[402] Final decision (2)
Middle East. Paras kingdom.
On a map west of Paras, the origin of an ancient civilization, the world’s largest Akkadian Desert is colored ocher.
An endless sea of sand.
It is extremely difficult for living things to endure in this place that has been heated for eons of time.
However, human footprints were imprinted on the smooth, spread sand as if it had been applied with cream.
Where the footprints were headed, a giant pyramid called an ancient ruin stood tall like a mirage.
In the heart of the Akkadian Desert, all the oases have dried up, so even travelers can’t see it, but few people know that this is the dungeon where the world’s most famous wizard resides.
A dungeon that belongs to A2 infiltration difficulty.
The person walking leisurely inside was Kang Nan, the former chief secretary of the Tormia Magic Association.
Wherever she passed, monsters of tier 5 or higher were wriggling against the wall.
The sound of high heels hitting the stone floor echoed with high-pressure suppression of their groans.
Gangnan’s attire was a mess due to the long battle.
The button was missing, so the front was open, and the stockings were expanding in places in the form of droplets.
In his right hand he held a long horn, one of the dozens on the tail of a monster.
The tail was connected to a green body that weighed well over two tons, and at the end of the body, a basilisk, the king of the desert with a hideously depressed nose, was coming along with its tongue out.
mess.
The appearance of Gangnan dragging a monster 20 times larger than himself was obviously foreign, but even that was a trivial matter compared to the light gait that he could not feel the weight of.
Kang Nan, who arrived at the end of the labyrinth, pushed through the stone door.
It was a huge cavity, and countless creatures living in the desert were stuffed with dried skin like tree bark.
At a table 80 meters away, someone in a turban could be seen intently working with his back.
Instead of knocking, Gangnan grabbed the basilisk’s tail and threw it.
Whoops!
A majestic echo resounded in the Great Cavity.
“If you know, can’t you just let me in?”
Only then did the turbaned figure look back. It was a slender woman in a desert-colored cloak.
The eyes without double eyelids were large and long, and the chin was delicately slim. He was biting on the pacifier used by newborn children, and contrasted with his deep dark eyes, it created a mysterious atmosphere overall.
“It’s been a while, Gangnan.”
The girl’s name is Zulu.
He was a certified first-class wizard of the kingdom of Paras and the only one among tier 1 monsters who could summon a lich, and was the strongest summoning wizard on earth.
“yes. You seem to be doing well.”
Gangnan spoke Middle Eastern, but Zulu insisted on the continental language.
“What am I? I haven’t been out much since then.”
The custom of attaching honorific words to certain endings remained the same.
It didn’t match the grammar of the continental language, but it couldn’t be helped if it became a habit from the beginning.
“sit down. I will bring you something to drink.”
Kang Nan moved with a worried expression.
With Zulu’s skills, he could make water in one sitting, but the problem was that he didn’t do that. It seemed that when he became a first-class archmage, he developed his own rationality that was different from common sense.
As expected, Zulu poured an unknown liquid into a test beaker and set it on the table.
Kang Nan’s expression as he looked at it was uncomfortable.
If it’s not magic, water in the desert is more valuable than jewels. Even if it wasn’t drinking water, a huge amount of water would be needed to run the experiment equipment in the Great Cavity.
The fact that the stuffed monsters around them were squeezed together without a drop of moisture was not because of their eccentric tastes.
Zulu removed the black teat and savored the liquid in the beaker. Since it was precious water, Gangnando had no choice but to pretend to drink it.
“I’ll have a good drink. Surely it won’t be like desert maggot urine like it was 10 years ago?”
“I can’t give something like that to someone who hasn’t been in a while. It is very precious water.”
Kang Nan tilted the beaker slightly and tasted it.
As soon as my tongue started to get wet, a feeling of exhilaration rose in my throat.
“It’s fine. Then what is it?”
“It’s my pee.”
Kang Nan held the beaker and spat out the water in his mouth.
It could be said that just by not spilling it on the floor, it was an enthusiastic response to the first-class archmage’s favor.
Zulu said with a smile.
“don’t worry. It is distilled water.”
“Of course it should. But I think I have a lot of this in my body.”
“Whoops. It’s still strong.”
Zulu recalled 10 years ago when he first met Gangnan.
Although he had a much more rustic and youthful appearance, the harshness that gripped Gaold, the world’s madman, was no less than now.
‘You’ve grown a lot.’
Gangnan at the time was a wolf shedding blood. A hostile beast that set its fangs against anyone.
But now, much of that belligerence has been captured.
If he came down to the 19th floor of the pyramid without Gaold, he would have to assume that Simma had escaped.
“The elements in the natural world cycle. There is a cycle within a cycle. The act of drinking water is not to have water, but to intervene in the great cycle of life and death, causing another cycle. People can assimilate with nature when they entrust themselves to a perfect cycle with nothing to throw away or leave behind.”
Gangnan listened to Zulu’s words.
Not a magician, but the truth meets at the pinnacle.
If it was the teachings of the 1st class archmage, there was nothing to discard.
“Is that the secret to being able to command the King of the Dead?”
A lich is a thought body created by combining the flames of the great wizard. Therefore, it is known that since the target is already dead, the final stage of the boss, extinction, cannot be cleared.
Rumors circulated in the academic world that Zulu himself became a lich and that the summoned beast was just a doppelganger, but Kangnan, who actually saw him summoning a lich, knew it was a lie.
