Genius Engineer in the Labyrinth - Chapter 65
Only Noblemtl
Cave ruins (4)
Fire is deadly. And beautiful.
Fire has contributed greatly to the development of human life and civilization, to the point where it is called the second fire. In ancient times, it was considered a gift from the gods or even the gods themselves because of its usefulness.
It was also a symbol of destruction and purification.
Taylor looked back and forth between the oversized bonfire that heated up the gym-sized room and Alan, who couldn’t take his eyes off it.
‘An arsonist? A demolition maniac? If I were a wizard, I’d probably use fire spells.’
Taylor knew that Alan had had a difficult childhood. He grew up in Lanka, an economic dependency of Soldos, a colony during the imperial era, and was later captured and sold by pirates, then fell into the hands of a strange man and suffered greatly.
It would be a lie if I said I had no resentment toward the world. Even if I didn’t show it in the past, if there was just a little trigger, the firewood I had been building up could suddenly burst into flames.
‘Even if I show an indifferent attitude, there will be many complaints in the world. I have to lead them well. I can’t let the good Alan become an international criminal like a collector.’
It was too much of a waste for Alan, who was smart and talented, to waste his life as a destroyer. It would be much more rewarding and more in line with his personality to contribute to the advancement of civilization.
‘If you’re going to be a magic engineer, you should become a great person like Catan.’
As Taylor made her decision in secret, Alan was thinking of something completely different. He had no interest in destroying or burning anything.
As I watched the spectacle of the typified black magic being purified by fire and light, I could only feel regret at not being able to see the pure magic of nature with my own eyes.
If that were possible, there would be a lot more things you could do. You could analyze the compatibility and turn it around, draw the runes in a near-perfect form, or read the flow to figure out the enemy’s strategy.
Anyway, since it’s not something that can be solved now, I focused on the changes that occur at the moment when the last fire spider throws itself into the flames.
‘Black magic is particularly vulnerable to fire and light.’
It was something I already knew, but seeing it in person was definitely different. The difference between vaguely knowing something and experiencing it was that big.
As the fire spider disappeared, the flames began to diminish again, and the warlock, left with only instinctive hostility, slowly recovered his body.
“Me, me, me. You disgusting little bastard.”
Allen manipulated the magic bullet using Taylor’s grumbling as a pretext. It was originally activated by firing it with the magic bullet launcher, but it was now broken and had to be manually activated.
He held the magic bullet tightly and injected magical power along the drawn circuit. The magical power moved along the circuit as if the fuse of dynamite had been lit.
Taylor, who had been watching the situation, reached out to throw it himself.
“Give it here.”
“I’ll do it.”
“why?”
“With the reinforced exoskeleton, throwing is no problem.”
Alan tried to hand it to Taylor, but ended up throwing it himself. The added power of the reinforced exoskeleton sent the bullet flying quickly, landing in an unexpected place.
When I was throwing cards, it was okay to do it roughly because it was a narrow passage, but this was a large room so it was a lot of trouble.
“Heh heh···.”
Taylor laughed softly, and Alan handed over the next matan without a word.
The seasoned explorer, who had most of his body transformed into magicware, was also skilled at throwing. Even if he threw it roughly, it hit only the warlock’s body with precision.
“Head, chest, head, and more head. It’s still not rusty.”
As the stock of magic bullets dwindled, the size of the warlock also decreased. After throwing about 50 shots, his regenerative powers also reached their limit.
To be exact, the pillars made of flesh and bones had completely melted away, making it impossible to draw out black magic.
Allen inspected it with his eyes and fired ten more shots to confirm the kill, then waited for the flames and smoke to subside.
“That cockroach. No matter how much I kill him, there’s no end to it.”
“However, his firepower was weaker than that of the warlock I had met before. Instead, his regenerative power was amazing.”
“The guy who said he was the Collector’s disciple? Where does that bastard have any disciples? They’re all slaves.”
Finally, the heat that had been burning the pests subsided, and Alan and Taylor slowly approached the center of the room.
