Chapter 226: Arifureta (6)
Chapter 226: Arifureta (6)
~Mash B. POV~
[Tortus, Sunken Ruins of Melusine, Final Room]
*Shiii*
*SPLASH*
Exiting into the dead final room of this place I felt nothing for the water pressure in here and Yue was doing fine in her suit. Thank you my Kamui for the help.
The Sunken Ruins of Melusine is in the ruins of the floating island Andika at the bottom of the western sea. The only way to find it is to conquer the Grand Gruen Volcano and obtain proof of that feat in the form of a pendant of a woman holding a lamp.
A person must hold the pendant in front of a full moon and allow the light to pass through the slot where the lamp is supposed to be. That will cause the Labyrinth to rise from the sea floor. This makes it the only Labyrinth where challengers both need to have already cleared another Labyrinth and go through a pretrial as well, as they need to be able to reach the bottom of the ocean to enter the Labyrinth.
Challengers will face various sea-based monsters and then must fight autonomous submarines while underwater. If they can endure bailing it after a specific timeframe, they will be led down a path that will break off into two locations, whereas the left option will lead to a ship graveyard, while the right leads to a city of ruin.
In either choice, the challenger will be shown mana-based illusions of Tortus's violent history involving Ehit. The illusions will then turn hostile and attack the challengers and can only be destroyed with mana. The reward for clearing the Labyrinth would be a mini-submarine.
The Labyrinth was created by Meiru Melusine and gives the knowledge of [Restoration Magic] to those who have overcome its trial. The concept of this Labyrinth is 'Exposing the horrors that the gods have inflicted upon the world.'
But for once I'm gonna skip all that crap as that seems to be too much of a hassle for me to deal with. Taking the shortcut portal into the final room we both found ourselves in a room made of hard coral and a glowing stone of green and blue, mossy and caked soil.
I glanced outside the room from the small cracks and holes in the coral and spotted flesh. Flesh everywhere. The walls, floor, the ceiling.
It was the final boss of the dungeon, an immortal jellyfish-octopus monster. It was a pain in the ass to deal with, being immortal and all, regenerating faster than it could be killed, especially underwater.
Fortunately for me, I grabbed Yue shaking my head as we took a closer look at the monster… sleeping. Thankfully, it lay asleep, only to be awoken when someone entered the dungeon the proper way, using Naiz's necklace on a full moon on the sea.
It's why I didn't bother to use that necklace back in the volcano. Why fight a troublesome boss battle when you can sneak past it and get the rewards? Other than that, the necklace could be a good antique.
With that, we saw the magic circle as we took a step on it. Using my [Overwrite] skill I forced it to activate and hand over the Ancient Magic [Restoration Magic] and destroy said circle after it had been used up.
[Ding!]
[You have gained the knowledge of the Ancient Magic Skill [Restoration Magic]!]
Skill List.
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<Restoration Magic> (Active) Lv.-
MP Cost: Varies
Description: One of the ancient magics originating from the "Age of Gods," which allows the user to restore the state of anything to either its previous or original condition. The true power of this magic is the ability to interfere with time, meaning it can manipulate the time of anything, anyplace, or anyone to a point the user desires. It could also be used to look into the past, or potential futures based on set decision variables.
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Obtaining this was simple and I no longer had any reason to stay. Time to go for the next dungeon! Next! Opening my Gamer Ring it was a no-brainer with her suit on it was time for us to visit the next Labyrinth.
And it was time I paid the Pope a nice visit. I bet he was sooooo worried about me. Time to return the fucking favor.
*Shiii*
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[Tortus, Kingdom of Highleigh, The Church of Ehit, Divine Mountain]
*Shiii*
The Divine Mountain is located where the Holy Church is situated on the mountain that is near the palace of the Heiligh Kingdom. To reach this Labyrinth, a challenger must meet three conditions: To have cleared at least two other labyrinths (or be with someone who has when they enter), disavow the gods of Tortus, and have defeated someone under the gods' influence.
If a person has not met the third condition of defeating someone who worships the gods, then they would be tested through a series of mental trials. This includes being brainwashed into serving Ehit, altering their subconscious, leading them astray with visions, and all manner of misdirection and persuasion.
There are two paths to enter into the Labyrinth. The first option is the traditional route that leads to the Main Cathedral, where the challenger would have to confront the church's current forces, and by extension, a God's Apostle.
The other option is using a hidden route located by the mountains nestled near the Divine Mountain, that leads to the room where the challenger would fight visions of the church's servants who were much stronger than those of the present era.
If they had managed to clear them, they would have fought against illusions of the church's templar knights that lived during the age of the Liberators. Only after clearing the challenges would the spirit of the Labyrinth's creator appear and guide them to the room that would award them the Ancient Magic.
The Labyrinth was created by the Liberator Laus Barn and gives the knowledge of [Spirit Magic] to those who have overcome its trial. The concept of this Labyrinth is to 'Test the challengers' resolve to overthrow the gods.'
But my appearance again seeing Pope Ishtar I waved an innocent grin meeting him again startling the poor fool, "Hello there Ishtar! How's it hanging!"
The guards got on guard drawing their swords. Oh, poor fools I need this kill done quick and easy.
*Voooo*
Before any could comprehend, I grabbed the Pope's neck with a cold expression as I spoke in a cold tone, "You think lying or using me for your games would save you? Please… I killed far less insects like you."
