After defeating a Guardian, the crack will clear and a portal will open. Upon entering the portal, you returned to the point you were at before entering the crack.
At least, that's what used to happen.
«Two portals...»
The portals had two different colors, red and blue. They weren't even pills.
«Maybe we'll go somewhere weird if we choose the wrong one...?»
Thoughts buzzed around my mind like a swarm of bees. How was it possible that everything that happened in Basement One Plant was so totally different from everything else? It was like everything was covered by a mysterious veil or something.
This essence too... Like a portal that opens after clearing a crack it does not disappear over time...
Well, I wasn't sure if that common sense applied here or not. In any case, I looked away from the portal and checked the essence.
«It's a pretty mysterious color...»
The village chief still seemed full of curiosity. I mean, he assumed it was a person from a time before the Earth Lords existed, so it was probably also the first time he had seen a rainbow essence.
«Mr. Baron, can you explain to me what this essence is?»
"No lo se."
«Ah, so it's a monster you first saw here?»
«No, it's not that...» Despite my frustration, I let out a deep sigh and tried to explain: «Soul Eaters don't usually release an essence».
It wasn't just that I hadn't eaten one of them before. Soul Eaters were monsters that gave you a lot of experience. Even if I skipped all the other monsters at least once or twice, I always looked for this one to hunt every time I created a new character. However, he had never dropped an essence, even when using all the things that increased the rate of essence drop, such as Beginner's Luck and Melten's Soul Clover. That's why I thought this monster didn't release any essence.
I didn't know you could get one like that.
So what was the effect of the essence of a Soul Eater? He could at least predict that one of his active abilities would be to summon a Soul Cavalry, but he would only know its true details after eating and tasting it.
Oh, and I wasn't going to eat it, of course.
«Gahuin! Wake up!»
After taking Gahuin off my shoulders, I tapped him on the cheek several times. Since an essence had fallen, we had no time to waste. We needed to put this essence in a magic vial within thirty minutes of its appearance.
«¡Gahuin! ¡Gahuan! ¡Gahuan!»
I increased the power of the slaps a little. I didn't feel good doing this to someone who had passed out from the pain. But then again, essences had a higher priority than humanity.
Fortunately, Gahuin woke up the moment his cheeks had swollen from the abuse.
«Sir... Baron? Where...?»
It seemed that the shock of the fall had not yet left his mind, as he had a hard time speaking.
I just gave you a quick summary of what happened. The way of treating magicians was practically the same in all cases.
«While you were unconscious, a Soul Eater appeared as a Guardian, and dropped a Guardian essence after being defeated».
"¡¿Qu-Qué...?!"
As expected, Gahuin's eyes widened with a flash of recognition and he immediately came to. Yes, how could a wizard contain himself from a new Guardian essence?
«Ugh... I can't get up».
«That's natural. Both of your legs are bent back like that. Not even a barbarian would be able to move with-»
«¡Hueeeik!»
Only then did Gahuin realize the state of his legs and let out a peculiar scream. However, it seemed that he considered the essence more important than his broken legs.
«Move... Move in front of the essence. I can not walk».
Following his request, I moved Gahuin in front of the essence, looked for the magic vial among his belongings and handed it to him.
Minutes later, he sighed. «It's done». As the essence was absorbed by the magic vial, Gahuin carefully picked up that vial and put it in his magic vial storage box. «So... what are these portals...? Why are there two of them...?»
«Oh that? We'll have to think about it now. We don't know yet».
«Ya veo... »
«So what do you think?»
«If you are asking what they are...»
«Anything is fine, so tell me what comes to mind.»
«Hmm ... »
As I asked, Gahuin stopped by to give me his opinion without thinking too much about it. «It looks like one of them will definitely connect with where we were...». His words interrupted as a dazed look overshadowed his expression, until he suddenly shouted confidently: «The blue portal...! We can get back to where we were if we take the blue portal».
It seemed that his Sixth Sense, which had been sealed after entering the Great Demon Realm, was active again.
«And what about the red portal? Do you know where it's going?» asked.
«That... I don't know. It's strange. I have a feeling it's dangerous... but I don't think it's a bad choice either».
