Chapter 1: The Lich’s Disciple
Chapter 1:
The Lich’s Disciple
The Lich’s Disciple
1
“KANBARA, CORRECT? Kanbara Kanata…? Hmm, yes.”
A strangely accented voice called my name, so I opened my eyes.
I was floating in a white void. That’s the best way I can describe it. There were some black, wave-like things floating around me, but when I tried to touch one, my hand passed right through it.
Uhh… Is this a dream?
The owner of the voice stood directly in front of me, dressed in black with lustrous green hair that cascaded around their face. At first glance, they looked kind of masculine…but their voice was clearly androgynous. With their prominent nose and blue eyes, they had a European look.
“Shall I introduce myself?” they asked blandly. “I am a god. Well, to be precise, I am a Lower God—a servant created by the Higher Gods. My official name is too long for a human to understand, nor could it be translated into a human language. For convenience’s sake, the name Naiarotop will do for now.”
Wait, a-a god?
“What are you—?!” I tried to ask before my mouth sealed itself shut.
“Blah blah blah. Your chattering is a pet peeve. Allow me to close your mouth for you, so I can keep things moving along smoothly. I will tell you the information you need to know, and you will not annoy me by asking any pesky questions. I will reopen your mouth…later. And if you ask me any pointless questions, I will make sure that your next experience is far more unpleasant.”
Their talk about the gods combined with their nonchalant, arrogant tone made me suspect that Naiarotop was a real bullcrap artist. But…on the other hand, I was floating in a void with my mouth sealed shut. Maybe there was some truth to what they were saying, even if they were a weird jerk.
“Congratulations,” continued Naiarotep. “You have been chosen for my show. My duty—and now your duty—is to provide entertainment for the Higher Gods.”
I’m…entertainment?
“Kanbara Kanata. Twenty years old, no serious career.” They began ticking off points on their fingertips. “No hobbies, no special skills, not even any dreams for the future. No real friends, no romantic relationships, and no family you are close with.”
Harsh but fair. It was a pathetically accurate overview. I didn’t have any good friends, passions, or dreams. I didn’t even have my parents; they died in an accident while I was still in high school.
“Every now and then, I select a piece of garbage like you—some misfit with no real investment in their home world—and put them in one of my productions. You have heard of isekai novels? Of course you have. They came from your own culture after all! Ah, they are quite something. I find them incredibly enjoyable. So exciting…”
I nodded slightly. There was a whole genre of light novels where the main character was whisked to another world on the whim of a god. I’d even read a few series myself. The characters in those books either survived by using powers granted to them by the gods or knowledge they brought from their original world.
But Naiarotop’s talk of a production had me worried.
“The Higher Gods find those stories to be quite fascinating,” they continued. “But gods are more discerning and extravagant than you humans when it comes to their tastes in entertainment. For that reason, we have created a world suited to humans: Locklore, a fairy-tale world with some medieval fantasy game flair. Slightly different rules from your own world, but what do you think of the idea? Gets the heart racing, does it not?”
Th-they made a world?!
“Locklore wasn’t created until after isekai novels became popular in your world, but small things like time are trivial to the Higher Gods. Locklore already has ten thousand years of history.”
Unbelievable. Thinking about time distortion on that scale made my head hurt, so I cradled it in my hands. A wrinkle of annoyance appeared on Naiarotop’s brow.
Not good, I thought. It’s better if I just go with the flow and act like I understand. I didn’t want to risk getting on Naiarotop’s bad side.
“Yes, that is good. I dislike humans who get too clever,” they said, almost as if reading my mind. “Now then…time for your debut!”
Snapping their fingers, Naiarotop began to warp space around us. Faces of different shapes and sizes appeared, and a cold chill ran up my spine. Some looked like masks—one even looked like a weird copy of a clock—but they were disturbing no matter what form they took. To make matters worse, they were all staring at me.
“Ha ha ha!” Naiarotop laughed, pressing a hand over their mouth before speaking to me quietly, “The gods want to give you the cheat codes so you can run about Locklore however you want! It will be up to you whether you become a hero or a demon king, or even hide your powers and live an easy life. What do you think? The steaming pile you once called your life could never compare to this, right? Ah, you are such a lucky young man!”
Turning to the crowd of faces, they spoke loudly. “Now then! Higher Gods, with your impeccable tastes, I provide you with a new main character! Without your favor, this piece of Earth-spewed trash would surely be reduced to mincemeat in Locklore—a world dominated by magic, swords, and monsters! What shall I give him, aside from the standard skills of Locklorian language and Status Check? And where shall I send him?”
Naiarotop spread their arms and began turning to different parts of the crowd, trying to pitch me as the newest addition to their show.
The Higher Gods’ eyes rolled, and their mouths jabbered. Strange, hurried words in an alien language filled the void around me. I couldn’t do much more than sit there, dumbfounded and overwhelmed by the experience.
“Hmm…you make excellent points! Yes, indeed. I shall ask Kanata what he desires.”
At that moment, the power binding my mouth released. It seemed as if I was now expected to speak.
“Come now, tell me what you’d like! But bear in mind that the game would be boring if it were too easy—I will have to make limitations.” Naiarotop looked at me expectantly.
A thought occurred to me. I knew it would probably make Naiarotop angry, but I had to ask.
“Um. Could I…go home?”
The frantic language of the Higher Gods ceased as soon as I’d said the words, and Naiarotop’s face began to twist horrifically.
“What? Why?!” they demanded, pulling me close and whispering. “My research was flawless. You’re a human with no friends, family, or prospects on Earth. Are you afraid? Don’t worry. I’ll set you up with the powers you need—within reason. Don’t throw away this chance for a comfortable life.”
“L-look…I have a cat. You said that I was alone, but really, Kuromaru is like family to me. He’s my buddy. He helped me pull myself together after I lost my parents.”
Kuromaru was a stray I found abandoned in front of my house. At first, I didn’t want to take him in; I only planned to look after him until I found him a real home. But before I knew it, he’d become like family to me.
I was fairly confident he could get by without me, but…I couldn’t just go off on an adventure to another world without saying goodbye. If anyone understood how sad it was to be left behind, it was me.
Naiarotop’s face twisted further—their eyes, nose, and mouth swirling together and carving strange cavities into their visage. Some of their hair merged with their face in a way that was really unsettling. I gulped. It seemed like their true name wasn’t the only non-human thing about Naiarotop. I was getting an up-close look at their terrifying true form.
“This…this is exactly the kind of reluctant attitude that disappoints me. Get this through your thick skull: learn to read the room.” They grabbed me by the shoulders and gestured to the staring gods that surrounded us. “We want to see you strut about, flaunting human traits like greed and selfishness. I went out of my way to find and uplift a loser like you—and now you’ve embarrassed me. Can you even fathom how much effort went into summoning you? The Higher Gods were eagerly awaiting a new main character in the show, not a refusal from some petulant dweeb. And over what—a cat?! Are you screwing with me?”
Niarotop seemed really upset. But I mean…look, it was their fault for assuming I’d want to come here in the first place.
Naiarotop’s face continued to contort and spiral inward. The color of their face, hair, and clothes bled together as they morphed into a weird green monstrosity that looked more like the gnarled roots of a plant than a human being.
“Aah!” I exclaimed as they reached out to wrap one of their horrible green arms around me.
I tried to struggle, but my body wouldn’t move. My torso was trapped within their inhuman hand’s grasp, and curved talons pierced my back. I thought I was going to die. Terror silenced me as Naiarotop peered at me keenly.
“Actually… No. It’s simple to kill vermin, but the Higher Gods demand entertainment. Let’s make things interesting and give you a chance instead.”
A ch-chance? Am I saved…?
“I had planned to give you some special abilities, but not anymore. I will give you a language skill, and I will grant you the ability to use Status Check. And then…I’ll send you off to Cocytus.
“Come now, cheer up!” Naiarotop continued. “Cocytus is like a hidden dungeon in a game. Inside, you’ll have the opportunity to acquire Locklore’s most powerful items. You’ll also have the opportunity to encounter Locklore’s most powerful monsters.”
A strange circle wrapped in glowing characters of some unknown language appeared, centering itself on me.
“Take a good look, because I don’t think you’re going to live long enough to see many more magic circles,” said Naiarotop, bringing their face close to mine. The human features were almost completely gone, and the void in the center of the spiral stared into me before turning back to the crowd.
“My Masters! I deeply apologize for summoning this substandard offering who has failed to captivate your interest,” they shouted, lifting me up for the Higher Gods to see. “Please enjoy watching Kanata and finding out how long he will survive—and what kind of death he will encounter!
“You could have had it all, you piece of garbage! Have fun in Cocytus, for I doubt we will ever meet again. Space-Time Magic Level 28: Dimension Gate!”
The magic circle began to sparkle. Light washed over me, and the universe began to twist and warp. I blinked, and suddenly I was somewhere I didn’t recognize.
I was in a stone room with somber decorations.
Maybe this is some sort of church?
Along the walls were carvings of demon faces with flames burning in their mouths. The pillars also had carvings, but those looked like humans. Disturbingly, the stone was splattered with dark red stains—probably blood.
“Wh-where am I…?” I mumbled, but I already knew. I was in Cocytus, the most dangerous dungeon in the world of Locklore.
2
I SAT ON THE DUNGEON FLOOR with a bloodstained wall to my back and tried to make sense of the whole situation. What the hell just happened?
If I believed Naiarotop, then I was now in Cocytus, the most dangerous dungeon on Locklore. Instead of killing me outright, I’d been tossed here as part of some sort of disgustingly cruel show they were putting on for the Higher Gods.
“Well…I can’t just sit around forever,” I said to myself.
Naiarotop said there were fierce monsters here, so it probably wasn’t a good idea to hang around. I didn’t know if I had the skills to stay alive, but I was going to do everything I could to get out of this labyrinth.
Speaking of skills…Naiarotop said something about standard abilities. It sounded like everyone they transported here got those: “Locklorian” and “Status Check.” I had no idea what they did, but they sounded useful.
I seemed to remember Naiarotop saying that I’d get a language skill, so that must be Locklorian. If transporting humans from Earth was part of a show, it made sense they would want those people to be able to interact with the locals. Naiarotop said they modeled their show on isekai novels, so it made a weird sort of sense that I could suddenly speak the local language.
The other ability, Status Check, seemed to pop up in those novels too. An ability that let me check information about myself or other people might be handy. But…how did I use it?
“…Status Check,” I muttered. Since I was the only person around, I tried focusing on myself.
My mind grabbed onto something. It felt…natural, just as easy as moving my arms and legs. A status window appeared in my mind:
KANATA KANBARA
Race: Human
Lv: 1
HP: 3/3
MP: 2/2
Attack: 1
Defense: 1
Magic: 1
Speed: 1
Skills: Locklorian [Lv: 1], Status Check [Lv: 1]
I-it really worked!
I could tell those were my base stats, but without someone to compare them against, I didn’t know how I stacked up. Naiarotop had talked like this world had rules similar to an RPG, so maybe I could level up if I killed a few monsters.
I took a few deep breaths to calm myself. I’d been hit with a series of unbelievable events, but I had to adapt. If this was entertainment, it wouldn’t be much of a show if there wasn’t a way to play the game and stay alive. Sure, there were supposed to be horrific monsters here, but Naiarotop also said that there were powerful items. I needed to find a few of those before I encountered any monsters. Then, with a little luck, I could carefully find my way out of here and learn more about Locklore.
All right. Let’s get moving.
I’d played dungeon crawler games before, delving into randomly generated dungeons to kill foes and get loot. I didn’t like the idea of getting tossed into the deepest part of a dungeon while still at first level, though. If a monster got the jump on me, I probably wouldn’t even be able to run away. I had to be smart and have a plan, or I’d be a one-hit kill.
I placed an ear against the wall to listen for anything moving and then walked out of the room by gliding my feet over the floor so my steps didn’t make any noise.
I’ve got this. I’ll find a way through.
I was actually starting to feel a bit confident despite the dire situation. I guess optimism is one of my few virtues.
Hm…? A dead end.
After walking a while, I came to a rotten skeleton collapsed at the end of a corridor. It smelled of decay and was pretty gross, but I wasn’t too freaked out. I’d seen dead people at funerals—but on second thought, it was a bit different when they clearly met a violent end.
At least this surprise came with some good news. A golden sword glittered in the skeleton’s bony hand. This had to be one of those rare and powerful items. With that sword, I could probably handle any monster I ran into.
I hope you don’t mind me borrowing that.
I grasped the sword and pulled. I’m not sure what I expected to happen, but the bones broke and I had to backpedal.
W-well, now I feel bad.
I considered using Status Check on the gold sword, but…I realized it would be pointless. It seemed that having a skill also meant I instinctively knew how it could be used. Status Check only worked on living creatures. I wondered if there was an Identify or Inspect skill.
I pondered this while swinging the sword absentmindedly. Then it disappeared into the wall along with my hand and wrist.
Wait, what?
A moment later, an excruciating pain ran up my arm. I stepped back. From the elbow down, everything was gone.
“Nom, nom, nom…”
Before my eyes, a massive mouth appeared on the wall. It munched up and down noisily, then spit out blood-stained bones along with the gold sword.
Th-that’s my arm, I realized with horror. At least what was left of it. Without even thinking, I checked the monster’s status and was shocked by the numbers I saw.
Race: Gluttony Mimic
Lv: 1381
HP: 9027/9027
MP: 5919/5919
“Aah! Aaah! Aaaaaah!”
Screaming, I pressed down on the stump of my arm and ran back down the corridor. Behind me, I heard the inhuman voice of the gluttony mimic mumble:
“Thanks for the snack.”
I rushed around a corner and collapsed. I knew I had to keep going, but my knees were shaking and I couldn’t stand. I could feel my life slip away with every spray of blood that spurted from my mangled arm. My heart pounded in my chest, trying to climb its way up my throat.
I’d been overconfident. Instead of taking this seriously, I’d fooled myself into thinking it was a just video game—but the truth was that there weren’t any save points in Cocytus. If I died now, it was game over.
The game was rigged; there was never a way to survive Naiarotop’s show. Even if I found an incredible weapon, I was still in over my head.
They dealt me a losing hand.
Consumed with despair, I waited to die.
“Sorry, Kuromaru…”
As I lay on the ground, I heard a loud sound coming closer and lifted my head. I saw a headless humanoid figure coming toward me. Heavyset with gray skin, it was built like a two-meter-tall sumo wrestler. Instead of a head, a huge mouth spread across its stomach.
Race: Predator
Lv: 1821
HP: 9418/9418
MP: 5081/6054
Looks like this place is just crawling with monsters.
I was sure that this was the end. I tried to stay calm, but the predator stopped short.
“J-just do it…” I said, and I saw the predator’s mouth curl up at the corners in a cruel smile. It kicked me lightly, flipping me over. Then it placed its foot on my back and pressed down.
“What are…?! Aah!”
It reached down to grab one of my legs and pulled. It wasn’t content just to kill me—this evil thing wanted to toy with me. As it tried to break my leg, I squeezed my eyes shut and silently begged.
Please, if I’m going to die, just let it be quick.
My plea was in vain. My knee bent in an unnatural angle, and I felt something give. I screamed. I tried to wriggle away. But the creature’s foot pinned me firmly to the floor.
“Help! Somebody, help!” I shouted helplessly.
The predator pressed its weight onto me while I flailed my arms against the floor. My spine buckled, and my ribs broke. I coughed dark red blood onto the stone floor. Gripped by terror and agony, I screamed wordlessly.
Suddenly, a band of black light shot past my vision. I thought the predator had done something, but it lifted its foot from my back and looked around for the source of the dark light.
“Even after all this time, Cocytus is still full of horrible monsters.”
Behind the predator floated a girl clad entirely in white. Her cape, covered with golden symbols, fluttered behind her. She had beautiful, porcelain-smooth skin, and her hair was completely white except for its blood-red tips. Her large bicolored eyes—the right was emerald and the left was crimson—bore a cold expression. With a strong nose and a delicate mouth, her features were so perfect, it was hard to believe she was real. She looked more like a statue of the platonic ideal rather than a living person. She gazed at the scene for a moment, then spoke:
“Space-Time Magic Level 24: Erasure.”
A weird shining darkness swelled and began to eat away at the predator, like it was trying to swallow the beast whole. The monster flailed its arms in a desperate attempt to escape as its fading limbs passed right through me. When the black light disappeared along with the predator, not a single trace of the monster remained.
The girl alighted on the ground in front of me. She stared down at me with her dichromatic eyes and emotionless face. She’d clearly saved me, so I tried to thank her.
“Theh-eh ugh,” was all I could manage.
“Space-Time Magic Level 22: Retrograde.”
This time, a white light in the form of a circle swallowed my body. My blood and tissue that had been scattered around the dungeon returned to me. No, that’s not quite right… My body reformed—knitting and weaving itself back together.
“Aah…” I groaned. The pain in my abdomen and leg dissipated. I watched my right arm, which had been torn off and eaten, reform and stitch itself back together.
Can this even be real?
The girl stared at me, and a shiver ran down my spine as our eyes met. She had a terrifying aura. If she wanted to kill me, she could have done so easily. I owed her my life, yet I couldn’t stop trembling.
“Th-thank you… I have no idea what’s going on, but you saved me.” I bowed my head. She continued to stare at me blankly.
“A fool has found his way into Cocytus. This isn’t a place that humans should visit,” she finally said with a derisive snort.
“B-but aren’t you human too…?”
“I am certainly not! How foolish are you to not see that which is standing right in front of you? I am a lich—I have abandoned life as a human to live forever. After all this time, it’s still a displeasure to be mistaken for a lowly animal like a human.”
“I-I’m sorry…” I bowed my head again. I should have known better. It seemed hard to believe, but the powerful aura she exuded left no doubt that she was far more dangerous than the mimic or the predator.
I waited for her to say something, but minutes passed in silence. It was getting awkward.
Maybe I should say something first? I thought. But what if I offend her and she decides to kill me?
Her expression was impossible to read. I wanted to ask more about her, but how? As the moments slipped past, the awkwardness only grew. Her overwhelming presence made the air feel thick, and it got harder to breathe.
“U-umm…” I started, “I know I’m asking a lot, but could you please help me? If I keep wandering around down here, I’m not going to survive very long.” I steadied myself and bowed low toward her. I really didn’t have any other way to survive, and she’d helped me before, so what did I have to lose?
