Chapter 214: The Emperor and the Wizard
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 214: The Emperor and the Wizard
“Yernil. Do you sense anyone else nearby?”
Caleb asked Yernil this before leaving for his duel with the White Lion.
“Sense anyone? Who?”
“The Halfling Prime Minister.”
The Shark had dragged the half-dead Halfling Prime Minister all the way to the 8th-floor altar.
Why would he do that?
Altars are usually for sacrificing someone to summon something.
That left two possibilities.
Either he planned to sacrifice the Halfling Prime Minister, or he planned to use other sacrifices to do something to the Halfling Prime Minister.
“Or it could have been both.”
It was possible.
The Compass of Greed was both the subject of the primitive altar's ritual and a sacrifice itself. Wasn't that why its original form vanished, transforming it into a sphere with a needle that spun 360 degrees?
Just as the compass was reborn, perhaps the Halfling Prime Minister could have been reborn as well.
Sacrifice a horde of Primitive Spearmen, immerse the Halfling's body in the fountain, and perform a massive overhaul.
“He might have been trying to create an Inter-floor Lord.”
That was Caleb's guess. At the time, the Shark seemed to be protecting the Halfling while fighting the Lancer.
“But since we burned up all the Primitive Spearmen for the compass, the Shark couldn't get what he wanted.”
So what did the Shark, who had a temporary truce with the Lancer, do with the Halfling?
He wouldn't have just left him among the Primitive Spearmen on the 8th floor, right?
And with the Vortex Orb stolen, he would have been pressed for time to go back to the 7th floor.
If he brought him to the 9.5th floor, where would he have put him?
-
“The Sanctuary of Souls.”
Aimus said.
“Caleb guessed he'd be there.”
It was where the ossuaries of the Inter-floor Village were kept. The village sentinels rarely went in or out. Only the Sanctuary Administrator entered occasionally to place an ossuary on a shelf.
“A sharp one, indeed.”
The Shark nodded.
“His guess was right. I left the Halfling brat in the Sanctuary of Souls.”
“Where is the sanctuary?” Aimus asked.
The Inter-floor Village was so vast that it would be difficult to pinpoint the location of the Sanctuary of Souls quickly.
“What do you need to know for?”
“So we can retrieve him after we kill you. We can't just leave an injured adventurer alone in the Labyrinth.”
“Insolent.”
The Shark grinned, revealing his serrated teeth.
“You think you can take me on without that wizard?”
“…”
“You're not even Deep Layer adventurers. Just a bunch of brats who were struggling against the Glutton not long ago. You trust that spider bastard that much?”
The Shark said, loading magic gunpowder into his main cannon and gesturing toward the Spider Doctor with his chin.
“I think they trust Caleb, not me.”
“Caleb? That wizard is being reckless. Taking on the White Lion alone?”
The Shark said.
“You tell them, Eulparyeong. Who the White Lion is.”
He was once the man who stood at the pinnacle of all magic on the continent.
The Wizard King.
A title like that wasn't given to just anyone. Since the White Lion, no one has received such a title.
Archmage Dalstream?
Even he is laughable before the wisdom and experience of the Wizard King.
He is a master of all magic.
But he blossomed once more from there, transforming into the natural enemy of all wizards.
The White Lion is a rogue who knows magic better than any wizard.
“He even has tens of thousands of years of experience. And what's Caleb? Twenty, thirty years old? He's only been using magic for a few years at most.”
The Shark said.
“And with that, you talk about him being a genius, about his possessor knowledge, about whatever talent he has.”
He scoffed.
“The White Lion isn't someone you can challenge with trivial things like that. He and I aren't on good terms, but I'll give credit where it's due. That bastard ended the era of the Nine Kings. Not just anyone becomes the Labyrinth Master's right-hand man. What do you think, Eulparyeong?”
“…”
“See? You can't even answer.”
The Shark said.
“The truth is, even he knows. He knows your wizard is going to die a dog's death against the White Lion.”
“Shut up!”
Yernil fired her bow.
Blowgun Breath.
It was the skill with the highest piercing power in her arsenal, but…
Fwump!
A giant water droplet appeared right in front of the Shark's nose, absorbing the impact like an airbag.
