Yanaki stood still as a statue, her eyes fixed on the grotesque, living carpet on the ceiling. Hundreds of monsters. A direct assault would be nothing short of a death sentence. Elara was also too weak to help her disable them one by one.
There has to be another way.
Her mind replayed the information panel for the Umbral Slugs. Weakness: Light, Pure Energy.
Pure energy was a limited resource. But what about light? Elara's aura was too faint; it was enough to light the way but not enough to repel them. She needed a stronger, more intense light source. She needed fire.
But how could she make a fire in a damp cave with no dry wood?
Yanaki backed into the narrow passage they had just come from. She didn't believe a problem could be without a solution. The Floor's Administrator, Lyra, with her philosophy, wouldn't create a challenge based purely on destructive power. There had to be a clue in the environment.
She began to examine the slick walls more closely. Besides the greasy black moss, she noticed another type of moss, darker green and looking "plumper." It grew concentrated where the blackest magical veins ran through.
Curiously, she reached out and touched it lightly. A greasy, oily sensation clung to her fingers.
"[Appraisal]."
[Oily Moss (Material - F-Rank)]
Description: A type of moss mutated by foul magic. It absorbs dark energy and converts it into a flammable, oil-like substance.
This was it! The solution to the puzzle!
Yanaki was overjoyed. She searched around and found a long, dry bone of some animal. She carefully scraped off a large amount of the Oily Moss and smeared it onto one end of the bone, turning it into a crude torch.
She had fuel. Now it was time to create fire. This was the hardest part. She had no flint, nor was she a Fire Mage.
She looked at her dagger, its blade still coated with the powdered poison from the fish scale. Both the dagger and the magical veins on the wall were tainted with the same kind of dark energy. A crazy idea, a gamble based on the strange logic of this world, sparked in her mind.
She took the torch, placing the oil-soaked end close to one of the blackest, most concentrated magical veins. Then, she took her dagger and scraped its blade hard against that same vein.
Scrape... Scrape...
The sound of metal on rock was grating.
Once. Twice. Nothing happened.
"Please work..." she whispered.
She tried again, with more force.
SCREEE!
A sickly green spark suddenly flared up from the point of friction. The tiny but energetic spark immediately caught on the Oily Moss.
PHWOOM!
A greasy, green flame that gave off black smoke erupted from the head of the torch. It was not the warm flame of life, but a flame of corruption, emitting an unpleasant, acrid smell. But most importantly, it was very bright.
Yanaki gripped the torch firmly and returned to the entrance of the small cavern. She took a deep breath, raised the torch high, and stepped inside.
The green light instantly banished the darkness. And its effect was astonishing.
Hiss... hiss... hiss...
The hundreds of Umbral Slugs on the ceiling simultaneously let out fearful cries. They recoiled, scurrying in all directions to get away from the light. The monster carpet that had covered the ceiling now parted, creating an open path directly beneath Yanaki. The light from her torch created a mobile halo of safety.
Yanaki couldn't believe her eyes. She was walking directly beneath an army of monsters, protected only by a homemade torch. She could hear the rustling of hundreds of slimy bodies moving on the stone; she could see their gaping mouths filled with tiny teeth. If this torch went out, she would be torn to shreds in an instant.
Holding her breath, she walked with a steady and careful pace, always keeping the torch held high. Each step was a test of her nerves.
Finally, after a path that felt endlessly long, she reached the exit on the other side of the cavern.
As soon as she stepped into the safety of the next narrow passage, she immediately extinguished the torch by pressing it against the damp ground to save fuel.
The darkness returned, leaving only Elara's gentle light. Yanaki's heart was still pounding wildly. She had succeeded. She had overcome the puzzle not with strength, but with observation and a bit of daring.
As her eyes adjusted to the dark, she looked ahead. This narrow passage wasn't long. And at the end of the path, another light was waiting for her.
It wasn't the green light of the torch, nor the white light of Elara. It was a dark purple glow, pulsing and emitting waves of dark energy that were visible to the naked eye.
There was no doubt. That was the [Source of Magical Corruption].
Her objective was right in front of her.