Chapter 68: Fogbound Pact

‘Why does the Mist Heart want to enter my body?’

That had been my dilemma for a long time.

Despite knowing it was impossible, it never stopped trying to burrow into me.

It was different from other treasures.

The others simply chased me to devour me.

Their behavior was instinctual—wild and straightforward.

If they had even a shred of intelligence, I might have been caught long ago.

But the Mist Heart was different.

If it only intended to consume my mind, it would have already drained everything from me in the mist.

Yet, there was no sign of that.

Instead, it had been protecting me from the others.

This meant it did not see me as mere prey, unlike the other treasures.

Because of that, I could vaguely grasp its intentions.

Other than the professor, I was the only one who could enter and leave this place.

It must have wanted to take over my body to escape.

***

“Is that true?”

The doll widened its eyes and asked.

There was a hint of excitement in its tone as it stepped closer.

“Yes. So, you don’t need to try entering my body. I have another way to help you get out.”

The professor’s words about giving me one treasure came to mind.

This heart seemed to fit her description perfectly.

A treasure that could communicate with me and protect me.

It might just be the most suitable one for me.

I continued speaking.

“But is there a specific reason you want to leave?”

At my question, the doll began walking slowly, circling me as if on a casual stroll.

With light steps, it examined its surroundings.

“That’s because I can’t grow any stronger by staying here.”

Silence enveloped the area.

Only the occasional tremor from a massive hand tearing at the ground far away broke the stillness.

The doll lightly kicked a small stone in its path.

The stone flew off somewhere and disappeared.

“Let me share a bit of my past to earn your trust, Evron. I used to be just a mass of mist—mindless, chasing after living beings to devour them. Then I met Irien…”

The doll’s voice trailed off as it searched through its memories. For a moment, it trembled as if lost in those recollections. Slowly, it began to speak again.

“Irien tore me apart, leaving me in this heart-like form. During that transformation, a faint yearning arose within me—the desire to devour him someday.”

A slight blush spread across the doll’s face as it gently touched its body. Sticky mist oozed from its hand as it licked its lips with a sly smile.

“That yearning grew, granting me intelligence and shaping my dream. This body reflects that dream.”

“I see.”

I nodded silently. To think it had taken on such a form out of hunger—what a chilling thought.

More than that, I wondered if the professor, who must have been listening to this story from outside, knew about these thoughts. She probably did, but it wouldn’t have concerned her. This heart was likely just another one of her numerous treasures.

“But until recently, I had half given up on leaving. The barrier around this place is too strong. I lost hope, and even my mind grew faint.”

The doll brought its hands together, forming a round shape that mirrored the walls surrounding this land. I had verified that boundary myself several times; it truly isolated this place.

“But when I tasted fragments of people’s memories the other day, my desire flared up again. This place is just too dull. I want to go outside, devour living things again, and eventually taste Irien. I’m so curious about how he’d taste.”

With a dreamy expression, the doll caressed its face. Its hand trembled with a fierce hunger.

I gave a wry smile. Despite its long explanation, the reason for wanting to leave boiled down to one thing—hunger for life.

In the end, this treasure was like the others. It moved solely to consume life, though its intelligence made it more efficient. The doll stopped walking and looked at me, its gaze filled with intense desire. Then it smiled brightly.

“If what you say is true, I will do my utmost to help you. Not just here, but outside as well.”

I nodded.

So long as it wasn’t me it wanted to eat, what did it matter? Its clear desire made it easier to deal with than the ancient, cryptic sorcerers of the university. Myra’s shy smile flickered in my mind.

“You can trust me. Professor Irien said I could take one treasure, so if you help me, I’ll make sure to get you out.”

“Very well.”

The doll’s face broke into a radiant smile—a pure expression that didn’t suit the professor at all.

It placed its hand lightly over its chest and closed its eyes.

“Having hope feels so wonderful. My heart races just from the thought.”

The doll stood there for a moment before opening its eyes and gently wrapping its arms around mine.

“Shall we go to that friend’s place now? It’s nearby.”

“Nearby, you say?”

I glanced around.

From the mountain peak, everything was visible, but I couldn’t see anything unusual.

