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Chapter 301: Btog 301 The Power Of Shadow And Mirror

“This is something I happened to hear at the guild, but I heard that Sukuna even defeated the Moon Wolf. ……If that’s the case, I assume you know about the Moonlight attribute.”

“un, I know.”

After defeating Nocturne, I had been to the Adventurer’s Guild about twice, including the time I went to Es≠Trillia. That’s probably when the record was made.

It’s not surprising that Aria’s story has spread, and that mine is known as well. I’m concerned about personal information management, but it’s not something I have a problem being known.

“The Moon Wolf governs the ‘Moonlight Attribute’, and the Shining Wolf governs the ‘Sunlight Attribute’, just as each of the King Wolf clan governs their own power. The Black Wolf governs the ‘Shadow Attribute’. It’s one of the more understandable powers if you think about it in terms of its form and appearance.”

“I see, I see.”

The Moonlight attribute and the Sunlight attribute. Both are names of higher attributes of light. Haruru’s custom-made [Oboro] also has the Moonlight attribute.

However, this is the first time I’ve heard of the Shadow attribute. I thought it was possible since Melty was manipulating shadows, but probably the Black Wolf has the same power.

“By the way, I was turned into an intangible, mysterious body due to a curse, but at the same time, I gained the ability to use the Black Wolf’s ‘Shadow Attribute’. This attribute is generally only wieldable by non-humans, so it’s quite rare.”

“Kleine’s also a Shadow attribute, huh… I thought it was mirror or light attributes.”

“That’s not entirely incorrect. The Shadow attribute is a higher attribute that lies between light and darkness. It’s like the saying, ‘Without light, there is no shadow, and without shadow, light cannot be seen.'”

“Umm, that’s kind of deep.”

“Is it really…?”

“Well, having briefly explained about the Black Wolf, now I’d like to talk about why we need the help of you travelers.”

Rin-chan looked a bit perplexed, but decided to ignore it for now, and Kleine moved on to the main topic.

“First of all, even though we say we’re going to defeat the Black Wolf, we need to find its lair before we can fight. Because the Black Wolf extends its territory within the shadows.”

“Inside the shadows?”

“It’s like the other side of the world. A place that’s exactly the same as this world, but doesn’t overlap.”

(Maybe it’s like the negative world that Melty showed me…)

“Ah, well, basically think of it as a different dimension.”

“Ooh… that’s easy to understand.”

Kleine noticed that I hadn’t quite grasped the image and switched to a simpler explanation.

“The Black Wolf indeed claims the Dos Orca active volcano as its territory, but it generally doesn’t show itself from that different dimension. Therefore, sightings are extremely rare, and my encounter was due to a highly unusual coincidence.”

“There was indeed no sighting information in the traveler’s… player’s network either. But why does it stay hidden away?”

“I’m not sure of the exact reason. After all, sightings are reported once every few years, if at all. However, the Red Wolf, which is spoken of as an equal entity, has certain conditions for being encountered, and the Moon Wolf only appears on full moon nights, so it might be a common characteristic among the King Wolf clan.”

“The Oratorio was probably the only exception.”

Thinking about it, there were indeed troublesome conditions like having to continuously and massively hunt numerous wolf species to fight Aria, and Nocturne appearing only on full moon nights. Looking back, there were quite a few difficult requirements.

If the condition to challenge the Black Wolf is ‘searching for the Black Wolf’, then it might be smoother to simply accept that as a given.

“The Black Wolf always leaves traces when entering and exiting the shadow world. The reason for leaving such traces is simple: they serve as gateways for moving between the two worlds.”

“So, the first step is to find these traces in the volcano and locate the Black Wolf’s lair, and the second step is the actual challenge. We have to do it in order.”

“Yes… However, actually finding these traces is an extremely difficult task. Over the ten-plus years since I was cursed, I’ve only found them twice. At those times, either my level wasn’t high enough or I was too exhausted, so I could only investigate the traces and return.”

Twice in over ten years. I don’t know how frequently the investigation was conducted, but that’s certainly a very low probability, difficult enough to be called a Herculean task.

And it’s understandable that Kleine, an mortal NPC unlike us, couldn’t challenge it. Frankly, it would have been helpful if she had some combat experience or preparation, but he said she was attacked as a child.

“What do these traces look like specifically?”

