Chapter 101 – Propagation of Demons
“No way. I’m losing my magic too.”
“Locke, is that light the only magic you have?”
It was fortunate that the Magic Light he had before jumping into the room from the side hallway still maintained its effect. The “Body Strengthening Magic” that everyone except Wynn had cast on themselves had already lost its effect. However, the difference between the Body Strengthening magic that only lasted for about 20 minutes or less, at most, and Magic Light, which was long lasting, could reach to last for several hours.
“What are we… going to do from now on,” Cornelia said, coughing mid-sentence, probably from too much running. Her expression was stiff, perhaps due to her anxiety about the group splitting up.
It was no wonder. They were deep in the bowels of the earth, always feeling oppressed and tense. It would be crazy not to feel uncomfortable about being separated from their friends in this situation. Locke was also sitting on a protruding rock, looking at Wynn and Leticia with a worried look on his face.
“For now, let’s light a fire.”
The use of fire would consume precious air, but they decided to give more priority to relieving the mental anxiety they felt deep in the earth.
Wynn pulled out a small iron container that hung from his waist. Inside the container was dried moss powder with which he could start a fire. He set fire to the firewood he had obtained by shredding the woody debris from the houses along the abandoned mine road. As the firelight grew stronger, the canary, whose body had become stiff from the strain of the ant attack and the shaking of the cage from running earlier, began to chirp vigorously again. The canary’s beautiful chirps echoed through the tunnels. There seemed to be nothing wrong with the air. The pieces of dry firewood burned well and illuminated the area. Wynn boiled water on the fire, dissolving powdered tea leaves and added honey. The hot, sweet tea tasted even better in this situation.
The room Wynn and the others jumped into had high ceilings and was the largest he had seen so far. The walls, both in low and high places, showed dozens of long, narrow holes; remnants of the excavation along the seam.
“We can’t use magic…” After drinking a cup of tea and taking a break, Wynn tried to channel his magic into the knight sword, but the pale phosphorescence of magic did not envelop the shape of the sword.
“It’s more like the spirits are not answering our call. This whole area has become a place called Demon Spaces,” Leticia unfolded a copy of the map, pointed to the area in front of where she thought they were and drew a circle around it with her finger. “Since, when I used magic before, I felt that my magic didn’t reach to this place.”
“Letty, what is a Demon Space?”
“It’s a place where, for some reason, spirits don’t come.”
“Can spirits be found this deep underground?”
“The World Tree has its roots throughout the continent, so spirits can also be born in these places. Of course, there are fewer spirits than outside, so it’s a harsher environment for living beings.”
Spirits were born from the World Tree and its saplings. It was not limited to just the trunk and leaves, but also the roots. Magic was a method of creating various phenomena by offering magical power as compensation to the spirits born from the World Tree. Naturally, if these spirits were not born, magic would not occur.
And it was not only the loss of magic that was a problem that arose when a Demon Space appeared. When an organism lost life feeling various emotions, including fear, it also generated miasma, a negative energy. The miasma affects life and disturbs the ecosystem. The spirits were also in charge of purifying the miasma. If a Demon Space continued to exist, life itself became twisted, thus creating monsters. The ants they had just encountered must have been affected by the miasma that had remained in this area for some reason, and had become monsters too.
“But the Demon Space is still not that big. It’s very likely that the spirits have only recently disappeared.”
“So, does this mean that we will later encounter the cause of the sudden miasma outbreak?”
“Yes, maybe… because I was still able to use magic in that hallway before.”
Wynn asked, and Leticia turned to look at the path that had been blocked by the rockfall.
“…So, if we go a different way, can we use magic?” said Cornelia, who had been listening to Wynn and Leticia’s conversation, while treating Wedge with the medicine she had, since she couldn’t use her healing magic.
“Yes… we could still use magic in the previous passage…” Leticia flipped through several maps of the abandoned mine path and showed Cornelia some of them. “Here and… maybe a little further along this path. There we can use magic.”
“I’ll try the healing spell there then.” Cornelia stood up, looking at the tunnel Leticia had pointed out.
“Wait, I’m coming with you.” Wynn grabbed his sword as well.
The path Wynn and the others had come through was completely blocked due to Leticia’s magic, so it looked like there wouldn’t be any gaps for the ants to pass through, but there might still be some on the other path. With that in mind, Wynn was about to get up to join her.
“I’ll take care of this.” Locke, who had also picked up his sword and stood up, stopped Wynn with his hand. “We won’t be safe here forever. Wynn, you and Leticia-sama should find a way to meet up with the others or a way that leads to Lyon.”
