Chapter 119: Wisdom of the Abyss
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 119: Wisdom of the Abyss
“Would you mind getting out of the way?”
Meldini had wasted far too much time on these irritating enemies.
They were a duo of mages wearing ridiculous mascot heads.
A man and a woman, one with the face of a balding yeti, the other a face like a bitten apple.
“Of course not. Sorry!”
The duo refused to engage Meldini or Isilof directly.
Instead, they stalled for time.
How?
With a Jester’s Spell Scramble.
It was the same magic the marauder Sally had once used on Caleb. A Tier 2 mental spell that, for a set duration, caused any combat magic cast by the target to manifest as a random utility spell.
Of course, this kind of disabling magic should only work on a novice like Caleb. Meldini and Isilof, with their high Wisdom stats, should have been able to resist it.
However…
[Spire of Chaos]
The bitten apple had used a scroll to summon an 8-tier magic spire, which was fitted with an amplifying lens.
A hundred-meter radius of chaos.
The Jester’s Spell Scramble was amplified by the lens, affecting the entire chaos zone.
This included not only Isilof and Meldini but also the bitten apple and the balding yeti.
They were disabling their opponents, even if it meant they couldn't use magic themselves.
This wasn't for combat.
It was to wreak havoc.
“Let’s all have a nice little chat, Professors.”
The yeti plopped right down on the floor.
‘This is bad.’
Isilof immediately saw through their strategy.
They were members of the magic university.
Hadn’t Krom said as much? He’d called the White Lion a ‘university professor.’
The White Lion had more party members.
So these mages had come here in disguise, using a Tier 2 disruption spell and scrolls they likely received from the White Lion.
Why?
Because using high-tier magic would reveal their identities.
For example, the only mage in the entire university who could use Ethereal Lake was Dalstream.
Certain spells were as good as an ID card.
To avoid revealing themselves, the enemy had completely upended the battlefield.
“Isilof.”
Meldini nudged his partner in the side.
“Yes.”
“That explosion we heard earlier. Is it safe to assume that was a Corpse Explosion Scroll?”
“…I believe so.”
The halfling professor’s expression grew increasingly grim.
“You two.”
He leveled his wand and advanced menacingly toward the apple and the yeti.
“If you’re from the university, you should know what I’m like.”
The professor growled threateningly.
“If Professor Dalstream or Caleb are dead or injured right now, I will find you.”
“…”
“I don’t care if Lie Detection Magic is illegal. You know that, don’t you? I’ll interrogate the entire university if I have to, find you, and kill you…”
RUMBLE!
Suddenly, the ground began to shake.
The floor, ceiling, and walls started to move. The concrete and steel were returning to their original positions.
‘The structural transformation is reversing!’
All four mages simultaneously looked up.
“Looks like the White Lion is done.”
The Assembly members couldn’t even imagine that the White Lion might have been defeated.
“Shall we head back?”
The two of them each pulled a scroll from their pockets, ones the White Lion had given them earlier. Before any operation, the Assembly always shared Designated Coordinate Transfer Scrolls and regrouped at a predetermined location.
“Where the hell do you think you’re going, you bastards!”
Meldini roared in frustration, but he was powerless against the spell disruption cast by the Spire of Chaos.
Scrolls were also affected by the disruption, but…
Zip!
Designated Coordinate Transfer was a utility spell.
The bitten apple and the balding yeti vanished.
“Let’s get outside the spire’s range.”
Isilof calmed the infuriated Meldini.
Now that the structural transformation had been undone, the spire’s room was no longer a sealed chamber.
“I think Caleb is over there.”
The structural transformation was reversing.
That meant one of two things: the caster was either incapacitated to the point of being knocked out, or they were dead.
It could also be undone if the distance became too great, but the distance from the Public Security Headquarters to the Labyrinth Union staircase wasn't that far, and the caster was the White Lion, so…
‘Got him.’
Nimue and Rococo were both Deep Layer adventurers. Against a near-death White Lion, they might have even been overkill.
“What just happened?”
Back Attack looked around, bewildered.
Right.
From his perspective, it must have looked like two mages put on a superconductivity show, then the White Lion grabbed a scroll, touched Dalstream, and vanished alone.
