## Chapter 72 – 72. Escape (3)
# 72. Escape (3)
It seemed impossible to distinguish between day and night in the underground chamber where not a single ray of light entered, but Iris, being a high elf, was able to discern the time of day simply by sensing the flow of the earth.
“Haaahm…”
Iris instinctively knew that morning had arrived and cautiously stretched.
A quick glance around confirmed that it was, of course, dark.
However, thanks to the faint light seeping through the slightly open tent, securing visibility wasn’t too difficult.
‘My body… feels incredibly light?’
Iris couldn’t help but be surprised by her unusually light physical condition.
It was only the night before that she had suffered from a severe fever and body aches due to the aftereffects of her prayer.
But now, her body felt so light that she could run right away.
Unlike the saintesses of other gods who bestowed blessings based on immense divine power, the saintess of the World Tree was not granted divine power.
She had to endure all prayers with faith alone, so falling ill like this was a common occurrence.
Without eating, drinking, or resting, she continued to pray.
Even sleeping was not allowed; she could only sustain herself with faith that transcended her limits, praying to the World Tree.
That was how the blessing bestowed upon Kang Hyun-woo had been granted.
From a human perspective, it couldn’t be more inefficient, but from a god’s perspective, it couldn’t be more efficient.
Divine power was a fragment of the power that a god shared with their believers.
The act of believers using divine power on earth was a burden to the god.
The World Tree, whose connection with its symbolic entity had been severed, resulting in insufficient authority to interfere on earth, was able to bestow a powerful blessing upon Kang Hyun-woo entirely thanks to Iris’s prayer.
Of course, it was easier said than done; it was no easy feat for a woman to pray for days without sleep, without enhancing her physical abilities with magic.
As a result, as soon as the prayer for the blessing was over, Iris had fallen asleep as if she had fainted.
But now?
The thirst that felt like her throat was burning, the high fever that made her head feel like it was about to break, the muscle aches that tormented her to the point where she couldn’t even lift a finger.
It was as if she had dreamed it all; not even a trace of it remained.
Rather, her physical condition was better than before she had started praying, as if she had never been sick.
It was truly astonishing, but it wasn’t difficult to figure out the reason.
Iris picked up the wet towel that had fallen from her forehead.
“Hyun-woo…”
Iris discovered Kang Hyun-woo sleeping beside her and gently swept the bangs that were poking his eyes to the side.
His hair was rougher than before heading to the dungeon; she could tell how much he had suffered.
Instead of welcoming him, who had volunteered for hardships he didn’t need to endure for her sake, she had even made him nurse her back to health.
A guilty conscience pricked at Iris’s heart.
“…You’ve been through a lot.”
She bowed her head and briefly kissed his forehead.
His body temperature, which she hadn’t felt in a long time, was so warm, but at the same time, she also noticed an undeniable fact.
“…”
There was a woman’s scent.
It was so strong that her nose wrinkled.
“It doesn’t seem human… a beastman?”
Iris’s eyes turned cold.
Even though she had said it was okay to have as many mistresses as he wanted, he had already taken another woman in the meantime.
If she were asked if she was upset, she would honestly say she was.
She was so, so upset that she wanted to make an elixir of immortality and lock him by her side forever.
“Iris…”
“…Pfft.”
Iris quietly laid down, using Kang Hyun-woo’s arm as a pillow.
She smiled contentedly at the warm body temperature enveloping her and snuggled deeper into Kang Hyun-woo’s embrace.
She already knew this, but Iris realized once again that no matter how severe Kang Hyun-woo’s womanizing tendencies were, she would never leave his side first.
“…What kind of dream are you having that makes you call my name like that?”
Iris spent her time admiring Kang Hyun-woo’s sleeping face, which changed expressions every moment, and touching his body here and there, enjoying her own private time.
***
“…What?”
As soon as I woke up, I turned my head towards the presence I felt right next to me.
There, Iris was fast asleep, clinging to my side like a cicada.
“Sleep talking?”
She had been sleeping next to me before I fell asleep, so when did she come all the way here?
‘I didn’t expect the queen to have such severe sleepwalking.’
Of course, it didn’t shatter any fantasies.
Rather, I was just grateful to have learned one more thing I hadn’t known before.
I carefully stroked Iris’s hair so as not to wake her and focused on the flow of magic within her body.
Just as a doctor uses a stethoscope on a patient’s chest and a traditional Korean medicine practitioner takes a patient’s pulse, a mage’s physical condition can be easily determined by examining the flow of magic within their body.
Before I had given her the holy water and potion, Iris’s flow of magic had been extremely rough and unstable.
It felt like looking at a flooded river after a typhoon.
Fortunately, it was calm now, as usual.
Her fever seemed to have gone down as well, so I could rest assured now.
“Hyun-woo…?”
“Ah, sorry. Did I wake you?”
“Of course not.”
In response to my words, Iris shook her head cutely and rubbed her face against my chest.
“It’s not that Hyun-woo woke me up, but that I woke up because I missed Hyun-woo.”
I hugged Iris tightly, who smiled brightly and effortlessly stirred a man’s heart. Wouldn’t it be nice to spend days together like this?
[Remaining Matching Time: 64:42:37]
Of course, I didn’t have the luxury of lying down for days. Had about 10 minutes passed? I slowly brought up the main topic.
“Iris, would you like to see this?”
“Yes?”
I took out the ‘Old Skein of Thread’ from my inventory and handed it to Iris.
“What do you think this is?”
