Chapter 185
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 185
Although their words were polite—Melju was, after all, a higher-ranking being—their tone dripped with sarcasm. A few of the monsters snickered.
Melju replied in a calm voice.
“Indeed. However, as I am a mere administrator, it’s uncertain if Lord Swallow will even assign me the position of gatekeeper. Still, I should at least be able to become the administrator of Room 4.”
[Tsk, tsk. If you call yourself a ‘mere administrator,’ you put the rest of us in an awkward position.]
This time, it was Graiai, caressing a crystal ball from the back, who spoke through a telepathic message.
Melju replied flatly.
“I only call myself that because I cannot compare to Sir Rene or Sir Patrick. What’s wrong with stating a fact?”
Alraune, the Queen of the La-Guiem Forest, spoke up.
“May I ask just one question? Why did you come here without making any preparations?”
“Do you mean casting?”
When Alraune nodded, Melju idly toyed with her staff.
Everyone knew Melju was a mage. For a mage to overcome such a numerical disadvantage, common sense dictated that she appear with a high-tier spell already cast.
Yet, Melju had arrived without any magic prepared at all. That was precisely why they could afford to converse so casually.
“I would have, had this been actual combat. But is this not a test?”
“…”
This time, a chilly silence fell in response to Melju’s words.
The monsters, who had all been staring intently at Melju, broke their gaze and glanced at one another.
No matter how easy a target she seemed, they had all maintained a minimum level of vigilance at first. Hadn’t she previously cast illusion magic on all of them without any warning? They had been concerned she might arrive while casting some devastating spell from the very beginning.
But now, judging that Melju had revealed her entire hand, the monsters began to eye their teammates instead of their target. In their minds, her death was a foregone conclusion. The only task left was to make sure no one else stole the credit.
“To come here without any preparation… How audacious.”
It was Alraune who fired the first shot.
Her alluring face, which usually seduced members of subjugation squads, distorted hideously as she revealed her true nature.
“Then… I guess you’ll just have to die!”
With a screech, several vine-like tentacles burrowed into the earth, shaking the ground.
Not wanting to be outdone by Alraune’s surprise attack, a monster resembling a black goat shot mana into the ground. The mana surged forward like an arrow, taking the shape of a wolf as it lunged to tear Melju apart.
Intermediate Magic: 〈Coordinates Distortion〉.
At that moment, the Teleportation Disruption Wave cast by Rusalka rippled out in all directions.
‘I have a good idea of how you’ll react.’
A mage’s response was more predictable than one might think. Since magic was a discipline with established principles, there was a manual for dealing with any given situation.
Demon Kings, moreover, were the epitome of those who followed such manuals. They were creatures who did nothing but rain down magic from the rear while the Demon King’s army held the front lines. Born of noble blood, they never shed a drop of sweat or blood; they simply learned magic through the talent inherent in their lineage and ruled from on high.
‘In this situation, she’ll first block Alraune’s vine tentacles with a barrier spell. Then, she’ll use teleportation to dodge the magic coming from the other side. So, if I disrupt her teleportation…'
Intermediate Magic: 〈Curved Lightning〉.
“Kyahhhhh!”
A sudden bolt of lightning struck from above, and Alraune let out a hideous shriek. Her blinded vine tentacles thrashed wildly against the ground.
Immediately after, three wolves made of mana bared their fangs, aiming for Melju’s throat.
‘She dodged it?’
When Melju evaded them with a simple movement, the wolves missed their prey and dissolved back into mana. A moment later, Rusalka’s teleportation disruption magic rippled out uselessly.
Melju’s gaze snapped over, glaring at Rusalka, the source of the wave.
A flustered Rusalka stared back, blinking in disbelief. And in that instant, Melju vanished.
No sooner had the wave dispersed than she teleported directly behind Rusalka.
‘What… Foolish!’
Startled, Rusalka immediately hid herself inside a puddle of water. To deal with her, Melju would have to cast at least an intermediate-tier spell, and Rusalka’s hiding speed was faster than the casting time for such a spell.
