It seemed impossible to distinguish between day and night in the underground chamber where not a single ray of light penetrated, but Iris, a high elf, was able to discern the time of day simply by sensing the flow of the earth.
"Haaaam…"
Iris instinctively realized morning had arrived and cautiously stretched.
As expected, the surroundings were 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 condition.
It was only the night before that she had suffered from a severe fever and body aches due to the aftereffects of the prayer.
But now, her body felt so light she could run right away.
Unlike the saintesses of other gods who bestow blessings based on immense divine power, the saintess of the World Tree was not granted divine power.
Having to endure all prayers with faith alone, falling ill like this was a common occurrence.
Without eating, drinking, or resting, she continued to pray.
Even sleeping was forbidden, and she sustained herself solely with faith that surpassed her limits, praying to the World Tree.
That was how Kang Hyunwoo received his blessing.
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 power that a god shared with their believers.
The act of believers using divine power on earth was a burden to the god.
The fact that the World Tree, already lacking the authority to interfere on earth due to the severed connection path with its symbolic body, could bestow a powerful blessing upon Kang Hyunwoo was entirely thanks to Iris's prayer.
Of course, it was easier said than done. It wasn't easy for a woman to pray for days without sleep, without enhancing her physical abilities with magic.
As a result, Iris had fallen asleep as if fainting as soon as the prayer for the blessing was over.
But now?
The burning thirst, the fever that made her head feel like it would break, the muscle pain that tormented her so much she couldn't even move a finger.
It felt as if they were all just a dream; not even a trace remained.
Rather, her physical condition was better than before she started praying, as if she had never been sick at all.
It was truly astonishing, but figuring out the reason wasn't difficult.
Iris picked up the wet towel that had fallen from her forehead.
"Hyunwoo…"
Iris found Kang Hyunwoo asleep next to her and gently brushed 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 hardship he had gone through.
Instead of welcoming him warmly after he had volunteered for troubles he didn't even need to take on for her sake, she had even made him take care of her.
A guilty conscience pricked at Iris's heart.
"…Thank you for your hard work."
She bowed her head and briefly kissed his forehead.
His body temperature, which she hadn't felt in a while, was so warm, but at the same time, she also noticed an undeniable fact.
"…"
She smelled a woman's scent.
It was so strong it made her nose wrinkle.
"It doesn't seem human… a beast-kin?"
Iris's eyes turned cold.
Even though he had said he could have as many concubines 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 very 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 Hyunwoo's arm as a pillow.
She smiled happily at the warm body temperature that enveloped her and snuggled deeper into Kang Hyunwoo's embrace.
She already knew it, but Iris once again realized that no matter how severe Kang Hyunwoo's philandering might be, she would never be the one to leave his side first.
"…What kind of dream are you having that you're calling my name like that?"
Iris spent her own enjoyable time admiring Kang Hyunwoo's sleeping face, which changed expressions every moment, and touching his body here and there.
***
"…What is it?"
As soon as he woke up, he turned his head toward the presence he felt right next to him.
There, like a cicada, Iris was fast asleep, clinging tightly to his side.
"Sleep-talking?"
Until he fell asleep, she had been sleeping right next to him, so when did she come all the way over here?
'I never knew the queen's sleep-talking would be this bad.'
Of course, his fantasy wasn't shattered.
Rather, he was grateful to have learned one more fact he hadn't known before.
He carefully stroked Iris's hair so as not to wake her and focused on the flow of mana in her body.
Just as a doctor puts a stethoscope to a patient's chest, and a traditional Korean doctor takes a patient's pulse, a mage's physical condition could be easily determined by grasping the flow of mana in their body.
Until he had fed her holy water and potions, Iris's flow of mana had been very rough and unstable.
It felt like looking at a flooded stream after a typhoon.
Fortunately, it was now calm as usual.
Her fever seemed to have gone down as well, so he thought it was safe to rest easy now.
"Hyunwoo…?"
"Ah, sorry. Did I wake you?"
"Not at all."
At his words, Iris shook her head cutely and rubbed her face against his chest.
"It's not that Hyunwoo woke me up, but that I woke up because I missed Hyunwoo."
He hugged Iris tightly, who smiled brightly and unconcernedly stirred a man's heart. Wouldn't it be nice to spend a few days together like this?
[Remaining Matching Time: 64:42:37]
Of course, he didn't have the luxury to lie down for days in reality. Had about 10 minutes passed? He slowly brought up the main point.
"Iris, would you like to see this?"
"Yes?"
He took out the 'Old Thread Ball' from his inventory and handed it to Iris.
"What do you think this is?"
"Hmm… It looks like an ordinary ball of thread, but judging from the unusual mana I feel, is it a magic tool you got from the dungeon?"
Since Iris didn't have the ability to read the information of items like he did, her eyes, examining the ball of thread here and there, were filled with only questions.
"It's not a magic tool, it's a rather special artifact."
"It certainly… looks unique."
"What kind of artifact do you think it is?"
