Chapter 50
[You have made a 『Liquid that Flows in Reverse When Exposed to Light』.]
[You have learned 『Skill - Curse Casting Lv. 1』.]
Lee Shin put the black liquid in a bottle. There was not a lot of it, but it seemed enough.
"Are you done with your test already?" Reina asked.
When Lee Shin handed in his test, Reina did a double take. She looked at the time. It was amazing how Lee Shin could make his cursed liquid in just an hour. Reina had been looking closely at how Lee Shin created it–he had used a kind of recipe that she had never seen before, even though she knew many recipes.
"What kind of cursed liquid is this?" Reina asked.
"If you drink this liquid and are exposed to light, there will be a backflow the moment you activate your mana," Lee Shin explained.
"What?" Reina asked.
Reina could not believe what Lee Shin had accomplished when he said he had created a curse that made mana flow in reverse just by looking at the light. Reina had dealt with quite a lot of black magic for a long time along the way of rising through the ranks to be a Clarte, but she had never seen this kind of curse before. Besides, she was astonished to see that Lee Shin could make this cursed liquid in only an hour.
"Alright, you’re good to go for now. I’ll give you the result after I check the quality of this liquid,” Reina explained.
"Okay," Lee Shin replied.
"Oh, and come to my room when the test is over,” Reina said.
"Okay," Lee Shin replied.
As Lee Shin left the test room, Reina fiddled with the bottle containing the black liquid with mixed feelings.
‘Lee Shin…’
* * *
After the test was over, Lee Shin went to Reina's room which was located on the seventh floor. Lee Shin knocked on the door and Reina let him in.
"Come in and sit over there," said Reina.
Unlike the image of a dark wizard, her room was very neatly arranged with white wallpaper. And by looking at her room, Lee Shin could roughly tell the personality of this wizard, Reina.
"Lee Shin, a wizard of our Black Magic Tower… Is it true that you got into trouble in the Blue Magic Tower as soon as you came in?” Reina asked.
"Well, it wasn’t really ‘trouble’," Lee Shin replied.
"Well, I guess it’s nothing compared to what’s going on right now,” Reina said.
Reina put some drinks on the table and sat opposite Lee Shin.
"You seem very much at peace though it looks like the two Magic Towers are about to disappear right now. Am I right?" Lee Shin asked.
"They’re not going to disappear that easily. Well, I guess they won't be able to participate in this coming Deleague though," Reina replied.
"Why did you call me?" Lee Shin asked.
"You’ve learned black magic before, didn’t you?” Reina asked.
"Yes, I did. I learned it only for a short time," Lee Shin replied.
Reina laughed when she saw Lee Shin respond to her question without even changing his facial expression.
"I saw the traces of the curse left on the dummy after your third-class test.” After saying that, Reina checked Lee Shin's expression once again but he still looked calm.
‘You are as bold as brass.’
Reina knew that Lee Shin was not a guy who would easily reveal himself, so after warming up her voice, she asked again.
"Be honest with me here. That curse was not something you could have done with a short amount of training," Reina said.
"Well… I guess it wasn’t that short then. But, it's not like I've learned it for a long time. Though, I had an amazing person as my teacher," Lee Shin explained.
"An amazing person? Who is that?" Reina asked.
The unexpected words from Lee Shin made Reina curious, but Lee Shin did not plan on giving in to her curiosity.
"It's a secret," Lee Shin replied.
“Tsk, then you shouldn’t have brought it up in the first place," said Reina.
"But you asked me,” said Lee Shin.
"Forget it. I don't think you’ll tell me anything even if I ask more,” Reina said.
Slurp—
After taking a sip of her tea, Reina glanced at Lee Shin.
"You know… You're not going to tell me how you figured out the recipe for the cursed liquid that you made this time, are you?" Reina asked.
"I learned it from my teacher," Lee Shin replied.
"Ugh, you’re basically saying that you’re not going to tell me. Alright fine, you may leave,” Reina said.
"Okay," Lee Shin replied.
After exchanging a conversation that seemed meaningless, Lee Shin got up from his seat.
"By the way, is your name Lee Shin?" Reina asked just as Lee Shin grabbed the doorknob to get out of the room.
"Yes, that’s right," Lee Shin replied.
Reina was about to say something, but she soon shook her head and waved her hand telling Lee Shin to get out. "Are you... oh wait, nevermind. You’re good to go," said Reina.
* * *
"What the hell is going on all of a sudden?" Terian looked confused.
