Chapter 102
Chapter 102
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 102
Chapter Title: Piercing Eyes #3
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Mirna Draco's explanation went like this.
Back when the one called the Demon King was still a young and brilliant prince—Solomon.
He had studied at the Ark in the theocracy of Gracia, and this mansion was the very place where he had lived.
Does that mean this mansion was originally one of the inheritances I was supposed to receive? My grandfather, whom I knew nothing about, had owned a villa!
The thought that the Draco family had unlawfully occupied it made me feel a brief pang of resentment, but Mirna continued her explanation regardless.
"The great archmage Solomon once created this dungeon himself for his training and entered it to pursue the paths of magic and truth. This is one of those places."
At Mirna's explanation, I rubbed my hand against the massive iron door. It felt incredibly heavy and solid, giving me the sense that no amount of my strength could budge it.
I couldn't tell if it was meant to keep someone from entering or to prevent something inside from escaping.
Perhaps it was both.
"So this is a space created directly by that Demon King. Could it be related to the Demon King's legacy in some way?"
Maybe there was some secret magical technique left behind by Demon King Angmar. Or perhaps treasures my grandfather had set aside for his descendants.
With half expectation and half curiosity, I asked, but Mirna shook her head briskly.
"No. About thirty years ago, when we took over this place, investigation teams from the Draco family scoured every corner inside, but there was no sign of anything like that."
"I see."
A slight disappointment settled in.
"So what's inside here?"
"Hehe."
Instead of answering my question, Mirna Draco shone the torch over various parts of the massive iron door.
"You'll have to go inside and find out for yourself."
What was this? Why was she being so secretive?
"It's not dangerous or anything, is it?"
"Don't worry about that. The Draco family has thoroughly investigated it and completely controlled all variables."
Completely.
I wondered if humans—short of being gods themselves—could truly claim perfection in their endeavors.
With no choice but to move forward from the entrance, I told Mirna to let me in.
"Then open the door now."
"You do it yourself."
"......?"
For a moment, I thought I'd misheard. She expected me to open this massive hunk of metal?
Of course, there was no lock or any other locking mechanism on the door, but the door itself served as a perfect security measure.
As I mentioned earlier, this enormous iron door—spanning over ten meters side to side, about twenty meters high, and incredibly thick—was like a vault or a fortress wall in its own right.
It wasn't even a swing door; it was the type that used pulleys or something to lift upward from the bottom.
To force it open, you'd probably need siege weapons.
And she expected me to open it on my own.
Testing it out, I slipped my hand under the bottom edge of the iron door and pulled upward with all my might.
"Hnngh—!"
All I felt in my hands was the cold metal and its overwhelming mass and weight.
"How am I supposed to open this?"
I understood that some special method was required to open it—but since I had no idea what that was, I demanded a hint from Mirna Draco.
She chuckled as if it were amusing and replied.
"This door is called the Mage's Door. It's also known as the Circle Door. Solomon named it that himself."
"The Circle Door?"
Instead of answering, Mirna shone the torch along the walls to the left and right of the door. Then, as if the darkness had parted, slanted lines and letters became visible one by one.
It was easy to recognize them as some kind of measuring device.
From the floor up to about my shin—roughly 15 to 30 centimeters—marked I. From my shin to knee, II. From knee to thigh, III. Letters were inscribed in sections like that.
"Shoot some mana at the door," Mirna said.
"You mean cast an attack spell?"
"Yes. Your peculiar wind magic should do the trick."
Following her instructions, I gripped my tail wand and aimed it at the door. Not knowing what might happen, I kept a distance of about two to three meters.
A tense moment, wondering what would occur.
Aiming the tip of my tail, I chanted lightly.
─Fwoooosh─.
Mana flowed from my body's core, tingling through my arms to my fingertips, then surging out the wand's tip.
─Emon—!!!
Bang—!
With a recoil like firing a gun, an invisible air bullet shot out. Its size and shape were about that of a dodgeball.
But its power far surpassed a dodgeball—it was enough to shatter bones if it hit an unprotected person.
The air bullet I fired slammed into the iron door.
Baaaang—!
It rang out like a dodgeball filled with wind bursting apart. But that sound was soon drowned out by even louder noises.
Grooooan—.
The iron door, which hadn't budged until now, began lifting upward, creating space from the bottom.
The gap stopped just above my thigh height. Seeing this, my calm reasoning kicked in.
"Ah, so that's why it's called the Mage's Door."
"Exactly. It detects mana and activates based on its power. Theo Gospel, your magic is somewhere between 3rd and 4th Circle."
If I ducked down, there was enough space for a person to crawl through.
"It won't suddenly drop while we're crawling under, right?"
"It won't. You have about five minutes, so plenty of time."