«A portal that is dangerous, but from which we can get good rewards...»
«Hey... I guess it could be interpreted that way?»
Yes, how many years had he played Dungeon and Stone? That's how things were.
***
Thanks to Gahuin, our options were reduced to two. Well, we actually only had two options to start, but anyway. Either we used the blue portal to get out of here safely, or we used the red portal to try to get additional rewards.
Before making the decision, I received information that would help me make the right one.
Alright, so which of these portals should we take?
Considering that clearing this underground floor is our main goal, I don't think it's bad to leave this place now...
I needed to keep this in mind and not forget it just because I was inside a crack. Our goal was to escape from Basement 1. This crack was just a necessary stepping stone to proceed with that plan, and we had just cleared it.
Taking the essence of Soul Eating and going back seems like a waste of time to me...
Although I had only been here a week, the village chief and the other two had already been trapped in this crack for more than half a year. That's how big this crack was. And this was the only reward we could get? He didn't even know what the effect of the Soul Eater essence would be, not to mention that our archbishop ended up becoming Karui's priest and going somewhere.
«Time is the decisive factor. You decide. I will follow whichever you choose».
«Me too.»
The village chief and Erwen gave me the right to decide, and Gahuin was quick to try to persuade me.
«Mr. Baron, let go of your greed. We have already lost our archbishop, so staying here longer is not wise. We don't even know what may lie beyond that portal».
What Gahuin said also had some logic. However, I was not doing this out of my desire for personal gain. The extra reward beyond that portal? Clear. Whatever it was, it would be useful to me. But that wasn't what mattered.
The reason he wanted to break through the red portal was for something completely different.
If I went through that portal...
I could take one more step to learn the secret of the labyrinth. It could even help us escape from Basement One Plant. And the most important part of all this...
It's too easy.
The difficulty of this crack was too low. Well, we lost our archbishop in the process, but still, this was incredibly easy.
...there is something strange about this.
My experience told me that there was a trap lurking. «For now, we will postpone the decision.»
«Postpone...?»
«If we return like this, we will not know what can happen to the archbishop».
Gahuin nodded. «That's true...» Gahuin said, and his words faded.
However, both Gahuin and I already knew this. If we left now, it would be the end of all this.
«Still, it can't be helped», he argued. «Everything requires sacrifice. We have already lost some souls after going down to this underground floor... If we die here, their sacrifices will be in vain».
It was a logically sound argument. Still, it wasn't like he didn't detect his cunning mind that wanted to prioritize his safety while saying those words. Honestly, I was pretty clever too.
«Unrelated to the archbishop's survival, I think we should take a look at the area and investigate it before taking the portal. There are definitely some things we missed on our way here».
Four different cannons.
A debuff field that messed with the mind.
The Lord of Silence and the priest of Karui.
A battle against a boss that ended without any real threat.
In the end, we somehow cleared the crack and opened the portal, but I missed too many things. And if we left those things here, I might never be able to learn about them again.
«...Do we really need it? I can't even move well right now».
«Don't worry. I will carry you on my back and protect you».
Having heard many types of sighs in my life, I could tell that Gahuin's sigh of response was one of approval. Now that I had convinced him...
«Very good, underway».
After memorizing the location of the portal once again, I let the village chief walk ahead of us as we began to move.
«Isn't this place... where that monster was before?»
«That's right.» We were at the place where the Lord of Silence, Siliut, was buried. Before starting to investigate the area well, I wanted to check it first because now I had Gahuin with me.
«Does that Sixth Sense still work well?» Asked.
«For now... that seems to be the case».
«We won't be able to talk when we get close to him, so try to look at him and investigate him properly. He can't move, so don't be too scared either».
«S-sure...» Gahuin seemed to want to get up and dive into the blue portal at any moment, but since he couldn't even walk properly, there was nothing he could do.
Some time later, we arrived at the monster area.
[You have entered the Cancellation area. All essence abilities are sealed].
Given how all sound disappeared, it seemed that the monster was still alive.
