Breakthrough
by Afuhfuihgs
Despite the Vice Leader’s pursuit, thanks to Ellie’s excellent magic, the Ross rescue team finally reached the end of the stairs. While Kane, who was carrying Ross, collapsed to the floor to catch his breath, Aria and Ellie used magic to create a barrier around the door to prevent the Vice Leader from following.
“I’ve added a restoration curse formula to the barrier using composite magic, so it won’t be easy to解除 (haeje, unseal/release). In the meantime, we need to break through the 9th floor and get to the 10th floor.”
Ellie stared at Kane, who was sweating, and asked.
“Are you going to be okay? We don’t know what’s here. We might have to keep running without rest.”
“…I’m good enough.”
Kane, exhaling a long breath, took out a homemade recovery potion from his reagent bag, drank it, and stood up.
“Let’s move.”
But they soon had to stop. There was a city in front of them. Not the modern city where Ross lived on the 8th floor, but a city with a design that could be seen in this world. The splendid, massive city, inhabited by countless lives, was a complete doppelganger of the capital.
Only one thing was different….
The race living in that city was all goblins. Goblins who had transcended the limitations of their race and created a civilization using magic engineering and magic. That was the race that dominated the 9th floor of the tower.
Kane groaned as he spotted goblin soldiers guarding the city with magic in the distance.
“I see a pillar in the center of the city. We have to go into the city to get to the 10th floor.”
At Kane’s words, Ellie bit her lip with her hand and pondered. The opponent is just a goblin race. It would be right to think and act as if you were dealing with a short human.
“…Can we avoid combat and get through?”
Ellie immediately shook her head at Aria’s mutter.
If they were just goblins who gathered and formed a civilization like humans, it might be possible, but these guys were no different from humans wearing goblin masks.
“Looking at the state of the city, alarm magic is definitely installed. If you look closely at the pillars near the entrance, it looks like there are artifacts installed to detect camouflage magic.”
“Then what do we do…?”
Ellie said with a stiff face.
“If goblins imitate humans, it might be easier.”
“…?”
*
A guard goblin inspecting carriages and people entering the city noticed one carriage that wasn’t slowing down.
“Sto- stoppp… Heeik!”
The goblin, who threw himself to avoid the carriage that was speeding up, took out a whistle from his pocket and tried to sound the alarm.
He thought there must have been a reason why the city’s mayor had strengthened security, saying that intruders might suddenly appear. The goblin, who had put the whistle in his mouth, opened his mouth without realizing it when he saw something lying on the ground where the carriage had passed.
Tuk-!
“I-Is this real gold…?”
The goblin didn’t even care that the whistle he had in his mouth had fallen to the ground, and was busy reaching out to pick up the gold nuggets that had fallen on the ground. There was even gold the size of a fist.
With just one of these, he could quit his boring guard job and open a small fruit store and live a leisurely life, so it was natural for the goblin to forget his mission and be blinded by greed.
Tadadadadak-!
The goblins’ gazes were focused on the dangerous carriage speeding through the city. They wondered if there would be an accident. The goblins, who were watching with anticipation and worry, soon widened their eyes at the strange sound they heard.
Jjaenggeurang-! Jjaenggeurang-!
At that strange and alluring sound, the goblins who were looking at the carriage turned their heads sharply towards the source of the sound.
“Eung?”
“Wh-What is that!”
“A go-golden carriage! A carriage that’s spilling gold nuggets!”
Gold was falling where the carriage had passed. The goblins, realizing that everything that looked like ordinary stones on the street was real gold, lost their minds and rushed into the street.
“Give it to me, I picked it up first!”
“Shut up! I saw it first!”
“Awesome, this is the biggest one!”
“Then give it to me!”
Soon, the place where the carriage had passed was filled with nothing but violence and chaos. People were strangling each other or ganging up to assault each other in order to get their hands on the occasional fist-sized gold nugget.
Other goblins who didn’t know what was going on joined the commotion and accidentally picked up gold, and the chaos became even worse. Because of the many goblins following the path of the carriage like children following a disinfectant truck, it was difficult for the city guards who discovered the commotion to grasp the situation.
“Wh-What the hell is going on? Is there a riot going on?”
“I don’t know… but everyone is holding gold in their hands!”
“Sh-Shouldn’t we join in too?”
“Should we…?”
