Chapter 68 - St. Jansk University and the Chamber of Secrets (11)

"Correct."

As the voice brushed through her mind like a licking tongue, Elpihera finally confronted the truth. What she had thought were treasures were desiccated human bones, and the precious medicinal herb she had prized was a sword driven through a statue's chest.

"Ugh... urgh...!"

She covered her mouth and backed away. The sight of the statue had struck her with a shock that seemed to twist her insides.

Her heart pounded, her hands and feet trembled, and she stepped forward without realizing it. She wanted to clutch it. To grasp it. To pull it out and possess it. A temptation unlike any she had ever felt, a dreadful desire hidden behind a veil of deception, was crushing her heart.

But she must not.

She was an elf, of the noblest race beneath the heavens. To succumb to an unholy temptation planted atop human corpses would be so very, very disgraceful.

She was a mage, a member of the profession that demanded more rationality than any other. To drown in emotion and act on impulse was a disgrace to any mage.

So, so...

"I have many names, but you may call me Salvation. I know the wish you harbor. Wish, as is your right, and it shall be fulfilled."

'No. You are not my god.'

Elpihera unknowingly took another step forward, then stopped in horror as she felt bones crumble beneath her foot.

"Draw it, and you shall receive. I decree that you shall receive what you have prayed for all your life. Raise your hands and draw it."

The statue's voice was imbued with divinity, something no mortal spirit could dare resist.

Perhaps she had no choice. Perhaps trying to resist such a thing was meaningless in itself. Elpihera could not tell whether that was resignation born of surrender to temptation, or the temptation itself whispering in her own voice.

As she took another step forward, an icy voice reached her ears. Yes, her ears.

"Your words are lies."

Cold enough to cool her fevered mind. Low and chilling, edged with menace, growling like a savage beast. Unlike the statue's soft, sweet voice, it reached her ears distinctly instead of echoing inside her head. And that was what made it real... a human voice.

A mortal's voice, cutting down through the boundary between myth and fantasy. All the more distinct for it, all the more reassuring...

"You were sealed by human hands."

Dryly, calmly, he told it that humans had already defeated it in the distant past.

"Listen to me!!"

"No."

Divinity so dense it was visible to the naked eye darkened their surroundings. The sword embedded in the statue's chest rattled as if trying to pull itself free. Yet the hands gripping its hilt moved ponderously, slowly, despite the divinity wrapped around them like chains. With unwavering conviction, he peeled his fingers away, one by one.

"Stop, stop!! You cannot kill me! I am your god!!"

He paid no heed to the statue's screams, unmoved by that dreadful temptation she could feel merely by watching.

How could he do it? Had she been in his place, she would probably have given up. He faced the full brunt of the malice pouring out, while only a single thread of divinity spilled past his broad back toward her. Yet even that caused her such agony.

As Elpihera trembled, a low voice reached her, and her shaking gradually subsided.

"I've met others who believed themselves gods."

CRACK. CRUNCH.

Stone shattered, and divinity began scattering wildly in every direction.

She could not see past the man's back, but some things could be understood without seeing them. Right now, he was killing a god.

"They died."

His voice was barren of excitement or passion, of pride or satisfaction in the great feat he was performing. He merely whispered, calmly and dryly, as though relating a fact he had experienced in the past.

CRUNCH!!

Then he crushed the statue's head in his powerful grip.

"Ah..."

Divinity burst from within the seal. A presence so overwhelming it seemed to warp the world poured down upon the mound of remains.

It was an ancient god's death throes. An immortal's scream, mingling anguish and pain. A blasphemer's lament that could deafen the ears and defile the soul merely by being heard.

Elpihera barely managed to open her mouth and shout in a cracked voice.

"Get... away!! Run!! That... that...!"

How could she explain it? How could she persuade him to fall back...? If he stayed there—no, anywhere in this room—he would bear the full force of its curse.

Struggling to keep her eyes open in the raging wind, Elpihera finally found the right words. Words even a human mind could understand...!

"It's going to explode!!"

"Hm."

Ivan looked at Elpihera. He gave a brief nod, then vanished from her sight.

"Huh...?!"

"Good thing I brought you."

Suddenly before her, Ivan wrapped an arm around her waist, lifted her, and turned. Just as he was about to leave the room, she heard a sound.

"Hm."

Ivan stopped short. A chain was wrapped around his ankle. Looking back, she saw that black divinity seeping from the shattered statue had seized him.

"What's the blast radius?"

"B-blast was just a figure of speech... More precisely, it's a reversal of concepts..."

"Summarize."

"I don't know! But judging by the seal's structure... considering the reach of its authority... anywhere in this room would definitely...!"

"Close the door and wait."

Huh...?!

Her vision lurched and tilted, and Elpihera felt an overwhelming sensation of weightlessness.

THUD!

The impact and the stinging pain in her backside brought her to her senses. She had been thrown out of the room and dumped on the floor.

"W-what about you?! I told you it's dangerous!"

"It's fine."

His low voice made her flinch. Overcome by a powerful sense of déjà vu, she looked up at Ivan's face with trembling eyes.

An impassive face, as though nothing were wrong. Twelve years ago... Only the shape of his eyes remained of how he had looked back then...

"I expected a second phase."

Ivan was a man of common sense, so naturally he knew how boss fights worked. Five phases at most, two at least. The first phase had been a gimmick, so the second would test his execution. Fortunately, he was confident in that area.

