Mad Hatter's Guide to Clearing The Game
Chapter 176: Ch174. Traces of the past

Chapter 176: Ch174. Traces of the past

The forge still pulsed with a residual warmth when Mara finally turned back to Cass.

The girl hadn’t moved from her place by the wall, arms crossed, brow furrowed in a way that didn’t match her usual flippant confidence. She was staring at the glowing glyphs on the floor of the shop like they might spell out an answer if she looked long enough.

Mara leaned against her bench, tossing a cloth down beside some reforged gear.

"Alright, kid. Spit it out."

Cass glanced toward the door, making sure the others were gone. Then she stepped forward and reached into her inventory.

"There were too many [Grass Crawlers] there." She said, her voice low. "The dungeon was tagged as [Forest-Type: Tier 2], so we expected the usual. A couple of weird flora mobs, some Crawlers, maybe a vine-beast or two. But when we got to the center..."

She paused and dropped a glass vial onto Mara’s workbench.

It didn’t clink.

It thudded, like something inside of it resisted being moved.

The vial was dark, sealed with arcane bindings and reinforced stoppers. Inside of it swirled a sluggish liquid the color of oil mixed with spoiled blood. It didn’t shimmer with the light of an artifact or anything like that. It shifted, like something Mara had seen before.

Mara narrowed her eyes.

"This the unique drop?"

"[Broodmother’s Ichor]." Cass nodded. "We got it when we killed the [Grass Crawlers]’s mother, and the system confirmed the clearing of the dungeon. The whole floor was buried in Crawlers. Dozens, maybe more. Alric’s shield shattered, Elise used every charge of her staff. Jake nearly got his face chewed off."

Mara picked up the vial, letting the thick, molasses-like substance slide and settle inside its prison.

A window popped up before her eyes.

[Item: Broodmother’s Ichor]

[Quality: Unique (??)]

[Status: Dormant / Unidentified]

[Warning: External analysis not advised]

"I don’t like this." Mara muttered.

"You just looked at it." Cass raised a brow.

"You kids are too green for this shit." She turned the vial slowly. "But anyway... I didn’t just look at it. My story allows me to see deeper into items, and this one... It feels like... A memory. One that doesn’t belong to me, but knows me anyway."

She set the vial down.

"Start from the beginning, what happened in the dungeon?"

Cass nodded, her jaw tightening.

"We were two floors deep when we first noticed something off. The terrain was more rotted than overgrown. Like something had drained the life force from the entire area. Trees were still standing, but they were hollow. Bugs didn’t act like bugs, they didn’t attack in waves or from ambush points. They seemed... Coordinated."

"That’s not how Tier 2s behave." Mara frowned.

"Exactly. And when we got to the core chamber, the entire ceiling was webbed. Thick, like rope. And in the center, this massive [Grass Crawler] hybrid, maybe three meters tall. It had a hive sac fused to its back and it birthed them as it fought."

Mara kept listening, each word making Cass’s story more and more ludicrous. But she knew better, after what she witnessed in the [Mouth of the Abyss].

"It wasn’t just hard, it was wrong. Jake said it felt like the monsters weren’t just reacting. Like they were listening to something, as if there was something above them. Whispering to them..."

Mara exhaled slowly and picked up the vial again. But this time, she did not look at the system window.

She looked inside.

And just as she expected, something looked back.

***

It wasn’t a vision. It was more like a memory, but not hers.

The forge dimmed around her. The fire slowed, the thrum of the enchantments fell into silence.

She stood in darkness, the ground beneath her made of stone that felt too smooth, too wet. Around her were distorted shadows, twitching like broken marionettes.

And above, in the ceiling far, far above, a single eye opened.

It didn’t blink, it didn’t breathe.

It just watched.

And Mara knew, in that moment, that it had watched her once before.

***

She tore herself from the memory, the vial clattering to the table.

"What the hell?!" Cass jumped.

"It’s not from the dungeon. Not originally." Mara wiped her brow. She hadn’t noticed she was sweating.

"What?" Cass blinked.

"This ichor... It didn’t start there. It was placed there. Like bait in a trap, or worse."

Mara took a deep breath, pressing her fingers against her temple.

"Back when we were in the [Mouth of the Abyss], I had that same feeling once. It was the first floor, and the floor itself was the boss. After we realized it, we turned and ran, but just before that, there was someone watching us. Someone I didn’t think would be making any moves yet..."

"And you think this is the same thing?" Cass swallowed.

"I think something watched me back then, through his eyes. And I think it’s still watching now."

She leaned down and scribbled a rune on the bench in chalk. It flared briefly, then hissed and faded.

A protective ward that she created to keep unwanted attention away.

"This ichor... It’s feels demonic, like him after his pact. It’s twisted energy, not just corrupted... It feels purposefully bent."

"So, what do we do?" Cass’s eyes darkened.

"First, we don’t tell the others. Not yet. They need to stay sharp, not paranoid. Second, we isolate this stuff, I’ll run some real diagnostics. If it has a tether to whatever dropped it, we cut it."

She turned her back to the vial, then turned back with hesitation.

"Third..."

Cass tilted her head.

"We start looking for signs. Because if this wasn’t just a one-time thing, if these dungeons are getting infected, then we’re not the only ones who got stronger after the [Mouth of the Abyss]."

"Do you think... That Shinji might be back?" Cass nodded slowly.

Mara didn’t answer right away.

"If he is, we better be prepared." She looked at the vial, her expression now an iron mask of pure determination. "Because the last time he did something..."

She shook her head.

"I’m not losing anyone to him..." She paused, and then added. "Ever again."