Chapter 475 An Absurd Volume of Memories

“Irus, what do we do now? We’re stuck again.” Laki turned the problem back to Irus once more.

Irus fell into thought, her gaze flickering between Laki and Hulim Heyerar, before finally settling on the latter.

“I actually have a method we can try……”

“Eh? You really have a solution?”

Laki was genuinely surprised.

She had only spoken out of habitual reliance, never expecting Irus to be this reliable.

A short while later,

Irus returned with a wreath-like circlet.

“What is that?”

The group eyed the object in her hands with confusion.

“This is an ancient magical artifact capable of sealing away portions of one’s memories and mental energy.”

“Hah? How could such a thing exist? It sounds incredibly dangerous!”

“Uh…… it’s not that dangerous. This was apparently used in ancient times to treat certain mental disorders, and it can be removed at will.”

“Hulim, come here and try it on.” Irus beckoned to Hulim.

Hulim stepped forward.

Irus then placed the circlet on her head.

“How do you feel? Any discomfort? If anything feels wrong, take it off at once!”

“Mm……” Hulim focused on her senses, her eyes drifting upward—though she could not see the circlet, she reached up to touch it instead.

“I feel no issues.”

“What about your memories?”

“Nothing out of the ordinary either…… Wait? Some of my memories are growing fuzzy.”

“Rest easy. It will only seal away most temporarily useless memories—such as redundant and trivial knowledge. And if I remove it like this, everything will return to normal.”

With that, Irus took the circlet off Hulim’s head.

In an instant, the fuzzy memories sharpened once more.

“In any case, put this on and let’s test again.”

Afterward, Prarlulu performed the assessment on Hulim while she wore the circlet……

“It still won’t work……”

At this result, Irus—who had held some confidence—stared in disbelief.

“Impossible? This is an extremely powerful artifact.”

“But it truly doesn’t work.” Prarlulu said with an innocent expression. “Hulim’s Mental Age is still far too high.”

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“Uh, in that case!”

Some time later,

Irus brought forth another artifact.

“Put this on!”

“Still no.”

“Add this one!”

“No good.”

“What about this!”

“Nn……”

After a long while,

Irus pulled out a ring with trembling hands.

“This…… this is the last one. Prarlulu, if you say it still doesn’t work, we truly have no options left.”

“Shouldn’t you be saying that to Hulim, Auntie Irus……”

As the final magical artifact was placed on Hulim’s finger,

Prarlulu finally spoke with a different tone.

Her eyes lit up.

“It works! It’s acceptable! I can take Hulim in with me now!”

Upon hearing this, Irus finally let out a sigh of relief.

But when she turned and looked at Hulim, now covered in various artifacts, her expression twisted into something indescribable.

“It’s fine, I’m alright. In fact, this empty-headed feeling is strangely refreshing.”

Hulim comforted Irus in a light, cheerful tone.

Irus: “……”

For a moment, she had no idea what to say.

Come to think of it, even after sealing her memories to this extent, her tone of voice hadn’t regressed to that of a young child at all. Something about this felt deeply wrong……

“Irus, now that Hulim is eligible, we should send the three of them in to try, shouldn’t we?”

“Yes, you’re right.”

Irus quickly composed herself and spoke earnestly to the three young girls:

“Prarlulu, Miko, and Hulim—we leave the rest to you. Remember one thing above all else—”

“Your own safety comes first!”

……

Somewhere to the northwest.

Boom!

A Burrow Worm burst forth from the ground,

its maw gaping wide.

Two figures leaped out from within.

The moment they landed, Fagu glanced left and right, and only breathed a sigh of relief once he confirmed no one was nearby.

“Lord Inasil, it seems we’ve escaped successfully. Where should we go next…… Lord Inasil?”

Inasil’s face was dark and terrifying.

“Where to? Do you even need to ask? When have I ever taken a loss this great?!”

“My lord, you mean to……”

“Hmph! If I cannot have peace, neither can they!”

Inasil’s gaze turned cold as he stared at a distant mountain range wreathed in red mist.

“Summon all our forces scattered across the other regions at once. It is time to fulfill our deal with that being.”

“As you wish. I shall go at once.”

……

At the Dwarven Legion’s temporary camp.

“Lady Irus, Lady Laki, I can be of no help with the matters here. Please allow me to lead my men to pursue the fleeing Pillar of Greed, Gulos.”

Irus glanced at the four unconscious young women beside her and nodded.

“Very well. Those two must be eliminated. Charkin, Aznov—the two of you shall go with Aralond. I will remain here to guard the four of them.”

“Understood.”

“Sigh… how did I end up being ordered around again……”

Laki spoke up:

“Irus, in that case, this old one shall accompany the Heroes. You should be sufficient here alone, but the three of them may lack sufficient combat strength.”

Irus considered briefly and agreed.

“Very well. Laki, you shall go with Aralond and the other two.”

Afterward,

Laki and her group departed the chamber……

“Lady Laki, we are deeply grateful.”

“There is no need to thank this old one. Since arriving here, I have barely moved a muscle. To be honest, I am unaccustomed to inactivity and wished to stretch my legs.”

“I see.”

At that moment, Laki spotted a certain figure

and halted in her tracks.

“Ignir——”

she called out loudly.

“Would you care to join us?”

Ignir, who had been dozing, lifted one eyelid, glanced at the group, and said calmly:

“No. I shall remain near Hulim.”

With that, he closed his eye once more.

“Oh~, this dragon is surprisingly loyal…… Very well, our strength is sufficient regardless.”

Some time later,

half of the Dwarven Legion set off toward the northwest.

Inside the camp,

Irus watched Laki’s group disappear into the distance, then shifted her gaze back to the girls protected within the barrier.

She whispered silently to herself:

Hulim, please succeed.

……

Beneath a dim, overcast sky,

an unnatural rift suddenly tore open in midair.

Three figures then tumbled out from within.

One figure hovered steadily in the air.

A second twisted its posture the moment it touched the ground and landed smoothly.

As for the last one……

“Ow…… that hurt!”

She fell flat on her face.

“Is this Hena’s Inner World?”

Miko lifted her head and looked around,

a chill running down her spine.

The surroundings were swallowed by oppressive darkness, with only faint light filtering through, allowing nothing but vague, blurry outlines to be seen.