"N-no, what does that even mean...?"

Ivan turned without answering her.

BANG!

The door slammed shut before her eyes.

Just as when she had first encountered this door, she could sense not a trace of mana or divinity.

Forcing her weak legs to move, she crawled toward the door. For a while, she ran her fingertips over the tightly closed seam. Then she hugged her knees and lowered her head, sniffling.

Human lives were far too short. That human, too, would fade away in what seemed an instant. Yet his soul, like an elf's, remained steadfast and upright despite that fleeting life...

"Come back..."

Elpihera closed her eyes, sniffling.

* * *

Ivan turned and climbed the mound of remains again.

"You alone—"

"What can I do alone? I'll show you."

"You are merely—"

"One human. Correct."

There was no more temptation. Only anger with nowhere to go. In the malice overflowing from the statue's ruined head, just one emotion blazed.

Slowly, the black darkness seeping from the statue took shape: a giant with five heads. Ivan walked straight up to the statue.

This thing had been sealed for the past two thousand years. Two thousand years ago, humans had defeated it. Ever since, it had struggled however it could, laying traps and trying to widen the cracks in its seal.

Naturally, its power would no longer be what it had been in its prime. Fortunately, his own power was still very much at its peak. And to add one more thing...

"An ugly end for one who tempted others with happiness. Not happy anymore?"

"You...!!"

"Let's finish this quickly. I have a lot to do."

Ivan gripped the sword embedded in the statue's chest again. He felt no further temptation. That meant the sword was no longer serving as its seal.

One more thing. If it had once served as the catalyst for sealing that thing, then it was a weapon capable of harming its true form. Every boss fight had a gimmick. That was obvious "common sense" that no twenty-first-century Earthling could fail to know.

SHING.

With a sound like slicing flesh, the unadorned iron sword slid smoothly from the marble statue's chest without resistance. Ivan gave his wrist a light flick to judge its balance, then held it upright.

A well-made weapon. If it was a catalyst that had sealed an evil god, was it an item for mages or warriors? Who would get the most use out of equipping it once he returned to the surface? Such were his thoughts.

* * *

Elpihera had been sitting with her back against the door. When it swung open smoothly and silently, she lost her balance and toppled backward.

"Eek?!"

"Were you asleep?"

Warm body heat spread across her lower back. She raised her head, eyes trembling, to find him standing there with the same expression he had worn when he first entered that room.

"A-are, are you all ri—"

"I'm fine."

Ivan lifted Elpihera to her feet, supported her, and started walking. Half cradled in his arms, she spoke.

"What, what happened in there...?"

"Nothing happened."

"Uh... um... That's not possible."

"So it would seem."

"If you don't want to tell me, don't."

"All right."

"Wow... Honestly. Humans...!! All that worrying for nothing!"

Ignoring Elpihera's outburst, Ivan reached the edge of the ruins and looked up. The surging mana had cleared from the deep underground space, and far overhead he could see a small cluster of lights.

"Can you cast a levitation spell?"

"Of course I can."

"I really was right to bring you."

"..."

She lowered her head in his arms and mumbled, then tilted her head. Something had suddenly occurred to her.

Why was he so... warm...? No, this was almost like...?

She tentatively placed a hand on his chest and recoiled in alarm.

"You're burning up! What did you do in there?!"

"Hm."

"Don't 'hm' me! You're driving me mad, honestly! I understand your conversational skills are a little lacking because you're human, but...!"

"I'm fine."

"Aaargh!! Stop saying that!! What part of this is fine?! Did you make a bet on whether I'll burst from frustration before your insides burst?!"

Elpihera finished shouting and completed the spell. They began to rise slowly.

Ivan took one last look at the ruins, then raised his gaze again. The underground waterway was close. Elizaveta's troops should be at its entrance, and even if they were not, the university was a straight shot from the waterway. They had reached safety.

"Well done."

"... You did more. I didn't really accomplish anything."

"No. You did your part."

Finding the seal and interpreting the ancient language. That was all. He had never expected anything more. She had done exactly what she was supposed to do.

Everything else—keeping this child safe, killing the sealed being, assessing and responding to the situation, and scouting—had been his role.

As his vision blurred, Ivan slowly closed his eyes.

At his words, Elpihera lowered her head again. Her lips moved uncertainly before she spoke.

"Um, I was wondering. Twelve years ago. Well, um. You know, back then."

"..."

"Do you really... remember? What I did to you back then..."

"..."

"Hello?"

Elpihera looked up and saw that Ivan's eyes were closed. Listening to his steady breathing, she raised a hand and stroked his cheek.

"I wanted to say I'm sorry I never thanked you. For that, and for today—thank you."

Once they reached the underground waterway, she left the levitation spell on Ivan intact. Still nestled in his arms, she floated slowly across the waterway.

"You worked hard. Sleep well."

* * *

Ivan opened his eyes, clutching his head. Consciousness surfaced hazily through a tingling headache.

It felt like a hangover after a bout of heavy drinking. Surprisingly for someone of this era, however, Ivan hardly drank at all. He therefore had no reason to suffer a hangover.

He pushed aside the soft velvet covers and sat up in bed.

"What...?"

Velvet covers? A bed?

Ivan's thoughts abruptly stilled.

A floor covered in red carpeting, a bed draped in softly rippling velvet covers. And at its far end, a figure lying with her back to him. A woman.

"Hm."