"Umm…"
Iris examined the silver thread ball, which glowed faintly with a silver light, from this way and that.
"I don't know, I can't tell just by looking at it."
Whether the curiosity unique to mages had grown tremendously, she urged him as if asking him to tell her the answer right away.
"Well, it's nothing much."
Deliberately trailing off, he completely opened the slightly open tent door, naturally causing the light from the lights he had installed outside to brightly illuminate the inside of the tent.
"An artifact that will get us out of here."
Whether Iris didn't properly understand the meaning of his explanation, she quietly repeated the words he had said, wearing a slightly strange expression.
"Why are you thinking so hard?"
He pulled Iris, who was still struggling to think, into his arms.
"We're going to get out soon. From this tedious underground."
"…Yes?"
Only after hearing the direct explanation did Iris seem to grasp the meaning of his words, and a sense of bewilderment flashed across her green eyes.
"But, you said you could only get that by catching the gatekeeper of the third floor…"
"Of course I caught it."
"…?"
Iris seemed confused.
How he, a 2nd Circle mage, could defeat the gatekeeper of the 3rd floor, and even if it was possible, how he could have come so early, and so on, she muttered to herself repeatedly.
"Ah, that's right."
He grabbed Iris's wrist, which was at a loss in the air, and placed it on his heart.
In this place where ordinary people could only feel the heartbeat, there was a mana circle, the second heart of mages.
Even if Iris's magic was suppressed, it was easy for her to notice the change in his mana circle at such a close distance.
As expected, Iris's eyes widened.
"No way…"
It wasn't that he didn't understand Iris's reaction.
In just a few days, a 2nd Circle mage had become a 4th Circle mage.
If he wrote a novel like this, he would surely be criticized for lacking plausibility.
"I was lucky."
As if that could be true.
Although he said it himself, it was close to a miracle.
Whether it was because he had continued to absorb the mana of nature into his body in the battle with the Minotaur, or whether it was the app's trickery, he couldn't tell for now.
But that wasn't important now.
"Now, let's go out."
This time, he went outside the tent with Iris in his arms. He didn't bother to collect the tent or the bed.
It wasn't as if he was so impoverished that he needed to recycle them.
He lightly bowed to the withered golden tree. It was time to leave this tedious underground chamber.
[Would you like to use the Old Thread Ball?]
[※This item is a consumable item and has a limited number of uses]
[Y/N]
[Y]
The thread ball, which had floated into the air, began to entangle in a complicated manner, and a tremendous storm of mana was felt in its center.
Soon, the thread ball transformed into the shape of a small woman that came up to his solar plexus, and began to walk somewhere.
On the woman's footsteps, a thread was connected without breaking.
As if telling them to follow.
He followed the thread, holding Iris, who had not yet regained her senses, in his arms.
They passed the bed where they had first mingled their bodies and headed in the opposite direction from the stone gate, which was the main gate of the barrier.
"Iris."
He quietly called her name into her ear.
Only then did Iris, who had been quiet without showing much reaction, look up at him with a blank look.
"I promised you, didn't I?"
He still couldn't forget the day he first obtained the other world dating app and met Iris for the first time.
The former queen of the elves who had spent 200 years alone in a dark underground chamber.
He never imagined that such a fantasy would happen in his life.
He certainly didn't know that he would fall in love with a woman who would confidently take the front seat even if all the women in the world were lined up in order of appearance.
It was a series of days that could not be predicted.
There were many difficult things, but he was honestly grateful that he could now keep his promise with Iris.
"No matter what happens, I'll get you out of here."
The thread that seemed to go on forever finally signaled its end.
Beyond the woman of thread, who was pointing somewhere with an expressionless face, a small portal existed that was just large enough for the two of them to pass through.
He didn't look back and went straight past the woman and ran towards the portal.
[…Goodbye, Theseus.]
It was such a small voice that it wouldn't be heard if you didn't listen carefully, but for some reason, it was so clear.
He turned his head slightly, but the woman of thread had already disappeared without a trace.
Leaving behind a slightly uneasy feeling, he jumped into the portal.
He felt the sensation of being caught up in an isolated gate.
A clearly alien space appeared before them, but he did not get lost.
Far away, a familiar ray of light was shining brightly as if it were a landmark.
And not long after, beyond the light that grew increasingly intense──
"…Oh."
An intense sunlight that was blinding greeted them.
It had only been a few days for him, but it was the first sunlight in 200 years for Iris.
Iris, who had come down from his arms, didn't say anything.
She simply walked slowly on the dirt barefoot.
Then, she would stroke a small flower petal that had bloomed on the side of the road, or touch the trunk of a huge tree that wouldn't break even if a typhoon came.
He continued to watch her from a step back.
Due to the betrayal of her close associates, she had to spend the past 200 years in a place where not a single ray of light or person came.
He wanted to let her do what she wanted now, as much as possible.
He endlessly watched Iris, who laughed like a child and was also filled with sadness.
Until the sun began to set slightly.
[Remaining Matching Time: 60:11:57]