Chapter 433

The hallway seemed to go on forever. Torches mounted on the walls every twenty paces were the only source of light. His long shadow flickered across the stone floor.
“Stay calm—stay calm, Arcel. Calm down.”
Asel said to himself.
My teeth chattered against the chill that dug into my flesh. The reason I was sure we were in the basement was simple: the hallway was long enough to be endless, but there wasn’t a single window.
“I can’t believe this was in that mansion.
It was definitely not another building. The dense mana in the air was identical to the one he’d felt at Akalusia Manor. The stale air and the chill of the underground confirmed his theory.
“What happened to me? How did I get here—!
Asel desperately racked his brain. He had to think of what had brought him to this point. But no matter how hard she tried, the last thing she could think of was the fluffy pillow under her head and Ronan’s back as he left the room.
“Haa—haa—.”
Asel’s head bowed, his gaze shifted to the hallway once more.
“——hick.”
And I gulped.
Eerie doesn’t begin to describe the scene. The darkness that fell on the hallway was not just shade, but a monster waiting for its prey.
The moment any of the torches were extinguished, he felt as if gnarled arms and tentacles would shoot out and grab him. If there is a passageway somewhere in the world through which ghosts, demons, and other evil beings travel before going to hell, this was surely one of the designated places.
“Why did this happen? Why on earth?
If it had been Ronan who had fallen here, he would have pissed on the wall and started his adventure, but unfortunately, he was far from brave. He tried to stand up, but wobbled.
“Ugh.”
My legs were weak. My head knew I had to escape if I didn’t want to freeze to death, but my body refused.
‘I’m pathetic. I’m a fucking idiot.’
Tears welled up in his big eyes. She had literally been given a miraculous opportunity to get to Acalusia, and she felt so pathetic that she couldn’t even lift herself up. She couldn’t bear to look at her dead parents, or Ronan, who had believed in her and brought her this far.
Still, I struggled to get up.
κΈ°κΈ°—.
Behind him, a screeching metallic sound echoed.
“—Huh?”
It was the sound of rusted hinges. Asel turned his head. Seven paces away, in the ghostly flickering torchlight, he could see the stone gate slowly opening.
“What, what?”
I didn’t notice it because it was the same color as the wall. The doorknob recessed into the door also contributed to the illusion. Upon closer inspection, I realized that under every torchlight there was an identical door. The stone door was about halfway open.
A white hand shot out of the doorway.
“—er.”
Asel’s time stood still. His fingers, too long for his palm, were more like insect legs than human organs. An arm of bone and leather joined the wrist. Fingers curved like hooks dug into the ground.
Hard.
The arm flexed, making a sound like a potato peeler being pulled. The arm unfolded again, revealing more of itself than before. From beyond the open, unmoving door, a grotesque voice, neither male nor female, boiled up.
“Kya—ahhh—.”
Asel could no longer breathe. Only his limp legs flailed pitifully.
The lifted hand touched the floor once again. The arm flexed, and there was a shuffling sound.
Hard.
Longer arms unfolded, revealing a boy’s pale, bloodless head.
“Kyaaaa–kyaaaa–.”
The bizarre voice was coming from the boy’s mouth. Asel almost lost it. The boy, who appeared to be about his age at best, had no eyes. Where his pupils should have been, there were only two black holes.
“Monster, monster.
It was never human. Its tousled hair twitched as if it were alive. Sharp, shark-like teeth flashed from the corners of its mouth, which was torn down to the base of its earlobes.
“Move.
Asel clenched his fists. He didn’t know what that thing was, but he knew what he had to do now.
He had to get away before the boy realized he was there. Barely out of his seat, Asel staggered backward. The boy crawled forward once more and suddenly jerked his head toward him.
“Yuck.”
“——.”
Asel’s eyes met two empty holes. His breath came out like a flood of water. His feet, already hovering in the air, touched the ground.
“Kiieeeahh-!”
The boy’s mouth gaped open and a terrible roar erupted.
“Kaaaaaah!”
Asel’s paralysis lifted. A renewed scream echoed through the hallway, his stiff legs opening up like a spring. Turning his back on the boy, Asel began to run, never looking back.
“Hmph. Heee! Heeeeeek!”
For the first time, he realized he could run this fast, the sound of his soles hitting the stone floor echoing loudly. After five minutes of running, Asel realized that the only footsteps echoing down the hallway were his own.
“Oh, they’re not following you?
My heart was already at its limit. Maybe the boy was still in the same place, and maybe I was the only one who ran like a fool.
Steeling himself, Asel glanced back, and realized two things.
“Ah.”
First, that you’re wrong.
Second, that I will have nightmares about this scene until I die.
The boy, fully formed, was only ten paces behind him.
“Heeeeeeeeeeeeee!”
A second scream erupted.
The speed was one thing, but it was the shocking shape that was the biggest problem. The quadrupedal boy, like an animal, was crawling along the ceiling, not the floor. That’s why there were no footsteps. Every time his overly elongated limbs twisted at a grotesque angle, the distance between them closed.
“Haa—! Haa.”
Tears streamed uncontrollably down my back. My intestines felt like they were sloshing. I could hear my heart beating more clearly than ever. Even if I wanted to run faster, I didn’t have the strength anymore.