Now, even if the beam was fired, the leopard, which was still intact, went first and kicked the ashes with its feet. Its appearance reminded me of a cat covering its business with dirt.
Despite the continuous explosions, the sarcophagus remained intact. It was no ordinary object, so expectations were high that if there was anything inside, it would be safely protected.
“It’s clean. I guess the collector took it with him when he left.”
“I’m going out.”
The sarcophagus was undeniably empty.
Allen urged the leopard on and ordered him to handle the ashes more carefully, while Taylor rested his buttocks on the sarcophagus lid that was open at an angle.
“Did you find something? Or was it something you were making?”
“Have you experienced the Secret Factory or the Library above? The Labyrinth is homeostatic, but sometimes there are places that break the rules. I think this place is no different. If you look closely at the bottom of the sarcophagus, you can see that there is a very thin layer of dust.”
Alan lowered his head as if to stick it in. At the same time, the light from the headlamp shone brightly inside.
“If there was something, it would have avoided that shape and accumulated dust, but looking closely, it is of uniform thickness.”
“I did take something out, but it was probably before the collector arrived. A few years? Or maybe a few decades? It must have been somewhere around that time.”
“Who could it be?”
“Breaker and several major corporations know of the existence of this relic, so it must be one of them.”
“That is ultimately a question of probability. There is no guarantee that only they will know.”
“That’s why they keep trying to go down so desperately. As you go down, the layers get wider and the number of explorers decreases, so the possibility of making new discoveries increases. This is probably the biggest reason.”
Taylor curled his index finger and thumb into a ball and smiled wickedly. The more valuable the knowledge, the more expensive it is. Just as Alan was about to agree, the leopard came over and rubbed its head against his.
“Don’t you know how to be cute?”
“It’s a signal that something has been brought.”
When Alan held out his hand, the leopard opened its mouth. The transparent, round crystal it had been carefully biting fell out. In the center, a needle floated as if weightless.
It was a compass that would tell you the location of the door to the next floor if you fed it the magic stone of the monster that appeared on the floor.
“It’s the second time I’ve seen this.”
“That’s good. Since we’ll need these items when we go down to the primeval forest anyway, let’s keep them instead of selling them.”
“Thank goodness this expedition almost lost money because of the Warlock. Last time I saw it, one of those cost 20 million coins.”
“The compass is pretty good, but that’s only true among Oparts. And if you’re skilled enough to go back and forth through the primeval forest, you can make that much money if you work a little harder.”
Alan turned the compass around in his hands and asked Taylor.
“Look at this. The needle is weak, but it’s golden. The one Professor Oros showed me last time was silver.”
“Silver is right. I’ve never heard of gold, even by hearsay···.”
Taylor, who had been handed the compass, shined the light of his headlamp on it. Upon closer inspection, a faint flash of gold was seen.
“I knew that because you told me. I wouldn’t know it if I just looked at it roughly.”
Taylor held out the compass to the box that rolled over. The box, which was about to store the items as entered, stopped as soon as Taylor took his hand away.
He reached out again, and the box approached. While Taylor made it seem as if she was playing with a pet, Alan searched his memory.
‘The first sight I saw was…’
A warlock prostrating himself next to a sarcophagus, and pillars made of flesh and bone. Perhaps the warlock was bowing to the pillars, not the sarcophagus.
‘And the pillars···.’
There was flesh attached to the bottom and sides of the sarcophagus. It was strangely similar to the flesh-covered dwarf I had seen in the prison before entering the room.
“The sarcophagus is underground, the pillars are flesh.”
“What? Don’t keep it to yourself. Can you explain it to me so I can understand?”
“The pillars covered the sarcophagus, almost like a tree with roots, as if trying to absorb something.”
“Did you think that the energy contained in the broken object was also transferred to the stone coffin?”
Taylor, a veteran, got right to the point. It was something he came up with naturally because he had so much experience.
“I don’t know what that thing is, but if it’s been sitting there for a long time, then it could definitely be like that.”
