episode_0069

Mini-Dungeon, 2nd Floor.

Just like the actual labyrinth, the 2nd floor had an active aquatic ecosystem. While there was some walkable land, it was a place with more flowing streams and lakes.

Small cannibalistic fish and strangely shaped mermaids swam in the water, occasionally leaping out onto the surface to tear flesh. Asel instantly grabbed a fish that had jumped out with his hand and observed it carefully.

Its size was no different from a regular fish. However, hundreds of human-like teeth were densely packed in its giant maw. An oral structure more specialized for crushing than biting. Asel electrocuted the fish, killing it, then threw its corpse into the water with a splash.

Splish-splash-splish-splash!!

Then, other creatures swarmed around the dead fish like mad. In the blink of an eye, the corpse disappeared, leaving only bones. Only pools of blood flowed along the stream.

“It’s probably better not to enter the water if possible.”

Celine muttered. Asel nodded and layered his shield even thicker to protect the group.

For waterways that were impossible to cross by foot, Asel secured safety by directly dipping his hand into the water and electrocuting all the creatures residing within. Instantly, all sorts of life forms floated to the surface. Asel stretched the shield long like a bridge and crossed over the wide lake.

It was a level of spell formation construction that was astonishing. The shield was one of the most basic defensive spells, but it was very difficult to manipulate its form at the caster’s will. The simpler the spell, the harder it is to modify it.

But Asel was accomplishing it instantly as if it were nothing. Even though he wasn’t primarily a wizard specialized in defensive magic.

‘Where in the world did this guy pop out from, really?’

Even to Celine, who had grown up hearing she was a genius in the Magic Tower, he was a being from beyond the heavens. Furthermore, he didn’t just handle lightning magic. He was also a multi-attribute holder, freely controlling magic of various schools.

Every time she witnessed his magic, she could feel how vast the world was. She realized that outside the closed group called the Magic Tower, there existed superhumans who could change the world just by breathing. However, instead of despairing at this fact, Celine’s competitive spirit burned even brighter.

It was a position she too would reach someday. What did it matter how things were now? If she could see the constellations, wield them, and handle the power of the stars, there was nothing to be intimidated by, nothing to fear.

Just as the countless constellations always floating in the sky never deviate from their orbits, Celine firmly believed that her genius would never fade. So, she could genuinely admire the performance Asel showed.

Saya didn’t have much knowledge about magic itself, so she felt nothing beyond the impression of “amazing.”

Slice!

When an eel resistant to lightning came up to bite his leg, the tip of the shield bent slightly and shot out like a harpoon, cutting the eel’s body in two.

It must be a creature with characteristics similar to electric eels.

Asel briefly stared at the blue blood spreading in the water, then continued walking. Soon after, they reached land. He waited until Saya, who was walking at the very back, had completely exited the lake, then retracted the extended shield.

“Hey, look over there.”

At that moment, Celine tapped Asel’s shoulder and pointed in one direction with her finger. Turning his head that way, Asel saw countless fish-men standing guard as if protecting the stairs leading down.

They weren’t mermaids. They were fish-men. They had two legs like humans, but their exteriors were covered in colorful scales. Their upper bodies were the very bodies of fish.

Sharp tongues repeatedly shot out like spears from between their gaping maws. Seeing that they had no arms, they probably fought with those tongues.

“……”

Unlike their grotesque appearance, the energy they held was exceptionally strong. A fighting spirit incomparably more powerful than the finger worms they had dealt with on the 1st floor. However, it wasn’t to the extent that the group couldn’t handle them. Their numbers were a bit high, but there were two spellcasters here specialized in mass slaughter.

Cooking fish was nothing.

“I’ll do it this time.”

But it was Saya who stepped forward. She released her hidden tail and dyed her eyes teal.

Yokai power (妖力), allowed only to a select few among fox beast-people. When it was released, the surrounding air turned quite sticky. A sensation as if a viscous fluid had settled on the skin. Asel looked at Celine, who stuck out her tongue with an “ew,” then spoke to Saya.

“You don’t necessarily have to.”

“No. The further down we go, the stronger the creatures will be, so it’s better for me, whose combat ability is weakest, to step forward at least until then. And they’re not enemies that would be a big burden.”

Saya smiled as she watched the fish-men, who had started screeching upon feeling the yokai power. Asel also gave a wry smile and stepped back.

“Alright. Then I’ll trust you with it.”

“Yes.”

She nodded in reply and flicked her finger as she looked at the fish-men who had straightened their long tongues. Then, teal fox-fire bloomed beside her head. The fire of enchantment that captivated people just by existing. Whether it worked the same way on the fish-men, their eyes momentarily became vacant.

-Squawk?

-Keh-rruk! Kyaaaak!!

Some still had clear minds, but more were momentarily enchanted. Saya didn’t miss the opening thus created.

“My children.”

A voice imbued with abundant yokai power burst from her mouth. Hypnosis, one of the yokai techniques allowed to fox beast-people, manipulated the fish-men’s brains using her voice as a medium.

-Kkweeeek…

As if their vitality had vanished, their bodies slumped down. The moment the fish-men, who were desperately trying to hold onto their consciousness, gaped their mouths to wake up their comrades.

“Kill them.”

Following Saya’s words, the bodies of the slumped fish-men stiffened. Then, like dolls with broken joints, they turned their heads and pierced the hearts of other fish-men with their tongues.

Crunch!!