“Allow me to clarify a misunderstanding you seem to have,” she said.
“Huh…?”
“The reason I live here is because I hate humans.” Her curt words crushed my hope. “They betrayed me, so now I live on the ninetieth floor of Cocytus, deep enough that no human could ever survive.”
Ninety floors?! No way!
With that, I knew I’d never make it out of this dungeon alive. If it were only like one or two floors…then maybe I’d find the exit if I tried really hard. But seriously, the ninetieth floor? What psychopath designed this place?
“Anyway…I have no obligation to help you. I just heard a distant shout and came to satisfy my curiosity. To tell you the truth, I would be happy to see you suffer as much as possible before you die.” she said dispassionately.
“P-please! I swear, if there’s any way I can repay you, I will do it!” I knelt on the floor and pressed my forehead to the ground.
“Space-Time Magic Level 8: Dimension Pocket.” She stretched out her arm, and a fold opened in space. Reaching in, she pulled out three bottles of pure red liquid before lining them up on the floor.
“These are…something I used to use, but…oh, never mind.” She looked undecided for a brief moment and then reached into the fold again. This time she removed a strange, shiny, rainbow-colored apple. “These are health potions that I made, and this is an everlasting apple. It never disappears, even if you eat it. With these, any human who managed to make their way down here should be able to make it back to the surfa—hmm, no. I meant to say you should be able cling to life and suffer. Do your best to struggle and die a horrible death.”
“Y-you’re giving me these?” I motioned at the items.
“Don’t misunderstand. I’m only doing this to prolong your suffering.”
“Eh… O-okay?” Her expression was so blank, I couldn’t actually tell if she was serious. “Thank you… I will use these and do my best.” I bowed my head and gathered up the potions and apple, cradling them awkwardly in my arm.
How am I going to carry these?
“Seriously…? You don’t even have a magic bag?” she asked.
“A what?”
She facepalmed. Then reached back into the dimensional pocket and withdrew a small blue pouch.
“Just put them in here.”
“Uh, but it’s so…”
“Trust me, it’s bigger on the inside. Everything will fit.”
It sounded absurd, but honestly it wasn’t the weirdest thing I’d dealt with today. I decided to just go along with it.
“Th-thank you so much…Lich-san?” I said.
“A lich is a magic user who has become undead, not my name. My name Lunaère.”
“Thank you, Lunaère-san. I won’t forget what you’ve done for me. I will come back and repay you.”
“That’s unnecessary. These are only to prolong your suffering.”
Maybe she really meant it—her face was so expressionless. But I had a hard time believing she’d make this effort just to let me suffer.
“Okay, then, do your best to survi—suffer. For a long time. Then die.” It was like she was self-censoring.
“Th-thanks?”
With that odd conversation over, Lunaère flew away down the hall.
I tried placing the potions and everlasting apple in the blue pouch. Despite its small size, everything fit in easily. It wasn’t called a magic bag for nothing, I guess. With a small grunt of admiration, I tied the cords of the bag onto my belt.
But while my situation had improved somewhat, I was still ninety floors deep in Locklore’s most dangerous dungeon. Maybe I should have begged her for more help—she seemed sort of nice despite the aura she’d given off. Begging wasn’t that shameless when my life was on the line, right?
But Lunaère was already gone, so that ship had sailed.
“I forgot one thing.”
“Aah!” I stood bolt upright at the sound of her voice behind me and wheeled around. Lunaère stood there, a sword in her hands.
“I don’t know if a monster stole your weapon, but you appear to be unarmed. You should take this. Think of it as a going-away present for your trip to the grave.” Lunaère threw the sword to the ground, and the tip of the blade embedded itself in the floor. It was an ancient longsword—carved from stone with strange runes engraved into it. It didn’t look particularly sharp, but it must have been incredibly powerful to pierce the stone floor that easily.
“Th-thanks again…”
“Struggle with all your might.” Lunaère flew up and away again.
Really…do I even know how to use a sword? I asked myself. Maybe I should throw myself on the ground and plead for her to come back.
No. She healed my wounds. She gave me items and a useful pouch. She even gave me a sword. Trying to wheedle more out of her would be wrong. Also, I didn’t want to make her angry because she was kind of scary.
I watched her go, then gripped the hilt of the sword and pulled… It wouldn’t come out. For thirty minutes, I pulled and kicked with no success. I even gently stroked the hilt to see if that would make it release. It still wouldn’t budge. The sword just stood there with its blade sunk deep into the floor. I wondered what she thought I was going to do with it.
“With these, any human who managed to make their way down here should be able to make it back to the surfa—hmm, no. I meant to say you should be able cling to life and suffer.”
“Ooh…” I realized. “She thinks that I got down here on my own.”
I shrugged and gave the sword one final tug, confirming that it wasn’t moving.
“Might as well give up on this.”
I still needed a plan to get out of here, so I decided to take inventory. First, I double-checked the things I could carry: the everlasting apple, the three red potions, and the magic bag. The sword was a write-off—it would be staying here.
Second, I had my basic skills and they both checked out. The Locklorian language skill had worked fine during my conversation with Lunaère. Status Check was a little more finicky. It let me see all of my own stats, but when I used it on monsters, I could only see their level, HP, and MP. Maybe there was a way to get more information, but I didn’t get a good chance to fiddle around with it when I was being killed by monsters. At the very least, it would give me a rough estimate of how doomed I was.
This brought me back to the idea that Cocytus should be lousy with powerful items—if I could just avoid enemy attacks long enough to find a few. If I could defeat even just one monster, I’d level up and things would keep getting easier from there. I had no other choice but to stay alive and gain experience.
I guess this is what I’m working with, I thought to myself. I’ll try to stay away from monsters and look for items until I can find a way to get some kills.
Cut to five minutes later, when I was captured by a five-meter frog.
Well, mostly a frog. It had eyeballs stuck all over its translucent-blue body and six legs. And tentacles sprouting from its body. And the top half of a blue-skinned human woman growing out of its back.
Race: Heqet
Lv: 1821
HP: 10623/10623
MP: 11003/11003
The heqet hoisted me high in the air, dangling me from one of its many tentacles.
“They’re so much tastier if you terrify them first…” it babbled to itself. “I’ll start by dissolving your itsy-bitsy fingers and then slowly gobble you up. You should be happy! You and I will become one.” The woman half laughed while the eyeball-frog half reached out toward me with a thick, wart-covered tongue.
This is it. I…I’m really going to die this time.
As the tongue wrapped around me, my arms and legs began to melt. It didn’t just hurt, it burned, but I was too exhausted to even scream.
“Mmm, so fragile. But don’t worry. My slime is a powerful acid, but it’s also a powerful healing salve. It will never let you drop below 1 HP—you’ll remain conscious even as your brain is turned to ooze. Isn’t that deliciously terrifying?”
Just before my eyeballs started to melt away, I saw Lunaère flying toward us holding the longsword I’d given up on.
“Don’t you know it’s rude to disturb people while they’re eating? Get lost! Barrier Magic Level 16: Charybdis,” said the heqet, and a magic circle appeared along with a dome of water that enclosed us. “Now my little morsel, I’ve blocked off this area with a shield of water. It consumes lots of my magic, but such is the price of privacy. You’re such a rare meal for me, and I’m going to savor you in peace—”
Through my dimming vision I saw a sword tear through the curtain of water, and then the barrier exploded into a shower of mist. Charybdis was broken. Lunaère hovered on the other side of the falling barrier, sword in hand.
“Your constant interruptions are unforgivable, lich girl!” The heqet’s woman face twisted into a demonic mask as she turned to face Lunaère. “What is the meaning of this? You’ve spoiled my appetite, and for this transgression, there can be no reconci—”
“I think we’re finished here,” said Lunaère, and a vertical line of energy split open the heqet’s body. Slime oozed from the wide gash.
“I-impossible…” the heqet croaked as she slumped to the slime-covered floor. “Charybdis is the perfect defense. Y-you even penetrated my thick skin? How could a tiny crumb like you destroy the Queen of Toads?!”
As the heqet’s life drained away, the tentacle’s grip released and I fell. My body was shapeless after being dissolved by the digestive juices, and I was sure that I’d be dead as soon as I splattered against the floor. Luckily, Lunaère swooped down and caught me.
Catching me meant she also got covered in the digestive acid. She stood there stiffly, holding me in silence for a few moments. My vision was still a mess, but instead of her usual blank expression, I was pretty sure she looked annoyed.
One of Lunaère’s Retrograde spells later, my body had reformed, allowing me to escape death for the second time that day.
“Thanks again.” I said, bowing as I sank to the floor. “I was in serious trouble there.”
“You’re not welcome. I only came back to see how you were—to watch you suffer. What were you thinking? You would be dead now if heqets didn’t play with their food.” said Lunaère quickly. Though her expression was blank, I could tell she was ticked off.
“I, uh…couldn’t pull the sword out of the floor.”
“What do you mean? I barely stuck it in.”
Slicing toad monsters in half with a single swing must seem normal to her. I realized Lunaère had no idea how ridiculously powerful she was.
“Why didn’t you call me when you couldn’t pull it out? What kind of pathetic fool thinks they can fight a heqet unarmed?”
“Well, to be honest, I wanted to ask you for more help, but you’d already flown away. And…I was a bit worried you’d eat me or something if I pushed my luck.”
“Liches don’t eat humans. That’s an offensive suggestion.”
“N-no, I mean…argh. I’m really sorry! It’s just that I’m an idiot!” I backpedaled, but then Lunaère’s eyes sparkled and she placed her hand over her mouth.
“Well—there are some liches that eat humans…”
I knew it!
When I cringed away from her, Lunaère shook her shoulders and opened her eyes wide.
“I’m not that kind of lich!” she huffed, even though she tried to keep her expression neutral. “Listen, if you managed to make it this far down, you should be capable of crawling your way back out. Stop messing around, take this sword and those items, and go back to the surface.”
Lunaère passed me the longsword, which I gratefully accepted. Then the weight of the sword slammed me to the ground the instant she released her grip, breaking my arm and shattering my chin on the goo-soaked flagstones. As I faded from consciousness in a pool of blood, teeth, and toad acid, I saw Lunaère’s emotionless face staring down at me.
“Retrograde.”
Once my face was back in one piece, I bowed in front of Lunaère.
“I probably should have explained this before, but…I didn’t fight my way down here,” I said. “Someone transported me directly to this floor.”
“Are you serious?” She sounded surprised, and I thought maybe I saw a tiny expression creep across her face, just for a moment. “Impossible. There’s no way to jump between floors with magic. This place is a containment site for monsters, sealed off by an impenetrable barrier since the Age of the Gods.”
Well, Naiarotop was a god—even if they were only a Lower God. If there was an Age of the Gods, then they’d be the ones with the magic to get around the barrier.
“Actually…I was sent here from another world by someone who claimed to be a god.” I knew it sounded far-fetched, and she probably wouldn’t believe me. But of all the things I’d met in Locklore, this scary, human-hating lich seemed like the nicest person so far.
“Hmm, a traveler from another world? Maybe…?” she murmured as she rubbed her chin in thought.
Lunaère seemed to be giving it serious consideration. Naiarotop said that other people were sent here as part of their show. If liches really lived as long as Lunaère said, she might have heard about this kind of thing happening before.
“That explains your strange outfit. I’ve never seen a face like yours either. And…you didn’t even know what a magic bag was.”
Maybe she believes me! I thought, but I needed to back my story up.
“I was flung here! I didn’t know I was on the 90th basement floor—heck, I didn’t even know this place had ninety floors! There’s no way I can fight against monsters. I’m only level 1 with basic skills and no weapons.”
“Level 1?” The air seemed to freeze around Lunaère. Her expression was still blank, but I sensed intense rage behind her bicolored eyes.
Oh, crap, did I just step on a land mine?
“Look, I’m really sorry! But, I don’t understand anything, and I…”
Lunaère walked up to me, bringing her face just a few inches from mine.
Sh-she’s so close.
“If that’s the case, even those items aren’t going to help you get out of Cocytus.” she said, and then her eyes narrowed ever so slightly. “Why didn’t you tell me you were only level 1?”
“You said you hated humans,” I said in a panic brought on by her proximity and aura. “I thought I would make you angry if I asked for more of your help!”
“That’s—!” She swiftly stepped back before adding, “That’s my fault. I apologize.”
She looked down, fidgeting with the hem of her sleeve for a moment. Was there a good person hiding behind that expressionless face?
“Hmm, if that’s the case, what should we do?” she asked herself, chin in hand while she thought. “No matter what I give you, you won’t be able to escape this floor. If you stayed here forever, that would be inconvenient for me.”
If I’m such an inconvenience, why not let a monster eat me? I thought. It seemed like an odd line of reasoning for someone who kept insisting that she hated humans.
“Perhaps I should take you to the exit myself. Otherwise, you will most likely die at some point along the way. It’s a miracle you aren’t dead already.”
She’d get no argument from me. If I had to climb through ninety monster-infested floors, my odds weren’t good. Lunaère tilted her head back, finger to her lips.
An idea occurred to me. When I played MMORPGs, people would do something called power leveling. A high-level player would take a newbie along while they hunted. The newbie would get a lot of experience by just being in the group. Did similar rules apply in Locklore?
“So…I know it’s asking a lot, but would you be able to train me or something?”
“…Train you?” Lunaère asked stiffly.
“Never mind, it’s a dumb idea!”
Lunaère stared at me silently.
“Really, forget I said anything.”
“That would mean you’d have to spend a lot of time with me. Don’t you fear me?”
“Well, you are kind of scary. But you’ve been a really kind person—uh, lich—so I wouldn’t be afraid. Still, that’s asking too much of you.”
Lunaère was silent for a few moments. She stared at me like she was looking for something, and then she finally made up her mind. Clearing her throat, she said, “I have no other choice, then. I will train you to the bare minimum level for you to leave here and nothing more. I hate getting involved with humans, but it has to be done.”
She approved of the plan!
“R-really?!”
“You’d rather not?”
“Yes, I mean, no! Er, I-I mean, I would like that very much!”
“It’s settled. I don’t like humans hanging around, so I’m going to train you. It’s the only way to get you out of here.” she said emphatically.
“I completely understand. The only choice. No other way.” I wasn’t about to rock the boat.
“You should at least be able to avoid dying from stray shots or accidents. You won’t need to win any fights, since I’ll accompany you to the exit. So, level 100 should be fine—and it won’t take that long either.”
She really is kind, I thought, but I kept that to myself.
“What’s your name? Not that I really care, but training you will be easier if know it. There are some undead creatures who place curses on you by using your name, so feel free to use a fake one if that makes you feel better.”
“I’m Kanbara Kanata.” Then I remembered it had been flipped when I checked my status. “Though here it would be Kanata Kanbara, maybe? Where I’m from, we put the family name first.”
“I just said you can use a fake name.” I think Lunaère almost rolled her eyes. “Your complete lack of caution is a liability.”
“I trust you, Master Lunaère.”
“You probably shouldn’t. I told you I’m a lich and I’m only doing this because it’s annoying to have you loiter—Uh, Master Lunaère?”
“Lunaère-san? Or is -sama better?”
“…Whatever. I have no interest in what a human calls me.”
“A-all right, got it.”
“Good. Follow me. We’ll head back to my camp, hunting any monsters that show themselves along the way.”
Lunaère turned and began walking away. Her footsteps were buoyant, like she had a reason to be cheerful for the first time in ages.
While she tried to hide emotion on her face, she obviously felt something strongly. I thought she seemed to like being called Master, so I decided to call her that from now on.
3
I FOLLOWED LUNAÈRE DEEPER into the dungeon. In almost no time, she had killed five monsters.
Her latest victim was collapsed on the floor in front of us, covered in blood. It had two glittering, golden, bird-like heads, and its body looked like a golden bodybuilder. Well, that’s how it used to look—now the chicken heads were a few meters away from the rest of the body. Its other limbs were scattered around the hallway.
It was apparently a type of monster called a ra. I wondered if people in Locklore knew how pretentious that was.
This ra had swooped down at us with unbelievable speed, breathing fire from its two beaks and burning everything ahead of it with intense flame. I thought I was done for, but Lunaère lunged forward and sliced the gold creature into pieces with her stone sword. She was seriously overpowered.
“Space-Time Magic Level 8: Dimension Pocket.”
Lunaère opened a magic circle and shoved the ra’s dead body inside. I wasn’t sure why she collected the bodies of dead monsters, but I was afraid to ask. Maybe she used them for potions?
“There’s nothing like fresh chicken for dinner,” she said.
“Dinner?!”
“Is there a problem?” she asked, her expression blank, though confusion crept into her voice.
“I-I just think its looks a bit too human.”
“To me, it looks more like an…overgrown bird.”
That was a weird use of the word overgrown.
“All right, fine,” she said. “I can’t have you starving to death. If you’d rather have the bird-like parts, you can eat the heads.”
The giant glittering heads weren’t what I had in mind when I thought of golden fried chicken. They didn’t look edible at all. On the other hand, it occurred to me that there probably weren’t many appetizing food options in the bottom of a dungeon.
“Fine. I’ll eat the heads,” I sighed.
I followed Lunaère through Cocytus a little farther, and we reached a place that was brighter and warmer than any part of the dungeon that I’d seen so far. Oddly, there was dirt under our feet. It didn’t seem like the dirt was actually the ground, though. It looked more like a thick layer of soil had been laid over the stone floor.
Grass and even a few rows of pretty flowers grew from the ground. There was also a tree loaded with strange red fruit with white speckles. Somehow, these plants had grown deep underground. Farther into the camp was a large cat sculpture. A bright crystal in its mouth shone with a red light.
“Is that crystal emitting sunlight?” I asked mostly to myself, but Lunaère must have heard.
“Good guess. It’s a sun stone. Worth quite a lot in the outside world because it’s even better for plants than the real sun. Wars have been fought over them on the surface, but they’re just another item that’s scattered about down here.”
Naiarotop wasn’t lying then, at least about the powerful items.
“I wanted one, so I went down to the ninety-fifth floor to look for it. I took it from a gem-loving dragon.”
Isn’t that…burglary?
“We negotiated a deal. I offered not to kill it in exchange for the gem.”
No, that’s robbery.
“It had attacked me with every intention of killing me, after all,” continued Lunaère.
