Chapter 35
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 35
Chapter Title: Into the 7th Floor Labyrinth
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He could have spoken sarcastically as usual, but this time, he didn't.
The necromancers had slipped into the 7th floor of the Capital Dungeon.
The Capital Dungeon was currently open only up to the 5th floor, mainly because the difficulty spiked dramatically starting from the 6th.
The key to this operation was stealth and speed.
The royal family had divided the subjugation force into two units.
Unit 1 was the annihilation squad, led by Duke Berli.
Unit 2 was the tracking squad, tasked with rescuing the kidnapped heirs of House Vidar and providing intel.
Naturally, I was with the annihilation squad.
The surprising part was Marquis Vidar.
He knew full well that the annihilation squad offered the greater glory, yet he volunteered for the tracking squad.
A cold-blooded man who would cast aside even his own child for the family's sake.
But right now, he seemed oddly different from that image.
Perhaps fatherly instincts had awakened now that his son was in peril.
I had no idea about the details, nor did I care.
Since the location was the Capital Dungeon, they couldn't send in a massive army, so the royals had gathered elite forces for a single, decisive strike.
While the annihilation squad pushed forward, the tracking squad would take a different path to rescue the hostages.
That was likely why Sword Master Duke Berli had stepped up.
The problem was where the enemies' trail had gone cold.
Their tracks led all the way to the underground 7th floor.
The Capital Dungeon was generally open around the clock up to the 5th floor, but from the 6th onward, it was practically a danger zone.
Vastly wider than the 5th, rugged terrain, deadly monsters.
That's why the dungeon administrators usually prohibited descent below the 6th floor.
Yet these guys had not only breached the 6th but penetrated to the 7th, and they even knew the safe zones of this notoriously hazardous layer.
"So you're saying there are people inside the royal family colluding with them?"
"That's the suspicion."
As I traveled with Duke Berli and reached the 7th floor, I could clearly sense the dungeon's atmosphere was entirely different.
A stench of death I'd never felt up to the 5th floor. Lingering traces of dense mana.
Monsters inhabiting this place had to be extremely dangerous.
In fact, the Shadow Wraith Wolves lurking in the shadows had been growling lowly in alert for a while now.
"Tense?"
"No."
"Good. You must have some hidden aces up your sleeve. The princess and most others underestimate you, but I see you differently."
A mere 2nd-circle mage couldn't reach the 5th floor of a dungeon to begin with.
"Even so, you don't grasp how dangerous this place is. If anything happens, hold your position no matter what."
That was the extent of his advice for the dungeon depths.
There wasn't much for me to do getting to the 7th floor.
Focused on shaking off pursuit and fleeing, they apparently hadn't had time to set traps along the way.
But if that were all, Princess Bata wouldn't have gone so far as to offer the mine just to recruit me.
"This is it."
"Ah."
No sooner had we entered the 7th floor than a massive labyrinth sprawled out before us.
And its entrance was sealed tight by powerful magic.
Farrell Berli, who had arrived ahead to investigate, spotted me and widened his eyes with a bright smile.
"Brother! You're here!"
Farrell had been dispatched as part of the vanguard—a tiny team of specialists scouting the path ahead of both the tracking and subjugation squads.
"See these entrances?"
He gestured around as he explained.
The 7th floor resembled a giant maze, with multiple paths visible right from the entry point. But only the one where Farrell stood showed traces of strange magic.
"This entrance leads to the safe route, but the necromancers blocked it off to halt our pursuit. The mages rushed in to dismantle the barrier, but..."
"But?"
"No matter what we tried, we couldn't counter it. Breaking it by force risks triggering a massive explosion."
After the curse incident, they must have anticipated something like this.
As for the royal necromancers being incompetent? That was debatable.
The enemies' magic was simply more sophisticated than the royal necromancers'.
In such a situation, they needed someone like me who could exploit those gaps.
Indeed, the three necromancers here couldn't hide their bewilderment.
Well, if I'd accepted their help, it was time to earn my keep.
I scattered necromantic mana and infused my power into the trap magic circle.
As expected, the security was laughably poor.
Brute force or standard dispelling would trigger the embedded magic like a time bomb.
The solution was simple, then.
In an instant, arrays of magic script invisible to others flooded my vision.
And then.
KABOOM!!!!
I overwrote the code forcibly, hacking it.