Terian could not understand why the Red and Blue Magic Towers suddenly got themselves into this chaos. In fact, the Deleague was also only a few months away and so it did not seem reasonable to Terian, the master of the Yellow Magic Tower, that those two towers were fighting like mad at this juncture.
"Master… this is our chance. It’s the chance for our Yellow Magic Tower to step up," said the deputy master.
"That’s right… Due to this incident, the Blue and Red Magic Towers will suffer damage that cannot be easily reversed, and they will have to give up on participating in Deleague,” Terian explained.
"That's right, so we'll be able to take the top place in the Deleague and regain our reputation," said the deputy master.
Just like the deputy master had said, this Deleague was a great opportunity for the Yellow Magic Tower to recover from the disgrace they had suffered in the last Deleague.
"I'll be out for a while,” said Terian.
"Are you going there...?” the deputy master asked.
"Yes," replied Terian.
The two mysterious men parted and the master headed to a desert that was located a little farther south from the area where the Yellow Magic Tower was. It was a large, uninhabited desert where no one would go, but Terian headed towards there without hesitation.
After walking for a long time, he stopped and looked around. When he activated his mana and lifted the ground up to a single spot, the sand flowed down and a door with a strange pattern began to appear from the sand.
"The ruins of Estania..." When Terian mumbled a long phrase, the door opened and he went in.
Someone was watching the door that remained open for a while even after Terian had entered, and soon new footprints appeared in the sand again, heading towards the door. Terian went through the door and headed deep underground, walking through a long passage. His footsteps were without hesitation, as if he had already been here many times. Terian soon stopped in front of a room.
"Estania, I will use your relics properly," Terian muttered.
There was a picture of a beautiful woman carved on the door. Estania was the most outstanding hextech engineer of the ancient times, the authority in the field of Golem. Her relics were just beyond this room.
Thud—
The door opened as if a huge mechanical fort was moving. As it moved, the space shook with a huge noise. Inside the room, there were huge Golems in it. Terian then took out a bead from his arms and breathed mana into it. In the next moment, the Golems, which had been piled up with dust, began to move.
"Oooh… you guys are still great, my Golems." Terian was astonished.
Terian admired the majesty of the hundred Golems. Among those hundred yellow Golems which were dozens of times bigger than Terian, there was a Golem that stood out. It was a silver one that was about 1.5 times the size of the other Golems.
"If only I had you, it wouldn’t be too hard for our Yellow Magic Tower to win the Deleague and for me to become a Deleaguer," Terian muttered.
The battle between the Red and the Blue Magic Towers toward their self-destruction was a great opportunity the Yellow Magic Tower had to seize.
"So, this was what you were hiding at the back?” Lee Shin asked.
Terian heard a voice behind. Surprised, Terian turned around. There stood a guy with purple hair wearing a uniform worn by third-class wizards of the Black Magic Tower. Moreover, Terian could sense the black mana from the wizard.
"You… you must be the one who recently entered the Black Magic Tower,” Terian muttered.
Terian could recognize Lee Shin at once, because there were rumors that a rising star had entered the Black Magic Tower and that he had fooled all the third-class wizards of the Blue Magic Tower.
"How did you... come after me?" Terian asked.
Terian made sure he thoroughly checked his surroundings even before he came out of the Yellow Magic Tower. He believed that there were no talented people here in Seia who would be able to get past his mana detection, which also meant that Lee Shin was either a wizard who was way above himself or...
‘Or he was playing some trick.’
Since Terian thought it could not be the former, he was sure that Lee Shin had played some trick on him. Then, he wondered why Lee Shin showed up and what kind of trick he played. Terian did not even stop to consider that Lee Shin was a wizard who was far above him in skills. That was how strong the pride of the masters of each Magic Tower in Seia was.
"When there’s a will, there’s a way," Lee Shin muttered.
"You must be the one who made the Blue and Red Magic Towers fight this time," Terian said.
"Yes, that’s right," Lee Shin replied.
Terian’s expression stiffened at Lee Shin's response, because he admitted it so readily.
Terian had expected such guts from the moment the opponent appeared. When Lee Shin had appeared in front of him so confidently, that meant that he was also confident that he would win.
"You must have killed Shun, as well," Terian muttered.
"That’s right," Lee Shin replied.
"Then are you going to kill me here, too?” Terian asked.
"That’s right," Lee Shin replied.
"Is ‘that’s right,’ the only thing you can say? Why are you doing this?” Terian asked.
