Chapter 216: Fifty-Seventh Floor, Recommissioned Mine Exploration (3)

[Investigate the incident at the fourth mine and report any findings to the employer. Time remaining: 11 hours 16 minutes.]

Inside the fortress's courtyard, the dense magical energy filling the space immediately stood out.

Contrary to just a few hours ago, the courtyard was now shrouded in darkness—it had once again been consumed by dark mana.

Kyuntriachae and his servants had been tied up and were now lying in front of the fountain's statue. A sinister red magic circle surrounded them, emitting an ominous light.

“Krrr?”

Standing in front of them, a half-transformed demonic entity stared at me. Their wide-open eyes conveyed their panic at my prompt arrival, and I assumed this was the lone returning miner. Their transformation hadn’t been completed yet, probably due to a lack of time.

Looking at the magic circle, the miner had been in the middle of preparing something.

Kyuntriachae appeared shocked. “You, you!”

I met Kyuntriachae's gaze.

Despite his age, I found his inability to properly dispatch even a single demon underwhelming. After all, I had just seen him dispatch similarly powerful beasts only the day before—well, fifty years ago.

“Deal with the magic circle first!”

Urged on by his frantic words, I nodded and activated Flash Strike. The mysterious being that had disappeared from the mine could arrive at any moment. Destroying the magic circle until after it appeared could introduce unfortunate variables.

I didn’t intend to act complacent just because I arrived first.

This bastard can wait.

If I acted rashly and revealed too much of my power while defeating the half-transformed miner, the mysterious being could flee.

I charged forward, wrapping my axe in Aura. Three swift swings later, and I had obliterated the magic circle. Although it had contained a strange power, the lightning-infused Aura proved too powerful.

Thud!

Dirt flew through the air.

I didn't stop there, however, and I immediately ran forward. Once I reached within striking distance, I slammed the monster’s jaw with the side of my axe.

“Krurgh!”

Shrieking, the beast soared through the air, landing headfirst on the ground.

Thud—

It didn’t even twitch. From its faint breathing, however, I could tell it hadn't died.

After such a clean knockout, I felt satisfied with my control over my strength, and I deactivated Flash Strike.

“

Gasp!

”

“

Eek.

”

“Oh my!”

Kyuntriachae's servants, who had witnessed the fallen beast and the scattering dust, grew terrified. Then they looked at me as if they had seen a ghost. I wondered if what I had done was really that surprising.

I ignored them and turned back to Kyuntriachae. “What happened?”

“A-after you left, the miner who returned started having a seizure.”

He was surprised, too, but recovered faster than the servants. Not knowing when the mysterious being would arrive, I listened to him while expanding my senses.

So far, so good.

The being was moving incredibly fast, but was still some distance from the fortress. I estimated it would take them about five minutes.

“The traitor transformed quickly, and the servants tried to stop it, but it overwhelmed them easily.”

“With no one in the fortress capable of fighting, what happened next?”

“Strangely, it didn't kill us. It just tied us up and started drawing a strange magic circle around us. That's all I know. What about you? What caused you to return so suddenly?”

I drew a dagger and cut the ropes binding Kyuntriachae's wrists. “I arrived at the mine, but everyone had already turned into a demonic beast. Nobody survived. Also, there was an ominous tomb hidden deep within the mine.”

After freeing one of the servants' wrists, I grabbed another dagger from my mimic and handed it to him. It was a signal for him to take care of the rest.

Luckily, the servant seemed to understand as he nodded and took the dagger. “Th-thank you!”

Kyuntriachae looked at me, puzzled. “A tomb, you say?”

“It was filled with blood, and the only living thing there was something called a demonic spawn?”

He frowned, seeming to know something. “A demonic spawn? Those can only be summoned by high-ranking demons.”

Glancing over my shoulder, I expanded my senses and calculated that we still had some time for conversation. “A high-ranking demon? Well, once I killed the demonic spawn, a strange being appeared.”

“A strange being?”

“The one who caused all this mess. It seems to be targeting you. I came here through a portal because it flew this way.”

“By any chance, did the tomb you mentioned have any strange patterns?”

I was a bit surprised at his question because I had seen some before entering the burial chamber.

“Yeah. There were also murals depicting a war, but how did you know?”

“Perhaps what you encountered was a high-ranking demon that had been sealed away long ago. I heard some demons sealed their kin toward the end of the war.”

“Really? And you didn’t know one was sealed nearby?”

“As usual, such things are decided by those in power. I was but a weak, young demon back then and wasn’t privy to such things.”

I guess that makes sense.

Quickly doing the math, I realized that Kyuntriachae would have been around fifty years old around that time.

“But why seal them instead of killing them?”

“Gods bestow power to the high-ranking demons. Killing them by destroying their body does nothing, as they can simply parasitize another person’s. Sealing them causes their soul to fade over time, so in truth, sealing leads to a more permanent death, even if it takes much longer.”

Even with that explanation, something still seemed odd.

“Also, why would the demon target you? How would they know you even exist?”

Even if I assumed the tower had set everything up, the cause and effect didn't match. The sealed high-ranking demon shouldn't have known Kyuntriachae was nearby.

Kyuntriachae calmly explained, “High-ranking demons can read their minions’ memories.”

He then shivered as if chilled. “It's targeting me because it wants to take over my body. Humans and demons have different physiology, after all.”

“Aren’t you too old, though?”

Kyuntriachae frowned deeply.

Hmm, was that too harsh?

“It probably planned to steal a younger demon's body afterward.”

“I see.”

