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Dungeon Site and the Final Clue – Part 05

“Hold on,” Hikaru tried to stop her, but it was too late.

“Holy Light.”

When Paula thrust her hands forward, a blinding light burst forth, so intense it seemed to scorch the walls. Though it emitted no heat, to Hikaru, it looked as if it were burning.

“C-Can you dial it back a bit?!” Hikaru asked, shielding his face with his arm. He couldn’t keep his eyes open. It was brighter than cameras flashing constantly.

“Oh, all right.”

Paula, seemingly unfazed, adjusted the intensity, dimming it to the thickness of a spotlight.

“I thought something terrible was happening,” Jillarte said. “Your companions are just as abnormal as you, Silver Face.”

Hikaru laughed awkwardly. This was actually his first time seeing this magic. He firmly believed that the spell wasn’t normally this powerful.

Holy light? That was a whole laser beam.

But thanks to Paula’s light, they could now illuminate the upper part of the space. The ceiling was quite high, about fifty meters, tapering upwards like a teardrop.

“There.” Hikaru pointed to a tunnel about twenty meters up.

“I see it,” Jillarte said. “Who would’ve thought there’d be a hidden passage up there?”

“It might just be a ventilation hole. I want to check where it leads to.”

Their fading glimmer of hope was reignited. Hikaru tried not to expect too much, but he couldn’t stop his heart from racing.

“You make it sound easy, but it’s too high,” Jillarte said. “Are you gonna throw a rope or something?”

“I’ll bring a rope with me. But I’m not using it to get up there. I’m just gonna jump.”

“I see. That’s a sure-fire way to—wait, jump?!”

“Yup.”

Hikaru did some stretches to prepare himself.

“There’s no way you can reach that. It’s too high!”

“It’ll be fine. Probably.”

“I can’t trust your probably.” Jillarte glanced at the elevator.

Hikaru wrapped the rope around his waist, then removed his tool bag, spare dagger, and even his silver mask to lighten himself. When he removed the mask, Jillarte yelped for some inexplicable reason, covering her face with her hand. He couldn’t help but wonder what she thought his mask was exactly.

“Paula, can you cast Support Magic to enhance my body?”

“I-I can, but it won’t be that effective.”

“If you use it on ordinary people.”

Paula had one point on her Soul Board’s Support Magic. Not a lot of Healers could use it, and even fewer specialized in it. One of the reasons was, as Paula said, its effects were practically negligible. But Hikaru believed this to be both true and false.

Support Magic provided buffs multiplicatively, not additively. For instance, enhancing someone’s level 1 Swordsmanship by 10% would only raise it to 1.1, which was hardly noticeable. But an increase from 5 to 5.5 would have a significant effect.

In Hikaru’s case, multiplying his Muscle Strength 4 and Power Burst 6 would provide a substantial boost. They had tested this back at the village of the Man Gnomes.

Though even then, I still wouldn’t be able to jump twenty meters high.

Thanks to the Soul Board, Hikaru had acquired superhuman jumping ability, allowing him to perform huge leaps against the Golem on the 7th floor of the Great Labyrinth. Even then, he could only manage about five meters at best. With Paula’s Support Magic, he could stretch it to ten meters. Clearly absurd, yet only enough to reach about halfway up.

“O’ God who art heaven, grant us thy grace. Bestow upon me the flexibility to survive in nature, the swiftness of the wind, and the dexterity to weave.”

As her body glowed silver, Paula placed her hand on Hikaru’s back, near his shoulder blade.

“Divine Protection.”

The light was absorbed into Hikaru’s body. It was hard to notice any change, but when he moved, the sensation was drastically different.

“Thanks.”

“It’s my pleasure. I’m honored to be of service to you, Lord Hikaru.”

Though her words sounded grandiose, she was entirely sincere, which made it somewhat awkward.

“All right.”

Staring at the surface of the wall, Hikaru took out his ultra-sharp knife. He dashed towards the wall, accelerating rapidly. In no time, the wall loomed before him.

“Here we go!”

He ran along the wall in a spiral, leaning significantly to handle the turn. At such speed, he could feel the air resistance strongly. It was the first time he’d become so aware of the air and found it an obstacle.