“Ha ha! I see…” Self-defense, then?
Then I asked, “What’s with the weird cat statue? Is it meant to be a sun god or something?”
“…I made the statue for fun as a holder for the stone.”
Crap. I shouldn’t have called it weird—maybe she just really likes cute things. Her eyes look tense. I hope I haven’t made her angry.
Lunaère walked ahead through her garden, which she seemed to enjoy. She had to have been the one who created this space. I doubted that any other monster would have laid down all this soil just to grow some flowers. For someone so unsettling, she had some really cute hobbies. Maybe the scary aura was just part of being a lich?
“This is a nice garden, and the flowers are really pretty. I could get used to it here.”
“No need for flattery,” she said. Her steps became a little lighter, even though she kept her face blank. I hoped I was getting better at reading her.
I walked peacefully through her plants, enjoying the moment, until a cold fluid splattered against my hand.
“Aaah!”
It was clear and slimy.
“Why are you being so loud?” asked Lunaère.
“I got slimed by—” I began before looking in the direction the fluid came from. On closer inspection, the flowers had mouths tucked inside their petals, and they were oozing saliva. Gross, but I didn’t want to ruin the compliment I’d just given Lunaère.
“I-it was nothing.”
“Then try to keep noise to a minimum. But tell me if something is wrong, or otherwise I’ll be annoyed when I find out about it later.”
That seemed reasonable—which was exactly why I wanted to keep her happy. I just nodded and wiped my hand off on my pants.
“And this is my camp,” said Lunaère.
She pointed to a large white hut. It reminded me of a yurt, a sort of tent used by nomadic tribes. It had a rounded frame and a pitched roof, all tightly covered with white cloth.
A vegetable field stood next to it.
It’s a little piece of civilization?! Maybe there’s more on tonight’s menu than that Macho Hen!
“I’d rather not invite a human in, but I can’t have you just wandering around getting yourself killed,” said Lunaère with a sigh as she stood, arms folded, in front of her yurt.
“Really, thank you so much, Master.”
“Don’t bother acting considerate. Humans are like insects to me, so it’s like having a fruit fly in the house.”
Lunaère began to open the door flap to go inside and then froze. She glanced in my direction from the corner of her emerald eye but looked away as soon as our eyes met.
“Is something wrong?” I asked, and she turned to face me, placing her body between me and the yurt’s entrance.
“Would you mind waiting here for a moment? Don’t move. At all,” she said.
“Master?”
Lunaère ducked into the hut, which soon began to emit loud, strange sounds. I even heard a small explosion.
“Master…i-is everything all right?” I called, but there was no reply. Even though Lunaère was only a few meters away, I started to feel a bit lonely and nervous standing around in the depths of Cocytus.
I shuffled a little closer, trying to get a peek through the crack in the tent’s door. Lunaère was stuffing books, bones, and other litter into the mouth of a monster. It was quite a fancy monster too. It looked like a treasure chest trimmed with gold, gemstones, and a mouth full of ivory teeth.
“Lay off, I’m full…” it said with a burp.
“Well, hurry up and swallow! I can’t keep him waiting forever.” Lunaère hissed, pushing another object in despite the treasure chest’s protest. Maybe it used the same magic as Lunaère’s Dimension Pocket. Speaking of which, why was she force-feeding the chest instead of using that spell? The treasure chest was suffering some serious indigestion by the looks of it.
Besides Lunaère and the chest, two headless clay statues were using rags to dust the inside of the hut.
She’s seriously going all out! Seems like a lot of housework on account of a human fruit fly.
I tried to get a look at the other decorations in the room: there was research equipment, stuff for her hobbies, and a lot of decorations made of bone.
“I only have one bed. Wh-what should I do? It’ll be weird if I sleep on the floor and rude if he sleeps there. What’s the most natural thing to do in this kind of situation?” Lunaère asked, still frantically shoving random items into the chest.
“Don’t ask me, Lady, I’m just a treasure *burp* mimic.”
“Then you should know a lot about human psychology by now, shouldn’t you?”
What a ridiculous argument.
“I dunno, maybe you two can share the bed?” suggested the mimic in between bites.
“Y-you idiot! How dare you?!” Lunaère’s face turned bright red, and she swept her arms in a gesture, causing a magic circle to appear.
“H-hey, now! Cool it!”
“Space-Time Magic Level 18: Gravity Bomb.”
Just before she lowered her finger to point at the chest, the two clay statues dropped their rags and grappled her to the floor.
“Let me go!”
“C’mon, Lady, relax! That spell will blow away me, the hut, and the guy you’ve got waiting outside!”
Was that powerful spell really necessary?
“I get it, I get it—he’s our first guest ever. But you’re a lich, so don’t get so worked up over…uh.”
The treasure chest’s eyes met mine. Well, to be accurate, it didn’t have eyes, but it did have a gemstone. I took the hint, nodded slightly, and quickly moved away from the door.
I’ll just act casual.
Ten minutes later, Lunaère exited the hut wearing her usual blank expression.
“There was a dangerous gas inside my hut. Dangerous to humans, not to me. I was just removing it because it would be inconvenient for me if you died. Not that I actually care if you die…”
“That was very considerate of you, Master.”
She wasn’t good at keeping up an act, but I could pretend I hadn’t heard the frenzy of sounds easily enough.
“Please enter,” she said and turned to the yurt.
“Thank you. Don’t mind if I do…”
I started to follow her inside, but she stopped in front of the door, blocking my way.
“Um, could you wait a moment? I’m a little nervou—I mean, it’s not like I care—I just…” she stammered.
“Sure, I think I get what you’re saying. I’ll wait a bit.”
It was obvious that she wasn’t emotionally ready for the first human to enter her home. I didn’t understand why she kept up the pretense—it’d be easier for both of us if she’d be open about how she felt. But I gave her a minute anyway.
The yurt was a lot neater than when I’d peeked in earlier—maybe a little too neat. The bones were all gone, along with the bed. She must have decided the solution to that problem was to toss the bed into another dimension and pretend it never existed.
I could feel the treasure chest gazing at me. It and the two golems were sitting in a corner, acting like inanimate objects.
“Are you surprised by how drab it is? I lost my taste for decoration when I became a lich,” said Lunaère.
“Ah…”
She seemed to forget that she grew flowers and carved cat statues. It made me feel a little bad. I didn’t want my presence to make her feel self-conscious about the things she liked.
I glanced back at the treasure mimic, who was giving me a tiny grin that vanished the moment Lunaère looked in its direction.
That treasure chest has charisma.
“Please, have a seat,” said Lunaère, gesturing to the chair in front of her desk. It also happened to be the only chair in the hut. She’d worked so hard to make the yurt presentable for me… I didn’t want to appear ungrateful, but it also seemed wrong to leave her without a seat in her own home.
“Oh, I don’t mind standing,” I tried to decline gracefully, but it sounded lame.
“It’s all right.” She looked around the room for a moment. “I’ll sit on the chest.”
Lunaère dragged the mimic over to the desk. For a moment, I felt bad. It seemed really undignified for a living being to be used as a chair. At least that’s how I felt, until I glanced at the chest and saw that he was grinning stupidly at the prospect.
So! That’s how he gets his kicks!
“I’ll sit on the chest!” I volunteered. “Please let me sit there! You’ve done so much for me already!”
“Huh? Fine. I don’t really care either way.”
I went over to the other side of the desk. The mimic gave me a dirty look, so I stuck my tongue out at him and sat down.
Lunaère passed me a glass of water, which I accepted gratefully.
“So, back to training. As I explained, if we raise you to level 100, then I should be able to accompany you safely to the exit. It shouldn’t take much time, as long as I support you.”
Well, that confirmed my suspicion that power leveling was possible in Locklore. If we worked together, it would be easy for me to get out of Cocytus.
“Before we start, I’ll teach you some basic skills, because you only gain levels if you actually contribute to the fight. You’ll need a light weapon, but you’ll also need to learn how to use it,” she said mostly to herself. “I’ll start teaching you some basic magic right away—simple things you can master easily.”
I nodded in agreement, but I was quietly disappointed that this was beginning to sound like real work.
Naiarotop and the Higher Gods might have created this world based on games and light novels, but leveling seemed far more complicated than any MMORPG I’d ever played. Maybe it was best if we didn’t take it too fast; diving right in could have fatal consequences for me.
But how long would Lunaère’s patience last? She seemed willing enough to work with me now, but that might change if my training took longer than expected. I wasn’t even confident that we could find suitable enemies for me in a dungeon like Cocytus.
“You won’t be able to contribute to a fight against the monsters around here. I’ll make some low-level battle golems for your early training,” said Lunaère.
“Oh…” Can she read my mind?
Well, that was one concern gone. If she could make the perfect opponents for me, then this might not be so bad.
“You still have the magic bag I gave you earlier, right? Get off the chest.” I stood up, and she opened its lid. She began pulling out heavy books and random objects.
“What’s all this?”
“Things I found or things I made. I don’t need them anymore, so you can have them. Put them in your magic bag. Here, take this grimoire.”
It was a thick, ancient book with a blue cover. I could tell it was magic because there was a creepy circle drawn on the cover. I looked at Lunaère to see if it was okay to open it. She nodded slightly.
My skill at Locklorian didn’t help me. I flipped through the book, its pages full of some alien language, until finally stumbling across the one and only page I could read.
ACACIA MEMOIRS
Value Class: Godly
A book that contains details on every race and every item.
This text shall give its owner the knowledge they seek.
I was astonished. I wondered if I ended up on this page because I wanted to know more about the book. Maybe that’s how its magic worked.
Value Class: Godly didn’t seem like something meant for low-level access. If people went to war over sun stones, then this book could change the world. Just selling it might let me live out a cushy life here in Locklore.
“Are you sure, Master? This book seems too valuable to give away,” I said.
“You were sent to this world unarmed and with no knowledge. You need it more than I do,” said Lunaère, before hastily adding, “I already know about most monsters and items, anyway.”
Her words surprised me. It’s not that rare to find someone willing to help when it doesn’t cost them anything, but there aren’t many people who would give away something precious and ask nothing in return. This lich was a complicated girl.
To defuse the awkwardness, I decided to look up the items as she pulled them out of the chest. First up was a necklace with a red crystal. When consulted, the Acacia Memoirs opened immediately to the corresponding page.
THE SORCERER KING’S RESEARCH
Value Class: Godly
This necklace contains the soul of a king who used magic to unify warring nations. The king devoted his entire life to the study of magic. Within this piece of jewelry, his eternal spirit never fades.
Enhances the wearer’s knowledge and understanding of magic.
I looked closely at the crystal in the necklace. Sure enough, some sort of white smoke swirled inside the gem.
I’m not sure I trust this. How do I know it won’t try to control me or something?
Well, Lunaère gave it to me, so I was pretty sure I could trust that it was safe. She said she would teach me magic, and this would speed that process along. I put the necklace on.
Next, I picked up a shiny silver ring that also happened to be really creepy. A gaudy design featuring a two-headed snake twirled across either side of the band before eating its own tail. I poked at one of the heads with my finger and opened the Acacia Memoirs.
OUROBOROS WHEEL
Value Class: Godly
A mere shadow of the legendary two-headed serpent that decimated an entire continent during ancient times. The serpent could not be killed, so it was defeated with a curse that caused it to turn to silver and shrink into its current form. Even now, the immortal snake’s wicked will sleeps inside the metal.
In case of death, the ring consumes a portion of the wearer’s magic power and resurrects them.
“Ah! Are you sure this isn’t a cursed item?!” I yelped.
“You should be fine. The amount of magic it uses scales to the wearer’s level. It might be taxing if you die several times in a row, though.”
That was not what I meant, nor was the answer very reassuring. I reluctantly slid the ring onto my finger.
Lastly, I lifted a plain-looking sword and held it carefully.
Good, it’s not heavy. Not too long and not too short, either. Seems easy enough to use.
It looked like a normal sword, but there was a purple gem set in the pommel.
THE FOOL’S MAGIC SWORD
Value Class: Godly
Attack: +300
Magic: +300
A magic sword given by the gods to a person destined to become a hero. The stone is from the Higher Planes, making the weapon incredibly light and powerful, yet still usable by those of low level.
The first owner was assassinated six months after being summoned to this world.
Now that’s what I’m talking about—a powerful weapon for a beginner. Ominous description, but beggars can’t be choosers, I thought.
Based on the item’s name, I guessed that Naiarotop gave someone this sword. Then they got too confident and let their guard down—another life snuffed out for nothing more than the amusement of the gods.
“Good. You shouldn’t have any problem using that sword,” said Lunaère, relieved that I didn’t kill myself by just picking it up.
“Is there some way to know when I can use a weapon?” I asked.
“You can use any weapon that has a lower modifier than your own stats. Usually.”
That made sense. All of my stats were listed as 1. Maybe Locklore had some sort of game-like mechanic that caused the weight of a weapon to be scaled to its power. That would explain why I couldn’t even lift Lunaère’s stone sword.
With the Sorcerer King’s Research around my neck, the Ouroboros Wheel on my finger, and the Fool’s Magic Sword in my hand, I used Status Check to see my updated stats.
KANATA KANBARA
Race: Human
Lv: 1
HP: 3/3
MP: 2/2
Attack: 1 + 300
Defense: 1
Magic: 1 + 300
Speed: 1
Skills: Locklorian [Lv: 1], Status Check [Lv: 1]
The modifiers confirmed that my new equipment was the only thing keeping me from certain death. But with a little luck, I might even do some damage to a high-level opponent.
“Enough preparation for now. Time to start your training,” declared Lunaère.
“Okay!” I answered, but she seemed a bit dissatisfied.
She’s expecting something?
“Thank you!”
She continued to stare at me, as if she expected more.
“Th-thank you, Master…”
Lunaère nodded happily and turned to leave the hut.
She just wanted to hear me call her “Master”, I guess.
I gripped the hilt of my new sword and followed her outside.
“Earth Magic Level 6: Sand Pupa,” said Lunaère as she raised an arm. Dirt from the garden collected over the magic circle that appeared, forming itself into a muscular statue with barely any neck.
“Grah… GRAAAH!” The statue roared and raised its thick arms as it came to life.
“This is a golem,” she said, turning to face me.
“It’s the same as the statues that were cleaning the hut, right?”
“…You saw?”
Crap. I bit my tongue and Lunaère gave me an indignant look. Then I tried to bluff my way out.
“J-just a little, through the crack in the door,” I lied. Just a tiny white lie. “It was just a glimpse. I’m not entirely sure what I saw, actually.”
She let out a sigh of relief, and her face returned to its cool, blank expression.
“I was simply putting away some items that I had out for an experiment. It wasn’t for your sake; they were just in my way.”
“I completely understand!”
I’d better stop blurting out things like an idiot…
“Back to training. I have adjusted the golem’s strength. Even you should be able to defeat it,” said Lunaère as she pointed at its head. Level 10 was carved in its forehead. Despite the considerate label, I decided to do a Status Check anyway.
Race: Golem
Lv: 10
HP: 34/34
MP: 24/24
That made me feel a lot more comfortable about her training program. Even if it was more powerful than me, its stats weren’t totally unreasonable like monsters I’d encountered earlier. Thanks to my new sword, I should be able to defeat it as long as I could get a few hits in before it clobbered me.
“Earth Magic Level 4: Earth Bind.”
Lunaère’s spell caused earthen ropes to erupt from a magic circle, ensnaring the golem’s arms and legs.
“Aaargh!” it howled, twisting about in rage. The restraints held.
“All right. Go on,” said Lunaère. She shooed me toward the bound golem.
“Uh, right. Here goes nothing,” I muttered. Could it really be this easy?
I hesitantly closed in and swung with a horizontal slash. The force of the impact sent the golem flying backward, shattering the hapless creature when it collided into the far side of the cavern wall.
But it wasn’t the only one to feel an impact. I was unprepared for the sword’s recoil—the shock dropped me to my knees. My shoulder throbbed dully.
S-so much power…
This must be what Naiarotop was trying to tempt me with. This sword might not stand up against most of the monsters in Cocytus, but it sure made an impression on that training golem.
As I caught my breath, I could tell I felt…different, like there was a source of heat inside my body. I used Status Check and saw my level had jumped up to 3! I didn’t get full experience from the kill because Lunaère was using magic to restrain it, but the sudden progress was exhilarating.
“Master, I’ve leveled up!” I cheered, looking back in her direction. She was busy making magic circles all over the garden.
“Earth Magic Level 6: Sand Pupa.” Twenty golems appeared around Lunaère, each of them with Level 10 carved in their forehead. “No time for slacking. Watch your form and try to keep your weight forward as you swing the sword.”
H-how long can my shoulder hold out? I dropped my eyes to my arm, which still ached a little.
But Lunaère was making these golems just for me. I couldn’t wimp out.
It took almost an hour, but I managed to finish off all the golems. One by one, Lunaère bound them and I cut them down, until my Status Check confirmed I was level 10.
The sword’s recoil had less of an effect on me as training continued. Gaining levels didn’t stop fatigue from building, though. After defeating the last golem, my arm was shaking so much that I dropped the sword. I bent down to pick it up and collapsed to the ground.
“Are you all right? I didn’t realize you were that tired…” said Lunaère, and I thought I heard a little concern creeping into her voice. “Liches have a strong constitution, and I don’t think I accounted for that. You should tell me when you’re getting tired.”
“I-I’ll try to remember that…”
I was done for the day. My body and even my mind felt heavy from the exhaustion. Lunaère knelt beside me, bringing her face close to mine.
“May I touch you for a moment? You can say no,” she said.
“Huh? G-go ahead…” I offered, noticing how hesitant she was.
She sighed in relief when I gave my permission and gulped slightly. Carefully extending her hand toward me, she tentatively stroked my arm with a slender finger like she was testing the condition of my skin.
Th-that tingles…like her aura is getting under my skin.
It didn’t hurt exactly, but her touch was sort of electric. I tolerated her prodding me with a fingertip, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted her whole hand to grab me. Being this close to her was also uncomfortable in other ways… Her beauty was very apparent, and I could feel a blush forming on my face. I hoped she hadn’t noticed.
“S-sorry, the examination makes me feel a bit, uh, nervous …” I said, and Lunaère’s bicolored eyes locked on to mine in surprise. She pulled her hand away and shook her head.