Although they had a copy of the map, the tunnels spread out like the tunnels of an anthill. There were dozens of tunnels from the bottom to the top of this room, and they had to find the right one. And even if they found the right tunnel, there was always the possibility that it was blocked by a rockslide or flood. With this in mind, they had to find another detour route. Wynn did as Locke told him and decided to stay here with Leticia. Surely, they would find some way to get to Lyon while they still had the physical and mental strength to do so.
After watching the three of them walk away toward the side tunnel Leticia had indicated, Wynn returned to where Leticia was spreading out the map and looked toward him as she did so. In the silence, he could only hear her breathing and the chirping of the canary. For a while, they both followed the tangle of tunnels with their eyes, but finally they both spotted a point on the map.
“What’s this? Here.”
“It’s a wide place, isn’t it, Onii-chan?”
It seemed that beyond this room, there was an even larger space with a higher ceiling than the one they were in. These rooms were extended and built by the miners who dug into the veins, and the map depicting the space had more symbols than anywhere else, presumably drawn by the miners. There also appeared to be a rather large crack in the ceiling, which was drawn in such a way that it seemed to be connected to the outside. The writing was not very neat, and the old map was badly smudged, so they could not make out the details, but they were sure that the space was a special place, different from other tunnels and rooms.
“I think this place is right in the center of the Demon Space.” Leticia said, looking up from the map.
“So that’s where the miasma is coming from.”
“I think so, but… apparently, no matter which tunnel you follow, you have to go through that space to join the Lyon Road. What do we do?” Leticia asked Wynn with a questioning look.
“We’ll have to keep going anyway. But we’re all pretty tired. When Locke, Wedge and Cornelia-san get back, we’ll take a break here, and then we’ll keep going deeper.”
◇◆◇◆◇
Melting butter in a frying pan on the fire, quartered onions were thrown in and fried until golden brown, then dried meat, water and wine were poured in and simmered. The soup was made with diligence, seasoning it with spices and salt, and then adding some mushrooms. The best way to regain energy and strength was to eat a hot and delicious meal. Cornelia, Locke and Wedge, who had left to use healing magic, returned just as the soup Wynn had been preparing was being finished.
“Hey, hey, come on, it smells super good, it even smells from far away.” Locke’s face was less tense than it had been before they returned.
“Wedge, how’s your wound going?”
“Oh, no problem. Thanks to Cornelia-sama, I’m feeling much better.”
“The best way to heal a wound is to eat. I made soup, so eat it.”
The soup was well mixed with the fat and flavor of the dried meat and mushroom broth. The onions were also very tender. He dipped a piece of stale bread into the soup and ate it, the salt and spices in the soup further stimulating his appetite.
“I didn’t expect to find such good food in a place like this.”
At Cornelia’s impression, Locke and Wedge nodded and looked at Wynn admiringly.
“I’m good at this kind of food. Randall-san trained me, and I used to cook a lot when I was an adventurer, too.” Wynn smiled and served more soup into the bowls that were held out to him.
Eventually the pots were emptied and the meal was finished, and after taking turns sleeping, Wynn and the others headed toward the point they had decided to go to earlier. Wynn and Leticia took the front. The tunnels dug along the seam were narrow, and Leticia, map in hand, walked just behind Wynn, who was holding a light. The same type of rocky surface went on for a long time, so they had the feeling that they were wandering in the same place. In addition, Leticia’s “Time Regression” spell was unable to reach here, and the fact that the reinforcements holding up the bedrock were still decaying made them uneasy. Wynn and the others walked more cautiously, as there was no guarantee that they would not fall at any moment.
The tunnel was an upward path with a gentle incline. Watching his step as he led the way, Wynn was quick to notice that the corner ahead of him was dimly lit.
“There’s light…”
“According to the map, it’s coming from the big room.” Leticia, who heard Wynn’s murmur, compared the maps and spoke.
“That there’s daylight means it’s connected to the outside,” said Locke, who was walking at the end of the line.
“Maybe there’s a crack in the bedrock on the roof. I saw it on the map, and it didn’t look too high to climb.” Wynn replied, shaking his head.
Still, they were the first rays of daylight he had seen in a long time. Even if they couldn’t climb, he couldn’t hide the fact that the sunlight eased his tension and gave him a certain sense of relief. Besides, what was certain about the place was that there was fresh air coming from the top. But then, Wynn touched the sword on his hip. Leticia’s feeling was that this was most likely the source of the miasma. Now that they couldn’t use magic, they couldn’t allow themselves to be careless.
