Retire 509
by Cristae509 In a Dream (4)
No matter how many flights of stairs we climbed, or how many times we descended twice as many, the same maze appeared before us each time.
For a moment, I wondered if Michel had built the maze across multiple levels, but that notion was quickly dismissed. Even if Michel could reshape this dungeon however he wished, it was impossible to replicate an archmage’s unique magic.
“It’s my magic,” Kim Chaemin said, his face set and hard, as he looked at the grass underfoot and the roses covering the walls.
Having a magician in the raid party certainly expanded our options. We sent vines down the stairs, tried other spells, even set fires with my sword.
…It made me wonder if this sword’s only purpose was to start fires. But then, I usually fought with a spear. At first, I’d used a sword to hide what I’d learned from Father, but there was no need for that now, and I wasn’t teaching kids with it, so, yes, setting fires had become its main use.
Anyway.
“What is this? What is he even trying to do?!” Kim Chaemin snapped.
The vines, the petals, the tiny lights like dandelion fluff, even the blue flames I’d conjured—all of it.
Whether we went up or down the stairs, we always ended up right back where we started.
“Traps that return you to your starting point are common in mazes like this,” I said.
“Mont Saint Michel’s maze is just absurdly big, but it didn’t have traps like this!” Kim Chaemin protested.
“But this isn’t the real Mont Saint Michel, is it?” Hope replied.
“……”
Stung by Hope’s logic, Kim Chaemin made a pained expression.
Perhaps feeling sorry for him, Father took his side.
“It’s not Mont Saint Michel, but it’s not normal, either. This isn’t some run-of-the-mill maze dungeon, is it?” Father shrugged.
“Why is Michel doing this?”
Like the maze and the spinning eye on the ceiling, we circled back to our original question.
What exactly was Michel doing here?
“If he’s going this far, he must have business in this dungeon… All right, everyone, let’s each say what we think. If you were Michel, why would you create a structure like this?”
“Because he can’t stand the sight of us?”
“Michel does dislike you.”
“He wants to let us wither away in here?”
“Does Michel have no dungeon-raiding experience?”
“He has plenty.”
“Then he’d know how raids go. There aren’t even any other traps… Are we short on food? He hasn’t even tried to isolate us one by one.”
“To wear us down psychologically?”
“Anyone here never spent more than two weeks in a dungeon?”
“……”
I thought for a moment, then raised my hand. All eyes turned to me.
“What? Did I raise you that soft?” Father asked.
“What are you talking about?”
“You said you’ve never spent more than two weeks in a dungeon.”
“Huh? Oh, not me. I meant Michel.”
I frowned.
“Anyway, Michel must have raided dungeons before. I remember he went to the Alps a lot.”
“Hmm?”
“Then he’d know how to break out of a closed-off dungeon like this.”
“…Well. It’s not a common type, but it’s not unheard of, either. Basically, everyone knows, right? Mr. Woo even taught it in class.”
Kim Chaemin nodded slowly in response to my words.
Just as he said, it wasn’t a type of dungeon you encountered often. But if you did get stuck in one, it was a pain, so I’d mentioned it a few times in my own lessons.
It wasn’t much of a “solution,” but in a way, it was similar to the Hong Seokyoung-style dungeon strategy Father had demonstrated earlier.
“Just break everything?”
“It’s not quite that simple—you have to be careful about what you break—but it’s straightforward enough. I don’t think Michel doesn’t know that. Besides, Master already dealt some damage once.”
“Then…”
“I think this is just a stalling tactic.”
Michel’s constant muttering about “having to check something.”
Whatever it was he needed to check, it had been days since Moby was driven out of the dungeon. If he still hadn’t finished, it was enough to drive anyone to the brink.
He’d crossed the Atlantic to come all the way to America for this dungeon. With no core, not knowing when the dungeon might close, and now with us interfering…
It was just a passing thought, but as I spoke, I found myself growing more certain.
If it came to a direct fight, Michel would know better than anyone that his chances weren’t good. If fighting wasn’t his goal, then his best bet was to avoid interference as much as possible—especially if he was close to his objective.
I looked at Father.
“Even if it’s not that, we’ll have to break it anyway.”
Father bared his teeth in a playful yet fierce grin.
“That’s what I’m best at.”
Father, spear in hand, started toward the maze, but suddenly stopped and looked back with an uneasy face.
“But, Heejae.”
“Yes?”
“The longest you ever spent in a dungeon… Did I keep you from going in, by any chance?”
“……”
This man could really get on my nerves.
“Heejae?”
“If you’re not going to break it, move aside.”
“Heejae!”
“Just get out of the way, would you!”
If only the dungeons Han Taekyung had been assigned were this easy.
If that crazy man had caused trouble and run off to America just to avoid dungeon runs, I could almost believe it… No, he couldn’t have, right?
I glared at the other Han Taekyung.
“W-why me?”
“……Never mind.”
“Heejae!!”
Thirty minutes later.
