Helmut: The Forsaken Child - H.F.C Chapter 190 (Part 1):

“Why does it go in that order?”

“You saw it too.”

Alea’s eyebrows twitched with curiosity, despite having seen it herself.

“Yeah, I saw it. But I still don’t understand why the answer is 3147.”

Star, tree, deer, hill. Listed in the order of 3147—that was the answer Helmut had entered.

He was certain it was the correct answer, but he couldn’t explain why. Alea had failed to discern any pattern to the sequence. She asked again,

“What’s the basis?”

Helmut replied simply,

“Think in pictures. Visualize those words as images.”

Instantly, Alea pictured it: a night sky adorned with stars, a breeze sweeping over a hill, branches rustling with sparse leaves, and beneath them, a deer grazing on the hillside grass. The scene formed so swiftly in her mind, she wondered why she hadn’t seen it immediately.

“…How did you know?”

“Just like that,” Helmut said.

His intuition was beyond words, but a mage struggles to accept what cannot be explained.

Only later did Alea nod in understanding. “The stars are the sky, and the hills are the earth. That’s how you solve it.”

She sighed. The dungeon seemed more challenging than before. The headache was a testament to its increased difficulty.

‘Is it because the two of us came not just me?’

It was inevitable. Past the 70th challenge, physical prowess was necessary. Alone, she could manage, but it wasn’t safe.

Lampione didn’t always accept just one person at a time. He linked everyone who came together. How many could join was unclear.

His dungeon didn’t specifically exclude non-magies, which was fortunate.

The puzzles were serial; more heads didn’t make much difference.

After resting briefly, Alea spoke,

“The next one won’t be like this. It means we can’t just focus on the puzzle.”

“You mean there will be distractions, or maybe we going to need something else to enter the answer?”

“Exactly.”

“Will there be a fight?”

“Probably.”

As they prepared to leave, Helmut stood up. There was no more time to rest. A hundred was a perfect number. Though Lampione might conclude the challenge at the hundredth, it wasn’t certain.

As the challenges neared the hundredth, they became increasingly difficult.

‘Lampione actually doesn’t want this dungeon to be conquered.’

“Let’s go.”

Helmut was in fine form. Unlike Alea, who had been using magic, he hadn’t even drawn his sword yet. His strength remained untapped, akin to preparing for an academy’s written exams by sitting and studying.

This was far from Helmut’s preferred style.

‘I really want to swing my sword now.’

Feeling an unexplainable thirst, Helmut gripped his sword sheath.

The sharp edge that had been honed during the break had dulled through academy life.

But stepping out of the academy, that tingling sensation surged within him again.

The time to use it was nearing.

*

They soon entered the room with the 70th challenge.

The room was spacious. Unlike previous small rooms with questions etched on the walls, this one felt vast and dark.

The statues around created an eerie atmosphere and tension.

The previous calm was gone, replaced by the feeling that something could jump out at any moment.

Helmut briefly wondered, ‘Alea is unexpectedly fearful.’

Could she have run away from this atmosphere? That’s why she brought someone this time.

But Alea didn’t seem afraid.

“The space being wide means more room to maneuver,” she remarked, her gaze fixed straight ahead.

In the grayish room, they approached the center.

The statues felt ominously unsettling.

In the center of the room, a math problem was written on the floor with four brackets below.

Each bracket awaited a single-digit answer. A straightforward problem requiring calculation, nothing more.

“2, 5, 7, 9”

Alea recited almost without solving it, turning to Helmut who raised an eyebrow.

“I’ve solved this before. It’s the same puzzle.”

Remembering the puzzle from over a year ago was not surprising since it was Alea.

“Why did you stop here then?”

“Look closely where the answers go.”

Alea said, squinting. Upon closer inspection, the brackets seemed to contain small spherical depressions, as if for placing little balls.

“Are we supposed to put numbered balls in there? Where are they?”

“Yes, that’s exactly the problem.”

Alea replied, pointing at the statues. Bat-winged, menacingly large sculptures of monstrous forms looked too lifelike to approach comfortably.

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