“Guys, are you ready? This is the place where the source of the miasma Letty mentioned might be, so we might run into ants or another demon.” Wynn stopped and looked back. When he saw everyone’s faces, he realized they couldn’t hide the weariness on their faces, but he still got a strong nod.
Good, I think we can handle this.
As long as their energy didn’t wane, they should be fine.
“For now, Letty and I will lead the way. Locke and Wedge, you’ll be in charge of being Cornelia-san’s escort.”
I can fight too, Cornelia was about to say at Wynn’s prompting, but didn’t. She wasn’t sure if it was because of her position or simply because she couldn’t use magic. She could see that it would slow them down. If I can’t fight on the front lines, at least I can protect myself….
“Letty, what about you?”
“No problem. I can’t use magic, but you know how good I am with a sword, right?”
“Then I’m counting on you.” Wynn smiled and nodded to Leticia.
I guess only Wynn could ask Leticia-san something like that. Cornelia thought as she saw Wynn’s concern for Leticia, the “Princess of the Divine Sword.”
For Wynn, even if Leticia was the strongest of the Braves, he only thought of her as a childhood friend. Feeling a little envious of that, Cornelia put her hand on her own sword.
With Cornelia and the in not-so-good shape Wedge behind them, Wynn and Leticia, followed by Locke, took a short run forward. They emerged from the gently ascending path and entered the light-filled room… a room with plenty of light. The three people in the lead gasped at the sight before them. It was hard to believe that it stretched into this space, a circular room vaster than any other they had passed through. The high ceiling seemed to be tens of meters high. Looking up at it, you could even see the great crack that allowed you to see the blue sky. And just below it…
“That’s a sapling of the World Tree…,” Leticia muttered.
“But… why is it dying?”
In the center of the room, where the light shone brightest, was a huge tree. It was a sapling of the World Tree of the kind Wynn and Locke had already seen in the Elf Village. However, the one in Elf Village glowed with the rainbow colors of the rising spirits, creating a fantastic scene that was not of this world, but the one growing here had no leaves on its branches, no rising spirits, just mere branches and nothing else. There were also large cracks in the thick trunk.
But Wynn, Leticia and Locke were not going to have much time to think about how the sapling of the World Tree had died. At the root of the dead World Tree a black shadow writhed among it. The sour smell of formic acid reached Wynn and the others.
Chapter 101 – Propagation of Demons
“No way. I’m losing my magic too.”
“Locke, is that light the only magic you have?”
It was fortunate that the Magic Light he had before jumping into the room from the side hallway still maintained its effect. The “Body Strengthening Magic” that everyone except Wynn had cast on themselves had already lost its effect. However, the difference between the Body Strengthening magic that only lasted for about 20 minutes or less, at most, and Magic Light, which was long lasting, could reach to last for several hours.
“What are we… going to do from now on,” Cornelia said, coughing mid-sentence, probably from too much running. Her expression was stiff, perhaps due to her anxiety about the group splitting up.
It was no wonder. They were deep in the bowels of the earth, always feeling oppressed and tense. It would be crazy not to feel uncomfortable about being separated from their friends in this situation. Locke was also sitting on a protruding rock, looking at Wynn and Leticia with a worried look on his face.
“For now, let’s light a fire.”
The use of fire would consume precious air, but they decided to give more priority to relieving the mental anxiety they felt deep in the earth.
Wynn pulled out a small iron container that hung from his waist. Inside the container was dried moss powder with which he could start a fire. He set fire to the firewood he had obtained by shredding the woody debris from the houses along the abandoned mine road. As the firelight grew stronger, the canary, whose body had become stiff from the strain of the ant attack and the shaking of the cage from running earlier, began to chirp vigorously again. The canary’s beautiful chirps echoed through the tunnels. There seemed to be nothing wrong with the air. The pieces of dry firewood burned well and illuminated the area. Wynn boiled water on the fire, dissolving powdered tea leaves and added honey. The hot, sweet tea tasted even better in this situation.
The room Wynn and the others jumped into had high ceilings and was the largest he had seen so far. The walls, both in low and high places, showed dozens of long, narrow holes; remnants of the excavation along the seam.
“We can’t use magic…” After drinking a cup of tea and taking a break, Wynn tried to channel his magic into the knight sword, but the pale phosphorescence of magic did not envelop the shape of the sword.
“It’s more like the spirits are not answering our call. This whole area has become a place called Demon Spaces,” Leticia unfolded a copy of the map, pointed to the area in front of where she thought they were and drew a circle around it with her finger. “Since, when I used magic before, I felt that my magic didn’t reach to this place.”