“You've been tricked by the spider, too. That bastard probably figured that while Caleb buys time with his life, if he leads you to kill me, you might even have a shot at the White Lion.”
The Shark chuckled.
“But I won't die by your hands.”
His webbed palm shot into the air.
As he clenched his fist, the air distorted as if being wrung out like a wet rag.
It was a spell Aimus's team had seen before.
Mist-like water spread from the vortex. A waterfall began to pour down. A magical pirate ship emerged, riding the current and floating through the air. Mermaid crossbowmen and Water Ghosts poured out one by one.
“And Caleb is probably already dead at the hands of the White Lion.”
BOOM!
With a strike of lightning, the whites of the White Lion's eyes showed.
Now, the clouds were slowly beginning to part.
The duration of Cumulonimbus is thirty seconds.
In other words, the cooldown on my Hourglass also has thirty seconds left.
And yet.
He's not dying.
I could see the White Lion's breath turning into a white cloud in the air, chilled by the aftermath of the Blizzard.
This bastard was still breathing.
Why?
The amount of lightning the White Lion had taken was not insignificant.
Of course, an Inter-floor Lord was a type of monster I'd never encountered in the game, so I didn't know how much health he had, but based on the Dagger Raptor, he should have been dead by now.
And he didn't have a sturdy body like the Lancer.
The fact that he was holding on so tenaciously after taking such a beating might be because of…
An 8th-tier spell.
That was the only explanation.
The White Lion had cast the 9th-tier spell, Forest of Death, with a scroll. The 6th-tier scroll, ‘Jangjanghail,’ was burned up by Yernil's magic-tipped arrow the moment he took it out, and he used a 7th-tier scroll for Gaze of the Void.
He used a 2nd-tier Mark of Life scroll. And a 5th-tier Patience of the Meditator scroll.
That meant the scroll cards the White Lion had left were tiers 1, 3, 4, and 8.
There were no spells of tier 4 or below that could maintain his vitality to this extent.
It had to be the 8th-tier.
He must have used an 8th-tier scroll before fighting me. Mark of Salvation, or maybe…
“Desperate Resistance?”
An 8th-tier spell that prevents health recovery for three turns but also keeps health from dropping below 1. It's typically used by Barbarian shamans.
“Yes. I used it just in case.”
The White Lion said in a trembling voice, shoving my shoulder.
Shadow Leap!
He retreated a few meters away.
He gasped for breath as if he were about to die.
“You think I came in here carelessly?”
The White Lion's eyes gleamed.
“That I lost the moment I stepped inside? No, Caleb.”
“…”
“I do not underestimate you.”
He was, without a doubt, the strongest opponent I had ever faced, aside from the Labyrinth Master. Not just in power, but in judgment as well.
“You are the strongest wizard I have met in the last thirty thousand years. I would never let my guard down.”
His body looked like it could drop dead at any moment, but he was still alive. And…
“Now I know your secret.”
While getting his ass kicked by me, the White Lion had been pondering the secret to my immortality.
“At first, I wondered if it was really because of that vampiric magic circle, but of course, it wasn't. To think you'd set up a device like that just to confuse me further. Truly…”
The White Lion smiled.
“Just as expected from the one who cornered the Labyrinth Master. But I've figured it out. That potion bottle on your belt.”
He pointed to my belt. Two empty bottles were attached to it.
“It's the Oasis, isn't it?”
I'd been found out.
“The Shark said you stole the Vortex Orb from him. You used it to summon a pool of the Oasis of Life. That's how you killed the Lancer, too, isn't it?”
The White Lion took out a scroll with his left hand.
[Magic Tracker]
“I also recall that among the rabble you brought with you earlier was that idiot emperor from Wyndham.”
Things were getting complicated.
“You sent your party and the Spider Doctor to the Shark. You wouldn't exclude Deep Layer adventurers like Bipa or Mugol from a fight, so they must have gone to the beetle. That leaves the Eastern Emperor of Wyndham.”
The White Lion tore the scroll.
The 4th-tier spell precisely marked the location of a specific target within a certain range in the caster's mind.
