As they ventured deeper into the heart of the enemy territory, the number of undead increased exponentially.
Though it took a bit more time, their steps remained unimpeded.
“Th-The combination of a priestess and a paladin… truly overwhelming.”
A high-ranking priestess like Eleanor and a high-ranking paladin like Bern.
They were forces well beyond the level of a mere Level 3 field. Undead creatures were hardly a match for them.
Even the high-ranking undead known as mutants melted like jelly under Eleanor’s divine power when they tried to block their path.
And without fail, Bern’s relentless hammer strikes followed, smashing through whatever remained.
“Hmm. We’ve arrived.”
“This is the place…?”
The group arrived at a huge plaza located in the center of the city. It was large enough to accommodate thousands of people.
There stood enormous pillars at evenly spaced intervals.
Five huge pillars reached high into the sky with their tops vanishing beyond sight.
“Are those the sealing stones of the five Named Beings?”
“Yes.”
Eleanor answered curtly in response to Aiden’s question.
Everyone’s eyes turned toward the center of the plaza.
A giant angel statue towering nearly ten meters high stood there.
Beneath it, a staircase descended underground. It was shrouded in impenetrable darkness.
When Bern stepped forward to lead the way,
Fwoosh!
Torches lining the walls ignited instantly, and illuminated the path ahead.
“Well, looks like they know how to welcome guests. Not bad.”
Jun remarked with a smile.
Gulp.
Aiden swallowed dryly.
They prepared for the battle ahead and descended.
Leading the way was Bern who was the largest of the group. He stepped into the underground passage first.
Aiden and Jun followed close behind.
Right behind them, Eleanor drew upon her divine power, while Maya kept watch over their rear.
Before long, Maya’s face had become deeply serious.
The Heavenly Church was allied with the Eroders, her sworn enemies.
Everyone steeled their heart and went down the stairs.
Partway down, Jun’s brow twitched slightly.
Something feels off.
It was the kind of unease he had encountered several times in his life, always in moments of grave danger.
What was the source of this familiar sensation that was once again creeping over him without fail?
As he approached the fifth circle, Jun had begun to notice clues in such feelings.
The flow of magical power… it’s different from usual.
It was an incredibly subtle shift, but as he advanced to the fifth circle and gained the power to resist the incantation of his master, his ability to perceive magical power had sharpened.
There was something unsettling in the air. It was a sticky, oppressive sensation, like something he had encountered before but couldn’t quite place.
There’s definitely something here.
He began to gather magical power discreetly.
One hand rested on the choker around his neck.
[Deciphering the spell…]
[Deciphering complete.]
[The influence of the spell, ‘Odyssey of the Lazy Pilgrim’, is reduced by 1 percent.]
With each step he took down the staircase, he diminished the incantation’s influence by 1 percent.
By the time they reached the bottom of the staircase—
“Kirrrk.”
A reptilian cry echoed as the scene of the underground came into view.
The underground was far more expansive than they had anticipated.
Ten huge pillars firmly connected to the ground supported the ceiling above.
Torches embedded along the walls cast light across the place.
And at the farthest end—
Beside a huge stone tablet inscribed with incomprehensible ancient script and cryptic markings, a large altar came into view.
On that altar stood a single figure.
“Welcome, variables.”
A grating voice, like nails scraping against metal, echoed throughout the chamber.
“…A lizardman?”
Eleanor murmured under her breath as she caught sight of the figure.
Aiden’s eyes widened in shock as he looked as well.
Lizardmen were monsters that appeared in level 3 fields.
However, their assumptions were mistaken.
Jun who immediately recognized the opponent silently recalled a name in his mind.
The Old Crone of Calamity.
A crone who prayed for misfortune.
She was a boss monster, powerful enough to rank at level 7 in the game.
Though calling her a monster isn’t entirely accurate.
Her reptilian appearance resembled a lizardman, but it was nothing more than a curse she had cast upon herself for her rituals.
In essence, she was still human.
Why is she here?
The question flickered in his mind for a moment before he brushed it aside.
Her presence here was less important than the immediate need to face her.
Shamanism.
At the same time, Jun’s eyes quickly scanned the surroundings. He even used the [Keen Eyesight] skill and concentrated on everything.
