Chapter 523: Dilemma (2)
Beep. Beep. Beep.
A massive underground room in Zone X, where redevelopment was in full swing.
An alarm sounded in that space.
As soon as the alarm went off, Oliver, who had been working in front of a giant tank, deactivated Ptah's Assistant and checked the time.
“Phew... Thank goodness. Managed to finish just in time.”
Oliver, who had been working late into the night to meet the tight deadline, rubbed his sleepy eyes as he inspected his accomplishment.
It was a female-shaped wooden doll—golem—floating in a blood tank, a mix of a large amount of blood, life force, and a small quantity of potion.
It was a replica of the wooden doll-golem he had seen in Merlin’s Mansion.
The wooden doll-golem before him was not yet complete; the joints were connected only by slender "tendril roots." Once it absorbed the life force contained in the blood tank, it would be nearly finished.
“Could you look after it for me while I'm away, Mari?”
Oliver made this request to Mari, who stood statue-like behind him.
With her knees together, back straight, and hands clasped humbly, Mari lowered her head and replied.
“I’ll do my best not to disappoint.”
“It’s me who should be grateful. After all, it’s intended to serve as Eve’s new body.”
Yes, the wooden doll-golem before them was intended as a physical vessel for Eve.
He was crafting it to settle a personal debt for Eve, whom he had helped in Lake Village but to whom he hadn’t had a chance to properly express his gratitude. Originally, he had planned to make her a corpse puppet, like Pandora or Lilith, but once Eve decided to join the Tower of Magic, he quickly switched to creating a wooden doll-golem.
The Tower of Magic was an official institution, part of the public world. Using a corpse puppet—a body created from human remains—would be highly inappropriate.
So Oliver had decided to replicate the wooden doll-golem Merlin had used and make a new body for Eve using World Tree wood he’d received from the Tower of Magic as a reward for a mission. Additionally, he applied his self-taught knowledge in golem studies and Life School magic.
“I can't claim to fully understand, but this is incredible. You’ve even combined techniques from the Life School to create a wooden doll-golem… It’s as if the wood itself has come alive. Remarkable.”
Mari expressed her admiration as she observed the wooden doll-golem absorbing the life force from the blood solution.
Though her praise was slightly exaggerated, the way the wooden doll appeared to breathe as it absorbed the life force was indeed striking.
However, Oliver reacted differently.
“In truth, it’s not as impressive as it sounds. Adding Life School magic was actually a workaround to compensate for some limitations.”
If others had overheard, they might have found this a strange thing to say. But Oliver was sincere.
In order to make a body for Eve, Oliver had taught himself golem studies, poring over books to acquire the necessary knowledge. In doing so, he realized that creating a body purely with golem techniques would take considerable time.
This was because the core elements of golem creation—the ‘magical nerve circuit’ and the ‘core’—couldn’t be fully learned from books.
So, to cut down on the time required, Oliver chose to forgo certain elements and instead used Life School magic to fill the gaps.
The nerve circuit was substituted by ‘tendril roots’ made from a blend of druid cells and World Tree roots, and the core was created from a combination of druid flesh and World Tree wood, forming a ‘core heart.’
Essentially, it was a patchwork of techniques thrown together on the spot.
Consequently, the wooden doll-golem Oliver made wasn’t a pure golem; it leaned more toward a corpse puppet in some respects.
“To someone like me, that just makes it seem even more remarkable.”
Mari shared her thoughts, which were not far from the truth.
Merging two distinct fields was not an easy feat, especially considering that Oliver had accomplished it without any formal training.
Yet Oliver himself refused to acknowledge this as extraordinary.
“It’s not exactly as impressive as it seems. Fields of study are divided in a way that can make them seem entirely different, but at a certain level, there’s a lot of overlap. I simply took advantage of that.”
Mari smiled at his words, as they brought back memories of the time they spent with the Joseph Family.
Back then, Mari had taught Oliver to read, and in return, Oliver had significantly improved her poor skills in black magic. With just a touch of his finger.
“Please turn this lever at regular intervals to inject the liquefied life force.”
Before leaving, Oliver demonstrated by turning a lever attached to the tank, injecting more liquefied life force into the blood tank.
