Stealth Kid Meets a Transcendent Being – Part 03

“Hm?”

He was currently walking through the Tower. He’d snuck around here countless times before, so he knew the place well. But there was one area he always tried to avoid.

The section with the great pit, a gaping hole that led deep into the earth.

From it, dark energy poured out. Over a thousand years ago, a man named Funai, a genius inventor who had wandered the lands after leaving the Man Gnome village, arrived at this spot. Funai had attempted to seal the dark energy spewing from the great pit, only to be killed by his own companion, who then used Funai’s life force to complete the seal.

The murderer, who covered up the crime, later went on to found a city here. This murderer was the first Pope, a secret known only to his successors.

Hikaru had ventured into the great pit before. The mad scientist Ranna had broken the seal and gone inside, transforming into a demon. Hikaru killed Ranna, but the seal was still broken. Luvain had struggled to reseal it.

Now, the great pit appeared calm.

A building had been erected to block the entrance, and guards were supposed to be stationed around the clock.

As Hikaru approached, he noticed two soldiers asleep by the door. It was unthinkable for both of them to be asleep at the same time. Something was definitely wrong. His heart began to race.

“Why here?”

If there was an intruder, they must have come through this way. But the great pit was sealed, and only a select few knew of its existence.

Did someone sense something odd and sneak in? Or was there another reason?

“What should I do? Call for more soldiers? No, maybe I should go in alone.”

If the intruder was skilled, calling for more soldiers could make things worse, leading to unnecessary casualties.

With his Stealth, he could track the intruder without being detected. He had no idea who would have business in the great pit, but they must be very dangerous. Entering the Tower itself was no easy feat.

He opened the door. Inside, the room was dim and smelled of damp earth. A massive vertical pit stretched out before him, with a spiral staircase leading downward.

The walls of the pit were covered with intricate magical circuits, likely part of the seal. The faint glow from these circuits meant it wasn’t completely dark.

Hikaru activated his Stealth and carefully descended the stairs, using his Mana Detection to stay alert. The long climb back up was already a grim thought.

At the bottom, the air was damp and carried a musty scent, but there was something else, a nagging sensation of being watched.

Several doors down the passage were open.

It didn’t seem like the seal had been forcibly broken, but it was definitely undone.

“It’s like the seal was undone on its own. No, what am I thinking? That’s impossible.”

This is very strange, he thought.

His Mana Detection picked up the presence of someone further ahead. The person didn’t have an overwhelming magical signature, nor did they feel like an especially important figure.

They were small. In fact, it almost felt like a civilian had wandered in by mistake.

Hikaru swallowed nervously. Should he really keep going?

He would’ve preferred facing a powerful warrior or a crafty mage. His instincts were warning him that danger was near. He shouldn’t proceed.

“But I have Stealth.”

If the presence was truly so unknown, it would be better to investigate now, especially since it was in the great pit. If the seal had truly been broken, dark energy would soon begin to leak out.

Hikaru took a deep breath, forcing his mind to stay calm. Despite the concealment of his Stealth, he moved with extra caution, making sure his steps were as quiet as possible.

The air was still, with no breeze. Even though it was the first month of the year, sweat beaded on Hikaru’s forehead. Ahead of him stretched a vast space.

In the distance, a building loomed, vaguely resembling a temple. The door was closed, and in front of it, there had once been the white bones of Funai. Hikaru heard that Luvain had moved and buried them elsewhere.

The space around him was completely dark, but Hikaru could still make out the building because a figure stood in front of it, holding a lantern.

It wasn’t a magical lamp or one lit by fire, just a simple lantern filled with glowing magic gems. The light it emitted was faint, casting only a dim glow on the surroundings.

The figure holding the lantern was small.

As Hikaru saw their back, a thought crossed his mind: I’ve seen this before.

Then he thought, No way.

The hooded robe the figure wore looked familiar.

Talis?

Talis. The elderly woman who had taught Dodorono about marine creatures. The same woman who was guarded by soldiers on her journey to Agiapole. Despite her somewhat absent-mindedness, she always wore a bright, friendly smile.

Hikaru had simply assumed there was some reason for her journey to Agiapole, maybe family waiting for her there. He had let his guard down, never considering that she could be anyone special. She didn’t possess any strong magical power, nor did her belongings stand out.

Indeed, there was nothing. Absolutely nothing. At least nothing detectable by Hikaru’s highest-level Mana Detection.

That’s what made this so strange. An old woman, with nothing at all, had somehow infiltrated the Tower and now found herself at the bottom of the great pit.

When Talis slowly turned toward him, Hikaru’s tension spiked. Sweat poured from his body. Despite knowing his Stealth would keep him hidden, his muscles tensed anyway.

Talis’s face was normal. She looked as though she had simply taken a stroll.

“Ah.”

Talis began walking toward him. Hikaru knew he should move, step aside, but his feet remained rooted to the spot.

“Ah.”

He couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

With each step Talis took, her face seemed to shift. No, it wasn’t just her face. Her height was changing. She was becoming younger.

Though there had been about thirty meters between them, by the time Talis reached him, she had grown taller, and in the faint light, it was clear. She had transformed into a young woman.

Her long, wavy hair shimmered a deep blue, and her long lashes framed almond-shaped eyes. Her lips, full and inviting, were the same shade of blue.

Even though she wore a loose robe, her body’s curves were unmistakable. A large chest, narrow waist, and rounded hips gave her the figure of a woman who would turn heads in a tavern.

Hikaru was standing just a little off to the side. Talis stopped and turned her gaze toward him.

Hikaru could feel his Stealth being active. Even at this close range, no one had ever noticed him while using this ability.

But Talis did.

“I see you are loved by the ruler of this world.”

The voice was soft, yet unmistakably clear. Hikaru wanted to ask what it meant, but no words came.

Talis seemed to grow into a giant, towering over him to the point where he couldn’t even see her face when he looked up. His body felt numb, frozen in place.

“Interesting.”

Her voice, laced with curiosity, jolted him. In an instant, Talis was back to her normal size, just slightly taller than Hikaru.

“Shrouding yourself in the breath of a Drakon and adorning yourself with its parts. Very contradictory, child of man.”

But her interest in Hikaru faded quickly.

“This seal is troublesome. Ideally, I’d like to proceed in a calm environment. Best to calm down the irritable Brigid.”

After speaking—though it was hard to tell if she was speaking directly to Hikaru or simply talking to herself—Talis walked away.

Some time after Talis left, Hikaru let out the breath he had been holding.

Collapsing to the ground, he gasped for air, feeling the tension drain from his body as he regained control of his limbs.

“Wh-Wh-What the hell is she?!”

Did Dodorono know about this? What was her plan with the seal? What connection did she have with Brigid?

“She also called me child of man.”

Realization dawned on him. There was only one entity who had ever used that term.

“Is she a friend of the Fire Drakon?”

Hikaru had twice encountered the Fire Drakon that descended on the skies above Ponsonia’s capital in the dead of night, so he was accustomed to the intense aura of such a life form. The average person would have fainted before Talis.

“The only thing I know for sure is that this is serious.”

His Mana Detection couldn’t even pick up Talis anymore. He should have been able to sense her if she was still climbing the spiral staircase of the vertical pit, but there was nothing. It seemed she had moved without a trace.

“Did she fly away or something?”

If this was some kind of a joke, he didn’t find it funny.