When I saw it 10 years ago, I just thought it was overwhelming, but while working as the chief secretary of the Magic Association, I really became curious about the secret.
“How on earth is that even possible?”
Zulu turned her head away with sad eyes.
“This is the land of the dead.”
The explanation was there, but it seemed like he knew Gangnan.
If you are a magician who realizes the principle of circulation that you can fill it only when it is empty, there is no reason to hide the secret of your boss from the beginning. However, since that is all of life, it was just too huge to put into words.
“okay.”
The Great Cavity of the Pyramid is the cradle of Zulu.
Abandoned here as a baby, she survived alone without anyone’s help.
Did the monsters in the dungeon become their parents?
Zulu wasn’t sure.
When she came of age to come to her senses, she was still alone and all she had left was a small black nipple that her parents must have left behind.
From then on, the Zulus made the huge dungeon their home.
Death always rested on her shoulders. Even when you sleep, when you have to eat, and even when you breathe.
It was a different kind of survival than what people in the slums like Radum experience.
For Zulu, survival was not a longing for life, but just another death in a changed form.
Gang Nan also had a rough life, but I couldn’t even imagine what Zulu’s life would have been like.
She spent her childhood with hundreds of monsters in a dungeon where she could not find food or water.
It may have been inevitable that Zulu became the world’s strongest summoning wizard.
“I came because I have something to ask of you.”
Kang Nan, who got to the main point, bowed his head and begged until his forehead touched the table.
“Help Gaold.”
Zulu was lost in thought with her gaze somewhere. Then he slowly opened his mouth and answered in Middle Eastern.
“I get it.”
Kang Nan’s head flashed at the faster-than-expected acceptance.
In fact, getting the Zulu out of the pyramid was extremely difficult. Numerous archmages, even the royal family of Paras, begged her to become their aides, but all were refused.
Above all, Zulu is unaware of the current situation. It’s like you have to take a risk that has almost no chance of survival now, which is completely different from the plan you said 10 years ago.
“sorry. There’s something I haven’t told you. Things suddenly changed…”
“Gaold is like a child.”
Zulu recalled the first time he met Gaold.
“He is not trying to empty anything. I hold on to it until the end and won’t let go, even though I’m about to explode, even though I’m dying from the pain.”
Kang Nan closed his mouth and listened.
“Nevertheless, the reason I was able to hold on was because I was waiting for the time to pour everything into it. Now is probably not the time. If this is also part of a larger cycle, then I think it’s good for Garold to stop.”
“Mr. Zulu.”
Kang Nan held back his tears and gave him strength.
Why do I shed tears when I hear words that understand that disgusting human oblivion?
Is it sympathy for a madman abandoned after 20 years of hard work? If that’s not the case…
“And.”
Zulu said with a pretty eye smile like a child.
“Because when I’m with Gaold, something fun always happens.”
Kang Nan raised the corner of his mouth with wet eyes.
That’s it. A pure obsession that ordinary people will never understand.
It may be that he was possessed by the madness of a person who bet everything on one thing.
Zulu got up and prepared to leave.
It was all I had to do was bite the black pacifier and pack two water bottles in a small bag. It was a simple burden to see it as a first-class archmage’s appearance.
“let’s go. It’s a quick ride to the continent if you take the Kydra.”
Kaidra, a tier 3 summon monster, was a gigantic bird that could fly 7,000 kilometers a day.
Kang Nan looked at Zulu’s back as he left the Great Hall, then lowered his head in the unique attitude of Ram Muay.
In a different way from Gaold, he was someone he respected.
‘thank you.’
Kang Nan looked back at the beaker on the table.
cycle. It can be filled only when empty. If you can’t fill it, you can’t empty it.
Taking a deep breath, she took the beaker and drank more than half full water at once.
“Eww.”
Again, this doesn’t fit.
The taste was definitely water, but it seemed that the trick of the Ilsimjo was not for anyone.
Wiping the steamy inside of his mouth with his tongue, Kang Nan followed Zulu and left the Great Hall.
* * *
As soon as the sun rose, Sirone went to the principal’s office.
The first thing Gaold asked for was to deliver the note to Alfeas.
Seeing Sirone who suddenly came, Alpheas made a surprised expression, but after reading the note, he silently nodded.
Sirone also left the principal’s office without saying a word.
There must already be kingdom intelligence agents around the school.
As long as there was no confirmation that Gaold was coming, he wouldn’t be as vigilant as the capital, but it felt dangerous to act alone.
‘If it’s the principal, he’ll take care of it.’
Alfeas, who has gone through all of the prenatal battles, can be relieved.
Also beside him was Olivia, a certified 2nd class archmage, so he was going to figure it out somehow.
It was not the time to worry about Gaold. Sirone is a suspect entangled with Gaold in some way, and he could end his life without being able to do anything.
There is no one who cares about Sirone’s well-being in the face of a world-class event called heaven.
It was a situation where I had to make my own judgment and find a way out.
‘Ikael….’
There is a reason to meet at least once after throwing away everything, but the situation was different from a year ago.
Even if he returns alive, he will become a traitor for the rest of his life and will not be able to escape being pursued.
Fortunately, Sirone still has the initiative.
After discovering the possibility of destroying Heaven, Gaold would classify Sirone as a key figure in the project, and if so, at least the foundation for survival was laid.
‘First of all, I have to collect information. I have to solve them one by one as carefully as possible.’
Short-sighted thinking can be more effective if things get out of control and out of control.
It was best to solve the immediate problem by following it like a blind man.
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