The Archmage’s Restaurant

# 280

Part 2 Chapter.11 With new life

“Among the dragon’s holy relics, there is something called the flower of the spirit.”

“… … .”

The name was straightforward. The flower of the spirit. The hibiren flower seems to have something more to it.

“Where is it? “It is difficult to say that it does not exist now.”

“No, there is. there is… .”

“there is?”

“It blooms in the basement of the sacred site. The person who wants to use it takes it and eats it, so you can eat it and feed it to Rurin. You lose your mind and come into contact with Lurin. “You will be able to look into Lurin’s inner self.”

“Is there such a magical flower in the world?”

“Yes, even if it is not a situation like this, if you use it, you can look into the person’s inner self. Even what you think of yourself.”

“Oh that’s something… . I want to use it, but it’s scary. So what about that underground place?”

“close. I’ll guide you to the entrance. But it won’t be that easy. “Since ancient times, the sanity of visitors has been tested immensely so that no one can enter the basement of the Holy Land.”

“Uhm, it doesn’t matter. “I will bring you that flower, even if it means grinding my bones, whether it’s mental strength or anything else.”

“… … Well then, I understand. “It might be possible since it’s you.”

The elder nodded and guided me.

As a result.

I ended up going down a spiral staircase in a dark basement. And this place is a sacred place.

Magic cannot be used in this space.

If I couldn’t use magic, I’d be an ordinary human.

Is that why you said it would be difficult?

When you have doubts and go down to a certain level.

Suddenly, we arrived at a point where the stair passage was blocked. And from there, it felt like my body was freezing.

The cold never seemed to go away.

As if he was telling me to just go home.

Extremely cold and confined space. The elder told us to go down to the 5th floor. This is the second floor.

What does that mean?

I don’t know.

I searched everywhere, braving the cold, wondering what kind of device was there.

But soon it became difficult to move my body. My body was freezing. That feeling when your body temperature drops to an unbearable level and your fingers freeze.

In the feeling of becoming frozen fish.

The space in front of the stairs was still the same, and light began to come in from the opposite direction I had walked, tempting me to live if I went back.

It was a crisis that came out of nowhere.

Really out of nowhere.

But Lulin’s life is at stake. Even if I died, I couldn’t go back. Because I definitely needed that flower to resist the providence of nature.

Without it, Lulin won’t wake up.

The elder said he might never wake up.

Something like that.

This pain is nothing compared to that eternal pain.

never.

I gritted my teeth and endured the pain.

As a result, about 5 hours passed.

Normally, he should have already frozen to death, but strangely, he did not die.

Even though he did not die, the pain continued.

In that situation, I endured for another 5 hours.

Finally, at the 10th hour.

With no feeling in my body, the space blocking the stairs disappeared and my frozen body rolled down the stairs.

Cradangtang-!

Maybe he lost his mind like that.

When I opened my eyes, I was on the stairs and my body had recovered.

It’s amazing.

The problem is how much I was losing my mind. It was impossible to understand because it was a space where even the clock had stopped.

I can’t help but feel worried about Rurin.

As time went on, the only way forward was for me.

And soon I was able to reach the 5th floor that the elder had mentioned. Was that the end of the ordeal?

The stairs continued further down. I don’t know what lies at the end of that abyss. I didn’t really want to know.

Anyway, my goal is just the 5th floor flowers.

When we entered the 5th floor, there was a large space. But there are no flowers.

No, there was a passage.

However, the passage in front was blocked by boiling lava. It is absolutely impossible to jump into that passage.

Even if a dragon jumps, he will fall into the lava of the Great Sea.

And the elder said that even dragons cannot fly here. The lava in front of you is probably a dragon.

Thanks to this, this enormous space is boiling over.

So, you have to go through this lava and go through that passage to get a flower?

No matter how you look at this lava, it looks real, right?

If I go in, I’ll die? As before, freezing can at least preserve the body, but if it burns and melts, there is no preservation at all. It just turns into ashes.

First, I took off my top and lightly touched it to check if it was real lava or an illusion.

At that moment, the part that touched it melted away and my upper clothes caught fire and came up. I was startled and quickly pulled my hand away, and my upper clothes burned up and disappeared without shape. The heat I felt the moment I took my hand off my top.

This was lava itself. The lava itself, really.

And that moment. Suddenly, a light flashed from the stairs. It’s as if they’re tempting you by saying that if you want to live even now, it’s better to go back.

Let’s think.

He didn’t die just now.

But there was tremendous pain. And now I thought that even if I didn’t die, I would have to experience my body burning hundreds of millions of times all the way to that passage.

I once heard that the most painful act of dying is burning to death.

“Heh. “You’re laughing.”

Then the pain.

Experience it once. It would be good to experience hell before you go there.

If only I could save Lurin even if I had to die a billion times.

I jumped into the lava.

In an instant, the feeling of my entire body melting took over my entire body.

-Overwhelming pain!

“Kaaaaaaaaaaaa!”

A scream came out spontaneously. When a floating sensation came to me, with no words coming out and the feeling of not being able to breathe.

