Homunculus (3)

A device that turns monsters into mana stones.

What would happen if a human entered that device?

I don’t have that data yet.

But…

Thud—!

The moment I saw Raven, I jumped off the ground and ran forward.

After all, the fact that Raven was standing on the conveyor belt was a clear sign. This device doesn’t just turn monsters into mana stones.

There were no restraining devices in place.

All I had to do was grab Raven’s waist and lift her off—

“Raven! Raven! Snap out of it!”

No matter how much I shook her shoulders, she just stared blankly into space with a blank expression.

Thuck, thuck.

I didn’t stop shaking her and even slapped her cheeks firmly, but she still didn’t react.

“Ugh…”

What was that? Is it working?

After hearing her soft moan, I decided to put more force into slapping her.

Slap, slap.

“Ugh…”

Thuck-! Thuck-!

“S-stop…”

Whack! Thud!

“I s-said… stop…!”

“…You’re awake!”

My efforts seemed to have paid off, as Raven’s eyes slowly regained their clarity.

“Are you okay? How’s your body? Can you move? Anything feel off? Where are the others? Ah, do you need water?”

“…Water.”

“Here. I’ll tilt it for you, drink slowly.”

I brought the canteen to her lips like feeding a baby, and Raven finally regained full consciousness.

“…Thank you. For saving me.”

“Don’t mention it. It’s only natural.”

“My jaw’s sore, but at least my mind’s clear now.”

“They say pain is the best medicine.”

“A bitter one, though.”

Okay, if she’s joking like this, she must be fine now…

“So, what happened?”

“…It felt like some kind of mental control. Not long after you entered that place, we all suddenly lost consciousness.”

“So you don’t remember anything?”

“No, it’s not like that. We weren’t completely unconscious, so…”

Raven began explaining slowly, although it all felt distant and hazy, as if she were recalling a dream.

“I felt like I was controlled by something else while being really drunk.”

When I touched that strange stone and passed out, Raven and the rest of my allies also lost consciousness at the exact same moment, and remained standing in a blank state.

Then, at some point, flying objects appeared from the sky, and they were carried across the river to a temple.

“After that, it felt like we were just waiting for something. We were all gathered in one place, and one by one, we were dragged away somewhere. And then, it was my turn…”

“One by one?”

“…Yes?”

“You said they were taken one by one…?”

My heart sank.

However, Raven didn’t seem to realize why my expression had turned so serious.

“Sigh… Seeing for yourself will be faster.”

I moved in the direction Raven had taken along the conveyor belt toward the machine that transformed monsters into mana stones.

Flash—!

With every burst of light, the monsters were transformed into mana stones roughly the size of a fist.

Realizing that she would have passed through that device if I’d been even slightly late, Raven’s face turned pale.

She now realized why my expression had turned serious.

“Don’t tell me… everyone who was taken before me…”

Raven couldn’t finish her sentence, afraid her words would turn out to be true.

It was also time for me to brace myself and find out something.

“Raven, how many people… were taken before you?”

“I’m not sure… but definitely more than ten.”

“Who were they…?”

Raven furrowed her brows, trying to remember, and began naming names one by one.

At some point, she suddenly went silent.

Thud—!

My heart skipped a beat.

My subconscious, having endured countless misfortunes, had already figured it out:

I knew why Raven had gone silent.

“…Tell me. Who was it?”

Eventually, Raven parted her small lips, and the ominous feeling became a reality.

“Emily Raines…”

Damn it.

***

My heart was pounding.

Thud—!

The heart is supposed to be the organ that supplies blood evenly throughout the body. For some reason, however, it felt as if all the blood in my body was rushing to my head.

“She was right before me…”

In other words, it was already too late.

Still, I forced myself to stay calm and checked the remaining details.

Right, it’s not certain that Amelia is in trouble yet.

“Where are the other people?”

“I don’t know. My memory is still fuzzy… I just remember it was a large rectangular room…”

I needed to rescue the others right away, but sadly, Raven didn’t know how to get there.

‘So I’ll have to search the entire building to find them…’

The problem was this conveyor belt.

If it kept operating, more victims would be taken while I’m searching.

So…

Boo-woom—!

I slammed my hammer down on the belt.

Crack, crack, snap!

The conveyor belt creaked as it shattered from the impact and finally stopped.

And at the same time—

Beep—! Beep—! Beep—!

The drones began moving toward us, making wailing sounds.

I thought they’d stop treating me as an invisible barbarian and become hostile, but for some reason, the drones just passed by me and gathered around the conveyor belt.

“They’re… trying to repair it?”

“……”

“What are you going to do?”

“Leave them for now.”

Somehow, I had a feeling destroying the drones would just be a waste of time.

They’d probably just send more to fix it.

‘It’s better to see how long the repairs take.’

“Raven, follow me for a bit.”

“Wh-where are we going?”

“First, I need to figure out what this place is.”

After that, I led Raven along the damaged conveyor belt

Soon, another functioning conveyor belt appeared, transporting boxes filled with mana stones somewhere.

