After lifting Arthur, I imdiately headed toward the graduate office of Soul Academy.
The lighthouse-like building that never seed to go dark had only regained its calm after the appearance of the evil god.
Would the people here, when they woke up, be happy that they got so rest, or would they scream about all the work piling up?
“Why are we here? Is there soone you’re looking for?”
“No. There’s a place that a fool like the pitiful prince wouldn’t know.”
"...A place I wouldn’t know?"
The place I guided them to was where traces of a past hero remained, but now, it had beco the nest of a necromancer.
While Adria had stayed here, she seed to have ddled with a few things. The underground had changed from a desolate labyrinth to a quiet, mansion-like atmosphere.
Had she been that bored while underground? It really seed like there was nothing she hadn’t touched.
As I walked inside, I pondered how this could have been possible with necromancy, but before I could co up with anything, Adria appeared before with a sullen expression.
“Old hag. Surprised you weren’t lying down on the floor already. I thought you’d be knocked out by now.”
- You may think that, but I’m quite the strong necromancer, you know? Not so amateur trick... Huh!?
As we talked, Freya, who had been following behind, suddenly swung her sword. Adria quickly retreated, noticing the attack, and Freya clicked her tongue in annoyance.
- What... What are you doing!?
“An enemy, no?”
- Enemy? If I were an enemy, I wouldn’t have left you alive, would I?”
“If you're not an enemy, then are you an ally of Lucy Allen?”
- I don’t want to admit it, but I guess it’s sothing like that.”
Arthur and Freya looked at , then nodded in unison, a gesture I understood imdiately.
I thought it might be like that. I hadn’t expected them to believe it easily, and as I prepared to persuade them, I just shrugged, feeling a bit deflated.
“We don’t have ti for chit-chat. Follow , you fools.”
Even though the underground scenery had changed, the path didn’t seem to have shifted, so I naturally led the way. As I walked, I noticed a few skeletons lying in the corridor and tilted my head.
“What’s this trash?”
- Those are left behind by soone who stayed here before. Don’t you know about them?”
Ah, these must be the skeletons that were part of the old dungeon setup. I thought they’d have turned to dust after being exposed to the evil god’s influence, but apparently, not all of them had.
But did they originally look like this? They seem very different from what I rember.
- They don’t have an owner, so I used them freely. Is there a problem with that?”
I understood now. Adria must have used these to alter the scenery of the underground. If it’s Adria, a skilled necromancer, it makes sense she could do sothing like this.
Hmm.
“Hey, lonely old hag.”
- What is it?
“Just asking, but even soone as incompetent as you could do sothing like this, right?”
I shared what I had been thinking with Adria, and she nodded as if it was obvious.
- Yeah, I could do it.”
“How long would it take?”
- It should be quick. The foundation is already set up.”
Upon hearing Adria’s positive reply, I raised an eyebrow and pulled out so paper from my inventory to sketch a blueprint on the spot.
Recently, with my growing sense of aesthetics, my drawing skills had improved dramatically, allowing to transfer my thoughts directly onto paper.
- Hmm. I get what you're thinking. I’ll prepare. You don’t really need following you around, do you?”
“Of course not. What use would a useless old hag be? Only good for stinking up the place.”
- …Ugh. I really want to hit you on the back of your head.”
After Adria grumbled and left, I walked through the maze for a while longer.
Eventually, I arrived at a place where the fake hero used to stay.
“What is this place?”
“This is where the perverted skeleton knight who wanted to beco a princess stayed.”
“…What’s that supposed to an?”
Arthur blinked at the words that ca out in sugaki. I was about to explain but stopped, realizing that it might complicate things, especially since any attempt at explaining would probably just end up insulting the skeleton that had felt so real earlier. I chuckled softly and decided to stay quiet.
Arriving at the wall, I pulled out the scroll I had received from Karia earlier.
“Wait. Lucy Allen. That scroll... could it be one imbued with the breath of a dragon?”
“Oh. The pitiful prince knows about this kind of thing too? How surprising. I thought you only knew how to complain.”
As Arthur said, this was a scroll containing the breath of a dragon.
It even had the cool na Dragon’s Breath stamped on it. But no one who played the ga ever called it Dragon’s Breath.
