“It’s right here.”
The Director led Yuri to a dry well in the backyard of the orphanage. “This is the entrance to the underground. Originally, I planned to fill this well to prevent the children from accidentally falling in, but the project was too large, and the orphanage was short-staffed. It has been left like this, simply sealed off.”
As Yuri moved the stone slab blocking the entrance, a flicker of surprise flashed in the Director’s eyes.
That was a stone slab that required two adult men to lift, yet it was moved so easily by the seemingly frail young girl before her.
Ignoring the surprise in the Director’s eyes, Yuri looked down into the dry well. She could see the bottom at a glance; it was about 6 or 7 meters deep, shallower than she had expected. She had thought it would be over 10 meters deep.
On second thought, it made sense. Since it was just an abandoned fortification, construction might have only just begun before it was halted, so they probably hadn’t dug very deep.
“Miss Yuri, do you really want to go down? Perhaps the children just misheard. How could monsters appear inside Iron Anvil City?”
The Director had tried to stop her earlier when she heard Yuri wanted to find an entrance to the underground.
After all, to an ordinary person, the idea of monsters appearing within the walls of Iron Anvil City was preposterous.
Furthermore, according to Yuri, she was acting on rumors from the children. A normal person would naturally assume the children had misheard or mistaken a nightmare for reality.
Most people would try to stop someone from adventuring underground based solely on a child’s word.
However, faced with Yuri’s determination, the Director could only compromise and lead her to the dry well.
Before Yuri descended, the Director asked one more time, hoping she would change her mind.
Seeing that Yuri remained steadfast, she could only give up and choose to pray for her.
“Miss Yuri, may the Goddess protect you.”
Yuri found a ladder leading down the well. Due to long periods of disuse, the ladder was covered in rust. After a quick strength test to confirm it was still functional, Yuri climbed down.
Since there was a ladder, it meant she had indeed found the right place.
Reaching the bottom, Yuri drew her short sword. At the same time, flames erupted from her palm, quickly wrapping around the blade to illuminate the darkness.
Ever since she learned how to use fire enchantment, Yuri had stopped carrying lanterns. On one hand, a lantern required a hand to hold, which would reduce her combat effectiveness in a fight. She also had to worry about it breaking.
On the other hand, a flaming sword was incredibly convenient. It could light up the dark and be used for combat. It was much better than a lantern.
After searching the bottom of the well, Yuri found a path leading further down. The passage was very narrow, forcing her to crouch and move forward carefully.
After walking for an unknown amount of time, the path gradually widened. She reached an opening that looked like a window and jumped down, officially entering the abandoned fortification.
Using the firelight to illuminate her surroundings, she saw that it was indeed unfinished. Based on the accumulated dust, it had been abandoned for a long time. She didn’t know why the work had stopped, but the reason wasn’t important to Yuri.
She was here to find clues. Since Alyosha, who lived on the first floor, had heard noises coming from below, she might encounter Deep Abyss monsters at any moment.
As the saying goes, speak of the devil. ‘Is my mouth blessed?’
A pair of crimson eyes lit up in the darkness ahead. It wasn’t just one pair; five or six more pairs of identical crimson eyes followed behind it. If Iris were standing across from her, the effect might have looked similar.
She thought she was just catching a small fry, but she had stumbled into the whole nest.
Yuri gripped the pendant hanging from her neck. The moment the longsword materialized, scorching flames surged forth.
Now, it was time to clean up.
***
The numbers were higher than expected. She had initially thought there were only five or six humanoid monsters, but she ended up slaying more than ten in total.
She hadn’t expected so many monsters to gather in such a small, abandoned underground passage.
Watching the last monster vanish into ash after being sliced in half at the waist, Yuri sheathed her sword and took a deep breath.
“Phew…”
Her body seemed to have grown stronger again. After taking down so many humanoid monsters, she was only breathing slightly harder, without any noticeable fatigue. She rubbed her left arm, which was equipped with the gauntlet; it only felt slightly numb, with no aching pain.
If her constitution continued to improve, she might be able to contend with the gargoyle she encountered that day even without using Iris’s power. Of course, she still couldn’t defeat it yet; she needed to continue growing.
Now that the trouble was cleared, it was time to continue the investigation. To have so many humanoid monsters transformed from infected humans gathered here—the problem was definitely serious.
‘Is the rate of Deep Abyss erosion a bit too fast?’
Moreover, so many people had gone missing, and yet there was no reaction from the city at all?
Vaguely, a hypothesis formed in Yuri’s mind, though she still lacked definitive evidence.
Continuing to use the firelight to pierce the darkness, Yuri searched the abandoned passage thoroughly. Since such a large number of humanoid monsters had gathered here, there had to be something.
After searching for a while, Yuri caught the scent of the Deep Abyss coming from the darkness ahead.
‘Had another monster appeared? How annoying.’
Yuri summoned her longsword again, and scorching flames once more wrapped around the blade.
The bright firelight instantly illuminated everything nearby. However, what appeared ahead was not a Deep Abyss monster, but a giant magic circle.
Several Deep Abyss crystals were embedded in the center of the magic circle’s eye, all of which were of blue-quality.
‘If I could just pry these out… No, why would such a complex magic circle be here?’
Knowing nothing about magic, Yuri naturally couldn’t understand the structure of the circle. She had no idea what this incredibly complex formation—one that an ordinary person would struggle to even trace—was meant to do.
“Iris, help me look at this. What is it used for?”
Hearing this, the Little Evil God floated over and glanced at the magic circle engraved on the ground by the firelight.
“Let me see… The structure looks quite complex, but it should be some kind of conversion magic circle. As for what exactly it’s converting, I’ll need time to decipher it.”
‘A conversion circle…’ Thinking about the keywords Iris pointed out, a terrifying thought exploded in Yuri’s mind.
Could the thing Bartol and Pegum were working on in secret be…
‘This is bad.’
‘Truly two madmen. I need to find a way to meet up with Keledon and tell him my suspicions.’
Something big was about to happen in Iron Anvil City. It wouldn’t come from outside the walls, but from within.
‘I’ll leave through the entrance I came from.’
Yuri turned to leave, but Iris called out to her.
“Hey, Yuri, don’t you hear the sound of water?”
‘The sound of water?’