“Y-your arm is definitely stiff,” she squeaked in a high-pitched voice. “You won’t be able to continue training like this.”
Well, looks like I’m done grinding levels today.
It might seem like a drop in the bucket compared to the monsters in Cocytus, but I’d gained ten levels in just over an hour. Efficient progress for a hard day’s work.
“Space-Time Magic Level 22: Retrograde.”
Lunaère cast the spell, and the familiar magic circle appeared, bathing me in white light. As the pain dissipated and my body regenerated, I could move freely again.
“Thank y—”
“Earth Magic Level 6: Sand Pupa.”
Twenty more golems appeared around Lunaère. Only now, they had Level 20 carved on their foreheads.
“Continue.”
I blinked in disbelief. My body might have been healed, but my mental fatigue still weighed me down like lead. Then I remembered what Lunaère had just said about telling her when I was exhausted. She’d seemed sincere about not knowing how hard this was for me; a high-level lich probably had no idea how mentally taxing this training program was.
But she was putting so much effort into this—so much effort into…me. If I just swung my sword a few times and then gave up, who knew how long it would take for me to get to level 100? I had to try my best.
“…Do you need to stop for the day?” asked Lunaère.
“N-no, I’m fine! My body is healed, and I can keep going!” I replied, thinking, Sheer stubbornness will carry me through!
I’d learned how to swing the sword properly, and my stats were higher—but even so, the fatigue made it difficult to put force behind my swings. The level 20 golems caused way more recoil too. By the time I’d hacked through the next round of training targets, my whole body was throbbing.
But she wasn’t done with me. As the last one fell, I found myself surrounded by a fresh set of level 30 golems. I pushed through. At one point, I got careless, and a golem nearly cleaned my clock.
After defeating waves of summoned enemies, I found myself lying on my back, surrounded by shards of dirt and clay. Status Check confirmed I’d made it to level 32.
“You look tired. Shall we stop the training for now?” she asked.
“I-I would appreciate it…”
“Retrograde.”
Another trip through the white light, and my body was healed, but my head was still full of fog. I really should have said something sooner.
“You did well. Your sword handling really improved during the second half of the training. You seem more confident, and your body looks stronger,” said Lunaère while I healed. I might have reached my limits, but those words blew some of the fatigue away.
“Thank you, Master!”
“I’m…still not quite used to being called that. Whatever. You’re free to call me what you want,” she said, but I saw a blush form on her cheeks. She cleared her throat and turned away.
She’s so cute. Makes me feel like I could work even harder.
Not that I wasn’t ready to be done with training for the day, but I was forced to wonder if my lack of motivation back in Japan was because no one ever bothered to compliment me.
I followed Lunaère back to the hut and soon found myself surrounded by a pile of magic books.
“To put it simply, casting magic is the ability to channel power and change the world. Form a magic circle with your mind and then apply the necessary power. That is probably the easiest way to understand magic,” Lunaère explained as I sat on the treasure chest with a book on my lap.
I thought we were done for the day… I thought with a sigh.
I needed to pull myself together. Lunaère was being very generous, and I couldn’t afford to wear out my welcome. I had to get the minimum level and skills I needed as quickly as possible.
“The specifics of the magic circle will vary based on the nature of your magic skill and the situation, meaning you can’t just memorize them,” she lectured. “Having said that, even I don’t completely understand everything about magic, nor can I use every school of magic at will. You can start by learning the formula patterns that make up magic circles.”
I nodded, stared at the book, and hoped it would make sense.
Lunaère tried to explain the contents of the magic books in plain language, adding additional information as we continued. She gave me a small pad of paper, and I rushed to scribble her words in my notes. Thanks to the Sorcerer King’s Research necklace, the magical studies seemed to lodge themselves in my brain, and I sucked in knowledge as she tutored me.
“Not to brag, but I believe I may be one of the world’s best magic teachers,” said Lunaère, obvious pride bursting from behind her serious expression. Her passion about magic was evident. She had loosened up and was talking a little faster than usual. It was getting difficult to keep up with her.
“Now, I will teach you the fundamental magic formulas. There’s this one, and this one, and this one…” Lunaère continued, quickly moving her hand through the air to form the corresponding magic formulas which appeared as glowing symbols.
“Sorry, could you slow down?” I asked.
A tiny chuckle escaped from the chest (and/or chair) mimic.
Laugh it up, jerk!
For three hours, the lesson continued. My head felt hot. Maybe it was caused by the Sorcerer King’s Research. I’d heard of computers overheating when they tried to do too many calculations. Had the necklace overclocked my brain?
“Urgh…” I groaned, laying my head on the desk. I really needed a break.
“Should I use Retrograde?” asked Lunaère. That spell turned back time to heal wounds—that made it great for fighting golems—but it didn’t really help mental fatigue.
“I think I’m at my mental limit. Sorry.”
“Hmm, mental limit? I have something that improves mood and something else for increased focus…” muttered Lunaère as she searched through the potions in her Dimension Pocket.
Please, no. I can’t take any more. My spirit is going to break.
“…Take these elixirs. They’ll make it easier to feel the different magical attributes in each spell. We’ll cover up to the fourth primary attribute today.”
She’s doping me! When it comes to magic, this lich has no brakes!
After the lesson finally ended, Lunaère went out to the vegetable patch to gather some ingredients for dinner. I stayed inside, slumped over the desk.
“You still alive?” rumbled the chest.
“Barely,” I managed. “S-status Check.”
KANATA KANBARA
Race: Human
Lv: 32
HP: 154/154
MP: 138/138
Attack: 45 + 300
Defense: 26
Magic: 38 + 300
Speed: 35
Skills: Locklorian [Lv: 1], Status Check [Lv: 1]Fire Magic [Lv: 2/10], Water Magic [Lv: 2/10], Earth Magic [Lv: 2/10], Wind Magic [Lv: 2/10]
That was a massive improvement, especially for my first day in Locklore. At this pace, I’d hit level 100 in about a week, and then I’d be able to get out of Cocytus.
If I survived training…
4
LUNAÈRE WAS STILL OUTSIDE and I was glancing over the lesson notes when the treasure chest started talking to me.
“So…how’s it going? Getting used to being here, uh, Katana? Or whatever your name is…”
“Kanata.”
“Sure, sure.”
For a talking chest stuffed with random items, he was surprisingly sociable. I tried peeking inside the dark expanse of his mouth as he spoke. Where was all the stuff he swallowed earlier? I couldn’t see anything, so some sort of magic must have been at work.
“I-it’s going pretty smoothly, thanks to Master,” I answered, trying to talk to a box like that was a perfectly normal thing that sane people did. “It’s nice not to feel alone, but I can’t stay too long. She’s already done so much for me, and I don’t want to impose. Uh, should I call you Treasure Chest-san or…?”
“Technically, I’m a noble mimic. But sure, whatever works for you.”
A noble mimic? Would that make him Chest-dono?
Maybe the “noble” part had more to do with the gold and jewels he was decorated with. He said I could call him whatever, so Chest-san it was. I resolved to ignore the mimic part, since that reminded me of the arm-eating wall.
“Chest-san, should we even be talking to each other?” He was always silent when Lunaère was around, so I assumed she must have told him to act like a normal treasure chest in front of me.
“It’d be bad if Lunaère found out. She’s worried you might be scared.”
“I’m fine with it…”
“Nah, y’see, it’s a lose-lose if she knows. We’d either have to tell her you peeked in the tent earlier, or we’d have to pretend I slipped up and just started talking.” He shuddered. He seemed pretty unhappy with that set of choices. “But…it would be nice to have someone to talk to other than Little Miss Gloom.”
That offended me. Lunaère had done a lot for me in the short time I’d known her, and just because he was familiar with her was no excuse to act like a jerk.
Maybe I need to let him know I won’t stand for it…
“Master! Chest-san’s talking bad about—” I shouted at the tent flap, trying to scare him a bit. But a fraction of a second later, I was wrapped in his outstretched tongue. “Agh! I’m joking, I’m joking!”
“Knock it off! Nobody likes a rat,” he mumbled at me, while reeling his tongue back into his mouth.
I lay sprawled on the floor, relieved that I hadn’t become a snack. He scooted in—too close for comfort. I risked using Status Check.
Race: Noble Mimic
Lv: 3022
HP: 17225/17225
MP: 12390/12390
Holy crap, he’s strong!
His stats were way higher than the predator or the heqet, and I began to suspect I’d just made a very poor decision. As I prepared for my death, the mimic spoke slowly and quietly.
“I’ve never seen Lunaère this peppy. Treat her right…or pay the price.”
“S-sure! Say no more…”
We sat in silence, staring at each other for a while.
“So…what happened to Lunaère-san, anyway?” I asked.
Lunaère said that to become a lich, a magic user had to abandon human life forever. That meant she was once a human. What betrayal had she suffered? Maybe it was wrong to ask Chest-san instead of asking her directly, but I had to find out.
“I guess you should know.” His tone was much more sober than before. “It was a thousand years ago. Lunaère was a magical prodigy, so they put her on a team to take down a demon king.”
“What’s a demon king?”
“They’re kings among monsters. Appearing at random, they lead monster hordes and have skills to draw out and enhance the other monsters’ latent powers. But what makes them really dangerous is that they use those abilities to grow more powerful themselves. No limit.”
Could that even be possible? That didn’t sound like a monster—more like a cosmic phenomenon or a natural disaster.
“Anyway, Lunaère’s squad was crushed. They failed to beat the demon king, and that’s when she—”
“What an interesting chat,” came Lunaère’s voice from behind. Both Chest-san and I jumped in surprise. My back went rigid, and even the mimic stretched vertically with fright. I didn’t know wood and metal could do that. We turned to the doorway and saw Lunaère looking at us with her cold, expressionless eyes.
“H-he made me tell him!” said the mimic, dexterously folding his tongue into the shape of a finger pointing at me.
Chest-san just sold me out! What a hypocrite!
“We will discuss this later, Noble,” said Lunaère.
“Why me?!” questioned the mimic, bouncing with indignation. An icy glare from Lunaère instantly shut down his protest.
He’s over level 3000, and he’s still scared of Lunaère?!
She slid her gaze from the mimic to me.
I-I’m toast!
“I’m sorry! I was just—” I started.
“I’m glad you were able to chat with Noble. I have a few…points of concern, but I’ll take those up with him later. I now have the ingredients I needed from the garden. Please wait here while I cook dinner.”
“Th-thank you!”
“You are so unfair! Why are you only nice to Kanata?!” demanded Noble. He flopped on his side and thrashed about in a tantrum that was ended by another icy, dichromatic glare. He could dish it out, but he couldn’t take it.
As Lunaère started cooking dinner, I reviewed my notes and chatted quietly with Noble.
“Don’t get your hopes up. She’s terrible at cooking,” said Noble quietly. For a guy who was scared of her, he sure did say a lot of things that might make her angry. I looked toward the kitchen, but it didn’t seem like Lunaère was paying attention to our conversation. I relaxed a little, and he continued.
“Mark my words, it’ll either be a burnt roast or elixirs. You can’t call that cooking,” he muttered.
It was a mean thing to say, but I didn’t doubt it. Lunaère seemed like she’d much rather be doing research than spending time cooking. An image of the two gold chicken heads on a roasting platter floated through my imagination. No matter what she served, I resolved that I’d eat and enjoy it.
“Look—just be kind,” said Noble, leaning slightly toward me almost as if he were bowing. I couldn’t be sure if he was serious or making fun of her.
“If she heard you say that, she’d beat you senseless,” I told him. “Besides, even if she’s not a master chef, she’s still a kind, considerate person. Show some respect.”
“Oh! So you’re the Lunaère expert now, eh? She’s might be acting cool—like everything’s a breeze—but trust me, she’s barely keeping it together.”
“You’re talking nonsense.”
“Look me in the jewel when you say that.”
I ignored him and ran my eyes across my notes. These were just the basics, but it still felt like I had volumes left to memorize.
“Ha! Ignoring me means you know I’m right.” Noble scooted around me, trying to irritate me into responding. Since he’d tried to throw me under the bus earlier, I considered returning the favor…
Instead, I settled for meeting his argument head-on. “I bet it has nothing to do with her cooking skills. She’s been eating alone for almost a thousand years—why do more than the bare minimum? She’s good at making elixirs and potions, which means she’s good with her hands and can follow a recipe. I bet she can cook well if she wanted to.”
“Ok, chief. What do you want to bet she doesn’t come out with a roast or an elixir?”
“Even if she did, it would be fine. There’s no reason for her to make anything fancy.”
The sound of an explosion filled the hut, coming from the direction of the kitchen.
“Monster attack?!” asked the mimic, bouncing in shock.
I immediately grabbed my sword and rushed to the cooking area. If it was a monster, I probably wouldn’t stand a chance, but I owed my life to Lunaère. If she was in trouble, I would risk everything to save her.
Everything in the kitchen had been blown away by a huge fireball. The remains of cooking utensils lay scattered among blackened chunks of monster meat that were splattered on every surface. In the middle of it all stood Lunaère, stunned. I saw the golden ra heads at her feet, but the rest of the ingredients had been turned to ash. My eyes swept over the floor and walls which had been pushed outward by the explosion.
“W-was it an attack?! Are you all right?!” I shouted.
“I…I failed at cooking.”
“…What?”
I must have misheard her. I thought she said she failed at cooking, but this could only be the result of a large spell.
“I’m sorry, it’s not something I usually do. I’m an idiot for even trying.” Lunaère hung her head in disappointment. She was obviously upset, but her tone was flat and cool as usual.
“That’s what happens when you try to show off.” Even though Noble’s comment was kicking her while she was down, Lunaère didn’t respond. She was too upset to get angry at him.
Wh-what should I do? I must find a way to cheer her up… That’s it!
“I can cook! Let me do it!” I said.
“But I can’t make my guest cook—”
“You have done so much already; let me do this! I cook for myself sometimes. I, uh, just don’t know how to use these cooking utensils. Could you show me?”
And so I ended up cooking dinner, and it wasn’t nearly as dangerous as I had feared. The cookware heated itself using magic stones, but otherwise, the basics were pretty much the same.
Noble let me pull some items out of him that looked like they might be ingredients, and I checked the Acacia Memoirs to see what they could be used for. Since the ingredients all came from Cocytus, they were certainly valuable, and I made sure to ask Lunaère for permission to use them. There was milk and meat from monsters, along with vegetables and seasonings from the garden. It was enough to make a stew—probably the most expensive stew I’ve ever made.
When I handed Lunaère a bowl, her eyes widened as if she were looking at a rare treasure. She slowly scooped some up with her spoon.
“Give it a try,” I said.
The moment she tasted it, her entire body tensed and her face turned red. I wondered what was wrong, when suddenly tears started to stream from her eyes.
“I-I’m sorry! I’ve done a terrible job!” I apologized.
“Not at all… It’s been so long since I’ve eaten a home-cooked meal, I just…” Lunaère wiped her tears away and took another bite. “Thank you. It’s delicious.”
I saw Lunaère’s smile for the first time, and it caught me off guard with its brilliance. I might not know what had happened in her past, but I could tell that she was lonely living down here in the depths of Cocytus. A wild idea occurred to me, so I decided to go for it.
“If it’s not too much of a bother, Master…maybe I could just stay here?”
“What?” Lunaère’s wide eyes sparkled for a moment before her face turned red and her lips trembled.
Noble, who had been trying to sneak a bite of stew from the pot, overheard and jumped in surprise. He pensively looked back and forth between us.
Lunaère was silent. I sat there staring, waiting for an answer, until she lifted her face. Her expression had returned to cold, practiced neutrality.
“What are you talking about? I said it’s inconvenient to have you living here. You will complete your training and then leave Cocytus,” she said.
Noble slumped in disappointment.
5
A WEEK HAD PASSED since I’d become Lunaère’s disciple, and I was starting to get the hang of magic. Magic circles and formulas were like circuits, and spells were like appliances built out of those circuits. They worked when you channeled magic through them like it was electricity. Once I got that metaphor, it was a lot easier to understand how magic worked in Locklore. Equipping the Sorcerer King’s Research necklace certainly didn’t hurt either.
While I practiced cutting and connecting magic formulas in the air, my mind wandered back to the first evening I spent in this world. I remembered Lunaère’s words when I asked if I could live with her in Cocytus. Even though her answer had been harsh, things had been amicable between us since then.
The morning after she’d turned down my request, Lunaère gave me a black robe. It seemed special, but she said it was just taking up space inside Noble. When I looked it up in the Acacia Memoirs later, it was listed as Lunaère’s Robe.
She must have secretly sewn it while I slept. For a mysterious thousand-year-old lich, she wasn’t very good at hiding things from me. I felt torn—I wanted to express my gratitude for such a thoughtful gift, but she obviously didn’t want me to make a big deal of it.
Not much changed. She still treated me kindly, and Noble still gossiped about her. I thought about ways I could tell her that I wanted to stay, but I never found the right words.
“Are you ready? Let’s get going,” called Lunaère. I shut my eyes and sat silently for a moment to clear the magic practice from my mind. Then I nodded and stood.
“Hey, Kanata—remember, failure is always an option,” said Noble, and I smiled back weakly.
Today was a test to see if I could stand toe-to-toe with a real monster. Over the past week, we had raised my level to 100, so this was essentially my graduation exam. If I passed, I’d be leaving Cocytus for good.
Honestly, I would rather spend more time with Lunaère and Noble.
We left the hut and walked in silence away from her underground garden. She’d seemed more distant than usual since deciding that today would be my final trial. She was the sort of person who kept her own council, but right then, she seemed to have even more on her mind.
Lunaère raised her arm and stepped away from me. “Earth Magic Level 11: Sand Tyrant.”
A large magic circle appeared, and the surrounding earth grew into a huge mound. It soon took the form of an earthen dragon, easily twenty meters long. Opening its tooth-lined maw, it let out a ground-shaking roar.
If Earth Magic Level 6: Sand Pupa let Lunaère make regular-sized golems, then Earth Magic Level 11: Sand Tyrant let her make truly gigantic monsters. I’d learned that she could vary the magic power she channeled into Sand Pupa, allowing her to make golems between levels 1 and 100. Sand Tyrant, on the other hand, could be used to make creatures up to level 200.
This earth dragon had Level 150 carved into its forehead.
