Chapter: 487
After waking Arthur up, I headed straight toward the graduate hall of the Soul Academy.
The towering building, which was like a lighthouse that never dimmed day or night, had regained its calm only after the variable of the Evil God came into play.
I wondered if the people here would wake up feeling relieved like it was a nice nap, or scream about how much work piled up while they were out.
“Why are we here? Is there someone we need to find?”
“Nope. There are places even a dimwit like you wouldn’t know about.”
“…Places I wouldn’t know?”
The place I was guiding them to was once marked by the traces of a hero but had now become the lair of a spirit.
While Adria stayed here, it seemed she had touched everything because the underground looked more like a cozy mansion than a desolate maze.
Had she been bored down there? Seriously, it’s like she fidgeted with everything in sight.
As I walked in thinking about how one could possibly do that with necromancy, Adria appeared with a grumpy expression.
“Old hag. I thought you’d be sprawled out on the floor by now.”
– You might think that, but I’m quite a strong spirit, you know? Not falling for such pathetic tricks, hu-!
While we were chatting, Frey, who was trailing behind, suddenly swung his sword. Adria hurriedly backed away, and Frey clicked his tongue.
– W-What are you doing!?
“An enemy, right?”
– Enemy? If I were an enemy, would I just let you be?!
“Then are you a collaborator of Lucy Alrn?”
– Ugh, I don’t want to admit it, but it’s kinda true.
Arthur and Frey turned their gazes toward me, nodding in unison.
I felt like I could see why they’d think that. Expecting a hard sell for trust, I shrugged slightly, feeling a bit deflated.
“We don’t have time for chit-chat. Follow me, losers.”
Even if the underground scenery had changed, the path hadn’t, so I naturally found my way easily. Then I spotted a few skulls strewn about in the hallway and tilted my head.
“What’s with this trash?”
– That’s just some leftovers from the folks who used to stay here. You must know about them, right?
Ah, these are the old skeletons from when the underground dungeon was active. I thought they’d all turned to dust, corrupted by the Evil God’s aura, but it looks like some survived.
But did they always look like this? They seem quite different from my memories.
– It’s not like they had any owner anymore, so it’s not a problem to use them, right?
Got it. So Adria’s been using these to change the scenery down here. I mean, if anyone could pull that off, it’d be someone of her caliber.
Hmm.
Hmmm.
“Hey, lone hag.”
– What now?
“Just checking—can you do something like this, even with your uselessness?”
As I shared my earlier thoughts, Adria nodded as if it was obvious.
– Of course, I can.
“How long will it take?”
– Not long. The foundation is already somewhat set.
After hearing Adria’s positive answer, I raised an eyebrow and pulled out some paper from my inventory, sketching out a blueprint on the spot.
My drawing skills had drastically improved recently, rapidly advancing thanks to my newfound aesthetic sense, allowing me to put my thoughts directly onto paper.
– Hmm. I get the gist of what you’re thinking. I’ll get ready. No need for me to follow you, right?
“Then what’s the point of having a useless old hag around, just for her to stink up the place?”
– …Ugh, I really want to smack you in the back of the head.
After Adria left grumbling, I continued to wander through the maze for a while.
Eventually, I arrived at the place where the fake hero used to live.
“Where is this?”
“The place where the pervy skeleton knight who wanted to be a princess used to hang out.”
“…What the heck?”
At that remark, Arthur blinked in surprise. I considered trying to convince him but decided it was best to keep my mouth shut; I’d probably just end up insulting that almost-real skeleton again.
Reaching the wall, I pulled out the scroll I received from Karia not long ago.
“Wait a second. Lucy Alrn. Is that scroll… not a thing that contains a dragon’s breath?”
“Oh, look at that, the pitiful prince knows something! How fascinating. I thought the only thing you knew was to grumble.”
Just like Arthur said, this was indeed a scroll containing a dragon’s breath.
It had that cool name engraved on it, “Dragon’s Breath.” But guess what? Nobody playing the game ever called it that.
Why? Because the effects when this scroll was activated had nothing to do with dragon’s breath!
Erasing all physical existence right before your eyes is hardly a dragon’s breath, come on!
It would’ve been better if they wrote it out as a “Destruction Magic” scroll instead!
“I’d heard that’s definitely not something you should use indoors?!”