Suddenly peace arrived.

“huh?”

The body that looked like it was about to melt away was perfectly fine, and the lava that still seemed to be boiling was as cozy as the temperature of a hot spring.

“Is the temperature nice?”

I don’t know what it is.

First, I walked away. I was able to reach the passage without much resistance. And I found a flower blooming there.

I guess this is the one called Spirit Flower.

The flower was blooming gracefully in deep thorny vines. So I stretched out my hand. A thorn pricks my hand.

But it wasn’t even pain. There are scratches and blood, but it’s actually rather ridiculous.

I plucked the flower without hesitation.

And then I crossed the lava again and came up the stairs. There was no pain whatsoever during the climb.

“The elder has been there. Is this right? “How long did it take me?”

“uh. “About a day?”

“What about Lulin?”

“The situation is the same as before you went down the stairs. So what about flowers?”

“Here it is.”

“… “What about the pain of cold?”

“It was no big deal.”

“What about lava hallucinations?”

“That wasn’t a big deal, was it?”

“The pain of the cold is testing your patience, and the lava is testing your mental strength to see if you can really sacrifice your life to pick the flower. You are the one.”

“What is that… .”

“Then are you going?”

“Are you going?”

This thorn that scarred the back of my hand?

“Nothing happened?”

“… … Right. The thorn tests whether you desire this flower with a pure heart. If not, the thorn’s poison will eat away at you. “It is a poison that even a dragon cannot withstand.”

“… … “Are you speaking of pure heart?”

“Yes, if your purpose is to abuse this flower, you will die.”

“That’s so bloody. No, that’s not the problem now, is it? “Now that we have it, we can use it to bring Lurin, right?”

***

Lulin felt like he was floating in the air.

A space with nothing.

I was floating in that space.

There is no feeling whatsoever.

I didn’t feel anything.

I couldn’t move my body and all I could see was darkness.

I had no idea what was what.

I couldn’t remember anything. The space in front of me is dark. And my mind was a pure white blank page.

-Who am I?

A fundamental question dominates Rurin’s mind. I tried hard to remember something, but I couldn’t remember anything.

No matter how you think about it.

A blank page with nothing on it.

As if the meaning of existence had returned to nothingness.

-I don’t know.

Lulin just gave up on the idea. The more I did, the deeper my body was slowly sucked into the abyss of darkness.

-I don’t know?

-What do you not know?

It was hard. The more I try to remember something, the more it feels like everything goes blank.

Let’s think that even asking who you are seems meaningless.

The body became increasingly shrouded in darkness.

Lulin’s body was gradually returning to nothingness.

Accident circuit diagram.

Body too.

Even the darkness around you.

Everything went to nothing. A moment when the consciousness of existence fades.

Lurin felt tired of the darkness and closed her eyes. When I closed my eyes, another darkness came.

This darkness becomes even more nothing.

-Lurin.

The moment when even your mind is about to be sucked into that nothingness. For some reason, a familiar word entered my mind.

The voice that said those words was also familiar.

But still nothing came to mind.

-who?

Lurin asked in her heart.

-Lurin!

Then the voice got louder. It was a voice that was desperate for something. I just said two words.

It was a voice so earnest and so desperate.

Lurin was sucked into nothingness as soon as she closed her eyes.

I opened my eyes to that voice.

The surroundings are still pitch black. But in the darkness, a small blob of light was moving.

A different sight from before.

-Who are you?

Lurin spoke in her mind again. My mouth didn’t drop. As if I was only allowed to say this.

-Lurin! Wake. Don’t you know me?

A voice heard again.

-I do not know.

Lulin answered from the darkness.

-It doesn’t matter if you don’t know. Let’s go back!

Let’s go back? Where? Even if that wasn’t the case, it was a path back to nothingness.

-Muro?

Lulin said so.

Then the voice began to sound very sad.

-no. The place you should return to is my arms. Don’t you think? The times you spent with me. Don’t you remember? I have to think of it. Lurin!

Poom?

Lulin felt something warm from the word embrace. Even though I was empty, I felt the warmth of those words, as if they were filling my body.

-Lurin, come to your senses right away. Think of a name. Your name is Lurin. And my name is El! It’s Ellesion!

Ugh.

Lulin suddenly realized that he felt pain all over his body. Until just now, I was just absorbed into nothingness without any sense.

Better than the name Rurin.

As soon as I heard the name El, an intense pain came over me. It’s as if it’s a name you should never come up with.

-L.

-L.

-L.

-L.

Law of nature.

Providence of nature.

natural flow.

Going against it is a shortcut to nothingness.

Ugh.

The pain that came to Rurin became more severe. But the feeling that the name El filled Lurin’s body!

It was lifting Lurin out of nothingness.

-I am.

-I am.

-I am Rurin.

And the name El.

It was a name that was more precious than one’s own life. It was a name that one could give without hesitation if one were to ask for one’s life.

The name El was so precious to me that I could shake off the whispers of this space telling me to forget everything and return to nothingness.