Five minutes.
More than enough.
"Then let's go in before time runs out."
At Mirna's urging, I bent low and crawled under the door in an undignified scramble. Soon after, Mirna crawled in behind me.
I'd wondered how she would do it, but she just crawled like everyone else.
The sight of a noble lady crawling like a turtle nearly made me laugh, but I held it in, figuring she'd get angry.
"How dare you look down on me, you commoner? Turn your head away at once!"
"Sorry."
Pat, pat-pat.
Mirna Draco brushed the dust off her clothes. Then she shone the torch she held around.
"It's better preserved than I expected. It's been almost a year since I last came in here."
"Is that so?"
Boom.
As the door closed behind me, I slowly took in the surroundings.
The scenery consisted of hard stone walls, corridors, lit torches here and there, and a maze-like structure—that was it.
A dungeon, indeed.
Were there monsters too?
━Grrrraaawr─.
━Graaaaaah─.
Listening closely, I could hear sounds of something else inside besides us. It seemed monsters—or something equivalent—really did live here.
As I gripped my tail wand tighter and heightened my tension, Mirna Draco spoke.
"Then, go on ahead. I won't help you, so you'll have to overcome all problems and difficulties on your own."
* * *
This demon cave had another name: the Labyrinth.
Because its structures twisted together in complex ways like a labyrinth.
"Did he really build this all by himself?"
Walking through what felt like ancient ruins, I questioned Mirna. I couldn't fathom that a single mage had created this massive structure.
"They say Solomon's wisdom and genius couldn't be measured by human standards. A perfect being in every way... I can't imagine why someone like that went mad."
"Yeah, I suppose."
In the original novel, Demon King Solomon Angmar was essentially a plot device.
A deus ex machina element that resolved inexplicable situations or events simply by saying, "Demon King Solomon made it!"
For instance, questions like how one person could build this labyrinth were explained away with, "Because it's Solomon."
It had seemed fine when I read it in the novel. But experiencing it firsthand felt profoundly strange.
Why had such an exceptional mage gone mad?
"I've heard—"
Perhaps bored from walking the labyrinth for so long, Mirna started chattering first.
"I've heard he ruined himself while researching a certain spell."
I'd thought this before, but Mirna had a talkative personality. Living alone in a lonely mansion might make her mouth itch whenever she got a chance to speak.
Treading through an unknown labyrinth where anything could pop out was psychologically taxing, so I humored her conversation appropriately.
"Solomon ruined himself researching magic? Do you know what kind?"
"I've heard it was a spell to manipulate time."
A spell to manipulate time?
Like a time stopwatch?
Did something like that really exist?
"Turning back time or stopping it—does magic like that really exist?"
Mirna shook her head at my question.
"Impossible. If it did, the Demon King wouldn't have been subjugated by your family."
"I see."
Thinking about it, that made sense. If he could control time at will, he wouldn't have been brutally defeated and torn apart by the heroes.
Even reaching the godlike 10th Circle had its limits.
As those thoughts crossed my mind, a rustling sound came from ahead.
Soon, around the corner of the corridor, a bleached-white skeleton emerged toward us.
A skeleton with glowing red eyes.
━Graaaaaah—!
It charged at us the moment it spotted us. How was something made of just bones, without muscles, so fast?
Fortunately, there were a few meters between it and us, so I managed to draw my wand and cast a spell just before it reached me.
Bang—!
Crack, craaaack, thud thud.
The skeleton shattered into countless fragments. Calming my ragged breath, I asked Mirna.
"What is this?"
"These are the dungeon's caretakers. Our family manages them. They resurrect if you revive them, so feel free to take them down as much as you want."
"Ah."
So that's what it meant that the Draco family operated this dungeon.
True to a necromancer lineage, they revived undead themselves to serve as dungeon monsters, letting challengers hunt them for experience points.
━Graaaah—!
━Keeeaak!
Bang, baaaang!
As I felled them, I saw professional mage experience points trickling in—5, 10 at a time—before my eyes.
A total honey pot.
After advancing quite a ways, a door came into view. A massive stone door marked with II—I could guess what that meant.
Stage 2, probably.
"Beyond this, there'll be skeletons armed with clubs and swords waiting. Monsters suitable for 2nd Circle mages and above."
"Is the way to open the door the same as the entrance?"
"Yes."
At Mirna's words, I unleashed my magic at the massive, heavy stone door. Having cast several spells already, I felt a bit dizzy, but I still had some leeway.
Baaaang!
The air bullet hit the stone door, and it groaned as it lifted upward.
The structure and principles behind this place grew more wondrous the deeper we went.
Then, a sudden curiosity struck me.
"How many Circles' worth of rooms are there?"