Meanwhile—
“Kirrrrk. If only you’d left this place, you might have avoided disaster.”
The old crone sneered. Her gaze swept over Jun and his companions as if mocking them.
Her attention, however, settled squarely on Eleanor.
“The vessel. The ignorant vessel. You came here willingly to become a sacrifice.”
“What nonsense are you spewing, you damned lizard hag?”
Eleanor shot back immediately.
But the old crone only let out a shrill mocking laugh.
To her, Eleanor wasn’t human. She was nothing more than raw material.
“It’s truly ironic. To call forth a greater disaster in an attempt to prevent one… how foolish. But accept it gladly, for it is all in service of opening a new sky.”
The old shaman uttered incomprehensible words as she struck the ground with her skull-adorned staff, causing countless threads to unravel from beneath her feet.
The threads immediately stretched out toward the pillars supporting the ceiling.
In that instant, Bern reacted.
He didn’t know what the enemy was plotting, but whatever it was, he couldn’t let it proceed unchecked.
However, just before Bern could move—
“Asura Salvartha.”
A heavy voice resonated from the left pillar.
Baaang—!
A giant fist came crashing down onto Bern’s shield, shaking the entire underground with a deafening roar.
Bern’s muscles swelled dramatically as divine energy enveloped his shield.
He immediately recognized that his opponent was a formidable one. One who could rival his own strength.
“You…!”
“We both serve a god, yet our paths diverge.”
The monk who had appeared out of nowhere clenched prayer beads in both fists as if wielding knuckles.
At the same time, the tattoos etched across his body glowed with a crimson light.
Divine energy and an unknown energy intertwined, locking against each other.
So that mad monk is here too.
Tsk. Observing the tense standoff, Jun clicked his tongue quietly.
The Apostate of the Outer Gods, the Butcher Monk.
In the game, he appeared as a Level 7 monster, just like the old crone.
The only good thing was that they had Bern on their side.
[Spell: Manticore’s Deception]
The old crone pulled a giant purple heart from her robes. She drove a dagger into it, activating a spell aimed directly at Bern.
From the empty void, the image of a manticore materialized with its tail bristling with barbs as it lashed out toward Bern.
Eleanor immediately unleashed the divine energy she had been gathering, but their opponent reacted swiftly.
While the Butcher Monk blocked Bern’s shield with one fist, he struck with the other, scattering Eleanor’s divine energy with a burst of force.
In the brief opening created, Bern managed to shove the Butcher Monk back with his shield, but in doing so, the manticore’s illusionary tail lashed out, bristling with thorns.
“Hrk…!”
Whoosh—
The manticore’s illusory tail passed through Bern’s body without any physical impact, but its effects were immediate.
Cold sweat poured from his body, and a feverish heat began to rise.
His muscles threatened to go limp on their own, but Bern held himself together through sheer physical resilience.
However, it came at a cost. It drained his stamina significantly.
All of this happened in a mere instant.
But the problem didn’t end there.
A shaman of that caliber…
Surely, this wouldn’t be the extent of her power.
Even as his comrade was under attack, Jun refrained from giving any commands.
Was he frozen in fear?
No, as a mage, he was calmly analyzing the situation and assessing it with precision.
The old shaman.
She was leagues above the goblin shaman they had encountered in the Black Forest.
And yet, Jun instinctively sensed that something was amiss.
Is this really all there is?
She was strong.
But not as strong as he had witnessed in the game.
The reason lay in the flow of energy emanating from her body.
Even with her power reaching the fifth circle, Jun’s past memories told him something was off.
The old crone’s shamanism was of a different lineage compared to the magic used by the Goblin Lord.
Even so, Jun retained memories of her magic.
That’s weaker than in the game.
He realized it instinctively.
In terms of levels, she was roughly mid-Level 6.
Of course, that still made her a formidable opponent, far beyond what a level 3 should be capable of handling.
If this were a game, it would have been so absurdly unbalanced that Jun might have rage-quit on the spot.
But this wasn’t a game; it was reality. Jun racked his brain desperately; he was determined to find a way through this situation.
She isn’t trying to kill us outright. Why?
