“So, mister, where are you going?”
Sinhyeok recalled what he remembered from last time.
Remembering that moment, he searched for the way.
“Was it over there last time? A slime was melting something that looked like a spaceship deck.”
“Aha. What, are you going to repair a spaceship and use it?”
“That’s the plan.”
“Wow, that sounds fun.”
Just as they were about to leave the Netherworld and head outside in high spirits, someone approached without a sound.
“Where are you off to, young hero?”
Both Baek Arin and Sinhyeok jumped in surprise.
Flinch.
They looked to the side.
At some point, Namgung Jincheon had appeared and was walking alongside them.
‘Why doesn’t he make any sound?’
He joined the group with a benevolent smile.
“I’ll go with you.”
“What about your granddaughter?”
“I left her with Jegal. She’s playing well.”
“You really have to?”
“After going out last time, both I and the dog came to the opinion that since you are extremely weak yet go wandering all over the place, someone ought to stay by your side.”
“Ah.”
He meant Blue.
Officially, the strongest among their party were probably Namgung Jincheon and Blue.
“So you’re coming with us?”
“Yes. We’ll be going back soon anyway, won’t we?”
“We probably will. Maybe?”
Things never went according to plan, so he couldn’t be certain.
* * *
Sinhyeok led the two of them toward the place he had seen last time.
“It was around here.”
As he looked around, he spotted a giant statue shaped like an upper torso in the distance.
His gaze was naturally drawn to it, and Sinhyeok exclaimed in admiration.
“Wow. Who carved that? It’s really detailed.”
Baek Arin followed Sinhyeok’s gaze, saw the statue, and likewise admired it.
Namgung Jincheon, knowing what it was, smiled quietly.
He spoke to the system connected within him.
‘Akashic, my friend. Quietly.’
[……… ^ ^]
Akashic silently expressed its feelings with an emoticon.
Ruuumble.
Suddenly, what had looked like a statue moved.
Baek Arin and Sinhyeok were startled at the same time.
“You scared me! Hey, hey!”
“Mister! Prepare for combat!!”
The giant, having moved its body, sprang to its feet and approached the three of them.
“Uwaaak!”
“Enemy attack!!”
The two shouted fiercely and tried to flee, but Namgung Jincheon stood there blankly.
“Mister, what are you doing!”
Baek Arin hurriedly called out to him.
Namgung Jincheon simply smiled and waited.
“Giant friend! Have you been well!”
At Namgung Jincheon’s shout, Baek Arin and Bu Sinhyeok suddenly became awkward.
“Ah……”
“Friend?”
The giant approached Namgung Jincheon and smiled, saying it was glad to see him.
“Good to see you, human.”
“Yes, I am glad to see you as well.”
Seeing that the two seemed to know each other, Sinhyeok looked at the giant and greeted him politely.
“Hello.”
“Good to see you too, human.”
Then the giant stared particularly intently at Bu Sinhyeok.
“Is something the matter?”
“An unfamiliar yet familiar scent comes from you……”
Was it the scent of the World Tree?
Sinhyeok roughly brushed it off.
“Ah, is that so? For now, I’m busy, so….”
As Sinhyeok moved, the giant followed after him closely.
At that, he looked at Namgung Jincheon and asked.
“Could it be…… that we’re being hunted?”
“Who knows. When I saw him last time, he didn’t seem like that sort of fellow. But I can’t be sure. This is only the second time I’ve seen him.”
“Ah…!”
If it was only the second time, that just meant he didn’t know.
Sinhyeok hurriedly began searching for traces of the spaceship.
The giant sticking close behind them was making him uneasy for no reason.
“Found it!”
Seeing a bit of the spaceship protruding from the edge of the sand, Sinhyeok confirmed it with Mapping.
“Let’s see. This is the place.”
Baek Arin looked at it and expressed her concern.
“Mister, can you even get inside this?”
“Good point. Do I have to cross over with spatial magic?”
[With the currently accumulated data, synthesis of spatial magic is impossible.]
‘Fine, I know my magic level is lacking! I don’t even know how to use spatial magic through synthesis in the first place.’
In the end, it meant they had to find the entrance and go in directly.
“What do we do?”
While Sinhyeok was pondering, the giant abruptly reached out his hand.
“Uh, uh……!”
“Uh!”
The giant paid them no mind and pulled out the deeply embedded spaceship.
At the sight of him doing it as if a child were pulling a toy out of a sandbox, everyone couldn’t stop admiring him.
“Wow.”
“I’m jealous.”
Everyone naturally began clapping at the giant’s display.
The giant lightly pulled out the spaceship and set it down on the sand.
“There. Go in.”
“Thank you.”
Sinhyeok quietly thanked him.
At those words, the giant smiled bashfully.
“It is nothing.”
The giant slowly sat down on the ground and once again quietly watched Sinhyeok.
Leaving behind the burning gaze he could feel on his back, Sinhyeok searched for the spaceship’s entrance.
“Here it is.”
First, in order to preserve the spaceship intact, he went in without using Melting.
“Then we’ll see you later.”
