The Return of The Mythical Archmage [EN]: Chapter 134

The Rebirth of the Mythical Archmage-135

After the unidentified wraith monster disappeared, I began exploring the surroundings, using the cathedral as my base camp.

Equipping the artifact I had prepared in advance, ‘Four Seasons,’ and activating my Mystic Eyes, I thoroughly examined the four passages connected to the abandoned cathedral.

“…They’re all messed up.”

After about 10 minutes of observation, a curse escaped my lips.

It was no wonder, as the energy emanating from all four passages was equally unsettling.

The flow of mana was strange, and the aura of mana was strange too.

No, everything was just strange.

‘Which way am I supposed to go?’

They were all so unsettling that I didn’t know which passage to choose.

Honestly, I didn’t want to enter any of them.

Going in there of my own volition was like putting my head into the jaws of a hungry tiger.

The pressure emanating from those passages was that immense.

It was best not to go in if possible.

‘But I can’t just not go in…’

My goal was to find the supervisor waiting somewhere in this place.

To find him, I had to move, regardless of the danger.

Whether it was into the tiger’s jaws or into hell, I had to move forward.

If I didn’t act, I would be trapped in here forever.

‘Besides, this place isn’t exactly safe either.’

I turned back to look at the abandoned cathedral.

According to Mimir, this abandoned cathedral was a dangerous spot, ranking in the top 3 of places to avoid.

‘There’s no guarantee that the mysterious wraith monster that tried to deceive me won’t reappear.’

From the start, the advantage of wraith-type monsters was their tenacious life force.

For some reason, it had disappeared for now, but it probably hadn’t been annihilated.

It would surely reappear when its strength recovered.

“…This is really messed up.”

Another rough curse escaped my lips.

It was a situation where I couldn’t help but curse.

I sighed deeply, as if the ground would cave in.

‘Anyway, I have to choose one of these four passages.’

I looked at the four passages again.

‘Which one would be better to choose?’

The passages could be described as light, darkness, fire, and nothingness, in that order.

Which of these four passages should I choose?

There was no way to know here which was the safest and which was the most dangerous.

They were all equally unsettling.

‘I guess I have no choice but to rely on luck.’

In times like this, it’s better to trust my gut feeling rather than overthinking it. Which one would be the safest?

‘If it’s safety, is it light?’

I turned my gaze to the passage on the left side of the cathedral, where light was constantly flowing out.

Both in terms of image and symbolism, light felt the safest.

If I had to choose one of these four passages, the passage of light would be the best.

‘Okay. Let’s go to the passage of light for now. If it seems dangerous, let’s come back.’

With that decision, I started walking towards the passage where light was flowing out.

* * *

About 15 minutes had passed since I entered the passage of light.

“…Wow, I almost died.”

It wasn’t a metaphor; I literally almost lost my breath.

The trap that had just been activated was that dangerous.

‘If it weren’t for Mimir’s advice, I would have really died.’

A trap that couldn’t be detected even with Mystic Eyes [a magical ability to see mana].

Since it was a physical trap that didn’t use mana, I would have been helpless if I hadn’t known about it.

If Mimir hadn’t said, ‘Be careful when mana traps are concentrated on one side. There’s a high probability that other traps are hidden,’ I would have never avoided it.

“…Hoo.”

Just thinking about it made my heart pound. I was so surprised by the guillotine that suddenly popped up from below.

Even though I was proceeding while watching the empty floor, as Mimir had advised, I almost couldn’t avoid it.

It was that fast and sharp of a trap.

‘Let’s proceed with a little more caution.’

I heightened my senses even more. I didn’t know when or where something might happen.

I had to prepare for all variables.

If I didn’t prepare, I would die.

With that desperate resolve, I moved forward little by little. Very little by little.

Another 10 minutes passed like that.

‘…I’m going to have a nervous breakdown at this rate.’

Just when my head started to throb from the excessive tension and overuse of mental strength.

‘A door?’

A pure white door came into view in the distance.

Even though it was a situation where I should be happy to have arrived, I couldn’t be happy at all.

Suspicion came before joy.

