#119
“The wounds…”
Anyway, the wounds were healing. I remembered feeling like I was being healed when I held the baby. Come to think of it, my stamina and health bars had recovered to about 80%, though not completely. This wasn’t a level that could be achieved through just sleep or rest.
“That’s strange. Did you perhaps treat my wounds?”
“Ah… that’s right. Come to think of it, you had some wounds, so I used a tree sap potion.”
Carlisle answered vaguely.
“I see… thank you. But I don’t really understand what’s what…”
“That’s natural.”
Carlisle explained in an uncharacteristically gentle tone.
“The name of this ocean dungeon is Chaos. It drives you insane by showing you hallucinations. If you’re alone, it makes you self-harm, and if you have companions, it makes you attack each other. That’s what happened to you. Anyway, I defeated the boss mob that creates hallucinations, so it should be fine now.”
I looked at Carlisle. It seemed like Carlisle had defeated the boss mob while I was caught in hallucinations. So the ghost captain I killed wasn’t the boss mob… it was a hallucination I created? Then…
“What was the boss mob?”
“An octopus monster. It was surrounding the ship.”
“Ah… I see.”
I felt somewhat deflated. I had been proud thinking I had grown to some extent… But in any case, it was fortunate that Carlisle had come to find and save me.
“By the way, how did you find me? The dungeon door seemed to be closed, so how did you get in?”
“I asked for help from various places. It was quite troublesome. But dungeons opening and closing on their own happens sometimes, so I kept watch until it reopened and quickly entered as soon as it opened.”
“Ah…”
“I’ll tell you the details later.”
Carlisle stretched out his arm and pointed somewhere.
“That over there, a hidden dungeon opened, right?”
I looked where Carlisle was pointing. It was the entrance leading below deck. The place where I had desperately fought off skeletons and crawled up before losing consciousness. Whether that was a real battle or just my own mad dance, I couldn’t tell anymore. In any case, going down there would reveal nothing but empty cabins… huh?
But as soon as I became conscious of that place, something began to appear faintly. Up until the desert dungeon, the entrance to hidden dungeons had required my palm authentication, and in the snowy mountain just before this, the quest had mixed up without any explanation, but this time was different again.
I could see a proper arch-like entrance with two warriors guarding the door on either side—merfolk with fish-like lower bodies. One was a common fish, and the other was a shark. The shark warrior had the characteristic fin protruding from its back, which I could glimpse. They were armed with sharp spears and swords and wore armor with unique patterns.
Between them, a long table was placed as if blocking the door, and on top of it, instead of the stone requiring palm authentication, three large and beautiful shells were opening their mouths.
“We will verify whether you are qualified to enter.”
As I approached, the shark warrior spoke. When I nodded, the warrior pointed to the shells on the table. Inside each shell, pearls of different colors glowed beautifully.
“You will now see three visions. Truth and falsehood are mixed within them. After checking, try to guess which ones are true. All three might be true, or all three might be false. The one authorized to see the visions and give an answer is…”
The merman raised its finned arm and pointed at me.
“Only you.”
Hidden authentication was always my responsibility anyway. I swallowed a sigh. But having Carlisle beside me made me feel reassured inside. I glanced at Carlisle again. When our eyes met, he gently patted my back encouragingly.
Clink.
“Wait. Let me ask one thing before we start.”
I had something to confirm.
“Did you happen to see a baby crawling around on this deck? Did you guys take it?”
But they only looked at me as if asking what nonsense I was talking about, not even bothering to respond. Was that baby also a fantasy I created? Why would I create such a fantasy?
“If you don’t start soon, it will be invalidated due to timeout.”
They began pressuring me, so I had no choice but to focus on the pearls in the shells. The colors were regular pearl color, pink, and black. I didn’t deliberate long and picked up the pearls in order. I’d have to check them all anyway.
As soon as I picked up the first pearl, my surroundings became hazy and a vision unfolded. At this point, shouldn’t this place be called the Dungeon of Hallucinations rather than the Dungeon of Chaos?
It was still deep dawn twilight. The visible landscape was the village. The upstream of the river crossing the village came into view enlarged, and a human shadow moved in the darkness. The shadow moved carefully toward the riverbank while surveying the surroundings, wearing a hood pulled low so the face couldn’t be seen. After confirming no one was around, they took something out from their chest.