It happened in an instant. The fish-men under hypnosis simultaneously killed their kin and advanced. Those not under hypnosis tried their best to retaliate in confusion, but they were powerless against the spear-like tongues extending from all directions and were killed one after another.

“Wow…”

Blood and grey matter splattered everywhere. Fish-men with good intuition realized that Saya was the cause of the current situation and rushed to kill her, but they were immediately pierced and killed by other fish-men who threw themselves in front of her as if to escort her.

Just as there were no more intact fish-men remaining a short while later, the fish-men under hypnosis pierced each other’s hearts, committing suicide.

There was no longer a single fish-man standing on two legs. Only cold, cooled chunks of flesh rolled on the floor.

‘She’s more amazing than I thought.’

Asel thought, looking at the floor soaked with blood.

This was the second time he had seen Saya fight. The first was when they encountered each other in Birsia and the Doppelganger’s Nest.

At that time, she hadn’t used yokai techniques like hypnosis or enchantment. She had merely conjured fox-fire with physical substance, pushing back the undead that approached her. Thanks to that, it was safe to say this was the first time he had seen her true ability.

For someone supposedly from a non-combat major, there seemed to be no lack in her handling of yokai power. If she were to mix magic engineering machines into her combat… she might even have greater combat power than most students from the Magic Department.

“It’s cleaned up. Shall we go?”

Saya turned to Asel, who was lost in thought, and asked. Asel chuckled and nodded.

“Good job. Let’s go.”

“You’re a more amazing beast-person than I thought?”

Celine, who had been standing some distance behind, chattered as she stood beside Saya. Saya let out a small laugh and walked forward, burning the corpses lying on the floor with fox-fire.

After crossing the piles of countless corpses, a deep staircase leading downwards came into view. Asel sent a lightning bolt into the dark space once.

Crackle!!

The fiercely burning lightning streaked through the space, momentarily pushing back the darkness. The revealed stairs were no different from before.

Sticky and humid air filling the surroundings. Water droplets falling from the ceiling and a distinct, foul malice rising from below. And stairs with just a few ordinary bats.

The only addition to the stairs compared to the ones seen when descending from the 1st floor to the 2nd floor was the bats. It was a simple structure that didn’t require moving in a state of tension. Of course, that didn’t mean they intended to let their guard down entirely.

The labyrinth itself was a place full of variables. Many instances occurred where necks were severed due to a moment of carelessness, so charging blindly was no different from suicide. Thus, Asel controlled all the darkness on the stairs with shadow magic and generated small clusters of light through light magic to descend the stairs. The two followed closely behind him, keeping watch of the surroundings.

Not long after, they reached the 3rd floor.

The structure of the 3rd floor was almost identical to the 2nd floor. Countless lakes unfolded around small stone paths, and gently flowing river streams followed gravity.

Perhaps because the residing creatures were no different either, the life forms seen on the 2nd floor appeared as they were.

The group wandered around the 3rd floor for a few more minutes, realized there was no value in exploring, and immediately went looking for the stairs. When Asel began to wield lightning in earnest, the magic beasts could do nothing but burn and disappear.

Before long, they found the stairs leading down. Afterwards, they also searched for stairs leading up, but couldn’t find any, so the group descended again this time.

That’s how they arrived at the 4th floor.

What unfolded this time was a dense jungle. The oppressive heat weighed down on their bodies, and grotesque-looking monkeys sitting on trees looked down at the group.

A natural environment where finding the stairs itself was difficult. But Asel immediately operated his magic power.

There was no problem in studying through corpses. Therefore, securing visibility first was the right thing to do.

Fortunately, Asel’s lightning magic included many spells suitable for such an environment. Asel chanted and manifested a spell from among them that caused widespread devastation.

[Thunder Roar Breakthrough (雷聲破進)]

Rumble!!

As he clapped his hands, a thunderous sound echoed from them. The sudden loud noise made the magic beasts’ nerves tense. Asel’s magic power surged straight to the range the sound reached.

Soon, the magic power turned into lightning, sweeping away everything the sound touched.

Crackle-crackle-crackle!!!

There was no time to resist. The rampaging, extending lightning flipped the jungle terrain itself. Trees burned and vanished, and the dense foliage turned into ash without leaving a trace.

As for the creatures, it was needless to say. From monkeys whose spines were snapped by the backlash of the lightning, to a tiger whose mouth and anus were flipped inside out, convulsing wildly while emitting lightning from its entire body. Besides them, pterodactyl-like eagles and giant drakes were scattered everywhere, their bodies heavily mangled.

The group briefly examined them, then descended again this time.

Thus arriving at the 5th floor of the Mini-Dungeon.

Imagining that another strange ecosystem would appear this time, a mansion revealed itself before the eyes of the group.

“…What is this…”

Asel muttered that, wearing a dumbfounded expression at the sudden appearance of the mansion. The expressions on the other two were not much different from Asel’s.

A mansion built in a dungeon with no lighting. Its size was so immense it could rival an academy dormitory. The interior was completely invisible, as if black curtains were drawn over the windows, and an eerie atmosphere was creeping out of the mansion.

‘The book definitely said the 5th floor of the labyrinth was a resting place.’

So, this incredibly ominous mansion is supposed to be a resting place?

Yet, considering the atmosphere it gave off and its size, wasn’t it very unusual for a simple resting place? It felt as if a mad wizard conducting human experiments might live inside.

Just as Asel was about to manifest a detection spell out of a sense of ‘just in case’.

Creak.

“Haaam… Huh? What are these guys?”

A man wearing a shabby robe emerged from inside the mansion.