‘…Is it a trap…?’

I had only walked through the passage for 30 minutes, but I had deeply felt that this labyrinth was no ordinary place.

This labyrinth was a crazy place that specialized in deceiving people.

And there was a door like that in such a crazy labyrinth?

I was certain that it was a trap.

Even if it wasn’t a trap, there was a 100% chance that there were traps around it.

I was so sure of it.

‘From here on, I’ll activate my Mystic Eyes and proceed.’

I had been refraining from using it because it was accompanied by extreme mental exhaustion, but now was not the time to save my mental strength.

‘Mystic Eyes.’

As my Mystic Eyes opened, my vision changed 180 degrees.

A new world shown by mana.

I relied on my Mystic Eyes and slowly moved my feet.

Very slowly. So that I would be okay no matter what happened.

I moved forward, sweating cold sweat.

However.

‘…Nothing happened?’

Contrary to my expectations, there were no traps on the way to the door.

No, it wasn’t just that there were no traps on the path.

There were no devices on the door either.

Even when I touched it with my hand, there was no reaction.

‘…Then is it really just a door?’

That couldn’t be.

There was no way this labyrinth would be so kind…

With that question in mind, I looked at the door again.

What if it exploded as soon as I opened it?

I even thought about that and examined it really thoroughly.

But the door was clean.

It really didn’t seem to have any devices.

‘…Let’s open it.’

Now, all that was left was to open the door. I swallowed hard and slowly opened the door.

Creak-!

The sound of the rusty door opening echoed as the door opened halfway.

And I understood why there were no traps around this door.

I could see something beyond the half-opened door.

“Mi…”

Crazy.

I couldn’t even finish the word.

I desperately covered my mouth, afraid that it would notice me if it heard my voice.

‘Why is that kind of thing here?!’

Pure white feathers that seemed to be made of light.

A beak that seemed to embody ferocity.

A body that was clearly larger than a decent-sized building, and wings even larger than that.

And finally, a faint halo of light surrounding its entire body.

‘The Light Wyvern… Horus.’

A disaster-class monster beyond ranking, and a mythical species that only appeared in myths.

Beyond the door, the Light Wyvern Horus was in a deep sleep.

I didn’t even make a sound and backed away.

‘If that thing wakes up, it’s over.’

I desperately hoped that it wouldn’t open its eyes, and I slowly, very slowly, retraced my steps.

* * *

About two more hours had passed since then.

Having safely returned to the abandoned cathedral, avoiding Horus, I immediately entered the passages of darkness and nothingness.

And I realized.

“…Are they really crazy?”

This labyrinth was not normal.

Was this really made for people to conquer?

‘Horus alone was shocking enough…’

Horus, who was located in the great hollow connected to the passage of light.

‘In the passage of darkness, there’s Darkness…’

The Dark Wyvern Darkness, located in the passage of darkness.

‘In the passage of nothingness, there’s the Evil Eye…’

The hell’s watcher, Evil Eye, located in the passage of nothingness.

All three passages that I had checked had disaster-class monsters beyond ranking, mythical species, placed in them.

It was so important that I’ll say it twice, but I really thought they were crazy.

It was fortunate that they were all asleep. If they had been awake, or if they had woken up in response to my movements, I would have been dead for sure.

‘Anyway, I can’t pass through the previous three passages.’

With such monsters occupying those passages, it was impossible to pass through.

‘Now, all that’s left is the passage of fire…’

I predicted that the passage of fire would likely be no different from the previous three passages.

The fact that all three passages had disaster-class monsters beyond ranking placed in them meant that I should assume that the remaining passage of fire also had a disaster-class monster beyond ranking placed in it.

‘…No. I have to think about this the other way around. If I think logically, there’s a high possibility that the passage of fire doesn’t have an irregular monster like a disaster-class monster beyond ranking.’

This place was the fifth trial page, a place that existed to test the future successor who had entered the 5th Circle [a level of magical power].

There was no way it would be structured in a way that I, a 5th Circle mage, couldn’t break through.

If I thought that way, there was a high probability that the passage of fire didn’t have an irregular monster like a disaster-class monster beyond ranking.

