Arc Lab ⑨
I was told to wait four days.
Incidentally, the price, including service fees, was 140,000,000 Oro.
Whoa.
The inflation of these numbers is getting too intense for me to keep up.
An idea suddenly struck me.
“Witch. What if you sold the Elixir secretly?”
“Fufu, fufu, hmm hmm. I see, I see. Wof-boy, you really like pouring water onto boiling oil, don’t you? Kon likes it too.”
“Ah, no, I’ll refrain.”
I understood it was something I shouldn’t do.
Hayyarn, the original owner, also made a big X sign with a look of disgust.
Well, he actually did try that with the three Eggs, after all.
Two days later.
I received word that there would be a slight delay and was asked to wait an additional three days.
Because of that, the price was reduced by 3,000,000 Oro, making it 137,000,000 Oro.
It’s practically a rounding error at this point.
During that time, the Hydrangea Seeker Guild remained closed.
However, a temporary branch office for the Seeker Guild was set up elsewhere.
The reason for the closure was an emergency response to a new anomaly in the Dungeon.
This new Dungeon anomaly occurred on the shallower floors.
Furthermore, a large horde was heading for the surface.
To stop them, the entire Guild staff was mobilized to implement countermeasures.
But even so, they were short-handed. What they lacked most was combat power.
The current situation was grim.
They had apparently established their main camp on the 7th floor and were somehow managing to hold the line on the 8th floor, the site of a previous battle.
Therefore, a massive recruitment drive for Seekers was underway. The qualifications ranged from Tier IV to Tier II.
First Class Seekers were the final line of defense, to be deployed only when the situation became hopeless.
And that also implied transferring all authority to the Grand Guild.
The Witch told me. Without exception, all First Class Seekers belong to the Grand Guild.
A complete transfer—I didn’t understand what that truly meant.
But, to prevent that from happening, Alance-san and the others had closed the Guild.
They were dealing with it with all their might.
Hydrangea was enveloped in a thin mist of anxiety.
And then, the day arrived. Night.
The city’s Dungeon, 1st floor. The Junkyard.
The empty Junkyard was wrapped in a strange atmosphere.
There was a sense of novelty, but I was here with indescribable feelings.
I looked down at the deployed Disposable Teleportation Array with a tense expression.
It emitted a faint green light, looking no different from a regular Teleportation Array.
It just felt a little… smaller. Hayyarn, sitting on my shoulder, spoke.
“Wof. My apologies.”
“What’s this all of a sudden?”
“I never imagined it would come to this. It is my responsibility.”
“I also bear the responsibility for waking you.”
“Is it not our responsibility… Wof. Regarding Mineha-jou and the others…”
“Yes. I’m keeping quiet. We can’t get them involved in this.”
I didn’t mind losing my Seeker qualification. It wasn’t something I particularly wanted in the first place.
But Mineha-san and the others were different. They held genuine dreams and hopes of being Seekers.
It’s fine if it’s just me.
I’m the only one who needs to lose anything. Even if our relationship breaks because of it.
“…More importantly, let’s hurry. If that story is true, we need to stop it as soon as possible.”
“Ah, the Infinite Spawn of the Minos Units should be stoppable at the Lab.”
Infinite Spawn.
I heard about it last night.
That sudden confession nearly took my breath away.
Strictly speaking, it seems they don’t spawn infinitely.
Apparently, the mechanism consumes the Dungeon’s resources to spawn them.
It was a prototype weapon originally intended for use against Dungeons.
But it turned out to be uncontrollable, no matter what they tried. At least, it was technologically impossible.
Development was frozen two steps short of the practical application stage. It should have ended there.
Therefore, once the Dungeon’s resources are depleted, it will stop.
Naturally, the Dungeon will collapse then.
And before it stops, not just Hydrangea, but the frontier and perhaps the kingdom would likely be destroyed.
It might not even end there.
Because the Witch is here, the damage should hopefully be contained to Hydrangea.
But just like now, it means war. There are already casualties.
This situation was so far beyond a joke that I felt like crying.
I have to stop it, no matter what!
First, we teleported from the 1st floor to the 4th. Inside a Cave, a Teleportation Array was right before my eyes.
I took out the scroll for the Disposable Teleportation Array and placed it over the array.
“Alright!”
I jumped in. Next, to the 6th floor. Inside a hut. I jumped in the same way.
Next, the 8th floor. It was inside some kind of storeroom.
If I recall, this is the front line. I could hear something in the distance. A relentless sound like a violent thunderstorm.
Hayyarn grimaced.
“Let’s go, Wof.”
And then to the 12th floor.
The place we teleported to was surrounded by slanted stone pillars.
It was a small space.
Leaving it, we moved quietly to avoid being seen.
Carefully climbing a stone pillar, I reached a spot where I could get a decent view.
“So this is the Ark Ruins.”
It was a floor surrounded by colossal stones as far as the horizon, dotted with stone pillars, with light shining in here and there.
In the distance… ah, I see. So that’s the Ark. I understood.
I could see a giant stone formation shaped like the bottom of a ship, thrust diagonally into the ground.
It certainly looked like a ship.