“……”
This dungeon was getting stranger by the minute.
“Why is the dungeon getting harder?”
Kim Chaemin bit into an energy bar as he watched Father and Han Taekyung enthusiastically smashing the dungeon.
He pointed up at the ceiling.
“Should we try hitting that thing after all?”
“Is there any other way…?”
“It was definitely easier to break at first, wasn’t it?”
It wasn’t as if we’d been slacking off for the past thirty minutes. We’d smashed everything in sight except for the eye on the ceiling—the maze, the floor, everything.
Now, all that remained before us was the ruins of what had once been the maze. Kim Chaemin sat on a broken wall, taking a break.
“But the more we break, the tougher it gets…”
“Hm.”
I made a small sound and looked up.
“The mana is getting thicker. It seems related… Is this because Michel is altering the dungeon’s structure?”
“Is it Michel’s mana?”
“Yes. Every time that eye spins, it helps. Honestly, it’s maddening.”
Kim Chaemin frowned deeply. The fact that there was no immediate threat made it all the more unsettling.
I didn’t want to leave Michel alone.
“…Let’s say it takes mana to maintain the structure.”
“Yes?”
“Usually, the more complicated the objects, the more resources it takes. And right now, we’re breaking down those complicated objects, smoothing things out…”
“You mean Noah is investing his remaining mana to reinforce the structure?”
Hope, who was resting nearby, joined in.
“If it were a dungeon with no one to reallocate resources, it would just stay as it was…”
“But now Michel is here. That makes sense.”
I got up and walked over to Father. Everyone realized by now that this wouldn’t be resolved easily.
Father struck the wall.
Bang! Crash!
It actually withstood one of Father’s blows. At first, the maze had broken apart easily with a simple kick.
Kim Chaemin and Hope were whispering to each other again. Surprisingly, those two communicated well—mostly with Kim Chaemin explaining things at Hope’s level.
“Why?”
“It’s meeting time.”
“What kind of guild has this many meetings?!”
“Because the guild master is my father.”
Father only grumbled in words.
When we relayed what we’d discussed, Father nodded as well. But he was against the idea of attacking the eye.
“If Michel’s gone this far to stall for time, of course he’s factored that eye in, too.”
He could be surprisingly sharp when it came to dungeons.
“I don’t want to mess with that. Walking into a trap when you know it’s a trap is something to avoid—especially with an opponent like this.”
“But…”
“Should we try targeting the stairs instead?” Han Taekyung suggested this time.
He might be talkative and troublesome, and his personality had its flaws, but his experience as a hunter was no lie.
A few years from now, Han Taekyung would be an ace at the Agency. In truth, he wasn’t lacking in skill even now. He might be a bit clumsy, but it wasn’t for lack of experience.
And when it came to monsters with white feathers and the dungeons they appeared in, Han Taekyung probably had the most experience of any of us—even if he’d never admit it.
“The stairs connect this space, right? They’re the seams. Usually, those points are the weakest.”
“Should I try moving through there?” Hope chimed in with another idea.
“I think it’s possible.”
“…Where are you planning to go?”
“Just a few stairs up or down. If the stairs are the seams connecting spaces, like you said, they should be weak points. If it were a simple attack, Noah would have prepared for it… but my way of moving is a more delicate fluttering. Even Noah couldn’t block it in that short a time.”
“It’s not dangerous?”
“If I can shake things up enough to get a glimpse outside, that’s enough. Once I have the coordinates, it’s easy. After that, I can move there and tear it open. I still have enough strength for that much!”
I looked up at the eye. It wasn’t watching us.
Mana leaked from the shattered maze, drifting like dust into the air, then gathering around the eye.
Hope didn’t mention how dangerous this might be. But the fact that he wasn’t smiling told me he wasn’t saying it lightly. Even if I pointed it out, he’d just shrug.
Without waiting for anyone else, Hope walked to the archway leading to the stairs.
The first time I saw him, I’d thought he was a monster who’d kill even children without a second thought. I still wondered if that really had been the best way, but it was too late to dwell on it.
Hope had always called Michel a child, but to me, Hope and Gamble were no different. Until the men in suits came knocking, they’d probably treated it all like a game. That’s why they’d tried to lure us out with such extreme methods.
But children grow up.
It was time for Noah Michel to grow as well.
Usually, a child’s growth comes when they realize not everything in the world will go their way.
Hope tapped the floor with his toe. Wild, unpredictable mana swirled around him. Then he vanished…
“Ugh.”
He let out a dispirited cry.
“Wait, hang on. Uh, I… I get it.”
Hope’s voice came from inside the dark space beyond the archway, sounding flustered.
“I know what Noah is trying to do here.”
He continued, urgently.
“This place—Noah is trying to confirm something!”
“What’s going on? Are you all right?”
“The book!”
“What?”
“The book!! The book Noah first read here! He’s looking for it right now!!”
With those words, the dungeon’s scenery changed once more.