‘It doesn’t make sense for all four passages to have disaster-class monsters beyond ranking.’

Since it was a place that existed for a test, it wouldn’t have been made impossible to conquer from the start.

Therefore, there was no disaster-class monster beyond ranking in the passage of fire.

No, there shouldn’t be.

‘…I’ll find out if I check.’

With that thought, I started walking towards the passage of fire.

* * *

30 minutes passed.

I returned to the abandoned cathedral again.

“…This isn’t right.”

The situation was desperate.

“A nine-tailed fox…”

The last, fourth passage.

At the end of the passage of fire, a disaster-class monster beyond ranking, a nine-tailed fox, was sleeping.

My uneasy premonition had come true.

All four passages were blocked by disaster-class monsters beyond ranking.

‘Is the condition for conquering this place really to defeat disaster-class monsters beyond ranking?’

I couldn’t help but laugh in disbelief.

It was so absurd that I couldn’t even speak.

“…This is ridiculous.”

I scratched my head in frustration. How was I supposed to deal with this hopeless situation?

‘The possibility of me defeating a disaster-class monster beyond ranking right now is 0%.’

A disaster-class monster beyond ranking was so powerful that even an 8th Circle Archmage [a high-level mage] would have difficulty facing one alone.

I could tell just by looking at the two monsters, Fenrir and Gigantos, that had appeared at the 3rd Magic Stone Warehouse not long ago.

The Red Magic Tower Lord, an 8th Circle mage, and dozens of 6th and 7th Circle mages had barely managed to defeat them.

That’s how strong disaster-class monsters beyond ranking were.

And I was supposed to defeat one of them alone?

That was impossible, even if the world turned upside down.

‘Moreover, the disaster-class monsters beyond ranking here are also mythical species that only appear in myths.’

Horus.

Darkness.

Evil Eye.

Nine-tailed fox.

These four monsters were legendary monsters that only appeared in stories.

They were only classified as disaster-class monsters beyond ranking in the monster encyclopedia based on past records.

No one had ever seen these four monsters.

‘Ancient monsters that lived in my teacher’s era.’

I couldn’t win against them in my current state.

Absolutely not.

It was impossible to conquer this labyrinth.

‘No. It can’t be impossible.’

As I said, this Labyrinth of Desire was a place that existed for a test.

There was no way it would be impossible to conquer.

It shouldn’t be impossible.

There was definitely a solution.

‘That means, conversely, that defeating the disaster-class monsters beyond ranking placed in the four passages is not the condition for conquering this place.’

There was a separate method for conquering this labyrinth.

Mimir had also said it, hadn’t he?

When entering the fifth trial page, I had to allow at least ten hours of leeway.

That meant that this labyrinth was designed to be conquered within ten hours at the earliest.

At that moment, my mind cleared.

‘Then there’s no reason to be anxious.’

As long as there was a method to conquer it, there was no reason to be anxious.

If there was a way, I could find it, no matter how difficult it was. No, I would find it.

I sat down on the spot.

And I picked up a twig of a suitable length and thickness that was lying around and started writing letters on the floor.

‘Let’s organize the information one by one.’

The information I had heard from Mimir.

The information I had obtained from the mysterious wraith who had been disguised as Delta earlier.

And finally, the information I had obtained by observing the four passages.

Everything that I had confirmed with my Mystic Eyes, felt with my skin, observed with my eyes, and heard with my ears, I wrote down on the floor.

‘There’s definitely an answer.’

This was a test.

The examinee was me.

The examiner was my teacher.

Then what was the examiner’s intention?

Why did my teacher put such a dangerous place on the fifth trial page?

‘Think. Think.’

My hands, my pupils, my head moved incessantly.

In a trance.

I mobilized everything I had and did my best to solve the answer.

How much time had passed like that?

Hmmm-

Just when a sobbing sound was heard in the abandoned cathedral, where no one should have been.

“…This is it.”

I came to a conclusion.

“There’s no other way to conquer it.”

It might be a bit reckless, but if I succeeded, it was a method that would definitely allow me to conquer it.

I had found it.