The Return of The Mythical Archmage [EN]: Chapter 417

As we headed deeper into the center, the poison grew thicker.

It was so thick that the wind sphere I had created began to become contaminated.

I hurriedly blocked the contamination, but the loss of oxygen was unavoidable.

Because of that, my activity time is now quite precarious.

“Successor, since we need to conserve oxygen even while speaking, just listen,” Mimir said to me.

“We’ve gone far enough for now. We’re also running low on oxygen. Let’s get out of here for now.”

There isn’t enough oxygen to continue exploring any further.

It would be best to retreat and come back later.

I nodded in agreement.

“We’ll have to hurry a bit on the way back. We won’t last 30 minutes with the remaining oxygen.”

I only have 30 minutes of activity time left.

After 30 minutes, I won’t be able to breathe anymore.

“I’ve set up the fastest route out. Just follow the route.”

With Mimir’s gesture, a 3D navigation screen appeared in front of me.

I nodded and moved in the direction the navigation indicated.

‘Even if we move diligently, it’ll take 25 minutes to get out. That’s cutting it close.’

Even if we follow the fastest route Mimir set, it will take 25 minutes.

If we delay even a little, it’s dangerous.

“I’m sorry. If we were thinking about safety, I should have told you to leave sooner. But I wanted to check the mountain range ahead.”

There’s a reason why we continued exploring so precariously.

In the center of the West African continent lies a rugged mountain range.

The terrain where Phinis [a mythical magic that breaks down boundaries and opens gaps] is most likely to be is the mountain range.

And since mountain ranges are the most sensitive to natural changes,

I needed to check beforehand with my own eyes how much it had changed.

That’s why we pushed ourselves like this.

“…….”

I shook my head, quickening my pace.

There’s no need to feel sorry.

I looked at Mimir, conveying that meaning.

‘The exploration went wrong in the first place because I didn’t manage the wind pouch properly.’

It’s not Mimir’s fault.

…And I knew from the start that the oxygen was running low, and I pushed myself knowing that.

It’s not Mimir’s fault.

“…Still. From the position of prioritizing your safety, I put you in a somewhat dangerous situation…”

Mimir gave a wry smile with a look of embarrassment.

I shook my head again.

There’s really no need to worry about it.

I shook my head vigorously, full of that determination.

Mimir smiled wryly again.

“Okay. I’ll stop with the self-reproach.”

With those words, Mimir’s expression returned to normal.

That’s enough with the self-reflection.

Now, I’ll focus on getting out.

That was the expression she seemed to have.

“Ah, Successor. I’m going to change the route a bit. Looking at the terrain change distribution I investigated on the way, this way is safer.”

Terrain changes also have their own rules.

As long as the terrain is the same, the changes themselves are bound to be somewhat consistent.

With Mimir’s knowledge and the choker’s performance, it’s possible to grasp the terrain of places we haven’t been to yet to some extent using terrain change data.

I immediately changed direction to the one Mimir indicated.

At that moment, the 3D navigation changed in real-time.

The estimated arrival time was reduced by 3 minutes.

‘……This puts us in the safe zone?’

Just by reducing 3 minutes, the mental burden was greatly reduced.

At this rate, we can definitely get out before the oxygen runs out.

‘As we go towards the outskirts, the poison weakens, so the oxygen consumption is decreasing… At the very least, we’ll have about 10 minutes to spare.’

The 3 minutes of time gained us 10 minutes of leeway.

At this rate, unless an unusual variable occurs, we can get out without any problems.

‘Unlike my worries, there don’t seem to be any monsters inside. I can assume there’s no room for variables to occur…’

Could it be that monsters can’t live in this level of poison?

There are no monsters inside.

As long as there are no monsters, no major problems can occur.

There’s no room for any unusual variables to occur.

‘I can relax a bit.’

I relaxed my mind to some extent. My steps became lighter.

If I run like this for 15 minutes, I’ll say goodbye to this awful poisonous fog.

…Of course, it’s a temporary goodbye.

“Successor! Stop!”

It was then.

Mimir shouted urgently.

Her voice was too urgent.

I immediately braked and stopped in my tracks.

Then, I looked at Mimir and asked.

“Why?”

Now that I have 10 minutes to spare, there’s no need to conserve oxygen by saving my words.

“Successor. Don’t speak.”

Mimir said, glaring at me.

It was an unexpected reaction.

There should be enough oxygen. Why is she so angry?

“There’s a place we need to check before we go. The oxygen might be running low.”

“……?”

Suddenly, there’s a place we need to check?

“Look here.”

Mimir pointed to the terrain on the right side based on my position.

“According to my calculations, this terrain shouldn’t be so deeply sunken.”

It’s unusually deeper than other terrains.

‘……Certainly. There hasn’t been any terrain that’s sunken in like this before.’

This is the only place showing this kind of change.

“This isn’t a natural change. Someone intentionally made it like this.”

I approached the sunken terrain, knelt down on one knee.

Then, I examined the soil.

‘……There are traces of someone having dug it up.’

The soil here is strangely different in color. Someone dug up the soil once, and the somewhat soft soil inside and the dry soil outside are mixed haphazardly.

“Successor.”

Mimir called me.

I nodded.

I could understand what Mimir was trying to say without having to say it.

