Chapter 103
Chapter 103
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 103
Chapter Title: Piercing Eye #4
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This demon cave had floors you could enter based on your mage circle level.
The door I had just opened was the 2nd Circle door.
A sudden curiosity struck me.
“How many circle doors does this demon cave have?”
Mirna, who seemed lost in thought while staring at the open door, let out a soft hum before answering in a somewhat unreliable tone.
“As far as I know, there’s up to the 6th Circle door. The 5th Circle door was the last one I found, though.”
“6th Circle, huh…”
“I’ve heard the 6th Circle door only appears to those who’ve acquired some special qualification. But with your skills, Taeo, the 3rd Circle is probably your limit anyway. No need to worry about it.”
“You’re right.”
6th Circle was a distant dream for me right now.
I was already struggling just to deal with the skeleton soldiers in front of me.
━Grrrrowl-.
The skeletons on the 2nd floor were soldiers wielding shields, rusted swords, clubs, and the like.
They formed loose ranks and slowly closed in, surrounding me while keeping their distance. With four or five clustered together, the stone corridors felt utterly cramped and suffocating.
─Paimon-!
I hurled a spell to disrupt their formation.
Unlike the 1st Circle skeletons that shattered in one hit, these ones just lost an arm or leg, or dropped their shields, but never stopped moving.
I tensed up, eyeing the skeleton soldiers lumbering toward me even with missing limbs. Mirna watched me with a satisfied smile.
“The 2nd floor skeleton soldiers were reinforced by Narmi herself.”
“So you’re saying Narmi made all these skeletons?”
“That’s right. My little sister Narmi specializes in Necromancy, while I handle Spirit Possession. We split the specialties like that. The knights on the 3rd floor and the mages on the 4th were all made by Narmi.”
Knights and mages? What were those?
I had no idea, but they sounded terrifying.
“If you make it to the 5th floor, you might even encounter the Death Knights created by my father, Sir Aleister.”
“That sounds scary!”
─Paaaaiiiin-.
I gave a quick reply and dragged out the incantation. At the same time, I felt mana surging fiercely within me.
─Mon!!!
When I judged it fully charged and ended the chant, a massive recoil shot through my arm, followed by the vivid sensation of a bowling-ball-sized air bullet launching forward.
It flew like the wind, scattering the skeleton squad like bowling pins and smashing them to pieces.
Thud!!!
Crunch, craaaack.
「Amazing effect!
Class: Mage level up.
Mage Lv. 7 → Lv. 8
Spell power and success rate greatly increased!」
Nice, I leveled up.
Mage level 8—did that mean 4th Circle?
I’d been putting in some effort, but I wondered if it was okay to level up this easily.
It felt too much like a game character, making me question if I was truly improving.
But the exhilarating rush of mana filling my weary body was undeniable proof of my growth.
“Taking down my sister’s skeleton soldiers all at once like that. It’s a spell rivaling fireballs from battle mages. Faster and simpler, too.”
Mirna spoke as if impressed by my magic. When I vaguely replied, “Is it?” she added, as if baffled.
“It doesn’t seem like an ordinary spell. Definitely a high-circle, advanced one. Where’d you get it? Did you make it yourself?”
Mirna seemed curious about the spell’s origins.
「Paimon: High-circle physical destruction spell. Power and mana cost increase with the caster’s circle.」
In truth, this spell might look underwhelming, but it was a ‘high-circle physical destruction spell’—on par with the necromancy spell Gamigin that had given us so much trouble.
I’d obtained it from the treasure nymph Goldnoy at the nymph gathering. But no way would she believe that, so I decided to brush it off.
“It’s a fairy secret.”
“Fairy secret?”
Mirna furrowed her brow like she’d heard nonsense, then snorted dismissively.
“I get it—you’re not spilling easily. Fine, spells are personal secrets by nature.”
Spells could be top-secret info for mages. They rarely shared them, and others respected that.
Thanks to the secretive nature of magic transmission, I avoided spilling that this was Angmar’s power.
I’d keep claiming it was a nymph secret from now on.
* * *
From the 3rd floor, armored skeletons appeared.
So these were skeleton knights.
