Chapter 66
Chapter 66
Mad Black Mage's Tower Strategy
Chapter 66
Kang Jin-tae's mocking gaze continued to sweep over Seo-jin.
"Huh. He's got a good build and tall stature, looks like he can handle himself well. Seeing how you brought a mere porter all the way to the banquet hall, I suppose he must be the esteemed guild leader's hidden lover?"
A vile provocation too crude to even speak of. But as dirty as it was, the effect was certainly clear.
So-yul's cheeks flushed with anger and bewilderment.
"You son of a—"
HWARYUK—
The fiery energy gathering in So-yul's hands.
Just as the enraged So-yul was about to spit out curses and unleash magic—
PYUSHIK—
With a sound like air being released, the energy that had been gathering in her grasp scattered away.
Seo-jin had instantly dispelled her magic.
So-yul, whose magic had been canceled, instinctively looked toward Seo-jin and confirmed his stern expression.
Silent pressure telling her not to step forward any further.
Having restrained the excited So-yul, Seo-jin slowly turned his head to look down at Kang Jin-tae.
"......"
Seo-jin's cold gaze gleaming from beneath the shadows of his robe.
Then Seo-jin's quiet voice pierced through the banquet hall's commotion and struck his ears.
"Your life... must be quite tedious."
At the same time, Seo-jin's hand settled firmly on his shoulder.
Just from that hand touching his shoulder, an inexplicable fear spread down Kang Jin-tae's spine.
This wasn't simply a warning-level remark.
What was hidden in his words was a threat of death.
"Kuk."
His instincts rang alarm bells.
This guy is dangerous.
But in this situation with so many eyes on them, backing down was something his pride wouldn't allow.
Kang Jin-tae forced himself to swallow dry saliva and squeezed out his voice.
"How dare a mere porter!"
But that cry only scattered emptily.
It was because Seo-jin had ignored him like a roadside pebble and turned away.
Seo-jin gestured with his chin toward So-yul, pointing outside the banquet hall.
"There's no need to pay attention to such a fellow. Let's move elsewhere."
So-yul, understanding Seo-jin's intention, nodded briefly along with her lingering bewilderment.
"Ah, yes."
So-yul left the banquet hall together with Seo-jin.
Amid the murmuring sounds and glancing gazes from the surroundings, Kang Jin-tae gritted his teeth.
'Just wait and see.'
This humiliation right now is nothing. Before long, he'll pay it back dozens, hundreds of times over.
And since those guys left their seats unable to contain their anger, his intended purpose had been achieved.
'With this expedition, you're finished.'
Kang Jin-tae twisted his lips viciously and disappeared beyond the crowd.
***
Back in So-yul's office.
She hung her head low and apologized to Seo-jin.
"Thank you... and I'm sorry."
It was fortunate that Seo-jin had stepped forward directly.
If she had actually used offensive magic because of momentary anger, there was no telling how big the incident could have become.
Moreover, she felt considerable guilt for having gotten him involved in such an incident.
Seo-jin had merely gotten caught up in the bad blood between her and Kang Jin-tae.
Seo-jin shook his head.
"No. I was the one who insisted on following along for no reason."
Seo-jin had made a plan to attend the banquet and scout the foreign figures participating in this investigation.
Because there's a big difference between simply knowing through information and meeting them directly.
So he had asked So-yul to attend the banquet, but because of that, he had ended up having unnecessary friction with Kang Jin-tae.
"No. I should have endured it, but I just..."
She hoped Seo-jin wouldn't feel uncomfortable with her because of this incident.
So-yul stealthily watched Seo-jin's reaction, but instead of answering, he remained silent with his chin propped up.
'Strange.'
Seo-jin fell into deep thought.
There were suspicious aspects to Kang Jin-tae's provocation this time that made it hard to dismiss as simply bad feelings or the result of his arrogant personality.
No matter how much bad blood they had in the past, openly provoking like this was strange.
He wasn't some street thug, and it was hard to understand why a researcher from one nation would insult a representative of another country in such a grand setting.
It seemed like he either had some backing he trusted, or there was a reason he specifically needed to provoke her.
And if he were to infer something that would satisfy both conditions...
'Perhaps... that guy has already obtained something from Taebaek's underground ruins.'
Having thought of something, Seo-jin stood up from his seat.
"Rest well. And apply the medicine properly too."
So-yul's heel had been scraped because of her high heels. It seemed to be because she wasn't used to wearing such shoes.
Seo-jin placed medicine for the wound on the table and left.
***
Dawn, when the banquet's commotion had subsided and deep darkness had fallen.
Seo-jin secretly slipped out of the guest room in the Mage Tower and used magic.
