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Running.

Running.

Running again.

At the end of all that running, what unfolded before his eyes was still the distant shape of a tower. Conra couldn’t figure out whether something was deceiving his senses or if the mystery of the spell was truly manipulating space in a way he hadn’t yet reached.

{Calm down. If you keep moving recklessly like this, you’ll waste the strength you need for the crucial moment.}

‘Calm down? What’s the point of saving strength if I can’t break through this situation right now!’

{You need to calm down. If you don’t, you won’t be able to solve the situation at all.}

At Rugus-Artaeus’s cold remark, Conra felt his head cool down for a moment. That’s right. Now was the time to attack the breakthrough with a cool head, not to panic and rush forward with nothing but enthusiasm.

‘I almost kept making a fool of myself. Thanks, Artaeus.’

{Hmph, it’s only natural.}

‘But what should I do? Should I try to escape the barrier first?’

{You know as well as I do that won’t work, right?}

When it came to spells, Hermes-Esras stepped in this time.

{Now that I look at it, the space inside the barrier is twisting and bending in real-time. It seems to be stretching the path to the tower in response to your movements. No matter where or how you approach, the result will be the same.}

At Hermes-Esras’s words, Conra began to unleash his heightened senses, which he usually kept locked away. The primal senses of a warrior, the divine insight of a druid, and the rational intuition of an alchemist intertwined, giving rise to an indescribable superhuman awareness that spread like a curtain, gathering information from the surroundings and delivering it to the boy’s mind.

‘It’s exactly as Hermes said.’

The space where Conra stood was horrifyingly distorted. Even if the boy tried to run straight toward the tower, the twisted and warped space would only make him circle around it endlessly. No matter how hard he tried, he could get infinitely closer to the tower but would never actually reach it.

{If you were your master, you could just leap across space in one step, but you can’t pull off such a bizarre trick. However, if this is a result woven by a spell…}

{And if it’s manifested as a dungeon trick, even more so…}

Esras-Hermes, always confident when it came to spells. And following his words was Rugus-Artaeus, always earnest in the feats of adventure and struggle. Finally, the boy’s lips, unconsciously chasing the dawn of truth and the beginning of a feat, opened.

“{{There must be a way to unravel it.}}”

For a moment, the voices of Esras-Hermes, Rugus-Artaeus, and Conra overlapped.

With a crackle, the consciousness, now like lightning, raced forward in the frozen moment, leaving the body behind. Its path swept through the twisted space around the tower in an instant.

By now, Conra’s mind had reconstructed the barrier and the entire spatial composition inside it, like a detailed 3D model.

‘It looks like it’s fluctuating irregularly, but there must be a set rule within it.’

That was the fundamental premise of spells. For a spell to be established, there must be a set algorithm. Then, by analyzing that algorithm, it should be possible to control and adjust the variables arising from the seemingly irregular spatial fluctuations.

For an ordinary spellcaster, this would be nearly impossible, but for Conra, who was both a warrior, a druid, and an alchemist, supported by the spirits, it was entirely feasible.

Sure enough, Esras-Hermes and Rugus-Artaeus, who were interpreting the spatial composition inside the barrier through Conra’s sensory sharing, began to relay their findings without pause.

{Seven steps straight north, then arc around the tower at a 30-degree angle, zigzag 30 steps backward, and then run straight with the tower on your left.}

Following Esras-Hermes’s instructions, Conra adjusted the distortions in space, moving in what would otherwise seem like a chaotic manner, and began to traverse the shortest path toward the destination.

{There should be a first spell node there. Flip it counterclockwise one and a half turns. You’ll get it in one go. It’s a classic dungeon gimmick.}

Following Rugus-Artaeus’s advice, Conra manipulated the spell node set as a dungeon gimmick, reducing the variables in his path.

{Indeed, with that, the path to the next section has opened. From there, step on the points I indicate and move diagonally. I’ll mark the path with a vision.}

{Circle the pillar on the right corner three times clockwise, pull out the short rod in the middle, then circle four times counterclockwise. Keep the rod you pulled out; it’ll be useful for the next gimmick.}

Esras-Hermes guided the spell-related parts, while Rugus-Artaeus handled the dungeon gimmicks.

As Conra faithfully followed the path, the tangled spatial composition gradually unraveled, and he could feel himself getting closer to the tower. Visually, it seemed like he was moving away, but in reality, he was getting closer.

After disabling, switching, or removing several gimmicks, Conra suddenly realized he had reached the tower’s entrance.