Hm, this magic setup is actually pretty solid.
I paused my work and glanced at Duke Berli.
"Is... something wrong?"
"No, nothing like that. I just hijacked the spell, but is it okay if I tweak it as I please?"
"What?"
He stared at me in disbelief.
The mages looked the same.
"You mean..."
"We can modify it so only we can pass through, trapping the necromancers inside. It'll take a little time, though. Shall I?"
"Uh... y-yes, please. Even if it takes a while, if it'll serve as a solid trap..."
The duke nodded vigorously, still incredulous despite seeing it with his own eyes.
Permission granted. Time to customize.
This magic was mine now.
I could do whatever I wanted with it.
With a wave of my hand, the spell began reshaping to my whims.
The watching mages—or necromancers—shifted from puzzlement to shock, then outright astonishment.
About a minute later.
As the faint necromantic mana I'd scattered dissipated, they tilted their heads.
"What's wrong? Trouble?"
"It's done."
"Huh? But you said it would take a while..."
"Yeah, it did. A whole minute."
Hijacking a spell for a full minute on the battlefield?
Only if you had a death wish.
It'd be far more efficient to just slam attacks home in that time.
If I'd recovered to at least 6th-circle realm, this dispel and overhaul wouldn't have taken three seconds.
In the heavy silence, countless gazes fixed on me.
The most intense came from the necromancers, without a doubt.
"Young Master Leon! Could you show us that one more time?"
"Good heavens... Hijacking and modifying such intricate magic in just one minute?"
"How... How can a human brain perform that kind of computational override?"
"Do you know what method you used? No, forget that—come to my place sometime and let's have an in-depth discussion about this spell..."
Did these guys forget we were in the middle of a subjugation op?
I knew mages lost their minds at the sight of good magic.
Heck, I'd collapsed myself fighting magic-type monsters a few times.
But it wasn't just the necromancers.
Elemental mages were cut from the same cloth, and they looked equally eager to grill me.
Among them, the one with the twinkliest eyes was Farrell Berli, the duke's son.
Of course, whatever scheme brewed in his head, his father wouldn't allow it.
"Leon, any other spells nearby?"
"Nothing visible right now. We can enter, but stay cautious—there might be more traps. And if I'm right, they still don't know we've stolen their magic."
At least, watching pinnacle necromantic arts, there was no new way for foes to detect this.
Spotting it would've required one extra formula.
We held overwhelming surprise advantage now.
Duke Berli, who understood that perfectly, drew his sword without delay.
"They lead with undead, then harass with dark magic. But fear not. If we stick to our preparations, they'll be no issue."
Shing!! Clang!!
He scanned the knights drawing their blades in unison.
"Farrell Berli."
"Yes, Father."
"Stick with Leon and follow at a measured pace. Watch for any hidden trap spells."
Farrell nodded at the order.
"Yes."
"We advance."
With that, the mages and knights, auras subdued, surged into the breach as one.
Might as well snag some of their undead while we're at it.
Undead maintained by these necromancers would naturally differ in quality from my own.
I didn't expect theirs to be in perfect shape, but tweaks would fix that.
I pondered as we went.
The safe route through the 7th floor labyrinth was wider and more convoluted than previous safe paths.
In other words, plenty of spots to hide—shelters, resting areas, and the like.
The Capital Dungeon, like all such places, had safe routes per floor where monsters neither appeared nor entered.
Who built these dungeons, and where did the monsters even come from?
Countless scholars had swarmed them, but the consensus was that the mystery wouldn't unravel until someone breached the deep layers.
That trivia wasn't the point anyway.
"Wha—what?!"
Splat!!!
One necromancer scouting with a horde of undead screamed briefly before his head tumbled free.
For them, who firmly believed the entrance seal would hold, it was a crushing blunder.
Duke Berli's subjugation squad cleaved the heads from every necromancer they encountered.
The tracking squad rescuing Goldseon while pursuing foes, and the annihilation squad slaughtering enemies on sight—it showcased the full might of the royal knights and mages.
"Oh. This one's salvageable."
The body maintenance was a mess, but occasionally, the base spirit in the undead was decent.
I collected them like a necromancer unboxing a graveyard.
As expected, these necromancers had some skill, but their security was abysmal.
Even if it weren't, my necromantic mana's dominance stemmed not from mere 5th-circle level, but from pinnacle arts honed in the arena.