And there was an open area, completely surrounded by giant stones.
A large path seemed to lead straight from there, devoid of any pillars.
There, as far as the eye could see, was a massive horde of pale blue, metallic Minotaurs.
It was an army completely filling the large path.
But they were different from the Minotaur we fought.
First, they weren’t four-eyed and four-armed.
They were three-eyed, and their build was about the same as a normal Minotaur.
They were carrying weapons, though.
“Soldiers… maybe?”
“What you fought, Wof, was a Minos Guardian. A special individual. Even so, the Minos Units are designed to mimic the strength of an average Minotaur.”
“…That’s very troublesome.”
Minotaurs are strong.
Depending on the type, their combat power ranges from upper Copper Rank to middle Silver Rank.
They usually appear in the middle layers of a Dungeon, serving as gatekeepers in a sense.
And now there was such a huge swarm of them—I shuddered.
“The Lab… there it is. It hasn’t changed.”
“Where is it?” I urged, hearing the relief in Hayyarn’s voice.
He pointed smoothly towards a small dome-like structure surrounded by giant rocks on the far right. Over there, huh?
Alright, let’s head over—just as I thought that, a suspicious shadow appeared.
Buooohhh
A Minos Unit. One of them had spotted us.
I dodged its axe attack and leaped onto a small stone pillar.
From there, I instantly used 【Vanish】 to carve out its torso.
“Hoh. Not bad.”
“This is an emergency.”
From here on, I used 【Vanish】 repeatedly.
I only used my knife for defense; the Minos Units were taken down with 【Vanish】.
This was an emergency. I couldn’t afford to be picky about my fighting style.
“Wait, isn’t that too strong? That Relic. It’s that powerful and has no cooldown?”
“It doesn’t.”
Come to think of it, it doesn’t. I just realized. Hayyarn gave a wry smile.
“…You really are outside the norm. Though I’m hardly one to talk.”
That wasn’t exactly flattering praise.
After that, we detoured, hid to slip past, and reluctantly defeated some.
Finally, we reached the stone dome where the Lab was located.
A large dome made of stone.
It looked both artificial and natural. But that was all.
Also, I thought its surface would be smooth, but it was surprisingly rough and uneven.
“Um, the Lab is…”
“…………Here.”
Hayyarn pointed directly at the front of the dome.
“?”
“Look closely. There should be an indentation shaped like an Egg.”
“This? Don’t tell me.”
I took the Elixir Sacred Egg out of my pouch and fitted it into the indentation.
A part of the stone dome opened with a small tremor.
“Alright. Let’s go.”
“…This is the Lab.”
Inside the dome was—strangely sophisticated.
Or rather, there was nothing there. Just a gate in the center. Before it, a pedestal.
When Hayyarn touched the pedestal, the gate began to glow green.
“—Looks like the gate authority still works.”
The view beyond the gate distorted, showing a different scene.
A gate. Is the Lab beyond this?
Following Hayyarn, I passed through the gate with a tense expression.
Beyond the gate, a corridor stretched onwards.
It was a sterile, grey corridor with small spheres floating in the air.
There were several rooms along the corridor, but all the doors were closed.
How should I put it? It was a corridor completely lacking any metallic feel.
No, this probably is metal, but… hmm. Even my past life’s memories don’t help here.
“This is amazing. Did you build this?”
“Nay. All I could build was that gate.”
“Then this place is…”
At the end of the corridor was a set of double doors.
They opened automatically.
“…Ah, finally. Finally.”
Hayyarn stepped inside, deeply moved.
I entered the Lab as well.
Was this place truly something of this world?
Should it even exist in this world?
It was a simple room. Its sterility was evident from the corridor.
Rounded, greyish walls surrounded it, and the front wall was entirely glass.
There were four objects that looked like square white tables.
Also, shelves and a desk, clearly brought in later, were placed against a wall.
There were lights on the ceiling, which brightened the moment we entered.
“…………”
On the glass wall, there was some kind of control panel.
Not buttons, but a touch panel. Beyond the glass… what is that?
A silver disc with tanks attached, and a giant sphere at the center.
Around it, various square, triangular, and round objects floated. What is this?
Hayyarn looked around nostalgically. There was so much here I could question, though.
“Hayyarn. We don’t have time.”
“Right.”
Hayyarn climbed onto the touch panel and began operating it.
A window appeared in mid-air, text scrolling across it.
Is she searching for something?
“Na?”
“Oh, you’re awake.”
I couldn’t just leave her behind, so I’d brought her along in her Knife form.
But she’s usually asleep around this time.
“…It’s not here. The Minos Unit’s Infinite Spawn Core System and my body aren’t in the Lab.”
Don’t use this confusion to look for your own body!
“Then where are they?”
“…Wait. It’s hard to operate this as Hayarn… Ah, there it is. There it is. I found it! The Minos Unit’s Infinite Spawn Core System! I’ll display it on the map now.”
A holographic map of this floor appeared in mid-air.
There was a blue point of light on the map. I understood immediately.
“Is it here?”
“That’s right. It’s at this point of light.”
“…But this place is…”
Right in the middle of the Minos Unit horde.