Chapter 322: Illusion (2)

Chapter 322: Illusion (2)

"What, you even know that horse’s name?"

"It’s a long story..."

"That beast belongs to the marquis. How did it get here?"

It seemed likely it had chased after its master, unwilling to be left behind. Even back when I had tried to investigate Biblio in earnest, the marquis had made sure to drive his steed away first. I remembered how Leandro had dragged Miyu out to the plains, slapped its hindquarters, and ordered it to go. And Miyu, refusing to listen, had only lashed its long tail in defiance.

Neigh! Neigh!

The black stallion tossed its mane, charging straight toward the iron door Naneow had unbarred.

Naneow thrust out an arm to block it, scolding, "You foolish beast, do you have any idea how dangerous this place is?"

Miyu bobbed its head and blinked as though it understood.

"You can’t be serious..." She gave a hollow laugh. "How did you even get through the guards? I’ll have to tie you up somewhere."

Neigh! Neigh!

"What’s this? You really understand me?"

"It came to find its master, Leandro."

Miyu lowered its head with mournful eyes, as though it truly grasped the meaning. Still, if we took it along and it died, the blame would inevitably fall on us. I recalled the marquis throwing a fit aboard ship when the horse had turned unruly.

Miyu shoved its head against the door, trying to force its way inside, but it couldn’t move past the single arm Naneow casually held out. It snorted in frustration.

"What do we do?" she asked, troubled.

"Let’s take it with us for now," She decided at last. "Leaving it here will draw too much attention. If we close the door, it’ll likely make a scene until half the palace guard swarms this place. Better to bring it."

"Fine, agreed. But will it even fit down there?"

Despite her earlier insistence of entering in order of age, Naneow was the first to push through the iron door. "I’ll check."

Miyu followed, and I brought up the rear. The soft glow from her silver candlestick filled the narrow corridor with light. It was a clean, steady light.

"Looks like it’ll fit just fine."

I nodded silently. The passage wasn’t as twisting as I’d expected, nor did it slope too steeply. No traps lay hidden. The stones were cut smooth and tight, forming an almost perfect arch. It was straight enough that I barely felt as though we were descending at all.

Miyu, perhaps satisfied that we weren’t trying to shake it off, trotted alongside us without a single whine. Larger than any normal horse, it still passed easily through the broad corridor.

Skrrrch.

I scraped the wall lightly with my blade, hard as steel. Although smaller in scale, the craftsmanship reminded me of the Path of Freedom I had previously traversed.

We walked a long while before the corridor widened further. The light from Naneow’s candlestick stretched farther, and Miyu’s hooves rang loud against the stone. Then, suddenly, the echo vanished.

Perhaps an hour had passed when a brighter light poured toward us from ahead. Naneow stopped dead at the end of the long passage. I drew up beside her, equally stunned.

"This is..."

Before us spread a vast wilderness. The corridor ended at a sheer cliff, beyond which stretched a radiant landscape, bathed in sunlight from no discernible source.

White clouds floated in a boundless sky. Clear water ran down a sloped valley. Wildflowers dotted the plains, bees humming at their blossoms. As I stepped closer to the cliff’s edge, a breeze swept over me. Forests of towering trees stretched their branches wide, and stone crags stood like ancient sentinels. It was an entire world.

"How can such a place exist?" Naneow narrowed her eyes against the brilliant sun, tracing the line of a waterfall upward into the blue. "There’s nowhere in the capital or anywhere I’ve ever been that looks like this. I’ve never seen terrain like it. And..."

She drew a glass rod from her pouch. Inside, blue smoke and red smoke pressed against one another, their boundary marked with shifting numbers.

"We’ve come deep underground."

"..."

Yet Leandro’s trail remained, clear as day. I steadied myself, searching carefully.

Naneow placed her hand on a small stone marker jutting from the cliffside. "Look there."

Moss had once covered it, but someone had recently cleaned it.

"Ten...?"

"It’s placed exactly at the boundary. Could mean a stage. A layer. A floor."

"If this is the tenth floor..."

"Then what happens below? Do the numbers fall, or rise?"

Just then, Miyu, who had been walking quietly, lowered itself and bent its legs.

"

Hm

? You want us to climb on?"

Naneow stroked its neck. "Look at that sheen. How could I refuse when such a fine beast offers me a ride?"

She vaulted up in one smooth motion, then reached down a hand. "Well? Come on."

"I’ll pass."

The thought of growing too close to Leandro’s horse made me uneasy.

"You’re surprisingly timid."

Before I could react, she snatched me up with one arm and sat me in front of her, bracing my back firmly. If I fell, she meant to catch me.

"..."

Awkward as it felt, I couldn’t deny the thrill once astride. I’d ridden before, but only bound and tossed like cargo. This was different. Miyu was a head taller than any normal horse, giving the sensation of floating half into the sky.

"Go!"

Naneow squeezed her thighs, and Miyu leaped forward as if struck by lightning.

Fwoosh!

The black stallion hurled itself from the twenty-meter cliff.

Neigh!

Its sleek mane whipped through the wind.

Thump!

The impact that would have shattered any ordinary steed’s legs was nothing to Miyu, its monstrous muscles absorbing the shock. Without pause, it broke into a gallop across the plains.

Clop, clop, clop!

It raced with unerring certainty, as if following Leandro’s path by instinct alone.

[You have surpassed your maximum Horseriding speed.]

[Horseriding skill gained a trace of Experience!]