His disgust now made complete sense to me. I wouldn’t want to be possessed and discarded like waste, either.

Thankfully, I had Two-Way Portal, and things hadn’t gone according to the demon’s plan.

However, my doubts didn't end there—the high-ranking demon had seemingly recognized me in the burial chamber.

“So, you've figured it out, you meddlesome interloper.”

“

Hmmm

, that doesn’t really explain why it seemed like he recognized me. He called me a meddlesome interloper.”

“Well, maybe he received a divine revelation. This is a story from the olden days, but we demons originally prayed to a different god.”

Different god? Maybe this god bestowed some sort of oracle upon the high-ranking demons?

I still felt skeptical, but soon realized that this wasn't the crucial point.

“Wait a moment, let's save this backstory for later. That thing is on its way here and will arrive in about three minutes.”

Kyuntriachae nodded, and I scanned our surroundings.

“We dispelled the magic circle, and the strange scheme they were plotting—”

Just then, a notification appeared.

[Challenger Kwon Su-Hyeok reported back to his employer about the incident at the fourth mine. Additionally, he returned to the fortress faster than the high-ranking demon. The quest has been updated.]

[Defeat the approaching high-ranking demon. Time remaining: 11 hours 14 minutes.]

Wow, damn.

I had nearly panicked just from the first message. If I had been unlucky, I would have just left Kyuntriachae all alone and been stuck waiting in the waiting room.

On second thought, however, it wasn't that strange. After all, this floor and the last were connected. Considering the tower had even kindly informed me of the change, it seemed like it still wanted something from me.

Hmm, or not?

Without the portal, I would have had to walk back and fight the high-ranking demon. Regardless, I needed to be more careful if similar trials occurred in the future.

Kyuntriachae looked at me questioningly. “Wait. How do you know it is just about to arrive?”

“No, it is still a couple of minutes away. Anyway, I've dispelled the magic circle and knocked out its minion, so what should we do now? Or, will that high-ranking demon even come now that everything it prepared is gone?”

“What do you mean? It has to come.”

“What? I don't understand. Everything it prepared here is gone.”

“What exactly do you mean by that?”

Kyuntriachae frowned, not understanding. “Why do you think it knows what happened?”

What? What is that supposed to mean?

Frustrated, I frowned and pointed at the knocked-out beast. “Its minion is right here. You said it can read their memories, right? Plus, I bet it can see through its eyes or something.”

“I've always thought this, but you really know nothing about magic, do you? First of all, they can only read their minions' memories on contact, and where did you hear the other thing?”

“Sorry?”

Aren't magicians supposed to see through their summon’s eyes?

Upon reflection, that was something I had heard from Seo Ho-Su, a lover of fantasy and not a resident of this world. While magic existed on every planet I had been to in the tower so far, the laws could differ from world to world.

“See through its eyes? Well, a summoner can know whether their minions are alive, but anything more is impossible. If that were possible, every kingdom would have employed sorcerers or warlocks as spies.”

“Really?”

Kyuntriachae nodded emphatically. “Indeed.”

Between the two of us, he knew how this world’s magic worked, so I couldn’t argue.

Regardless, his information helped me better grasp the current situation. The high-ranking demon would rush here blindly, unaware of the circumstances.

Thinking about it, not killing the minion had been a good decision. Well, maybe it had been my intuition.

Wait.

“Perfect, that bastard didn’t turn away. It is just about to arrive.”

“Don’t worry. I can bind it with magic.”

“Like you did before?”

Kyuntriachae nodded confidently.

That wasn't very reassuring, considering it hadn't even managed to fell a single beast. Of course, I wouldn't say that out loud.

Instead, I ordered, “Let's recreate the same situation as before. If it sees that you are free, it could run away. We can't let it escape.”

“

Hmm

. Yes, that would be better.”

Ensuring the trap would appear realistic, I hurriedly shouted to the servants gathered around, “Everyone, quickly lie back down in the same position you were in before!”

“What?”

“Pretend your wrists are tied and lie down on the ground!”

“Yes, yes!”

Sensing the urgency in my voice, the servants hurriedly lay down and hid their wrists under themselves.

Kyuntriachae lay on the ground and pointed at the half-transformed monster. “This thing is still knocked out, though. What do you plan on doing?”

“I'll prop it up with shadows. Bind it as soon as it enters our line of sight, but don’t let it get too close, or it may notice something is us.”

Thankfully, everyone moved into position in time, as the servants hadn't moved far from their initial positions. I checked that everyone was down before activating Flash Strike.

Propping up the beast with Master of Shadows, I made sure to roughly fill the hole I had created with Aura. The magic circle appeared a bit shoddy, but it was the best I could do.

Even if I had the ability, remaking the magic circle would have taken far too long.

About twenty seconds passed. Then, I sensed a chilling presence emanating from the sky.

A bizarre-sounding laugh filled the sky, echoing around the courtyard.

“

Kukukuku

, a fresh body!”

We had fooled the demon.

I had worried that the magic circle would make it suspicious, but seeing it laugh excitedly and fly towards us reassured me. It probably felt quite urgent.

After all, remaining sealed for three hundred and fifty years couldn’t be pleasant.

As it grew closer, my lips curled into a smirk. It was time to spring the trap.

***

「Invisible message: Challenger Kwon Su-Hyeok has arrived at the fortress before the high-ranking demon, completing the hidden mission 'Faster Than Anyone.' Agility increased by 2.」

「Invisible message: Challenger Kwon-Su-Hyeok’s skill has leveled up. Two-Way Portal is now lvl 6.」