Mage? Magic Engineer!-Chapter 61 - 58: Sacrifice in the Cave Forest

’Could the Divine Corpse be in this cave?’ Rorschach stared into the depths of the cavern, unable to imagine what form a Divine Corpse would even take.

The ground trembled violently, shaking dust from the cavern ceiling.

"Quick, use [Stone Shaping Skill] to reinforce the cavern ceiling."

Nemo, Yina, and Rorschach, all of whom knew the spell, cast it simultaneously, managing to stabilize their surroundings somewhat.

Luckily, the energy consumption didn’t matter at the moment, as long as one’s control was strong enough to "tame" the abundant Ether.

However, the rock wall of the ceiling gradually turned from orange-red to pink, and began to twist and crumble.

"Don’t let the pink falling rocks touch you!" Nemo warned. Yina tried to deploy some kind of Force Field defense, but the crumbling pink substance broke right through it.

"Quick, use that Blood Dharma Seal!" Rorschach reminded them. François began tracing the recorded pattern on the ground. He worked as fast as he could, but nothing happened after he finished drawing it.

Rorschach channeled Ether through the circuits, but that had no effect either. "Does it need blood?" he voiced his suspicion.

"We’ll know once we try." Without another word, François pulled an exquisite dagger from under his Magic Robe and cut his finger. The seeping blood was immediately drawn into the Magic Array.

"It’s reacting. To use blood as a medium... what a barbaric Divine Spirit." Nemo’s brow furrowed. Seeing that it worked, he pulled a Mountain-Cutting Knife from his waist, gripped the blade with his left hand, and sliced it open. Dripping red fluid splattered down, causing the Magic Array to flare with brilliant light.

Unlike their first attempt at the camp, the Domain that unfolded this time was clearly more active and had a wider range. Instead of a thin layer of moss, a meadow of grass now grew at their feet.

Trees miraculously burst from the ground, spreading their canopies within the cavern to shield everyone from the falling, pink, amorphous substance. Upon contact with the amorphous dust, the trees’ outer branches and leaves mutated, but no tree within the Domain turned completely pink. Any leaf that was touched withered immediately, only to be replaced by new growth in a ceaseless cycle.

The scene reminded Rorschach of the first part of his dream.

"The blood is evaporating. It needs a constant supply." Rorschach also had a small knife, one he’d originally brought for trimming his nails. It looked tiny compared to the other two.

Before he could cut himself, Yina stopped him. "How long can we last on our own? We’d be lucky to get fifteen minutes. Gather everyone and have them replenish the array in shifts. As for you..." Yina stared at the young man. "Don’t you have something more important to do?"

’Sigh, making a Little Mage like me do something like this... That Deer-headed God sure is something else. What were all those Great Mages doing when they came to visit before?’

Rorschach sighed. "If it’s really as He said, I have no idea what kind of being I’m supposed to fight, or how to destroy it."

"The Divine Spirit’s instructions from the dream have all come true, one by one. We should indeed find the Divine Corpse and figure out a way to destroy It, but not Rorschach Mage alone," François said, considering the matter seriously.

"Yina, you stay here." Nemo’s expression was grim. He squeezed his left hand again, adding fresh blood to the Magic Array. "If something happens here, what about the rest of the team? We can’t all leave. If there aren’t any mages here, these people will fall apart when faced with disaster."

Yina pointed out an important problem. "That’s all well and good, but how are we supposed to find the Divine Corpse? Our conventional defensive Shields are useless on the way."

As if in response to her words, the amber bubble surrounding the beetle expanded again, becoming as thin as a real bubble. The space inside was more than enough to envelop a person. The pink, molten sand and gravel fell onto the bubble’s outer wall and were completely blocked.

"Looks like this Divine Spirit is quite the stickler, insisting I be the savior all on my own." Rorschach joked as he stepped inside. The beetle vibrated its wings, ready for takeoff.

Suddenly, another body squeezed into the bubble. Luckily, it wasn’t a grown man. With Rorschach squishing over, the bubble could just barely contain them both.

"Rorschach Mage, I taught you all those Middle Tier Spells for free. Shouldn’t you be calling me teacher?"

"...Teacher Yina? You should stay with Nemo..."

"Since you’re my student, what kind of teacher stands by and watches their student walk into danger?"

"...Thank you."

Guided by the beetle, Rorschach and Yina headed deeper into the cavern. Looking back, they saw that [Deryats Forest] had lived up to its name, conjuring a dense wood that shielded the others from the bizarre, falling rocks.

At that moment, everyone was lined up to replenish the Magic Array with their blood. The faces of the apprentices and workers were filled with fear and pain. They spontaneously assumed prayer-like poses, creating a vivid scene of a ritual sacrifice in the heart of the "Dense Forest."

In the primeval forest, they had nothing. They could only offer their lives to the Divine Spirit, offer the blood that best represented their Vitality.

Ancient, bloody, barbaric.

As they continued forward, the path inside the cavern grew wider. Smooth fragments of a stone shell began to appear around them, and the tremors became more frequent and distinct, as if they were feeling a pulse.

...

"My student, and your precious son, are in grave danger." Kano practically dragged Granor from the carriage.

The prospective Lord straightened his mussed cravat and questioned irritably, "Calm down, Master Kano. I fail to see the necessary connection between an astrological shift and a Sub-plane. The Guild’s teleportation mail system still hasn’t recovered, it’s a total mess..."

"Turbulence! A turbulence of Transmuting Dust, you idiot! Now I see why you’re still mucking about with stonemasons even at Tier Seven..."

Kano clamped a hand on Granor, hauling him through layer after layer of wards and into a huge room. It was filled with instruments, with only an empty, circular platform in the center.

Along the way, Kano quickly explained, "Last night, we started recording an astrological shift. The Transmuting Dust is accelerating. The astral Force Fields of the Main Plane are strong enough to deflect and shield against this stuff, but what about the Sub-planes?"

Granor finally realized the gravity of the situation. "They have almost no protection!"

"Then we all know what happened to the first unlucky Dwarf who tried to enter the Star Realm. Hurry up and draw a Teleportation Array here!"

"Why not in the original location? I have an... with His Majesty the King..."

"Has your title gone to your head?! Are you even a Caster anymore? I had someone check the original Teleportation Array today. It won’t open!"

"Then how can you guarantee this one will work?" Even as he spoke, Granor had already begun shaping liquid metal to outline the Magic Array. Though he looked a bit disheveled from Kano’s aggressive attitude, his skills as a High Tier Mage were still there. The Magic Array quickly took form.

"You hide a single Teleportation Array like it’s some precious treasure. Now, look at our results! Snow—"

At his command, a roar echoed from the power source in the adjacent room. Flashes of electricity intertwined with the Spiritual Light of overflowing Ether. The liquid metal Magic Array, which previously required eight Great Mages to operate, was successfully activated by the massive power input.

Granor’s eyes widened. "Who is Casting? Space is warping, but... that’s not right. No teleportation path is being constructed."

After it idled for a while, Kano had them stop the experiment.

"The deviation! The interference from the Transmuting Dust is affecting the teleportation path. We need to calibrate the Magic Array. Snow, get all the researchers from upstairs down here to run the calculations..."

"That’s impossible, Kano! Any change to the Magic Array will only lead to failure! We just have to wait for the turbulence to end. François will find a way to take shelter... Nemo! The team leader this time is Nemo. He’s an experienced explorer. With him there..."

"You’re useless, Lord Granor! Please leave this room!"