“Fire Magic Level 7: Flame Fumes,” I said, summoning a wall of fire between the earth dragon and myself. The blaze stretched toward the ceiling.
“What are you doing? Fire magic isn’t effective against golems,” said Lunaère.
She was right. She’d taught me that during our magic lessons, but the sand tyrant couldn’t be easily defeated at a distance—at least not with the spells that I’d learned. My long-range spells were far weaker than my close-range attacks, and not only did this golem have a strong defense, but it was also significantly faster than me. It would catch me if I went in for a direct assault, for sure. My magic could work as a distraction, though, and that would let me get close enough to do actual damage.
“Wind Magic Level 3: Fluegel.”
The spell generated wind, lifting me into the air. I dispelled a small gap in the curtain of flames before slipping through and flying toward the earth dragon’s back. It hadn’t seen me move, and its front claws flashed through the fire to gouge the earth where I had been standing.
The Fool’s Magic Sword glinted with firelight as I slashed it into the dragon’s back. I was relieved to find that it was still plenty effective against enemies of this level. The blade smashed the dragon’s earthen armor, creating a burst of dust as a crack ran up its back.
The recoil of my strike sent me flying back into the air. I cast Fluegel again and flew around to one of the dragon’s blind spots.
“Grr…?”
The dragon hesitated as it lost sight of me. I pressed the advantage, swooping in to lop off its front leg at the shoulder. The golem roared fiercely as it lost balance and lurched forward. Hoping I could finish this quickly, I began forming a large magic circle directly in front of the sand tyrant.
No luck. The dragon noticed me.
Even though it was off balance, it lunged. Just because this creature was a golem didn’t mean it was stupid. A basic principle of magic was that powerful spells took longer to cast. If you could disrupt an enemy while they formed their magic circle, then you could prevent them from casting their spell. The dragon knew it could not allow me to finish.
I reacted, switching one of the formulas to quickly alter the magic circle. It became another Fluegel spell, and the wind pulled me forward. I slipped through the dragon’s slashing claws and past its exposed throat. As I passed by, I swung the sword and landed a deep hit.
Its serpentine neck wavered for a moment, and then its huge frame crashed to the ground. I climbed onto its back and plunged the sword in. The golem’s body shuddered, then began to crack and crumble into dirt.
It was amazing! I’d succeeded in taking down a level 150 earth dragon without taking any damage. I looked toward Lunaère, who stared back impassively. I had been hoping for…a happier reaction.
“I did it, Master! Mission accomplished!” I called.
“Ah…of course. Congratulations.” It was like she hadn’t realized the fight was over until just then.
We began walking back to her hut. I wanted to ask her about what would come next—our journey to the surface and my departure from Cocytus. I couldn’t find the words, so instead I used Status Check to look at my stats.
KANATA KANBARA
Race: Human
Lv: 136
HP: 547/653
MP: 274/585
Attack: 190 + 300
Defense: 109 + 100
Magic: 163 + 400
Speed: 150
Skills: Locklorian [Lv: 1], Status Check [Lv: 1], Swordplay [Lv: 2/10], Alchemy [Lv: 2/10] Fire Magic [Lv: 8/10], Water Magic [Lv: 4/10], Earth Magic [Lv: 4/10], Wind Magic [Lv: 5/10], Lightning Magic [Lv: 2/10], Ice Magic [2/10], White Magic [Lv: 2/10], Death Magic [Lv: 1/10], Barrier Magic [Lv: 1/10], Space-Time Magic [Lv: 2/10]
Wow! Solo-killing a level 150 sand tyrant gave me a huge level boost!
All the studying and practice had paid off—besides my base level, the number and levels of my skills had also gone up dramatically.
The highest level of magic I’d reached was my level 8 Fire Magic. General speaking, I could only use spells up to the level of magic I had achieved. That is to say, I could confidently cast level 8 fire spells and achieve the desired outcome. I could try to cast a level 9 spell, but there was no guarantee that it would be stable. On top of that, it would take more time to cast the spell, and it would be underpowered because I wouldn’t be able to channel the proper amount of magic through the circle.
Even though I was nearing the level cap in Fire Magic, that didn’t mean my ability was anywhere close to Lunaère’s. After level 10, there were new, separate skills for advanced magic. Those fields of magic were really pushing the envelope, delving into secrets known only to elder mages who had devoted their entire lives to arcane study. They sounded unattainable, even with the help of Lunaère and the Sorcerer King’s Research.
I wondered if I’d ever learn Space-Time Magic Level 22: Retrograde or the level 24 Erasure spell Lunaère used to save me from the predator. They seemed so powerful compared to my current spells. Just a few days ago, she used Retrograde to heal a small scrape I’d suffered while fighting one of her golems. It seemed wasteful using one of magic’s hidden secrets like a Band-Aid.
I chuckled when I thought back to it, but at the same time, it made me sad. It made me remember that my time with Lunaère was coming to an end.
“Master…when should I leave Cocytus?” I asked with a fleeting glance in her direction. I hoped it wouldn’t be today, but I didn’t know what Lunaère had in mind. Tomorrow, maybe? No, the day after that I hoped. Still, I couldn’t guess how she’d respond.
She didn’t. She seemed not to have heard me at all.
“Master Lunaère?” I called her name, and she turned around, startled out of her thoughts.
“I was…thinking about something. What were we talking about?” she said.
“I was wondering when I should leave, now that I’ve reached the target level.”
“Well that’s, uh…hmm,” she stammered, then trailed off in thought once more.
“Master?” I pressed, desperate to know my fate. Lunaère jumped a little in surprise, bicolored eyes darting back and forth in distress.
Finally, she settled on an answer.
“Umm…I think your level probably isn’t high enough yet.”
“Really?!” That response was totally unexpected! “Didn’t you say level 100 would be safe enough?”
Come to think of it, I’d actually reached level 100 yesterday. But then Lunaère said I lacked practical fighting skills, so she arranged for the final exam today. Maybe I hadn’t handled the earth dragon as well as I should have.
“Master, I feel like I’ve gotten pretty strong…”
“No! I mean…it’s extremely dangerous outside the dungeon!” Lunaère’s face was turning red, and she gestured wildly.
“I-it’s more dangerous than inside Cocytus?!”
That sounded ridiculous. This was supposed to be the most dangerous dungeon in Locklore.
“W-well, Cocytus is more dangerous on average, but…outside there are evil, horrifically powerful people and they might notice you. No, they will definitely notice you because you’re from a different world!” said Lunaère.
“Y-you really think so…?” I’d obviously underestimated the danger on the surface.
“E-even if they’re not as powerful as here, level 1,000 monsters are still everywhere…aren’t they… Yes, they definitely are! You wouldn’t last long, and I can’t guarantee your safety. It’s best for you to stay here and keep training.”
She had a good point. I knew nothing about the outside world. I’d just assumed it would be safe and easy. Naiarotop had said that the monsters in the dungeon were dangerous, but they never said anything about the monsters on the surface. My only experience of this world was being thrown into Cocytus.
Lunaère stared into my face before grabbing the sleeve of my robe. “I thought I wouldn’t worry about you after you’d left, but I’m not completely heartless. I can look after you a little while longer.”
We entered the hut and Noble scooted across the floor to me.
“Hey, kid, how’d it go?”
“I soloed a level 150 earth dragon.,” I said.
“Not half bad! And quicker than I expected too.” Noble bounced around as he congratulated me before slumping down suddenly. “Gonna be lonely around here without you, though.”
“Well, actually…Lunaère asked me to stay and train some more.”
“What?!”
“She said I’ll be in danger outside the dungeon…something about people trying to kill me because I’m from another world.”
“If you can handle a sand tyrant, you shouldn’t run into anyone on the surface you can’t…” Noble glanced at Lunaère and snapped his mouth shut. I looked in her direction too, making eye contact before she quickly looked away.
I looked back at Noble. “What were you saying?”
“Nothing…nothing. Just flapping my lid.”
Something feels off here.
After a light magic lesson, Lunaère gave me the rest of the day off. She also let me use some rare ingredients to make a larger dinner than usual—a celebration of my reaching a basic level of competency.
The next day, it was back to the grind. Sword in hand, I followed Lunaère out of the hut.
“How many level 100 golems will I fight today?” I asked.
When level grinding, efficiency was the name of the game. Fighting monsters that were higher than my level was ideal, but sand tyrants were huge. Due to the size of the dungeon’s halls, it was only practical to summon one at a time. Sand pupae might be limited to level 100, but Lunaère could summon a whole horde of them at once.
“I think we should stop with the golems for now. Now that your level is sufficient, I have a…better method.” For some reason, it seemed like Lunaère was hesitant. Were we going monster hunting in the dungeon, now?
“Um…aren’t the monsters on this floor still too powerful for me? Even with your help, I’m not sure I’d be able to contribute enough damage…”
A glancing blow from one of those monsters could kill me outright. Well, with the Ouroboros Wheel I wouldn’t die, but it would still suck.
“Dimension Pocket.” Lunaère opened a magic circle and pulled out a round mirror. Its surface was covered with a cloth that had been embroidered with magic symbols.
“What’s that?”
“…O-open up the Acacia Memoirs and check.”
I took the hint and looked at the Acacia Memoirs.
CURSED MIRROR OF THE WARPED REALM
Value Class: Godly
An ancient mirror created by a king’s alchemist to summon an omniscient demon. The ritual failed, and the mirror became connected to a space between dimensions, allowing other powerful demons to cross over and destroy the kingdom.
This sounds…dangerous. How did she even get this?
I remembered that Cocytus was almost like a disposal site for hazardous material. I suspected that instead of destroying troublesome items, the gods just gathered them up and dumped them in the dungeon.
“This seems like an item that should be handled very carefully.” I said pensively.
“We won’t let the demons out,” she said. I sighed in relief, and then she continued, “We’ll go into the mirror and hunt them there. It should be easy. High-level demons will come to us.”
“Eh… A-are you sure that’s a good idea? What level are these demons?”
“You beat my sand tyrant all by yourself. You’ll be fine. It may be difficult, but the Cursed Mirror is the best way to raise your level quickly.”
Lunaère placed the mirror on the ground. “Come on, we’re going now.”
I steeled myself before responding, “Yes, Master!”
Lunaère’s expression turned uneasy, and she looked away.
What was that about? Something was going on here, but I trusted her.
I stood beside Lunaère. She removed the cloth covering the mirror and turned to me, looking slightly uncertain for a moment. Then she reached out to tug on my sleeve. She pulled me forward, disappearing into the mirror, and I was pulled along behind her.
“Aah! …Unf!” For a moment, gravity stopped working, and then I crashed into the ground. I managed to land softly on my knees before standing up to look around.
This place was…disturbing. Coming from everywhere and nowhere at once, iridescent light illuminated the sky and ground. Behind me was a large black distortion. I guessed that must be our portal home.
Lunaère came to stand by my side.
“Master, where are the demons?” I asked.
Instead of answering, she raised her eyes to the sky.
Overhead were clouds of mist with gaping mouths, carved tentacle statues, and three-eyed neckless cows—all somehow flying despite not having wings. Cocytus might have been dangerous, but this really was Hell. I saw an angel with blood endlessly flowing from its face and an eyeball-covered giant. Hordes of wicked creatures surrounded us.
Are you kidding me?! Maybe they’re all like level 80 or something…
I used Status Check.
Race: %#&h$=
Lv: 3142
HP: 15082/15082
MP: 17595/17595
No way! These things are more powerful than the monsters in Cocytus!
Sure, I could solo a level 150 earth dragon, but what did Lunaère expect me to do against these horrors?
A moment later, the demons began rushing toward us. This was no joke; there were just too many. Lunaère might have been a powerful lich, but even she had to have limits.
“Master! Run!” I shouted.
Lunaère raised her arms, summoning a magic circle five meters across. “Barrier Magic Level 21: Amor’s Sanctuary.”
A pink wall rose from the edges of the circle, surrounding and protecting us from the demons. I heaved a sigh of relief, but the grotesque forms continued to cling and claw at the edges of the barrier.
“Amor’s Sanctuary prevents anything from coming in from the outside, but it’s possible for people and objects to exit,” said Lunaère as she opened her Dimension Pocket, reaching in to pull out a sword. “In other words, you can do this.”
She deftly threw her sword at the pack of monsters. The blade sailed through the barrier, piercing one of the horrors and shattering it into pieces. The demon’s flesh seemed to melt into the surrounding light.
So that was her plan! This way, even I could level up safely inside the Warped Realm. Then it occurred to me that Lunaère had just killed a level 3000 demon with a single hit. It didn’t even look like she’d put that much force behind her throw. What was her level, anyway? I’d never used Status Check on her, but now I was scared to try.
“Just start firing attack magic,” she ordered. “If you can even do a little damage to a creature, I’ll finish it off.”
“Yes, Master!”
A fluffy yellow ball—the weakest-looking demon in the pack—was hanging back from the front lines. I had learned a single level 9 spell to use in just this situation. It took time to prepare and it wasn’t very precise, but I was safe from attack, and it was the most powerful fire spell I knew. I began forming the two magic circles necessary to cast it.
“Fire Magic Level 9: Dragon Ray!”
A red beam shot through the centers of the aligned magic circles. But instead of striking the target, the yellow demon fuzzball morphed into a doughnut, and my shot passed cleanly through.
How the hell did that miss?!
“Keep shooting,” instructed Lunaère calmly, but I had my doubts. Could I even hit anything? And more importantly, would I do any damage if I did land a hit?
I looked out and saw that the yellow demon now had a rage-filled humanlike face. It split into five copies of itself, each growing larger and sprouting multiple muscular arms. I had underestimated it; there were no weak monsters here.
Now five jacked fuzzballs joined the other demons and began pounding on the barrier. It jolted and shimmered with each hit.
“A-are you sure we’re safe?!” I cried.
“We’re safe.” She assured me. “You have the Ouroboros Wheel. And you have me.”
I would just have to believe in Lunaère. I probably couldn’t hit with magic, so it was time to act like a warrior. The demons were pressed up against the barrier, which gave me an idea. My hand dropped to my sword.
Sitting in front of the shield with its tongue lolling out was a beast with a dog’s body and a man’s head. Oddly enough, it also happened to be wearing a crown. I lunged toward the grotesque creature and swung my sword at the edge of the barrier. Maybe this was regicide, but go big or go home, right? My blade went straight toward the thing’s head, but at the last moment, the dog monster opened its mouth and chomped down on my blade.
“Let go, you damn dog!” I shouted, trying to pull my sword back across the barrier. I couldn’t lose this sword; it was the only thing boosting my stats to a level where I stood any chance at all. More importantly, I was borrowing it from Lunaère.
“Let go right now!” she shouted.
The dog monster (King Dog?) twisted its neck, lifting and dragging me through the barrier before it slammed me onto the ground. I groaned in pain.
It dragged me into the monstrous horde, and my body was racked with intense pain. Desperately gripping the sword, my fingers were dislocated and broken by the sheer force of the demon’s assault. I looked up and saw King Dog’s face immediately in front of my own, and only then did I realize I was outside Amor’s Sanctuary. No wonder Lunaère had thrown her sword instead of swinging it—there truly was no return once something left the protective barrier.
“Woof woof woof!”
Ah, this is how I’m going to die.
I felt a shooting pain as my body was ripped in half, and I lost feeling from my abdomen down. After that, I blacked out.
Then I suddenly regained consciousness.
I was collapsed on the ground but back in one piece. The Ouroboros Wheel had done its job and forced a resurrection by consuming some of my MP.
Coming back from the brink of death wasn’t a very pleasant sensation, but it beat the alternative. I felt lightheaded and groggy. Though I was in no rush to experience that sort of pain again, the muscular yellow fuzzballs had different plans.
I looked up and found three of them surrounding me. Satisfied grins had replaced their previously enraged expressions. Something told me they weren’t the welcoming committee.
Fists swung faster than my eyes could follow as they pounded on me with their beefy, fuzzy arms. They moved so quickly, I could only make out the afterimages of their swings as they pummeled me into a pulp. I lost consciousness again.
Instead of resurrecting in the middle of a demonic wasteland, I awoke on the floor of the hut. Was it a dream? I turned my head and saw Lunaère staring at my face. Our eyes met, and she let out a small sigh of relief.
“The Cursed Mirror is the only way to quickly raise your level to a satisfactory point, but it appears it will be difficult,” she said. That confirmed it wasn’t a dream…even if it had been a nightmare. “Let’s stop there and get plenty of rest today. It must have been hard on you.”
“No, let’s try again. I’ll be fine this time,” I replied. To be honest, I never wanted to experience that hell again, but I hadn’t accomplished anything today.
I looked at Lunaère, and she turned her face away. “Y-you don’t have to force yourself. I might have pushed you too soon. We could still slowly train you against golems…”
I could defeat thousands of golems and still have no chance against those demons. I couldn’t stay here with Lunaère forever. Sooner or later, I’d have to leave the dungeon, and I needed to be ready.
“Last time, I panicked and made some dumb choices, but this time I’ll get the hang of it!” I said.
“Really…?” Lunaère seemed disappointed for a reason I didn’t understand.
Noble just stared at me like he wanted to say something but couldn’t find the words.
For the next three days, we kept grinding levels in the Cursed Mirror.
I won’t lie, it was still difficult—especially the rest of the first day. But Lunaère supported me, and I managed to reach level 332 by the end of the third day. It wasn’t enjoyable, but I got used to it. I was less afraid of the twisted beasts, and I even learned to tolerate the pain of near-fatal damage.
“Dragon Ray! Dragon Ray!”
My fire spell was set to rapid fire. The beam passed through the barrier, and I scored a direct hit on a six-headed, long-necked man that had been foolishly hugging the edge of the barrier. I was getting better at choosing my targets and at getting the timing right.
The six-headed monster shrugged off the pain of my spell, not a single change in his expression. But even that small amount of damage was enough. I had contributed to the fight, and so I’d get some experience.
Without skipping a beat, Lunaère pointed toward the six-headed creature.
“Space-Time Magic Level 19: Gravity Bomb.”
Black light filled the area around the beast. It tried to flee, but the spell’s gravitational pull prevented it from escaping. Other demons in the immediate area were sucked into the spell’s shining darkness as well. The light spread and then collapsed back into itself before emitting a thunderous explosion. I shook my head; no matter how many times I heard that sound, I never got used to it.
