Chapter 96 – The Tomb

000

In the meeting room for chiefs at the Aion Tower, the chiefs of each department who gathered at the round table were talking about their own.

However, the reason why the number of students gathered differently than before was that the problem with the Enforcement Division, which was a common enemy, was sorted out to some extent.

Even so, Lila from the Magic Department, the heads of the Divinity Department and the Politics Department would all gather at the meeting and continue talking about how to restore the damaged streets of the academy and which department to commission the work to.

However, today’s conference hall was heavier than usual and had a threatening atmosphere.

The cause, of course, is the Lyla Flamewatch.

In the end, Sasha, who disappeared after following the man from the enforcement department that day, did not return home even after the night passed.

Quon heard her story from her from Lyla, and she seemed quite, but her steps shocked her staggered back to her room her and did not come out.

Yesterday’s fight seemed to have already spread among the students, and the witnesses’ stories were relayed to the other chiefs.

“I’m sure you can properly explain what happened. Lyla Flamewatch.”

It was an aristocratic man, the chief of political science, who looked at Laila, who was in constant trouble with her hand raised between her forehead and her, and quietly fired at him.

“…”

“About the fact that the man who fought the automata deployed for security was the head of the Enforcement Division, and the woman you brought from outside, named Sanasia, followed him.”

She quietly adds her sentence to Lila, who has maintained her silence, without losing the sharpness of her eyes her.

“Isn’t there a possibility that she was a member of the Enforcement Division from the beginning?”

As her sacred department continued to speak, Laila waved her hand and shook her head as if she were a little annoyed.

“It can’t be. If I did, I’d already been stabbed to death in my bed. It’s not reasonable to suddenly act like that now.”

The head woman of the Department of Divinity seemed to understand Lila’s words to her, but the student in the Politics Department still did not stop her scolding eyes toward her.

“If you have skills like yours, even if you were momentarily restrained on the spot, you could have chased them with flying magic. Why didn’t you do that?”

“…That.”

Lila couldn’t answer that question properly.

What Sasha said. When she heard that the man was important to them, Lila felt her heart skip a beat.

An alarm was ringing in Layla’s mind, as if something imprinted on her body her responded to the word her, to the vibrations of her soul her.

However, no matter how hard she tried to remember, she couldn’t remember anything. She felt frustrated at the current situation and stressed by Sasha’s sudden departure from her. It was only

“Even if it’s Mr. Layla, it’s probably going to lead to a panic if her teammate betrays her right in front of her eyes.”

As if protecting Layla, as if teasing her. She is the head of the Magic Tool Department who speaks in an ambiguous manner.

“Huh…”

The Department of Political Science saw the words of the Department of Magic Tools and Layla’s attitude to her, and she sat down, perhaps realizing that she couldn’t hear the answer she wanted.

“It’s unacceptable to do more troublesome things than this. The remnants of the Enforcement Division are a problem, but the recent raids are also a problem.”

“Ah, that bizarre case.”

To the head of political science, the girl from the Department of Divinity answered.

Once Layla glanced over the report lying in front of her.

Over the past few days, there have been a series of incidents in which students at the academy were attacked by someone and lost consciousness on the spot.

Most of the students targeted are students from the ‘Etiquette Department’, and although they lose their minds, there is no sign of being robbed of anything, and there is no sign of injury anywhere on the body.

I couldn’t even get a sense of what the culprit wanted to do.

However, even those who lost their minds don’t remember well about the incident, Eoyoung Booyoung, and the culprit.

Since there was no problem with his own body, there was no need to find the culprit, so the investigation into the case was proceeding at an absurdly slow pace.

“Is this related to enforcement?”

“No. The methods and trends are different from before. I think this… Is the action of a separate person.”

Lila answers as she feels.

Even though she stood out like this, she was not in a situation where the executive department could afford to make any profit.

Is there some intention in the fact that the target of the crime is focused only on the students of the minor department called ‘Ezeol Department’?

“This incident can be postponed for a while as there is no actual damage. First of all, it’s the remnants of the Enforcement Division… Sasha’s case is also there, so I’ll take responsibility and finish it.”

“Please do so. If you can.”

Layla sighs heavily at the words of the student of the Political Science Department, who is nasty, and asks the other chiefs.

“…Anyway. I think it’s the fastest way to investigate the Enforcement Division’s new hideout. Any guesses?”

“I’ve looked at a plausible place almost once during this week. If there are any left… I wonder if it’s an old school in the outskirts where entry is prohibited.”

Layla looks at the map of the academy spread out in the center of the round table and confirms the location of the old school.

