103. Clue (3)

damn, damn, damn.

During that brief fall, Maxim repeated that over dozens of times. It was unknown whether the place he had thrown himself into would be a way out of the crisis, or whether he would become a madman who voluntarily jumped into the abyss of hell. Maxim hoped that the latter situation would not be the only one.

At the end of the feeling of floating, Maxim’s feet touched the ground. Maxim quickly pushed the sorcerer into the shadows, grabbed Adeline, and hid herself in the darkness as well. As soon as Maxim hid himself, he heard the sound of opening the door from the top of the dungeon.

“Go back first. I will go in and take action now.”

“But if you need help… .”

“Behind this, it’s a place no different from a wizard’s workshop. If you’ve been living in the Mage Tower for a long time, you probably don’t know what it means to set foot in someone else’s private workshop.”

“Professor, but… .”

To the protesting assistant, the sound of the wizard clicking his tongue came as if it was annoying. Silence continued for a while, and the sound that ended the silence was the voice of a teaching assistant who became somewhat hazy.

“Yeah… , I’ll go back to see what’s left then… .”

Soon after, one of the faces faded. It seemed that the magician had cast a spell on the assistant and drove it away. When the presence disappeared completely, there was the sound of a door closing. Then, the voice of the wizard looking for the professor was also heard.

“Professor Luke? What’s wrong?”

Maxim held his breath. To hide the presence of Adeline, who has not yet come to her senses and is trembling, I held her in my arms and covered Adeline’s mouth together. After a short interval, the voice of the wizard who had come looking for the professor was heard again.

“professor? What, you haven’t come out yet? What the hell did he hear, so he dragged me all the way here.”

Presence was standing around the entrance of the dungeon. Maxim kept an eye on the wizard’s presence, alerting all his senses. The wizard just wandered around the area, and didn’t seem to think of entering the wizard’s dungeon.

“I can’t even enter the professor’s personal dungeon… If you go in carelessly this time, it won’t end with just being scolded.”

The wizard muttered, but suddenly stopped walking at some point.

“Anyway, old man. My memory is fuzzy, and I didn’t manage the entrance to the dungeon properly. I told you to close the dungeon door when studying black magic.”

A rattle, the sound of a bolt being loosened, or the sound of a pedestal being removed. Then there is the dull sound of something hitting the floor.

“Damn it. That’s why a strange sound is leaking out and the assistant is not looking for me, damn it. You don’t know how busy we are with the investigation team sent by the royal family and Benning these days. Are you doing this because you don’t know that everything will be f*cked up if you get caught?”

At the end of the mage’s swear words, the iron bolts creaked terribly. Maxim looked up straight up with bewildered eyes. Little by little, the light that leaked in began to fade. The entrance to the dungeon was closing. Without doing anything or uttering a word, Maxim could only stare at the erasing light through his frozen pupils.

thud.

The sound of a heavy door closing. Complete darkness has come to the world. As the vision was blocked, the other senses went on a rampage. The beating of my heart and even the sound of my small breathing were audible. Maxim tried to calm his mind by inhaling and exhaling slowly.

“… damn it.”

I could feel the evil energy of the entire dungeon. Maxim shook his head to shake off the evil spirit that seemed to cling to his whole body. My heart was beating wildly. As if to respond to the energy, the wound started to hurt again. That familiar feeling of pain was telling Maxim that this was a place where curses and black magic were studied.

I chose to breathe. He couldn’t let something that was nothing more than a remnant of the past threaten him right now. The breathing given by the teacher slowly calmed Maxim’s body. Maxim took a last deep breath, widened his senses, and checked to see if the wizard was still roaming around the dungeon. When he no longer felt the presence, Maxim carefully relaxed his body.

“Did you go?”

next.

Maxim looked around. The wizard had no sign of waking up yet. He was breathing so deeply that he seemed to be sleeping like that for the next few hours. I thought I was completely immersed in darkness, but at the end of the long dungeon corridor, it seemed like I could see a dim light.

“Rather, it went well.”

Maxim muttered as he looked back at the fallen wizard. Even so, now that we have entered the underground dungeon that the wizards have been hiding, we will be able to explore this underground dungeon at least until the next morning.

“… Adeline. wake up.”

Then, Maxim lowered his head towards the continued trembling in his arms. Adeline clutched at Maxim’s collar and continued to tremble. Maxim patted her on the cheek and called out her name, but Adeline only held on to Maxim’s collar even harder, showing no sign of coming to her senses. Maxim sighed and stood up, supporting Adeline.

Maxim tried to find the key to the dungeon’s entrance while rummaging through the arms of the lying wizard. However, not even a pen came out of the magician’s robe, let alone a key. I looked closely at the entrance to the dungeon, wondering if it was a lock that didn’t require a key, but the closed door to the dungeon had turned into a wall that couldn’t even be called a door.

“A structure that opens and closes with magic.”

Maxim muttered and frowned. Then there were only three ways left. Wake up the wizard to open the door, wait for someone else to come and open the dungeon,

“… Are you looking for another way to get out of here?”