Whiiish!

Naneow whistled softly. "See? We’re right on his trail."

Splash!

Miyu raced across the plains and charged through a shallow stream.

Shhhh... thud!

A massive bird dove from above, slamming into us. It was entirely covered in scales, looking more reptilian than avian. It didn’t even have a proper beak, only a round maw clamped shut like a trap. Even after countless regressions, I had never once seen such a creature. Miyu shook it off with his shoulder, slowing as he glanced down into the stream.

Beneath the rushing current, enormous carp with antler-like horns on their heads opened their mouths, gasping. On the far bank, a small zebra grazed, half submerged in the water. Its hindquarters bore not legs but a broad fish’s tail, and webbing spread between the hooves of its forelegs. The strange fish, birds, and zebra-like hybrids didn’t feel threatening. Still, even when the Demon King had descended, I had never seen creatures like these.

"Have you ever seen anything like that?"

Naneow shook her head gravely. "Not once. They’re... cute, in a way, but..."

Kiieeek!

Shrill cries rang from above. Figures with long gray hair in twin tails leaped between the trees.

"What now?"

With lanky limbs and brown fur, their movements were like monkeys in the jungle. However, their hands and feet bore gray fur, and most grotesque of all, their faces ended in massive gray beaks. Tiny wings even sprouted from their backs. It was an unnatural hybrid.

Kiiek! Kkieeeak!

The creatures swung down through the branches, circling us quickly. Miyu pinned one’s tail beneath his hoof, and the rest hurled hard fruits from their hands.

Whump!

Naneow swept her scythe’s haft in a wide arc, batting every projectile away. The beasts screeched in frustration, then scattered, abandoning their trapped companion. Miyu snorted once, then lifted his hoof, releasing the creature. He pawed the ground, clearly intent on resuming the chase for his master’s trail.

"Wait," Naneow murmured, patting his neck.

Then, she raised her scythe toward the sky.

"What is it? Did you sense something?"

"No... it’s just that nothing’s there."

Clack.

The scythe’s ninety-degree grip clicked back.

Bang! Clatter...

A cylindrical shell fired upward, bursting into a flash against the blue sky. Naneow shut her eyes and pricked her ears. A faint noise echoed, followed by the whistle of the spent round falling twenty paces ahead. She opened her eyes.

"You heard it, didn’t you?"

"The ricochet?"

"Exactly. The sky’s blocked. That sun, it’s fake."

"..."

I lifted my gaze. Everything seemed real. There were no cracks in the illusion.

Naneow shaded her eyes, staring at the brilliant sun above. "That’s a lie, too."

"I feel the heat. Even the warmth is false?"

She reached upward as though something tangible might brush her fingers. "An artificial sun. A real power source, dressed in a trick of light. Convincing, isn’t it?"

Reflexively, I did the same, but there was nothing.

"Come on. Let’s keep moving."

Leandro’s traces were still clear. We pressed on through a narrow path between towering cliffs, barely wide enough for three to walk abreast.

"Slowly," Naneow whispered behind me.

Miyu, as if understanding, reduced his pace. My senses had caught the lurking presence. They hid in the forest shadows behind the cliffs, their auras growing sharper as we approached. Not human. They appeared to be four-legged beasts.

The path itself was eerily silent. No birdsong, no insects, no rustle of small animals. Only Miyu’s tense breaths filled the air as he braced for combat.

Naneow stroked his back soothingly. "Don’t worry over scraps like these."

Fifteen, no, twenty signatures shifted as we drew near, moving into position along the path.

"They’re coordinated."

"And intelligent," she replied. "Not like the cute little things outside. These things reek of malice."

Yet even as they flanked us, they did not strike. Finally, when we had crossed halfway and the forest began to thin, the beasts revealed themselves.

Grrrrr...

They were the size of gray bears, but leaner, taut with muscle. Each paw ended in claws as long as fingers, digging into the stone. Their muzzles were stretched twice as long as a wolf’s, lined with rows upon rows of jagged teeth. Raw hunger blazed from their slitted red eyes.

"

Ugh

. Definitely not my type," Naneow muttered.

Grrraaaagh!

Twenty of them emerged from both sides, fur bristling. A few clutched chunks of flesh in their jaws. Pieces of their own kind, torn cleanly apart.

"I see," Naneow said with a sharp laugh.

These weren’t wounds of battle. The cuts were smooth, precise, made by blades rather than claws.

"You were slaughtered recently, weren’t you? And now you want to unleash that hunger on us."

Their eyes gleamed, desperate to shred, devour, and swallow. Even Miyu pawed the ground, his mane bristling at their gaze.

Thump!

Naneow swung down lightly from the saddle and strode forward. That single step was all it took. The beasts lunged as one.

Clack!

Her scythe twisted, the great blade flipping back. Instead of evading, she simply matched the angle of their charge and let them impale themselves on the hook. Three bodies split apart mid-leap, momentum cleaving them against the reversed blade. The others faltered in shock, colliding with each other.

Naneow stepped forward again, sweeping her scythe sideways. A line of white light burst from the edge, severing five more in half. The remaining ten froze in terror, then bolted back into the forest, dropping the flesh from their jaws.

"Impressive," I breathed.

Returning to Miyu’s side, Naneow stroked his mane. He lowered his ears, head bowed in obedience. It was already more docile than it had been before.

"Let’s move quickly. But..." She sighed and pointed ahead. "Leandro’s trail ends here."