Chapter 366: Eighty-Fourth Floor, Sea of Lava (7)

W-what?

For a fleeting moment, my mind completely shut down. It was the first time something I had placed inside the mimic had exited without my permission.

Contrasting my stunned state, the horn floated unwaveringly in midair. Though it pointed toward the lava, it wasn’t aimed directly downward. Instead, it angled slightly forward and below.

Now isn’t the time to stand still.

The horn still shimmered a luminous, bluish-gold hue, and I snapped back to myself.

Fortunately, my ability to perceive and process events moved at a pace far removed from that of the average person.

In hindsight, that was only natural. Someone who could move at the speed of lightning experienced time far differently than a normal human.

I swiftly cast Shadow Veil. Darkness infused with my divinity, cloaking the area and cutting off the light entirely.

They probably saw it already, right?

It happened in a blink, and the horn had moved swiftly. Unfortunately, not quickly enough that the navigator wouldn’t have noticed.

Roughly two seconds had passed from the moment the horn burst from the mimic and twirled in the air. Given that I had spent about half a second surprised, he would have had a full one and a half seconds to notice the abnormality.

Even if he had been focused on the map, a sudden flash of light would have naturally drawn his attention.

Still, the decision to throw up the Shadow Veil wasn’t a conscious one—it had been pure instinct.

It was the right move.

To the people here, such phenomena would be deemed unnatural, and I would only draw unwanted attention.

Without moving my head, I shifted only my eyes to check the navigator’s reaction.

“

Uh-uhh?

” he grunted, dazed and uncertain.

His wide eyes were fixed on me, or rather, on where the horn had glowed moments earlier.

I turned to him while keeping my expression even. “Is something the matter?”

“N-no. I’m certain I just saw a-a light!”

“A light?”

“Yes, a blue light appeared right beside you, Adventurer.”

“A blue light? I didn’t see anything.”

“But it was there, and then it vanished!”

“Perhaps you were mistaken?”

While I was trying to shift the topic, a commotion broke out within the submersible.

It made sense. Other crew members were stationed below, awaiting the navigator’s signal to resume the journey. To them, his visible panic must have seemed like something had gone terribly wrong.

Their tension was natural, considering four vessels had already gone down.

“What’s happening? Is there a problem?”

“Octane!”

“What? What is it now?”

“The navigator says he saw a blue light.”

“A blue light? What the hell does that mean?”

The murmur of voices grew louder below, but the navigator remained frozen in place.

He still murmured as if spellbound, “There was light... definitely a blue glow...”

He looked as if something had ensnared his mind.

Perhaps something has.

The light had originated from a god that this world had likely worshipped. If anything could cause such a trance, it would be that.

“

Hmm.

I didn’t see a thing, though.”

As I continued to feign ignorance, the clamor below began to fade.

Remtal had come up to investigate. “What’s going on?”

“The navigator claims to have seen a light.”

“A light? What kind of light?”

“We’re not sure.”

“What kind of nonsense is this? Halt the sub. Octane! Get down here!”

“Blue...”

“Octane!”

“Yes?”

“Get down here, now!”

The navigator finally came to and began walking down the stairs. However, the horn remained suspended exactly where it had been.

I decided not to say anything unnecessary and quietly stepped away. Peering down, I saw Remtal glance up, and our eyes met. The look in his eyes seemed to be asking if this was my doing.

I nodded slightly in response. He blinked, slow and reassuring.

He will handle it.

It really had been a wise decision to claim I was a mage. Having the commanding officer as a steadfast ally was proving invaluable.

Instead of following them down, I turned my attention back to the god’s horn.

Though we had paused the voyage, the sub still retained some residual momentum and drifted forward at a crawl. As it did, the horn’s angle shifted slightly.

What is it pointing toward?

It didn’t seem to be the trench.

While no one was certain of where exactly the trench lay, it was presumed to be at least a day’s journey away from here.

Of course, that was separate from the epicenter, and it was entirely possible that a trench was below us at this moment.

That doesn’t feel right, though. Would the horn truly point toward the trench?

It seemed more plausible that it was pointing toward another piece of the god’s corpse.

A portion of it undoubtedly lay beneath the lava. Previously, I had assumed the body was buried beneath the trench, but now, that didn’t seem to be the case.

The god and the blocked trench may be entirely separate matters. The trench was sealed during the great earthquake, after all.