"I want the Black Magic Tower to win the Deleague,” Lee Shin replied.
Terian had somewhat expected such a response, but he could not believe that such an obvious reason was Lee Shin’s motivation for all the actions he had taken so far. With a stiff expression, Terian carefully activated his mana.
"You're talking nonsense. Can't you see the Golem corps here? Do you think you can beat me on your own when I have these guys with me?” Terian shouted.
As Terian breathed mana into the beads in his arms, the hundred Golems started moving in unison.
"Can't you see my uniform?" Lee Shin asked.
"What about your uniform?” Terian asked.
At Terian’s words, Lee Shin laughed at him with one corner of his mouth raised. At the same time, the shadow of Lee Shin had spread out in all directions. From that shadow, Lee Shin's army of the undead, who were asleep in the shadow space, appeared and roared in frustration.
"Harpness," Lee Shin called out.
The space tore, and a black ghost-like figure with a sickle, the Grim Reaper, appeared from within.
- Did you call me, He Who Knows Death…?
"Bring out Kalen and other undead out of there."
- Alright.
When Harpness’ sickle cut through the air, a black portal opened up, and the undead with overflowing morale walked out of it.
"...did you call me sir?" Kalen asked.
Kalen, who looked completely different from when he was last seen on the eleventh floor, gripped his wand with his rattling bones. Fortunately, he had been doing well in the World of Death.
"W-w-what the hell…?” Terian was shocked.
Terian watched the scene incredulously, because the number of the undead that appeared through the torn space was many times more than the number of Golems.
"Who are you…? How can you do this all alone? How can you dominate so many undead? Even the master of the Black Magic Tower cannot do—” Terian could not believe what he was seeing.
"Shut up. Come out, Gundo," Lee Shin called out.
The Lizardman Guardian Warrior Gundo, which appeared through the bracelet, stood in front of Lee Shin.
"Master," May and Warrie appeared in front of Lee Shin as well.
"May and Warrie, you are in charge of that silver Golem with Gundo," Lee Shin ordered.
The aura emanating from the silver Golem was much different from the other yellow Golems. Even after seeing so many undead appear, Terian did not seem nervous. And Lee Shin was sure that it was because Terian believed in his silver Golem.
"Go on, break it all," Lee Shin ordered.
The two forces clashed in the huge underground space that was filled with the undead and Golems.
Boom! Bam! Thud—!
Every time the Golems, under Terian's spell, swung their fists at the Skeletons, the bones of the smaller Skeletons broke without fuss, and all their joints disconnected. On the other hand, the attacks that Skeletons made did not have much effect on the Golems. Terian smiled when he saw that the Skeletons could not do much damage after all.
"Hahaha! They're just Skeletons. Do you think they can beat my Golems?" Terian laughed at Lee Shin.
The strength of the undead were their high death aura and the relentless murderous intent. Against living creatures, that alone would reduce their combat power, but the Golem was just a combat weapon with no will. Moreover, the Golems, which boast a strong body, were natural enemies to Skeletons.
[Summoning of the World of Death]
Inside the ruins, which used to be a hollow space in an ordinary basement, the space was covered with dark red sky, and devastated black land appeared.
"W-what’s going on!" Terian shouted.
Terian panicked and fell while he was retreating. The death aura coming from the World of Death was vastly different from the death aura emitted by the undead. It weighed down the space. It felt like the space itself was dead. Due to the unpleasant air that filled the surroundings, Terian was hesitant even to breathe.
[Summoning of the World of Death]
Summon the world where the dead live.
# The ability of all living creatures except the undead species falls by 10%.
# The ability of the undead species increases by 10%.
# The ferocity of the undead species increases by 50%.
# Cool-down time: 72 hours
This was a class skill that Lee Shin had acquired after becoming the class of the Death Ruler. The World of Death that was summoned by Lee Shin had changed the atmosphere of the battlefield in an instant.
.
Woong— Puck! Crunch!
"Keaugh!"
Despite losing one arm when the Golem punched him, the Skeleton Warrior used its legs to hang on to the Golem and stabbed it with a knife. On the side, there was a Skeleton Orc, who smacked things with his head as if his skull would never get smashed. Also, there was a Skeleton Ogre named Bark who continued to hit the fallen Golem with his club, because he was so thrilled by the bloodshed that he was unable to judge the situation.
Terian got more and more frightened. This was a place where it was hard to retain one’s sanity.
"W-w-what the hell is going on?”
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