Once the liquefied life force flowed into the tank, bubbles began to rise, and the wooden doll-golem’s “tendril roots” and “core heart” absorbed the added life force as sustenance.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
The wooden doll-golem’s pulse returned as it gained life force, and Mari lowered her head, pledging to follow his instructions exactly.
Seeing this, Oliver felt relieved.
The reason he entrusted this task to Mari wasn’t simply due to a shortage of hands.
In theory, he could have asked Child to do it.
Yet, he chose Mari specifically because he wanted her to stay safe until he returned from Gallos.
If he hadn’t assigned her this task, she might be drawn into other situations where she would have to act herself.
‘Otherwise, another mysterious hand might appear above her head.’
Oliver recalled the time Lilith and Mari had fought.
A mysterious hand had appeared above Mari’s head as if blessing her.
Through conversation, Oliver indirectly inquired whether Mari knew anything about that hand, but she didn’t seem to.
Then again, Mari didn’t even understand the reason behind the sudden increase in her strength after Oliver left.
Mari attributed it to Oliver’s influence, but he knew that didn’t make sense.
Of course, Oliver himself didn’t know either, but he sensed one thing.
That mysterious hand felt similar to The Burnt One. Though he had no evidence beyond a feeling, he was oddly certain.
This was why Oliver was heading to Gallos now.
He intended to look for clues in the demon books from the Flesh Chef's legacy, hoping to find answers... and also to satisfy his personal curiosity.
‘Maybe I should let you know since it seems you’re not fully aware of your own identity. You don’t really value people. Your words and actions reveal it... For you, people are just biological machines that generate interesting emotions… you don’t even have someone truly dear to you, only precious emotions… Tell me, when I threatened someone dear to you, were you worried about the person, or were you worried about the emotion?’
‘It’s fine. You are a noble, interesting existence, but just that. I don’t actually acknowledge you.’
‘Even demons and those from ruined lands show respect and courtesy to a being so great they kneel in reverence… Why don’t you try to learn more about yourself?’
Uninvited words, unwelcome in Oliver’s mind, flashed through his thoughts.
Questions that lingered like a curse, refusing to fade even when he tried to forget them.
To shake them off, Oliver quickly packed his pre-arranged items: spare clothes, a tent, outdoor cooking gear, various provisions, and even a metal rod he had ordered from the Black Market, along with a communication device linked to Eve.
Though, ultimately, Big Mouth would store everything, so it wasn’t too different from usual.
Creak.
Oliver opened the secret passage in the basement, climbed the stairs, and entered the storage room.
This storage space, owned by the redevelopment company at the center of Zone X, housed various items Oliver had acquired, including a half-destroyed golem, exoskeleton armor, magitech weapons, black magic items, and privately-made weapons from Zone Y.
It was practically a trophy room.
There were three main reasons why Oliver chose to store such valuable items here: following Forest's advice that the mere presence of gold here would attract attention, concealing the underground lab by keeping these expensive items in the storage area, and the opportunity to place security personnel here.
After briefly inspecting the contents to confirm there were no issues, Oliver stepped outside.
Waiting for him was Forest and Jo, who were aware of Oliver’s travel plans.
“Leaving now?”
Forest asked, extending his hand. Oliver took it and replied.
“Yes, Forest. I apologize for leaving all the work to you.”
“No need to apologize. My role is management, and your role is your namesake. In fact, going to Gallos and building your reputation there is, in essence, part of your job. Nothing to feel sorry for.”
Knowing that Oliver was headed to Gallos to search for the Flesh Chef’s legacy, Forest responded in this way.
“I’m not exactly going there to make a name for myself.”
“Of course, but if you get what you’re looking for, fame will come naturally. Fame is just like that.”
Pondering Forest’s words, Oliver nodded.
If he did manage to get his hands on the Flesh Chef’s legacy, that would indeed add to his reputation.
Many factions were after the legacy.
“Milieu, mercenaries, treasure hunters, fixers, all kinds of experts. Then there are the black magicians… seems like things are already quite chaotic over there, especially with the black magicians being the biggest problem.”
Having gathered information about Gallos, Forest continued. Even though it was in a distant foreign land, he’d heard that the situation was so out of control that even the royal family struggled to contain the black magicians.
“Like a horde of rats.”
“I’m aware of the situation.”
“I know it’s unpleasant, but be cautious... Rats might seem insignificant, but they’ve claimed more lives than even the fiercest predators.”