It should have been impossible.
Intermediate Magic: 〈Explosion〉.
Melju’s staff glowed.
Only then did Rusalka, certain of her defeat, grasp the situation.
It wasn’t that she had mistimed her move. Melju’s casting was abnormally fast—she had completely bypassed the complex calculations meant to ease the burden on the caster.
Spell modification.
She had calculated everything in that split second.
‘This is impossible…'
Boom!
An explosion erupted.
However, it wasn’t from Melju’s 〈Explosion〉. A massive sphere of energy, flying in just before her spell could activate, had detonated instead.
Landing safely on the ground after a rapid succession of 〈Teleportation〉, Melju raised her head to look at the monster that had fired the energy sphere.
“You fight well for a Demon King without a Demon King’s army.”
A massive Earth Dragon, large enough to cover the entire ceiling, was staring down at her. It was about half the size of Hexabel; defeating it directly would take some time.
Whoosh!
While her attention was on the Earth Dragon, a longsword lunged from behind, aiming for her heart. Melju spun to dodge it, her eyes scanning her surroundings.
Swords floated in the air.
‘Ego swords… No.’
They weren’t ego swords. Something invisible was holding them, making them appear to float. There were easily over a dozen.
Once again, a flurry of sword strikes rained down. With several magic-users preparing 〈Coordinates Distortion〉 in various spots, she couldn’t even use 〈Teleportation〉.
In the past, she would have been brutally torn to pieces in this situation.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
The longswords sliced endlessly through empty air. Occasionally, a sharp clang! rang out as a blade met the metal tip of her staff. Melju didn't shed a single drop of blood.
Dodging the attacks with ease while deducing the nature of her invisible foe, she once again cast a spell, omitting part of the casting process.
Low-tier Magic: 〈Glide Panel〉.
The ‘something’ that had been hacking wildly at her slipped, failing to notice the slick panel on the floor. Melju struck its head with the metal tip of her staff.
Low-tier Magic: 〈Mana Explosion〉.
Boom!
A massive explosion erupted, swallowing the shriek of the invisible monster.
The other monsters, who had watched everything from her dodging the swords to her magical counterattack, began to tremble.
This was not the Demon King they had envisioned. Because they had taken her death for granted, they grew anxious as things slowly began to go awry.
Anxiety led to hasty judgment. Before the heat of the explosion could even clear, several monsters lunged into the smoke.
Whoosh!
A firestorm swept out from within the smoke.
The monsters that had charged blindly, relying on their durability, collapsed to the ground. None were dead, but none were unscathed either.
“Kyahhhhh!”
“Gwaaaah!”
Amidst the chaos, another wave rippled out. This time, the monsters preparing 〈Coordinates Distortion〉 lost their balance and stumbled. In that brief window, Melju used 〈Teleportation〉 to escape the confusion and regroup.
“As expected, this is too much,” Melju muttered as she slipped out of the mess.
Fighting sixty monsters to the end was impossible. While dodging attacks—especially sword strikes in close combat—was manageable now that she was used to it, her firepower was too weak to kill A-rank monsters easily.
‘…I never intended to win anyway.’
The important thing was that she hadn't allowed a single hit. In the past, she would have tried to evade the first attack with 〈Teleportation〉, only to be blocked. Melju knew exactly what these monsters were thinking. Her past self would have fallen for their trap perfectly.
Melju raised her head and looked at the hourglass. Though it felt like little time had passed, a significant amount of sand had already fallen.
Standing in the center of the cavern, she looked toward the exit.
Now was her chance to use 〈Teleportation〉, but the ‘Ancient Tree of the Great Forest,’ a massive Trent, had completely blocked the path. Its enormous tree trunks filled the space, leaving not even the slightest gap.
“If you wish to pass, you must defeat me.”
The flow of mana pulsed all around the Trent. If she tried to simply bypass it with 〈Teleportation〉, she would undoubtedly be impaled.
