Chapter 185
Chapter 185
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 185
Chapter Title: Eternal Maze Overlord
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Inside the abandoned mansion, countless ants scurried about.
Every path they took transformed the place, leaving it spotless unlike before.
The ants restored everything to its original state, not leaving even a speck of dust behind.
"Pauli, leave the furniture and such as they were."
"Got it!"
There was no telling where traces might remain.
So Leyzon ordered them to clean only.
That cleaning included even the labyrinth of darkness spread throughout the entire abandoned mansion.
The primitive magic enveloping the whole place—Miro's darkness.
It had all been dismantled by Pauli's Citadel Transformation [SSS].
Pauli's newly upgraded skill from this evolution.
Citadel Domination [SSS].
A citadel-type skill that nullifies all magical and physical effects within a seized building.
At this moment, the abandoned mansion had completely fallen into Pauli's hands.
Miro's darkness poured out its power to resist the Citadel Domination.
But the ants mercilessly devoured it.
"Urgh... To think Miro's darkness would be rendered so powerless..."
Granpin sniffled.
Even after death, his soul had lingered here, guarding the place.
Now that it crumbled in an instant, he felt profound grief.
"Granpin, what did you do in life?"
Leyzon decided to ask about Granpin's past while at it.
Granpin seemed surprisingly knowledgeable about magic.
"...I was a scholar of magitech studies."
As expected, he was deeply tied to magic.
Leyzon's eyes quietly gleamed.
It made sense—he had only just begun delving into primitive magic himself.
'Might've caught a more useful guy than I thought.'
Granpin's value shot up.
"So, when did you start serving that ossuary bastard?"
"Guh... When my life hung by a thread."
Granpin swallowed hard, his teeth chattering.
He had no choice but to spill everything, even if he didn't want to.
"One day, he suddenly appeared to me, promising endless research into magic."
"And that's how he bound your soul and stuck you here?"
"..."
Granpin fell silent.
Because Leyzon had hit the nail on the head.
"You just picked whatever convenient words sounded good."
"No! He truly gave me the chance to pursue magic!"
"You really believe that?"
Leyzon lifted Granpin up.
"The prophets treat earthly beasts like less than dogs."
Carmen's hatred for the prophets stemmed from their attitude.
They trampled earthly beasts underfoot, acting superior just because they wielded transcendent power.
Granpin surely knew this too.
"...Drawing lines in scholarship is meaningless."
Granpin clenched his bony fist tight.
"I'm a scholar. A scholar who pursues knowledge. For my research, I'd even grasp the hand of a transcendent!"
He burned with unyielding resolve.
Leyzon stared at him for a moment, then tilted his head.
"Then you can join hands with me too, right?"
"Huh?"
Granpin blinked in surprise, caught off guard.
"As you've seen, I've started researching primitive magic lately too.
I'm just a beginner, but I can get you whatever you need for your studies."
Leyzon carefully laid the foundation for primitive magic research.
To him, primitive magic was an entirely new realm.
Like a game's expansion pack, a DLC.
Just like peeking at the next chapter of Dungeon Replay, the game he'd once been obsessed with.
Leyzon had a pure interest in this.
He wanted to expand beyond poison magic if possible.
"Granpin, you're my undead now anyway."
Granpin belonged to Leyzon.
Even if he refused, that fact wouldn't change.
"Besides, the ossuary left you abandoned here all this time."
"..."
Granpin couldn't deny it, mumbling to himself.
He'd clung to the ossuary out of desperation, with no other options.
But now, there was no reason to worship it anymore.
"Think it over carefully. It's an offer that won't hurt you."
Leyzon hung him on his belt.
Granpin dangled limply from it.
He seemed deep in thought.
"Leyzon, sir! Found the one called Sword Saint!"
Just then, Pauli shouted from his shoulder.
They'd finally located the Sword Saint.
"Lead the way."
The ants gathered to form an arrow pointing the direction.
Everyone followed it.
Vines stretching to the windows partially blocked the rising morning sun.
This cast a gloomy atmosphere over the mansion.
The group passed down the hallway and soon arrived at a door.
Leyzon grabbed the handle and opened it, the rusty hinges grinding loudly.
Inside was a room with furniture cleaned spotless by the ants.
On an old table sat a single luxurious box, all alone.
A black box etched with a golden rose pattern.
It looked like a gift from someone.
"Pauli, where's the Sword Saint?"
Pauli had said he was here.
Yet the Sword Saint was nowhere in sight.
"Right there."
Pauli pointed at the box.
Leyzon approached the table with a suspicious look, peering at the box.
Then he lifted the lid.
Inside unfolded a densely etched mini-labyrinth.