“Are you scared? Don’t worry. You might die, but I can save you. Heh, you might scream like a little girl, but that’s just amusing.”
“What kind of bloodthirsty talk is that?!”
Ignoring Arthur’s protests, I set up the scroll and then pulled out the next item.
This one wasn’t anything spectacular compared to the Dragon’s Breath.
It was the item I had used when I first faced Naklad last year. A scroll that had saved my life by completely negating magic and changing the surrounding environment.
“Lucy Alrn. Can’t you at least pretend to listen? Just a little, so I can know what’s going on in that head of yours?”
“Pitiful prince, if I keep pretending, I might just end up messing things up! And if a cute girl like me dies too, that’d be terrifying.”
“Sorry! Just shut up and keep going.”
After Arthur clammed up, I continued working on what I had to finish before finally stretching.
“Is it done?”
“Mostly done.”
“Then explain what on earth you’re planning.”
“Pitiful prince, have you ever considered this? How come in this shabby academy, they can create a massive dungeon like that?”
The 100-floor dungeon existing within the Soul Academy is exclusive to it.
Other academies can create artificial dungeons, but they’re mostly for school tests, and even that doesn’t compare in quality to what we use here.
This gives the Soul Academy a definite advantage, making it a sought-after place for dungeon research scholars.
But isn’t it strange? Why can only the Soul Academy whip up a 100-floor dungeon?
Let’s say all other resources are valid; where does the power to create and maintain dungeons come from?
“That would be the magic left behind by the Great Mage Erginius.”
“That pathetic magic left behind by a skeleton? Haha. Sure, it’s quite impressive for a virgin who can’t even talk to girls, but at the end of the day, he’s still human. A talentless coward who croaked before his time.”
I couldn’t deny that Erginius’s magic circle was phenomenal.
Even before I learned the full story, and even after, it was undoubtedly something miraculous.
However, it doesn’t mean that magic circle is the source of all power.
That simply can’t be true.
The power that leaks from Erginius’s magic circle is merely a byproduct.
Even though it activates numerous miracles drawn on the magic circle, it’s still a byproduct of something immensely powerful.
“The crazies believe nothing can come from it and plan to use that power. But think about it. At the moment most crucial to them, when something truly necessary happens, what if their main power temporarily vanishes?”
Imagining the chaos that would ensue, I smirked as I pulled out my shield and layered it with sanctity.
When I first learned from Grandpa, just mimicking it had been a challenge.
But now? I could do this as easily as breathing.
The hero’s shield, which had once withstood the blows from the Evil God, lay before us.
“Brace yourselves for a shock. If you get surprised and bite your tongue, that’s just plain ugly.”
The moment I infused the scroll with mana, light began to seep into it, and the roar of a beast pierced my ears as if to shatter my eardrums.
A dragon’s roar weighed down upon the world.
The dragon’s fury gathered into one spot.
The dragon’s judgment rendered what had once been solid walls as nothing.
KWA-AAAAH!
The colossal shock that felt like the building would collapse was soon overshadowed by the activation of the second scroll, vanishing without a trace.
A place where no magic was accepted had erased the magic of the scroll.
Thus, as the shock faded, silence returned to my ringing ears, and the smoke that had shrouded my vision dispersed, revealing a passage leading somewhere.
*
“Lucy Alrn has vanished while heading towards the academy’s older building. Luca, do you know anything about this?”
Recalling what had happened last year, Luca thought about the words of the Apostle of the Void he had just heard.
Was she heading to the place where Great Hero Garad’s skeleton was kept? Lady Alrn would not go there to hide from the Evil God’s schemes; it was highly likely there was something there that I wasn’t aware of.
“Let’s send a few people over there.”
Luca had intended to let Lady Alrn do as she willed, but that was now looking difficult.
Should she do something outside of what he anticipated, it would become uncontrollable.
– Kuuoooh!
Suddenly, the vibration shook everyone in the room.
Some stumbled to the floor.
Some frantically pressed against the walls.
Some trembled at the sound of beastly rage echoing from afar.
And others…
Not long after the ground-quaking vibration subsided, Luca decided to keep quiet about what he was about to say.
“…I’ll go personally. Can you send a few my way?”
A dragon’s breath, huh? What on earth does Lady Alrn plan to do?
Haha. Truly, those with damned talent always surpass what an ordinary person can imagine.
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