“Isn’t the old school closed down due to the failure of magic experiments in the past?

“I think the people in the Enforcement Division are concentrated to the extent that they have to do that.”

“…Is that also true? Then I’ll go and see.”

Layla said that and stood up from her seat. The head of the Department of Magic Tools greatly welcomed her words and spread her arms while talking.

“Oh, then please use the anti-pollution magic tool developed by our department… “

“I don’t need it. They’re trying to get me into a clinical experiment to extract strange data again.”

001

“The elders’ old souls… What is an ‘underground grave’…”

Cleon, who changed into an adventurer’s outfit for the first time in a while, was advancing down the bright underground road with Sasha, Iona, and Beatrix.

If you ask why it is bright even though it is underground, it is not the power of magic light that is common in dungeons.

It was thanks to the peculiarity of the ceiling of the space.

It was a mysterious space where countless stars and the sun and moon were floating at the same time in an open space like the night sky.

It is said that the ancients were studying magic related to the universe, and Iona explained that this ceiling would be one of the results of that research.

The moon rises and goes out repeatedly, and the sun occasionally emits intense light and delivers its heat.

In order to maintain such a powerful and gigantic magic, the power of the ‘young vein’ will be needed.

The place they are advancing to is a huge tomb in the basement of the academy that has received the story from the Council of Elders.

However, a structure close to a maze and traps constantly blocking their path.

And the golems that appear from time to time and are still running on semi-permanent power.

Maybe it’s because it was neglected for a long time after the excavation started and the academy was built on it.

It was a twisted space that had already matured as a dungeon.

If there’s one thing that’s fortunate, it’s using Beatrix’s connection to ‘Ariadne’.

As if following a skein of thread, with her guidance her, it was possible to proceed without making a mistake to the ‘Curse Room’ where the black battles would be hiding.

“Even if you feel a connection to Ariadne, I can see why you can’t locate it. This subterranean space is half otherworldly. Like a monad’s coffin.”

“Even when I’m still, I can feel a strange magical energy running through my skin…”

At Beatrix’s words her, Sasha trembled and rubbed her arm her with her hand.

‘Not good…’

Cleon quietly frowns and grasps the identity of the sticky magic that wraps around his body her.

This is a magical power that I have felt before.

Iona, too, looked at Cleon in silence and nodded her head when her eyes met.

“This is the magic of another dimension.”

“Yes. At this high concentration, you can almost assume that there is a passage leading to the other dimension itself nearby.”

At Iona’s words, Sasha made a surprised expression.

“So, then. Are you saying that the beast will appear again?”

At Sasha’s screaming words, Cleon shakes his head.

“It’s not like that. The reason why shradsel appeared in Ellesia’s forest is because it was originally the territory of shradsel.”

“That’s right, and as far as I know, there are no legends or myths about the World Tree in the academy area. However, if the passage to the other dimension continues to be open… Along with the constant flow of magic from the other dimension, the probability of bad things coming over the problem is that it’s too big.”

“If you say that it’s not good…?”

After hearing Beatrix’s words, Cleon quietly closed his mouth, then he started talking again.

“The realm of banishment.”

After the events of Shuradsel, Cleon was able to find out about this through the documents Talchek left behind.

Since the gap in the second dimension is a space where the outside and the inside are completely cut off, it meant expelling beings that could be a threat to the world.

Its origins began in ancient times, and the World Trees were also exiled to the rift of the other dimension by ancient magicians in order to forcibly destroy the immortal body.

And the scenery he saw in the past.

The figure of Lesia, the hero, being sucked in as if the air was being torn apart and falling into a space like the night sky.

Cleon still remembers the faces of the people wearing black robes and animal masks that visited the city that day.

However, there were times when the passages of another dimension were opened, and the things exiled between them tried to return.

Moreover, what makes my head hurt even more is that there are times when the flow of time is out of sync in the world where the other dimension and Cleon live.

Just because the dimensional passage was opened at the point where 10 years have passed in reality, it is impossible to assert that 10 years have passed on the side of the banished.

No, on the contrary, it is said that there are cases where those expelled from the present come back to reality through a passage opened in the distant past.

It is, indeed, a disaster from the future.

“The reason why the ancient people’s technological prowess is so strangely high is because of beings from that future–perhaps, it’s because of the things left behind by beings who were banished from the future even more than our present.”

As if to supplement Cleon’s explanation about the exile area, when Iona answered, Sasha and Beatrix did not hide their reactions of being amazed at the story they had heard for the first time.

“However, in the long history of the academy, the fact that there has not been an incident caused by something from another dimension means that the control over the aisle is being controlled to some extent.”

