How to Survive as a Genius Spy in the Game Chapter 272 - Fog Valley (2)

There was one way to break through. It was to use the Amulet of the Season That Doesn’t Exist. Of course, it wasn’t a perfect method.

In the world crossed over by the amulet, the outside couldn’t be sensed. The only thing I could feel was the Great Devil.

‘It’s a bit ambiguous.’

Moreover, when returning to reality, it could be even more problematic if there was a devil worshipper right next to me.

However, in a situation where the devil’s fragment was blocking the way, this method was the best option.

I expanded my winds with utmost caution. It was to observe beyond the devil’s fragment. I had to choose a place to reappear.

I couldn’t confirm it with my sight. As we got closer to Fog Valley, the fog on the mountains had become even thicker.

The density of mana was also bizarre. Should I say it doesn’t spread easily? It could be called a natural Great Magic.

‘Still, it’s fortunate.’

There wasn’t as tight of an encirclement inside as there was outside. It seemed they didn’t place the devil’s fragment here for nothing.

Maybe they couldn’t enter because of the anomaly. That’s why they set up the encirclement deliberately on the outside.

I placed my hand on Terka’s body after finding a spot, then infused mana into the amulet. The world changed.

The hazy and opaque view only showed the outlines of the terrain in reality.

“Ugh…”

Terka shuddered with discomfort.

“Still, isn’t it better than last time?”

“It is, but the feeling of bugs crawling all over my body is still there.”

I could sympathize with that. It’s not for nothing that staying here too long makes you go crazy. The mental discomfort made you feel like non-existent things were real.

Even I was feeling like centipede-like insects were crawling into my ear canal.

“That aside, it’s really strange.” 

Terka said as he passed through a hazy tree. In a season that doesn’t exist in the world, you can pass through objects. You’re not affected at all.

“Passing through things?”

“Yeah. It’s weird that we pass through these but still walk on the ground.”

Right, that was a point I hadn’t thought of. I wonder if we could pass through the ground too if we wanted to?

“Huh?”

The moment I thought about it, I felt my feet sinking into the ground. I hastily stopped the thought. After pulling my feet out, I could feel the ground again.

“W-What was that just now?”

“Looks like we can go underground too?”

It seemed we had found a way to use this differently. However, it was clear we needed to be careful.

“We’d better not use that.”

“Why?”

“Our sense of direction gets fuzzy here. We might not be able to come back up if we’re not careful.”

Here, our sense of direction was disoriented every moment due to the discomfort that constantly tormented our minds.

Even I, a Sword Master, was wondering if I was really moving forward on the ground with hazy outlines, despite being able to see.

It meant that if we carelessly went into the ground, we might keep going down forever.

“When you put it that way, it’s scary. Let’s move a bit faster.”

Terka quickened his pace. He wanted to avoid the discomfort as much as possible. We covered about 200 meters.

“This should be good enou…”

Terka, who was urging to leave the amulet, couldn’t finish his sentence. I was equally surprised.

An anomaly appeared in front of us in the hazy world. Should I say it was like a black hole? The space was distorted.

The only time I had sensed something from the outside world while in the amulet’s world was when I saw the sphere related to the Great Devil.

That means this anomaly has power on par with the Great Devil.

“W-What is that?”

“I don’t know either.”

Terka was quite shocked too. Since we had come to a safe place anyway, we left the season that doesn’t exist.

“Huh?”

However, in the real world, that distortion wasn’t visible. In the amulet’s world, we could see something being sucked in, but in front of us was just the same fog spread out.

I couldn’t sense anything with my perception either. Only when I concentrated to the extreme could I feel that the air currents of the winds were slightly strange.

Even that was something I could feel because I knew there was an anomaly in that area, but I wasn’t confident I could confirm if it was somewhere else.

“What is this?”

“Well… it seems to be related to what you told me earlier.”

There was something Terka had said on the carriage. That people don’t look for it because it’s ominous, and of those who entered, none came out.