“I understand. I’ll be careful.”
Forest, looking satisfied with the answer, released Oliver’s hand.
Oliver then extended his hand to Jo.
“Jo, thank you. I apologize for burdening you with my duties.”
“Think nothing of it.”
Jo shook Oliver’s hand respectfully, and Oliver gave Jo a discreet nod, prompting Jo to lean closer to his ear.
“Help Mari avoid overextending herself, just until I return.”
“Yes.”
A short but firm answer. After expressing his gratitude to Jo, Oliver proceeded to the designated meeting point.
His destination was Zone Y, across the Sem River and through the construction-heavy Zone X...
Vroom, vroom.
A small boat made a loud noise as it cut across the muddy brown waters of the Sem River.
Upon reaching the opposite shore, he was met with soggy mud, scattered trash, and shanties in worse condition than the garbage piles.
“Good evening, Ewan. Have you been waiting long?”
Oliver asked, seeing Ewan sitting between piles of trash.
With a messy beard, dark circles, greasy hair, and a thick cloak, Ewan rose to answer.
“I waited a fair bit. Busy with last-minute tasks?”
“Yes, a bit. But thanks to your patience, I was able to finish everything. I appreciate it.”
“You’d better. Thought my neck would stretch out from waiting. Hope you prepared well; that’s the only reason I stayed.”
“Don’t worry. I brought tents, extra clothes, all sorts of provisions, even cooking gear.”
Oliver spoke as if he were merely going on a camping trip, prompting Ewan to stare silently at him with a grim expression.
“...”
“Is there an issue?”
“Well, the fact that you don’t see one might be the issue. But no use in regretting now. Let’s move right away—no time like the present.”
With that, Ewan pulled out a battering ram—more accurately, a “skull-crusher”—from within his thick cloak.
This was a black magic item with a human head embedded on the end, used to strike surfaces and create spatial fractures.
Although physics would seem to prevent such a large item from fitting in his cloak, Oliver accepted it calmly.
He knew Ewan’s cloak was also a black magic item, so whatever came out of it wasn’t particularly strange.
Ewan grabbed the handle of the skull-crusher with both hands, drew it back, and slammed it into a nearby shanty.
Bang!
A deafening noise echoed as the skull-crusher struck the shanty.
It sounded strong enough to topple the shanty, but remarkably, it didn’t fall. However, something even more unusual happened.
A fracture appeared not on the shanty’s structure but in the space surrounding it.
The shanty served as a medium, causing a spatial fracture.
This form of spatial manipulation, though different from Merlin’s spatial magic, was equally remarkable.
Instinctively, Oliver focused his attention to examine how the skull-crusher caused the fracture in space.
Bang!
Ewan struck again with the skull-crusher, causing the fracture to widen. Then, like an eggshell cracking open, the exterior of the shanty shattered.
Beyond the fractured surface lay neither the shanty’s interior nor Gallos, but a vast forest that appeared as if it had been ravaged by war.
Before Oliver could even ask what was happening, Ewan quickly stepped through the fracture, and Oliver followed instinctively.
Whizz!
As soon as they entered, something whizzed toward them, greeting them with hostility.
“It’s a crossbow bolt. Infused with magic.”
“And you caught it with your bare hand?”
Ewan looked at Oliver, who held the crossbow bolt with his quarterstaff.
The bolt still carried potent magical energy, intense enough to explode at any moment.
“Detonate!”
[Black Cube]
Responding to a voice from deeper within the forest, Oliver activated black magic. He created six small Black Shields, encapsulating the crossbow bolt.
The magical bolt exploded but caused no harm, contained within the Black Cube.
The previously chaotic forest fell silent, everyone fixating their attention on Oliver.
“What are those things?”
“They seem strange, like they traveled through space magic. Definitely not ordinary.”
“Dammit… Just when things were getting under control, now we have more intruders. Damn it.”
“Grrr... Attack!!”
At that command, numerous people charged toward them.
From the life force, magical power, and emotions emanating from their bodies, it was clear these were formidable individuals.
In the midst of the sudden assault, Oliver turned to Ewan and asked.
“Ewan, what is this place, and what’s going on?”
“What’s going on? This is what it means to be right in the middle of a turf war.”