“But… instead of breaking the conveyor belt, wouldn’t it have been better to wait here? Others might have come through.”

“……Well, that’s also an option.”

“Ah… You didn’t think of that.”

No matter how hard I tried to stay calm, it wasn’t easy.

Everyone has their limits.

“Whatever. Keep your eyes open. There might be a way to save the others who passed through first.”

Following the conveyor belt that was transporting the crates, we reached a place where many crates filled with mana stones were gathered.

 

There were three strange machines and hooks hanging from the ceiling that resembled claw machines. These hooks inserted the mana stones into the devices.

Thunk, clink.

As the mana stones rolled into the funnel, something attached to the ceiling lit up. And when the light faded, something was created behind a transparent glass panel in the center.

“……”

A monster. It had the traits of goblins, orcs, and ghouls mixed together.

It was a hideous monster unlike anything I had ever seen in the labyrinth.

“What the hell… is that…?”

“If we follow it, we’ll probably find out.”

The monster created by the machine began moving along another conveyor belt, and we followed closely behind.

And we soon realized the structure of this factory.

Flick!

The monster boarded the conveyor belt and transformed back into a mana stone.

For some reason, there weren’t just one, but three mana stones.

Flick!

The three stones went through the device again and were reborn into goblins, orcs, and ghouls…

‘What kind of nonsense is this?’

After the process was complete, the monsters were herded by drones and taken upstairs to be imprisoned.

“Don’t tell me… this keeps repeating?”

“…Seems like it.”

This place was even more confusing than before.

What is this place?

What kind of pointless repetition is going on here?

Still, I felt a little relieved.

“If this is the case… maybe everyone is still safe.”

“…Let’s hope so.”

“Anyway, it looks like the repair is almost done.”

When we returned to the factory, the broken conveyor belt had been partially restored to its original state.

I considered breaking it again, but—

“Why not do as I suggested? We still don’t know where the others are being held.”

Following Raven’s advice, I held off on breaking the conveyor belt.

“I’ll stay here and rescue people. You go search around. Isn’t that more reasonable?”

Considering the next steps, this certainly seemed safer.

 

Even if I couldn’t find the places where my allies were trapped, it would allow me to save more of them.

Not that the plan was full proof.

“Right now, it seems okay, but if something dangerous happens when I’m not here…”

“That’s true, but…”

“We’ll stick together. Once we’ve woken up about ten more people, it should be fine even if I’m not here.”

“Ah… that might be better.”

With that settled, we sat by the conveyor belt, waiting for more of our allies to appear.

One hour, two hours, three hours…

The endless wait continued, and we shared information.

“So the moment you touched that rock, you lost consciousness too?”

“Yeah. But when I woke up, the rock was gone, and ten days had passed.”

“And no physical issues?”

“None so far.”

Raven’s expression grew serious as she heard my story, but she didn’t offer any advice.

“Do you know what that rock was?”

“No, I don’t. But…”

“But?”

After a slight pause, Raven responded.

“Do you know about the homunculus?”

“The Level 8 monster.”

“I meant the homunculus in alchemy. Do you know about that?”

“No idea.”

“In alchemy, a homunculus is an artificial lifeform… No, more precisely, an artificially created ‘human’.”

“Now that you mention it… the homunculi in the Witch’s Forest did look somewhat human.”

“Now that you mention it… the homunculi in the Witch’s Forest did look somewhat human.”

“In terms of appearance, yes. But the way their skin sloughs off with every step makes them genetically closer to slimes than humans, don’t you think?”

“Anyway, what’s your point?”

“It’s nothing major. I just suddenly had doubts about the ‘mana stones’ themselves. We saw monsters turn into mana stones, and then mana stones turn back into monsters, right?”

“And?”

“It just made me think. If the legendary ‘Philosopher’s Stone’ really existed, wouldn’t its properties be very similar to mana stones…?”

I listened, thinking it was just the wild imagination of a mage.

Well, maybe not just imagination.

‘Mana stones…’

At that moment, I felt a tickling sensation in my head, as if something was about to become clear.

“…Huh?”

Raven suddenly widened her eyes and stared at something.

I quickly looked in the direction she was looking, and there, one of the allies was coming down the rail.

Melend Kaislan, the loyal knight from the Ice Rock Expedition.

“Melend Kaislan!”

As soon as I saw him, I rushed to him and got him off the rail.

And just as I was about to slap his cheek…

“Wait a moment!”

Raven stopped me, and pulled something out from her space.

So, that’s what it was…

“The Crown of Suffering?”

“Yeah. I thought this might help bring him back to his senses.”

Hmm, it definitely seems like it could work…

“But isn’t there already a proven method for this?”

“That’s true, but I still taste blood in my mouth.”

“Ah…”

No wonder her cheeks were puffed up more than usual.

I nodded, signaling for her to go ahead, and Raven carefully placed the crown on Kaislan’s head.

And after a moment—

“Ugh…”

Kaislan regained consciousness.

Continue reading more chapters at henprogressive.com

Please join here, I need supporters to help me continue translating STGB and Lee Gwak