I thought it was just because it was a foggy place that people didn’t enter in the first place, and that accidents happened to the few who did enter, accumulating into such a saying.

But considering that distortion from earlier, the ominousness Terka mentioned might have been something that actually existed.

I knew the exact location of the anomaly. I had made sure to observe it clearly to confirm it in reality.

I picked up a rotten branch from the ground and threw it towards that direction. And the branch that touched where that phenomenon was disappeared.

Literally, the hard branch vanished as if sucked into something. Only half of it remained suspended in the air.

“Damn…”

Terka’s mouth fell open. My judgment that it was like a natural Great Magic seemed somewhat correct. It didn’t seem like something made by humans.

Suddenly, I thought that maybe this situation wasn’t a trap.

Of course, the current encirclement is waiting for us. I’m not trying to say something contradictory. Just that the order of events might have been reversed.

For instance, the devil worshippers might have been chasing our allied agents but couldn’t enter due to this anomaly.

While pondering, they might have thought to use this as a trap. They might have thought that someone might come to rescue those inside, regardless of what happened to them.

Separately from that, my worry started to grow a bit. Looking at just the encirclement, it seemed like this anomaly wasn’t the only one here.

If my guess is correct, it also makes some sense why the devil couldn’t enter the interior. Even I, a Sword Master, couldn’t sense any sign of it.

‘I wonder if they’re even alive.’

We’ve come this far, but if my prediction is true, there’s a possibility that the imperial agents and collaborators have already vanished.

If that’s the case, it would be a bit of a headache. Although we came here taking the risk, it would be a waste of time if we came up empty-handed.

It wasn’t just a matter of coming and going, but also how long it might take to keep searching this place. It would also be best to meet with them and share information before crossing over to the east.

Hmm. Maybe, if we can’t find them after a bit of searching, it might be better for me to find that secret organization in the east and return to the empire instead.

‘Let’s focus on the present for now.’

My thoughts were getting too far ahead. It wasn’t too late to decide after searching first.

“Hey, isn’t this too dangerous?”

“We’ve come this far, so we should look around.”

Terka nodded glumly.

***

The search was conducted by going back and forth between the world of the amulet and reality. It was an unavoidable choice to avoid the anomaly.

Checking with winds required too much concentration, and we couldn’t rely solely on Death Avoidance’s warning.

Death Avoidance appears at the moment of losing one’s life. It doesn’t activate for just losing a hand or foot. In other words, it probably wouldn’t warn us about this anomaly.

On the other hand, it was difficult to move only in the season that doesn’t exist due to the search and the discomfort.

“Ugh, this seems to make me even dizzier.”

Terka complained softly. It was understandable as we were entering and exiting the amulet every few dozen meters.

As we went deeper inside, the spatial distortion anomaly appeared more frequently, making this choice unavoidable.

We couldn’t go around waving tree branches in front of us because the location of these anomalies was too ambiguous.

Some were only at the level of our feet or head. Moving like that would be perfect for losing a foot or head.

“Still, it’s better than constantly feeling that discomfort, right?”

“That’s true, but… Can you really not detect it?”

“You can’t sense it either, so why do you keep asking?”

“But you’re a Sword Master.”

“If we make a mistake, we might lose a hand or foot, so there’s no choice. Or do you want to take the lead?”

I couldn’t help but speak sharply as I wasn’t feeling good either. Terka shook her head in disgust.

It was fortunate that there was no encirclement inside. It seemed clear that they had set up outside because of that anomaly.

“This way.”

Nevertheless, there weren’t no devil worshippers at all. Whether they had sacrificed people to enter or not, there were search parties inside as well.

The number of people varied. Some groups had five, some four, some two. I even saw someone without feet.

It seemed they were indeed conducting internal searches while sacrificing people. After about two more hours of going deeper, we could even find devil’s fragments.

It was with nearly 10 devil worshippers. Probably the search party that had gone in deepest.