*SNAP*
With a wet squelch, the Pope's neck caved in, his eyes bugged, and then popped out like a toy, blood dripping in my hand as the guards were soon taken out by Yue. No words were needed as I used [Telepathy] to have her understand.
[You gain 5 EXP!]
Hmph. Figured as much when I finally noticed my leveling up also made it difficult to get stronger. The pope was at level 25 when we first met but now a measly level 5 to me. I understand this perfectly well enough.
The stronger I get over my foes the less EXP I obtain facing said foes because of my overwhelming strength. An interesting but just action for my gamer abilities but that's for later.
*Thud*
The body fell limp in my hand as I swung out with my hands, with Yue decimating the guards with her magic soaking the church floor with blood. This will alert Ehit now losing his puppet but making the process of getting the Ancient Magic [Spirit Magic] all the easier to obtain.
This was a condition that was necessary to pass the final challenge of the Divine Mountain dungeon that was hidden below the church alongside disavowing the god of Tortus, Ehit, and having conquered at least two other dungeons.
I let the blood pour into the altar and opened a portal using my Gamer Ring to the dungeon floor below. This has got to be the easiest speedrun of a dungeon to date. It didn't take us very long as we both entered inside.
/////
[Tortus, Divine Mountain, Final Floor]
We both directly got into the final chamber, now having fulfilled all the conditions of the easiest labyrinth and forcibly activated the magic circle on the floor. Modifying it like the rest we walked into the center of the ancient Magic Circle as it began to inform me like last few others have done before.
Modifying the circle we quickly obtained the knowledge about the Ancient Magic [Spirit Magic] flowed into our head as I grinned. But I also made sure to destroy it after we obtained it.
[Ding!]
[You have gained the knowledge of the Ancient Magic Skill [Spirit Magic]!]
Skill List.
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<Spirit Magic> (Active) Lv.-
MP Cost: Varies
Description: One of the ancient magics originating from the "Age of Gods," which allows the user to manipulate the soul of a living being directly. It's possible to revive a living being back from the dead (time restriction applicable) or transfer the soul of a living being from one body to another, or even into a non-physical body as well, practically granting any living being immortality. The true power of this magic is the ability to manipulate the incorporeal elements of sentient beings.
This included heat, electricity, and other matterless energy that circulated within a person's body. That also included memories, thoughts, and consciousness. With enough skill, a spirit magic user could take those incorporeal elements, duplicate them, and create a new soul out of them.
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Oh. A very handy skill to have on hand especially when dealing with Soul-Based Worlds that's for sure. Now moving on to the next dungeon to breeze through and probably the most basic of all of them.
/////
[Hortus, Frost Caverns of Schnee, Final Floor]
The Frost Caverns of Schnee is located in the southern region of the continent at the fringes of the demons' territory. The entrance is in a large crevice that is miles below the surface. The extreme cold will normally weaken challengers before they even enter the Labyrinth.
It is full of many monsters and traps designed to weaken a person both physically and mentally. With a monster brawl of reanimated zombies, a giant maze ice obstacle, and listening to a crazy voice in their heads for the group.
The Labyrinth was created by Vandre Schnee and gives the knowledge of [Metamorphosis Magic] to those who have overcome its trial. The concept of this Labyrinth is 'Conquering the darkness of one's own heart.'
To which this is total bullshit the easiest Dungeon I've ever broken into without the unnecessary monsters. No like seriously they test mental, physical, and freezing resistance for this dungeon?
I'm by far disappointed in this development. This is even easier than the last Labyrinth I broke into. Their main mechanism of testing the challengers was cold weather, ice element monsters, and mind games.
I can see the Magic Circle as we entered with me modifying it again as we gain the knowledge of how to use this Ancient Magic. Information entered our heads obtaining the knowledge about the Ancient Magic [Metamorphosis Magic] flowed into our head as I grinned. But I also made sure to destroy it after we obtained it.
[Ding!]
[You have gained the knowledge of the Ancient Magic Skill [Metamorphosis Magic]!]
Skill List.
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<Metamorphosis Magic> (Active) Lv.-
MP Cost: Varies
Description: One of the ancient magics originating from the "Age of Gods," which allows a user to remake the form of a normal being and reform it into a different form. Normally it's used to remake a normal organism and turn it into a monster, or even manipulate the magic stone of a monster and remake them. The true power of this magic is the ability to manipulate any organic material.
This means not only animals, but it's also possible to remake plants or intelligent beings and reform their structure as needed. Even byproducts of organic material, like paper or food, can also be manipulated by this magic. The magic stone that gets created during the process is just a byproduct of the process.
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This power is complete biokinesis. Still good to have around smirking at the power we obtained since coming to this world with Yue smirking in excitement, "Hooray! That's the sixth Ancient Magic we obtained! Only one left to go right?"
Smiling I nodded my head, but the last one was probably the most dangerous of them all as I replied in a calm tone, "Yeah. The last one is the Great Haltina Labyrinth but I kind of need you to set this out. Before you assume anything let me explain why."
I explained to Yue what to expect from the Great Haltina Labyrinth as she flinched at its defenses and the biological problems that I needed to take care of by myself. At least with me alone handling this I wouldn't have to worry about her.
However, she was adamant about not leaving my side for whatever happened to me. I could explain why not but frankly I'm not about to waste any more time than necessary letting Ehit gain more time.
Welp. She does need to learn some harsh truths and might as well get this over with speed running this one. The sooner the better.