“They are like black cracks in space. However, the traces are concealed using the same method I used to hide, so it’s very rare to find the real ones.”

“Ah, that’s why you held this game.”

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If we’re going to search for traces of the Black Wolf, we need the insight or tracking ability to find Kleine, who was hidden. That must be the reason for that testing game.

“…So, how did Sukuna manage to find this kid’s location?”

As I was coming to understand, Rin-chan nudged me on the shoulder.

“At first, I was just following the sounds emitted by the clones, so I didn’t notice. But above this town… I mean, the Orca Market, there are many mirrors that look exactly the same. Of course, there are different sizes.”

“Mirrors?”

“They are all over the market, like surveillance cameras. There’s one right over there.”

Literally looking over the upper part of the town, I could see mirrors with the same design placed everywhere.

They were cleverly decorated in places that seemed ‘appropriate’ for everyday life, like accessories, clothing, and weapon stores, and that’s why I hadn’t noticed them while walking around the town.

“There are two types of talking clones, so I thought I could get a hint from them. Or maybe there was a third, real one with a similar appearance. But that assumption was completely wrong. There were no hints in the clones themselves.”

Yes, my miscalculation was focusing too much on the clones themselves. And, by extension, paying too much attention to their dialogue.

While the existence of the clones was important, the focus should have been elsewhere.

“First of all, each ‘real’ clone has a fixed position. They might wander around a bit or run away when approached by a player, but there’s always a specific place they return to at some point.”

“It seemed like they were everywhere, but they were actually following a route. What about the fake clones?”

“I couldn’t see any pattern with those. …Then, near the ‘real’ clones’ fixed positions, there’s always a ‘mirror’. Sometimes there’s just one, sometimes there are several, but the important thing isn’t the number but the distance. The mirror closest to each clone’s fixed position was the key to finding Kleine this time.”

The important thing wasn’t the clones or their dialogue, but the mirrors scattered throughout the market.

At first glance, their arrangement seemed irregular and random, but there was indeed a commonality.

That was the mirrors closest to Kleine’s clones’ fixed positions, all directed towards a certain point.

“Multiple mirrors were pointing to the same place. So obviously, there had to be something there, right? I was skeptical until the end, though.”

I narrowed down the search area because, in ‘sound collection mode’, while I could roughly understand the clones’ fixed positions and the locations of the mirrors, the details of the mirrors’ angles, especially distinguishing the front and back, were difficult.

Also, instead of gathering information from the entire town haphazardly, I wanted to gradually increase the information about the clones’ positions and the direction of the mirrors centered around myself.

And to pinpoint the intersection of the mirrors’ directions, I didn’t need too much information. If I knew the direction of 3-5 mirrors, the intersection point would naturally become clear.

“I searched carefully and measured the angles of the mirrors. But in the end, I didn’t need to be so cautious. The mirrors themselves were quite obviously pointed towards the edge of that rooftop.”

By the way, whether or not the line of sight was clear wasn’t important.

The edge of the rooftop where Kleine was located was a position that couldn’t be seen from the opposite angle no matter what.

Yet, the mirrors linked to the clones on the opposite side were indeed pointing to Kleine’s location.

Finally, I just had to tap on the space at the intersection point of the mirrors, and Kleine appeared.

“That’s why I thought Kleine’s ability was related to light or mirrors…”

“But in reality, it was the shadow attribute.”

I nodded silently to Rin-chan’s interjection.

Listening to my explanation, Kleine had a slightly strained expression on his face.

“It seems like it was solved by brute force, but… well, the logic itself is correct… Ahem. The original gimmick was to find the ‘real’ clone of mine in the upper layer… as Sukuna mentioned, find the closest mirror to it, and then reveal my location by casting a light attribute spell on it.”

“Ah, I see!”

“The idea of using attribute magic in the middle of the city isn’t something we usually think about.”

“I didn’t know that… Casting magic itself isn’t a crime, so it might be good to remember. Sometimes there are places in the city that are concealed with attribute-related magic.”

“Interesting. I’ll share that with other travelers.”

“Yes, please do.”

It feels like I’ve gained a surprisingly important perspective.

I hadn’t noticed because I don’t use magic much, but those who are serious about exploring the city might have known.

