The Return of The Mythical Archmage [EN]: Chapter 428

Contrary to my worries, the capture was progressing quite smoothly.

“……Aren’t you tired?”

“I can manage.”

Mimir stared at Stella with a blank expression.

*What is she, really?*

That was the clear look on her face.

“……Why aren’t you tired? Are you immortal?”

The closer we got to the center, the more frequently monsters appeared.

Compared to the beginning, the number of monster appearances had increased by two to three times.

Stella’s stamina should have been depleted a long time ago.

“I’m not immortal. Well, um……”

Stella paused for a moment, lost in thought.

“As I kept fighting, I got a little better at it. I’d say I’ve learned to fight with minimal power. I was using too much power before.”

“Are you saying you adjusted the power of the Spirit Sword?”

“Yes. I also figured out their weaknesses…… Now, I can defeat them with less than half the power I used when we first encountered them.”

She conserved her stamina by adjusting the power she was unnecessarily expending.

And by attacking their weaknesses, she was able to conserve even more power.

The result was her current relaxed demeanor.

“……What is she, really?”

Mimir said, chuckling.

Her expression was still one of disbelief.

“How can you adjust the Spirit Sword so precisely……?”

“Uh…… I just did it, and it worked……?”

“……Wow.”

Mimir shook her head.

“Successor. She’s not just a genius, is she?”

“……I guess not.”

In terms of control, she had a talent that surpassed even Sein-nim.

“Anyway…… Thanks to you, things have become easier, so I’m grateful……”

Mimir was silent for a moment, then chuckled again.

“I don’t know. Forget common sense…… I’ll just think of her as Sein Vinoche ver.2.”

Mimir gave up on trying to understand.

She concluded that it was impossible to logically analyze Stella’s power.

“Um……”

Stella smiled awkwardly, unsure how to react.

*Swish-!*

But that expression was fleeting.

Her expression instantly turned sharp and cold as she swung her sword.

Five times in a row.

Five corpses fell from where the sword energy had passed.

“Isn’t this the first time we’ve seen five at once?”

Soonchan, who had been cautiously following behind, asked with a frown.

He still couldn’t get used to the grotesque appearance, his face contorted in disgust.

“Yes. Five is a first.”

Stella replied, putting her sword back into its sheath.

“The mana has also become much denser. I think we’ll be seeing the innermost area soon.”

Stella continued, sensing the surrounding mana.

“……It’s true that the mana is dense enough that we could see the innermost area soon.”

I also checked the surrounding mana. It had definitely increased a lot.

About 2.7 times compared to the beginning.

The mana was dense enough that we could see the innermost area soon.

“Ugh. I hope we get there soon. I feel guilty for dumping all the burden on Stella.”

Soonchan said with a sigh.

“You should.”

I felt the same way.

I felt uneasy because all the responsibility was on Stella.

It felt like sitting on pins and needles.

To get rid of this guilt, we needed to move on to the next stage quickly.

“Let’s go.”

We continued on our path.

Confident that we would soon move to the next location.

* * *

Contrary to our confidence that we would easily move to the next location.

It took quite a long time to move to the next location.

Two hours and ten minutes, to be exact.

It took us quite a long time to successfully move to the next location.

“A loop caused by the combined action of two magic circles, one magic device, and one artifact…… How did you calculate that?”

Soonchan looked at me with a disgusted expression.

“It’s thanks to Mimir.”

We had been caught in a loop.

We had been wandering for two hours and ten minutes in a loop maze created by the Black Star’s magic circles, magic devices, and artifacts.

If it hadn’t been for Mimir, we would still be wandering in that loop maze.

“Hey. I didn’t do much. The Successor did it all. If the Successor hadn’t noticed, I wouldn’t have even thought about calculating it.”

Mimir smiled brightly, looking refreshed.

She seemed proud of the fact that she had achieved a result through research.

“I was just a little faster, you would have noticed it soon too.”

“You’re overestimating me too much. Only the Successor could have noticed that.”

Mimir and I were complimenting each other and laughing.

“……Yeah, yeah. It’s a collaboration between two geniuses. I get it.”

Soonchan interrupted us as if to say, *that’s enough*.

“More than that……”

Soonchan turned his head to look in one direction.

A completely different scene from the incomplete landscape we had seen earlier came into view.

“What is this place? It looks like a room.”

As Soonchan said, it had the form of a room.

It was completely different from the landscape that looked like noise from a broken TV we had seen earlier.

“I don’t know. Maybe it’s the form of a room that existed within the Black Star that remained intact.”

It was surprising.

Even with the mana in such a mess, a single structure was able to maintain its form so clearly.

“I know it’s a room. What I want to ask is……”

Soonchan pointed to the doors on the four sides of the room and said.

“It’s about those four doors.”

There were four doors in the room, each on one of the four sides.

Their size, color, and shape were all identical.

“Don’t tell me another endless maze is starting?”

“I don’t know. Judging by the form, it does look like a maze……”

I guessed that if we went through a door, another room would be waiting. And that room would have several more doors. And if we chose a door again, another room with doors would be waiting.

