She Professed Herself The Pupil Of The Wiseman (LN) - Volume 11 - Chapter 4

Chapter 4

IN THE LONG HALLWAY before the Ancient Underground City’s final chamber, Soul Howl’s fifty golems—which he’d set up to charge at regular intervals to keep the Machina Guardian from healing—had all been blown away in an instant.

What could’ve done that? Mira and Soul Howl sprinted out of the mansion they were using as a base and headed toward the scene, wary all the while of the Mechanized Wanderer.

They rounded a few corners, but a mere two turns before the final chamber, they picked up on something.

“Hey… Do you smell something burning?” Mira had noticed a scent similar to an empty frying pan left on a stove too long.

“Yeah, I noticed that too. What is that?” Soul Howl sniffed and glared ahead. The smell was clearly coming from the location they were heading toward.

Certain that something had happened, they pressed on even more warily, with a discomfort that hadn’t been present until now. They turned the next corner without issue. That left just one turn remaining, and Mira and Soul Howl stopped and gazed at the wall ahead.

“Well, this is…something. How could this have happened?”

“I don’t know, but it obviously isn’t normal.”

The seventh level was known for its endless white metallic walls, yet the wall at the corner ahead was charred deep black.

“The only magic fighters here are skeletons, right?” asked Mira. “Are there any nearby?” The black wall, burning smell, and faint heat led her to assume the cause was flame, and the only monsters on this level that could create flame were the skeletons.

Soul Howl shook his head. “No, there aren’t.” Necromancers could sense undead monsters nearby, and he’d monitored for any on the way. “And I don’t feel any residual mana. I don’t think it’s magic or thaumaturgy at all,” he declared, carefully watching the passage ahead.

“Magic” referred to the nine manifestations humans knew and used, while “thaumaturgy” referred to unique powers wielded by monsters, dragons, spirits, and other races.

“Hmm,” murmured Mira. “Residual mana…?”

When performing magical or thaumaturgical techniques, mana was always necessary, and using it left residue for a period of time. By discerning whether that residue was present, one could determine whether such techniques had been used.

Perceiving residual mana required a skill called Mage’s Keen Eye that hadn’t existed in-game—it was a new skill developed over the past thirty years. That meant it was listed in the Encyclopedia of Skills Mira had picked up just the other day. She’d prioritized reading about such new skills, so she’d learned of its existence. It wasn’t especially hard to learn, either, and she’d already taken the time to do so.

“No, I sense no residual mana,” she agreed, trying to act the part of a skilled mage.

It’s natural that I can use this level of skill, Mira thought rather smugly as she surveyed the black wall ahead.

“Regardless, we won’t know much more until we get closer.”

What lay in the corridor beyond the corner? Soul Howl forged an iron golem to take the vanguard, then followed it.

Mira likewise summoned a holy knight, just in case. “The Wanderer doesn’t use flames. Has some sort of new breed appeared?”

“A new breed, eh? That’s not impossible. I’ve been to a whole lot of places and dungeons, and I run into them once in a while. Sometimes they’re far stronger than average. And the majority are deep inside dungeons like this.”

“New breed” was an umbrella term for monsters that hadn’t existed in-game. Apparently, sightings of those had increased dramatically over the past thirty years. Mira had fought most of the game’s monsters and fiends at least once, so she considered the prospect of new foes exciting. Still, she found herself unhappy this time.

“Suddenly, I can’t help but feel like I don’t want to go any further…” She shuddered.

This level was home to enemies that even the Nine Wise Men couldn’t be careless around. If a new breed far stronger than even the Mechanized Wanderer was here, just how strong was it?

A thousand dark knights wouldn’t exactly maneuver well in a hallway… Mira’s army summoning was one of her trump cards, but she couldn’t use such a force to the fullest in a space this cramped. Eizenfald’s giant form wouldn’t fit easily either. Still, I suppose that chamber from before would work fine.

If necessary, she realized, they could lure the enemy into the large chamber they’d rested in. With that decided, Mira carefully pushed on.

***

“My word… It goes all the way to the end.”

“That’s why we didn’t sense residual mana. It doesn’t seem like anything specific blew up the golems.”

Hiding just before the hallway’s final turn, Mira and Soul Howl half poked their heads out and saw the spot where the golems had been lined up before. The entire fifty-meter hallway was charred black from ceiling to walls to floor.

“Hrmm. What do you think did it? A new breed, after all?”

“I still don’t know. But it’s been a straight road to this point, and we haven’t run into anything. The culprit must be in the boss chamber.”

Gazing at the still-smoldering passage, Mira and Soul Howl beheld their destination: the seventh level’s final chamber, which the Machina Guardian protected. If a new breed was in there, they would have to fight both it and the raid boss at once, which would be outright foolish.

“Either way, if something’s in there, I’ll lure it back into the corridor,” Mira declared. “Meanwhile, you can reset your golems. Will that work?”

“Yeah. Good idea. Only if it really is a new breed, though…”

After that quick strategy discussion, the two quickly ordered the holy knight and iron golem down the blackened hall. With heavy footsteps, their servants stepped forth carefully. Mira and Soul Howl watched from behind the same corner.