When he looked back again, the boy had landed directly on top of his head.
“That’s it.
Asel’s mind went white. The boy slowed his pace deliberately, preparing to catch himself. Finally, a finger poked out from the ceiling. The boy, propped up on his toes, stretched out his arms to snatch him up.
“Argh! Invisible Hand!”
It was an act of survival instinct. Asel stopped dead in his tracks, spun, and swung his fist. The hooked fingers were about to reach the back of his head when an invisible fist slammed into the boy’s face.
Kaaaaaah!!!
His body slammed into the ceiling with a loud thud, as if he’d been hit by an artillery shell.
“Hmph?!”
Asel was stunned. The power was far beyond his expectations. As the dust settled, the boy was revealed, hanging limp like a hanged prisoner. The boy, whose head had completely disappeared into the ceiling, was writhing and convulsing.
“Ju, are you dead?”
He stepped back, alert. The boy stopped moving. The floor was littered with dozens of sharp, shark-like teeth. They had been cracked and pulled out the moment the telekinetic punch hit.
“Haaaaaaa—lived.”
Asel breathed a sigh of relief. His sloshing entrails had returned to their original form. Steam rose from his reddened skin.
“—I’m not as weak as I thought, am I?
Asel clenched and unclenched his fisted right hand. Ronan’s words, “You will be the greatest mage of all,” echoed through his mind, and he shuddered with the exhilaration that boiled in his belly.
It made sense. It was a triple whammy of first-time victory, the exhilaration of survival, and magical progress like I’d never experienced before.
But there was no time to celebrate now.
“Chu, we need to find an exit.”
Catching his breath, Asel tied his hair back. He was alive for now, but there was no telling how many more of those monsters there were.
He straightened his clothes and started moving forward again. He’d been walking for another ten minutes or so along the deserted corridor. Mana of a kind he hadn’t felt before caught up with him.
“Is this—?”
Asel froze in place. He followed the flow of mana and a door appeared. It was almost identical in appearance to the others that lined the hallway, but it had a different vibe.
“——Acalucia.”
Asel froze as he scrutinized the door. The doorknob was engraved with a familiar symbol. The Inquisitor roaring at the moon was the unmistakable symbol of Akalusia. He reached for it, but the closed door opened of its own accord.
“What, what?”
The hinges didn’t make a sound. They moved as smoothly as if greased with oil. A strange blue glow, a richness of mana unlike anything I’d ever experienced, poured from within the room.
“Nu, is anyone there?”
It was as if it was beckoning him to enter. Asel stepped into the room like a man possessed by something.
The interior was illuminated by a blue light emanating from a gemstone in the ceiling. It looked like someone’s lab, judging by the stacks of books and lab equipment.
Suddenly, Asel looked around and froze in place.
“——!!”
I was so stunned that I couldn’t find my voice. A huge box stood in the center of the room. Inside the box, which was completely open on one side, stood a woman with her eyes closed.
“Is this a doll?
She was a tall woman, rivaling Ronan in stature, and her body was finely clad in the uniform of Acalusia. The way she held her hands crossed over her chest made her look like a vampire from a fairy tale.
“We’ve come this far, we can’t back down, we have to figure something out.
Normally, he would have fled without a backward glance. But perhaps the commotion earlier had strengthened his heart, and he approached the woman with more respect for her curiosity than fear. Ready to deliver a telekinetic punch at a moment’s notice if anything suspicious happened.
Asel looked the woman over, then muttered in a low voice.
“It’s pretty.”
She was a beautiful woman. Her nose was high and her eyelashes were thick. Her hair cascaded down to her waist like a black waterfall. For a moment, Asel was mesmerized by her beauty, temporarily forgetting his current situation. If she weren’t so tall, he would have been tempted to summon up the courage to speak to her.
As he watched her, however, he soon realized a terrifying truth.
“—is not a doll.
She was a corpse. She was sleeping an eternal sleep. I wondered how someone so beautiful could have died and why she was lying in a cold crypt instead of a tomb. She didn’t smell of embalming fluid. Asel watched her with half fear, half interest.
The silent woman’s eyes widened.
“——!!!”
Asel wobbled. He almost fell to the ground. The woman’s eyes were gray like ash. Beautiful, but lifeless, the dilated pupils remained vacant.
The car was about to crash when he heard a sound like a deflated balloon.
“What the hell. Who’s here?”
Down the hall, someone’s voice and footsteps echoed simultaneously.
“Hic.”
It was a woman’s voice. Asel’s heart seized up. As he looked around desperately, his gaze caught sight of an open chest. It looked like it might be able to hide his body, even if it contained some junk.
Thud.
Asel threw himself into the bin and closed the lid. It was an act of instinct. This must not be seen.
The footsteps grew closer and closer, until at last they were in sight. Asel gingerly lifted the lid of the chest and peered out. A black-robed figure stood before the woman’s corpse.
“Huh.”
Asel raised an eyebrow at the sight of the monster’s face.
Ebony hair, cat-like eyes with raised tips.
She was Erzebet, a young lady of the great house of Akalusia.
“So, the rumors were true—!