Chapter 113: The White Lion
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 113: The White Lion
“My god…”
Isilof witnessed the shocking scene with his own eyes.
Inside the Ethereal Lake, the White Lion had, astoundingly, used a scroll to summon the Lord of the Magic Tower.
A scroll containing Tier 8 magic?
He had never seen one himself, and had only heard rumors of them a few times.
“Professor!”
Dalstream, having met his worst possible counter inside the Ethereal Lake, was on the verge of death, and no one on the ground had any way to save him.
“Caleb?”
But then, the student thrown with monstrous strength by the Monk suddenly entered the Ethereal Lake. Right in front of Dalstream.
That look on the White Lion’s face.
I’d seen it somewhere before.
Ah.
It was the look of a burnt-out senior manager at my old company after being passed over for promotion yet again.
[Underwater Breathing Scroll]
The way he pulled the scroll from his palm was also similar to that manager pulling out a cigarette on the rooftop.
“Hoo. That’s better.”
Tearing the scroll, the White Lion let out a sigh like a puff of cigarette smoke.
The magic supplied oxygen directly to the lungs via mana, bypassing all physical and physiological phenomena like water pressure or gas exchange in the alveoli.
“You… what do you think you’re doing?”
The monster’s somewhat irritated eyes stared me down.
To be honest, just being stuck in here was suffocating.
Tap!
I quickly sidled up next to Professor Dalstream and linked my arm with his.
As if to say, go on, try and kill us.
“These scrolls are already activated.”
The hand holding the scrolls was trembling.
Focus.
Act nonchalant with every fiber of your being.
“They just haven’t gone off because there wasn’t a corpse nearby. If I die, they’ll all detonate in my hand.”
Because they were now in contact with a corpse.
My hand would be blown to smithereens.
The resulting shockwave would kill me, but my torso would probably remain intact.
Because the electrostatic coat was active.
I could be resurrected after that.
The worst that could happen to me in this lake was dying once and falling when the spherical prison burst.
After that, the professors would take care of me. I could survive.
However.
“You can’t escape the explosion. You’re trapped inside the Ethereal Lake.”
In technical terms, he was pinned.
“Won’t the lake be destroyed if the professor dies?”
“You’ll be caught in the blast before you can escape the lake.”
“I still won’t die.”
“Oh, you will.”
I gestured toward the ground with my chin.
Down below, Meldini and Isilof were aiming their wands at the White Lion.
They couldn’t attack recklessly, lest they accidentally destroy Dalstream’s lake. Not by hitting Dalstream, but simply by applying too much magical force to the lake itself.
That’s why the professors were watching from below.
But if the White Lion were injured and fell, they would attack immediately.
If the White Lion was such an absurd monster that he could win even in that situation, he wouldn’t need to run the Assembly from the shadows. And if that were the case, Sohen would already be finished.
‘He’s strong, but not so strong that the Deep Layer adventurers can’t beat him if they team up.’
The fact that his Assembly had been keeping a wary eye on Blackdog, maintaining a mutual check, and the fact that they’d resorted to that ridiculous scheme using Maria to assassinate Dalstream—it all pointed to the limits of his power.
He was obviously Deep Layer-level. Probably stronger than a ‘Deep Layer Exit Boss.’ But Sohen’s full military might could handle him.
“Isn’t that why you stopped the Lord of the Magic Tower?”
Indeed, the Lord of the Magic Tower was still just watching us, unmoving.
The White Lion scratched his cheek.
“Caleb.”
Dalstream’s voice came from behind me.
“You were curious about the flags in the Inter-floor Villages, weren’t you?”
“Yes.”
“That creature is the lord of the 9.5th floor.”
Damn, he came from far away.
“And… he was the king of a distant ancient kingdom. He offered his entire kingdom to the Labyrinth.”
“What?”
“That is what became the Inter-floor Village of the 9.5th floor.”
Professor Dalstream’s main field of study was ancient history.
