Chapter 55
Chapter 55
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 55
Chapter Title: Magic Swordsman
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"Ah, this sucks."
Why a maze if we're just gonna fight? Just fight already.
And from the looks of it, this special maze is definitely Morgash's doing.
Water attribute, like Dali.
"Dali."
"( ⩌⩊⩌)✧"
If that's the case, time to call in the expert.
Dali's eyes sparkled at the sight of the water maze upon being summoned.
"Wanna try smashing a wall?"
Dali pressed her hand against the wall as instructed and pushed with all her might. For a brief moment, the water dispersed, creating a hole that quickly refilled.
After repeating the process of breaking through and refilling until she tired out, Dali shook her head and returned. I stroked her head.
"Lattice mana is holding the maze together. Must be some kind of barrier to maintain this size."
Giving up on smashing the walls.
For now, I had no choice but to play along and navigate the maze as intended.
Did it make this to wear me down and drown me out of exhaustion?
There's a method to escape mazes called the left-hand rule.
Keep one hand on the wall from the entrance and follow it—you'll eventually reach the exit.
It assumes all entrances and exits connect outward with no multi-layers, which I confirmed via rough sketch.
1st floor. Exit is where Morgash was standing.
It'd be nice if paths were visible, but even the rough sketch made it hard to tell. And being semi-transparent didn't help.
At least the maze wasn't ridiculously huge, which was a relief.
After walking along the cold walls for a while, I heard a sound.
Splashing, sloshing footsteps.
Something else was in the maze.
Morgash? No green glow visible through the translucent walls. The sound grew closer.
What is it? Where's it coming from?
This is a maze, but it sounded like it was coming straight at me.
Heading straight... splash?
I quickly backed away and sketched a Wind Cutter for probing.
Dali and Seth blocked in front of me, bracing for something. Dali bared her teeth at the wall.
At the same time, the wall rippled violently with a splash, and water surged forward.
A streamlined body and massive head formed rapidly.
Antennae quivering, it let out a silent roar—an ant made of water.
My reflexive Wind Cutter and Seth's gust severed its antennae and tore its body, but water refilled and it regenerated.
Fully emerging from the wall in perfect ant form, it advanced toward me.
Not a real ant—Morgash's summon, huh?
What a pain. An opponent made entirely of water.
Sorry, Dali, but this feels more spirit-like than you.
Effective hits... Wind's too weak. Earth magic?
Even Broken Knees or Ground Break wouldn't land properly.
Fire might work, but surrounded by water? Doubtful.
Most of my main skills are fire-based. Tricky situation.
"Seth, target the legs."
I bought time severing its legs with Wind Cutter, but no clear solution emerged. Then, to make matters worse, more splashing sounds.
Splat—!
A sharp water jet spiked up like a mantis foreleg.
Damn, sending more of the ones I beat earlier.
A triangular head popped from the wall, followed by the upper body of a water mantis swinging its forelegs threateningly.
Then Wolryeong reacted to an attack grazing right in front of me.
The mantis foreleg snagged on the blocking silver shield exploded on its own, crumbling down in chunks.
"Huh?"
Well, look at that.
Wolryeong has S-rank magic defense at 50%, 90% below that—specialized in magic resistance.
Its foreleg shattered on contact and didn't regenerate properly, so Morgash's summons are magical creatures.
Wolryeong is super effective against them.
And on top of that, fused with the Orb for shape-shifting.
The Wolryeong on my wrist extended straight across the back of my hand and fingers at my will.
A faintly shimmering silver-white Wolryeong Sword formed in my grip.
"Dali, hold them in place."
Dali interfered with their water, temporarily seizing control of their bodies.
I lightly swung the Wolryeong Sword at the frozen foes.
The water split without resistance.
Trailing the silver blade, their bodies collapsed in halves.
"Nice. Can attack without mana too."
Like an anti-magic sword, huh.
Works on barriers and shields too.
Rough sketch.
I gauged the exit and aligned straight toward it.