After the doorway was closed, some time had passed, but a very fine air flow could be felt inside the dungeon. The faint wind that gave off the unique smell of a musty dungeon was flowing from a deeper place. If you look for a way, you will find a way out of that exit. As a bonus, we can further advance our investigation.

Maxim stared at the end of the corridor with anxious eyes. Proof that they are researching black magic can be found by just looking around this dungeon. All we can do here is find clues to rescue Christine.

As soon as he remembered what he had to do, his beating heart beat slower than usual, as if it had never done so. head goes cold Maxim turned his head toward the sleeping wizard. If you put it near the entrance, you’ll think you slipped and fell while going up the dungeon ladder.

The next problem was this uncontrollable article. Maxim looked down at Adeline, now pitifully clinging to his collar, frowning.

It’s impossible to leave it near the entrance as it is.

It would be nice if it didn’t get in the way of the investigation, but the wizard’s dungeon was not an easy place to look around leisurely with a piece of luggage. Maxim clicked his tongue. She called out her name several times, but it seemed that the current Adeline couldn’t hear her words properly.

“I’ll put this on a really big debt later.”

After Maxim said that in a voice full of annoyance, he led Adeline through the dark hallway. The end of the hallway, which he arrived at using the little light as a compass, led Maxim to the stairs extending deeper underground.

“It’s a scenery I’ve seen a lot of places.”

Academy’s last final exam. Recalling the dungeon he faced at the time, Maxim raised his lips bitterly. At that time, I did not know that the day would come when the exam, which seemed to be really useless, would be helpful. The difference is that the knight he was with at the time was not an enemy who could stab him in the back at any moment, but a lover whom he could entrust his life to without any hesitation.

Maxim drew his sword. In the dungeon, even the stairs going down must not be careless. The moment the magician’s workshop detects an intruder, even a brick embedded in the wall turns into a murder weapon aimed at the intruder’s life. Maxim expanded his senses in line with the slow beating heartbeat. first step. There were no pitfalls. Maxim slowly descended the stairs.

“Ugh… .”

The sticky morale grew even stronger as they descended the stairs. Maxim descended the stairs and looked around the space he had arrived at, turning his head. A widening, empty space, several doors in front of you, and a downhill road that splits into two. However, Maxim could not recklessly step forward.

come.

Maxim put Adeline at the entrance of the stairs going up. Adeline desperately held on to Maxim’s hem, as if not to fall, but Maxim firmly separated her. Adeline stretched out her hand in the air to catch the distant entity, then crouched down.

“… wait a little bit.”

Maxim said to her, who couldn’t bear to look at her, and pointed the drawn sword at her. Sweat was seeping from the hand holding the sword. I didn’t feel any particular murderous intent. It was because the air itself in this space was already imbued with a strong murderous intent. Instead of flesh, you hear the sound of something wet hitting the floor.

chubby, chubby. crap, crap.

A sound like a heavy water bag hitting the floor came from the stairs leading deeper into the basement. In addition, there was even the sound of something cutting stones. There was only one being that Maxim could detect, but there were two sounds that I could hear.

“That… , What… .”

Like the previous final exam, I wanted to come out with a living armor, but it was a monster that couldn’t be explained in words.

The appearance of the monster was like a garment made of rags. It would have been nice if it had a friendly appearance, but what the monster was wearing instead of old clothes was the body part of another demon. A stench like a rotting corpse wafted up every time the monster moved.

The movement of the creature was unknown. It had the body and legs of a Hexped, with the attached head of a hellhound, plus the hind legs of a giant grasshopper attached to its pelvis. Was there a sound like grinding stones?

“I don’t know what the hell they were making… .”

The hellhound’s eyes caught the intruder. Maxim felt cold sweat running down his back and kept his head in line with the sword strike. I couldn’t read the color at all. Dirty saliva dripped from his mouth.

pop-!

The monster’s hind legs exploded and fired a hellhound’s mouth at Maxim. Maxim was frightened by the speed and struck the monster with his sword blade. Perhaps the producers decided that vocal organs were not necessary, so the monster hit head-on with the sword didn’t even groan.

Maxim stepped back and channeled mana into his body. The heart beats loudly and the flow of mana accelerates violently. Maxim, who threw himself back for a moment and regained his momentum, aimed the point of his sword at the monster.

The monster again used the propulsion of its hind legs to pounce on Maxim. Maxim didn’t miss the time and drew his sword vertically with the momentum to split the monster.

Tung-!

It just bounced off a long distance with the feeling of hitting a stone. His wrist, which had received the shock, was shaking a little. It seemed that the monster had not only been put together in rags, but had also been strengthened with magic. Maxim shook off the shock that remained on his right wrist.

“Did you turn your head into stone?”

A laugh escaped Maxim’s lips. It was just a swing, but it was dumbfounded to see that there was no wound even after colliding with the blade. My mouth was gaping open so no sound came out. Dirty spittle clung to the mouth, as if looking at a corpse.

Even if I kill that thing, I will never stick a sword in my mouth.

Again, the strength of the monster’s hind legs went up. Before the power was converted into a leap, Maxim exploded the flow of mana and rushed forward. Thanks to this, the flow of the battle, which had been progressing with a certain flow and tempo, suddenly changed for the monster. The tip of Maxim’s sword struck the monster’s neck without stopping.

bang!