He was a researcher who scoured ancient texts and stone monuments, searching for traces of a past now faint in the records.
In his writings, this world was largely divided into three eras.
The first was the Age of Myths.
In the distant past, transcendent beings lived together on this land. Not only the gods we are familiar with now, like Wizus, Nathaniel, and Sanfriel, but also gods whose names have been lost.
But this era came to an end when most of those gods were devoured by the Labyrinth, and the rest fled beyond the Ethereal Galaxy.
And the second era: the Age of the Nine Kings.
At a time when even the traces of the devoured or departed transcendent beings were fading, numerous kings rose on the surface, vying for supremacy and using the Labyrinth to increase their power.
The power of the gods devoured by the Labyrinth was occasionally offered through fountains of blessing. The Labyrinth’s treasure rooms provided the weapons needed for war.
And some kings went so far as to deal directly with the Labyrinth Master.
They offered everything in their kingdoms to the Labyrinth—all their lands, buildings, treasures, and even their people.
What they received in return was the mighty power of the gods the Labyrinth had consumed.
“The God of Gifts and Scrolls.”
Though the name had now vanished, Dalstream knew of the god’s existence.
“That is the power that monster gained in exchange for his kingdom.”
Holy shit.
Then does that mean guys like the Dagger Raptor, the Gourmet Whale, and the Spider Doctor also…?
“There’s a slight correction to be made.”
The White Lion spoke.
“The others never dealt directly with the Labyrinth Master. They went through me.”
The corners of the lion’s mouth curled up gently, filled with pride and confidence.
“I am the first son, newly born from the Labyrinth.”
Something important came to mind.
A phrase that sent a chill down my spine, looking back on it now.
‘Living sacrifices.’
That’s what Bipa and Mugol had called the possessors in the Inter-floor Village.
What the hell were those bastards preparing?
“Caleb.”
Dalstream gently pulled on my shoulder.
“I’m grateful that you helped me overcome this crisis, but this is not a place for you to fight.”
The professor gripped the Corpse Explosion scrolls in my hand.
“Give them to me. I’ll send you down.”
Honestly, I wanted to just hand them over and get out of here.
But if that was all I was going to do, there would have been no reason to risk my life coming up here in the first place.
I wanted to buy time with the Corpse Explosion, and if the cooldown for Dalstream’s Ethereal Lake form change was up…
“Professor. Change it to the Wave Whip form.”
If that thing can use ethereal magic, this spherical prison is a self-defeating move.
It would be better for all three of us to go down and get backup from the professors, and for the lake to be changed into a different form for attacking…
“You.”
The White Lion pulled a scroll from his palm.
“Do you really think you can protect the professor with something like a Corpse Explosion scroll?”
No. Wait a minute…
Isn’t this just too much?
[Ethereal Lake Scroll]
“I’ll just make my own Ethereal Lake and use it to get out of here.”
It was possible. Like an amoeba dividing by binary fission, the White Lion would escape.
And…
“You will die here with the professor in the explosion.”
The Lord of the Magic Tower raised his greatsword.
The concepts of Tier 1 Wizard, Tier 2 Wizard, and so on are determined by whether the spell slot for that tier has been opened in one’s Memory Book.
For example, Caleb, who had an open Tier 2 spell slot, was a Tier 2 Wizard.
But didn’t he possess the Tier 3 Hailstorm?
That didn’t count. Because Bound Grimoires were not included in this tier system.
This was because the concept of binding grimoires didn’t exist in the old days. Still, there was a need to classify wizards even back then, so they were categorized based on their spellbook slots.
So, in the end, the highest tier for a wizard was Tier 7.
Meldini, Isilof, and Dalstream were all Tier 7.
Therefore, Isel, a Tier 5 Wizard, was…
“Living Flame.”
The Tier 6 Bound Grimoire, the <Book of Firestorm>.
The flame, said to possess the greatest pure destructive power among all known spells of Tier 6 and below, erupted from the tip of her wand and moved between the monsters as if it were alive.
