Chapter 45

Part 20: Found the Inheritance (1)

Creak.

As the door to the treasure room opened, we rushed inside.

And we almost fell through a gaping hole in the floor.

"Ah!"

In the center of the large stone chamber that looked like a warehouse, there was a hole that went straight up and down.

Hanging at the edge of the hole about to fall, I looked down and saw a dark, bottomless pit.

'Could it be?'

I looked up. There was the same hole above, but the top of the hole was visible.

The ceiling of the stone chamber.

It was the ceiling of the very stone chamber we had fallen into.

"This can't be. This hole is the one we fell through?"

The phoenix hunter, instead of helping me who was hanging onto the hole, was staring blankly at it.

She seemed to be in shock.

"Ugh."

With no other choice, I climbed up by myself.

When I got up and looked around, I understood why she was so shocked.

The warehouse was almost empty. I thought there might be another door, but there was none except the one we came through.

Apart from the door we came in, the only way out was the two large holes that went up and down.

After a long while, she searched the remaining stone chamber thoroughly but only found some rusted metal pieces and a few gold coins.

"This can't be..."

In the end, she sat on the floor, overwhelmed with despair.

She had been so rational until now, and I could tell how disappointed she was by her current state.

I was also very disappointed, but adventures don't always end well.

Moreover, I had been able to refine my mana sword skills, so I didn't feel like I had lost much.

I looked up.

As I gathered mana, I could faintly see the ceiling through the dim light, which seemed to be over 50 meters high.

It was very high, but much closer than the underground plaza with the reservoir.

Climbing a cliff would have been impossible in my previous life, but with mana, I thought I could manage it.

"Should we go back?"

While muttering to myself and looking for a place to grab onto the ceiling, a thought suddenly came to me.

'Wait a minute? If there were treasures here and there was a hole, then...'

Where did the treasures go?

Of course, they could have been buried in the dirt or cleared away by the monsters digging, but if neither of those happened?

I looked down the hole again.

And just as I was about to shout to her,

"Wait, the treasures..."

Roar!

My shout didn't reach her ears.

The monsters' roars drowned out my voice.

"Are there still monsters left?"

Surprised, I looked at the open door, and she got up with an angry face.

"There were some left? Good!"

Oh, it's not good at all!

Cursing inwardly, I gripped my sword.

I was puzzled because the death point message didn't appear even after we killed all the monsters, but it turned out there were some left.

And finally, the monsters appeared.

Bang!

A large red monster burst through the big iron door and entered the stone chamber.

Then, an even larger monster followed.

The monsters were entirely red.

They were monsters with four legs and rat-like faces.

They looked similar to the monsters we saw from below, but they were much larger than the gray ones.

'Are they a different species?'

They were not only larger but also had different fur colors.

The fur was a fiery red. Seeing those red furs, I understood why they were called 'Red Mice.'

So, are these the parents of the other monsters? Maybe their fur is originally red, but it turned gray because they were in the underground?

While I was thinking this, I heard a grinding sound from beside me.

"Are you the ones? Where are the treasures?"

Before I could say anything, she burst forward, furious.

Grrrr.

She wasn't the only one angry.

The red-furred monsters also roared and charged at us.

Clang! Clang!

In an instant, the humans and monsters clashed.

Unlike the previous gray monsters, these did not yield to her attacks at all.

Her sword and their claws clashed, but the claws remained intact, and even when she managed to cut their bodies, the red fur protected them, leaving only minor wounds.

"I shouldn't be losing to you! I shouldn't have this kind of ability! If only I had learned properly!"

The more she fought, the more frustrated she became, and she swung her sword wildly.

However, the monsters were different. She couldn't win while she was so agitated.

During the fight, her sword absurdly slashed the air, and the monster's claws left a wound on her skin.

The phoenix hunter was gradually being pushed back.

I sighed.

If my earlier thought was correct, the treasures would be mine if she died...

Now, I could climb up by myself, and if she fought well, I might not have to deal with the monsters.

But.

"The monsters are too strong! Run while I hold them off!"

Hearing her voice as she fought the monsters, bleeding, I gave up on running.

There are many villains in this world, but there are also quite a few good people, even fools.