The two servants passed through the hall without issue, finally reaching the boss chamber’s entrance. Things had gone well so far; nothing had lunged out of the chamber just yet. Still, what had happened to the forty-plus golems remained mysterious.

“I’ll have the golem go first,” Soul Howl said. Receiving that order, the iron golem stepped into the boss chamber. After its second and third steps, Mira and Soul Howl carefully kept an eye on it.

Suddenly, something like a giant spear ran the golem through, and it crumbled to pieces. Mira and Soul Howl watched calmly, then analyzed what had happened.

“That was just the Machina Guardian, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah. A leg attack. Still, as far as I can tell, the raid boss hasn’t completely healed yet.”

The Machina Guardian had obliterated the golem with one awesomely powerful leg. But that leg showed signs of damage, proving that the raid boss hadn’t finished recovering. Relieved, the two peered carefully down the corridor, wondering whether they would see anything other than the Machina Guardian.

Just then…

“Hrmm. Is it just me, or is it looking at us?” Mira asked.

“I was thinking the same thing.”

The Machina Guardian at the entrance ahead suddenly stooped down. As the duo watched curiously, they spotted the raid boss’s torso, which should have been much higher up.

It was hard to see the Machina Guardian, since the holy knight stood at the entrance as well, but it almost seemed to be looking down the passage at them. This was their first time seeing the creature do such a thing. They watched with bated breath, wondering what it meant.

Just as Mira had the holy knight bend over to clear their sightline slightly, the Machina Guardian’s torso suddenly split in two, and the red crystal inside glowed.

“What?! Retreeeat!”

“Whoa! You gotta be kidding!”

The moment Mira and Soul Howl saw that, both screamed, turned tail, and ran. Mira used Shrinking Earth to run as fast as she could, and Soul Howl created several layers of wall-like golems to block the behemoth.

A few seconds later, the Machina Guardian unleashed its attack. Its red crystal gleamed and shot a ray of light that slashed through the corridor ahead. The beam’s overwhelming heat burned everything in front of it. This was the Machina Guardian’s secret weapon: Ancient Ray.

Intense heat and light swelled explosively, with a bursting sound. The attack easily incinerated the holy knight and sent heat waves beyond even the bend in the passage, destroying many of Soul Howl’s wall golems.

Once the Ancient Ray had brought down five golems—each specialized in defense—calm finally returned to the hallway.

Gazing into the eerily silent space, Soul Howl sighed. “Yeah. That would vaporize forty of my golems easily.”

“The culprit was the Machina Guardian itself, hrmm? I’m surprised to see it act that way.” Mira stared into the corridor, sensing the creeping heat and thickening stench of smoke.

Having turned down two of the hall’s corners as they ran, the pair decided to go over what they knew.

First, they’d known of the existence of the Ancient Ray itself. That was why they’d made a quick escape as it warmed up. It was because they knew of it that they were so surprised.

The Ancient Ray’s power was obviously too much for humans to withstand. It was so strong, even the most defensive of top players, comparable to the Wise Men, wouldn’t last a second against it.

Furthermore, the Ancient Ray traveled at the speed of light, so evading it was impossible if one only tried after it activated. To adequately dodge it, one needed the skill to figure out where it would fire based on its warm-up.

“Well, I presume this is another change resulting from the shift to reality. You said you’d only brought down its health 20 percent, yes?”

“More or less. Little things have changed all over the place, I find.”

Sitting in front of the further-blackened corridor wall, Mira and Soul Howl laughed together at the ridiculousness of all this.

The Ancient Ray they knew was a weapon of last resort for the Machina Guardian. It was common knowledge among players that the Machina Guardian only started using that weapon once it was under 20 percent HP. Countless raids had proven that. But the Machina Guardian’s HP was surely above 80 percent just now. It was far, far too early for it to use Ancient Ray.

But the pair had confirmed with their own eyes that it had. Thus, its most dangerous attack had already unsealed—truly the most troublesome situation imaginable.

“What’s more, it reacted to your holy knight,” Soul Howl added. “The way it acted when it looked into the hallway… It seems to have been countering my strategy to buy time.”

“It did seem so. We understand raid bosses as beings that destroy intruders, then return to a set location. But the Machina Guardian’s trying to remove future attackers as well.”

They looked down the corridor. The Machina Guardian already appeared to be expecting more intruders. In short, it did seem to have recognized Soul Howl’s strategy and decided on a counterattack.

“I started here last night, so it learned that in just a day. Things are about to get really rough.” Soul Howl had planned to defeat the raid boss over the course of several days. He realized this necessitated a change in plan, although he didn’t show any sign of giving up.

“For the moment, I say we experiment!” Mira exclaimed.

“Yeah. That’s all we can do.”

The duo stood with faint smiles and ran toward the charred hallway.

When Mira or her friends said “experiment,” it meant confirming the enemy’s moves and special-action conditions. They did that whenever they encountered a strong foe and were quite skilled at it.

The first test was to see whether the Machina Guardian’s attacks changed based on whether the target moved. Before, it had seemed to react to the holy knight’s movements, but what if it hadn’t?