“I used the stair scroll you gave me to send the White Lion to the stair room.”
Suddenly, Aimus collapsed to the floor.
“Hoo.”
He let out a deep exhale.
“I really… I really thought I was going to die this time.”
“Yernil actually came pretty close,” Back Attack said.
Even though they had won, neither of them seemed particularly thrilled.
“I’ve faced countless strong enemies before, but this one was on a completely different level.”
Aimus was right.
It wasn’t an exaggeration to say he was an opponent completely out of our league.
Even Deep Layer adventurers had struggled against him.
It was a good thing the corpse explosion and the scroll swap had all worked out.
And we managed to protect Dalstream… too…
Huh?
“Professor?”
Dalstream was holding his wand to his chest, chanting.
An intense ethereal energy was erupting from the archmage’s body. Its brilliant sapphire light shimmered throughout the room.
“What…”
Why are you fighting now?
No.
What are you fighting?
“Professor!”
Dalstream had the special ability ‘Arcane Sight,’ and right now, I didn’t have the Watcher or Yernil.
Dalstream had found something our party, with its detection abilities gone, had failed to notice.
What in the world could it be…?
“Mass Ethereal Ejection!”
He was ejecting us?
“Was I even needed?”
Rococo, the former cardinal of the Sanfriel temple, gazed at the monster who had been captured more easily than expected.
According to Krom, this was the demon who had committed the massacre in the Blackdog district twelve years ago, the leader of the Assembly, and a creature more alien and powerful than any monster in the Labyrinth.
But the creature before them was already on the brink of death.
“Looks like Caleb didn’t expect him to show up at the stairs this beaten up.”
“Did Krom do this to him?”
“If he did, that severed right arm wasn’t caused by an axe.”
As Nimue and Rococo spoke,
“Aren’t…”
The monster’s lips, blue from the cold, trembled.
“Aren’t you… going to kill me?”
The White Lion was completely frozen from his toes to just below his chin.
“Just killing you wouldn’t be profitable.”
Nimue poked the White Lion’s cheek with the tip of her wand.
“You have to take responsibility for the casualties, the damaged buildings, and the economic losses from this incident. What value is there in your death?”
“…You’re insane. What if my comrades come to rescue me?”
“They’ll fail. Hasn’t your plan already failed completely? Just look at you. What difference would a few Assembly mages make?”
“The Assembly…?”
Suddenly, the White Lion burst out laughing.
“Khahahaha!”
He choked on a mouthful of blood and coughed violently, but a grin remained plastered on his face.
“You’re gravely mistaken about something, Frostian. I may have planned the operation as a field agent, but the Master is the one who holds the knife. His will cannot be broken by the resistance of mortals.”
“What?”
“And how could the likes of the Assembly maces ever be my comrades? Are you mistaken about my identity? I have only one true colleague.”
The White Lion said.
“The Labyrinth.”
From the very beginning of this war, I’d had two major anxieties.
First, if the White Lion was operating this openly, what was the Assembly’s position? Was this his solo act, with the Assembly as bystanders? Or was the Assembly helping him?
This question was crucial. It determined whether our enemies were just the White Lion and some monsters from the Labyrinth, or if we were also fighting the entire faction known as the Assembly.
So I asked Isel.
Isel said she knew nothing about it. I was suspicious of her answer at first, but now I trust her completely.
Why?
When Yernil was incapacitated, the Hourglass suggested I replace my subordinate companion and recommended Isel (Trust 100%).
If Isel trusted and relied on me as much as Yernil did, her testimony was likely true.
Of course, there was the issue that she was a low-ranking member of the Assembly and not a Possessor.
But for now, the fight with the White Lion itself had been so difficult that the question of the Assembly’s involvement had been pushed to the back of my mind.
The second problem, however, had no clues to its answer.
All I could do was pray.
‘Was the White Lion the only Floor Lord to have emerged from the Labyrinth?’
That question had haunted me for a very long time.
And now, I had my answer.
“Dagger Raptor…”
It had the head of an eagle, like Horus from Egyptian mythology.