The doll covered its mouth with a small laugh, clearly amused by my confusion.

“Actually, we don’t even need to look. That friend has been following us all along. I’ve just been steadily moving away from them.”

With that, she raised her hand, pointing in a direction.

Naturally, my gaze followed, but there was nothing there—only sunken ground stretched out before us.

“Let’s clear the mist for a moment.”

The doll drew the surrounding mist into its body.

The ground I had been staring at split open as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Beneath it was a single colossal eye, radiating an eerie glow like a star.

It stared directly at me.

The eye released a torrent of magical energy, hooking into my body like sharp claws and dragging me toward it.

My key flared with light, blocking its power.

The eye retaliated, releasing even more magic.

The energy poured over me like a waterfall, overwhelming my surroundings.

Cold sweat dripped down as I withstood the pressure.

The key successfully shielded me from the eye’s intrusion, but the recoil sent shocks through me.

‘It won’t get me as long as I have the key,’ I thought, gritting my teeth through the pain.

***

The doll spoke calmly. “That’s enough, isn’t it?”

Mist surged back to surround us, blocking the eye’s magic.

I exhaled deeply.

“So, that’s the eye?”

Blood-tinged phlegm rose in my throat.

I spat it out and asked.

A mere moment of exposure had left me in this state.

But I had also realized its limits.

With the key, the eye could never consume me.

It could only inflict minor pain.

Compared to the professor’s trials, this was nothing.

The eye continued to unleash its magic, but the mist thickened to counter it.

The fog grew so dense that nothing could be seen.

“Yes, it’s quite an unruly friend. Shall we move on?”

The doll guided me gently, and we walked through the mist.

After some time, the doll cleared the fog, revealing a new location.

The eye was still tearing apart the mountain peak where we had been, unable to find us.

I scooped a bit of the mist in my hand.

To think it couldn’t detect us even as we left so close by.

I had known it could hide us from other treasures, but I hadn’t realized its power to this extent.

“That friend does have some intelligence,” the doll said.

“Unlike others, it can think a little, which is why it’ll find us again soon. Even if it can’t track you, it’ll remember the faint trace of my mist.”

With that, the doll smiled lightly, as if everything were under control.

I was startled by what I saw.

The doll’s body was riddled with fine cracks, and faint mist shimmered through the gaps.

It exuded a precariousness, as if it might shatter at any moment.

The doll examined its damaged body and gave a small smile.

“This is quite the mess, isn’t it?”

“Are you all right?”

I infused a small amount of magic into its body.

The doll didn’t resist.

The cracks extended not only across its exterior but deep within, even reaching its core—the spine.

It seemed incapable of withstanding the power of the mist within it.

However, the cracks were slowly healing as the doll began to recover.

A bitter feeling settled in my chest.

To think that this body couldn’t handle even a fraction of that power.

If it had contained any more, it surely would have broken apart.

The strength of the treasures here was overwhelming.

It was something I had suspected since witnessing the giant hand tear apart the turtle’s shell, but experiencing it directly was another matter entirely.

Perhaps, back in the lectures, the power of these treasures had been restrained to match the level of the students.

Without thinking, I reached out and ran my hand over the doll’s cracked body.

The doll I had crafted was far too incomplete.

While the lack of materials was a factor, the greater fault lay in my own lack of skill.

The areas that needed improvement were glaringly obvious now.

***

“That tickles,” the doll said with a laugh.

Startled, I quickly withdrew my hand and scratched the back of my head awkwardly.

“My apologies. I acted out of concern.”

“It’s fine,” the doll replied lightly. “Now, what should we do about that friend?”

Its tone was casual, but I could only sigh in response.

We had found it, but how could we possibly bring that thing back to the professor?

Negotiation wasn’t an option.

Even if, as the doll claimed, it had some intelligence, the greed I had seen in that eye was all-consuming.

Rather than engaging in dialogue, I’d be more concerned about being devoured on the spot.

Overpowering it by force was out of the question.

I racked my brain for a solution.

While I thought, the doll leaned gently against me, its fingers brushing over my chest.

“I might have an idea,” it said, locking eyes with me and smiling faintly.