And within that labyrinth was an incredibly tiny Sword Saint.
The Sword Saint kept moving along the maze's paths.
"It's a double-layered structure."
Granpin, who had been silent, finally spoke.
"First layer: the labyrinth over the entire mansion. Second: inside the box."
"What a pain."
Leyzon clicked his tongue and turned to Pauli.
"Pauli, can you extract him?"
Pauli landed on Leyzon's shoulder before the box.
He examined it from all angles.
"Hmm... Right now, it doesn't seem to register as a citadel."
Pauli's Citadel Domination [SSS] wasn't omnipotent.
It would treat places blending magic and structures as citadels, but this was a pure magical labyrinth.
Even Pauli couldn't dismantle it.
"Should I smash it?"
Syria poked her head out from the wall's shadow.
She was ready to destroy the labyrinth at any moment.
"That would kill the guy inside."
Granpin advised against it.
The Sword Saint was a card meant for the imperial family.
Losing him would be a problem.
Leyzon glanced at the wandering Sword Saint.
Could he really escape this maze on his own?
"...No way I'm banking on this directionally challenged idiot."
"Planning to go in? I don't recommend it. This is the Curse of the Eternal Maze.
You can't escape until you meet specific conditions."
Simply finding the way wasn't enough.
"But Granpin, you know those conditions, right?"
"...Yeah. But the maze is huge. It won't be easy."
"It's fine. Above all, we don't even need to fulfill those specific conditions."
Leyzon turned to Syria as he said this.
"Syria, can I leave this to you?"
"Yep! Just leave it to me!"
Syria puffed out her chest proudly.
She'd guard the maze box even if the world split in two.
"Let's go, Eden, Pauli."
"Yeah."
"Got it."
Leyzon entrusted it to her and reached into the maze.
His vision flipped in that instant.
A bizarre sensation, like his body being sucked somewhere.
When it ended, the surroundings had changed completely.
Square stone brick walls sealed off every direction in a tight corridor.
Glowing stones in the passage barely secured visibility.
"Ugh, we really came inside."
Granpin groaned from the belt.
Leyzon tapped the wall lightly with his hand.
It only blistered; the inside was solidly blocked.
"If you're thinking of breaking the wall, it's pointless. Beyond the maze walls is filled with other spaces. Not more maze."
"Fascinating magic."
Granpin's explanation made grasping the maze easier.
"You gonna diligently navigate it?"
Granpin knew Leyzon hadn't entered for that.
So he asked what he planned instead.
Leyzon looked at Pauli and Eden on his shoulders.
"You said this place has the Curse of the Eternal Maze."
In that moment, Pauli and Eden melted away simultaneously.
"Which makes this our domain."
At the same time, Leyzon's form began to change.
His body shrank unlike before.
A diamond crown and black cape fluttered.
Amid his deep black hair, blue strands gleamed like stars.
Leyzon stood tall in a crisp suit, slamming his staff into the ground.
Boom—
Ripples spread from his feet.
Undead Fusion
Eden Yurepa · Pauli Poatriche
The undead fusion of Eden and Pauli.
Leyzon's eyelids slowly rose upon completion.
Soon, gray and gold-mixed irises shone vividly.
"If this place's rules are bound by the Curse of the Eternal Maze..."
Leyzon slammed his staff into the ground once more.
The entire maze began to tremble faintly.
As if terrified by the true master's arrival.
"Those rules are under our jurisdiction now."
The Eternal Maze's rules were forcibly rewritten by Leyzon.
Boom—
Leyzon stepped forward.
Thus, the first rule took effect.
He continued overwriting the rules one after another.
Each step Leyzon took forcibly reshaped the rules.
Watching this, Granpin's jaw dropped, unable to close it.
"Th-this... this is magic."
And like Carmen, he uttered the same words.
"You're not a parasite after all?"
Granpin asked in a daze.
Leyzon smiled faintly at the question.
"Guess."
Parasite? Earthly beast? Prophet? Or something else?
Leyzon tossed the puzzle to Granpin.
Finally, Leyzon modified the last rule.
The final key to escape the maze: the Sword Saint.
To find him, Leyzon slammed his staff down.
Bricks under his feet surged like waves.
The wave of bricks began carrying Leyzon at tremendous speed somewhere.
Pauli's Citadel Domination [SSS] couldn't be used outside.
But Leyzon had just forcibly rewritten the curse.
This was no longer the Eternal Maze.
It was the Eternal Citadel, Leyzon and Pauli's front yard.
"No time to waste."
A ferocious smile crept across Leyzon's lips.
"Let's get out."
It was time to escape the maze.