042 – Inoi and the Small Stationery Store #6
A structure frozen solid beneath the glacier.
It seemed that Inoi recognized the structure.
“Inoi knows this place…! That towering spire must certainly be the bell tower of a temple… This Inoi believes that this place resembles the temple of some god…!”
The fixed crack in Sejong City was said to be part of the temple of a god called ‘Baldur.’ And it seemed that this building beneath the glacier was also a temple of some god.
The details could only be discovered by going down.
“How do we get down to this frozen place?”
Lee Jin-A struck the ice floor with her foot.
The ground was extremely solid, and even with the power of an Awakened, she couldn’t produce even a crack on the ice surface.
It would have been nice if Seo Ye-rim were here.
Seo Ye-rim was an S-ranked fire user.
She would easily melt something like this ice.
But Seo Ye-rim was not here.
It was something I had to do from the start.
Relying too much on others for help wouldn’t do.
“Let’s look for a gap. There might be an opening. Your mother might have fallen through that gap and gotten trapped below. There must be a gap somewhere.”
I was convinced that Lee Jin-A’s mother was alive down here. If so, there must have been a reason or a way for her to end up underground—
Soon, Jin-A asked.
“How about asking that Kkungkkungi and the honey ant?”
“No way. It’s too cold.”
Kkungkkungi and Ahn Ahn’s weakness was cold. This extreme region was too cold, and if I let Kkungkkungi and Ahn Ahn out, they would surely freeze to death.
I couldn’t let my friends end up like that.
But we couldn’t just sit idle either—
I exhaled and gathered my breath.
“I am a manipulation type. I’m more skilled at manipulating magical power drawn out from my body rather than the power contained within. Now, I will spread my magic wide and shoot it towards the ground.”
In other words, it meant that I would scatter my internal magical power like water across the floor. There might be a flow of magic that escapes below.
That area could be a weakness in the glacier floor or even an entrance.
“Magic deployment.”
Swish.
I self-suggested as I spread the mana inherent in my body in all directions.
Ssss—
The concentration of magic in my body thinned, and the concentration of magic around us thickened.
—Kkungkkungi…!
—Zzzii…!
Soon Kkungkkungi and Ahn Ahn seemed to come to their senses as well.
An area of about 20 meters in radius was created by the magic I emitted.
Since Kkungkkungi and Ahn Ahn had reacted to my magic in the past, they must have been strongly affected by this area.
—Kkungkkungi…!
Kkungkkungi rushed down to the floor as if not feeling the cold.
—Zzzii…!
Ahn Ahn also stretched and moved its sluggish body, stepping on the glacier.
Inoi was the same.
“It’s warmer than I expected…! This Inoi says it’s a warmth that is friendly to Nymphs…! The owner of the house says to use this power instead of a boiler from now on…!”
Use my “Magic Deployment” instead of a boiler?
That would surely save on gas bills.
But it was not as easy as it sounded.
Maintaining control over the mana that had exited my body was as difficult as trying to manipulate my breath that I exhaled.
If I lost focus even a bit, my magic would lose control and disperse into the air.
“I have become the center of magic like the Earth drawing in the moon. I will maintain this sensation while surveying the surroundings.”
I was amazed that I was able to do such things now.
Just then, I felt something peculiar in my mind.
There was a single point in the 20-meter radius where magic was leaking.
“Kkungkkungi, Ahn Ahn, go to the point I’m pointing at.”
Swish—
I pulled out a laser pointer from my waist and pointed toward a certain spot.
Kkungkkungi and Ahn Ahn made their way to that location.
—Kkungkkungi…!
Kkungkkungi shouted something as it arrived there.
I still couldn’t tell what it was saying.
Instead, Lee Jin-A’s expression brightened.
“Kkungkkungi is happy…!”
Indeed.
Lee Jin-A was able to roughly read the emotions of animals.
I headed toward the spot where Kkungkkungi was spinning around.
There, I saw a small hole the size of a finger, and I heard a whoosh of wind coming from it.
“Here it is.”
I took a stick out of my pocket.
Inoi reacted promptly.
“It’s a warm flare…!”
“It looks similar, but this is specially manufactured dynamite. When used, the chemical inside reacts and produces intense heat for a brief moment. Then we can widen this entrance. Get back, and cover your eyes and ears.”
I distanced Inoi and Lee Jin-A.
Then I also moved about 50 meters away and pressed the button using the remote control I had set up.
“Blast off—. Blast off—.”
Boom—!
Beeeee—!
It sounded as though a 5-ton truck collided at full speed. The pressure of the explosion quickly spread into the atmosphere.
It had been a while since I used a bomb, and it was indeed powerful.
“Eek…! Even though this Inoi covered its ears, the sound was so loud that it feels weird…! Please check if this Inoi’s ears have grown long like an elf’s long ears…!”
It seemed Inoi had covered its ears a bit less.
Was it hearing a ringing?
Fortunately, Inoi’s ears remained pointy and short like a triangle.
“Still intact.”
“It says it can’t hear what was said…!”
Hearing would soon return.
As expected, about 5 seconds later, Inoi regained its hearing.
Inoi spoke.
“There is a large hole in the floor…!”
A large hole.
Inoi said so, but to me, the hole looked very narrow. Just enough for one person to barely get down.
It was an explosion powerful enough to destroy a tunnel in the mountain, yet it had only created this small hole.
The ice was indeed solid.
“Then let’s put a ring and rope here and go down.”
Fortunately, the hole was deep.
