Retire 293

by Cristae

293 Magic Lamp (2)

“It feels like it should have a different name than ‘magic lamp.’”

“Like what?”

“I mean, it’s not so much granting wishes as it is healing people. And it seems to take payment very precisely.”

“That’s the problem?”

“People are more influenced by words than you’d think. You have to call things by their right name…”

I gave Kim Chaemin a halfhearted reply, my mind drifting to the dungeon monster Sam Bloom had manipulated during the forum.

Huge body. Pure white feathers.

Even the feathers that sprouted from Sam Bloom’s arm.

The idea of “replacing with something new” stuck with me.

…Did Sam Bloom get a new arm, too? But that feathered arm was nothing like a human limb.

If that’s the case, then the new arms and legs, or organs and eyes, given to the hunters who made deals with the “magic lamp” Han Taekyung described—

Were they really still theirs?

September 16, 2021.

Day 2 of the World Unconquered Dungeon Forum.

After Hope disappeared, Hong Seok-young picked up his spear. Watching, Woo Hijae still looked dissatisfied.

“Isn’t this a little too brute-force?”

“If you have a better idea, now’s the time to speak up.”

Woo Hijae edged away.

“Go ahead, then.”

Hong Seok-young snorted at him.

“I’m the one doing the smashing, so why are you the one complaining?”

“It’s just… so crude.”

“Dungeon raids are hard labor, you know.”

Hong Seok-young set his spear against the floor. Like a knife through cake, the spear sliced the ground open with ease.

“Didn’t you know that, as my disciple?”

Thud!

Woo Hijae looked sick as he watched the floor—and ceiling—collapse.

“Good thing there aren’t any monsters… What if something comes out? We don’t know what’s down there.”

“Come on. Didn’t you know that, as my disciple?”

“……”

“If you’re my disciple, you should know your master.”

Hong Seok-young clicked his tongue and laughed.

“If anything shows up, just kill it.”

Beneath their feet, in the lowest depths of the unknown dungeon—a shadowy cavern.

At the center of the cavern sat a single, massive golden eyeball, ringed with pure white feathers.

And the air reeked of blood.

“Let’s go.”

Hong Seok-young and Woo Hijae descended through the hole they’d smashed in the floor. In their haste, they didn’t have time to check what lay below. If they’d known what preparations the young European magician had made, they might have hesitated.

Or maybe not. As Hong Seok-young said, just kill everything.

As they fell from the ceiling, they were caught in a web of tightly woven magic. An illusion spell that preyed on the vulnerabilities of the human mind wouldn’t hold two veteran hunters for long, but it only needed to buy a little time.

The young magician didn’t care who was caught in his spell. He couldn’t spare the attention. He simply stood facing the bundle of feathers. The enormous eye blinked slowly, meeting the magician’s gaze.

The magician answered the voice that resonated through his entire body.

He had already conveyed his intentions.

“I never planned to go on living in this form anyway. If I can offer up this old blood and receive the body of the highest one, it’s an honor.”

“Yes. Absolutely. My faith is unwavering. Glory is eternal. Life endures and death is conquered.”

“My purpose continues, my will is passed on. Sacred sacrifice is remembered, the stars are guarded, the sky is opened.”

“Yes.”

The magician knelt. With the reverent face of a supplicant, he pressed his hands together in prayer.

“Cleanse this filthy flesh and grant me a new body. Let me enter a better world.”

The giant eye looked down at the magician. Bowing his head, the magician couldn’t sense the emotion in that gaze.

Even if he had, he wouldn’t have dared to judge it by human standards.

Yet the “eye,” intelligent and so compassionate as to grant the wishes of otherworldly beings, felt emotions not so different from those of humans.

“Let me see more. Let me grasp more. Let me…”

The giant eye did not answer the magician’s prayer. But it saw no reason not to grant this greedy creature’s wish.

After all, this place would soon be closed off forever, and the feathers would vanish. Even if it wasn’t the outcome it wanted, if even one soul was satisfied, that wasn’t so bad.

…Though the choice to abandon a perfectly good body was incomprehensible. It would never understand.

The magician’s muttered words did not reach the bundle of feathers and the eye. They were of no use.

It granted the wish, but not out of pure goodwill. With a touch of mischief, it took a little more in payment.

Blood flowed. The foundation of life was tainted. But the soul that denied itself wouldn’t care. Greedy creature. Greedy soul. Greedy…

But the burning emotion was delightful. It meant there were still those in this world who would set it ablaze.

The giant eye reached out to the magician.

After that, the magician’s magic shattered, and a furious being appeared.

The rapid exchange of words didn’t reach the giant eye. Fearing the collapse of the cavern, it used the last of its strength to protect the place. Like any living thing, it wanted a peaceful end.

When the commotion finally died down, at the right moment, it sent the otherworldly beings who had entered back out, one by one. They were pitiful souls swept in through a door forced open by that greedy human.