“Hmm… It looks like an ordinary skein of thread, but judging from the unusual magic I feel, is it a magic tool you obtained from the dungeon?”
Perhaps because Iris didn’t have the ability to read an item’s information like I did, her eyes, as she examined the skein of thread, were filled with only questions.
“It’s not a magic tool, but a rather special artifact.”
“It certainly looks… unique.”
“What kind of artifact do you think it is?”
“Hmm…”
Iris examined the skein of thread, which glowed faintly with a silver light, from every angle.
“I don’t know, I can’t really tell just by looking at it.”
The curiosity unique to mages grew rapidly, and she urged me to tell her the answer right away.
“Well, it’s nothing much.”
Deliberately trailing off, I completely opened the slightly open tent door, and the light from the lamps I had set up outside naturally illuminated the inside of the tent.
“It’s an artifact that will get us out of here.”
Iris didn’t seem to fully understand the meaning of my explanation, and she quietly mulled over what I had said with a slightly strange expression.
“Why are you thinking so hard?”
I pulled Iris, who was still struggling to figure it out, into my arms.
“We’re getting out of here soon. Out of this wretched underground.”
“…Yes?”
Only after hearing the straightforward explanation did Iris seem to grasp the meaning of my words, and a look of bewilderment flashed across her green eyes.
“B, but you said you could only get it by defeating the gatekeeper of the 3rd floor…”
“Of course, I defeated it.”
“…?”
Iris seemed confused.
She muttered to herself, wondering how I, a 2nd Circle mage, could have defeated the gatekeeper of the 3rd floor, and even if it were possible, how I could have come back so quickly.
“Ah, right.”
I grabbed Iris’s wrist, which was floating in the air, unsure of what to do, and placed it on my heart.
An ordinary person would only feel the beating of my heart here, but mages have a mana circle, their second heart.
Even though Iris’s magic was suppressed, it was easy for her to notice the changes in my mana circle from such a close distance.
Sure enough, Iris’s eyes widened.
“That’s impossible…”
I couldn’t blame Iris for her reaction.
For a 2nd Circle mage to become a 4th Circle mage in just a few days.
Even if you wrote it in a novel, you’d be criticized for lacking plausibility.
“I got lucky.”
As if that could be the case.
Even though I said it myself, it was close to a miracle.
I didn’t know if it was because I had been continuously absorbing natural mana into my body during the battle with the minotaur, or if it was the app’s doing.
But that wasn’t important now.
“Now, let’s go.”
This time, I picked Iris up in my arms and went outside the tent. I didn’t bother collecting the tent or the bed.
It wasn’t like I was so poor that I needed to recycle them.
I lightly bowed towards the withered golden tree. It was time to leave this wretched underground chamber.
[Would you like to use the Old Skein of Thread?]
[※This item is a consumable item with a limited number of uses.]
[Y/N]
[Y]
The skein of thread that floated into the air began to intertwine in a complex manner, and a massive storm of magic could be felt at its center.
Soon, the skein of thread transformed into the shape of a small woman that reached up to my sternum, and it began to walk somewhere.
The thread continued unbroken in the footsteps of that woman.
As if telling us to follow.
I followed the thread, holding Iris, who had not yet regained her senses, in my arms.
We passed the bed where we had first become intimate and headed in the opposite direction of the stone gate, which was the main gate of the barrier.
“Iris.”
I quietly called her name in her ear.
Only then did Iris, who had been quiet without showing any particular reaction, look up at me with a dazed expression.
“I promised you, didn’t I?”
I still couldn’t forget the day I first obtained the Other World Dating App and first met Iris.
The former elven queen who had spent 200 years alone in a dark underground chamber.
I never imagined that such a fantasy would happen in my life.
I certainly didn’t know that I would fall in love with a woman who would confidently take the front spot even if all the women in the world were lined up in order of appearance.
Every day was unpredictable.
There were many difficult things, but I was honestly grateful to be able to keep my promise with Iris now.
“No matter what happens, I’ll get you out of here.”
The skein of thread, which seemed like it would continue endlessly, finally signaled its end.
Beyond the woman of thread, who was pointing somewhere with an expressionless face, was a small portal that only the two of us could barely pass through.
Without looking back, I immediately passed the woman and ran towards the portal.
[…Goodbye, Theseus.]
It was a voice so small that it couldn’t be heard unless you strained your ears, but for some reason, it was so clear.
I glanced back, but the woman of thread had already disappeared without a trace.
Leaving behind a slightly unsettling feeling, I jumped into the portal.
The sensation of being caught in an isolated gate swept through my body.
A clearly foreign space appeared before us, but I didn’t get lost.
Far away, a familiar ray of light was shining brightly, as if it were a signpost.
And before long, beyond the increasingly intense light────
“…Oh.”
The dazzling sunlight welcomed us.
It had only been a few days for me, but it was the first sunlight in 200 years for Iris.
Iris, who had gotten out of my arms, didn’t say anything.
She simply walked slowly on the dirt with bare feet.
Then, she stroked the small petals that had bloomed by the roadside and touched the trunk of a huge tree that wouldn’t break even in a typhoon.
I watched her from a step back.
Due to the betrayal of her close aides, she had to spend the last 200 years in a place where not a single ray of light or person came.
I wanted to let her do what she wanted now.
I endlessly watched Iris, who laughed like a child and was also heartbreakingly sad.
Until the sun began to set slightly.
[Remaining Matching Time: 60:11:57]