Comically, the monster flew through the air in a curled up position. The sight of him floating in the air with his belly skin peeled off was far more hideous than expected. Maxim’s time slows down when he launches the monster. When I grabbed the stabbed sword and pulled it out, the center of the point of the sword lowered. The circulating flow of mana stopped. And, like the wind before a whirlpool, it condenses into a single point.

The preparations for the next sword fight were over. Maxim recalled his master’s teachings again.

‘The elf’s swordsmanship is a huge flow.’

Maxim’s lips twitched, and the blade of his sword glistened in the dim light. When Maxim finished the sword strike and closed the sword again, the monster split into dozens of pieces in the air and sprayed a strange black liquid that was neither blood nor anything else into the air.

“It’s a poor thing for something he made to protect his laboratory.”

Maxim looked back at Adeline. Fortunately, she didn’t disappear anywhere and was still sitting in her seat.

“Adeline.”

Maxim called Adeline by name and approached. It was something he had felt before, but no matter how keen his senses were, it was something Maxim had never seen before that the knight almost started a game and fell into fear. Maxim was determined to get a clear picture of her condition, even if it took a little time.

Adeline put her hands together and buried her face in them. Maxim half-forced her to sit in the right position and looked at Adeline’s condition. It was as if he was watching the soldier wince, tormented by memories of the past.

Have you ever experienced black magic?

Maxim twisted his brow. It was because the situation of being hit by black magic was exactly like the one he had before.

‘Come to think of it, when I first felt this energy, I also felt pain in my chest.’

Pain that is now gone. A terrible pain, as if it were slowly cutting through and gnawing away at the soul. Remembering the dizzying pain, Maxim kept looking at Adeline’s situation. Even herself had been under the illusion that she was feeling the pain at the time, but if Adeline, who had sensitive senses, had fallen into such a situation, she would have been complaining about the pain she is now.

‘… By the way, what is the reason for the count’s henchman to fight the warlock?’

Did the count fight the warlocks before joining hands with the magic tower? However, if that were the case, there would be no reason for Adeline to fight against the black magicians who do not appear in the world. Somehow, for some reason, I got involved in black magic.

“Snow… .”

At that time, Adeline’s voice was faintly heard. Maxim bent down to listen to Adeline.

“Adeline? Can you hear me?”

“Eye… Snow, ah… .”

Maxim stretched out his hand toward the face that Adeline’s hands were clasping. Adeline tried desperately to cover her eyes, but Maxim finally grabbed her hand and lifted her up.

“Sorry, just to check the condition of your eyes, so bear with me for a moment.”

Maxim felt that he was making a big mistake and apologized to Adeline in a low voice. Maxim’s hand touched the cloth covering Adeline’s eyes. Slowly, Maxim began to find and untie the knots in the fabric. The unraveled black cloth fell to the floor with a rustling sound. Maxim lifted Adeline’s hair, looked into her eyes, and froze.

Adeline opened her eyes. Inside were the eyes of a blind man who couldn’t see anything. The reason Maxim was astonished was not because he met the eyes of the blind man.

“I… main… .”

It was because in the center of Adeline’s eyes, there was a mark of a curse that was like a crack that once sprayed black energy from her chest. The curse was wriggling in Adeline’s eyes as if she were trying to brag, meeting the aura of resentment and running rampant.

Maxim twisted his lips. The hands holding Adeline’s hands trembled. Why, in a situation like this, did he come to realize this fact?

‘The Count… .’

‘Because the Count ordered it.’

‘You’ll have to be careful with your words.’

A puppet who only obeys the count’s orders, losing his will. The Count must have tried to make himself like this. Maxim’s voice trembled.

“Don’t be mean.”

In the meantime, Adeline was constantly twisting her body in agony. Maxim was devastated and let go of his hand. Then, he picked up the cloth that covered Adeline’s eyes that had fallen on the floor.

“it hurts… .”

Maxim cautiously approached Adeline. I heard the sound of something slithering behind me.

Chuck, Chuck, Chuck, Chuck.

The disgusting sound of monsters’ footsteps filling my ears and the smell of corpses stinging my nose. Maxim didn’t care and wrapped a cloth around Adeline’s eyes. Adeline’s fidgety gestures were fading away. As gently as he could, Maxim tied a knot in the back of his hair and held his cheeks.

“Adeline.”

Maxim breathed slowly, hoping that his breath would reach her in the same rhythm. Adeline’s trembling seemed to have stopped.

“… sorry. Please wait a little longer.”

I picked up my sword. A terrifyingly intense life emanated from Maxim.

one step.

As Maxim took a step forward, the monsters without reason also intuited that the situation was strange and took a step back. Maxim lowered his sword and sighed. It was boring. The fact that the count’s evil deeds are revealed more, the fact that he was helpless without doing anything about it, and the fact that more people who suffered from that evil act came out.

“You guys.”

Maxim’s voice was horribly cold. The space creaks as it is engulfed by Maxim’s life.

“You’re out of luck.”

Like the wind, Maxim’s blade flashed.