Perhaps the horn had merely ended up beneath the volcano by coincidence.

Regardless, the long horn was proof enough that the god’s body was no longer intact. I saw no reason why the horn, likely guided by instinct, wouldn’t be pointing toward the rest of the remains.

Either way, I need to go in that direction.

Hearing some movement from behind me, I turned. Remtal and the navigator were climbing the ladder, ascending to the top of the sub. They had probably come to confirm it themselves.

Remtal, having climbed up fully like I had, snapped irritably at the navigator, “There’s nothing here!”

“No, I swear there was a light right beside the Adventurer!”

I remained silent. No one else seemed to be following them up.

Remtal took a few careful steps forward, then abruptly turned. He brought a finger to his lips, a clear signal for silence.

The navigator frowned in confusion. Then, in a near-whisper, Remtal murmured, “

Shh.

This adventurer is actually a mage.”

“What?”

“Quiet. I said hush.”

His whispered words had startled the navigator. He looked at me with wide, confused eyes.

Well, he had already seen something. Having one more person in the know wouldn’t hurt, especially since he would be traveling with us.

“Apologies for the deception earlier. There were too many people below.” To support Remtal’s claim, I summoned a flicker of lightning at my fingertips.

The navigator’s eyes widened like lanterns, and he nearly lost it until Remtal managed to rein him in.

“W-what is... what in the world?”

“So let’s agree that what you saw earlier was just a trick of the eye. I’ll explain it properly later.”

“R-right. Understood.” Still dazed, the navigator could only nod slowly.

He clearly hadn’t yet wrapped his head around the situation.

Several seconds passed before he looked at me again, this time with a complicated expression that was tinged with concern. It seemed like he hadn’t quite shaken off the guilt of speaking curtly to me earlier.

I merely offered him a quiet smile.

With the air now calm, Remtal stepped closer. “What exactly happened?”

“Something I possess pointed in that direction,” I explained, then continued to explain part of my hypothesis.

Remtal looked startled. “Are you saying there’s a trench here? But the epicenter is still farther out—”

“I’m not sure yet. It may not be a trench. Still, it’s worth checking.”

“Is that so?”

I turned my gaze forward. “Let’s move a bit farther for now. We can decide what comes next once we arrive.”

***

In truth, it was nearly impossible for the Chusen Tribe to locate the trench.

They had managed to construct a submersible through significant effort, but lacked any equipment to properly survey the surrounding area. Given the nonexistent visibility in the lava, pinpointing the trench was no easy task.

That was precisely why the king had summoned an adventurer. He had hoped that a renowned explorer’s instinct could offer at least a starting point.

For the individuals already working on the project, however, the decision wasn’t entirely welcome. They were being asked to place their trust in the “intuition” of a stranger, someone they had only just met, when no clear solution was in sight.

The navigator was guiding the vessel’s course under Kwon Su-Hyeok’s lead. He took a sideways glance at him.

Phew.

Even now, the thought of what had happened earlier sent a shiver down his spine.

A mage?!

That was only heard in fairy tales, for children no less. Though he didn’t generally believe in conspiracy theories, he had seen it with his own eyes. Lightning had bloomed out of nowhere.

I acted out of my mind

.

He had treated the outsider coldly, not quite hazing him but certainly not welcoming him either.

It hadn’t been entirely without reason. He didn’t like that the man had climbed up onto the sub’s deck. He assumed he had done it for show, to act superior.

In reality, it had been to search for something.

Some old tales described mages as temperamental. If Kwon Su-Hyeok were any less kind, the navigator could have found himself cursed for his behavior.

The navigator made a quiet vow to treat others with more caution from now on.

“We can stop around here,” Kwon Su-Hyeok remarked.

The navigator quickly pushed aside his wandering thoughts.

“Yes, sir!” he answered like a well-trained soldier. Leaning over the opening, he shouted below, “Stop! Stop!”

Since the vessel required someone to steer it, it didn’t move while the crew slept. Though someone would always be awake during their shift, actual navigation paused during rest hours.

It hadn’t been publicized that they would be diving tonight, so many assumed the day’s work was done and began exchanging parting words.

“

Ah

, we’re finished!”

“Great work, everyone.”

During Remtal and the navigator’s discussion earlier, they had decided to assess the situation upon arrival.