And like the god from the myths, it had a sturdy, copper-toned body and limbs. At a glance, it truly looked like a scene from an Egyptian temple mural.
Except this monster had enormous wings.
Wings where every one of the tens of thousands of feathers was a dagger.
Massive wings of jet-black daggers.
“Things seemed to be going badly, so I convened the Assembly and came to help out myself.”
The monster spoke.
“Where’s the White Lion? All I see is some old man.”
“The White Lion was likely captured in the stair room by Deep Layer adventurers.”
“That stupid bastard. I knew it when he insisted on doing this alone without my help. A complete and utter defeat.”
The Dagger Raptor clicked its beak in anger.
“But what happened to the brats who were here just a moment ago?”
“I sent them away.”
He had.
Dalstream’s Mass Ethereal Ejection seemed to have blasted Aimus and Back Attack outside the building.
“The mage named Caleb, too?”
“Yes. Of course.”
That was a lie.
I hadn’t been ejected from the building. Instead, the place I was now…
‘On top of the air vent!’
Dalstream had sent the other two away and placed me up here.
I could guess the reason why.
When we escaped the Ethereal Lake and came down. When we found the injured Yernil.
The professor had stared at the shredded pieces of paper on the floor.
‘That was his thesis.’
The old professor had figured something important out, and he had lost the means to convey it.
Don’t tell me that’s why…
“He’s a student far too precious to die now. Of course I had to send him away.”
“…”
“Dagger Raptor.”
A clatter echoed from the floor.
The professor had dropped his wand.
As if he had no intention of resisting.
Instead, he asked a question.
“When will the Labyrinth reveal its true form?”
“…”
“It will be soon, won’t it? Soon, the Labyrinth plans to disgorge everything from the 1st Floor to the Abyss. The 1st basement floor will become the 1st above-ground floor, and the 10th basement floor will become the 10th above-ground floor. Am I wrong? The Labyrinth will invert everything beneath the ground to build a tower.”
What the fuck is this now?
“That tower will reach the Ethereal Galaxy, but it will be missing one final ‘stair.’ Correct? The 10.5th Floor.”
“…”
“You intend to offer this entire continent to the Labyrinth to create it. Once you secure that final stair, the Labyrinth Master will step on it and finally ascend to the Ethereal Galaxy, where he will devour the rest of the gods he couldn’t eat, like Wizus, Nathaniel, and Sanfriel.”
The eagle plucked a single dagger feather.
“Indeed.”
It strode toward Dalstream.
“You know too much.”
“As I thought…”
Dalstream smiled faintly.
The old professor’s shoulders trembled.
“I was not wrong.”
Fuck.
“When everyone else believed the Labyrinth was a blessing, providing adventurers with necessary treasures, I knew something was wrong.”
Wait.
[Turn-Based Hourglass Time Remaining: 10 seconds]
Only ten seconds left.
No.
Even if I turn it back, can I save him?
“Like an Isaacberry rooted in barren soil, it is a demon that lures everything that approaches with its sweet scent, only to devour it.”
Think. Think. Think.
Think. He’s not dead yet.
[Turn-Based Hourglass Time Remaining: 3 seconds]
Think!
What do I have right now?
The Designated Coordinate Transfer Scroll leading to the dean’s office had fallen to the floor. I dropped it during the Ethereal Ejection.
“And the Possessors are champions brought by the gods of the Ethereal Galaxy from worlds beyond the galaxy.”
Other than that, Superconductivity, Lightning Shock, Psychokinesis, and the message-sending wand.
A few Tier 1, 2, and 3 spells.
“They are trying to stop the Labyrinth Master from building his tower on the surface through them. Because this is the last chance.”
Dust Explosion, Heatwave, Cumulonimbus, Hailstorm.
“An excellent deduction, Archmage.”
Frost Ray, Hot Wind, Static Coat.
The Hourglass’s cooldown was already over.
But there was no way.
“Your wisdom has reached the Abyss.”
No strategy came to mind.
Even if I flipped the Hourglass, there was nothing I could do with 6 Action Points to save Dalstream from that monster.
“I am honored.”
The archmage closed his eyes.
The demon’s dagger pierced his neck.