Chapter 36. Cold Reading (5)
A storm-like flow of mana swept past once.
Silence descended upon the vast interior.
Amidst that scene.
Enoch stared blankly for a moment at the back of the maid before him.
‘From before, she seemed quite serious about protecting Enoch’s body, but…’
Her pure white inner world, revealed just now by Persona's Unique Magic.
The figure of Enoch, the sole existence in Lien’s empty inner world.
Recalling that sight, Enoch briefly thought to himself.
‘I didn’t know it was to this extent.’
Lien glanced back this way, then retrieved her wires with a light swing of her arm and approached.
Rustle.
Lien, having come close enough for their breaths to be felt, began silently checking if he had been injured, just like the last mission.
Enoch briefly glanced sideways at her.
Perhaps because he had directly seen Lien's inner world earlier, Lien's usual demeanor felt somewhat chilling.
Was it because he had seen with his own eyes just how devoted she was to the original Enoch?
“No other injuries.”
Enoch tried hard to ignore Lien and slowly gripped his sword, then walked away.
Anyway, all that remained now was wrapping things up.
Srrng.
Enoch approached Persona, who was lying collapsed on the floor, still motionless. But upon seeing her condition up close, Enoch slowly lowered the sword in his hand.
She was already dying.
Not only was Persona weakly coughing up blood, but he could also clearly tell through his Sense of Mana.
Due to severe mana depletion combined with battle injuries, she could no longer sustain her life. It was likely the price for forcibly continuing the battle despite being near mana depletion long ago.
“…Elsyde’s incompetent, non-mage direct descendant, they said.”
Persona spoke quietly, gasping for breath.
“Was that fact… the mask… you wore.”
With those final words, the last light faded from her eyes.
Enoch quietly sheathed his sword.
Compared to Persona's exploits, Unique Magic, and name value shown so far, it was a remarkably anticlimactic end.
Perhaps because of that, the reality of her death felt strangely palpable.
“…Prophecy, huh.”
Enoch muttered lowly, suddenly mulling over the information Persona had confessed in the inner world.
Since it was related to Tantalus’s experiments, this part definitely needed investigation.
‘Full of foreshadowing. Yet nothing has been properly revealed.’
Having thought that far, Enoch closed his eyes.
Anyway, it wouldn't be too late to think about the headache-inducing stuff later.
What needed to be done right now wasn't that kind of worry.
‘First… shall we start farming?’
In the interior, ravaged by battle, Enoch found one relatively intact wall section.
‘This must be it.’
Naturally, if everything else was smashed but this alone was relatively fine, it meant it had to be a place meant to be that way.
Enoch kicked the blatantly suspicious spot hard.
Krrrrr!
Just as expected.
The barely standing wall section collapsed, revealing the Vendetta branch’s supply storage room before him.
Supplies neatly stored on shelves.
The magic gear and artifacts lined up inside were all high-quality items, just as he had expected.
All the noticeable magic gears were expensive items bearing the names of quite famous brands or master craftsmen.
‘Items quite useful even in the original work. There are even quite a few artifacts hard to obtain.’
Well, yeah.
Considering he immediately understood when Vendetta’s backing was revealed later in the original work, that said it all.
Anyway, Enoch smiled faintly.
Farming good equipment is the basics of leveling up!
But Enoch, picking up a magic gear with a satisfied smile, realized a very important fact he had momentarily forgotten the next moment.
“…Ah. Right.”
I’m not a mage, am I?
Suddenly realizing that, Enoch stiffly turned his head and looked back at the storage room.
His lips had twisted into a wry smile.
Understandably so, while these were items the protagonist, who was a mage in the original work, used as a matter of course…
Most of the high-grade magic tools here were completely useless to Enoch, who couldn't use magic.
“Aish.”
Enoch threw the magic gear onto the floor.
Tangrang!
Usually, artifacts and magic gear were ultimately items that amplified the power of magic or made it extremely efficient.
Meaning, they were utterly useless to someone who couldn't use magic.
Of course, not all artifacts in the Magic Empire were like that. In principle, artifacts that even non-mages could technically use did exist.
The ‘self-illuminating fox doll’ he received from Chloe as a token of gratitude earlier was the same.
‘It’s just that their performance or power is only about that level.’
