Volume 6 Chapter 35 Singularity
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
We used a temporary gate to enter the ley line under the glacier. We warped many times, following the flow of mana. But it looked like we still had a long way to go. Every time the warp ended and we appeared, I always landed at the bottom. My face and body hit the ground hard every time. It was good that the Three Elders were safe. But… did they know that “support” meant being my cushion from the start?
”Um, Lord Yohaku. Can I please turn over so my back faces out? At this rate, my nose will break off.” I groaned.
”Ah, sorry about that, Ms. Karin. But undoing our link here is a bit difficult… though you might not have to endure it much longer. I think our destination is not much further away.” Lord Yohaku said.
”Really?” I asked.
”L11S116R249!” Lady Yasura called out.
Lady Yasura gave the numbers, and Lord Yohaku used a temporary gate to warp us there.
Squish!! Huh? The feel was completely different from before… I was still on the bottom, of course, but it did not hurt as much.1
[Hey, what is wrong? This is not the middle of the ley line current!! Did you get the numbers wrong?] Lord Kororon shouted through telepathy. His voice made my brain shake inside my head.
”No. According to my calculations, it should be right… but the mana flow is gone, that is for sure. More importantly, are we… underwater right now?” Lady Yasura muttered.
[Aye, that we are. I have been keeping this shield up. I am pushing my qi and mana with all my might. But no matter how you look at it, we are deep in the ocean. This shield will not last much longer,] Lord Kororon warned.
”Huh, does that mean we failed? Should we escape right away?” I asked. I was starting to panic.
”Do not panic, Ms. Karin… even by my judgment, the numbers should be correct… Ah, I see. So that is how it is!” Lord Yohaku suddenly shouted.
”Um, Lady Yasura, Lord Kororon. Could this be a singularity?” Lord Yohaku said.
Hearing Lord Yohaku’s words, Lady Yasura agreed. “I think that makes sense.”
”Um… what does that mean?” I asked.
”To put it simply, Karin. Somewhere between our last point and here, the ley line crosses over dimensions. I had heard that they hid Yggdrasil (a special tree in another space) in a different space. So it makes sense,” Lady Yasura explained.
”No, Lady Yasura. I do not understand any of that,” I replied.2
”That is why I am telling you, Karin. Yggdrasil is in a whole different space than the space we are in right now. Like the human world where your family came from. With the numbers I measured earlier, the imaginary part was missing. So we cannot warp into a different space,” Lady Yasura said.
”Ah… so… do we have to start over?” I said sadly.
I slumped in disappointment. Then Lord Yohaku called out to me.
”It is alright, Ms. Karin. Let us go back to our last point for now. I need to add the imaginary part to the numbers myself and do the math again. Now, Lord Kororon, please watch carefully to see where the singularity is along the way!” Lord Yohaku said.
[Ugh. Giving this old man such boring work… well, leave it to me,] Lord Kororon grumbled.
Ah. Somehow, these Three Elders really are reliable.
We went back to our last point. We did the math again for the warp. Then we warped to the new numbers with the imaginary part added.
It was a big, somewhat dark space. Not far ahead, a river of shiny, flowing light ran past. Lady Yasura said that it was actually mana. Haha. The mana was so thick that even my normal eyes could see it.
”Is this place a different space?” I asked.
”Yes, Ms. Karin. That said, it is not a very big space. And its location is not too far from the world we live in. So it might be like a lobby to Yggdrasil, made by ancient mages. However… the mana here is a bit too thick.” Lord Yohaku looked serious.
”Indeed. This is a very hard place for people like us. You, from the Spirit Clan (a group of spirit beings)… are you doing okay?” Lady Yasura asked.
[To be honest, this is very hard for me. The mana is so thick that even the qi in my body feels like it is going to melt,] Lord Kororon groaned.
”Huh, Lord Kororon. Will you be okay?” I asked nervously.
[Well. I am keeping a shield up, so I will not melt right away. But… I cannot stay here for a long time with this kind of mana,] Lord Kororon said.
”That is terrible. What should we do?” I asked.
Lady Yasura spoke to me.
”Karin. It is not just Kororon. This place is also very hard for people like me and Yohaku, who are sensitive to mana.” Lady Yasura said.
”Is that so? I always thought it was better to have lots of mana…” I said quietly.
”Karin. If I told you to drink a whole bathtub full of water right now, could you do it? It would be impossible. Even water, which is harmless, would ruin your health if you did that,” Lady Yasura said.
”Lady Yasura. Thank you for the easy-to-understand example. That means we cannot go any further without doing something, right? Then it cannot be helped. Let us go back for now. Just out of curiosity, Lord Yohaku, can we fix a temporary gate here?” I said.
”Since we have a lock on the singularity’s location, it should not be a problem if you give me a little time. I brought an extra temporary gate just in case… so we will set up the gate and start our investigation from this exact spot another day, right?” Lord Yohaku said.
”Yes, Lord Yohaku. Please go ahead and fix the gate. Lord Kororon, please do not push yourself. Get some good rest. I seem to be fine with the mana here. So I am going to look ahead a little bit,” I said.
”Ah, Karin. Going by yourself makes me very uneasy. I will go with you. I can still move well enough,” Lady Yasura said.
”Lady Yasura… thank you very much. Please do not push yourself too hard, okay?” I smiled thankfully.
