Bjorn Yandel the Barbarian

Episode 617: Homunculus (4)

“This is…”

“Is Kaislan coming to his senses?”

When he regained consciousness, he made a dazed expression as if he was still dreaming, but eventually woke up completely after being slapped by me.

“iced coffee…!”

Yes, this is effective in many ways.

“Yandel…! “I’m glad you’re safe!”

To be honest, it was a bit touching to see him feel relieved to see me as soon as he regained consciousness.

But…

“I said, ‘Commander.’”

“Hehe Commander. “I’m glad you’re safe.”

“Can you get up?”

After exchanging jokes, I helped Kaislan up and helped him up. We then shared the information obtained so far and asked if there was any new information.

“…I don’t know. “Unlike Miss Raven, I don’t remember anything.”

“Do you usually have trouble remembering the previous day when you drink alcohol?”

“…Not really. “I don’t even like alcohol that much to begin with.”

“Anyway, it seems that the presence or absence of memories varies from person to person.”

“no. It may be because of the distance. Unlike me, Lord Kaislan would have been staying near the temple where the main force was when this incident occurred.”

“Well, maybe that really is the reason.”

It’s still all just a hypothesis, so more samples are needed.

In that sense, we continued to guard the front of the rail like gatekeepers and quickly woke up our colleagues when they appeared.

Thanks to you, I learned something.

“Hmm… You vaguely remember this? “You must have been near the temple at that time.”

It seems that the presence or absence of memories has nothing to do with distance and is only a matter of individual differences.

Why aren’t there people who are good at remembering their dreams while they sleep?

For your information, I don’t remember much.

My colleagues say that I grind my teeth and talk in my sleep, but when I wake up, I don’t remember anything.

“…You mean the prison we were in?”

“I… I don’t really remember. sorry.”

Unfortunately, even those who remembered things vaguely did not know where they were trapped.

Therefore…

“At this rate, you’ll be safe without me.”

As soon as I rescued more than ten people and had the minimum number of troops, I announced to my colleagues my plan to explore alone.

“Commander, wouldn’t it be better to wait a bit and move together?”

Kaislan expressed his concern, but could not waste any more time.

It didn’t make any sense, but even at this very moment, my insides were burning black.

“That’s because the search leader who passed by first didn’t say there was a high possibility that he was okay.”

“Isn’t it a possibility?”

“…?”

“It means that I don’t want to just wait here and hope that we will be safe.”

“…I made a mistake.”

“no. “Please take good care of this place while I’m away.”

Soon, I relaxed my expression, smiled, and tapped my shoulder, and Kaislan also smiled and saluted me.

“I follow your orders.”

Is it because he’s a soldier?

At first glance, it looks like he’s doing it in a playful way, but the angles are vivid.

“Raven.”

“yes. tell.”

“If we gather more troops, it would be good to do as much as we can, so investigate the surroundings. Oh, that doesn’t mean you should force yourself to do something when the situation doesn’t work out…”

“I understand. “What does it mean?”

“Still, I’ll leave it at that. Your safety is more important than that investigation. Do you understand?”

“yes. So, please come back.”

Since I made it clear, I won’t overdo it.

After exchanging glances with Kaislan, who was always dependable as a subordinate, I left this damn factory.

***

Every minute and every second is precious.

Even with that thought in mind, I never moved hastily.

Remembering the K-adage that the faster you hurry, the better you go, I started by figuring out the structure of the building.

‘There is a factory operating in the basement, and there are a total of four stairs leading down here.’

However, there are other routes to come down besides stairs.

This building had hundreds of rails whose origins were unknown, and those hundreds of rails were connected to the rails of this underground factory.

So, I wanted to go back and search for each rail one by one, but…

‘This won’t work.’

I gave up on this method after running backwards on one rail and seeing it split into dozens of branches. It was decided that it would be much more efficient to search the entire building.

So, starting from the underground factory and going up one floor at a time, I made a map…

‘There is none.’

Even though I completed 100% of the map, I couldn’t find the room where my colleagues were trapped.

However, I was not discouraged.

Because it really isn’t there.

It is more correct to assume that there is a hidden room somewhere that is not on the map, and that room will most likely not be found using this simple method.

‘Should I go inside the rails and try to reverse them one by one?’

A thought occurred to me, but I quickly shook my head.

I didn’t think I would be able to find the room I had deliberately hidden away in this way.

So now there is only one thing I have to do.

“Hamsik, do you remember anything?”

[…I’ll tell you when I think of it.]

Something hidden.

In other words, you need to find the hidden piece.

Just as I relied on Hamsik’s memory to tear off the stair tile and obtain a strange iron card.

If you search closely, you will definitely see something.

‘There must be a way to use this card somewhere.’

With that in mind, there was a time when I was walking around the entire building again and taking a closer look.

Tap tap.

As I was searching downwards with my knees on the floor, someone tapped my shoulder from behind.

“I finally found you, Yandel.”

Since I didn’t feel like I was popular, I was startled and turned my head to see a completely unexpected person standing there.

“…Amelia?”

“I’m guessing you told me to call you Emily, whether outside or inside?”

Those words were so calm that in an instant, all strength went out of my body.

“Haa….”

You were safe.

***

“What happened? What about your body? Are you feeling okay? “Have you also been transformed into that magic stone?”

“Calm down. “I’ll explain everything.”

“Oh, I understand.”

As soon as I calmed down my excitement and went into listening mode, Amelia told me one by one what had happened.

“Unlike other people, I was able to come to my senses halfway through.”

