Chapter 79 – Under City (4)

The detection magic Sun-woo deployed spread far and wide through the underground city’s ground.

Fortunately, unlike martial arts, magic could be used perfectly just by acquiring it as a skill.

The magic Sun-woo obtained was water system magic.

Though the level wasn’t high enough to draw up water itself like the mage whose magic he had stolen, he could sufficiently find where water existed.

‘Found it.’

Sun-woo, who had been moving along the waterway, eventually left the waterway and moved to the underground city’s wall, and hundreds of meters behind that wall, he could find the flow of groundwater.

Seeing no other waterways felt anywhere around, it seemed to be the waterway that originally flowed through this city. Perhaps it was diverted when the sewers were made.

After Sun-woo placed his hand on the wall, he looked around. Many people had gathered around.

The prophet, Silvia, and Clara along with numerous people were watching Sun-woo with tense expressions. Quite some time seemed to have passed while he was detecting.

Everyone had heard some story and was quietly watching only Sun-woo.

‘A place that becomes quiet quite easily.’

Sun-woo shook off the thought that arose in his head and opened his mouth toward the prophet.

“The city will become somewhat messy, is that okay?”

At his words, the old prophet smiled.

“Feel free to do as you wish.”

Though he felt somewhat complicated that this too seemed to be in her foresight, there was no reason not to do what he could do. Moreover, these were people who said they’d send him home.

Sun-woo activated magic again to confirm the path where water flowed. As expected, it was groundwater at quite a distance. A distance he absolutely couldn’t draw up with Sun-woo’s magic. But he had earth sorcery.

Sun-woo drew up sorcery and released it toward the wall. The earth spirit rushed through the wall toward where the water was.

The earth began trembling.

Sun-woo’s sorcery began moving the earth between the groundwater and city. It moved the earth between rocks to create gaps and compressed surrounding earth to make a water path.

Even knowing where groundwater existed, work that would take several months, Sun-woo was solving in an instant.

Shortly after, earth poured down from the wall Sun-woo was touching, and soon water began flowing out together with the earth.

“Good heavens…”

Following someone’s surprised voice, the flowing water increased in quantity more and more, and eventually began spurting from the hole in the wall like water surging from a fire hydrant.

The water made the alley into a flood and flowed into the waterway beside the main road.

When water burst out, people who had been avoiding to one side approached the water one by one and carefully scooped water with their hands to taste it.

“Delicious!”

With the words of the person who tasted first, people watching from behind all rushed to the flowing water, to the waterway.

And everyone scooped with their hands or put their faces in the water to taste. Joy was evident on everyone’s faces who tasted.

For them who had only drunk purified sewer water until now, the cool groundwater couldn’t be more delicious.

While commotion broke out throughout the entire city, the prophet headed back to her house again.

“You worked hard.”

She showed a satisfied smile toward Sun-woo walking beside her.

Now Sun-woo decided not to ask separately. Even if it happened according to her plan, if it didn’t cause him harm, it wasn’t something to refuse.

Shortly after, Sun-woo and the two women returned to the prophet’s house.

“You worked hard. In half a day to a day, we’ll finish preparations. I’ll call you again then, so rest.”

The prophet asked Silvia to guide Sun-woo. Silvia made a worried expression at the prophet’s tired-looking appearance, but couldn’t refuse her request.

Under Silvia’s guidance, Sun-woo headed to where the party was staying, and the prophet stood in front of the house continuing to watch the two people moving away.

***

People were still crowding near the waterway enjoying the groundwater. Silvia, who had been smiling at that sight, threw a question to Sun-woo.

“This water will continue flowing from now on, right?”

Sun-woo recalled the amount of groundwater he confirmed with magic and sorcery.

“There seems to be no problem, but I probably can’t give a definite answer. But since the prophet permitted it, it seems there will be no problem?”

As he said, she would know better.

At Sun-woo’s words, Silvia nodded with a sad expression.

“That’s right. Since it’s a future she grasped while shaving her lifespan. It will definitely continue flowing.”

“Lifespan?”

To Sun-woo’s question, she answered with a self-reproachful voice.

“There’s no way seeing the future has no tremendous ability backlash. Until recently, the prophet never deliberately tried to see the future. Just occasionally informing us of futures that appeared… She didn’t deliberately check the future like now.”

Silvia also seemed quite famous as people on the street greeted her, but she seemed unaware of their greetings.

“She was already unwell from the backlash of seeing the future before, but recently because she kept checking the future, her body nearly broke down. Now the hours she’s awake per day don’t even amount to a few hours.”

Her words felt like self-reproach, or perhaps some resentment seeping through. But Sun-woo didn’t respond separately to her words. Her words were just complaints anyway.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I’m doing it again. Maybe because I’m worried about the prophet, I seem to be losing focus a lot lately.”

After her apology, the two walked through the city without words. Perhaps because people crowded toward the waterway, the road to the lodging was quiet.

***

The lodging where the party stayed was one of the holes in the wall opposite to the wall where the waterway was made.

Numerous holes (doors, windows) and precariously connected stairs on that wall made it look like an ant nest cut in half.