While Lord Yohaku was fixing the temporary gate, Lady Yasura and I walked up the river of shiny mana.
”The river of mana is so beautiful,” I said.
”Hmm, Karin. Are you truly not feeling sick at all?” Lady Yasura asked.
”Yes, Lady Yasura. I feel a little tingle from the mana. But nothing special… Once the gate is fixed, it might be better to have human or beastfolk soldiers do the exploring,” I said.
”If it is just looking around… however, I think we will have to use a lot of magic at some point,” Lady Yasura said.
”I see… Ah, Lady Yasura. Look at that,” I said, pointing.
”Hmm? What is that? Is the river of mana flowing straight up into the sky?” Lady Yasura squinted.
As we walked and talked, the ground ahead dipped into a small bowl. The view suddenly opened up. Right from the middle of the bowl, the river of mana stretched straight up into the sky.
”Could that be… a waterfall of mana?” I said to myself.
”Hmm… if that is the case… Oh! Karin. Look up! Look above us,” Lady Yasura said.
”Above? Huh? Wh-What!?” I gasped. “Lady Yasura. Is that… a gate?”
Far above the bowl, I could see a structure that looked like a huge gate. And it looked like the river of mana was falling down from that gate.
”Lady Yasura. Could that be what they call the Celeste Corridora (a famous gate to another place)?” I asked.
”I do not know… but Karin, let us go under the gate. There might be a way to go up,” Lady Yasura said.
Feeling a little excited, Lady Yasura and I started jogging toward the middle of the bowl.
”Ngh! The mana here is very thick. Just breathing is hard work,” Lady Yasura said.
As she spoke, Lady Yasura’s shoulders went up and down as she gasped for air.
”In that case, Lady Yasura, please take it easy. Go slowly. I will go ahead and check it out!” I shouted.
And it happened right when I arrived in front of what looked like the pool at the bottom of the mana waterfall.
SCREECHHHHH!
Suddenly, a bird-like scream echoed right above my head. It was too dark in the sky to see clearly. But… is something coming!? I tried to pull out the sword at my hip. But before I could, something fell from the sky. I barely jumped out of the way.
”Tch. What was that?” I said.
I jumped sideways. I got up and looked at the sky. Dammit. Something was flying. And it was not just one or two of them. Is this… a situation where running away is the best choice?
”Lady Yasura. Something looks dangerous. Let us go back for now!” Even as I ran toward Lady Yasura, I felt a strange bird diving straight down at me from above.
”Kh. It is fast!” I said.
BOOOM!!
I braced myself, thinking I was about to get hit. Then a fireball flew right over my head. It hit the diving bird right in front of its beak. Lady Yasura had helped me with a magic shot.
”Th-Thank you so much, Lady Yasura!” I shouted.
”Save your thanks for later, Karin. Let us get back to Yohaku and the others quickly! With our strength right now, we cannot beat these creatures. If it was just a warning shot, that is fine. But if I hit them with my full magic power, I feel like I would also burn up!” Lady Yasura shouted.
”These things… Lady Yasura, do you know what they are?” I asked.
”Gargoyles! When it comes to gate guards, it has been decided since ancient times that they must be gargoyles!!” Lady Yasura shouted over the noise.
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Summary:
Moving sequentially through dimensional warp points using an unstable tracking method, the protagonist and her eccentric mentors accidentally emerge far beneath the ocean. After deducing the missing dimensional factor required to access the hidden lobby of Yggdrasil, the party successfully breaches the threshold into a pocket universe with highly concentrated atmospheric mana. Exploring upstream along a radiant subterranean current, Karin discovers a vertical stream reaching toward a massive sky-gate, only to be ambushed by territorial airborne defenders while her principal mentor struggles to breathe.
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Trivia:
Karin’s parents are originally from the Human Realm.
The coordinates provided by Yasura-sama originally lacked an imaginary factor.
High-density mana can dissolve the qi that forms a spirit entity’s body.
Gargoyles are regarded by Yasura-sama as traditional, archetypal gatekeepers.
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Translation Notes:
Notes:
• Yohaku – A member of the Demon Clan who possesses spatial warp magic with a limit of four targets. She displays an elegant yet whimsical demeanor and desires to travel the world. One of the Three Elders who utilizes a provisional gate to teleport the group while tracking coordinates.
• Karin – A young human woman with an uncanny immunity to highly dense mana, who serves as an assistant caring for the Three Elders. Though she strives to stay brave despite perilous circumstances, she worries intensely about her mother and Syu. Notably vocal, she always lands at the bottom of the pile during warp teleportation.
• Yasura – The Eldest of the Elf Clan and a member of the Three Elders, they appear as a young girl but speak with an elderly, rural speech pattern, blending aristocratic, superior air with curmudgeonly banter. Armed with ancient knowledge of Elven legends and the World Tree, they analyze ambient Mana flows for geographic navigation and direct exploration near the glacier, providing magical projectile cover.
• Kororon – Over ten thousand years old, this oldest and most powerful member of the Three Elders appears as a young girl. A nonchalant Spirit Clan member, she speaks with a direct, casual rhythm and uses telepathy to read minds, serving as Karin’s protective guide. Highly skilled in combat, she expends qi, Ki, and Mana to deploy advanced defensive shields.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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