I installed a sturdy climbing rope nearby and secured it around my waist.
Watching this process, Lee Jin-A expressed admiration.
“You seem to be familiar with this. Handling bombs too. Isn’t a bomb something you need a license to use?”
“What’s this? While you were sitting in elementary school eating lunch, I was wandering around places like this. It’s true you rose to C rank faster, but experience is obviously on my side.”
Now that I said it, it felt kind of bitter.
Was I falling behind a child who was eating lunch at elementary school while I was busy working hard as an Awakened?
Well, I just need to move forward again from now on.
# # #
After descending about 50 meters into the underground, my feet touched the floor.
The ground was flat, and although it was frozen solid, it took on the shape of an artificial structure.
“A temple trapped beneath ice.”
It had a decent atmosphere.
Despite the situation, it felt somewhat romantic.
Beep, beep—
We moved following the biological signals of the radar and soon reached the interior of a spacious temple. A vast temple chamber.
The statue of the goddess standing there was magnificent.
“Beautiful.”
As I admired, Inoi spoke.
“It is the statue of Goddess Demeter…! The evidence is in her hands holding wheat and a harvesting sickle…! The Goddess Demeter is also a very kind goddess to the Nymphs…!”
The goddess of grains and harvest.
Why would such a goddess’s temple be so thoroughly frozen?
It seemed that even Inoi didn’t know.
“This Inoi also does not know why this temple is frozen…! There was once a time when Kore married into the underworld and it froze like this, but… everyone has already reconciled…!”
So it seemed.
Kwaaang—.
At that moment, something burst through the solid ice floor.
Its nose was extremely large, and its hands and feet were long, with bluish skin while drool dripped from its half-open mouth.
With four fingers and a club clumsily grasped.
The first one to identify its identity was Lee Jin-A.
“Shit, that’s a troll!”
Troll—
A monster said to emerge from high-risk cracks.
Soon, Inoi was horrified.
“They are fairies that have come from faraway lands, just like the elves with long ears…! But they are not kind fairies like the Nymphs, but rather wicked ones…!”
Indeed.
Trolls were said to be vicious creatures with tough, thick skin and extraordinary regenerative abilities, making them difficult to deal with.
And they were also known for their fierce nature.
Their strength was so great that they could tear apart a muscular bodybuilder.
The threat level was B rank.
This meant that a party with an upper Awakened of B rank was required to take down one of them.
And there were four of those.
“Graaah—!”
“Grrrrrrrr!”
“Grrrrr—.”
“Tlurrrr—.”
Lee Jin-A said.
“It seems they’re all pissed off!”
One could tell that even without the ability to read emotions.
Ziuung—
I drew my beam shovel.
“Head!”
Then I charged fiercely and struck the troll’s leg. Even if its skin was tough, the joints were likely to be weak.
Chwaaaak—.
The troll, whose knee was actually cut, toppled over and rolled on the ground.
“Guahk—! You said head—. You liar—! I’m going to kill you—! I’m going to tear you apart—! You said head but cut my leg, guahk—!”
“Expensive weapons are nice. Human-shaped enemies have nearly the same weaknesses.”
However, new flesh was quickly sprouting from the wound I had made.
It happened at that very moment.
Kkaeng kkaeng kkaeng kkaeng—
Someone was making a sharp sound as if banging on a gong.
Turning my head, I saw someone in the distance banging on a metal plate with a stick while yelling.
“Ugliness, get the hell out of here…! This is the sanctuary of Goddess Demeter…! It’s not a place where you can recklessly intrude…!”
They were wearing thick fur and looked very bizarre.
Kkaeng kkaeng kkaeng—
“Gahhh! It’s so loud—!”
“Let’s retreat for now—!”
As the creature clad in fur continued to bang on the metal plate, the four trolls plugged their ears and ran away.
Zuur—
The creature in fur approached us.
It soon saw Inoi and seemed happy.
“Aah—! It turns out there is not just wicked intruders, but also native fairies like the Nymphs…! Nymph sisters…! It’s very nice to meet you like this…!”
“Aah—! I thought it was a furball monster, but now I feel it’s the Nymph sisters…! This Inoi is the Nymph Inoi of the ditch water…!”
“I am the Nymph Coris of the ice water…!”
Click—
The one who identified themselves as Coris took off the fur to reveal a face with blue hair cut in a bob hairstyle. They resembled Inoi but had bright blue eyes.
Swish—
The two Nymphs pressed their foreheads together.
What were they doing?
“Inoi, what are you doing?”
“Nymph sisters greet each other by pressing their foreheads together…! This way, they can know each other’s age and health status…!”
It was a peculiar greeting method.
Soon, Inoi said to Coris, the ice water Nymph.
“Coris…! This Inoi says let’s get out together…! A place this cold is not suitable for Nymph sisters to live…!”
“This Coris is the ice water Nymph, so I can endure the cold well, but I agree that this place is a dreadful one…! However… to escape this place, we need to defeat a terrifying monster…!”
A terrifying monster.
What could that possibly be?
Coris was trembling and looked very scared.
It seemed difficult to explain.
Just then, someone approached us.
“I will tell you about the monster.”
It was a woman’s voice.
She held a spear made from icicles and wore armor woven from fur and bones, looking very warm.
Swish—
When the woman finally revealed her face, Lee Jin-A was shocked.
“…Mom…!”
“Mom? You are, could it be… Sun-A? Sun-A! With the yellow hair! My daughter!”