While the city was in chaos, the carriage carrying Kane, Aria, and Ellie began to run to the middle of the city without any interference.
Simply using magic to forcefully break through to the pillar with the stairs was as good as suicide. It was like starting a fight with the entire city with just three people.
Ellie’s plan was to get to the pillar as quickly as possible before the enemy realized the intrusion and responded. It was a choice that Ellie, who prefers safe situations with controlled variables, would make.
Kane gave a thumbs up to Ellie, who was diligently controlling the carriage with magic.
“It worked perfectly!”
Ellie’s plan was simple. Kidnap a goblin carriage heading to the city, clean out the inside, and then use Kane’s alchemy to turn all the stones on the street into gold.
It was a possible method because Kane was able to change the properties of minerals with the knowledge he gained from the fragment of the Emerald Tablet.
It wasn’t just a trick magic, but perfect, real gold. Thanks to this, the goblins, who had some suspicion and wariness about the gold that had fallen on the ground, completely lost their minds the moment they realized that it wasn’t a trick, but real gold stones.
Even if an improbable event like gold falling from the sky suddenly happens, if that event is a great benefit to me, doesn’t it somehow feel probable enough?
So, even if a carriage without a driver was speeding madly through the city, even if gold was pouring out endlessly, everyone’s priority was to fill their pockets rather than to be suspicious. The goblin’s nature was telling them that it was time to move their hands before thinking.
While Kane and Aria were diligently scattering gold out of the cargo hold, Ellie, who was controlling the carriage, discovered a curfew sign and a huge barrier installed to block access to the pillar, and gradually slowed down the carriage, saying.
“We can’t move any further by carriage.”
“It’s enough that we came this far comfortably.”
Kane reconfirmed that Ross, whom he was carrying, was securely tied and handed Mana Stone Bombs to Aria and Ellie.
“You know how to use them, right? Inject mana into the Mana Stone and throw it. Then it will explode.”
“Got it.”
The Messiah club was able to reach the 5th floor of the labyrinth quickly because of the advance team’s information, but it was also thanks to Kane’s Mana Stone Bombs that played a big role.
The Messiah club, which had not reached the realm of transcendence, broke through the 4th floor of the labyrinth, where the advance team had struggled, without losing anyone… It was also because they remade as many Mana Stone Bombs as they used and used them generously, although Lycan’s help was also there.
Ellie, who got out of the cargo hold, guarded the surroundings until Kane and Aria got out of the carriage. Fortunately, the goblins at the barrier didn’t do anything special.
They still hadn’t figured out why the city was in chaos, and their mission was just to prevent anyone from climbing the stairs.
Still, they were faithful to their only mission. When Ellie approached, they sounded the alarm and took a defensive posture.
“Stop! This is a curfew zone. Turn the carriage around and go back immediately!”
Their firm attitude of not allowing anyone to enter was easily suppressed by Ellie’s composite magic and Kane’s Mana Stone Bombs.
Kwaaaang―――!
“Let’s go.”
Ellie, who had cleared the way, took the lead. The goblins who rushed in with the debris of the collapsed barrier drew their swords and rushed towards Ellie, but they couldn’t even get close and were all engulfed in flames.
“―――!”
A goblin magician tried to crush Kane with the debris of the barrier using telekinesis, but Aria returned the debris with stronger telekinesis and eliminated the goblin magician.
“Stop the intruders!”
The goblins who were guarding the entrance to the pillar in preparation for any eventuality were goblin knights who had reached the realm of transcendence.
They, who looked like elves with green skin, were not at all intimidated by the power of the Mana Stone Bombs.
“Get lost.”
But the goblin knights, faced with Ellie’s composite magic, which had raised her skills to a level similar to that of a future Archmage, had no choice but to pull back if they didn’t want to lose their lives.
How could they block the path of someone walking through a passage of flames?
Ellie, who came out of the passage of flames, immediately pointed her staff forward and checked the inside of the stairs.
“Thank goodness. I don’t see any enemies.”
True to their goblin nature, which is inherently suspicious, they didn’t allow anyone to approach the stairs, suspecting that even other goblins might try to climb them.
“Okay, let’s go to the 10th floor like this―”
Kwaaaang―――!
Kane’s voice was drowned out by the roar coming from behind. Ellie, who turned around, spotted the Vice Leader destroying the city with terrifying force and flying straight towards them, and shouted.
“Run!”
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