Despite having a level 6 shaman and a level 7 Butcher Monk at their disposal, neither was fighting at full strength.
Well, perhaps the Butcher Monk was an exception, but it was clear the shaman wasn’t fully committed to this battle.
If the old crone had truly unleashed her full power, she wouldn’t have only targeted Bern with that spell earlier.
She would have left Bern to the Butcher Monk and focused her efforts entirely on them.
But she hadn’t done that.
Why?
Is it because of the vessel? Is she holding back for Eleanor’s safety?
That couldn’t be it.
If that were the case, it wouldn’t explain what had happened back at the base camp.
Then what could it be?
There must be something else.
Jun’s thoughts raced. There had to be a reason the old crone wasn’t using her full power. What was it?
Focusing his gathered magical power into his eyes, Jun activated the [Keen Eyesight] skill.
And then—
“……!”
A staggering amount of energy surged into his awareness from above.
It was incredibly subtle, yet the sheer magnitude of the power that lingered over the area was incomprehensible.
That energy was split into five distinct flows.
Seals of the Named Beings?
Could it be that the seals of the Named Undead were being tampered with?
Was the old crone pouring all her energy into that, leaving her unable to act freely?
The thought crossed his mind.
At that moment, Jun’s gaze fell on the old crone.
And he noticed something strange.
The energy isn’t split into five.
There was one additional flow.
That additional energy was concentrated on the sinister staff held by the old crone. The energy was seeping into the ground in real-time through its shaft.
At that moment, Jun’s gaze met the old crone’s.
“What… are you looking at?”
“Something interesting.”
There was something there.
Down below, the crone was discreetly channeling her energy into the ground.
It felt as though she had been storing up her magic for a decisive strike.
Jun immediately began gathering his own magical power.
If he had glimpsed the cards she was holding, it was only fair to reveal his own.
Magic surged forth in an instant, crashing like a tidal wave.
For the first time, the old crone’s expression twisted in disarray.
The appearance of a variable, the very variable she had so desperately feared, had come to pass.
***
What is that thing?
Magical power was gathering.
The old crone, who had lived through countless situations thanks to her many years of practicing shamanism, could swear she had never seen anything like this before.
It was as if the magical power itself was rejoicing in its liberation.
Even though it was merely that, the surrounding landscape distorted under its influence.
At the same time, an overwhelming sense of unease gripped her.
Why did such a mage exist in a mere Level 3 field?
The thought lasted only a moment before she immediately activated the spell she had been preparing.
It was a spell she had covertly been crafting to deceive the eyes of the high-ranking priestess and the huge paladin on the other side.
Though it needed just a bit more time to reach completion, she intended to make up for that with her own skill.
“You wretch!”
Without hesitation, she unleashed the spell.
Almost at the same time, the mage who had created a vortex of ominous magical power extended his arm toward her.
I don’t know what it is, but you’re too late, you worm!
At the tip of the mage’s outstretched finger, an unimaginable amount of magical power compressed and gathered.
The magical particles coalesced, generating friction that condensed into intense heat.
The old shaman smirked inwardly as she noticed the mage’s finger pointing directly at her.
Foolish wretch!
No matter how powerful that spell was supposed to be.
Surely, it was meant to contain enough power to kill her in one blow.
But such things mattered little to her.
She had already prepared to reflect that very force back using her spells.
Even if it didn’t kill him, it didn’t matter.
She had her own plan to eliminate all these pesky variables at once.
She trusted the energy she could feel beneath her staff.
With that conviction, she activated her spell.
[Spell: Reversed Sacrifice]
A mirror, forged with the power of an outer god, materialized and enveloped her entire body. Almost at the same moment, the mage’s magic also activated.
The tremendous energy condensed, ready to be absorbed by the mirror and reflected back at him.
However.
A sly grin curved on the lips of the unknown mage.
For a fleeting moment, she thought she saw his mocking smirk.
“……!!”
His fingertip, which had been pointing at her, suddenly shifted downward.
In that brief instant, she deciphered the shape of his lips as he spoke.
– You should’ve watched until the end.
[Flare]
The mage’s spell struck the ground beneath the old crone’s feet.
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