It might be an endless cycle like that.

“Ah. Please……”

Soonchan frowned, looking disgusted.

He seemed to be fed up with finding his way around.

“Please or not, if we have to find it, we have to find it. What can we do?”

“Ah…… I really hate this.”

Soonchan sighed deeply and hung his head.

“Well, there might be something else waiting if we open them. Let’s open them for now.”

“I really hope so.”

I made brief eye contact with my companions and slowly approached one of the doors.

“I’ll open it.”

And I opened the door as the representative.

No, I tried to open it.

*Click, click!*

But it wouldn’t open.

“……Is it locked?”

I checked the other doors as well.

The result was the same.

The doors wouldn’t open.

All the doors were locked.

“……Did we get trapped again after escaping the loop?”

It was one mountain after another.

What was this situation?

“The mana being sensed is…… normal.”

I activated my Divine Eye at maximum output and looked around, but I couldn’t see anything.

“Yeah, there’s nothing special.”

Adela didn’t seem to have found anything either.

“Me too…… I don’t see anything.”

Stella seemed to be the same.

“……Another riddle?”

Mimir sighed, looking disgusted.

After struggling for two hours to escape the loop maze, another maze was waiting for us.

It was a situation that would make anyone sigh.

“……Ah.”

Soonchan sat down on the floor.

“Tsk. I’m an old man in a room again……”

Soonchan wasn’t very helpful in these kinds of brain-using situations.

He knew that himself. That’s why he was making such a gloomy face.

He wanted to be helpful, but there was nothing he could do to help.

“There will definitely be a moment when you’re needed. Think of it as conserving your strength for now.”

“……Conserving my strength, my ass. I’ll just be conserving my strength from beginning to end.”

Soonchan sighed again.

“Well, Soonchan-ssi’s strength is your sense, right? You can use that sense to offer your opinion, can’t you?”

Stella said, trying to comfort Soonchan.

As someone who had experienced being a shut-in and a burden, she couldn’t just stand by.

“Especially in situations like this where there are no clues, each unique idea is important……”

“Sense…… unique idea……”

Soonchan sat there, lost in thought.

Then.

“Ah! I thought of something!”

He jumped up and shouted as if he had thought of something.

“When we opened the doors, we tried opening them one by one, right? But they didn’t open?”

“Right?”

I already knew what he was going to say.

“Then how about opening two doors at the same time?”

As expected.

It was a very simple idea, as I had expected.

“It’s not that simple……”

I was about to sigh and object to Soonchan’s words.

“Wow. That’s a great idea. Let’s try it.”

Stella moved first.

To cheer up Soonchan, who had been gloomy since we entered this place, she was willing to sacrifice herself.

It was an exaggerated action and reaction that showed her determination.

“We’re opening two doors at the same time, right? I’ll open this door, so Soonchan-ssi, please take that door.”

“Huh? Ah, yes.”

Soonchan grabbed the doorknob.

He seemed dumbfounded by Stella’s intense reaction.

“Shall we turn them?”

Anyway, the two of them were quite contrasting.

Before we left, Soonchan, who was full of confidence, was now in a gloomy state.

Before we left, Stella, who was timid and lacked confidence, was now full of confidence.

The two-hour journey had completely reversed the two of them.

*……It’s a relief that she’s become active again.*

I felt sorry for Soonchan, but it was a relief.

The fact that all the burden had been placed on Stella had actually been beneficial.

At this rate, I thought she would soon return to the Stella I knew.

“Did you turn it?”

“Yes. I turned it.”

“Really? It’s not opening.”

I was smiling inwardly, watching Stella’s bright expression.

“……Huh?”

Stella’s expression changed.

The exaggerated expression she had been forcing to cheer up Soonchan disappeared, and her expression changed to one of genuine surprise.

“This……”

Stella slowly turned her gaze to me.

“Hayul-ssi. Could you come over here for a moment?”

Something was amiss.

I immediately approached Stella.

“Now. Here. Can you see the mana changing?”

I quickly activated my Divine Eye and looked at the doorknob that Stella was pointing at.

“It’s changed. It’s subtle, but……”

As Stella said, the mana had changed, albeit subtly.

“Stay there for a moment.”

I immediately moved to the door where Soonchan was.

And I checked the doorknob in the same way.

“……It’s different here too.”

I could see that the mana of the doorknob that Soonchan was holding had also changed slightly.

“Then……”

I checked the other two doorknobs as well. But the mana of the other two doorknobs had not changed at all.

That meant……

“Don’t tell me that opening them at the same time is really……”

Was that the answer?

I approached the third door and turned the doorknob.

“It’s changed……”

The mana had changed this time as well.

It was a much more distinct change than before.

“Then……”

I looked at Adela and said.

“Adela. Grab the doorknob of the remaining door.”

“Huh? Yes.”

Adela grabbed the doorknob of the remaining door.

The last doorknob slowly turned.

I opened my eyes wide and focused on observing the mana.

And just as Adela completely turned the doorknob.

*Screeeeeeeech-!*

The four doors opened simultaneously, and the mana began to swirl as if exploding.