Chapter 49: The King’s Magic

“Thank you, Lila.”

I take the staff.
As I channel my mana, I read the inscriptions on it.

This isn’t the first time. The principle is the same as when I extracted the [Dawn’s Funeral Fire] from the Undead King’s core.

I can’t do it perfectly. The location of the teleportation will be random, and I’ll have to narrow the size of the gate. This will likely break the staff after just one use.

But I can do it.

Seeing our actions, the adventurers who were transported here start to gather.
Around 50 people. We can’t send everyone back.

I take a deep breath and raise my voice.

“Among us here, including Lila and myself, I’ll send 5 people back to the [Scorching Mines]. Only the strongest should step forward.”

The air grows tense.
I must have offended them. None of the adventurers here consider themselves weak. But this is an emergency. There’s no time to choose my words carefully.

The first to step forward is a big man wielding a metal club. It’s the same guy who shouted “Ora Ora” while breaking down walls.

“If it’s about strength, it’s got to be me!”

Next steps a man with his head down and a woman shrugging her shoulders. They belong to different parties and don’t converse much. There are no objections from the group, indicating that everyone agrees with the selected members.

“I don’t know where you’ll end up. After the teleportation, you’ll have to act based on your own judgment.”

I tap the ground with the staff.
I close my eyes and focus on a distant point.

I connect the mana from the [Scorching Mines] with that of the [Fallen Holy City].

—Open.

I pour all my mana into the staff until it shatters, extracting the magic.
The space distorts, and the ground begins to erode.

“O’Donerva.”

The distortion engulfed us.

◇

During the passage through the gate, I felt a strong pull. I couldn’t resist it. I just went with the flow.

—Itsuki is being invited into the dungeon.
I remember Lila’s words from the first day we met.

I am certain at this moment that her words are true.

The gate’s destination is random. I don’t have any control over it. Thus, someone meddling could change it as they wish.

I alone had my destination changed.

In a scorching heat that burns my skin, where the sweat on it evaporates instantaneously, the only light comes from the magma. The rocks on the walls are turning red-hot.

A space similar to an arena at the bottom of hell.

Standing in its center is a monster with a massive axe, heavy armor, and golden fur, staring at me.

Unique Entity: Golden Wolf Grid

I was summoned to this place. Whether to eliminate a threat, as a twist of fate, or guided by the dungeon, it doesn’t matter now.

The enemy I longed for is right before my eyes.
Both of us—

“Jackpot.”
“Vwooooaaaar!”

Kill. Everything in me screams to kill. The mana enveloping us erupts into murderous applause.

The Grid enlarges its muscles and readies for battle.

“In an endless night, even darkness grows cold.”

The Undead King’s cloak flutters, and the surrounding air grows dark and hazy. The crystallized mana swirls like soot-filled snow.

The attributes I can imbue into magic are ice and darkness.

With a newly acquired attribute, the two now slightly oppose each other in the normal state. The output drops to about 97% of its former power. [White Underworld Path] can’t be used in this state.

But there’s a new force strong enough to negate this disadvantage.

It’s the complete harmony between ice and darkness.

“[Attribute Mutation: Polar Night].”

In this state, I can fully harness the qualities of both. All magic’s firepower gets boosted, and the blended attributes make it less susceptible to heat compared to using just ice.

—65 seconds.
That’s the limit for maintaining this state.

“Vaaaaaaar!”

I meet the Golden Wolf Grid’s charge head-on.

“[Ice Armor: Lebeglakio].”

Shadow soldiers equipped with a heavy and tough ice armor reduce the Grid’s momentum. I kick off the ground and circle around its side, slipping a shadow into the gaps in its armor.

“[Hidden Shadow: Frostbite].”

Following the shadow threading through the armor, ice fangs form. Ignoring defense, the fangs pierce through the armor directly into the body. Dark red blood spurts out.

But the Grid doesn’t back down.
With a sharp twist of its body, widening its wounds, it readies its axe for a swing.

— Don’t dodge. Face it head-on.

Whose thought is this? It’s unclear as we bare our fangs at each other.

From its pierced wounds, shadows seep into the Grid’s body.

“[Shadow Stack: Freeze].”

The shadows accumulated throughout its body freeze. As its body temperature drops, its performance sharply declines.

Dodging the axe with minimal movement, I press my right hand against the Golden Wolf Grid’s face.

“[Frostbite].”
“Vagaaargh!”

“—tch!”

The Grid opened its mouth to crush my Frostbite. Sensing danger, I pull my hand back. A moment’s delay would’ve cost me my right hand.

“Vaaaaa….”

The Grid smirks. A cunning, wicked nature is inherent to it.
Switching from its previous approach, it increases the distance.

“You figured it out.”

That my [Attribute Mutation] has limits. Recognizing this, the Grid chose to endure.

Moments ago, it rejoiced in combat, now the beast’s instincts overcome emotion, or perhaps the emotions themselves were a trap.

—I won’t let you escape.

I command all accessible mana, crystals in the air explosively grow, becoming massively dense.

“[Frozen Star: Valgodea].”

Unlike the [Frozen Star] only manipulating debris, a deadly storm arises, resurrecting the power of the Undead King. The advantage is defining the shape myself.

I relentlessly hurl ice blocks at the Golden Wolf Grid. The clash with the axe sounds a shrill scream, shattering bones, and starting a wall’s collapse where they miss and hit.

“Vaaaaarr!”

The Golden Wolf Grid cracks the final ice block head-on with its axe.
The roar shakes the area, a roar of assured victory.

“Heh, looks like it endured it.”

I thought I grew much stronger, but the dungeon isn’t that easy.

Blood flows from the Grid’s whole body, one arm twisted, yet its gaze burns brightly. Carrying a flame that never dies while alive, its fangs bared.

—It’s coming.

It was intuition. In battle, intuition is almost as good as certainty.

Lila noticed the suddenly appearing Grids. Initially, I thought it was the magic of the Grid wielding the staff. However, after touching the staff and extracting the magic, I realized it specializes in gate magic.

So, the teleportation magic in this area is—

“Va…ra…Zea!”

A king’s magic to lead its subjects.

Behind the Grid, mana forms a great surge. A distortion of space. A gate for the soldiers to shift short distances.

Grids appear in mass. An overwhelming force.

The buff is gone, reverting me to normal as they prepare a spell to ensure my defeat.

“Heh.”

Laughter slips out.
All mana touching me turns a deep, dark hue and falls away.

“Why did you assume I’d grow weaker?”

From a regular state where two attributes coexist, following complete harmony in [Attribute Mutation], ice and darkness harshly conflict.

In this state, I can only use one of them.

“[Attribute Purification: Darkness].”

Thus, in the final state, I restore my output to 100%.

The Grid horde charges. Just me, standing alone.
Welcoming them is the magic of the fallen king of the subjects.

“Fall to black death — Orgostra.”

Inheriting everything, I move forward.