Why, you ask? Because the phenonon that occurred when this scroll activated was nothing like a dragon’s breath.
What kind of dragon’s breath erases everything in front of you?
It would have made more sense if it was labeled Annihilation Magic.
“I’ve heard that it’s sothing you should never use indoors!”
“Are you scared? Don’t worry. As long as you don’t die, I can bring you back. Heh. You’ll probably scream like a girl, though.”
“What are you saying, you psychopath!”
Ignoring Arthur’s shouts, I activated the scroll and imdiately pulled out the next item from my inventory.
This one wasn’t as impressive as Dragon’s Breath.
It was an item I used the first ti I faced Nacrad last year. A scroll that saved my life. It altered the environnt around , perfectly nullifying magic.
“Lucy Allen. Would you at least pretend to listen? I’d like to know what you’re thinking.”
“Pitiful prince, if you keep pushing it like this, I’ll really snap and we’ll both be torn apart, you know? If it’s soone as cute as , we might both die. I’m not really into that.”
“Sorry. I’ll shut up. Go ahead.”
After Arthur shut his mouth, I continued working until I finished what I had to create. Afterward, I stood up and stretched.
“Is it done?”
“The basics are done.”
“Then explain. What exactly are you trying to do?”
“Pitiful prince, have you ever wondered? How could such a miserable academy create a massive dungeon like this?”
The 100-floor dungeon existing in Soul Academy was unique to it.
Other academies also built artificial dungeons, but those were mostly used for school exams, and even those were of significantly lower quality compared to ours.
This was why Soul Academy had a distinct advantage over other academies, and many dungeon scholars desperately wanted to be here.
But isn’t it strange? Why is it only Soul Academy that can create a dungeon with 100 floors?
Other resources aside, where do they get the power to create and maintain such a dungeon?
“If you're talking about the magic left by the great wizard Erginus.”
“That pathetic magic left by that skeleton? Hahaha. Sure, the wizard who couldn’t even talk to a woman was sowhat impressive, but he was just a human. A pathetic fool who died from his own virginity.”
There was no denying that the magic left by Erginus was incredible.
Before and after knowing its purpose, the magic circle he left was definitely sothing that could be called a miracle.
But that magic circle wasn’t the source of all the power.
It couldn’t be.
The power leaking from Erginus’s magic circle was nothing but a byproduct.
Even though the many miracles that were realized from that magic circle were amazing, they were still just a byproduct of sothing with far greater power.
“Those who believe in nothing are planning to use that power. But, you see... what will happen if, at the most crucial mont, the power just disappears, even if only for a mont?”
I grinned as I imagined the chaos that would ensue, then took out my shield and infused it with divine energy.
When I first learned from my grandfather, even copying the technique was a struggle.
But now, performing miracles was as natural as breathing.
The hero’s shield, which had even blocked the evil god’s blow, now stood before us.
“Brace yourselves. If you bite your tongue and die in shock, it will be ugly.”
With all preparations complete, I infused the scroll with magic. The scroll began to glow, and a beastly howl filled the air, deafening my ears.
The dragon’s roar pressed down on the world.
The dragon’s fury gathered in one place.
The dragon’s judgnt turned what was once a wall into nothing.
KWA-AH-AAAAAANG!
The enormous shock, as if the building would collapse right away, vanished the mont the second scroll activated.
No magic could survive in the environnt the scroll created.
As the shock faded, calmness returned to my ears, and the smoke that had blocked my view dissipated. What appeared before was a path leading sowhere.
"Lucy Allen has disappeared toward the academy's old building. Luca, do you know anything about this?"
Hearing the Apostle of the Void’s report, Luca recalled an event from the previous year.
The place where the skeleton of the old hero Garad had been. Had she gone there? The Allen young lady would never hide there to avoid the evil god’s sches, and most likely, there was sothing in that place I didn't know about.
"Let’s send a few people there."
I had been planning to let the Allen young lady do as she wished, but now it seed difficult to allow that.
If she does sothing outside of my expectations, it will be uncontrollable.
- KUUOOO!!
Suddenly, a tremor shook the room, and everyone present appeared confused.
So fell to the floor.
Others desperately clung to the walls.
So trembled at the sound of a beast’s roar from afar.
And others...
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