“what? “How?”

“Well, I don’t know either. “Maybe there was something in my essence that could resist this type of attack.”

I know more about Amelia than Amelia herself.

Among Amelia’s essences, there is no mental resistance type.

However, if I had to choose one candidate….

“It would most likely be due to Twin Hydra’s [dual rule].”

[Dual Reign] is a passive skill that divides the ego into two.

In the game, when linked with a skill such as [Self-Replication], it had the effect of granting a more advanced AI to the target and increasing skill performance…

‘Maybe it had other effects that I wasn’t aware of.’

It existed occasionally in [Dungeons & Stones].

uh? Does this skill block that skill? In case of

This was advanced information that could not be predicted simply by reading the explanation, but ultimately had to be learned through experience.

Anyway, this isn’t important…

“Can we continue talking?”

“Oh uh… do it.”

When I came to, Amelia was on the rails.

They were moving somewhere, and Amelia escaped by running backwards on the rails and searched the building by herself.

As a result, we naturally discovered the factory in the basement…

“Fortunately, a few people had already come to their senses.”

At that time, I had already woken up Raven and Kaislan.

Therefore, it is said that after receiving the information, they immediately followed me to find me…

Once again, the tension melts away and my legs lose their strength.

I said, holding Amelia’s shoulder for support.

“I’m glad, really. “You’re safe…”

At my words, Amelia just looked up at me and didn’t respond, and I slowly removed my hand from her shoulder.

No, more accurately, I tried to take it off.

Tuk.

Amelia’s hand is gently placed on top of the hand holding her shoulder.

Hands that are small and delicate but deeply callused.

Tuk-tuk.

Amelia patted the back of my hand as if to comfort her, and then squeezed the back of my hand with moderate force.

And…

1 second, 2 seconds, 3 seconds.

A short period of time passed by and I came to my senses.

‘What is this…’

Is there something strange about the atmosphere?

Doesn’t this seem like a man and woman who are doing well?

Since that incident with Misha, I had decided to treat my colleagues as strictly colleagues, so this atmosphere was very uncomfortable.

So I quickly took my hand away.

‘Is this… nothing wrong?’

There was no change in Amelia’s expression.

He just looked up at me in the same position as before…

Puck!

Just put a fist into my solar plexus.

“…why?”

I was more embarrassed by the sudden attack than by the pain, but I didn’t dare argue with Amelia’s words.

“I told you to wait a moment.”

“…?”

“Didn’t you completely ignore my words and just go inside, saying you were just coming to see? “This is his punishment.”

Ah…

this guy is really the type of person who can’t live with debt.

“Hmm… Anyway, I’m glad! Relief! “I was very worried about what would happen if you turned into a magic stone.”

Eventually, when we changed the topic, Amelia seemed to think that it was not a situation to nag, so she immediately responded.

“I heard about the magic stone. “It’s a very unique place.”

“…I guess that’s true. Oh, but I heard you also inspected the building? “Have you found anything?”

“It does exist. “About three.”

“There is?”

Even three?

When I urged her to speak quickly, Amelia smiled and said.

“One is the door to escape from here. “It felt different from a portal, but if you passed through that door, you could get out of the temple.”

“This is where I came in looking for you. So what about the second?”

“The second is this staircase. There was a small groove, so I looked into it and found an empty space in the wall. “It was big enough to hide a small object, but unfortunately, there was no object inside.”

Oh, that’s it.

But how did he find it?

Did he just find it because Hamsik told him about it, but he just found it in passing?

“What is that expression? “Do you know anything?”

“Everything happens. “If that’s the case, I found it a long time ago.”

“…you?”

I took out the items I found inside the wall and showed them to Amelia, who looked a little surprised.

“Is this really what it was supposed to be?”

For some reason, Amelia looked somewhat convinced as soon as she saw the card.

“Do you really know what it is for?”

“I’m not sure yet.”

“What? “Tell me quickly.”

“It also ties into the third thing I was trying to say. “I found a hidden door, but there was no way to open it.”

“Do you think this is the key?”

“If my prediction is correct. There was a groove carved into the side of the hidden door, and it was just the right size for this item to fit in.”

“Hmm, that’s right.”

There was no point in talking about whether this was the key or not.

Well, you can just go and experiment for yourself.

“Where are you? Let’s go quickly.”

“It’s the top floor.”

The place we arrived with Amelia was an empty hall located on the top floor of the building.

I visited this place while making a building map, but I couldn’t find anything at the time.

But…

“The seam on the wall here is the only part that looks unnatural.”

Even though Amelia took me to the wall and kindly explained it to me, I still wasn’t sure.

What on earth is unnatural here?

“Usually, when a secret door is hidden, it is placed like this. “It’s rare for the seams to be invisible like this.”

“Is that so?”

“More than anything, isn’t there a groove in front of here? “When I saw this, I was convinced there was a door.”

In fact, as Amelia said, there was a small gap in the wall where this card could fit.

It was so thin that I couldn’t find it when I searched alone, and even if I had seen it, I would have passed over it.

“Then… put it in?”

Amelia shook her head slightly in response to my cautious question.

After exchanging glances, I immediately inserted the card into the hole.

Rattling.

It felt like something was caught at the end, like inserting a card into a vending machine.

And….

“What? Nothing happened—.”

“Step back, Yandel.”

Drurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

A secret passageway that appears after a short period of time as the wall caves in.

“…It really happened.”

After exchanging glances, Amelia and I carefully entered the passage.