Sun-woo, who parted with Silvia at the entrance and entered the hole, made a slightly surprised expression.

Unexpectedly, the interior was neat. Though it was an internal space made by carving stone and digging earth, it was decorated with various things, so it had charm.

Inside looked like a kind of living room, and several passages led inward. Probably bedrooms.

In the living room, Sun-woo’s party sat at a table made of stone.

The summoners rescued from above ground all couldn’t endure and went to bed, but Nan-seol and the party had waited for him to return.

“You worked hard.”

“What story were you going to tell by having him stay?”

“No, more than that, what was that commotion earlier? It’s not like some festival happened, but they were saying something about water, what happened?”

Following Nan-seol’s words, Daniel and Michael’s questions followed.

Sun-woo sat in an empty seat and explained what had just happened.

The story the prophet told, the matter of water being cut off in the waterway, and Sun-woo stepping forward to draw in groundwater. The party hearing Sun-woo’s story was quite surprised.

“I just thought prophet meant fortune-teller level, but it’s terrifying. If you see wrong, your head could fly off without even knowing.”

Michael made a frightened expression at the words that everything was created by the prophet.

“What do you think, Sun-woo? Do you think these underground people can be trusted?”

At Daniel’s question, Sun-woo, who had been thinking briefly, nodded.

“It’s certain they’re not hostile. Moreover, since our enemies are the same, they won’t dig traps.”

Before this incident happened, there was an enemy called the Empire, but according to the content seen outside and the prophet’s words, this planet was already covered in contamination. The Empire couldn’t be left intact.

“Then can we return now? Hmm, earlier my heart was tense worried we couldn’t return. That’s a relief.”

Michael shuddered with a disgusted expression, then reflexively looked back at Hayden.

Hayden always used to counter his words. But now Hayden was lost in thought with a stiff expression.

Michael, who looked back at Hayden, closed his mouth with an apologetic expression unlike himself.

For him, he had only spoken joy about being able to return, but it wasn’t something to say in front of Hayden whose entire planet was contaminated.

The party finished talking around then and entered rooms. The party too had fatigue accumulated from combat and long marching.

***

Eight hours later.

Though being underground, day and night were unknowable, after sleeping sufficiently, the party went to a district of the underground city where the spatial ability user was.

The gazes of city people looking at the party seemed much different from a while ago. The gazes mixed with wariness and curiosity changed to gazes where some goodwill and friendliness could be felt.

“Thanks to Sun-woo.”

As Daniel said, it seemed thanks to Sun-woo drilling through to groundwater.

But whether these people feeling goodwill would help Sun-woo and the party was unknowable.

The party descended to the basement of a somewhat large building at the city’s outskirts.

In what looked like the building’s basement, quite a spacious area was situated, and in its center, a man sat in meditation with eyes closed, floating large gems in all directions.

“That person seems to be the spatial ability user. But what’s he doing?”

At Daniel’s question, Hayden pointed to the gems floating around him.

“They’re amplification stones. Gems that strengthen abilities. Seeing the color is murky now, he seems to have been continuously absorbing the amplification stones’ abilities.”

“That’s right. Since you all came, he’s been continuously absorbing the amplification stones’ power here. To open dimensions, there’s no method but that.”

Beside the spatial ability user, the prophet and Silvia were waiting for them.

The party tilted their heads at the prophet’s words. They had seen a spatial ability user who moved dimensions without any preparation.

“Contaminated ability users become much stronger than existing ability users. It’s difficult to compare with them.”

Well, when Caroline and ability users escaped to another dimension in the New Continent, they heard the story that several spatial ability users combined forces and succeeded with resolve to die.

Though they all became contaminated and caused Sun-woo’s party this hardship, as the prophet said, ordinary spatial ability users seemed to have difficulty with dimensional travel itself.

According to the prophet’s words, the spatial ability user would send the party to Sun-woo’s world with the power he had gathered.

“Wait, then there’s no way to come back here?”

Daniel asked back in surprise. As he said. If the spatial ability user remained while sending them to another dimension, there was no way to come from the other dimension to this dimension.

Since the entire planet was contaminated, the Summoners couldn’t send summoners to this dimension.

“We’ll try to find a way on our side. If there are more spatial ability users, we’ll be able to find a way to go back and forth.”

At the prophet’s words, the party had no choice but to nod. There was no other method.

And at her words, Hayden seemed to be deciding something.

“Now, let’s move back.”

The prophet spoke to Silvia and moved outward, and Silvia also moved following her. Silvia’s expression looked very bad, as if she had some worries.

The prophet looked at such Silvia with a gentle smile on her face.

And the next moment.

A tremendous scream echoed in Sun-woo and the party’s heads.

[No! Stop! Save me! It can’t change!]

That sound was Silvia’s voice. Everyone frowned from pain while turning their heads toward Silvia.

At the spot where the prophet and Silvia had been standing, only Silvia stood alone. She was clutching her chest with a greatly distorted face, and her eyes were burning red.

And the old woman lay collapsed having been flung to one side. Silvia seemed to have struck her down.

“Damn, is it contamination?”

Sun-woo gritted his teeth looking at her.