Unfortunately, among the magic tools usable by non-mages, items offering dramatic effects were practically non-existent.
Their performance was much poorer compared to the high-output artifacts typically used by mages.
Tap.
Enoch happened to pick up a dusty artifact placed carelessly on a shelf.
An artifact called 「Mage’s Mist Pouch」.
A common consumable artifact often seen in-game, usable even by non-mages.
If I had to compare its performance, maybe a smoke bomb?
‘I wouldn’t have even glanced at something like this in the original work.’
Enoch pocketed it first.
‘It’s better than nothing…’
But calling this meager item a reward for all the hardship was far too inadequate.
‘To go through all that trouble and have nothing useful!’
Such an absurd unfairness was absolutely unacceptable as a seasoned player.
Enoch scanned the surroundings of the storage room, his eyes lit.
But just then.
In one corner of the storage room, something caught his ‘Sense of Mana’.
‘Wait, that mana…’
A familiar mana flow.
It was mana he had seen just moments ago.
He instantly identified its source.
‘It’s Persona’s mana!’
Enoch immediately raised his sword, on guard.
Could Persona not have been completely dead yet?
‘No. Persona should definitely be dead?’
Enoch slowly walked, following the faint olive-green mana.
And in the deepest part of the large storage room, Enoch finally found the source of that mana.
‘A glass shard? No. Is it a magic gear shaped like that?’
A small, sharp glass shard that looked somewhat familiar.
A glass fragment glowing with translucent olive-green mana was stored in a transparent display case on the storage wall.
Enoch immediately recalled its identity.
‘It’s the glass shard Persona used to escape my World of Impermanence.’
Tap.
And when he reached out for Persona’s magic gear and grasped it.
Suddenly, Enoch’s vision reversed.
***
‘Huh?’
A familiar sensation.
Enoch looked around.
An endless jet-black space.
That familiar place had suddenly unfolded before his eyes.
‘…This place, the World of Impermanence…?’
The inner world activated unexpectedly.
Swish.
To the momentarily surprised Enoch, pale letters floated up above the glass shard held in his hand.
-
? 「Glass Shard of the Inner World」
A glass shard manifested through Unique Magic, crafted to interfere with another's inner world.
Assists the user in controlling and understanding their own inner world according to their consciousness.
Trait: Performance enhances within the inner world with use.
-
So this forcibly activated the World of Impermanence.
Enoch stared intently at the glass shard.
‘This… looks quite useful?’
Persona’s magic gear.
Her magic gear was used to control the inner world created by her Unique Magic according to her will.
Originally, like other magic gear or artifacts, it should have been unusable by non-mages.
Nevertheless, the reason why he, a non-mage, could use her magic gear was obvious.
‘It must be because Enoch, like Persona, has constructed an inner world.’
Enoch extended the arm holding the glass shard.
‘Shall I test it briefly.’
There was something he needed to check.
The brief exchange of intentions with the Sword Saint who defeated Persona earlier. He had formed a hypothesis based on that.
Perhaps if he utilized the effect of this magic gear well...
‘Direct communication with the Sword Saint might be possible!’
The moment he thought that.
From Enoch’s hand, the glass shard transformed into countless particles of light, rose into the air, and disappeared.
Srrrk
Beyond the vanishing particles of light.
Opposite the infinite inner world where he stood.
The figure of the Sword Saint stood before Enoch before he knew it.
The swordsman once called the Empire's Last Sword Saint.
Enoch focused his consciousness on his form.
And the next moment─
[…Enoch Elsyde.]
─A familiar, deep voice echoed.
Enoch opened his eyes momentarily.
“…Did it work?”
But as soon as he muttered that, the Sword Saint’s silhouette flickered like static. Then it quickly vanished.
Subsequently, the inner world deactivated instantly.
Before he knew it, Enoch’s vision had returned to reality.
Although a sudden phenomenon, the cause was imaginable. He recalled the information he saw earlier.
‘Right. It said performance enhances the more you use it?’
Its power seemed a bit weak right now.
However, for him, who still couldn't handle the 「World of Impermanence」 well, it was the item he needed most desperately.
‘Got something good.’
Looking down at his hand, Persona’s shard, which he had been holding until just now, had vanished.