“Or maybe it’s just pure luck.”

Iona and Cleon thought the same thing after saying that.

`Does the black battle have the ability to control the passage of another dimension… ?`

‘If that’s the case, then using that power, you can go through the passage and find Lecia…’

The moment he moved forward thinking about what his teacher and her father her, Sword Saint Talchek, could n’t accomplish.

“Senior! It’s dangerous!”

Cleon, who suddenly came to his senses at Beatrix’s warning from behind, swung the sword his master had handed down to him to slash the golem’s fist that was attacking him.

A heavy impact came down to the arm through the sword and vibrated the bones.

The steel giant looked down from above as if Cleon, whose blows did not break, was amazed.

Those eyes seemed to be observing and analyzing Cleon as the iris covering the top of the glass repeatedly closed and opened.

Next moment. An arrow of magical power flies and pierces the eye of her.

As if Sasha had mastered the use of arrows made entirely of magical energy, she fired an arrow of magical power that created sparks in an instant while floating in the air.

The twisting trajectory, like a living snake, tucked into the golem’s joints, and the moment after its movement stopped.

Cleon’s breath, feeling that the power of the golem that had been suppressing him had disappeared-

And, one island.

The ultimate slash, which was swung by uniting everything that made up it, cuts the golem’s body in a diagonal line.

The core, the power part of the golem, was also shattered in that blow, and eventually the golem collapsed on the spot and stopped her operation.

“I’ve improved my skills again.”

Iona talks while looking at Cleon, who finished the battle in one fell swoop before she had time to do anything, but Cleon quietly shook her head as she returned her sword to the scabbard.

“No, Sasha’s help her was greater than I was before. She really improved her skills her a lot.”

“Ehehe…”

Sasha blushed and scratched the back of her head as if embarrassed, and her bea made an expression of envy of Sasha.

“This golem… Seeing that it suddenly appeared, it seems to have been transferred from somewhere.”

“Did they send it after they sensed our intrusion… Then it must have been a black battle.”

At Iona’s words, Cleon pushes the golem away and clears the blocked path.

“How long until Ariadne’s reaction?”

“I think we can go a little further.”

Relying on Beatrix’s guidance, the party moved their feet once more to advance through the maze.

002

“…Is this place?”

Finally, the party reached the deepest part of the underground tomb.

If it hadn’t been for Beatrix’s guidance, he might have spent a considerable amount of time wandering underground.

In front of the Cleons, a large, heavy-looking, black stone door was firmly closed.

Around the entrance of the door, huge amulets that appear to be traces of a ‘seal’ were torn and attached.

When I took my hand, I knew that there was a barrier that would ‘break away’ and refuse to invade.

“Iona.”

When Cleon calls Iona, she quietly takes Cleon’s hand her and transforms into a holy sword.

It was the black magic and the magic of the other dimension that maintained the barrier.

That’s why, if Iona’s slash her, imbued with divine magic, is drawn in a straight line.

The barrier shattered as if glass were being shattered, and at the same time, even the stone door blocking the entrance was shattered.

The space inside was really dark.

The light from the sun and moon rising at the same time, like the night sky on the ceiling, did not enter this room.

There was only a carved groove in the ground and three stone slabs floating around for some reason.

“This is the cursed room?”

“I think so… Ariadne.”

As Beatrix quietly called the name, something flew into Beatrix’s hand her from an invisible place in the darkness.

That thing, like a skein of thread, was the true form of Beatrix’s demonic sword, ‘Ariadne’.

“The fact that Ariadne is here means that Arondite is also there.”

When Cleon creates a light sphere through magic and illuminates the surroundings-

At that moment, three skeletons are seen scattered around.

“…Are these the scholars who died in the Chamber of Curse that the Senate said?”

And, a glass sword that emits blue light in the center of the stone slab and waits for its owner to find it.

Cleon quietly approaches and tries to reach for the handle of the holy sword.

Next moment-

“That holy sword would not be yours. Magic swordsman.”

A man’s voice is suddenly heard.

At the same time, the three slabs surrounding him were illuminated with blue, green, and red light.

Among them, at the voice coming from the blue stone slab, Cleon draws his sword in an instant and is alert.

“…Are you a Black Engagement?”

“To be precise, we are the Black Engagement.”

The answer to Cleon’s question is a green stone slate this time.

After the voice of an adult woman flows out, another voice naturally flows from the red stone slate.

“I’ve been waiting. Because I wanted to talk to you once. The black magic swordsman. Cleon.”

Darkness in the deepest part of the academy surrounds the magic swordsman.

The party did not lose their vigilance and observed the other party’s movements.