Chapter 251
Entering the interior of the ruin, Franz slowly looked around.
In the space filled only with thick pillars erected to bear the load, not a single living creature existed. Humans, of course, and monsters were absent as well.
'Strange…'
Judging by the fact that he had encountered knights at the entrance, he was certain that something was here. Yet, it was simply puzzling that no one came to block his path.
Since he had been somewhat looking forward to new monsters, he was even disappointed in a way.
Letting out a short sigh, Franz snapped his fingers. magic power spread out into the surroundings, and a map of the ruin’s interior was drawn in his mind.
'So it’s a ruin extending deep underground.'
Beneath Franz’s feet was an underground labyrinth consisting of 6 floors. From the 1st Basement Floor to the 5th, it was filled with all sorts of monsters, and on the 6th basement floor, a formidable foe was situated, as was usually the case.
If he subjugated that formidable foe, would he be able to leave this place?
Unfortunately, that wasn’t certain. Since this was the first time such a case had occurred, it was natural that he didn’t know anything in the first place.
Of course, even so, he would have no choice but to subjugate it, for otherwise, there was nothing else he could do right now.
Taking a step forward, Franz soon faced the entrance leading underground. Torches were hung at regular intervals, so it wasn’t that dark, but the chilly wind blowing from inside was somehow ominous.
“How long will it take this time?”
1 hour? 2 hours? Considering that time inside the labyrinth flowed faster, less time would have passed outside than that.
He just hoped they wouldn’t cause any trouble and would stay well in the meantime.
Hoping so, Franz walked down the stairs heading underground.
How much time had passed since then? What he encountered at the end of the stairs was a passage wide enough for three or four people to pass through side by side.
The passage, surrounded by bricks, stretched out in a long straight line, with forks in the road along the way allowing one to go elsewhere. Simply put, it was a maze-like structure surrounded by bricks.
Of course, even such a maze was no different from a straight path to Franz, so there was no hesitation in his steps. It was because the entire structure of the labyrinth was in his head.
How many steps had he taken like that? Far away, he saw monsters standing at a crossroad.
There were three monsters in total: a knight wearing armor and holding a sword, a mage wearing a robe and holding a staff, and a cleric wearing a nun’s habit. Their composition was decent enough to be called a party.
If there were a slightly unusual point, it would be that they were all skeletons.
It was similar to the Corpse Manipulation Magic researched by the Necromancer Association, but there was a difference in that they were moving with magic stones as their power source, rather than magic.
Snap-.
As Franz snapped his fingers, a translucent barrier formed around his body. He had used protection magic.
As he slowly took a step forward in that state, at a certain point, their gazes moved in unison. As if they were set to engage anything that entered a certain range.
Franz’s heart was pounding.
Their actions were like something out of a horror movie, but it wasn’t because of that. A heart fragile enough to be surprised by such things had already disappeared during the process of subjugating the Demon Lord.
He was simply delighted by the fact that he had encountered new monsters. It was even more so because they were creatures with different classes cooperating with each other.
If someone asked if he was crazy, he couldn’t exactly deny it.
However, most mages are crazy. They are quite significantly so, at that.
Franz was simply one of them as well.
Clank-.
The swordsman slowly took a step, then soon began to run. At the same time, the cleric cast a blessing on the swordsman, and the mage deployed a magic circle.
At that sight, Franz couldn’t help but admire them.
He had met monsters that used magic several times. Levi was one for instance, and the behemoth and the black goat he met at the first gate were like that.
But weren’t they all living creatures? At the very least, they possessed brains capable of thinking.
Compared to them, the skeletons right in front of his eyes had nothing that could be called a brain; bluntly speaking, they were no different from hollow shells.
What were such skeletons using magic, blessings, and swordsmanship based on?
Perhaps there was something yet to be discovered within magic stones.
While Franz continued to ponder like that, the swordsman had already approached right up to him.
Raising his sword high, the skeleton swiftly slashed downward. However, there was no way such an attack could pierce Franz’s barrier.
CLANG-!