“Letty, what is a Demon Space?”
“It’s a place where, for some reason, spirits don’t come.”
“Can spirits be found this deep underground?”
“The World Tree has its roots throughout the continent, so spirits can also be born in these places. Of course, there are fewer spirits than outside, so it’s a harsher environment for living beings.”
Spirits were born from the World Tree and its saplings. It was not limited to just the trunk and leaves, but also the roots. Magic was a method of creating various phenomena by offering magical power as compensation to the spirits born from the World Tree. Naturally, if these spirits were not born, magic would not occur.
And it was not only the loss of magic that was a problem that arose when a Demon Space appeared. When an organism lost life feeling various emotions, including fear, it also generated miasma, a negative energy. The miasma affects life and disturbs the ecosystem. The spirits were also in charge of purifying the miasma. If a Demon Space continued to exist, life itself became twisted, thus creating monsters. The ants they had just encountered must have been affected by the miasma that had remained in this area for some reason, and had become monsters too.
“But the Demon Space is still not that big. It’s very likely that the spirits have only recently disappeared.”
“So, does this mean that we will later encounter the cause of the sudden miasma outbreak?”
“Yes, maybe… because I was still able to use magic in that hallway before.”
Wynn asked, and Leticia turned to look at the path that had been blocked by the rockfall.
“…So, if we go a different way, can we use magic?” said Cornelia, who had been listening to Wynn and Leticia’s conversation, while treating Wedge with the medicine she had, since she couldn’t use her healing magic.
“Yes… we could still use magic in the previous passage…” Leticia flipped through several maps of the abandoned mine path and showed Cornelia some of them. “Here and… maybe a little further along this path. There we can use magic.”
“I’ll try the healing spell there then.” Cornelia stood up, looking at the tunnel Leticia had pointed out.
“Wait, I’m coming with you.” Wynn grabbed his sword as well.
The path Wynn and the others had come through was completely blocked due to Leticia’s magic, so it looked like there wouldn’t be any gaps for the ants to pass through, but there might still be some on the other path. With that in mind, Wynn was about to get up to join her.
“I’ll take care of this.” Locke, who had also picked up his sword and stood up, stopped Wynn with his hand. “We won’t be safe here forever. Wynn, you and Leticia-sama should find a way to meet up with the others or a way that leads to Lyon.”
Although they had a copy of the map, the tunnels spread out like the tunnels of an anthill. There were dozens of tunnels from the bottom to the top of this room, and they had to find the right one. And even if they found the right tunnel, there was always the possibility that it was blocked by a rockslide or flood. With this in mind, they had to find another detour route. Wynn did as Locke told him and decided to stay here with Leticia. Surely, they would find some way to get to Lyon while they still had the physical and mental strength to do so.
After watching the three of them walk away toward the side tunnel Leticia had indicated, Wynn returned to where Leticia was spreading out the map and looked toward him as she did so. In the silence, he could only hear her breathing and the chirping of the canary. For a while, they both followed the tangle of tunnels with their eyes, but finally they both spotted a point on the map.
“What’s this? Here.”
“It’s a wide place, isn’t it, Onii-chan?”
It seemed that beyond this room, there was an even larger space with a higher ceiling than the one they were in. These rooms were extended and built by the miners who dug into the veins, and the map depicting the space had more symbols than anywhere else, presumably drawn by the miners. There also appeared to be a rather large crack in the ceiling, which was drawn in such a way that it seemed to be connected to the outside. The writing was not very neat, and the old map was badly smudged, so they could not make out the details, but they were sure that the space was a special place, different from other tunnels and rooms.
“I think this place is right in the center of the Demon Space.” Leticia said, looking up from the map.
“So that’s where the miasma is coming from.”
“I think so, but… apparently, no matter which tunnel you follow, you have to go through that space to join the Lyon Road. What do we do?” Leticia asked Wynn with a questioning look.
“We’ll have to keep going anyway. But we’re all pretty tired. When Locke, Wedge and Cornelia-san get back, we’ll take a break here, and then we’ll keep going deeper.”
◇◆◇◆◇
Melting butter in a frying pan on the fire, quartered onions were thrown in and fried until golden brown, then dried meat, water and wine were poured in and simmered. The soup was made with diligence, seasoning it with spices and salt, and then adding some mushrooms. The best way to regain energy and strength was to eat a hot and delicious meal. Cornelia, Locke and Wedge, who had left to use healing magic, returned just as the soup Wynn had been preparing was being finished.
“Hey, hey, come on, it smells super good, it even smells from far away.” Locke’s face was less tense than it had been before they returned.