Come to think of it, it had turned into particles of light and disappeared in his World of Impermanence earlier.
It must have been completely absorbed into the inner world.
Swish.
Just as Enoch finished thinking that far, Lien approached his side and said.
“No enemy presence nearby.”
“Right. The Exemption Mission is over.”
Enoch agreed and turned his head.
“But before returning to the family…”
The window on the top floor of the building.
The night view of the city visible below it.
Looking at the complex streets of the Underworld lurking in the darkness of the night, Enoch added.
“There’s a place I need to stop by briefly.”
***
“Wh-Who did you say came?”
“That monster guy and the maid who came this afternoon…!”
But the man’s words couldn’t continue to the end.
“Uwaaaaargh!”
A mage flew in from outside the door with a scream.
Seeing him collapse, writhing on the floor, the Underworld mages inside exchanged uneasy glances.
“Q-Quick, the lock……!”
“No! Doing that might needlessly……!”
Just as they were seriously debating whether to engage the door lock as a last line of defense.
Kwaang!
Kicking the iron door open violently, the boy wearing the robe, like a nightmare to them, appeared.
He casually tossed the broken magic gear of the mage who had just flown in onto the ground and said.
“Where’s Omen?”
Perhaps recalling the memory from last time at Enoch's words, the other mages eventually gave up the thought of resisting and slowly backed away.
Before him in the black robe and the maid, even those blocking the room cleared the path without a word.
Entering through the opened door, a loud noise welcomed him.
Pop. Pop pop!
Confetti and sparkling powder rained down lightly from above.
Colorful party poppers, the kind used for birthday parties.
In the dim room, Omen, holding a small toy party popper, sat crookedly, looking this way.
“I’ll congratulate you on succeeding the Exemption Mission, but please show a little more courtesy when visiting. At this rate, my already meager assets will be completely ruined.”
To Enoch, who briefly stared at the out-of-place party poppers, Omen nonchalantly replied.
“Ah, this was a freebie from the cake shop.”
He showed the half-eaten cake on his desk and shrugged once.
“Of course, today isn’t my birthday. It’s from the shop nearby; it’s tasty, so I sometimes have my subordinates buy it for me.”
After feigning nonchalance, he gestured towards the seat opposite him and asked with interest.
“Anyway, how on earth did you dispatch the infamous Persona in just half a day?”
Enoch didn’t answer for a moment.
Even though he had come straight here after the battle with Persona, Omen seemed to already know the result.
Omen added in a low voice.
“Seems you forgot. This is the Empire’s Underworld, even if fallen. Our ears and eyes are everywhere.”
He said with a meaningful smile.
“The residents of the Underworld streets can hide their presence even in a handspan of shadow during broad daylight.”
At that, Enoch glanced behind Omen and nodded.
“Seems so.”
The Underworld residents huddled together behind Omen to avoid Enoch and Lien.
Omen, briefly meeting their wide eyes, sighed once and kicked them hard.
“Aish, I was trying to look cool for once! Just get lost, all of you!”
Watching them scramble out of the room as if waiting for permission, Omen clutched his head and asked this way again.
“…So, why did you come to this humble place? You didn’t return straight to the family after killing Persona. There must be a reason you stopped here first.”
“From Persona, I heard about a prophet of the past Underworld.”
Omen paused his actions briefly at his words. Enoch continued speaking to him again.
“Based on the forbidden text left by that prophet, Tantalus seems to be conducting experiments.”
Omen sat in the darkness of the interior.
Looking at his silhouette, Enoch said.
“Even if fallen, as someone carrying on the lineage of the current Underworld, you must know something about this.”
“Such information isn’t free. It’s a top-tier business item, hard even for us to obtain easily.”
However, he closed one eye slightly and said.
“But… for someone with as high an investment value as you, the story might be a little different.”
Omen, the Master of the Underworld Street.
He nonchalantly propped his chin on one hand while sitting in the darkness of the interior and added.
“The one who proved your potential through the success of this Exemption Mission wasn't just your family.”
Enoch cut off his leisurely opening and replied curtly.
“Get to the point.”
“In the past, among the dark mages of the old generation Underworld. There was one called the ‘Prophet’ due to his Unique Magic that foresaw the future.”
