The Unfilial Heir Who Tries to Kill Me Tempts Me - Chapter 33

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 33.

Thump-thump.
Sway, sway.
Thump-thump.
Sway, sway.
With each step Kaius took, my directionless legs swung uselessly through the air.
I could feel my precious human dignity evaporating in real time.
“Um… couldn’t you possibly put me down?”
I had two perfectly good legs of my own.
“The luggage speaks.”
He was really rubbing it in.
I turned to gaze pitifully at Iden, who was walking behind us. It was a silent plea for rescue, but all I got in return was cold indifference.
“You’re still light.”
Whose side are you even on?
You’re my contractor.
So why aren’t you backing me up?
This is ridiculous.
“I’m seriously going to get sick. Please, just let me down so I can walk on my own feet.”
I pleaded with Kaius again, my voice dripping with desperation. After swearing some five times over that I’d never again leave him stranded during an emergency escape, I was finally allowed to plant both feet firmly on the ground.
Phew.
That was exhausting.
Human dignity is precious.
But thinking about it now, it feels unfair.
I should have been grateful that he got me out of that dangerous Ancient Dungeon alive, not sulking and making a scene about it.
But if I’d voiced that complaint, it was obvious I’d end up dangling like a package again, so I wisely kept my mouth shut and kept walking. I’m usually pretty quick to read a situation.
“But… haven’t we been circling the same area this whole time?”
Basel, walking behind us, spoke up.
Huh?
Now that he mentioned it….
Hadn’t we passed through this corridor already?
True, all the hallways had similar layouts, but once I noticed, a distinct sense of déjà vu washed over me.
“That does seem to be the case.”
Kaius nodded and pointed to one of the walls. There were fine scratches between the bricks.
“I marked it earlier when I felt something was off. Yet even though we’ve only been moving forward, we’ve returned to the same spot.”
“We’re trapped.”
Figured as much.
The 6th Floor had seemed too generous with its rewards.
An Ancient Dungeon wouldn’t be so kind.
Just when you’ve let your guard down, it strikes from behind.
“Directional Distortion Magic, then. How classically Ancient Dungeon of it. Predictable and conventional.”
A dungeon without Directional Distortion Magic wouldn’t be worth exploring. I quietly agreed with Iden’s assessment.
The fortunate part was that such distortion magic could be broken by destroying the magical device sustaining it somewhere. Of course, if we went poking around recklessly searching for it, traps would spring in the blink of an eye and we’d all be done for.
Judging by the vicious traps we’d encountered so far, accidentally triggering one meant you’d either be roasted alive or flattened into jerky under stone—nothing surprising there.
“Iden, do you sense anything?”
“Why are you asking me? Aren’t you the mage?”
“Honestly, I’ve been hungry since earlier, so I can’t focus….”
I clutched my rumbling stomach and confessed honestly. Still drained from Mandrich sucking my mana dry and barely conscious, my belly was protesting quite loudly.
Iden’s expression soured.
“Are you my subordinate? Huh?”
“Because you’re competent, that’s why I’m asking. Think about it—without you, how would I have made it this far? Just help me out this once.”
A flood of flattery accompanied by a charming smile made Iden’s mouth twitch upward.
“Well… I suppose I am quite competent. Ahem! Not bad, if I do say so myself.”
So simple.
He’s almost too easy to handle.
With his shoulders now puffed up proudly, Iden activated his Authority. A crimson power shimmered like aurora in his palm, pointing in a definite direction.
It was one of the unlit torch holders hanging at regular intervals along the entire wall of the corridor.
“Ha, easy. There it is, right?”
“Iden, you’re amazing! So cool!”
“Ahem.”
Crudely hidden, at that.
A Torch Holder, no less.
If we smashed around looking for the source of the magic and happened to touch another Torch Holder, the whole place would collapse, pillars of flame would erupt, and we’d all be roasted alive—that was their plan, wasn’t it?
Obvious enough.
That’s how mages think.
“I’ll do it.”
I was clicking my tongue in disapproval when Basel stepped forward. He drew his blade and sliced through the Torch Holder with surgical precision.
Crack, thud!
Huh.
Not a ring of metal, but a crack—as if he were cutting through wood.
Steel falling like it weighs nothing.
Both of them are terrifying. Maybe I shouldn’t be so cocky about knowing a bit of magic.
The corridor wall seemed to shift, and a new passage opened up beneath where the Torch Holder had been severed.
“Come here.”
Kaius gestured to me with his hand.
He wanted me to take it again.
With our group this size, there was no real point in us holding hands, I thought—but something told me not to argue, so I followed obediently.
Iden, who’d been watching the two of us from behind with obvious displeasure, muttered under his breath.
“Damn it.”

