.

The brain is the human mind.

In other words, it is deeply related to the mental image.

Understanding this would allow one to take a step closer to proper ‘human body refinement’.

…Somehow, I ended up getting more material related to homunculi.

It wasn’t intentional.

Anyway, he’ll check it separately later.

He should have Aegis review it too.

It’s disgustingly grotesque.

Old books are mostly like this.

I see why alchemists were ostracized for no reason.

Such a high understanding of the brain?

It’s obvious at a glance.

They must have killed and dissected people directly.

Otherwise, this level of knowledge doesn’t make sense.

What’s the difference from black mages?

They raise dead humans indiscriminately, and this is the same kind.

But I understood one thing.

If there’s a problem with the brain, there’s a problem with the mental image.

The mental image is the collection of achievements and power a person has built.

If there’s a problem with that mental image.

It means there’s an issue with the ‘domain’, the unique world used by those who have reached Sword Master or higher.

In fact, there were cases where superhumans whose brains were damaged by drugs couldn’t use their domain at all.

Not now, but in the future.

There are crazy bastards who eat others’ brains to fix their mental image, but that’s what ignorant fools who couldn’t learn do. 

This is exactly when elixir arts should be used…

There seemed to have been attempts to fix it in the past, with a line full of indignation.

Fix by eating brains?

What nonsense.

It seems faster to die from disease?

Uh. I should stop thinking about it now.

CHUK!

While opening the subspace and putting it inside.

The doll had filled with starlight to its maximum.

The shrine maiden carefully picked up the doll.

Actually, it was too small to call a doll.

Just the right size to attach to a bag.

At most, keychain size?

The shrine maiden raised her head.

“…Thank you. Thanks to you two, it turned out well.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Evan did most of it.”

“It seems preparations to enter are done now. Let’s rest briefly and go in right away.”

“Yes.”

The shrine maiden moved while carefully holding the doll in both hands.

Is she planning to carry it like that?

…You don’t have to worry about it breaking. It’s not weak in durability. 

Since it’s made of sand, it will auto-repair too.

“But my heart…”

“Then, for a moment.”

Evan took the doll. As the maker, no understanding was needed, and through [Reconstruction], he reduced its size.

He wove the remaining materials into a necklace and hung it around the shrine maiden’s neck.

SLURK.

“This way, it will be more convenient to carry.”

The shrine maiden looked down at the doll for a moment.

Unfamiliar with it, she fidgeted with the doll’s legs before expressing gratitude.

“…Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Is there anything else you need?”

“This is enough.”

KUGUGUGUGU!

The tightly closed door opened automatically.

A middle-aged man in fluttering white robes.

Purity gazed at us with emotionless eyes.

“Are preparations complete?”

“Yes.”

“EVAAAAN! I’m here!”

Lapis running from far away.

Her arms full of vegetables.

Where did she get those from?

He alchemically made a basket to hold them, and Lapis and Felix fully joined.

He also picked up Hati and Skoll, who were still sleeping soundly in the corner.

Wow, looking at it like this, it’s completely a raid party?

“Preparations are complete.”

FLUTTER—

Purity turned his body.

His pure white robe fluttered.

“Let’s enter like this.”

“Anything else?”

“These clothes and weapons. This is sufficient.”

Wow, damn, so cool.

Should I try that too?

Evan packed as usual.

A strange confidence boiled in his chest!

Yeah! What preparations!

Go like a real man!

And a moment later.

Evan regretted it.

Sh, shit.

A space where space-time is twisted.

He thought it would be much further in the past than now.

HWIIIIIIING!

“It’s snowing.”

“It’s snow, huh.”

“Is this snow?”

This is too far in the past!

Surprisingly, a snow mountain unfolded.

He thought it would be a jungle at best?

SHIVER SHIVER SHIVER.

Cold.

So cold!

He might freeze to death like a dinosaur.

His nose tickled, and eventually, he sneezed.

“Achoo!”

“Evan! Are you okay?”

“Yes. I’m fine.”

The staff Evan held trembled.

Hati and Skoll, held in his arms, hurriedly shared their warmth.

Even that was far from enough.

He couldn’t endure this.

Real man or whatever, he had to survive first.

“La, Lapis. Th, thread.”

“Yes!”

Lapis quickly pulled out threads with mana.

For now, let’s make do with this.

He held the threads and used alchemy, filling the inside and outside of the living armor with fur.

Warmth finally began to circulate.

Life returned to his cheeks.

I, I’m alive!

HUH!

White breath scattered over his lips as he exhaled.

How long could he last?

One thing was certain.

With this frail body of Evan’s, he wouldn’t last long!

I roughly grasped where this is.

“!?”

“?”

“Everyone, may I have a word?”

“I think I roughly know the feel of it.”

CRUNCH.

Footprints remained on the white snow.

“As quickly as possible… let’s resolve the issue. Is that okay?”

“Yes. Of course.”

“Yeah. Of course.”

“I’ll like anything if Evan does it!”

The others nodded in agreement.

Evan tightly fastened his clothes.

“Then… No. 5. Please.”

Let’s go!

***

The objectives inside the dungeon are largely two.

One is to find the missing persons,

And the other is to conquer the dungeon.

“We will narrow the search range.”

“The search range?”

“Yes. We will explore only that village.”

“Why?”

“First, the scope of this dungeon isn’t that wide.”