“What idea might that be?” I asked cautiously.

“I can only unleash my true power with a proper body. This… is just a doll. This lifeless form breaks far too easily, as you’ve seen.”

I nodded silently, acknowledging the truth in its words.

Even though I had borrowed its strength, its current state was clearly limited.

“If I were to enter your body, I could draw upon far greater power.”

The doll placed its palm over my chest, feeling the rhythm of my heartbeat.

I gave a wry smile.

“So, we’re back to this again, are we?”

Seeing my expression, the doll shook its head.

“But you’ve made it clear you don’t want that. So, I’ve come up with another method.”

The doll stepped back, running its hand over its chest.

With that simple motion, its body split open.

I couldn’t look away from the eerie sight.

Within the opening, a white heart pulsed, emitting mist.

A strange energy flowed from the heart through the doll’s body.

The doll reached into its chest, pulling out the heart.

Holding it for a moment, it infused it with magic before tearing it in half.

Mist and magical energy seeped faintly from the two halves.

I stared at the scene, dumbfounded.

“Take this.”

The doll extended one half of the heart to me.

I gazed at it, unable to grasp the meaning behind the gesture.

“I’ll give you half of my heart,” it explained with a smile.

“In return, I ask for half of yours. By sharing our lives, we’ll be bound together through a sort of magic.”

The doll held out the heart fragment, stepping closer to me.

“Once we’re connected, you’ll be able to draw upon some of my power. This doll’s body will also stabilize through the shared life force. Together, we’ll have enough strength to face that thing.”

I swallowed hard, recalling the mist the doll had emitted—the strange force that dissolved the mind and controlled the body.

‘Could I really use that power?’

The doll brought the fragment closer to my chest.

If I didn’t stop it, it would surely merge with me.

The key wouldn’t block it.

Sharing halves of our hearts was a sort of equivalent exchange.

In fact, it was a greater deal for me.

I reached out, but instead of accepting it, I gently pushed the doll’s hand away.

“No, that won’t be necessary,” I said, shaking my head.

It was an incredibly tempting offer, promising the very thing I needed most at that moment.

But the sense of foreboding behind it was undeniable.

‘How could I trust this?’

No matter how sweetly it was presented, it was ultimately the same as before.

Unable to fully consume me due to the key, it now sought to take half of my heart instead.

While the doll’s promise of power was likely genuine, the process would surely lead to my heart being assimilated by the Mist Heart.

My mind would dissolve into its flow, and the key couldn’t stop it—it wasn’t an external attack.

The doll smiled brightly.

“Oh my, you’re not falling for it?”

It rejoined the halves of its heart and placed it back inside its chest.

With a light touch of its fingers, the cracks sealed themselves as if they had never been.

“Thinking about the two times I was outwitted by you, Evron, I decided to try spinning a convincing story for once.”

I let out a dry laugh. So, it was just a joke? The doll tilted its head slightly.

“What will you do then? Without a body, my ability to help is limited to hiding and protecting you.”

‘Hiding…’

That word sparked a thought.

The mist had concealed me so thoroughly that even the eye couldn’t find me.

Perhaps I could use that to my advantage.

“Can you hide me as you did earlier, even from others?”

“Yes, it’s even easier with the others. I just need to distort the surroundings lightly,” the doll replied with a nod.

Relieved, I felt a glimmer of hope.

It seemed worth trying.

“I’ve thought of a way. If it works, I’ll fulfill my promise to get you out of here.”

“Very well,” the doll said, resting its chin on its fingers and smiling.

“I’m curious to see what you have in mind.”

I explained the rough outline of my plan to the doll.

While I wasn’t entirely certain it would work, it was worth the attempt.

The doll’s expression brightened with excitement.

***

Time passed, and I found myself standing in an open field.

I could sense the doll watching me from a distance.

Taking a deep breath, I began to release my magic, letting it spread far and wide.

Clutching the key, I closed my eyes.

If we couldn’t defeat it ourselves, we would let something else do the fighting.

The ground began to tremble, the vibrations growing stronger with each passing moment.

Powerful magical presences began to converge.

The treasures had detected my presence and were coming.