[Night Vision]
Vision that showed clearly as if night vision goggles were turned on even in darkness.
Having secured his vision, Seo-jin headed without hesitation toward the underground ruins deep beneath Taebaek's Mage Tower.
The Mage Tower was one of the nation's most important research institutions.
As such, it maintained maximum security.
Various magical and engineering obstacles blocked Seo-jin's path.
Not only were there multiple layers of doors that could only be opened with security cards, but laser and barrier magic that could detect even a cockroach's movement were installed even in the ventilation ducts.
However, for Seo-jin, breaking through such obstacles wasn't particularly difficult.
It wasn't something to be particularly proud of, but...
'I had experience infiltrating Taebaek Mage Tower in my previous life too.'
Also, since Black Magic had characteristics different from ordinary magic, it could be adjusted to avoid detection by conventional magic measuring devices or security equipment.
CHIRIK—
Using Black Lightning to paralyze the door's security circuit while simultaneously activating the backup circuit, preventing signals from reaching the security system.
All security systems have backup circuits in preparation for emergencies or maintenance.
Using his previous life's memories and the special nature of Black Magic, Seo-jin reached the underground of the Mage Tower without much difficulty.
'Is this the place?'
A sealed door intertwined with ancient rune patterns and complex mana circuits blocked his way.
This wasn't a security facility of the Mage Tower, but ruins left by past natives.
It would be an impossible puzzle for ordinary mages to even decode, but it wasn't much to Seo-jin.
Seo-jin subtly flowed the energy of Primordial Unity Technique into the seal's core.
'What this seal was blocking was the Reverse Heaven's mana flowing from the demon's corpse.'
It was designed to open in response to the energy of order that would counter it.
KURURUNG—
The heavy stone door opened soundlessly as if it had been oiled.
The underground passage that gaped open, breathing out cold air.
Hyeon-wol sat on Seo-jin's shoulder and looked at the passage.
[It looks like ghosts might come out.]
"One already came out, what are you talking about."
Seo-jin chuckled and stepped into the darkness without a moment's hesitation.
TTOK-GAK— TTOK-GAK—
Seo-jin's footsteps echoing in the dusty interior of the ruins.
Seo-jin moved through the corridor as familiarly as if he were walking through his own bedroom.
PABABAK—
The pressure detection plates under his feet, the poison needle barrage flying from cracks in the walls, alarm magic circles that reacted to mana patterns, and even illusions that confused vision.
Various traps created by the natives came at him relentlessly, but Seo-jin's steps didn't slow down even a bit.
His movements, which precisely targeted and neutralized the core of each trap just before it activated, had no wasted motion.
It was because the experience of frequently entering and exiting various dungeons and ruins before his regression had been imprinted on his body.
Moreover...
[Other guys have already swept through here.]
"Right."
The traces of uninvited guests who had visited this place before Seo-jin were clearly left everywhere.
Unless you were an idiot, there was no way to fall for the traps.
How far had he gone? Seo-jin's brow furrowed as he reached what appeared to be a small control room-like space.
'This is...'
Broken trap debris, potion bottle fragments, torn pieces of clothing, etc.
The traces of the uninvited guests were left more clearly than before.
Of course, this was closer to intentional rather than accidental.
Taebaek's labels were left conspicuously on broken potion bottles, and research uniforms worn by Taebaek researchers were torn and scattered about.
On the other hand, the traces of mana, which could be considered a mage's fingerprints, were almost completely erased.
It was a scene where evidence destruction and evidence fabrication were mixed together.
'What a troublesome thing to do.'
But there was a way to find out.
Even if there were no direct traces of magic, the aftermath it caused remained at the scene.
Seo-jin scattered Reverse Heaven's mana on the wall and read the returning mana wavelengths.
And the returned mana fluctuations matched exactly what he had felt when he placed his hand on Kang Jin-tae's shoulder.
'So those guys came here first.'
Seo-jin's eyes grew coldly subdued.
Those guys had beaten him to it using the secret passage connected to Taebaek's Mage Tower.
'It's not impossible.'
Kang Jin-tae was said to be a former key researcher at Taebaek and a mage proficient in barriers, so he had sufficient ability to infiltrate this place without So-yul's knowledge.
Now his behavior at the banquet hall made sense.
Seo-jin frowned and moved further inside.
And finally reached the deepest part of the ruins.
The ruins of a temple where pillars that must have once displayed magnificent grandeur had collapsed and lay prostrate, and marble decorations were torn off in places.
Seo-jin crossed over the broken pillars and debris toward the altar at the center.
The very spot where the [Fragment of Time Distortion Magic Book] he was looking for should be.
However, the altar was empty.
All that remained were traces of the seal protecting the magic book being forcibly destroyed.