He had already checked with alchemy’s range.

Just a bit smaller than the imperial capital.

Nothing existed outside there.

Meaning outside the dungeon.

An invisible barrier was up, preventing exit.

“And looking at this weather, ordinary people can’t survive outside.”

“But if they’re strong, they might have endured.”

“If they were that strong, they would have reached the village long ago. Also, among the missing, there are no mid-tier knights or higher. Right?”

“Correct.”

Purity nodded.

As a result of this reasoning, that is.

“The missing persons will be in the village. The ‘boss’, the core of the conquest, is also highly likely in the central village.”

“Normally, I could read it with constellations.”

The shrine maiden rubbed her eyes with a bitter smile.

“But now I can’t see… so this time, I’ll follow Evan’s opinion.”

Nice!

Evan cheered inwardly.

With this, half is success.

“Let’s head straight to the village.”

“Yes.”

“Evan, shall I carry you on my back?”

“No. 5.”

No. 5 bent down and carried Evan.

Felix quietly began guarding Evan’s back.

Lapis puffed her cheeks, complaining why he didn’t trust her, and chewed on a thorn-removed cactus she had brought.

“Euck! It’s hard!”

She screamed at the frozen cactus.

Aegis muttered.

“It won’t be dangerous, right?”

“When I approached before, the residents weren’t dangerous.”

“Then?”

“The underground was dangerous. Dangerous monsters were lurking.”

Underground.

Is that the boss?

Bosses in space-time twisted dungeons are largely divided into two types.

Like normal dungeons, a monster as boss, or the ‘central figure’ of the dungeon as boss.

The central figure at this point, the reason for the same background as now.

If it’s a monster, easy.

Just kill it!

Much easier than catching an intelligent being.

We soon arrived at the village.

However, we couldn’t enter right away.

The sign at the village entrance.

Instead of a name, red letters were written.

[Honorable life.]

[Glorious death.]

Bent sideways, exuding an ominous feeling.

Distortion of space-time.

The shrine maiden signaled with her eyes.

Meaning to follow carefully.

HAHAHAHA!

HAHAHAHAHA!

Laughter coming from inside the village.

The village was in a festival mood.

Clothes layered several times to withstand the biting cold, beer mugs and vodka in hands, axes for chopping wood.

It seemed harmonious in a way.

Just as the shrine maiden’s expression was about to soften a bit, Purity pulled her back.

“!”

“Honorable life!”

“Glorious death!”

The people who were laughing just now.

They swung weapons at each other’s heads.

CLANG!

CRASH!

CRACK!

Heads cracked, shattered, split.

Brains and blood poured onto the snow.

Evan screamed inwardly.

KYAAAAAAA!

UAAAAAAAH!

Not just cleanly killing, but smashing with blunt weapons, physically breaking heads.

The axe even split a head in half!

His complexion worsened in an instant.

Good thing the cold hid it!

Evan forced his head away.

Good that his face was stiff.

“…They’re all already broken.”

The shrine maiden said with a gloomy expression.

“They couldn’t maintain sanity in the twisted time and space.”

“Then what do we do?”

“…It’ll be fine to leave them. These people don’t die anyway.”

Killing and being killed.

Yet the dungeon persists, and the village is intact.

This means one thing.

“An infinite loop of repetition.”

The shrine maiden said in a depressed voice.

“Their time is already twisted… repeating infinitely.”

“That means?”

“They’ll revive soon.”

The shrine maiden clutched her head.

“What should we do with these people…”

“Ending it is the way.”

Purity stepped forward one step.

“There isn’t. They’ll just become part of the repeating time. But even for that brief moment, wouldn’t it be better to give them rest?”

Wait a minute.

Just kill them?

Wait wait wait!

“Didn’t you say killing has no meaning?”

Evan hurriedly opened his mouth.

If you’re going to kill, kill somewhere else, not in front!

If we clear this dungeon, won’t the dead people not revive?

“Rather, subduing would be better, wouldn’t it? That way, it won’t be troublesome.”

“That’s true too.”

“Then.”

Aegis touched the wall.

Nearby items wriggled like earthworms and tightly bound their bodies.

“This should do, right?”

“Yes. This seems sufficient.”

Phew.

Saved.

He split potions a bit for the injured.

Just enough to extend life.

Anyway, planning to conquer the dungeon quickly.

No need to heal everything at once.

“You’ve come.”

“Yes?”

Purity muttered, staring somewhere.

Everyone turned their heads.

DRIP, DROP—

A man with black fluid dripping.

Deep footprints and fluid remained on the pure white snow.

“Huh?”

Aegis’s eyes widened.

“Pu, Purity?”

Purity.

A person who looked exactly like him was standing there.

Covered entirely in black fluid.

The real Purity just stared with his usual expressionless face.

“It’s been a long time. Seeing my people enduring without dying.”

The man who resembled Purity bowed his head, wiping the fluid from his face with his hand.

“I express gratitude. For saving my people.”

“…People?”

“I am the king of this kingdom, their leader. And…”

The man slowly raised his head.

“The ‘core’ of this dungeon that you seek.”

“!”

The shrine maiden widened her eyes and turned to Evan.

Still expressionless.

As if he knew this would happen.

Was that why he said not to kill?

To buy favor from the dungeon’s core and king?

What. 

Two Purities?

Evan looked at the man with puzzled eyes.

Who are you?