“Wedge, how’s your wound going?”
“Oh, no problem. Thanks to Cornelia-sama, I’m feeling much better.”
“The best way to heal a wound is to eat. I made soup, so eat it.”
The soup was well mixed with the fat and flavor of the dried meat and mushroom broth. The onions were also very tender. He dipped a piece of stale bread into the soup and ate it, the salt and spices in the soup further stimulating his appetite.
“I didn’t expect to find such good food in a place like this.”
At Cornelia’s impression, Locke and Wedge nodded and looked at Wynn admiringly.
“I’m good at this kind of food. Randall-san trained me, and I used to cook a lot when I was an adventurer, too.” Wynn smiled and served more soup into the bowls that were held out to him.
Eventually the pots were emptied and the meal was finished, and after taking turns sleeping, Wynn and the others headed toward the point they had decided to go to earlier. Wynn and Leticia took the front. The tunnels dug along the seam were narrow, and Leticia, map in hand, walked just behind Wynn, who was holding a light. The same type of rocky surface went on for a long time, so they had the feeling that they were wandering in the same place. In addition, Leticia’s “Time Regression” spell was unable to reach here, and the fact that the reinforcements holding up the bedrock were still decaying made them uneasy. Wynn and the others walked more cautiously, as there was no guarantee that they would not fall at any moment.
The tunnel was an upward path with a gentle incline. Watching his step as he led the way, Wynn was quick to notice that the corner ahead of him was dimly lit.
“There’s light…”
“According to the map, it’s coming from the big room.” Leticia, who heard Wynn’s murmur, compared the maps and spoke.
“That there’s daylight means it’s connected to the outside,” said Locke, who was walking at the end of the line.
“Maybe there’s a crack in the bedrock on the roof. I saw it on the map, and it didn’t look too high to climb.” Wynn replied, shaking his head.
Still, they were the first rays of daylight he had seen in a long time. Even if they couldn’t climb, he couldn’t hide the fact that the sunlight eased his tension and gave him a certain sense of relief. Besides, what was certain about the place was that there was fresh air coming from the top. But then, Wynn touched the sword on his hip. Leticia’s feeling was that this was most likely the source of the miasma. Now that they couldn’t use magic, they couldn’t allow themselves to be careless.
“Guys, are you ready? This is the place where the source of the miasma Letty mentioned might be, so we might run into ants or another demon.” Wynn stopped and looked back. When he saw everyone’s faces, he realized they couldn’t hide the weariness on their faces, but he still got a strong nod.
Good, I think we can handle this.
As long as their energy didn’t wane, they should be fine.
“For now, Letty and I will lead the way. Locke and Wedge, you’ll be in charge of being Cornelia-san’s escort.”
I can fight too, Cornelia was about to say at Wynn’s prompting, but didn’t. She wasn’t sure if it was because of her position or simply because she couldn’t use magic. She could see that it would slow them down. If I can’t fight on the front lines, at least I can protect myself….
“Letty, what about you?”
“No problem. I can’t use magic, but you know how good I am with a sword, right?”
“Then I’m counting on you.” Wynn smiled and nodded to Leticia.
I guess only Wynn could ask Leticia-san something like that. Cornelia thought as she saw Wynn’s concern for Leticia, the “Princess of the Divine Sword.”
For Wynn, even if Leticia was the strongest of the Braves, he only thought of her as a childhood friend. Feeling a little envious of that, Cornelia put her hand on her own sword.
With Cornelia and the in not-so-good shape Wedge behind them, Wynn and Leticia, followed by Locke, took a short run forward. They emerged from the gently ascending path and entered the light-filled room… a room with plenty of light. The three people in the lead gasped at the sight before them. It was hard to believe that it stretched into this space, a circular room vaster than any other they had passed through. The high ceiling seemed to be tens of meters high. Looking up at it, you could even see the great crack that allowed you to see the blue sky. And just below it…
“That’s a sapling of the World Tree…,” Leticia muttered.
“But… why is it dying?”
In the center of the room, where the light shone brightest, was a huge tree. It was a sapling of the World Tree of the kind Wynn and Locke had already seen in the Elf Village. However, the one in Elf Village glowed with the rainbow colors of the rising spirits, creating a fantastic scene that was not of this world, but the one growing here had no leaves on its branches, no rising spirits, just mere branches and nothing else. There were also large cracks in the thick trunk.
But Wynn, Leticia and Locke were not going to have much time to think about how the sapling of the World Tree had died. At the root of the dead World Tree a black shadow writhed among it. The sour smell of formic acid reached Wynn and the others.