Boom! Kaboom!
It caused fiery explosions wherever it touched.
“Clorence!”
And that magic had good synergy with her younger brother’s.
“Living Plague!”
The Tier 4 Bound Grimoire, the <Book of Pestilence>.
The ground moved as if tens of thousands of snakes were writhing just beneath the surface. What flowed was ‘disease’ itself, but it was accompanied by physical force.
Swoosh!
When something like a tree trunk shot up from the ground, dark green smoke billowed out.
The plague had the ability to bind targets, was highly flammable, and had the property of exploding when ignited.
KABOOM!
The wizard siblings began to suppress the area near the Public Security Headquarters, effectively destroying even high-floor monsters. It was at that moment that Isel received the note.
Pop!
The message that appeared before her eyes was from the Assembly.
[This is Chihuahua. Stop, Isel.]
“…”
For a moment, Isel’s body froze.
She took out the Message Transmission Wand from her belt and touched its tip to the note sent by Chihuahua.
“Message Transmission.”
The target was Chihuahua.
Replying with the received note was a way of confirming the sender’s identity.
Normally, message transmission magic required knowing the target’s name and face, but the Assembly had other means.
“What are you doing in the middle of a battle!”
Clorence shouted.
“J-Just a moment.”
Pop!
Another message arrived.
[Do not interfere with the White Lion.]
“…”
Isel bit her lip hard.
“D… damn it…”
“Isel!”
Edward yelled as he struck down a Demon Sentry.
The battle was still raging.
“…”
“L-Look over there!”
One of the constables shouted.
Inside the Ethereal Lake floating in the sky, another Ethereal Lake was being created.
“What is that…”
Even the professors had never seen such a strange phenomenon.
“Caleb!”
Meldini decided she needed to change her plan.
“This is no time to wait for Professor Dalstream to retract his lake.”
Isilof felt the same.
“Positive Charge Bullet!”
He fired a magic bullet at the White Lion.
Zzzzzap!
And Isel tore up Chihuahua’s note.
“Living Flame.”
She had defied the Assembly’s order.
“Caleb!”
Constable Neko scrambled up onto the collapsed rubble of the annex.
Aimus and Yernil were there. Back Attack was nowhere to be seen.
“W-What happened! Why is Caleb up there?”
She grabbed the two of them and shouted.
“Caleb… asked to be thrown.”
Aimus said.
“He said he could protect the professor.”
“…”
Neko was extremely anxious.
“D-Don’t you think it’s not going well…?”
She glanced at Yernil.
The cheerful elf archer was looking up at the sky, fidgeting restlessly.
“Where did Back Attack go?”
“Caleb asked him to do something…”
“I’m right here.”
No sooner were the words spoken than Back Attack climbed up the debris.
And from the direction of the main building’s plaza…
KABOOM!
An intense magic bullet shot up into the sky. The same magic from Isilof that could pierce through the walls of the structurally transformed dormitory was now aimed at the White Lion.
The White Lion wasn’t hit by the bullet.
The monster from the Labyrinth had been wary of the professors on the ground even while creating his Ethereal Lake, and had pulled out another scroll the moment Isilof began his incantation.
‘I see.’
And in that moment, I understood something important.
The instant the White Lion defended himself, the limit of that absurd, Doraemon-like pouch of scrolls was revealed.
[Breakwater of Wisdom]
That Tier 7 defensive magic was excellent, but it wasn’t enough to block the Positive Charge Bullet.
The bullet ultimately pierced the breakwater, and the White Lion blocked it with his claws.
He barely managed to block it because the breakwater had reduced its power, but he had come close to taking damage, which would have broken his concentration and caused his own lake to disappear.
‘But why did he use that?’
He had already used two Tier 8 spells, so why, in a moment of crisis, did he pull out the Breakwater instead of a Tier 8 defensive spell?
‘He can’t pull out a Tier 8 magic scroll.’