Not long after, we saw the figure of the Lord of Silence buried under the rubble. He was still just looking at me with his tired eye, and I approached him before lowering my body so that Gahuin could take a good look at him. His hands trembled at first, but Gahuin began to touch his skin when he realized it wasn't dangerous.
Touch touch.
In the end, Gahuin tapped me on the shoulder and motioned for me to leave the area.
«What do you think?» asked.
What he told me after we quickly left the area was pretty straightforward.
«First of all, it seems to be a friendly entity with us. When I looked into her eyes, signs came to mind that we shouldn't kill her».
Hmm.
«This is just my hypothesis ... but maybe the reason the Guardian was weak was because of what you did «.
«What I did?»
«You told me you could have killed him, but you passed by. That may have been the cause».
Simply put, if he had killed this guy, the battle against the boss would have been much more difficult.
If that's true, I guess it explains how easy the battle against the boss was...
And what about the archbishop? He suddenly lost it and advanced to a priest in Karui. Was this something that was supposed to happen? Or was it something we could have avoided if we had prepared properly for it? I have the feeling it was the latter. It would be too absurd if it were-
¡Bum!
At that moment, an explosion shook the earth. It came from the direction of the Lord of Silence.
[Siliut the Sealer is dead.]
What happened?
The answer to my question came from Gahuin behind my back. «The Lord of Silence is dead...»
«We have to flee quickly!» shout. «Now is not the time to look for things we missed during the expedition!»
«Calm down and explain well to me...»
«The portal will close soon!»
«What?» I didn't need to ask him how he knew. It was probably another activation of his Sixth Sense.
«¡Run!»
I could think about my way there. For now, I ran as fast as I could towards the portal.
«Lord! Behind us! The archbishop is after us!»
As expected, it seemed that the archbishop was the one who had killed the Lord of Silence.
«How fast is it?»
«It's similar to... Be careful!»
Be careful what?
Confused, I twisted my body a little, only to feel something sharp immediately dig into my left shoulder. The wound was not that deep. What attacked me had gone through Gahuin first. Gahuin coughed up blood, soaking my upper body. He was panting in pain, he seemed to struggle to breathe like he was going to die at any moment, but it wasn't a big deal.
The portal was right in front of us. If we could get out of here, many priests could focus on healing him and he would survive. As soon as I got right in front of the portal, I pushed Gahuin's body through it.
¡Vwoong!
It had been reduced to half its size, but the portal was working as it should.
«Erwen, come in too».
«Lord! But you...!»
I threw Erwen into the portal before it could get smaller.
A voice behind me asked: «And you? Why don't you come in?»
«No matter how you think about it, I think this is the answer».
I turned to see the frown of the village chief and the archbishop approaching us from behind. The tentacles twisted in horrifying ways, and the archbishop floated in the air thanks to them.
It was a terrifying sight to behold.
«You», accused the village chief, "do you plan to go through the other portal?".
«Before that, I want to check one thing».
«You are very calm even in this situation. What is it about?»
«Before... you said that you could kill the archbishop if you used all your power. Is it still possible?»
The village chief paused before saying: «Maybe...». Despite admitting it, his gaze suggested that it was not a difficult question for him. «You're the only one here who can see this. And even if my body is destroyed, I will be fine after I die once...»
«Wheat ve.»
«Well, sure. There is no reason not to do it». The village chief shrugged before asking: «But why did that suddenly occur to you? Anyway, everything will be fine if we leave here».
«I have already told you. I just needed to check it out. So will you?»
«...Main you promise.»
With those as his last words, aura began to well up on the village chief's sword.
¡Vwoong!
The pure white aura that used to be Count Saintred's mark. However, the village chief's aura was a little different from that of the original owner of that body.
What the hell is that?
The aura surrounding his sword continued to grow more and more. It was as if he had no limit.
¡Fweung!
Noticing this mountain of power emitted by his aura, even the archbishop who had been charging at us shuddered and stopped for a second.
«What has he done...? Can he really use the power you had when you were alive?». I ended up saying my thoughts out loud.
«Well, you could say that's the power he had when he was alive», the village chief said with a mocking smile. «The knights of this era are sad. The aura is not used like that».
There was a flash of light.
[Special Condition-Third Registration has been met.]