Kang Jin-tae had reached this place first and stolen the magic book.
"Tsk."
Seo-jin clicked his tongue and thought about the magic book again.
'The Fragment of Time Distortion Magic Book is an S-grade material item.'
It was an essential item for creating the Stone of Return.
The natives didn't know its true value, but they properly recognized the quality of mana the item possessed.
So they had used that magic book as a mana source to maintain the seal.
This meant that now that the magic book had been stolen, unless another S-grade artifact replaced it as the mana source, the underground ruins' seal would weaken.
This was a matter that could bring about a great disaster that would shake the foundation of the 11th floor.
Kang Jin-tae wouldn't be unaware of this either.
Yet the fact that he had done such a thing meant it was all intentional.
'They cleanly took the artifacts for themselves, and tried to dump all the aftermath on Taebaek.'
The full story of the incident formed in Seo-jin's mind.
Perhaps the abnormal phenomena in The Great Cavity and the organization of the large-scale investigation team might also be extensions of this incident.
"But..."
[Something's a bit strange, right?]
Seo-jin nodded at Hyeon-wol's words.
For something where the seal's core had disappeared, the mana flow wasn't chaotic.
If Kang Jin-tae had really taken the core mana source that maintained the seal, there should have been a definite reaction.
'I need to examine it more closely.'
Seo-jin took a moment to catch his breath and focused more on mana detection.
Soon, as he felt around the empty altar and traces of the destroyed seal with his hands, something felt off to his eyes.
'This is...'
Seo-jin detected a subtle mana flow beneath the altar that was difficult to identify.
"Hyeon-wol, go inside and check it out. There should be something like a switch."
[Got it.]
Hyeon-wol used her spiritual body to enter the interior of the altar, which was difficult to check directly, and examined the structure.
And soon she found a switch hidden beneath the altar and informed Seo-jin.
[Found it. But there are multiple buttons?]
"I'll inject energy, so tell me which buttons move when."
[Alright.]
With Hyeon-wol's help, Seo-jin calculated each possible case of switches moving when mana was injected.
And once again injected Primordial energy.
At the end of that...
KKEEK—
With a friction sound, part of the altar floor moved inward, revealing a space hidden in the altar.
And inside it lay a magic book with an antique cover that seemed to have endured the weight of time.
It was exactly the item Seo-jin had been looking for.
TING—
[Fragment of Time Distortion Magic Book]
Grade: S
Classification: Material Item
A legendary item said to have been left by a great mage from a parallel world. Though divided into three pieces, the fragments of its power to manipulate time remain intact.
Unique Characteristic: [Future Sight]
Through mana consumption, you can intermittently observe the future 3 seconds to 10 seconds ahead.
The magic book's description appeared with a cheerful notification sound.
Though the back part was torn and only about 30% remained, it had sufficient performance to be called an S-grade artifact by itself.
And the fact that this item remained here meant...
'What that guy took must be a fake.'
Seo-jin smiled slightly.
Of course, Kang Jin-tae would firmly believe that it was genuine.
Without prior knowledge, even Seo-jin wouldn't have easily noticed that the real one was hidden beneath the altar.
And that fake also contained its own mana, so it would have been difficult for Kang Jin-tae to distinguish.
This was something the natives had prepared to deceive potential intruders.
Seo-jin imagined Kang Jin-tae's face as he returned delighted with the fake.
'The fact that he infiltrated the underground ruins ahead of The Great Cavity expedition and stole artifacts means he intends to use it directly.'
Beyond simply acquiring an S-grade artifact or framing Taebaek, there must be a clear intention that goes further.
And when it comes to purpose, it would be to put pressure on Taebaek during The Great Cavity expedition, or strengthen Yellow Dragon Mage Tower's position.
Since it's an S-grade artifact that maintained The Great Cavity's seal, he might think he can freely cause or manipulate mana disasters using it.
It seems like he's planning something grand believing the fake is real, but it'll probably look quite ridiculous later.
Seo-jin put the magic book in his chest and took out The Fairy King's Talisman.
The S-grade artifact he received from Circe.
This artifact should be able to maintain the seal instead of the magic book.
"Hmm."
However, instead of immediately placing the talisman on the altar, Seo-jin fiddled with the surrounding debris and devised some kind of device.
It was a device that would make The Fairy King's Talisman enter the altar's seal and activate whenever mana was manipulated from anywhere at any time.
Hyeon-wol tilted her head as she looked at that device.
[Instead of quietly maintaining the seal, what are you trying to do?]
Instead of a detailed answer, Seo-jin shrugged his shoulders with a smile.
"You'll find out later."
Having finished his preparations, Seo-jin moved his steps outside the ruins.