“The problem is that we don’t know what the object is. If we knew that, we would know what a compass does.”
“Could this be a compass that can help us find the ruins?”
“Then it’s a jackpot. I can only imagine how many honey pots there are down there that no one knows about. My mouth is watering already.”
Taylor has been strangely active lately. When he was recovering from his illness, he seemed detached from the world, but lately he has been acting more like a hot-blooded young man.
Rather, it was a good change. Just like a patient who recovers his nerves through extreme rehabilitation, if you change your mindset, it will have a positive effect on your body.
The loot from the ruins includes a compass and experimental tools left behind by the collector.
“If it weren’t for my compass, I would have suffered the first loss in my career as an explorer.”
“Oh my, it’s already experience after only a few months. Now, a private or a trainee who just graduated from training camp is the same.”
“I don’t know because I’ve never been in the military.”
“A tadpole with hind legs or a frog that has just hatched from an egg all look the same to a frog.”
Taylor took the lead, his lips slightly raised. That smile disappeared as soon as he left the ruins, leaving only the seasoned explorer behind.
The fortress was quiet. Alan activated the reconnaissance spider hidden under the walls to observe the interior. Taylor also put the cable of the relay spider behind his ear.
The camera eye of the spider that climbed up the wall moved busily. The interior was darker than before, and the number of underground people had decreased significantly. The underground heavy armor soldiers that had been continuously spawning in the square had also disappeared.
The Ibex mercenary group, sensing the change, entered the fortress and began turning the inside into dust.
He blocked the entrance to the building with attribute-specific magic that came out of his minigun, and used a magic bullet launcher like Allen to knock it down. He also acted like a wolf among sheep, wearing a power suit that resembled a heavy armored soldier.
“It’s gorgeous.”
“You’ve made a lot of money by using the fortress as a hunting ground. I guess you’re planning on using it all up because it’s a hassle to return with ammunition and weapons.”
“It’s a pity, but why are you doing that?”
“It’s possible because it’s the company’s money, not theirs. And if not now, when else would we be able to have fun shooting? Oh, there’s a drone coming this way. Let’s go back quickly.”
Even a ruined fortress like that will be restored over time due to the labyrinth’s homeostasis. Within a month at the most, the underground people will be roaming the place again.
“Will you come down then too?”
“No, it’s not. The hunting grounds were valuable because the heavy armor increased due to the collectors. If it’s the fortress I remember, they would shoot like crazy and only lose money.”
*
In the corner of the warehouse, Alan was fiddling with something again today. Taylor watched him and approached him stealthily, shouting.
“Big news! Big news!”
“···This time, it’s not a lie, right?”
“Going down the labyrinth is all about eating and living, so how can you skip meals? Let’s just put it down and go to the table.”
I looked at my watch and it was already 7pm. I had definitely just had lunch and sat down, but I had no idea that time had passed so quickly.
“When did you bring the book again? When you eat, just focus on the food.”
“yes.”
Alan did as Taylor said and placed the book on the box. The boy rolled over to the sofa and leaned over, dropping the book.
As I savored my salad drizzled with balsamic vinegar, Taylor, who had already emptied his plate, spoke to me.
“It’s news.”
“Weren’t you just saying that to wake me up?”
“It’s bitter if you make a person a joker.”
If Taylor is not a liar, then Alan is an innocent young man who doesn’t even know what a lie is. Anyway, I listened while eating.
“I heard that this time, priests of the Mother Goddess Church are settling in Maze City in large numbers.”
The Mother Church was a religious group that operated the hospital where Kakda was previously admitted. The divine power they used was thoroughly discovered to be a type of magic, so they were called healing magicians rather than priests.
Even the explorers who curse at them from behind tried to recruit them in front, because in the labyrinth, the meaning of recovery is the same as an extra life.
Of course, their numbers were small, so the competition to recruit them was extremely fierce. If there had been more priests, would the pharmaceutical industry have been this active?
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