Once at the destination, there was no need to hesitate. Conra stood before the massive stone gate blocking the tower’s entrance.

The stone gate, carved from a massive marble-like rock, seemed impossible to push open with ordinary human strength. Normally, one would need to find another spell or gimmick to open it, but…

Conra approached the gate without hesitation, raised both hands, and placed them on the stone. And in that moment.

“Huuup, KRYAAAH!”

Conra lowered his stance, his arms bulging with veins, and the aura of his ethereal muscles and spirit nerves rose like a heat haze. At this moment, Conra was using all his strength to push open the stone gate.

An impossible action. Conra’s reckless appearance seemed utterly foolish. But Conra wasn’t acting without thought.

Thanks to the Giant’s Belt, Conra could exert the strength of a giant hero while wearing it. And with the use of the Synesthesia technique…

The heightened senses of a warrior, druid, and alchemist were sealed in an instant, focusing like a needle on a single point. The extreme focus allowed him to exert the giant’s strength with maximum efficiency and rationality, surpassing his original limits and breaking through the impossible.

“GRAAAAAH, OOOOOH!”

Creak.

The giant’s strength, combined with the deep and majestic flow of internal energy and the mysterious pulse of main strength, finally proved too much for the stone gate. With a heavy scraping sound, the gate began to give way.

Pushing it open was a boy in his early teens. Conra slowly but surely pushed the gate open, creating a path into the tower.

Conra stopped exerting himself only when the entrance was wide enough for him to enter.

His face flushed red from the effort, Conra panted heavily, surrounded by steam from his evaporating sweat. Watching the boy, Spirit Esras-Hermes muttered blankly.

{Huh, what a monster.}

{Really, using brute force to open what should’ve been opened with a gimmick. Looks like all the mechanisms for opening and closing the gate are ruined now.}

Rugus-Artaeus, who was deeply serious about dungeon gimmicks, also grumbled in disbelief.

{Well, in terms of saving time, it was definitely the right choice. But was it really okay to use so much strength like that?}

Rugus-Artaeus’s words hit the mark. After all, entering the tower wasn’t the end. To free the artifact, he’d have to defeat the guardian protecting it. Wasting strength here and facing trouble at the crucial moment would be putting the cart before the horse.

‘I think this was the right move. The guardian… I’ll figure it out.’

{Based on what?}

‘Instinct.’

At the single word “instinct,” neither Esras-Hermes nor Rugus-Artaeus added anything more. For a spellcaster dealing with mysteries or a warrior finding their path in battle and adventure, primal instinct was sometimes more important than logical persuasion.

As they exchanged these words, Conra was already climbing the spiral staircase along the tower’s inner wall, nearing the top floor. The smooth progress was almost unsettling, and even Conra was a bit taken aback.

Finally, upon reaching the top floor, Conra and the spirits found something unexpected.

{Hmm, strange. The entrance here should’ve been closed, but it’s wide open. This shouldn’t happen according to dungeon gimmicks. And the boss room is empty, what’s going on…}

{Look over there. Could that be the guardian?}

An empty boss room. And for some reason, the passage behind it was wide open.

As Rugus-Artaeus, baffled by the situation that defied his understanding of dungeon gimmicks, muttered to himself, Esras-Hermes suddenly pointed something out. Conra instinctively turned his gaze in that direction. There, they saw what appeared to be the massive gears responsible for the tower’s gimmicks.

Made of some cold, brass-colored metal, the gears were so massive that they made one wonder if such large gears even existed in the world. But what caught Conra’s attention wasn’t their size.

{It’s dead.}

{It’s dead.}

“Yeah. It’s dead. Crushed between the gears.”

There, a heavily armored giant lay dead. As Conra said, the giant was crushed between the gears, his body in a gruesome state. The shining armor he wore, clearly no ordinary armor, still intermittently emitted a mysterious and holy light, but now it flickered like a broken lamp, its radiance futile.

After staring blankly at this inexplicable situation, Rugus-Artaeus finally realized the cause and effect.

{That instinct of yours must’ve led to this situation. I think I know what caused this guy to end up like this.}

{A hunch, huh? I think I’ve figured it out too.}

The spirits’ gazes turned to Conra.

{Heh, forcing the gate open and breaking the gimmick led to this situation.}

{Even if instinct is one of the most representative traits of a hero…}

By now, Conra was already walking past the boss room, heading toward the glowing something in the distance. The spirits followed behind, exchanging wry smiles. They, too, wanted to see the artifact the tower was guarding, the source of that blinding light.

 

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