Following the glowing tunnel back to the previously explored labyrinth, Himl untied the blindfold for Frieren. The five of them retraced their path to the fork and stepped onto the central path, heading towards the location Gut felt was the right one.
Along the way, Mut kept glancing at the Hero Himl ahead of him and the Great Mage Frieren beside him.
These two... they really were close companions, weren't they?
Thinking of this, Mut suddenly broke the silence of the journey.
"Um... Frieren."
"You traveled with Hero for ten whole years, right? So, you must know him very well?"
"Uh..."
Frieren was a little flustered by Mut's sudden question.
That's right—despite traveling together for ten whole years, she had never really tried to understand Himl.
Seeing Himl turn to look at her, the embarrassnt in Frieren's heart deepened.
And at that very mont, Gut couldn't help but unleash his "fun-loving" side, teasing from the side.
"What happened, Lady Frieren?"
"You traveled with Himl for ten years; you must understand him really well, right? Can you tell us what his favorite thing is?"
"This..."
"If you keep asking, I'll cry for three days and three nights, and it'll be very hard to console ."
In a mont of desperation, Frieren pulled out her trump card.
"Ch—tsk—"
Beside her, Serie clicked her tongue twice in amusent. Though she didn't say anything, the aning was more than clear.
"Alright."
Seeing Frieren's mood take a downturn, Himl stepped forward to stop the conversation.
He gently patted Frieren on the shoulder, smiling as if to say it was okay.
Thanks to the Goddess Monunt, Himl had long since received the answer he most longed for from Frieren, eighty years in the future.
Through the twisted threads of fate, the short-lived human had received the heartfelt feelings of the emotionally slow elf—at the right mont, in the right way.
For him, that was enough.
But at this mont, Frieren didn't think so.
Spurred by the questioning from Mut and Gut, the elf—who had never thought about these things before—suddenly found herself wanting to understand Himl better.
...
The group moved forward, pausing here and there, until they finally reached the end of the central corridor.
Seeing the thick wall blocking their way, Serie stepped forward and placed her hand upon it.
"Tsk."
Serie clicked her tongue in irritation. Because it was part of the central path, the thickness of the wall was far greater than before.
Naturally, it also contained a lot more Magic-Suppressing Ore fragnts, significantly weakening her ability to probe it with magic.
Plus, the mountain rock in between added more resistance. Even Serie found it difficult to pierce through and sense what was beyond.
"Forget it. Based on the distance marked on the map, we'll just have to guess and go for it."
With that, Serie stretched out her hand, and blocks of opaque magical crystals appeared in the air, forming a dense, light-blocking barrier around them.
Then, she gathered her magic power, forming an attack identical to the last one and fired it at the wall before them.
First, there was a mont of eerie calm, followed by the rumbling quake of the explosion, mixed with the blinding light from the Magic-Suppressing Ore fragnts being activated by magic.
Even inside the multi-layered opaque light-blocking barrier, they could still see flashes of that intense light.
...
anwhile, on the other side—at the Predicted Pointer's designated spot—the lurking demons naturally heard the massive tremor and shaking.
Grausam looked at the wall where the sound ca from, then glanced down at the almost-vanished Predicted Pointer in his hand. He suddenly understood—they were coming from that direction.
No wonder the Predicted Pointer indicated a location so close to the labyrinth entrance. It didn't even account for the Great Mage using magical detection to find them.
It turned out they weren't coming through the main entrance at all—they were tunneling their way in with brute force.
It must have been the Magic-Suppressing Ore fragnts inside the walls that blocked her senses, allowing them to remain hidden, and giving them the chance to set up an ambush.
Thinking of this, Grausam looked at the wall that had yet to be blasted open. Ever cautious, he imdiately ordered several Demon Generals to go and tear down parts of the labyrinth walls in other areas, piling the debris around this section.
He hoped that by increasing the concentration of Magic-Suppressing Ore at the endpoint, it would disrupt Serie's magical perception even further, keeping her from discovering the ambush—letting her and her disciple walk right into the trap.
...
Inside the tunnel.
This ti, the distance Serie blew through with her magic was far greater than before.
It took a long while after the Magic-Suppressing Ore's intense glow had faded for the group to finally reach the end.
Looking at the wall of rock before them, Serie reached out, placed her hand on it, and sent out her magic to probe the area.
"Hmm, when I tried to detect the area behind, my magic was t with great resistance. It definitely feels like Magic-Suppressing Ore."
"It seems we are in the right direction, but there is one problem."
"What problem?"
In response to her disciple's question, Serie's expression grew serious.
"The Magic-Suppressing Ore behind this wall feels different from the ones we encountered before."
"If it were just like the previous labyrinth walls, my perception, although hindered, would still be able to penetrate and sense what's beyond."
"But... this is different."
"This concentration of Magic-Suppressing Ore feels abnormally dense. My magic is being layered and blocked—completely unable to sense what lies beyond."
"This arrangent... it feels like it's been specifically designed to block my magical detection."
"Out of so kind of fear, I personally think... there's sothing wrong behind this wall."
After she finished speaking, Frieren also stepped forward, placing her hand on the labyrinth wall and attempting to sense with her own magic.
"My detection isn't as refined as Serie's," Frieren admitted. "But I also feel there's sothing off. The Magic-Suppressing Ore here is not the sa as the other walls."
"Could it be because this labyrinth is guarding the Secret Realm, so it's just naturally thicker?" Mut offered his own theory.
"It's highly possible," Gut nodded.
Thanks to his Innate Tomb-Raider Physique, Gut was practically certain—the Spring Secret Realm was right behind this wall.
So even if it was unusual, Gut instinctively felt it was reasonable.
Besides...
Gut glanced around at his party.
Serie, Himl, Frieren, himself, and Mut—a pri candidate for "plot armor."
"I am raised by three great fathers—what dares to harm ? What can harm ?"
With his confidence skyrocketing, Gut proposed they keep moving forward.
----------
Powerstones?
For 20 advance chapters: patreon/michaeltranslates
Reviews
All reviews (0)