Chapter 14
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 14
Chapter Title: Northern Duke (7)
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As we descended to the second underground floor, a massive brick corridor welcomed us.
A gigantic passage over ten meters wide and eight meters high.
I walked through the spacious corridor, a cool breeze blowing, and spoke to Ray.
"You got it? Golems show up this time. You have to destroy the core in their heart or head..."
"Got it..."
After cramming her with knowledge about this floor in record time, Ray whined.
"Can't you just tell me once and I'll remember? Stuff like this needs repetition to stick..."
-Thud!
About an hour of advancing forward...
The massive corridor began to rumble.
"Here it comes. Just like I said?"
"Yeah."
From beyond the passage came a giant golem over five meters tall.
I erected a mana wall to block the corridor, stopping the golem's approach.
At the same time, Ray began chanting her ancient magic.
The mana emanating from Ray's body took form in the air, causing space itself to ripple.
-Boom!
The golem relentlessly swung its arms at the obstructing wall, but not even a fine crack appeared on it.
After about three minutes, Ray opened her eyes.
"Now!"
The moment Ray shouted, I dispelled the mana wall blocking the golem.
A beam of light burst forward, scattering bright radiance.
The golem's head, struck directly, vanished cleanly, while its neck sizzled as the minerals melted from the glancing blow.
'The chant takes forever, but the effect is insane.'
I approached the fallen golem and examined the melted mineral section.
Ray followed behind, confidence blooming as she placed a hand on her hip and shrugged her shoulders.
"How was that? Pretty good, right?"
"Use honorifics."
"...Pretty good, right?"
"The firepower's solid. It's just the long prep time."
Even as I said that, the ancient magic's power far exceeded my expectations.
'A mere 4th Circle spell with this much punch?'
As I seriously pondered switching my career path right then and there...
A strong vibration echoed from afar once more.
"Another one's coming. Let's take it out quick."
"Huh?"
A golem appeared from a distant corner of the passage.
As it rapidly closed in, I created another mana wall.
"What are you doing? Start chanting already."
Even after I'd finished preparing, Ray just stood there blankly.
She even broke into a cold sweat, avoiding my gaze.
"Don't tell me..."
"Well... it takes a little time..."
"You fired one shot and your mana bottomed out?"
Ray avoided my eyes, but her flushed red ears gave her away.
"Sigh... How long until it recharges?"
"Um... about six hours..."
"What?"
Six hours was enough time to recover from mana exhaustion and heal the body.
For a normal mage, that was plenty to fully restore depleted mana.
"No way... How tiny is your mana pool?"
"It's not tiny! Compared to other 4th Circle mages, it's at least double..."
I'd just discovered an unexpected massive flaw in ancient magic.
'Yeah, spatial magic's still the best. Great for saving others too. Ancient magic requires talent just to get started, after all.'
"Sigh... No mana stones left?"
"Used them all on the first floor..."
"Figures. You would've used them earlier if you had any."
I pulled a mid-grade mana stone from my temporary sub-space and handed it over.
"I'll lend you this for now. Pay me back later."
"About that... Ancient magic needs specially refined mana stones..."
"It has restrictions like that too?"
Ray's voice grew quieter with each word.
"What were you planning to do when you ran out, wasting them like crazy?"
"There's still a ton of mana stones Dad left in the city. If I could just go get them..."
"Why didn't you say so earlier? We should've just gone back up to the first floor."
The first floor of this dungeon allowed relatively easy escape.
But from the second floor on, tricky conditions had to be met.
"I was out of it earlier... But didn't you use a teleportation mana stone before I even said anything?"
"Oh..."
Back then, I just wanted out of that sweltering jungle fast.
But thinking about it, moving to the next floor without consent was definitely my mistake.
"Yeah, that was on me too. Sorry."
"Then use honorifics..."
"That's separate from this."
To manage this pint-sized rival with sky-high competitive spirit, the hierarchy had to be clear.
Fortunately, she knew I was her lifesaver, so I'd have to leverage that.
"Anyway, no helping it. We'll take that one my way."
If it wasn't a golem, I'd try other methods.
But my offensive spells were mostly effective against organics.
I used a fixation spell to pin the golem to the floor.
-Thud!!
With a massive boom, the golem hit the ground.
I pulled a mining pickaxe from my temporary sub-space and climbed onto the golem's back.
"What are you doing? Hurry up and climb on."
"What are you planning?"
"The core's inside this rock, right? Gotta dig it out and smash it."
I handed her a spare climbing pickaxe.
"I'll handle the torso. You mine the head."
"Wait... Is this what mages do?"
"Mages are people too. No choice if there's no other way."
I ignored Ray, who stood there dazed with the pickaxe, and got to work.
"I'm definitely learning mana-reinforced body enhancement someday."
"To go to the next floor... we need five golems..."