When someone is in mortal danger, you can see their true nature, and it's really hard to ignore if it's good.

In the end, I raised my sword.

'If I die, will I be able to beat them next time?'

With that thought, I charged at the monsters.

Unfortunately, the phoenix hunter fell before I could join the fight, and I became the target of the two monsters.

"Ugh, no, no!"

I heard her desperate scream and saw the claws filling my vision.

I closed my eyes.

Rip.

Intense pain.

The world went dark and then bright again.

The sound of wind and flapping clothes.

And the words that appeared before my eyes.

Life started over.

I opened my eyes.

The cave walls rushed past.

I could vaguely see the surroundings thanks to the light coming from the phoenix hunter's back as we fell together.

The treasure room where I died a moment ago must be up there.

It was almost time to hit the water.

Instead of throwing my sword, I gripped it tightly and gathered mana to prepare for the impact.

Splash!

The next moment, I fell into the water with a loud splash.

The cold water hit my body, and I began to sink.

It was because of the heavy sword.

When I first fell, I struggled to slow down my descent.

But this time, I didn't move, holding the sword to my chest.

With mana flowing through my body, breathing wasn't a concern.

In my previous life, I heard that some divers could hold their breath for over 10 minutes, and I felt I could do the same now.

The light above flickered. She was searching for me in the water.

When I first fell, she would have caught me and taken me to the surface by now.

This time, I had fallen too deep, and she couldn't find me.

I held my breath and continued to descend.

Sure enough, it was a deep reservoir.

The light gradually faded, and as the darkness enveloped me, I started to worry.

What if my assumption was wrong? What if this reservoir was connected to somewhere else?

Just as I began to doubt, I felt my feet touch the uneven bottom.

Fortunately, I reached the bottom in time.

'Damn, I can't see anything.'

I had made a mistake.

I thought the treasures would have fallen through the hole in the treasure room and ended up in this reservoir. But it was too dark to find anything.

I couldn't just go back up.

I had sunk so quickly because I fell from a great height.

If I didn't find something this time, I would just die and fall again.

I tried to push more mana into my eyes and ears, but then I had an idea.

What if I spread mana outside my body?

It might be possible in water, even if not in the air.

I couldn't immobilize others by dominating the space with mana, but maybe I could feel the area around me.

If I could make my sword move like an extension of my body by infusing it with mana, maybe I could feel the area where the mana spread in the water.

Holding my breath, I started to release mana outside my body.

It felt different from spreading it in the air.

It was like pushing my body into sticky jelly.

It was uncomfortable and slow, but I managed to spread mana in the water.

A 2-meter radius. That was the area where the mana spread.

'This is dirt, and that is rock...'

Fortunately, I could feel objects through the movement of mana.

It was like sensing foreign objects in jelly.

It was a very unfamiliar sensation, but I could detect objects around me to some extent.

I couldn't see them clearly, but it was enough to avoid having to crawl on the ground and feel each object.

I slowly walked along the bottom of the reservoir.

The bottom was a mess, as I had expected.

There were broken rocks and stones that seemed to have been cut by humans.

There was also a candlestick and torn pieces of fabric.

As I searched, my breath started to get short.

Judging by my shortness of breath, quite some time had passed.

'Oh, right. The monsters will come...'

We fought the monsters not long after leaving the reservoir.

There were three in total, and the phoenix hunter had dealt with two of them.

'Can she handle three?'

I might have given her a tough job...

I had to go up.

Sigh, the sword was a problem. It was impossible to climb up with this heavy sword.

This time, I decided to leave the broadsword on the ground.

'Is there anything light and usable?'

I scanned the debris on the ground.

I didn't see any swords, but I felt a broad plank.

'Is this a shield?'

It was a small, round shield.

'What's it made of?'

I was worried it might be heavy, but the shield was surprisingly light.

There was nothing else, so I decided to take the shield.

I stuck the sword into the ground, grabbed the shield, and started to swim up.

It seemed to be a good shield. It was an old item from the stone chamber and had been in the water for a long time, but it accepted my mana very well.

Moreover, it seemed to become lighter when I infused it with mana.

I held the shield with both hands and swam up.