Buzz, buzz!

I used mana to explore the area around the sunken land.

And soon after, I was able to find something strange.

I could feel a void that shouldn’t be there below.

‘A secret passage?’

There’s something that looks like a passage below.

In a land that no one has entered for 42 years, there are traces of soil being dug up recently.

And in that location, there’s a space that looks like a secret passage.

That means.

“……It’s here. The one who created the poison here. They did something inside here.”

There’s something inside.

Whether it’s Veil Stole or his subordinates.

The cause of this land being in this state exists inside.

That’s what it meant.

“……8 minutes. We have that much time to spare.”

Mimir quickly checked the time and said.

“Successor. Let’s just go to the entrance.”

I nodded.

I can’t just pass by after discovering such a suspicious place.

‘There might be people left inside…’

I carefully broke through the ground.

The secret passage slowly began to reveal itself.

I carefully but quickly moved into the passage.

* * *

The inside of the passage was completely different from what I had expected.

“8 minutes or whatever, there’s no need to worry about oxygen?”

“……Yeah?”

Mimir nodded.

“I didn’t expect there to be a purification device installed.”

She had an expression of not expecting it at all.

“……How on earth are they purifying this level of poison?”

No, it would be more accurate to say that it was impossible to expect.

Knowing how terrible the poison here is.

Knowing how difficult it is to purify the poison here, I never expected such a situation to unfold inside the passage.

I released the wind pouch I had installed on my nose and mouth.

“……It’s really completely purified.”

I could tell more clearly when I breathed directly through my nose.

The air inside is perfect.

If you could grade oxygen, it’s at a level that could be called 1st grade clean air.

“What did they do?”

I looked around.

A cave with nothing.

No, a tunnel that can’t even be called a cave.

In this shabby structure that’s just a hole in the ground, they prepared a device that can purify the poison so perfectly?

In this barren place with no electricity or mana supply?

“There’s no way this is possible.”

It’s impossible.

It’s as difficult as creating a lake on Mars.

“Successor. I checked again, and there’s no magic engineering device inside.”

“……I guess there isn’t.”

There aren’t even any devices inside.

I couldn’t find any mana circuits unique to magic engineering devices.

“……How is the poison being purified?”

There’s no purification device, but the poison is purifying itself.

How is that possible?

“Successor. Let’s go a little deeper. There might be something we don’t know about inside.”

“Is there such a thing?”

A device that we can’t even sense. Can such a thing exist?

“If it’s Veil Stole, maybe.”

“……I guess so.”

If Veil created this passage, it’s not entirely impossible.

It’s not impossible that he’s purifying the poison here with some unknown method.

“There might still be people inside. Let’s go slowly.”

I nodded and slowly started walking.

A tunnel that was just dug without any care.

I slowly walked through that tunnel.

“Mimir. Do you feel anything?”

“No.”

Even as I walked, I couldn’t feel anything.

There are no devices inside.

The more I walked, the more certain I became.

“What is it?”

“……I don’t know.”

Both Mimir and I were momentarily stunned by this incomprehensible phenomenon.

A technology that we can’t even sense.

Does that mean Veil Stole’s power far exceeds our expectations?

‘If that’s the case… it’ll be difficult in many ways.’

All sorts of thoughts flashed through my mind.

Bad thoughts that started from the mystery filled my head.

Those bad thoughts grew as I walked further.

“……The end?”

And that thought reached its peak the moment I reached the end of the tunnel.

Even after coming this far, I can’t figure out the cause at all.

Does that mean the technological gap between us and Veil is that big?

I couldn’t believe it.

“……Mimir.”

“……Just a minute. Just give me a minute. I need to think…”

Mimir bit her lip with a look of great shock.

An expression of not being able to accept it.

She had an expression of not being able to understand this situation at all.

‘You guys. You’re more stupid than I thought?’

At that moment. A voice was heard directly in my head.

A familiar voice.

The voice of a woman I’ve recently become familiar with.

‘I don’t know why you’re so shocked. Isn’t this a situation you should be happy about?’

The goddess Umbra.

She was talking to me.

‘Even after I’ve told you this much, you still don’t understand what I mean?’

Umbra said as if she was pathetic.

‘That my contractor is so stupid that they can’t even notice something this simple. This is a bit of a problem.’

The image of Umbra shaking her head with a sigh of despair naturally came to mind.

‘Even though it’s hard to sense a god in the first place. You should have sensed it if you got that close.’

My eyes widened in an instant.

A god? A god that’s hard to sense?

‘Is it because you’re still in the growth stage? I’ll understand it that way. Otherwise, I’ll be very sad.’

Umbra sighed again, ‘Aigoo’ [a Korean expression of exasperation].

‘Look closely.’

At the same time, black light flowed out from Umbra’s relic.

Mana like Umbra’s unique shadow filled the area.

“……!”

And at that moment, Mimir let out a silent gasp of shock with a surprised expression.

“Su, Successor. That…”

Inside the tunnel filled with black light.

There was something that was rejecting the black light alone.

‘The god of boundaries and gaps. Phinis.’

Phinis.

His relic was swallowing the darkness.

‘Seriously… Even after seeing it again, it’s such a shitty power.’

Umbra clicked her tongue slightly as she looked at Phinis.