When they peeked from behind the corner, the Machina Guardian was no longer there. They figured it must’ve gone back to its original spot. Upon confirming that, Mira summoned a holy knight and a dark knight, but sent only the dark knight into the boss chamber.

When the dark knight charged forth, they saw a similar attack—but not the same. The dark knight swiftly evaded the approaching leg stab and struck the foe with its black sword. However, that was all it managed, as the second stab destroyed it.

“Now, be ready to run.”

“Yeah. Let’s see what happens.”

While the two mages watched with bated breath, the Machina Guardian moved. As they expected, it peeked into the passage. They stood by and warily surveyed the boss, ready to run at the drop of a hat.

The holy knight stood closer to the boss chamber. It was unmoving and inconspicuous, but apparently motion had nothing to do with the boss’s attacks.

“Retreat!”

“On it!”

Already prepared to scram, they promptly turned tail and fled. Wall golems stood between them and the boss, shielding them from the destructive current that immediately blasted through the corridor.

“Movement isn’t the key,” Mira noted.

“Doesn’t seem like it.”

Having completed their first test, they returned to the blackened corridor to begin the second.

“The residual heat is incredible,” added Mira. The Machina Guardian was no longer ahead; presumably, it had gone back to its original position. A haze vaguely distorted the space ahead due to the remaining heat from the Ancient Ray’s attack.

“It disperses fast, though,” Soul Howl added.

“Now that you mention it, it does.”

Judging by its appearance and firepower, the Ancient Ray was probably thousands of degrees. Oddly, however, the heat remaining in the corridor was basically bearable.

“This wall seems to hold some secrets.” Mira gently touched the blackened wall. She’d found it odd that she hadn’t felt any heat come from it when they hid around the corner. Indeed, it felt neither hot nor cold, as if nothing had happened.

“Think it absorbs heat? Well, that’d be convenient for us.”

“Indeed. Perhaps that’s to be expected of ancient technology.”

If enough heat was left to burn them, that would hinder their experimenting. Fortunately, there was no need to worry about that. No doubt those ancient people had used some incredible technology on these walls. That was common in places described as “ancient”; the term “ancient technology” commonly referred to things like this.

“Now, this one should only take a single try.”

Thus began the second round of experimentation. Watching the boss chamber, Mira summoned a single dark knight and sent it into the room. Soul Howl poked his head out above her and watched.

The dark knight charged through their field of view until the Machina Guardian loosed an even faster blow at it. The knight evaded and struck the Machina Guardian’s leg as it came down, then deftly evaded the next instantaneous leg strike and countered once more.

“Good, good!”

Mira’s objective was simply to experiment, but this was where her competitive side reared its head. The dark knight’s swordplay and ability to learn were significant. However, it couldn’t stand up to the Machina Guardian’s overwhelming might; it was struck down before it could unleash its third blow.

“Gnngh…” Mira was saddened by the sight of her dark knight being so cruelly brought down despite its efforts.

“Okay. Now it really begins.” Soul Howl poked his head out again, urging her to be cautious. They still needed to be ready to flee at a moment’s notice.

Mira gathered herself and focused on the Machina Guardian’s actions. They were almost the same as before. Approaching the turn in the hallway, the Machina Guardian stooped and peeked inside.

At the entrance, they saw its torso, covered with thick armor like a tank’s. When the torso opened and exposed the crystal—indicating that the Machina Guardian was about to use Ancient Ray—they would need to retreat at once.

What would happen? They kept their breathing low and stayed still for two minutes. Incredibly, the Machina Guardian didn’t use Ancient Ray, just returned to its place in the chamber with those heavy footsteps.

“Well, it seems it won’t fire if nothing is in the hallway.”

“Seems not. But we’ve confirmed it’ll fire if there is anything.”

If the Machina Guardian identified anything in the hallway to its chamber after something had entered that chamber, it would incinerate it with Ancient Ray. If not, it would go back. At this point, they were certain it followed that basic logic.

“Regarding its ability to learn, though, its first and second attacks were almost the same. I have to wonder how good the Machina Guardian is at learning.”

“We know it learns if you repeat the same thing over and over, but it’s hard to know just how many repetitions it’ll take. As far as I can tell, it’s not just once or twice. Either it takes dozens, or it’s based on the elapsed time. Its information-processing abilities might take a while to work, after all.” According to Soul Howl, the first fifty golems had bought him time without issue. But today, his second day of battle, the guardian was seemingly already hatching a plan.

“Hrmm. That would be reasonable. Either way, we can assume that using the same strategy for long stretches of time won’t work.”

“No. But based on our investigation, I think leaving the golems around the closest corner would be fine. Not that we can be sure it’ll work again.”

One corner beyond the blackened corridor, the hallway was still an unblemished white. If Soul Howl left his golems there, they might be able to continue running interference.

Soul Howl sighed, clearly exhausted, and promptly lined up a fresh set of golems. “Good grief. Okay, let’s get back to camp.”

“Agreed. I’m starving.”

Satisfied that they’d bought another day of rest, Mira offered a prayer for the army of golems and left with Soul Howl.