‘A potion?’
What the shadow had taken out were several potion bottles. After opening the cap of a bottle containing dark red liquid, the shadow looked around once more and poured the liquid into the river water.
‘The poison perpetrator. Who are you? Show me your face.’
After pouring all the liquid, the shadow threw the empty bottle into the grass. Just then, a wind blew and lifted the hood. The shadow hastily hid their face again, but I saw the exposed face.
Red hair, green eyes. The mouth visible under the hood was familiar.
I stopped breathing.
‘Eira.’
The vision disappeared. I frowned. What was this about?
“What’s wrong? What did you see?”
Carlisle asked from beside me. As I was about to answer, the merman warrior shook his head.
“You cannot talk about it. The judgment is yours alone.”
And as if urging me, he pointed to the next pearl.
I took a deep breath once and grasped the second pink pearl. As my vision blurred, the scent of lavender wafted strongly.
It was a summer night.
“Good. Is everyone ready?”
The one asking while looking around at peers with a quite determined face was young Eira. And among the group nodding seriously with equally grave expressions was me. We were planning ghost exploration.
The destination that day was the Lightinger mansion. Of course, the mansion at this time didn’t exude the ghastly atmosphere of an abandoned house. Rather, the well-maintained garden was blooming with various summer flowers in splendid colors, providing eye candy for villagers strolling by the lake.
But rumors were circulating that a child ghost that hadn’t been seen for days was appearing in this place where the owners had been away for two years and only caretakers remained. For the village troublemakers wandering around looking for adventure during summer vacation, this couldn’t have been more intriguing news. Our goal was to uncover the identity of the suspicious lights flickering in corridors that should have been shrouded in darkness.
In reality, we shouldn’t carelessly intrude into someone else’s house, but since this was a fantasy world, I was full of anticipation and excitement. The children climbed over fences or crawled through holes, getting covered in dirt.
The garden was excessively wide, like a maze. Tall sunflowers blocked the view and rustled in the wind. When I finally struggled through the paths and reached the side of the building, our target point, I found myself alone.
Hadn’t the children arrived yet? Or had they all already entered the mansion? I thought I could hear the children’s laughter and whispering, but maybe not. Was that the sound of wind, or…
I hung on my tiptoes through the slightly open window and peeked inside. The long corridor of the mansion was shrouded in deep, quiet darkness. I didn’t have the courage to enter alone.
“There doesn’t seem to be any ghost…”
As I muttered, someone responded from behind.
“There’s a ghost here?”
“Yeah. Eira said so. A light that wasn’t there before appears after midnight…”
I stopped explaining, suddenly struck by a strange thought. It was a voice I hadn’t heard before. Moreover, everyone knew the story and had gathered excitedly, but this response sounded like hearing it for the first time… What kind of latecomer was this? A chill ran down my spine. I barely managed to turn my stiffened head.
“The unfamiliar presence seems to be you.”
The gray eyes I met had a red tint swirling in them.
“Aren’t you the ghost?”
The child staring intently at me with a strangely sparkling smile had an excessively handsome face for being so young. It was Carlisle Lightinger.
As the vision lifted, I thought: Was there such a story in the game? It seemed like both a happy childhood memory and a creepy summer ghost story.
“How was it?”
Carlisle asked from beside me. The young face I had just seen had become a perfect specimen of transformation standing next to me. I stared at that face for a moment, then shook my head slightly. That face probably looked exactly like that when he was young, but a face is a face… This story wasn’t in the background story or events. Naturally, it wasn’t in my memory either. But somehow…
Caught up in ambiguous feelings, I reached for the last pearl. Did the story follow the colors? The vision shown by the black pearl was the shortest and had the strongest impact.
I could see myself collapsed on the ground. My entire body was covered in contamination. It was a horrific sight. The Carlisle I had once seen in a dream couldn’t even compare. Various parts of my body were covered in pus and blood, rotting away. I might already be dead. Beside such a me, the priest was kneeling and slumped down. They were covering their bowed face with their hands, looking as if they were wailing. Standing firm in front of me was Carlisle. He looked clean and beautiful, but his expression was terrifying. He raised his sword high and brought it down toward me.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