"Four left now. Let's hustle."
Ray, with her weak stamina, collapsed after finishing one golem.
In the end, the remaining three fell to me.
Watching from the sidelines as she rested, Ray started using proper honorifics with even more respect.
After taking down all five golems, a portal to the next floor appeared.
"First floor had teleportation stones, but now it's a portal out of nowhere?"
"My whole body still hurts..."
"I gave you potions to drink."
"It still hurts..."
The potions should've eased her muscle pain, but Ray still complained.
"Seriously... Have you never felt sore muscles before?"
"Why would a mage exercise?"
"What if danger strikes?"
"I'd use magic."
She was a genius mage who'd reached 4th Circle at seventeen.
Once again realizing romance fantasy clichés weren't easy to defy, I gave up on the conversation.
Crossing the portal to the next floor revealed a vast grassland.
The sun shone warmly on us.
A refreshing breeze pleasantly tickled our faces.
"I see why they set up base camp here."
"People over there."
In the distance, a temporary encampment encircled by massive rock walls over ten meters tall came into view.
Heavily armored knights stood guard atop the stone walls.
"That level of earth magic... At least 7th Circle."
"The Northern Duke's chief mage is a 7th Circle earth mage, right?"
Odd-looking beast monsters roamed the expansive grassland in spots.
A lion with wings and a shoulder height of three meters.
A giraffe with a steel-hard neck.
An elephant covered in sharp scales on its trunk.
"Why does that lion have wings..."
"Shh."
-Thud. Thud.
A rhinoceros covered head to toe in steel passed right by us as we watched the plain.
Enormous brown wings sprouted from the rhino's flank, brushing over our heads.
Ray froze solid staring at the passing rhino, then exhaled only after it was far away.
"Phew... Even knowing we have camouflage magic, it's scary..."
"If we actually fought it, we could win. Look at that."
I pointed to a giraffe approaching the massive walls.
Even from afar, the knight atop the wall was wreathed in materialized aura.
The knight leaped down from the wall and sliced the giraffe's tough neck mid-fall.
"That's one of the Northern Duke's direct knights..."
As I shot her a glare, Ray, trying to drop honorifics slyly, tacked on the rest.
"Not easy, but we could take them too."
I cast a fixation spell on the wings of a steel rhino that had begun flying into the sky from afar.
-Thud!
The rhino crashed to the ground, bellowed in agony, then dissolved into light and vanished.
"You took it down too easily...?"
"These ones that just change appearance are easier to handle than you'd think. Dungeons where physics get rewritten are the real nightmares."
"Physics rewritten? What if we die the moment we enter?"
"You really know nothing about dungeons, do you?"
Dungeon lore was taught even to illiterate commoners.
Information was actively spread to prevent ignorant fools from entering and dying.
"Well... circumstances..."
"Anyway, no dungeon is instantly lethal. Even if all water vanishes, moisture in bodies or the air stays."
"Too complicated..."
"Enough sightseeing. Let's go."
I headed toward the distant walled entrance.
"Hey! Wait for me!"
The camouflage magic spread from me as its center.
Confirming she'd left the spell's range, Ray ran after me.
As we drew close enough to see the knights' faces on the wall, I dispelled the camouflage.
Spotting us, a knight jumped down from the wall.
Up close, his face looked even older.
The elderly knight frowned at us.
"Mages, but new faces. You there, take off the mask."
"Ah..."
"We're newly recruited A-rank mercenaries. Will this verify our identities?"
I handed over the mercenary badge from the guild master.
The knight checked our badges—mine and Ray's—then signaled up to the wall.
Soon, the firmly shut gates creaked open.
"Follow the path straight. You'll hit the mercenary guild barracks. Pick your missions there."
"Wait!"
Ray grabbed the turning knight.
"I'm a disciple of Archmage Khalid von Everrund. Could I meet His Grace the Duke?"
"What? No way... It's genuine?"
The old man's eyes widened as he inspected the badge.
"Follow me to His Grace's tent. You, head to the mercenary barracks."
"Huh?"
A path to meeting the Northern Duke and securing cooperation had appeared effortlessly, just as I'd been mulling how to earn trust through key missions.
Ray's mask hid her smile, but I could feel her glee at the situation.
'In the original story, she must've used this to get close to him...'
I finally realized how Ray had ended up by the Northern Duke's side.
"Sorry for the late introduction. I'm also a disciple of Archmage Khalid von Everrund."
Pulling mine from the temporary sub-space, the old knight's eyes bulged impossibly wide.
"Two disciples of Archmage Everrund? What fortune! Follow me."
I fell in behind the leading knight.
Glancing back, Ray stood frozen in place, unmoving.
"What? Hurry up."
"Lemme see the badge."
I fished it from my pocket and handed it to her.
Even as I dragged Ray by the arm to catch up, her eyes stayed glued to the badge.