Of course, their armor was crude—leather padded over metal plates, nothing like a knight’s shiny plate mail—but wearing it made a huge difference.
─Paimon-!
━Groooan!
The armor made them much harder to destroy. Still, defeating them dropped herbs or bandages as loot. Kinda fun.
Clink.
As I picked up the coins and herbs the skeleton had dropped, I asked Mirna.
“Why do skeleton knights carry herbs?”
“Probably Narmi’s idea. Loot makes them more satisfying to beat.”
“Makes sense.”
Cheerful Narmi might think that way. I suddenly wondered what she was up to now.
“So, what’s Narmi doing right now?”
“…Why do you ask?”
I’d meant it casually, but Mirna bristled like a porcupine. After our smooth chat, it caught me off guard.
Did I ask something I shouldn’t have?
“No particular reason. Sorry if it was rude.”
“…….”
I apologized sincerely, but Mirna still eyed me suspiciously, her mood sour.
The atmosphere turned awkward.
As I fidgeted, Mirna sighed.
“How many more times can you use that strange spell of yours?”
I checked my inner mana.
Total mana around 200. Paimon cost about 10 per use, and I’d cast it 12 times so far, so—
“About five more.”
Originally eight, but for stable use without depletion, five was safer.
But Mirna sounded incredulous.
“Five?”
“Too few?”
“No, anyway—let’s rest a bit. There should be a rest area nearby.”
“Rest area?”
“A place the undead don’t approach.”
Mirna led me somewhere.
She slid her palm along the stone wall, and with a click, a section slid inward like a door.
“A hidden door.”
Perfect for a secret spot or gimmick. Room-sized, like a studio apartment. Torches burned inside, with dry firewood logs and crates everywhere.
Creak.
Opening a wooden crate revealed blankets and preserved rations. A proper shelter.
Splash splash.
A fountain-like basin flowed with visibly clean water.
“Is it safe to drink?”
“Yes. It’ll even recover a bit of mana.”
Slurp.
The water tasted sweet and tangy, like a sports drink. My body, worn from back-to-back spells, started recovering.
A secret spot with a spring and food?
Felt like my own hideout—boyish excitement welled up.
“Are there more secret spots like this?”
“One rest area per floor. That’s all I found after searching.”
“I see.”
Only then did I look around properly.
Black ink-like writing was scrawled on the stone walls, but illegible.
“Someone scribbled something.”
“They say it’s King Solomon’s records. No idea what it says, though.”
“The Demon King’s?”
Mirna’s explanation made me look closer. If it was his records, did he stay here?
My grandfather, Taeo Gospel’s.
Hard to feel real.
Curious what it said, but the squiggly, cryptic letters looked like code. As I traced them with my palm, Mirna said.
“Letters created by King Solomon. Probably only he could read them. Lots of them in this demon cave.”
“I see.”
Too bad I couldn’t read it. Then I remembered my eyes could decipher various scripts.
So I focused and activated my mystical magic, 《Clairvoyance》.
Whoooosh.
Straining my eyes, a bizarre sight unfolded.
The squiggles that looked like doodles began wriggling like earthworms, forming proper letters.
「3rd Floor. Leader. Watcher. Strong magic resistance. Intense gaze. Vulnerable to physical weaknesses.」
But the fragmented words made no sense.
As I frowned, my eyes spotted a handprint-like mark on the wall.
Like someone dipped their palm in ink and pressed it there. Drawn by it, I overlaid my hand on the print.
Slide.
Amazingly, my palm matched the print’s size and shape perfectly.
What’s this?
As I wondered—
Rumbleeeee-.
The area shook like it was collapsing. The ground quaked, a massive roar deafening my ears.
“What did you do? What just happened, Taeo Gospel!”
Mirna panicked in a very uncharacteristic way—she clearly hadn’t expected this.
The rest area wall lifted slowly from bottom to top, revealing a new space. No helping the surprise.
“A corridor?”
As Mirna said, it was a corridor.
Torches lined both sides.
At the end loomed darkness. My half-fairy senses detected something lurking there.
A dangerous, eerie presence hiding its claws, watching me from the shadows.
Shiver.
Goosebumps rose as I realized this odd rest area’s true nature.
─It was a prep room before the boss room!