This maze is like Morgash's barrier.
Slicing the blocking wall with the Wolryeong Sword severed the web-like lattice mana, crumbling one section.
Good.
No need to wander with the left-hand rule.
Maze? Just smash it all.
I advanced relentlessly, demolishing walls.
The weightless Wolryeong Sword swung effortlessly despite my small frame.
Occasional splashing summons were frozen by Dali and cleaved by me. Done.
Nothing could stop us.
"Tssrrrrrr—!"
"What the hell, man. You're making my whole body sticky."
I glared at Morgash flicking its long tongue and hissing.
My clothes had been soaked ages ago.
Waterlogged shoes clung heavily to my feet.
Seen all I need. Let's end this quick.
Left hand: Flame Jewel. Right hand: Wolryeong Sword.
Feels just like a magic swordsman.
One of my fantasies. Pretty satisfying.
"Tssrrrut!"
"Ah, come on, play nice."
While I admired myself briefly, Morgash layered multiple water shields.
Simultaneously, ants, mantises, and beetles rose from the ground.
"Dali, Seth. Hold them off!"
No need to deal with trash mobs.
Leave them to the spirits and charge forward.
I sliced through the layered shields in one stroke, leaving the final one.
Raised the Flame Jewel in my left hand.
Panicking as its defenses crumbled effortlessly, the green lizard pressed a hand to the shield and chanted something.
The shield sprouted thorns like a porcupine and fired them.
"Oh, neat trick. Thanks for the idea, snake-lizard."
"Tssrrrut?!"
Releasing the Wolryeong Sword, it shifted to silver shields blocking the barrage.
Simultaneously, the Flame Jewel in my left touched its shield.
It merged as if absorbed—boom!
Fierce flames swept inside the shield, making Morgash scream.
"Tsssseu! Tsseee!"
"Would've been better off charging with a spear."
Water magic main? Magic-obsessed fool met a bad matchup in me and died without a fight.
I snapped a proof shot of the pathetic corpse and uploaded it.
Wait, I just logged in—is this Morgash??? That dogshit lizard with the maze and summons?
Wasn't this chick an illegal caster? Bad matchup against Morgash, right?
【View Comments (6/10)】
The Tower buddies' confusion and shock at my maze free-pass led to more comments piling up.
Just four steps from the Absolute Throne.
+ Quest Reward: Creation Limit +1
+ Acquire EXP.
+ Acquire EXP.
→ Lv. 20 Achieved! All Stats Doubled
+ 20th Floor Perk! Class Skill: [Eraser]
Pocketed the plump A-rank magic stone and returned home to a flood of notifications filling my view.
Whoa, check out these rewards.
My trusty creation slots as insurance.
Stats ballooning with skyrocketing levels.
And most importantly, the skill.
"Eraser... like an eraser?"
Why an eraser?
Pondering what it erased brought back the 20th floor fight—Morgash's magic shattering against Wolryeong Sword.
Headed to the yard for a test and summoned Dali.
"Dali, put up a water barrier?"
I prepared Eraser, the brush tip glowing blue like mana filling the sky.
Focusing on the target made the barrier feel like a disjointed painting.
Lightly swung along the dome-shaped barrier; blue mana trailed from the tip, erasing the touched parts.
As if overpainted blue or wiped from space.
A power to completely nullify magic.
The ability of my new skill, Eraser.
Another busted skill.
One I'd normally struggle for, but Wolryeong made it a breeze.
Regret it? Hell no—!
Why suffer when I can power up easy?
Everything stacked here is my own effort anyway.
Totally satisfied!
"Uwaaa! That was tough!"
I leaped joyfully onto the bed!
Good job, me!
Though floors are getting tougher as they climb.
Of course, nothing against my power.
Bzzz—
Rolling on the bed, petting my head and praising myself, about to rest—phone buzzed.
Gate? Some issue?
Exhausted, I wearily checked.
"Ah, finally!"
The sender was a name I'd been waiting for.
-Seong Ji-na-