What will he do now? It is already late. Will he really dive at this hour?

The navigator glanced at Kwon Su-Hyeok again. He was reaching out toward something in midair with a subtle grimace on his face.

Does magic involve pain?

The navigator kept the question to himself and followed Kwon Su-Hyeok back down into the submersible.

As they descended among the crew cleaning up for the night, Remtal approached and exchanged a few words with Kwon Su-Hyeok.

No sooner had the navigator perked up to eavesdrop than Remtal turned and shouted toward the others aboard the submersible, “Hold on! The Adventurer says he senses something down below! Stop what you’re doing and prepare to dive!”

Small outbursts of shock and surprise immediately echoed from all around. Their dreams of resting had fizzled into air, and the complaints began to rush in.

“What?”

“Why now?”

One of the more seasoned researchers tried to reason with Remtal.

“It’s too late. Can’t we do it tomorrow instead?”

“And what if the volcano erupts in the meantime? Will you take responsibility?

Oh

, wait. You won’t have to. We’ll all be dead.”

Remtal rarely spoke sharply, so the researcher quickly shook his head. “N-no, of course not. We’ll prepare right away.”

After that, no one uttered another word of protest.

Still, the unspoken frustration—that they couldn’t direct at Remtal—shifted toward Kwon Su-Hyeok instead.

The navigator watched those looks with mounting anxiety.

Stop glaring, you fools. He is a mage!

He wanted to shout it aloud, but couldn’t. He had been sternly warned to keep that secret. In every story he could remember from childhood, bad things happened to those who disobeyed a mage’s word.

He glanced at Kwon Su-Hyeok again with quiet concern, but the man showed no reaction at all.

Before long, the descent began. Once the sub began diving, there wasn’t much left for the navigator to do. At that stage, the pilot became the key figure.

Four vessels had already gone missing, and their crew members were likely dead. Since nobody had dived in this location before, the descent required even greater caution.

The navigator stood behind the pilot’s seat, face taut with tension. He had been through multiple dives before, but the fear never quite faded, especially now.

This time, it wasn’t standard procedure. They were relying on the “intuition” of a mage, and Kwon Su-Hyeok was also directing the descent speed.

“Slowly.”

“Even slower, sir?”

“Yes.”

They weren’t descending particularly fast to begin with, yet Kwon Su-Hyeok kept insisting they go even more carefully.

Unlike the grumblers among the crew, the navigator only grew more tense. After all, the mage was giving the orders.

After a few minutes, Kwon Su-Hyeok suddenly raised his voice. “Stop!”

“Sorry?”

“Stop the dive! Any deeper and the sub will rupture! Raise us just a little!”

The urgency in his voice left no room for argument. The pilot moved the controls without so much as a word in response.

Everyone in the control room turned toward Kwon Su-Hyeok with puzzled expressions, but he paid them no mind.

“Holding your position here.”

With that, he left the room with Remtal close behind.

Watching him go, the navigator sensed something different about him. The pace of his life wasn’t quite like their own.

Alongside that, a rising curiosity piqued in his mind.

He and Remtal were the only ones who knew Kwon Su-Hyeok’s true identity.

Would it be all right for me to follow them as well?

Unable to resist, the navigator trailed after them. The two noticed, but said nothing. That alone filled him with confidence. It felt like being part of a secret shared by important people.

They had entered the torpedo room.

Remtal turned to Kwon Su-Hyeok and asked, “You’re really planning to go down there yourself?”

“Yes. There’s something strange in the lava. If we descend any farther, the sub will burst. I’ll have to move on my own.”

“You said it was possible, but I’m still worried.”

“I’ll be fine. Once I’m down there, don’t wait for me. Head straight back up. I’ll follow shortly.”

“Wait, go back up without you?”

“Yes.”

The navigator had no idea what they were talking about.

He couldn’t take it anymore and finally burst into the conversation. “Wait, what are you saying? Go down? What do you mean?”

Kwon Su-Hyeok casually answered, “

Oh

, I’m planning to get inside the metal casing that holds the torpedo and descend from there. I want to confirm what’s down there.”

“Excuse me?” For a second, the navigator completely forgot that Kwon Su-Hyeok was a mage. “Have you lost your mind?”

Kwon Su-Hyeok, in a perfectly calm tone, replied, “No. I’m not crazy.”