With a sharp sound, the skeleton’s sword flailed in the empty air. More accurately, it slashed the barrier. Even then, it didn’t leave a single scratch.
Having finished one round of attack, the skeleton quickly retreated backward, and the magic already completed was fired at Franz.
Blaze, a 5th-circle fire-attribute magic. That blazing streak of flame rushed in with terrifying momentum.
It was a fairly high-level combo where focusing on responding to the swordsman would result in getting hit by the mage’s attack.
Of course, that was only the case for ordinary people.
Snap-.
As Franz snapped his fingers, the skeleton’s magic vanished without a trace. It was disassembled into magic power and scattered into the air.
Even after that, the battle flowed in a similar pattern.
The swordsman stepped forward to buy time, and meanwhile, the mage deployed magic. The cleric moved organically, dedicating themselves to blessings and healing.
“The magic it can use is five types across three attributes, huh.”
At this level, one could be called a fairly outstanding mage, not quite an association president, but enough to secure a respectable position.
The swordsman was probably from some noble swordsmanship school as well, but honestly, he wasn’t interested, so he didn’t really know. He didn’t particularly want to know, either.
Well, it would be best to end it appropriately now.
Snap-.
Simultaneously with the snap of his fingers, the skeletons reverted from monsters to mere bone fragments. It was an ending empty enough to be called futile considering how hard they had tried.
Franz collected the clothes they had been wearing and the magic stones, and began to move his stopped steps once again.
He wondered if perhaps the bones might also have value as materials, but unfortunately, they were nothing more or less than ordinary bones.
After that, Franz met many similar creatures: two swordsmen, or two mages. The numbers varied, but there were no creatures wandering around alone.
At least the mages had variations in the attributes and types of magic they used, but the swordsmen and clerics, no matter which ones they were, only repeated the same actions, as if they had been forged from the same mold.
There were also newly appearing archer skeletons, but unlike Hera, they couldn’t use Spirit Arts and relied on the power of magic instead.
Eventually, it was around the time the number of monsters he had taken down roughly approached three digits.
“Is this the way down?”
In front of Franz’s eyes was the path leading down to the 2nd Basement Floor. Just like the path he had come down earlier, torches were hung on the walls, so it wasn’t particularly dark.
Franz took a step forward without hesitation.
The 2nd Basement Floor he soon arrived at had a slightly unique structure. In an empty cavern with nothing inside, only torches blazed, illuminating the surroundings.
Actually, even when he had checked it in advance from above, he had been a little puzzled. It was because out of the 6 floors, this was the only floor where monsters did not exist.
“But then again, the path leading further down is blocked.”
On the opposite side of the path Franz had come down, there was a path leading further down. It was just that it was blocked by a thick wall, making it look as if it didn’t exist.
Was there perhaps some mechanism hidden? Or could he simply break it with force?
He was slowly taking steps toward the door while pondering such things.
Suddenly, magic power reactions from the surroundings began to be felt, just like when the knights had appeared at the entrance of the ruin.
Sure enough, magic circles were drawn on the floor, and knight, mage, cleric, and archer skeletons appeared. Judging by the magic power they possessed, they seemed to be on the same level as the ones he had met on the 1st Basement Floor.
It was just that their numbers were unimaginably large.
In an instant, close to a three-digit number of them had spawned, yet that number showed no signs of stopping and continued to increase.
Franz felt like he was slowly beginning to understand the reason why the gate’s threat level had been so high.
If one had reached this place using a normal route, it would have been impossible to go down unless one brought a considerable army.
Even if they did go down, worse things would be waiting, so subjugating the boss of the 6th Basement Floor would be an impossible task.
“It seems the establishment of guilds will become urgent…”
In the end, what the world truly needs are outstanding individuals to the point where they can solve problems of this level as if it were nothing.
And more than anything, Franz himself was hoping for it, because if such individuals didn’t appear, he wouldn’t be able to be freed from gate-related work until he grew old and died.
Haa-.
Letting out a short sigh, Franz raised his head and looked at the ceiling.