The demons sucked into the Gravity Bomb exploded into a shower of limbs, which then faded into iridescent mist. Some who took a glancing blow from the spell simply collapsed to the ground, half their bodies missing. It was an amazingly powerful spell.
Lunaère took advantage in the lull in action to toss me a vial, saying, “You’re probably running out of magic. Drink this.”
Inside was a glowing green liquid. She’d been supplying me with these since our first day fighting inside the Cursed Mirror. Since we had a moment, I used the Acacia Memoirs.
BLOOD ETHER OF THE GODS
Value Class: Legendary
An elixir. Active ingredient: concentrated brain matter of high-level demons.
It is said to have a composition similar to the atmosphere in the gods’ realm, and it is rumored that an arch-mage once discovered hidden truths of this world after drinking it.
The drinker receives increased spell efficiency and greatly recovers MP.
I wasn’t sure if it was a good thing for me to be chugging legendary potions like water, but I popped the cork out and downed it in one gulp. Our first day in the Mirror, I accidently overdosed on these things and ended up with some nasty poison side effects that even Lunaère hadn’t expected. It was still nothing that one of her Retrogrades couldn’t cure.
Repeated use of the potion improved my courage as well. I was afraid to drink the Blood Ether of the Gods at first, taking it only because I didn’t have any other choice. Lately, I found the buzz enjoyable.
“Dragon Ray! Dragon Ray!” I unleashed another volley of beams at the demons.
“I won’t be able to sustain Amor’s Sanctuary much longer,” Lunaère warned. “I’ll have to let it drop for a moment while I recast—don’t leave my side.”
“Yes, Master!”
Refreshing Amor’s Sanctuary was always risky. If this were the first day, I would have been petrified by the idea of losing the barrier. By now, this was a well-practiced drill. Once it was back up, the spell would prevent new demons from entering—but we had to deal with any monsters that managed to get inside the circle before Lunaère finished casting.
A moment later, the barrier of light winked out, and the demons rushed at us in a wave.
“Woof woof!” came a familiar bark. Leading the pack was a crown-wearing dog man.
There’s that damn dog!
King Dog had killed me nearly ten times now. It was oddly tough and smart, having escaped from even Lunaère’s magic so far. Lunaère had sliced it in half with a thrown mithril sword on the first day, but the next morning, it came frolicking back like nothing happened.
“I’ve finished casting Amor’s Sanctuary” Lunaère said as she moved in front of me and chopped off its crowned head with a barehanded karate strike. She followed up by kicking away a flower monster with hundreds of rootlike feet that was sneaking up behind me.
As I saw the barrier shimmer back to life, a stabbing pain in my side caused my vision to fade. I looked down and saw the head of King Dog merrily gnawing on a chunk of my flesh. I fell to the ground and stuffed my hand into a hole just beneath my ribs.
That damn dog got me again!
Through dimming vision, I saw Lunaère punt King Dog’s head into the distance while the other demons closed in. Then the Ouroboros Wheel kicked in with a resurrection, but I was beheaded by a demon coming from another direction a few seconds later.
When I woke up, I was once again lying in Lunaère’s hut under a blanket. My mind was filled with post-resurrection fog.
Looks like we had to quit training early again. Well, at least we raised my level a bit more.
“Lunaère, shouldn’t you tell Kanata why you keep extending his training?” I heard Noble mumble quietly.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
I wasn’t fully conscious, and the words didn’t really register, but I could hear Noble and Lunaère talking softly.
“You’re trying to ignore the dragon in the room, Lady. You should tell him you want to be together because you love—”
“Gravity Bomb.” Lunaère quickly and casually pointed at Noble. A magic circle appeared around him, and he stretched his body up in fear.
“It was a joke, really! C’mon, lighten up!”
Lunaère let out a small sigh and dropped her arm. Noble composed himself, returning to his normal shape.
“I know you enjoy his company, Noble, but he’s young. It would be cruel to keep a living, breathing human caged down here. We can’t do it,” she said.
“Fair point…” Noble slouched sadly and then straightened up before pressing his argument. “But…sounds to me like you need to take your own advice.”
“Th-that’s not true!” said Lunaère, losing her composure and gesturing wildly at Noble. “I’m only doing what I must! If he left Cocytus in his current state, he’d just end up getting killed!”
“…Sorry, looks like I passed out again,” I said to Lunaère as I sat up and cradled my head. She trembled in surprise and turned back to look at me.
“Y-you’re awake. No need to apologize; it was my fault for underestimating the durability of that demon’s head. Enough leveling for today. Let’s get some rest,” she said.
“I can go again. I’m starting to get used to it.”
“Rushing will lead to failure, even with the Ouroboros Wheel. You’ll die if your magic power runs out completely. We should rest.”
Lately, it seemed like Lunaère was quick to end daily training. Was I really rushing that much?
Noble had been facing Lunaère, staring at her, but suddenly turned to face me instead. “Hey, Kanata…”
I turned toward him to listen, but Lunaère leapt on top of him and pressed down so he couldn’t open his lid. Noble struggled and thrashed to no avail.
Wh-what was he going to say?
Four days later, we were still fighting demons in the Cursed Mirror. I had passed the level 1,000 milestone earlier that morning, and now my level was an unreal 1058. We just kept grinding.
Obviously, we still fought from the safety Amor’s Sanctuary, but there was one significant difference between now and a week ago: I was casting with advanced magic.
“Fire Magic Level 14: Inferno Sphere!”
I created the magic circle and raised my sword to summon a massive, deep-red sphere of flame.
Unlike Dragon Ray, Inferno Sphere was an area of effect spell that caused incredible destruction—so much that it should never be cast carelessly. It could alter the landscape, and if I wasn’t careful, I’d find myself inside the blast radius. But since we were fighting demons in the Warped Realm of the Cursed Mirror, no one was going to complain if I destroyed whatever I wanted.
The ten-meter ball of fire passed through the wall of Amor’s Sanctuary and crashed among a pack of monsters. The moment it touched the ground, it grew even more massive. The dark-red flames swelled to fill a huge area outside the barrier, engulfing the demons in fire. I was finally doing some serious damage even if I was still a lower level than the horrors on the other side.
After Inferno Sphere burst, I searched for a demon that had been at the center of the explosion. I found one that looked vaguely human—other than its three eyes, two noses, and four mouths. It also looked slightly scorched and blackened, so I used Status Check to see how I did…
Race: $)Uj~L
Lv: 3012
HP: 14478/15361
MP: 15578/15662
Nice! Almost a thousand points of damage got through.
A lot of demons had strong recovery abilities, so it would be nearly impossible for me to beat one in a fair fight. Even so, Inferno Sphere was the perfect way to contribute to the fight and get experience.
After my level climbed past 500, the Fool’s Magic Sword started to feel a little light in my hand. It was time to swap it for something more powerful. Now I was using a heavier longsword with a black blade.
SWORD OF DESPAIR
Value Class: Legendary
Attack: +1100
Magic: +1000
A sword forged for the Demon King Despair. Five hundred years ago, he gathered together the greatest human smiths and declared he would kill any who failed to produce a worthy sword. In the end, he was presented with the Sword of Despair and became so giddy that he accidentally killed its craftsman with a careless swing. The sword itself is of superlative construction and hides powerful magic.
After the defeat of the Demon King Despair, the sword fell into human hands. Unfortunately, its owners tend to die shortly after obtaining it, leading to rumors that it is cursed.
The history was ominous. I asked Lunaère about the curse, but she replied, “He was significantly weaker than I am. You’ll be fine.” That answer wasn’t entirely reassuring, but I supposed this was just another case where I’d have to trust her.
Cursed or not, the sword was well suited to my current level. It felt a little heavy, but that really wasn’t a problem. Our entire battle strategy consisted of standing inside a barrier and shooting magic.
Back to the fight…
I caught a potion that Lunaère threw to me, downed it in one gulp, and tossed the empty bottle aside. It was another Blood Ether of the Gods. I’d already drunk nearly thirty elixirs today—Inferno Sphere wasn’t a spell with particularly good gas mileage. I rubbed my slightly bloated stomach and readied another magic circle.
“Inferno Sphere!”
Hellfire engulfed the demons outside the barrier again. Lunaère followed up by casting Gravity Bomb, which snuffed out the remaining demons and Inferno’s flames at the same time.
Finished with a hard day of leveling, we returned to the hut. Even though training was tiring, the experience had vastly improved over the course of the week. The Ouroboros Wheel had only resurrected me once during this session.
“Are you all right? We were going for ten hours,” asked Lunaère.
“I’m sorry, Master. I didn’t realize it was a problem.”
“No, it’s no bother. I just thought it must be mentally taxing for you…”
“I’ve gotten used to the fatigue from working constantly. Even the pain from getting tossed around by demons doesn’t seem so bad now—and the buzz from the Ether helps.”
“Is that so…” She seemed somewhat surprised. To be fair, I never thought I’d come so far in two weeks either. “That way of thinking is a bit more…undead than I’d expect from a living human. Please be careful. It may be difficult for you to adapt to life outside the dungeon if you become too comfortable here.”
I risked a side glance at Lunaère. Her eyes were opened a little wider than usual, and the corner of her mouth twitched up.
“Master, you’re happy, aren’t you?” I asked.
“I-I most certainly am not! I’m angry!” she huffed.
“Ah…! S-sorry,” I said to smooth things over. What a puzzling reaction.
When she thought I wasn’t looking, she patted her face as if trying to manually adjust her expression.
6
I FOUND MYSELF TRYING to craft two magic circles at once, and I thought back to Lunaère’s words from a few days earlier:
“You can’t… I-I mean you shouldn’t leave until you have mastered this!”
She had encouraged me to practice a technique called the Twin-Minds Method—but after consulting a pile of magic texts detailing the method, I still wasn’t having much luck.
The gist of the technique was that a caster could mentally divide the two halves of their brain and create “twin minds.” Hypothetically, that would let me cast two completely different spells at the same time. Aside from the obvious benefit, the texts indicated that it also would increase my casting speed and accuracy.
The Sorcerer King’s Research and Blood Ethers were helping, but this was some seriously advanced magic theory. Lunaère held that any truly competent magician could twin-cast, and in any battle between adept magic users it was assumed that both parties would be doing it. Until I learned this technique, I’d be at a serious disadvantage, slowly casting spells one at a time while the other mage could wear me down without breaking a sweat.
But it seemed hopeless. No matter what study aids were available to me, the Twin Minds Method made my head hurt, and I was beginning to despair. I worried that the abuse I was putting my brain through might be altering my mental structure. Depression started to creep in, and I considered that maybe being from a different world was some sort of magical handicap.
Frustrated and bored, I checked my status.
KANATA KANBARA
Race: Human
Lv: 1211
HP: 5813/5813
MP: 1695/5207
Attack: 1695 + 1100
Defense: 969 + 100
Magic: 1453 + 1100
Speed: 1332 + 500
Skills: Locklorian [Lv: 1], Status Check [Lv: 1], Swordplay [Lv: 6/10], True Alchemy [Lv: 11/20]Advanced Fire Magic [Lv: 13/20], Advanced Earth Magic [Lv: 11/20], Water Magic [Lv: 9/10], Wind Magic [Lv: 10/10], Lightning Magic [Lv: 3/10], Ice Magic [4/10], White Magic [Lv: 2/10], Death Magic [Lv: 10/10], Barrier Magic [Lv: 7/10], Space-Time Magic [Lv: 10/10], Spirit Magic [Lv: 2/10]
At least I wasn’t a 3 HP newbie anymore. I never dreamed that after being in Cocytus for a few weeks, I’d be mastering so many diverse fields of magic.
Most of my study time had been spent improving my fire magic skill. The Inferno Sphere was slow to cast, but it was really handy for power leveling. I also spent a fair amount of time prioritizing earth magic, which could be a lifesaver in a tricky battle.
Space-Time magic was…complicated. It took a lot of work for me to get the hang of it, but once I did, it made things a lot more convenient. Dimension Pocket was a game changer; I could quickly access anything I wanted, no matter where I was.
Lunaère insisted on tutoring me in alchemy, and it was a very practical skill for anyone going into battle. As long as I had the right ingredients, I could make essential elixirs to keep me alive and fighting. I even learned how to transmute metals.
“Kanata, I’m starving. Cook me some of your glorious food…” said Noble, bouncing over to the desk and breaking my train of thought.
Wow…! Rude. But I guess a compliment from a glutton is still a compliment.
“…That’s what she’s thinking anyway,” he continued. The mimic’s tongue formed the shape of an arrow, pointing at Lunaère. She silently pointed her finger back at him, and a magic circle began to form.
“C’mon, I’m just joking!” Noble shuffled across the floor as he moved closer to Lunaère and bowed his lid in an attempt to smooth things over. “You’ve got a quick temper lately.”
“That’s not—just don’t mock me,” she said, her face tinged with pink as she glanced over at me. She wasn’t used to being teased with a guest around.
Regardless of how she felt about eating, I was sure that Noble was hungry. I’d lost track of time while studying. I started to put my books away before going to the kitchen, when a passage caught my eye:
The Twin Minds Method is a powerful skill with applications in a variety of fields. Yet it requires incredible talent, vast amounts of time, and a particular mental acumen to master. A human cannot realistically expect to master the method.
Developed in ancient times by a race of functionally immortal beings, the method was then further refined and simplified by dragons who lived thousands of years ago. It takes a century of study for a student to learn the skill. Throughout history, the number of mortals who have achieved mastery can be counted on a single hand.
What?! Then how does she expect me to learn this? Something’s fishy…
“Dinner’s not cooking itself, chief!” said Noble.
“Okay, okay,” I said, standing as Noble prodded me toward the kitchen. The magic text seemed to be a few thousand years old itself…so maybe things had changed? I pondered that thought on my way to the kitchen.
Five days later, I had a breakthrough. On my right was Fire Magic Level 2: Fireball, on my left was Water Magic Level 2: Waterball.
“O-okay, I can keep this going…” I muttered to myself, somehow managing to maintain the two spells through sheer determination. I felt my jaw clench with stress; this was incredibly strenuous.
“Hey! Look at the arch-mage over here! Not too shabby, kid,” said Noble as he scooted over. I didn’t have the extra mental bandwidth to respond. I wanted to keep the Twin Minds effect going for as long as possible.
“Kanata, hey, Kanata!” Noble kept calling me.
Ignore him. He just wants attention, but I’ve got to stay focused.
“Hey, check this out—a sheepshank with clove hitch!” He stretched out his tongue, tying it in a complicated knot. Then with a flourish, he untied it and snapped his tongue back into his mouth with an audible pop.
I lost concentration. Both the fire and water balls exploded, burning my right hand and soaking the left side of my body.
“S-sorry, champ. I just had to mess with you a little…”
Frickin’ mimic! He can be such a jerk.
I drank an elixir and pushed aside the headache left over from the Twin-Minds Method. Success had been so close.
“You mad?” asked Noble.
“I’m not angry, but…sometimes it’s frustrating.” I patted Noble’s head. “I wish Master had been here to see.”
Lunaère was out hunting for elixir materials and food in the dungeon.
“Ha! You’re a good egg, Kanata. So…what next?”
“Next is telling Lunaère that I’ve almost got the hang of this.”
“Ehh…”
I let out a heavy sigh. My level was almost unthinkably high now, and I was starting to make real progress. The day when I’d have to leave Lunaère was getting closer.
“I’ll get a better grip on the method…and then I’ll level up a bit more. I’ll finally be on equal footing with the magic users on the surface.” I said.
“Huh?” Noble asked, clearly puzzled.
“I mean by getting a little stronger, I’ll be able to survive once I leave. Right?”
“Well…” he drawled, “I don’t really know much about the outside, but I think you’ll do fine,” He looked like he wanted to say something else but decided to keep his lid shut.
I went back to thinking about my studies. The Twin-Minds Method should improve the speed and precision of my spells, which seemed almost more helpful than the ability to dual-cast—one spell that hits is better than two that don’t. It would definitely speed up the level grind in the Cursed Mirror.
And it would speed up my journey to leave the dungeon.
“Noble-san, don’t you ever think of leaving here? Seeing the outside world?” I asked.
“Nah. What’s not to like about Cocytus? I can fight all the monsters I want. Scrounge for food. Wander aimlessly through dank corridors. I enjoy life’s simple pleasures.”
That made him seem more like a dog than a mimic.
“That, and Lunaère’s here. You won’t find a babe like her outside, that’s for sure. Not like you had much luck with the ladies before you got here, am I right?” Noble chuckled, reveling in the chance to be needlessly crude. “But listen—if you thought you’d be lonely, kid, I wouldn’t mind going along with you. Other humans can pound sand. But you and me, chief? We got a connection. Besides, I like making fun of you…”
The way he talked made it sound like he had more to say, so I waited quietly for him to continue.
“But, uh…I like making fun of Lunaère even more. So here I stay. Sorry, kid.”
He must really care about her. He’s known her for longer than I’ve been alive.
“Why won’t she leave the dungeon?” I asked. By now, I was positive that she was lonely before I showed up. While she kept trying to deny that, she did seem sincere in her opinion that I shouldn’t stay in Cocytus for long.
Noble was silent for a moment, and I worried that he wouldn’t tell me. Maybe that was a taboo topic.
“That was out of bounds. Forget I asked, okay? I’ll just go find Master and tell her how my studies are going,” I said, getting up from the desk and gathering my sword.
“It’s her aura,” Noble finally spoke, right before I pushed the door flap aside.
“Her aura?”
“Yeah, part of being a lich. To bring her body back to life, she had to pile a bunch of forbidden spells on top of each other. The aura just comes with the territory.”
She used forbidden magic to resurrect herself?
“That’s different from what the Ouroboros Wheel does?” I asked.
“Totally. The snake ring doesn’t bring the dead people back to life; it just kinda makes a copy of a person right before they die. Besides, she didn’t have that ring back then. In fact, she didn’t have anything—no incredible items, no god-level magic or whatever. So…she did what she had to do. When somebody dies for real, their body rots and their blood turns to poison. With all that corruption, there’s no turning back into a living person.”
“And Master is like that?”
“Yep. If she hugged a human, they’d wither away in incredible pain. The undead aren’t just dead; they are death itself.”