As if her moment of hesitation was their final opportunity, over forty monsters charged at her from behind. Deciding that defense was no longer an option, Melju raised her staff.
She drew upon her Black Mana.
Her stomach still churned with nausea. The only reason she didn't show it was that she had grown adept at holding back the dry heaves.
Still, there was progress. The process of drawing the Black Mana from deep within her body up to her staff felt less unstable.
“…”
While everything else had improved by leaps and bounds, her control over Black Mana had seen little progress. Only her tolerance and grit had slightly increased. Still, if there was one thing Melju had realized after hundreds of attempts…
It was that Black Mana was also a part of her.
As long as she didn't try to force it out, the Black Mana wouldn't choke her.
As Black Mana coalesced at the tip of her staff, the monsters charging blindly finally realized something was terribly wrong.
The Trent, staring directly at the magic, stood dazed for a long moment before hastily retracting all the roots it had dug into the ground.
The condensed Black Mana looked as if it would swallow the entire cavern whole.
Soon, the magic was unleashed…
And a path was carved along its trajectory.
No monster dared to charge after witnessing that spell.
*
And so…
“Good work, everyone!”
Once all 291 monsters had gathered back in Room 1, Patrick called out in a bright voice. He was the only bright one, however. The atmosphere among the monsters was as gloomy as a funeral. A rough count revealed over fifty of them were practically half-dead.
“The two Yaksha Sisters who blocked the Boss’s path, you pass!”
At his clear declaration, the Yaksha Sisters trudged forward. Despite hearing they had passed, there was no joy on their faces. The younger sister, in particular, walked with a dazed, drunken stagger, as if she had witnessed something she shouldn’t have.
Patrick called out again.
“Everyone else fails! Congratulations!”
Following his announcement, the atmosphere in Room 1 grew as frigid as a winter blizzard.
Showing no intention of cleaning up the mess, Patrick immediately looked back at Swallow.
“Let’s go, Boss.”
Swallow swept his gaze over the monsters, then took the lead and vanished into the cavern’s darkness. Rene and Melju followed behind him without a backward glance.
The monsters could only watch helplessly as the members of the Primordial Core disappeared one by one. Unable to follow, yet unable to turn back after coming so far, they stood frozen like stone statues. The only ones permitted to follow Swallow were the Yaksha Sisters, the sole passers of the test.
A cold wind blew in from the dungeon entrance.
A storm had just swept through.
* * *
After exiting Room 1 and walking down the dark passage, the massive expanse of Room 2 revealed itself. As soon as Swallow stepped out of the passage, he spread his arms and took a deep breath.
“I did everything you asked, so I’m going to rest.”
With that disgruntled remark, he walked toward the depths of the dungeon. He must have been quite tired, because his steps lacked their usual energy. Just before he left, he exchanged a brief glance with Patrick—but the Yaksha Sisters, who knew nothing of their relationship, had no way of understanding its meaning.
“I think I overdid it… My stomach is churning.”
“You did well. It was magnificent.”
“…Good work.”
Only after Swallow had left did Melju finally slump to the floor. Soon, 2 Ounce, who had been waiting for her in Room 2, approached with a clatter and began to hover around her. This time, 2 Ounce hoisted the exhausted Melju onto his back and leisurely disappeared toward Room 4.
The older Yaksha sister, who had been standing dazed as if she had lost her soul, glanced briefly at 2 Ounce.
“How do you feel?” Patrick asked the Yaksha Sisters, but only after Swallow and Melju had departed.
“…”
At his question, the sisters turned their heads at the same time. Their expressions were still blank. The older sister, in particular, was completely out of it. The shock must have been immense.
“It’s time to snap out of it.”
When Patrick spoke in a more serious tone, the older Yaksha sister finally slapped her own cheeks with both hands. Even dazed, she must have put some real force behind it, as her cheeks swelled red. The sharp sting brought her back to her senses.
“That wasn’t her full power, was it?” she asked.
“I didn’t see it myself,” Patrick replied. “But seeing as your limbs are still intact, it probably wasn’t.”
“…”