***

After traversing for roughly thirty minutes, we arrived before an enormous door. It was incomparably grander and more majestic than any door we’d encountered between the floors thus far.
“There’s no handle.”
“There must be a way to open it.”
It wouldn’t open easily, that was certain.
And then it happened.
A deep rumble, a heavy boom.
The floor suddenly opened, and a small pillar rose up. Upon the pillar, which reached about waist height, sat a Stone Tablet.
“Ancient Language.”
Below the densely packed script, two diamond-shaped grooves were carved in parallel.
I bent down and, relying on the light of the Mana Orb, carefully read the inscription.
“It looks like we need to use White Magic and Black Magic to fill both grooves completely.”
“…How did you come to read Ancient Language?”
“Somehow it just happened that way.”
Truth was, Ancient Language is just English.
Thank goodness I’m a sloppy author. If I’d made the setting more complicated, I wouldn’t have been able to read it.
Ignoring Kaius’s suspicious gaze, I examined the Stone Tablet closely.
From what I could gather, this Ancient Dungeon had been created millennia ago by a White Mage and Black Mage who worked in harmony. Now I understood why there were so many traps specifically designed to hinder mages. And I could also see why this Ancient Dungeon had remained impervious to infiltration all these ages.
It had been ages since White Mages and Black Mages parted ways. How many pairs would come exploring a dungeon hand in hand? Which meant this Ancient Dungeon was effectively impossible to infiltrate—under normal circumstances.
Of course, for an ordinary person, that would have been the case.
But I’m a Hybrid Mage.
“Well, well. Never thought I’d get to show off my talent like this.”
Look at that.
That’s what a Hybrid Mage is.
I poured my mana into the Stone Tablet with a flourish of self-importance.
The left diamond-shaped groove filled with brilliantly blue mana, while the right filled with dark violet mist-like mana.
A deep, rolling rumble.
Violent vibrations shook from floor to ceiling, and the door slowly opened.
“We did it!”
What lay beyond the door drew an involuntary gasp of wonder.
The vast chamber was lined on both sides with elaborately carved stone columns that rose majestically, and beyond where the columns ended, a staircase ascended toward an altar. Hazy light descended from above, wavering like heat shimmer, and settled over the space in serene silence.
It looked like a legendary temple that had slumbered for ages beyond reckoning.
“Is there a Golem sleeping in this chamber? I don’t see anything that looks like a Golem.”
“It’s right there.”
I pointed toward the upper part of the staircase.
That rough, altar-like formation was actually a Steel Golem that had been sleeping for thousands of years.
The question was how to wake it.
The Golems in the Swampland weren’t in a deep sleep—a brush with a wooden stick would rouse them—but a Steel Golem wouldn’t flinch at such treatment.
Squeak!
“Oh, Golsuni!”
The creature that had been sitting docilely in his arms suddenly leaped down.
Squeak, squeak!
Golsuni darted forward and scurried up the steps in quick, bounding hops, then began jumping excitedly on the altar.
“Wait, Golsuni! If you keep jumping like that—!”
It happened in that instant.
Thud. Boom.
The altar began to shift, sending up clouds of dust.
The oddly twisted form contorted and reshaped itself, transforming into the towering figure of a woman clad in brilliant armor, a luminous helmet crowning her head.
Boom!
An enormous blade drove vertically into the ground with a thunderous impact.
Two eyes beneath the helmet slowly opened.
[Who dares wake me from my slumber?]
Squeak-boom!
So that’s how it is.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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