Now that he mentioned it, she was always hesitant to touch me. Instead of taking my hand to lead me somewhere, she would carefully pull on my sleeve. I thought she just might be embarrassed to hold my hand. Well…that might also have been true, but maybe she was really trying to avoid touching me directly.
“That’s why living humans instinctively fear her.” Noble continued. “The aura radiates from her with unholy impurity.”
I remembered when I first met Lunaère. I was more frightened of her than the monsters that nearly killed me. But after I had dedicated my life to her and lived in her home, that terror faded away.
“You said you came from another world, right?” Noble asked, thinking aloud. “Maybe because you have no connection to Locklore, the aura doesn’t affect you the same way it does the natives. Anyway, Lunaère is a lot happier about that than she’ll admit.”
So she’d shut herself away to avoid hurting others. Maybe that’s why she had been in such a rush to get me out of the dungeon. I tried to imagine how lonely her time here had been. Was it even right for me to leave, now that I knew this?
“Noble, please don’t share your opinions as if they’re facts.” Lunaère was standing in the hut, having returned at some point. He jumped in surprise; he hadn’t noticed her return either. “There are a number of ways I could restrain the corruption if I wished. Don’t pretend you know everything about me.”
Noble tried to blend into the hut’s decorations.
“B-but, then why—” I started to ask, but Lunaère’s eyebrows crinkled in annoyance.
“Because I hate humans. What’s not to understand?” she said coldly.
I had no good response.
7
WE WENT BACK to grinding levels inside the Cursed Mirror. I’d almost lost count of the times we’d entered the demonic Warped Realm. More than a month and a half had passed since I’d come to Cocytus.
I rushed around the world inside the mirror, boosting my speed using Wind Magic Level 3: Fluegel. The low-level spell was still useful for increasing my mobility when I ventured outside the protection of Lunaère’s barrier.
Behind me chased a mob of deformed creatures, most of which couldn’t keep up. But ahead, a demon came rushing up, trying to cut me off. It was one of the truly weird ones, a large wheel comprised of hundreds of tiny human faces.
It accelerated, pulling up to roll alongside me. Then it cackled madly just before I kicked the wheel into the air and sliced it in two with a powerful horizontal slash. The faces’ expressions changed to shock, their eyes rolling as they screamed.
It’s still alive…but by the time I finish it off, the rest of the pack will have caught up. I’ll leave it for now.
I steadied my breathing and adjusted my course. By now, I had a reasonable grasp of the Twin-Minds Method. I could dual-cast easily, and depending on the spells, I could even manage an occasional triple-cast.
I used Fluegel to turn around in the air and pointed my sword at the pursuing horde. Some of them launched ranged attacks with tentacles or flashes of coherent light.
“Fire Magic Level 14: Inferno Sphere!” My trusty ten-meter ball of crimson flame shot toward the demons.
“Pull back! You’re inside the area of effect!” shouted Lunaère from the edge of the barrier. I had it covered. Dispelling Flueugel, I began crafting a new magic circle.
“Space-Time Magic Level 4: Short Gate.”
Just as the name implied, it was a short-range teleportation spell. It took longer to cast than Fleugel, but it would instantly move me out of harm’s reach. Just as Inferno Sphere landed and scarlet flames expanded to engulf the demons, light from Short Gate’s magic circle wrapped around me and warped me to safety.
Given my vastly improved stats and the buffs from my latest magic sword, there was little chance of survival for any of the demons inside the blast radius. Along with the Twin-Minds Method, Inferno Sphere and Short Gate were my bread and butter for level grinding.
“Woof woof!”
It’s that damn dog again!
King Dog rushed toward me, cutting through the dying flames. I hadn’t yet managed to take him down, but that was going to end here and now.
“Space-Time Magic Level 19: Gravity Bomb!”
“Ruff…?”
Shining darkness expanded, snatching up the dog and surrounding demons; it dragged them into the spell’s gravity well, toward the event horizon. As I lowered my sword, the spell began to collapse, followed by the deep thunder of its final explosion and a shower of demon parts.
“That’s the first time you’ve used that spell in battle,” said Lunaère. I’d learned that was her favorite combat spell, so I’d been waiting for a good time to show off. Technically, I wasn’t quite powerful enough to keep it stable—I had no doubt that she could cast a much stronger version of the spell—but it was still the most damaging spell in my inventory.
For the past couple of weeks, she’d been taking more of a support role while I ground through an endless stream of experience-filled demons. I was finally strong enough to solo anything the Warped Realm could throw at me.
KANATA KANBARA
Race: Human
Lv: 4122
HP: 17526/19786
MP: 6832/17725
Attack: 5771 + 4300
Defense: 3298 + 100
Magic: 4946 + 3900
Speed: 4534 + 2000
Skills: Locklorian [Lv: 1], Status Check [Lv: 1], Swordplay [Lv: 9/10], True Alchemy [Lv: 16/20] Godly Fire Magic [Lv: 21/30], Advanced Earth Magic [Lv: 17/20], Advanced Water Magic [Lv: 12/20], Advanced Wind Magic [Lv: 13/20], Lightning Magic [Lv: 7/10], Ice Magic [7/10] White Magic [Lv: 4/10], Advanced Death Magic [Lv: 12/20], Barrier Magic [Lv: 7/10], Advanced Space-Time Magic [Lv: 18/20], Spirit Magic [Lv: 10/10]
I’d made so much progress. As Lunaère’s magical teachings progressed, I began to learn more support spells and quite a bit more alchemy. My mastery of the Twin-Minds Method had been honed to the point where it was practical to use it in battle. And she’d even insisted that I practice Swordplay by occasionally binding my magic.
“Space-Time Magic Level 4: Short Gate.” I teleported over to Lunaère. “Master, I think I’m done for the day. Should we go back?”
Ever since Noble told me about the true nature of her aura, there’d been a distance between us. She tried to act like nothing had happened, but it seemed like she spent more time staring off into space. This was the case when I stood beside her, gawking at the pile of demonic bodies. I wished I knew what she was thinking.
Lunaère closed her eyes, lost in her thoughts. Then opening her eyes slowly, she said quietly:
“I think your level is—No…I don’t think you need me anymore. Congratulations.”
8
WE RETURNED to Lunaère’s hut, and I tried to pretend things were normal. I did some easy magic review, meditated, brewed elixirs—the usual. Once I’d finished everything I’d planned for the day, I started getting dinner ready.
“Look at you, champ! You’re even stronger than me now,” said Noble in admiration. I remembered how afraid I was the first time I’d checked the level of this absurd monster. Had it only been a few short weeks ago?
“Agreed. He’s worked extremely hard to get this far. K-Kana…” said Lunaère, her face flushing. “You, I mean.”
She cleared her throat.
What was that about?
“Cut her some slack, she’s not used to using people’s names,” Noble mumbled quietly.
“Th-that’s not true! I’m just a little distracted,” said Lunaère angrily.
Now that he mentioned it, I realized that she’d never once called me by my name. I couldn’t think of a single time.
“I’d like to hear you call me by my name just once, Master,” I said, and Lunaère stared at me.
“…And now you’re teasing me too?!” she huffed.
“N-no! I really just wanted to hear you say my name, that’s all.”
“I-I’ve said it plenty of times before—fine. I’ll say it again.”
Had she really said it before? Maybe I just didn’t remember.
She closed her eyes and steadied her breathing. She was seriously going all out for this; it even made me anxious. Her lips parted, but then she clamped her mouth shut again.
Did she seriously just balk? I felt my ears turn hot.
“K-Kanata. Er…Mister Kanata?” she said, turning away to hide her face as she spoke. It was thrilling to hear her say it, but her embarrassment was contagious. I covered my face with my hands so she wouldn’t see me blush.
“Y-you don’t have to add Mister,” I said.
Noble’s gazed on the scene, perplexed. “What the heck just happened?”
With a spring in my step, I headed to the kitchen to make dinner. I worried that perhaps I was smiling too much, so I kept smacking my face to banish the expression.
The mood didn’t last long. When Lunaère stood to help me set the table, Noble asked the fated question.
“So, what’re you gonna teach him next?” he asked Lunaère. I gulped when I heard his words. He hadn’t been in the Mirror, so there was no way he could have known.
She closed her eyes and stood in silence. Taking the hint, Noble stopped bouncing and waited pensively. Finally, she opened her eyes.
“There is nothing else I can teach. Even without me, you should be able to survive in the outside world. Your training has come to an end.”
Her words landed like a blow. I knew this would happen eventually—she’d said over and over that I would have to leave when my training was complete—but I was still crushed to hear it. I simply hung my head in silence. When I was tossed into this world, my only goal was to escape Cocytus, but Lunaère and Noble’s friendship had become precious to me. Once I left, I would probably never see them again.
“…H-hey! You’re graduating! Congratulations, chief! I’ll plan a going-away party about a week from now, and—” started Noble.
“No. He leaves today,” said Lunaère, cutting Noble off. The dejected mimic slumped pathetically beside the table. “A mountain of things has gone undone while I’ve spent time on your training. I-it’s not that these days have meant nothing to me, but I don’t want you staying here any longer.”
“Master…”
“Think nothing of it. I trained you on a whim, just to kill time. And time means nothing to a lich. The past few weeks are barely a moment to me, and the emotions I feel are much weaker than your own. It would be best if you didn’t misinterpret things…” she continued.
I had no idea what to say. How much of that did she really mean? She obviously had difficulty expressing her feelings…but her words seemed needlessly hurtful. Or maybe she was right, and I’d truly misunderstood the whole situation.
“Lunaère, is that really what you want?” he asked.
“What do you mean, Noble?” she responded testily.
“N-nothing…”
Lunaère carried the plates of food to the table while I stared at her in disbelief.
“There’s one last place I’ll take you. We will go there after we eat,” Lunaère said.
“Mind if I tag along, Lady?” Noble asked, but Lunaère pointed a finger at him, and he let it drop.
So after an awkwardly silent dinner, I walked alongside Lunaère through Cocytus.
“So…where are we going?” I asked.
Lunaère narrowed her eyes, only saying, “We’ll be there soon.”
She didn’t even look at me when she spoke. That reply was enough to give me a hint that I wasn’t going to like whatever came next.
We walked in silence. Even though we were attacked by monsters along the way, Lunaère didn’t slow her pace. She simply used barrier magic to block their attacks and space-time magic to crush them like bugs. Sometimes she didn’t even bother to turn toward her attacker. I could probably defeat any monster in this area—but not like that.
“Master, I—”
“I am no longer your master.” Lunaère cut me off intentionally, using her curtness as a shield against conversation. I gave up on trying to talk to her.
We finally came to a room lined with large white pillars, each one bearing a statue of an unknown monster. A large staircase led down to another floor. Lunaère stopped walking, and I got the impression that we’d reached our destination.
“Where are we?” I asked.
Lunaère reached into her Dimension Pocket and removed a blue cloth pouch. Why would she want to give me another magic bag? It seemed sort of redundant—I already had one, not to mention that I could use Dimension Pocket myself now.
I stood there, unsure what to do, until Lunaère threw the bag at me. I barely managed to snatch it from the air.
“I’ve placed elixirs, equipment, and some magic books in there. I’ve also given you the Cursed Mirror of the Warped Realm. Try not to let the demons out,” she said.
“Wh-what…?!”
“I was going to take you up to the surface, but it would be faster for you to go down and use the teleportation circle. You should be capable of doing that now.”
“Wait a second! Are you saying this is goodbye?”
“I am. I knew that if I waited, Noble would be stubborn and try to stop you. If I’m not strict, you’ll end up staying here forever.”
While we walked here, I had a sinking feeling this was going to happen. I just wasn’t ready yet. I stared at her, waiting to see if she would change her mind.
“All right, good luck. I doubt we’ll meet again,” Lunaère said brusquely and then turned to walk away.
“P-please wait!”
Lunaère stopped and turned to face me. I desperately searched my mind for what I might say next. She’d been so generous. I wasn’t ready to say goodbye.
“M-Master, aren’t you lonely? Staying here in Cocytus all by yourself…aren’t you interested in the outside world?” I asked.
“I told you. I hate humans. Spending any more energy on you would be an—”
“Even I know that’s a lie!” I shouted.
Lunaère’s eyes opened wide in shock. She was quiet for a moment and then let out a heavy sigh. “Would you listen to a long story from a long time ago?”
I nodded. Lunaère’s expression softened slightly, and she slowly began to tell me about the time before she was a lich.
“I suppose I should start a thousand years ago…with my birth.”
Lunaère was born into a family renowned for their magic prowess.
Even as a young child, her father provided her with a comprehensive magical education. Rigorous study—along with her inborn talent—meant that she was one of the most powerful magic users in Locklore by the age of ten.
Then her father died. Lunaère was saddened, of course, but she watched her mother slowly waste away in grief. That motivated the young girl to research the forbidden methods of resurrection—an obsession she hid from those around her. For four years, she studied death magic before finally learning the spells which could raise the dead.
Now, at age fourteen, she understood that the act of bringing her father back would be considered an atrocity. While Lunaère had pursued the dark magic, her mother had recovered from her grief and begun to look to the future. Therefore, Lunaère chose to leave the dark path that she had been walking.
Three years later, a demon king had appeared.
Emerging suddenly and with no warning, the demon king raised an army of powerful monsters. Human settlements were attacked, massacring anyone living there. The fate of the nation was in peril.
Lunaère’s magical prowess had not gone unnoticed, and she was drafted as a warrior to hunt and defeat the demon king. Even though this particular demon king was incredibly strong and clever, they managed to locate and engage their foe in battle.
While the main army assaulted the demon king’s forces, her small unit of twenty warriors slipped into the demon king’s castle. But the fiend was too strong. Over half of the strike force was killed in the assassination attempt, while the remainder fled.
Lunaère’s injuries prevented her escape, but she had one final trick up her sleeve. The demon king never suspected that the fatally wounded girl at his feet was also the greatest user of death magic in the kingdom. Using herself as a lure, she drew the demon king close before using a spell to rip out the monster’s still-beating heart.
As she lay dying, she worried about her mother. Lunaère knew that after her father’s death, she had bolstered her mother’s will to live. If she died, her mother would surely spiral into grief and despair. Despite her concern, she knew that nothing could be done—she had only one path forward.
To cast the forbidden spell of resurrection, a mage requires the still-beating heart of a demon. Whether it was luck or fate, she held the demon king’s beating heart in her hands. Contained in a dimensional pocket were the other ingredients she’d gathered while attempting to resurrect her father.
She hesitated, but the fear of death spurred her to action. She could not resurrect herself before she died, nor could she cast the spell after her own death. Instead, she wove a spell into an item set to trigger as the moon rose that night.
That day, Lunaère’s life as a mortal human ended. That night she rose as a lich—undead and immortal.
“But…your mom…?” I asked. Lunaère shook her head slightly.
“I could never approach her because of the aura. Even without it, I would be reviled for using forbidden magic. And I knew that… I knew I was leaving my humanity behind.”
She didn’t go into more detail; she didn’t need to. The people around her, the people she’d loved—even her mother—had rejected her.
“That’s why I’m not lying when I say I hate humans. I have no interest in going back to the surface. It’s better this way,” she said.
When I first met Lunaère, she said she hated humans because they betrayed her, but that was only half-true. She knew the consequences for using forbidden magic. The true pity was that she retained her sense of kindness. She never retaliated against the people who rejected her. She simply walked away.
But a thousand years later, those wounds still hurt. It was no wonder she refused to leave Cocytus.
“I was so happy that you treated me like a normal human even though you knew I was a lich. These past few weeks have passed like the blink of an eye, but I truly enjoyed them,” she said with a sad smile—only the second time I’d seen that expression on her face.
“Master, then let me stay! I’ll stay here forever! I…I care about you! I—”
Lunaère bit her lip unhappily and shook her head. “It makes me happy to hear you say that, but you’re not meant to stay here. And…you can’t possibly live a happy life if you stay with me. I’m a lich. I’m surrounded by the aura of unholy impurity, a horrific poison that can kill with even an accidental touch.”
That’s what Noble had said. But…
I moved without thinking. Had I hesitated, the moment would have been lost.
I ran to her, wrapping my arms around her as she hung her head in sadness. She was absurdly powerful, but her body was small and slender. Despite all the trauma and power, she was still just a fragile girl.
“Stop! Wh-what are you doing? The impurity will kill you!” cried Lunaère.
I felt a burning pain across my skin. It was like a high-voltage version of her gentle examination from weeks ago. My breathing became ragged. But after being clobbered by golems and ripped apart by demons, this was a discomfort I could bear. I hugged her tighter.
“It’s nothing…because you trained me,” I said.
Lunaère’s pale cheeks flushed bright red as she looked at me in surprise. I grinned back in return. Maybe I should have raised my level a bit more. It kind of stung, and a few more levels might have taken some of the bite out of it.
“Let me stay with you!” I begged.
“…Thank you, Kanata,” she said. smiling back sweetly. She closed her eyes and leaned against my shoulder, enjoying the warmth of the embrace.
Then she flung me into the air.
“Huh…?!”
I sailed away from her in a clean arc aimed toward the descending stairwell. My only choice was to use Short Gate. I began drawing the magic circle, but Lunaère was faster.
“Space-Time Magic Level 17: Fracture.”
Sprouting from the center of her magic circle came black, rootlike cracks. They spread over the room, piercing the floor and pillars before glowing with an eerie light and shattering everything they touched. I plummeted through what had been the floor only a moment ago.
I saw Lunaère flying up and away.
“M-Master, why?!” I shouted.
“Kanata…I care about you too. I want you to enjoy everything life has to offer.” Through gaps in the falling rubble, I could see tears in her eyes. “That was something I never got to do.”
Then I lost sight of her. I grit my teeth and shouted, “I will come back to Cocytus! I’ll see the world, and I will come back to see you again, Lunaère-san!”
9
LUNAÈRE’S SPELL knocked me down to the 91st floor, along with several tons of collapsed stone, which turned me into a squished carcass. The Ouroboros Wheel must have activated, because a few moments later, I crawled out of the debris. I pulled a healing potion from my Dimension Pocket, gulped it down, and sat down to rest for a while.
The rubble completely blocked any pathway back. She must have thought I would return if she didn’t plug the hole.
Thank you for all you did, Lunaère-san. I’ll manage on my own from here.
I resolved that I would return to her one day. She told me once of a powerful barrier surrounding Cocytus, which prevented any teleportation between floors of the dungeon. I knew there must be some power in the outside world that would let me get around that, but for now, I would respect her wishes.