We avoided them and went even further inside. Due to the distortion phenomenon, we hadn’t moved far compared to the time spent.

And so, 2 days passed. There was no progress in the search. I decided to leave this place if 2 more days passed.

After thinking for 2 days, the probability of the agents surviving here seemed low. I knew of six people including the collaborators.

Even if they had sneaked in by sacrificing people, they couldn’t have gone much deeper. So yesterday, we retreated a bit.

‘The maximum number of people they could sacrifice is 4.’

One imperial agent and a collaborator must have remained. In other words, there was a high possibility they were hiding around a location where about 4 people could have been sacrificed.

This means we shouldn’t go deeper into the valley, but search in a circle from the outside considering that distance.

However, that would take too much time. The chance of encountering enemies would also increase.

Rather than conducting a meaningless search, it seemed better to use that time to roam the east looking for that secret organization.

“Be careful.”

Terka had been silent for a long time. His complexion wasn’t good either. It was a side effect of frequently entering and exiting the amulet’s world. That’s why we were trying to minimize it as much as possible.

We only used it when absolutely necessary, and sometimes I would enter alone just to check.

The enemies were also speeding up their search. From this, we could deduce three things. Our allied agents hadn’t been caught yet, and they didn’t know about our approach.

And the collaborator wasn’t a trap. They would prefer to catch rather than miss them. If they caught and brainwashed them, they could plant spies in the empire.

‘And they could also weed out people cooperating with the secret group within their ranks.’

Currently, the distance to where the devil’s fragment was located was about 250m. It was close enough to be caught with a moment’s mistake. The enemies seemed to have made the same judgment as us, searching in a circle from the outside at a certain distance.

It meant they could rush straight here since the path had been somewhat cleared.

Moreover, Terka’s movements were somewhat lacking for this kind of infiltration. Although Denif had taught him, he wasn’t there yet.

It’s not that difficult for a master swordsman to conceal their presence, but constantly being mindful of it is another matter.

His mental strength was also quite weakened at this point. Sure enough, not long after, Terka stepped on and broke a branch.

Fortunately, I was blocking the sound with my winds. Instead of scolding, I spoke in a comforting manner.

“I told you to be careful.”

“Sorry.”

“Should we rest a bit if you’re tired?”

“That would be appreciated.”

Terka nodded with a tired face. I was also quite fatigued from going back and forth to the amulet.

“Let’s put some distance first.”

Since there was a devil’s fragment nearby, I wanted to rest in a safe place even if we were taking a break. Just as we moved a bit and I entered the amulet’s world to check for anomalies, something caught my eye.

‘Huh?’

Rather than space being distorted, I saw an opaque rectangle floating in the air. It looked like a door. There was even something like a handle on one side.

It wasn’t visible when I returned to the real world. What could it be? As I tilted my head in confusion, Terka looked at me.

“What is it? What’s wrong?”

“Just a moment.”

I sent a branch towards where the door handle seemed to be. The branch didn’t disappear like with the anomaly. It just seemed to hit something. I carefully reached out my hand.

Nothing was visible to the eye and nothing could be felt with winds, but my fingertips touched something. It was a door handle.

‘Could it be…’

I couldn’t feel any mana at all. I know something similar. I’m using it too. It was clearly mystic.

As I turned the handle and pulled, a transparent rectangular door opened. There was a small room inside. It was warm enough to feel the heat as soon as it opened.

And inside were four people. As the door suddenly opened, they screamed with startled faces.

“Aaaaah!”

I was also surprised and failed to move my winds in time. I tried moving them belatedly, but the sound had already leaked.

With the devil’s fragment still nearby…

“Shh, it’s me. The sun rises over Chenarus.”

“L-Lord Carl Schurtafen?”

“The sun rises over Chenarus.”

“T-The sun drives away the darkness.”

Damn it… At that moment, I felt the devil’s fragment moving through my expanded winds. It was the moment when an encounter with the devil became certain.