“Hyaa!” Hikaru took a leap.

“Huh?!”

Jillarte couldn’t contain her surprise when she saw Hikaru’s body soaring to an incredible height. Even knowing he could easily leap over her, as he had shown in their bout, it was still astonishing. He was nearly ten meters high.

But that was only halfway to his goal. Moreover, the impact on his legs was severe, causing him to wince in pain.

I can’t let that stop me! I will find a clue, right here!

“Next!”

Hikaru planted his foot on the wall and leapt again. This time, he only managed about five meters as the momentum was greatly reduced.

But the wall loomed before him again. He could still jump. He kicked off the wall once more. And again. Finally, Hikaru reached twenty meters high, but…

“It’s too far away!”

“Lord Hikaru!”

Voices came from below.

He hadn’t reached the tunnel. It was still about 3 meters ahead. After so many wall kicks, he had lost all momentum and was now just falling.

“This is… within expectations!”

Hikaru drove the ultra-sharp knife into the wall. It pierced effortlessly, and he dangled from the knife.

“Phew,” Jillarte sighed in relief.

“A-Are you okay?” Paula asked.

Was he okay? Not at all. His legs hurt like hell, and he was hanging by one arm. But with Muscle Strength 4 and the buff from Support Magic, hanging on was no problem.

“From here…”

Hikaru began to swing his body. He intended to jump to the tunnel like a trapeze artist. The greatest concern was the knife breaking, but it held. Though it creaked under the strain.

“Hah!”

After gaining momentum, he let go of the knife. His body floated in the air. The three-meter gap closed to two meters. He could tell his body was tracing an arc. One meter. He was slowly falling.

“Lord Hikaru!”

The hole was right in front of him, but his body fell faster.

“Haaaah!”

Hikaru stretched out his hand to its utmost limit. His fingertips brushed the edge of the hole, and the first joint of his right middle finger caught hold. He poured all his strength into that grip.

He exerted force far beyond the human limit. Pain shot through his outstretched arm like an electric shock, but he ignored it and continued to hang on. Gravity pulled him down, while his muscles fought back.

I’m going ahead!

His body lifted. He reached out with his left hand, planting it on the floor of the tunnel.

“Ugh!”

He pulled himself up, wedged his elbow in, and stretched his leg to use as a hook. Putting in more strength, he rolled into the hole.

“That was amazing!”

“Lord Hikaru!”

Voices of joy came from below, but Hikaru, lying inside the hole, was too exhausted to respond. All his effort went to steady his heavy breathing.

His whole body ached. Sweat poured from him due to the heat. But he had made it.

“N-Now, then. What’s at the end of this tunnel?”

His hunch told him that the hole turned into a passageway that stretched far ahead.

Hikaru let down a rope. Jillarte climbed up first, then together they pulled up Paula. After Paula healed him, he retrieved the ultra-sharp knife by wrapping the rope around himself and jumping towards it while Jillarte held onto the rope. It was a bold move, but it somehow worked.

“Please stop taking such risks,” Jillarte said, dead serious. “You gave me multiple heart attacks.”

“An adventurer is, by definition, someone who undertakes risky endeavors.”

Jillarte brought her face closer. “I’m being serious.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Hikaru felt amused thinking this must be how she kept Gerhardt in line.

“All right. Let’s go see what’s ahead.”

He took the magic lamp and moved forward. His Mana Detection picked up something ahead. If he didn’t know about the tunnel, he might have assumed it was just some buried magic gem or elemental magic stone.

They advanced cautiously. After turning two corners, they saw it—a slightly rusted iron door, with no handle or knob.

“You’re supposed to push it, but it’s locked.”

Pushing it produced a clatter. It seemed to be locked from the inside, caught at one spot.

“Looks like a job for this guy.”

Hikaru took out the ultra-sharp knife. Though he felt it creak while supporting his weight earlier, severing a lock shouldn’t be an issue. He inserted the knife, and it cut through easily, though the lack of resistance made it unclear if it actually cut anything. But when he pushed, the door opened, so it clearly worked.