I started off in search of the next set of stairs that would lead even farther down, determined to make my way to the teleporter on the 100th floor.
After walking for a while, I ran into a dead end. There was a shining golden shield embedded in the wall…something about this felt familiar. I walked over and casually snatched the shield from its mount. As I did, the wall in front of me split open to reveal a huge mouth.
Thought so.
I leaped aside to avoid the bite. It snapped a few times, and then its mouth twisted in a frown of confusion.
“N-nothing?” muttered the mouth in the wall before it closed and disappeared. “Darn…”
I squeezed the gold shield, crushing it. The fake gold coating and rusty iron crumbled to dirt.
“Was the other mimic really this slow?” I asked myself.
Status Check revealed it was a gluttony mimic, the same monster that had eaten my arm before. According to the Acacia Memoirs, a gluttony mimic’s strength lay in the fact that it used walls as camouflage to avoid attacks. They could move through the dungeon at will, since almost all of the walls were joined at some point. After that, it was just a matter of making fake gold equipment to lure in hapless adventurers or other greedy monsters for a quick snack.
In order to kill it, I had to destroy the wall completely before it could flee.
I pointed at the wall and formed a magic circle. “Space-Time Magic Level 19: Gravity Bomb.”
Black light spread across the wall, before contracting into a singularity. An instant later, the wall broke and was pulled into the center of the spell.
“I’m huuungry!” came the mimic’s final cry, just before its sticky bodily fluids splattered across the corridor.
I probably didn’t need to worry about monsters in Cocytus anymore. I was overpowered after spending time fighting demons in the Cursed Mirror. I remembered one demon that looked like a stupid goblin. I tried to take it out quickly with my sword, but its entire body split like a sea angel and opened into a mouth. It bit me in half.
Come to think of it, Lunaère said that the Mirror was in the magic bag she had given me as a parting gift. Why would she give me that? Maybe she thought I’d like to grind a few more levels, but…it was sort of a heavy burden.
No matter. The way things were going I didn’t expect to have any problems on my way down to the 100th floor, so I got moving.
It took three whole days to make my way from the 96th floor to the 99th. The monsters were slightly stronger, but the real issue was that the floors were abnormally large. Apparently, the deeper you went into Cocytus, the bigger they got. So, after a long day of looking for the next set of stairs, I sat down to have dinner and collect my thoughts.
Tastes like chicken…
I swallowed a bite of roast ra thigh. It looked human, but the flavor was totally like poultry. It smelled a little gamey, but I was grateful to have something that tasted nice when simply roasted, without any fancy herbs or spices. As I chewed, I remembered how grossed out I was when Lunaère killed a ra on my first day.
I really got used to it here.
A few hours later, I reached the stairs leading down to the next floor. They were unique among the stairs I’d seen so far—made from a translucent blue crystal, and nothing appeared to support them. They simply stretched down into an inky-black nothingness.
I descended the stairs and eventually came to a long, wide passage.
“Welcome, covetous human! Providence and tenacity have brought you this far,” boomed a voice from deep within. I walked toward it, and the voice continued. “What do you seek in the depths of the world? Did you hear of a potion of eternal youth hidden here? Did some small god tell you that salvation lay within this hall? Or perhaps you’re an explorer…”
Up ahead was a massive golden throne, occupied by a beast that was at least ten meters tall. He had black, gnarled skin and six arms. Four eyes were set on his face, and large curled horns extended from his head. When his mouth gaped open, I could see sharp rows of fearsome teeth. He was terrifying, but he also had the regal presence of a king.
Lunaère neglected to mention this. I stopped walking and gawked at the impressive figure.
“Any reason to journey here is foolish. I am Satan—a mighty demon, essentially a god—and ruler of Cocytus. During my ten-thousand-year reign, you are only the fifth human to reach this room and bask in my glory. Enjoy it while you can, for none have left alive.” The beast spread his arms. “Come, my instrument of power!”
A large black staff adorned with skulls flew into Satan’s grasp. Satan grinned and stood tall.
Not good.
He was ready to fight, so I drew my sword and made a plan to retreat with a series of Short Gates.
“Allow me to reward you for making it this far.” Satan bellowed, raising the staff with two arms. The remaining four began to trace magic seals in the air.
I’d seen them before inside the Mirror. Seals were used by certain schools of magic…and demons. They increased a magician’s focus and their ability to channel the flow of magic. If a caster was going to the trouble of using a seal, they weren’t going to pull any magical punches.
“Prepare to receive the gift of unholy flame that will burn your body and soul!”
If it’s an area attack, I’d better be ready to teleport.
After his seals were locked in, I concentrated on his magic circle to figure out what spell he was casting…and realized it was one that Lunaère had taught me.
Maybe simply disrupting it would be a safer bet, I thought as I created my own magic circle to mirror Satan’s.
“Fire Magic Level 20: Apocalypse!” roared Satan with a wave of his staff.
“Fire Magic Level 20: Apocalypse!” I shouted simultaneously, pointing my sword in his direction.
Two flaming dragons—one from his massive staff and one from my sword—burst forth and flew directly at each other.
“Wh-what?! A human can’t use magic of this level!” Satan’s four eyes opened wide. “No matter! The only thing you have done is given me an opportunity to display the disparity between our powers… You shall be found wanting!”
The dragons collided head-on, grappling one another in an epic battle.
“Behold! Your weakness is revealed!” shouted the demon, a moment before my dragon swallowed his dragon whole and turned toward Satan. His mouth hung open in disbelief.
“Huh,” I said. “You’re pretty much just a normal demon, then.”
I’d been surprised by his use of such a high-level spell, but he wasn’t any tougher than the demons in the Cursed Mirror.
“A n-normal demon?!” stuttered Satan in disbelief before lifting his staff in defense. “P-protect me!”
A magic circle appeared in front of the flaming dragon, and my spell battered against his barrier.
“How unfortunate for you. So long as I possess this staff, your spells are meaningless!”
I understood now. His ability to cast high-level spells and his magical resistance were buffs from the staff. Without that, he probably wasn’t any big deal. I readied my sword and charged forward, intent on closing the distance so I could cut him down.
Satan’s face went taught. “I-impossible! Where did you come from?! F-fine, I’ll drop the staff, just… Wha—?!”
I’d overestimated the magic resistance provided by the staff. The light of the magic circle protecting Satan dimmed and shattered as my spell’s power overwhelmed his defenses. My flame dragon descended on Satan.
Ten minutes later…
“I must say, you made that more difficult than necessary, Kanata… Had I known you were a friend of Lunaère’s, I would have surrendered immediately.” Satan rubbed his six hands together. His regal presence had evaporated; now his entire body was burned raw, and his magnificent horns were broken. The throne and surrounding crystal had been completely blown away.
“Y-you’re the one who attacked me…” I said. This is really awkward…
Satan had barely any HP left. If his dragon and protective ward hadn’t taken some of the energy out of my spell, he’d probably be dead. He’d begged for my forgiveness so desperately that it didn’t feel right to kill him. I handed him one of Lunaère’s spare health potions.
“Ah, well. That was a close shave… All the monsters in Cocytus would have flooded out if I’d been killed. Did Lunaère not tell you about me?” said Satan.
“Nope…”
The only thing I remembered Lunaère telling me about this floor was that it had a teleporter to the surface. If she had only been down here once in the past thousand years, it was likely she simply forgot that Satan existed. I wondered if this is where she learned the spell Apocalypse.
“May I ask, what business does a friend of Lunaère have down here? It’s not about the staff, is it…?” asked Satan, cradling the staff as he looked at me with worry in his eyes.
“Um, no. I’m not really interested in the staff…”
Satan heaved a sigh of relief. Seriously, how could I even carry that thing?
But that got me curious. As he hugged his precious staff, I pulled the Acacia Memoirs out of my Dimension Pocket and flipped through the pages.
BLACK STAFF OF THE APOCALYPSE
Value Class: Godly
A staff that confirms the wielder as the rightful King of Cocytus and provides the necessary power to rule the dungeon. All monsters sealed in Cocytus will submit to the wielder’s sovereignty. The staff assists with the casting of godly fire spells above level 20 and creates an anti-magic barrier around the wielder.
The staff’s size scales to the size of the user.
In all honesty, that made it sound pretty useful. There was something to be said for casting high-level fire spells with relative ease, especially since I’d focused on the fire magic skill.
“Huh, it’s really powerful…and can change size too,” I muttered, and Satan looked startled. It felt really weird to have something so huge act so afraid of me. I shook my head dismissively. “Relax, I’m still not interested.”
“R-really? You really mean it?” asked Satan. “Oh, right… Lunaère is still living a few floors up, isn’t she?” She must have really worked him over sometime in the past.
I recalled how he’d asked if I was an explorer, which is more or less what Lunaère did in her spare time. It was easy to believe that Lunaère came down here for a casual stroll, ran into Satan, pummeled him, then went home.
“Wait, didn’t you say that no one has made it past you alive?” I asked.
Satan was quiet for a moment, then said, “…Lunaère hasn’t left Cocytus.”
That sounded like a win on a technicality. Was Lunaère really the only person to rival Satan in all these years? He was relatively strong, compared to the other monsters, but I had a hard time believing he’d been able to rule unopposed for a millennium.
“Sooo then, what can I do for you…?” he asked. I couldn’t resist silently pointing at the Black Staff of the Apocalypse. His face twisted in misery. “You liar! You said you didn’t need it! Please, I won’t be able to contain the monsters without it! It’s you… You were the true monster all along!”
“S-sorry, guess I took the joke too far.”
“Well, then, why did you come all the way to the deepest point of Cocytus? You must have some important goal,” said Satan.
“Master, uh, I mean Lunaère said it would be faster to get out of the dungeon if I came down here instead of going up…”
He looked shocked, then turned his back to me and let out an incredibly heavy sigh. “Follow me—there’s an altar in the back. The teleportation circle will take you to the dungeon’s entrance. Please…don’t come back.”
“Sure, thanks… I, uh, appreciate it,” I said, following along.
He wobbled as he walked.
10
AS KANATA WAS LEAVING the dungeon, Lunaère was hunting on the 95th floor.
New monsters had begun appearing in the dungeon, along with items she’d never seen before. For an immortal lich, a treasure trove like Cocytus was quite convenient. It supported both her collection hobby and her magic research. None of the new monsters stood a chance against Lunaère; None of the old ones stood a chance either. Lunaère was truly in her element in the depths of the dungeon.
At least she normally was. Today, Lunaère wandered the halls in a daze.
She thought she’d become used to the endless days of solitary exploration. She’d come to Cocytus in despair, since it was the closest thing to suicide that the undead could manage. For centuries, she lived as an emotionless shade. She really hadn’t been introspective about it, because what was the point in that?
But for the past month and a half, she’d spent time with Kanata, a young man who actually admired her. Her world had been turned upside down. Now despair and self-consciousness gnawed at her mind as she tried to slide back into her old habits.
Lunaère’s body trembled, and she put a hand on the wall for support.
“…Kanata,” she said, murmuring his name regretfully, then let out a small sigh. “I shouldn’t have made him leave. I should have helped him become a lich…”
She realized the terrible implications of what she’d just said and shook her head. That would have been unacceptable. She no longer feared the judgment of humans, but she could never forgive herself for such a reckless act.
She gently wrapped her arms around herself and closed her eyes, remembering Kanata’s embrace and how he held her despite the effect of her unholy impurity. Eventually, she regained her composure and let her arms fall back to her sides.
Noble seems worried about me. It’s unnecessary…but perhaps I should return early today.
As Lunaère turned to go, she saw Kanata in the distance. Her expression softened, and a warmth spread through her body. She willed her face back to neutrality and started running toward her former disciple.
“K-Kanata, what are you doing here?! I made it clear that you should leave Cocytus! Stop being foolish!”
As Lunaère approached to arm’s length, Kanata turned to face her. He had a disturbing, uncanny smile on his face.
“Kanata—!”
His arms wrapped around her.
The thin cloth on Lunaère’s shoulders tore away as Kanata’s arms swelled. His hands sprouted claws and rootlike tendrils burst from his stomach, piercing Lunaère’s body. They lifted her small frame into the air while his elongated arms gripped her shoulders ever more tightly.
“Gah! Y-you’re not Kanata! You’re a phantasma!”
The creature’s unsettling disguise began to fade to white, revealing a frightening humanoid figure wrapped in cloth. Also known as ghost devils, phantasmas could make themselves appear as friends and loved ones in order to fool the living. She should have been immune to such trickery, but her emotional state left her vulnerable.
“Hee hee hee!” giggled the ghost as its tendrils bored deeper into her abdomen.
Focusing her power, she shrugged free of the phantasma’s disgusting embrace and placed a palm on its round, white head.
“Space-Time Magic Level 18: Drilling.”
The phantasma’s head disappeared into the ether as the spell transferred all matter in its path into another dimension. A moment later, its body collapsed to the ground.
Again, Lunaère used Drilling to sever what remained of the tendrils before removing them from her own body. She wiped away a rivulet of pale blue blood dripping from the corner of her mouth and looked at her damaged clothing.
“To think I let a monster do this to me… Space-Time Magic Level 22: Retrograde.”
Her injuries and clothing mended while she watched.
Retrograde wasn’t healing magic in the conventional sense. It turned back time to reset things to a previous state, and so it wasn’t limited to use on the living. Other space-time spells were more efficient at mending inanimate objects, but the magical expense of a spell like Retrograde was trivial for a powerful caster like Lunaère.
“Noble would mock me if he saw me in such a condition…” murmured Lunaère to herself as she walked back to her hut. “I need to get it together.”
Later, Lunaère lay on the bed in a daze.
“You were hurt pretty bad, huh?” asked Noble, his casual question concealing his true concern.
“I just don’t feel very well,” said Lunaère.
“C’mon, Lady. We both know there’s no such thing as ‘I don’t feel very well’ for a lich. You were calling Kanata’s name in your sleep,” said Noble.
Her face turned red. “Liar! Y-you must have misheard! I would never say anything like that!”
“Sure, sure. I was lying.”
Wordlessly, Lunaère pointed at Noble.
He shut his lid and cringed away from her before continuing. “If you’re so bent out of shape over it, maybe you should’ve just begged him to stay.”
“Don’t be a moron. You know I can’t do something that awful. Anyway, things have just returned to the way they were. I’ll get used to it soon—I have all the time in the world.”
“We could have gone with him…”
Lunaère shook her head. “There’s no place for me on the surface. I wish I could travel the world with him, but the knowledge of my existence would throw the surface into chaos.”
She knew she was right. Throughout history, the methods to pursue immortality had been sought by magicians and kings alike. Entire countries could be destroyed if unscrupulous rulers found out about Lunaère and attempted to seize her secrets. What was her loneliness compared to millions of lives?
“No. I don’t like humans, and it won’t go well if I leave the dungeon. He shouldn’t be burdened with a monster like me either.”
“You think so, huh? So that’s the only reason you’re being so stubborn?”
Lunaère gripped her blanket tightly and pulled it up to hide her face.
“And…he promised. He promised he’d come back…” she said.
“Yeah…?” Noble warped his lid like a raised eyebrow. “But you know he probably won’t come back, right?”
“What are you trying to say?” She dropped the blanket to stare at Noble with her dichromatic eyes.
“Humans change their minds a lot. Even if he feels strongly for you now, five years is a long time for someone so short-lived.”
“…Kanata is not that kind of person.”
“It’s beyond his control. He’s got what…? Eighty, ninety years tops. It’s pretty selfish to expect he’s going to remember you his whole life just because you saved him once. It’s not like you’re going to be the only person who ever helps him.”
“B-but…Kanata said he cared about me, and he kept hugging me even though it hurt him…” Lunaère’s face turned bright red, and she flapped her arms in agitation.
“True. But Cocytus is slim pickings when it comes to pretty girls. You’re the only one down here. Out in the world? Tons of them. And they’ll be living, breathing humans like him. He’s gonna fall in love with someone else.”
“B-but, but…”
“Besides, you don’t get to have your cake and eat it too. You don’t care enough to leave, but you expect him to care enough to come back?” asked Noble as he swayed side to side and let out a frustrated sigh.
“…”
“When you sent him away without telling me, I thought you were just being frigid. I didn’t think you were dreaming up a convenient little fantasy.”
Lunaère was utterly silent. Tears welled up in her big bicolored eyes as she trembled, gripping her blanket tightly.
“Eh, sorry. Maybe I, uh, maybe I said too much.”
Lunaère pointed at Noble again. A magic circle appeared, and the familiar shining darkness surrounded him. He desperately tried to escape, but he was trapped in the gravity well.
“Hey! I’m sorry! Seriously!” The spell began to subside and Lunaère was about to drop her arm. Then Noble felt compelled to add, “But I really don’t think Kanata is coming back.”
“Gravity Bomb.”
The black light warped space and exploded, taking most of the hut with it.
“…Space-Time Magic Level 14: Repair.”
With just a few words, Lunaère returned the hut to its previous state.
“I-I thought I was gonna die… I can’t believe you actually—ahem. I mean, my bad,” said Noble.
“I’ve decided I will go outside,” said Lunaère.
“Good idea, Lady. A nice walk through the dungeon will clear your—”
“Outside Cocytus.”
“…Huh?” he said in disbelief. This was an unexpected development. “But what about the aura? And you’re not good with humans, right? Moral issues?”
“I told you…I can reduce the impact of the impurity if I want to. It will just take some preparation is all.”
“Uhh, yeah, I heard you say that too, but…”
“As for humans… Well, when I was young, my father said that you should choose how to live based on the things you love, not the things you hate. I’ll manage.”
“Taking this a little fast, dontcha think?”
“There won’t be any moral issues as long as I conceal my true form.”
“You’re making it sound easy! Don’t you think you should think about that a bit more?! ”
“Y-you’re the one who drove me to this! So what should I do, then?!”
“I wasn’t really saying you should do anything… I was just sayin’.”
“I can’t keep living like this. I’m going to start working on a robe to diminish the effects of the impurity, but I need to work fast. …Kanata might meet another girl.” muttered Lunaère as she got out of bed and left the hut to gather materials.
Noble stared after her in awe.
“Well, not like I’d say it to your face, but maybe you shoulda made that robe before you kicked him to the curb.”