Even if he struck me here, I wouldn't die because of the Emperor. The White Lion knew that, too. He changed his target.
Thump, thump, thump!
The White Lion spun around and started running in the opposite direction.
“Stop!”
Now, I was the one chasing the White Lion.
Naturally, there was a difference in our speed. Even limping from his injuries, the White Lion was faster than a scrawny wizard like me.
Splat! Splat! Splat!
Blood splattered on the floor with every one of the running White Lion's steps.
The Emperor wasn't far.
Past the wet ground and around the collapsed wall of the citadel.
Re-entering through the back gate that the White Lion and the Shark had escaped from.
“Like a little rat. Are you hiding here?”
The monster climbed over the debris of the collapsed ceiling.
Past the Lancer's corpse, into a corner.
The spot where Bipa had concealed him with her Jaeunmumyeong magic and even applied noise suppression.
The White Lion found the Emperor.
Crack!
His powerful hand gripped the Emperor's neck. The concealment broke. The terrified Emperor was revealed. And he…
Thwack!
…shoved something into the White Lion's maw.
It was a potion bottle.
There were three empty bottles I had taken from Aimus's belt.
I made three potion bottles. The Emperor drank one, I drank one, and I placed the last one in the Emperor's hand.
‘The White Lion might come for you.’
I hoped it wouldn't come to that, but my opponent was no ordinary foe, so anything could happen.
I thought that in the worst-case scenario, he might locate the Emperor and target him.
White Lion.
I don't underestimate you either.
I knew you still had an 8th-tier scroll.
And that you might use it to prevent your death.
‘If the White Lion catches you, shove the last Oasis bottle into his mouth.’
White Lion.
You didn't let your guard down against me.
But you let it down against the civilian emperor of Wyndham.
You might have thought there would be a trap near the Emperor. You might have even been cautious of that.
But you never would have imagined that the Emperor himself would shove an Oasis bottle into your mouth.
“…”
The White Lion couldn't kill the Emperor and set him down. The Oasis of Life flowed from his mouth, mixed with broken glass.
“Fuck…”
The White Lion ground his teeth.
“Ugh.”
I suddenly collapsed as aches and pains wracked my entire body, like a bad case of the flu. The White Lion's depleted health had been averaged out among the three of us.
The White Lion, on the other hand, seemed to recover slightly.
“…”
He couldn't kill us. His own life force was now tied to ours.
But the fight wasn't over.
This was the most critical moment.
[Turn-Based Hourglass Cooldown: 2 seconds]
I tried to focus my mind to flip the Hourglass, but it only rattled.
Two seconds.
The White Lion pulled out a 3rd-tier scroll with his left hand.
[Status Effect End Scroll]
I knew that was coming.
It was a scroll that instantly ends one specific status effect.
Riiip!
The White Lion tore the scroll.
[Turn-Based Hourglass Cooldown: 1 second]
I still couldn't move, my body burning with pain.
The White Lion spun his dagger and held it in a reverse grip. And then.
Stab!
He plunged it into the Emperor's chest.
[Your turn. Time remaining: 60 seconds]
[Action Points: ■■■■■■■■■]
The Hourglass activated.
Did I flip it? Or did it activate automatically because the Emperor was stabbed?
I didn't know.
In any case, I was still alive.
Which meant the Emperor must still be alive, too. Though he'd be dead in about a second.
Normally, I should have died along with him, bound by the Oasis of Life, but…
Time Trader.
I had no intention of doing that.
Meldini and several other wizards and priests called this a transcendent cognitive talent. In reality, it was an Hourglass skill.
A skill that uses the Hourglass's turn time to eliminate waiting periods, like status effect durations or magic cooldowns.
‘Time Trade. Oasis of Life.’
I used Time Trader to eliminate the remaining duration of the Oasis of Life effect on me.
And then.
‘Time Trader.’
One of the special features of this skill is that it also applies to items. For example, I could eliminate the cooldown of Lightning Shock in a wand and fire it repeatedly. In that case…
‘Potion Regeneration.’
The same went for the duration of the Potion Regeneration magic on my belt.
I aimed my wand at the instantly regenerated Oasis of Life potion bottle.
“Move.”