Sinhyeok and his companions bowed politely to the watching giant and went inside.
“Phew, that’s a lot of pressure.”
“Mister, enjoy it. When else would someone like that help us? We should get friendly now and ask him for help later.”
“You do it. I get intimidated just looking at him.”
“Sigh, scaredy-cat.”
Sinhyeok grumbled as he peered around.
Baek Arin also carefully looked around and asked.
“So what are you looking for here?”
“Anything. Anything that could be used as reference to repair Opsir.”
“That’s vague.”
“But if possible, a computer storing something like blueprints would be even better.”
Baek Arin said with a puzzled expression.
“First, I think we have to turn this thing’s power on.”
[Requesting full Mapping to determine the spaceship’s structure.]
“Yeah.”
[Beginning Mapping.]
[Full scan complete.]
[Displaying the positional map of the spaceship.]
[Sharing the map with all.]
The map appeared on everyone’s MAP.
“We’re in the middle right now. Let’s head toward the stern first.”
Sinhyeok read the map and headed toward the stern.
“Mister. But do you know how to turn this on?”
“No.”
However, Sinhyeok did have something he was counting on.
‘You know, right?’
[I do not. No linguistic data related to this spaceship has been accumulated. As there are no comparable samples either, interpretation is impossible.]
‘I’m screwed.’
[Use of Soul Stream Memorize is recommended.]
‘That only works if there are dead souls here whose memories can be read. You think there’d really be any here?’
[Corpses presumed to be passengers exist.]
‘Damn it?!’
Sinhyeok changed direction for the time being.
Now he had to search for ghosts in an abandoned spaceship.
“All right, everyone take some.”
He handed out handfuls of Soul Crystals to everyone.
“Why?”
“Young hero, what is this now?”
“They’re Soul Crystals. They’ll open your spirit sight for a short while. Only a little, though.”
At those words, everyone felt a chill.
“From now on, we’re looking for the dead. Among the passengers of this spaceship, they need to have been at least an engineer.”
“Mister.”
“Young hero?”
Sinhyeok pointed at the map.
“I’ll take the rear. Namgung Jincheon, please take the front, and you search the middle. We don’t know what might be here, so be careful.”
At Sinhyeok’s words, everyone grew slightly tense.
“Then let’s go.”
* * *
Sinhyeok began heading deeper inside while looking at the map.
“It’s way too damaged.”
Cracks filled the place everywhere.
And perhaps because the spaceship had been buried in the sand for so long, the interior was thick with sand and dust.
Cough. Cough.
Sinhyeok narrowed his eyes and moved forward.
“There’s nothing here. What’s supposed to be here?”
Rustle.
He heard the sound of something being stepped on.
“What is it? Arin?”
At the sound coming from behind him, Sinhyeok turned back and asked.
But there.
“What the.”
Instead of Arin, all he saw in the corridor were faintly visible vines.
“How old does this place have to be for vines to be growing?”
Rustle. Rustle. Rustle.
At that moment, red dots rapidly appeared on the map.
“Hm?”
The dots began to multiply in droves.
Soon, red dots spread across the entire ship.
“Come on….”
[Warning!]
[Multiple hostile entities have appeared.]
Grrrgh. Grrrk.
Soon, beings making strange noises sprang out.
“Damn it.”
They were corpses parasitized by Resurrection Grass.
“That’s just wrong!”
Sinhyeok assessed the situation and immediately ran.
The corpses forcibly taken over by Resurrection Grass chased after him.
“Kraaak!”
“Emergency!”
To attack Sinhyeok, they swarmed in from all directions without regard for front or back.
“This is crazy.”
[Synthesis - Longsword]
Sinhyeok immediately synthesized a longsword and swung it.
Slash.
Flesh was torn away, and the Resurrection Grass slipped free from the corpse.
“Don’t come closer, damn it!”
He swung his sword violently to keep them from approaching.
But in the end, it was only for intimidation.
“Damn it, there are so many! Any useful magic……”
All he could see right now was iron everywhere.
Think. Think! Hurry!
“Don’t come closer. I warned you. I’m holding back right now out of a little respect!”
Sinhyeok spouted whatever words came to mind while thinking of a way to break through the situation.
But there was no way the parasitized things would understand such a grateful sentiment.
Grrrk!
“Damn it! Just eat this for now!”
[Magic Synthesis - Field of Sharp Thorns]
Sinhyeok quickly moved his hands.
He fused the iron filling the surroundings with the Sharpness magic that made things sharp.
And the thorn shape was a bonus.
In an instant, iron thorns that shot out covered the corpses.
“Phew……”
At least, thanks to that, he had found many dead souls.
“You saved me some trouble.”
[Please use Soul Stream Memorize.]
“I was about to.”
Holding a Soul Crystal, Sinhyeok thought of the unique magic he had created.
“Was it like this?”
The crystal scattered, and the dead souls filling the surroundings were sucked in.
‘Oh, they’re going in.’
Someone’s memories poured haphazardly into his head.
[Breaking down memories and converting them into data.]
Akashic diligently began to work.
[Accumulating data.]
[Analyzing structure and location.]