Omen spoke as if telling him to remember.
“That prophet was said to be called ‘Gnosis’ in the past.”
Instantly, Enoch’s eyes narrowed.
Because it was a name he knew well.
─ Dark Mage Prophet, 「Gnosis」.
Among those called dark mages of the past Empire, the first mage to achieve Rank 1.
A legendary figure, the progenitor of the old generation Underworld dark mages.
‘Lore-wise, it was stated that even related records barely exist currently.’
However, Gnosis was merely a figure briefly mentioned in the story or dialogue in the original work.
Therefore, Enoch hadn't expected his name to suddenly come up here.
Omen continued.
“He, who supposedly saw through all things in the future, left behind a prophetic book called the 「Book of Gnosis」.”
He added matter-of-factly.
“Of course, being the legacy of a dark mage, it was treated as a forbidden artifact by the Empire.”
Enoch silently nodded at his words. That was a fact he also knew.
「Book of Gnosis」
A prophetic book left by a past mage, currently known only to be completely lost.
In the original work, it was merely a piece of background lore with no significance.
To encounter it seriously here.
“In that forbidden book, along with numerous prophecies, records regarding ‘Magical Beastification experiments conducted in the past’ were apparently written.”
Omen said languidly.
“The prophecy related to Tantalus’s experiment you mentioned is probably that.”
It was indeed new information he was hearing for the first time.
Enoch said, lost in thought.
“So there was something similar to Tantalus’s Magical Beastification experiment in the past too.”
“Technically, that one is the original.”
“What do you mean?”
“There was the ‘first Magical Beastification experiment’ conducted by dark mages back then… Tantalus is currently inheriting the records of that experiment and improving it with his own abilities.”
“Does that mean Tantalus has the 「Book of Gnosis」?”
“No. The original 「Book of Gnosis」 is completely lost, as everyone knows.”
Omen shook his head and said.
“What existed until recently, at best, were only fragmented single pages of copies.”
He added in a low voice towards Enoch.
“However, among those, Tantalus probably picked up the copy pages related to the ‘experiment’. That’s likely why he’s conducting human experiments like that.”
Enoch nodded.
With this, he roughly understood the situation. But there was still an unanswered question.
“What is Tantalus trying to achieve through that experiment?”
“Who knows. If you find out, let me know.”
Saying so, Omen took something out from within his clothes.
Looking at the label, it seemed to be some kind of record journal.
“This is information brought back by the only sewer rat who wasn't killed by Persona recently and returned.”
He handed over the journal in his hand and said.
“Seems to be part of the experiment journal Persona kept. This should answer your question to some extent.”
Omen continued speaking to Enoch, who had taken the journal.
“First, the Magical Beasts created at this Vendetta branch were all made from 「Beast-kin」.”
“Beast-kin, huh.”
“Yes. The ‘Beast-kin’ of the southern Elsyde domain. Said to be suitable materials for creating elite experimental subjects.”
Suddenly, the casino laboratory flashed through Enoch’s memory.
He had somewhat expected it from the appearance of the experimental subjects Persona managed, but to think it was true.
Omen added nonchalantly.
“I don’t know the details of his experiments… but the signs of the experiment didn’t seem very ordinary.”
Enoch opened the journal.
Tantalus’s handwriting was messily left on the journal pages.
Traces of intricate experiment designs of numerous magic circles.
Various hypotheses he established, and parts seemingly discarded with lines drawn through them, chaotically assaulted the eyes.
And just as he opened the very last page of the journal. A map inserted there fell out, thud.
─A map with a clear mark drawn on it.
Enoch’s gaze landed on it.
The red memo written next to it caught his eye.
_
May 24th 01:00
「Final Experiment」
Vendetta Rank 13 Annihilation Officer
“Tantalus” All Subordinate Members
Southern Elsyde Domain, Beast-kin Village
Large-scale human experiment scheduled
_
Enoch tucked the experiment journal into his clothes.
With this, his next destination was decided.
A Beast-kin village.
Instantly, someone flashed through Enoch’s mind.
‘Perfect timing.’
A smile naturally formed on his lips. Understandably so, if he went to the Beast-kin village now, surely……
‘I’ll be able to meet the most important character from the original work, whom I’ve waited for so long!’