“Speaking of which, it was strange that until I hit with the metal club, there seemed to be nothing at all on that rooftop. Nothing – no sound, no light, no wind noise. My perception told me there was absolutely nothing there.”

“That’s what it means to ‘be in the shadows’. I was in the world within the shadows until the very last moment. I hurried out because it seemed like the entrance and its concealment were about to be destroyed.”

“Can the entrance be destroyed?”

“Yes. However, if it is destroyed, a new entrance must be created to exit from the shadows. Recreating it requires significant resources and a great cost. In my case, it would leave me unable to move properly for a month. This should be somewhat true for the Black Wolf as well, which is why he deliberately leaves the entrances he creates.”

“Oh… What about the mirrors that shattered and disappeared?”

“That was the core of the entrance concealment, a magic called ‘Optical Camouflage’.”

The highest-level shadow magic, “Optical Camouflage”. This magic is classified as a “Shield” type.

While shield magic like Firewall is used to protect oneself from physical or magical attacks, “Optical Camouflage” is a shield from “the gaze of others”.

It’s a strange shield magic that has a very powerful concealing effect but no defensive function.

And there’s a caveat to its use.

It requires at least two “Surveillance Mirrors” to be deployed. Kleine prepared thirty of these “Surveillance Mirrors” for this gimmick.

I wondered why a magic meant for concealment mandates creating key items to be found…

“The creator of this magic, a demon lord, often forgot where he placed things or accidentally kicked and destroyed the concealed object, according to the ‘Compendium of Shadow Magic’.”

“He sounds like a rather clumsy lord…”

“The demon lord does have many such stories, indeed…”

It’s a bit of a dilemma whether to praise the high precision of this concealment magic that even its creator couldn’t find, or to be astonished at the sloppiness of the god. A somewhat puzzling episode.

“I combine another magic to create the clones. So, it’s highly unlikely that the Black Wolf would prepare clones for us.”

“So, we should be looking for the surveillance mirrors instead.”

“Yes. While exploring the active volcano, we need to find four very small surveillance mirrors and locate the ‘Entrance to the Shadows’ concealed by them. This will be our first objective… and the primary goal for all travelers who accept my request.”

“Anyone can take on this task, right?”

“Yes, indeed. We need as many people as possible for the search, so the more, the better. However, it wouldn’t be fair not to reward Sukuna who found me first… Please accept this.”

“Hmm?”

As Kleine manipulated the menu card, I received a notification for an in-game message.

“I sent you a message. It contains my contact details and a rare item called ‘Teleportation Beacon’. If you place this in the field, you can use it once as a destination for ‘Traveler’s Wings’, a very handy tool.”

“That’s incredibly convenient!”

“Extremely convenient! It allows party-wide teleportation, so feel free to use it when you need to regroup or restart your exploration.”

“Thank you!”

“That’s quite a nice reward.”

While it was a bit disappointing that the Black Wolf search wasn’t an exclusive mission, the convenience of the item I received made up for it. With two Traveler’s Wings, you could place a beacon in a dungeon, return to town to prepare, and then go back to the dungeon.

It’s a truly valuable item, especially useful in high-difficulty dungeons.

Also, the Black Wolf is one of the simplest types of named bosses in this world, claiming just one area as its territory.

It’s natural for all players to have the opportunity to challenge it, and it’s actually weirder for bosses like Nocturne, who can only be defeated once a month. Though, from this month, each server should be able to defeat one Nocturne… but it might be a while before parties strong enough to do so emerge.

Putting aside my excitement about the rare item and my thoughts wandering afar,

Kleine spoke up as the conversation seemed to conclude.

“Then, let’s disband for today. From now on, I’ll be stationed at the Adventurer’s Guild. I’ll post the quest for the Black Wolf search there, so please inquire at the reception if you wish to accept it. When you do, I’ll lend a clone to each party. It’s a rudimentary one that can’t be touched or respond, but it’s necessary for stabilizing the entrance to the shadows.”

“Got it. …By the way, what happens if we enter the shadows without that clone?”

“If you lose sight of the entrance while in the shadows, you’ll be trapped until death. However, travelers can revive even after death… But don’t assume there’s no cost for forcefully crossing worlds.”

And so, with a hint of a special death penalty lingering,

my first encounter with Kleine, the girl cursed by the Black Wolf, came to an end.

Incidentally, Rou can also use shadow attributes, despite being a human.