[Please wait a moment.]
Akashic was working faithfully.
“Hurry…… up. There’s more inside.”
Although he had pinned them down with thorns, the Resurrection Grass was tenacious after all.
Sinhyeok raised his longsword, kept his surroundings in check, and cut down the surging stems of Resurrection Grass.
‘There are so many.’
There were far too many Resurrection Grass specters moving like zombies.
‘How did it end up like this?’
To buy time for the analysis, Sinhyeok cut the stems with his sword.
“Hey, not done yet? I’m starting to sweat!”
[Sorting data.]
[Please wait five minutes.]
[Caution!]
[Use of additional magic synthesis prohibited. Risk of damage to the spaceship.]
“I know!”
Taking Akashic’s concerns into account, Sinhyeok used only his sword with strict discipline.
“It’s tiring, holding a sword for the first time in a while!”
As expected, Sinhyeok really wasn’t suited to the sword.
But in the current situation, he had no choice.
“Mister~! Your sword stance is so~ clumsy!”
“Young hero, who holds a sword like that?”
The two who had separated from him approached.
“Why did you come!?”
“We heard you, mister, and I couldn’t figure out the path at all!”
“The same goes for me. No matter how far I went, I couldn’t see the end.”
[Data conversion complete.]
[Reflecting the structure of the spaceship currently boarded onto the map.]
“Ha!”
Baek Arin skillfully raised her sword, cut down the corpses parasitized by Resurrection Grass, and approached.
“Oh! It appeared on the map.”
“Oh. As expected of our captain.”
She grinned and opened the spaceship’s structure.
“Wow~ It really is huge.”
“It is.”
The three looked at the vast structure of the spaceship and checked it place by place.
‘The important things would be in the captain’s room after all, right?’
[That is the assumption.]
[Please move to the corresponding location and secure additional data.]
Akashic agreed as well.
The corresponding location immediately appeared on the map.
“Let’s go there first.”
Once the surrounding cleanup was more or less finished, Sinhyeok deactivated the thorns covering the corridor.
Then everyone slowly moved toward the captain’s room.
* * *
Creak.
“Young hero, is this place not like Nanman?”
The captain’s room visible through the gap in the door was filled with Resurrection Grass.
Seeing the surging Resurrection Grass, Sinhyeok frowned.
“These things have nothing to eat, so how did they grow so much?”
Namgung Jincheon covered both hands in black lightning.
And vanished in an instant.
‘That’s fascinating. No sound, no light.’
As if merely indicating that something existed, the lightning rippled and overflowed within his hands.
“Hup.”
Sssssst.
As Namgung Jincheon passed by, the Resurrection Grass instantly burned and turned black.
“Urgh.”
Once the cleanup was roughly done, Sinhyeok fully pushed open the slightly ajar captain’s room door.
Creeeeeak.
“Hoho. This place is the worst.”
As expected, the interior was a complete mess.
Namgung Jincheon removed the Resurrection Grass here and there one by one and burned it away.
“Young hero! You may come in!”
Having finished the rest of the cleanup, Namgung Jincheon guided him inside the captain’s room.
“Wow, it really is a spaceship.”
Sinhyeok sensed advanced technology that was truly difficult to even approach.
“Akashic, what next?”
Now it was Akashic’s turn to step forward.
A suspiciously advanced ego.
[Please move to the innermost seat and press the red button.]
“What if I press something like that and it self-destructs?”
[It is the ignition button.]
Following Akashic’s words, Sinhyeok pressed the red button with slightly trembling fingertips.
Then he heard a humming sound.
Soon, the dark interior began to brighten.
— Ban, ban, ban, ban.
A hologram appeared somewhere, repeating the same word.
Sinhyeok ran his hand through the hologram and asked.
“This…… is broken.”
He passed through the hologram and checked various monitors.
‘What the hell, why is everything red?’
He didn’t know a single thing, but at least he understood the impression conveyed by the visual effects.
“Mister. This looks broken no matter who sees it.”
Whirrr.
Along with an ominous sound,
the interior flickered, and emergency lights lit up everywhere.
“This is iffy. Is there anything salvageable?”
[Please place your hand on the device to secure data.]
“Okay.”
To secure the data, Sinhyeok placed his hand on what looked like a monitor.
Then something appeared.
‘Is this a password input?’
[Please touch in the proper sequence.]
Akashic immediately stepped in.
Beep-beep-beep-beep.
After a few touches, the screen opened wide.
“Wow. I don’t understand it even looking at it.”
[Securing data.]
Akashic was handling the rest.
“It’d be nice if we could just revive this whole thing and use it.”
And they had to find a way out of this place.
That method likely depended on spatial magic.
‘What do I do about spatial magic?’
Unfortunately, there was no one who knew anything about it.
The problem was, there was nowhere to obtain information either.
Nothing was easy.
[Data secured.]
[I will inform you of something the Administrator will be pleased to know.]
[Knowledge related to warp was accumulated in the ship’s data storage device.]
“Huh?!”
In other words.
[If sufficient materials and a core are available, you can escape the Ruined Realm immediately.]