When all the living things were gone, darkness returned to the cavern. The eye quietly waited for the end. The spilled blood on the floor was peaceful.

But someone broke the silence.

“Hello.”

A soul, stained red, popped up before the eye. Just a moment ago, it had been one of the living beings here.

The eye looked at the soul. Up close, it could see what it hadn’t before: faint, flickering wings, as if they might vanish at any moment.

Wings that once sparkled like stars were now ragged and full of holes.

“Hey, don’t be so surprised. I heard things were bad between us, but that’s not my problem, right? I’m the last generation. And now I’m human. A being of this world. You know? You can see it, right?”

The feathers trembled. In the silence, Alex Hope began to laugh heartily.

“Yeah, yeah. Call me human, like the others here. No, I’m going to live here. I don’t care. Honestly, I wish it would all go to hell.”

Hope nodded.

“So now I’m in a bind! You know? I’m old enough to know better than to listen to everything people say. When I think about what she’ll do with those new eyes… Ugh. I guess I’ll have to go tell her. I’ll probably get hit again.”

Hope rubbed his chest with his palm, then spat out the blood pooling in his mouth. The feathers bristled sharply.

Hope snorted.

“You like blood, don’t you? Eat up. And do me a favor, too.”

The feathers stilled, as if time itself had stopped.

“No, it’s nothing hard. Um, no. Not the wings! Or the feet! I still have a lot of traveling to do… No! You’re so greedy for things you can’t even use!”

Hope clicked his tongue, then spoke, sounding a bit deflated.

“…My power is weakening. It’s only natural, now that I’m human, but it’s too soon. Not yet. I still have things to do.”

Listening to the feathers’ whispered reply, Hope’s smile faded completely.

“Yeah. I’d like the wings to stay attached a little longer. Just a bit more. So I can protect Mom and Sandra.”

A single feather fluttered to the ground.

The blood and dust on the floor couldn’t stain the feather’s pristine white.

Staring at the annoyingly pure feather, Hope’s eyes widened.

“…Really? You’re sure it’s okay?”

His voice was careful, but the joy in it was impossible to hide.

“You’re counting me as a pitiful soul, too? Don’t go back on your word! Promise?”

One by one, feathers began to fall. The pure white feathers crawled toward Hope as if drawn by a magnet.

Dozens of feathers climbed up Hope’s legs and attached to his back. They piled on, trembling of their own accord, regardless of his will.

The feathers began to flap on Hope’s back like wings. Hope looked over his shoulder and grinned.

“Thanks!”

The giant eye slowly ceased its movement.

The young, pitiable soul was overjoyed with wings far clumsier and heavier than the ones he’d once had.

That soul was filled with an emotion his kind had long thought lost. Guiding children was important, no matter the species.

Hope tapped the floor with his toes. With each tap, the white wings fluttered and then vanished.

“…Huh. The interference is getting stronger? Maybe that’s a problem. Or maybe, in this situation, it’s a good thing? Well, I’ll figure it out.”

With the last of its strength, the giant eye offered the soul a warning.

“No, it’s fine. …You’re saying a feather will fall out every time I use my power? That’s easy to keep track of.”

Hope stopped tapping the floor. Though he was ready to leave at any moment, he hesitated and asked,

“Hey, what about the others? Are there many left?”

Hope congratulated himself for thinking to ask.

He’d have something to brag to Sandra about when he got back. He wasn’t just carrying his head around for decoration, as Sandra liked to say.

‘If it’s not here, there’s only one other place Noah knows. And that place is run by a real bastard, so he can’t use it anymore.’

Hope looked at the floor. There wouldn’t be any more kindly winged creatures willing to exchange blood and broken bodies.

If Noah had nowhere else to go…

Hope nodded at the answer the eye gave him.

“Almost none left? And the ones that are will be closing soon. Got it.”

That was a relief.

Hope waved at the eye, his face finally relaxed.

“Thanks.”

Just before Hope left the dungeon, the giant eye closed completely. The dungeon began to collapse.

‘Noah doesn’t know how to make the deal properly. Neither does the king. They probably don’t even realize I know.’

It was one of the few advantages Hope had.

‘The rest will disappear soon enough… Not many would have chosen to stay in a ruined world.’

There might be some, like the one Noah knew elsewhere, who were nasty enough to cling to this world… but those wouldn’t grant wishes properly, so that was fine.

Hope came to a neat conclusion.

There was no need to worry about the white feathered masses anymore.

‘If Noah decides to use the last one, all the better. That’ll be Noah’s downfall.’

Hope crossed the mana between the fragments of the ruined world and this one. He felt pain in his back. He couldn’t see it, but he sensed a feather turning red and dissolving into the air.

“All right. Now I have to deal with Semi!”

Hope shouted energetically.