Welcome to the Café of the Dark Guild’s Successor - Chapter 171

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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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A café run by the heir to the Dark Guild.
Episode 171
“Ugh!”
“What’s wrong? Are you all right?”
I swung the torch in alarm and found Seniel and Biedler nearly clinging to each other.
“It wasn’t me.”
Biedler felt the strange looks and rushed to defend himself.
“I nearly fell when we came down just now. You have to account for size.”
“Sorry. But you can let go of my arm now, right?”
“It’s just survival instinct… Yes.”
“I thought something terrible had happened.”
I pressed my forehead and descended the stairs again.
“Everyone, don’t touch the walls. There could be traps.”
“And watch out for vines on the ground.”
“Rosia, may I hold your sleeve for a moment?”
Cayden, standing behind me, asked quietly, and I nodded.
“Do that.”
“Why hold sleeves, of all things?”
Biedler, who now stood behind Cayden, spoke with displeasure.
“For safety. Your Highness, you may hold my sleeve as well.”
“…No need.”
The torch made descending the stairs far easier.
The interior ran deeper than expected, and after a long descent, we finally reached the bottom.
“This is a cave.”
When I illuminated the murky interior with the torch, countless Magic Circles appeared on the ceiling and floor.
“There are Masks here too.”
“Looks like they held meetings as a group.”
I examined the abundance of masks in the corner of the spacious chamber, then set them aside.
As we explored multiple rooms, Rifed, the High Priest, called out to us all in a startled voice.
“Come here, everyone.”
“Have you found something?”
“Don’t enter. That Magic Circle there… Cayden, what do you make of it? Elder Wyatt, what’s your assessment?”
“It’s not a standard arrangement. They’re all misaligned—does it even function?”
“It must be a Demon Realm configuration.”
“I sense Desikan’s malevolent aura, High Priest. Could it have manifested here through that?”
“Yes. This appears to be a space for ritual—a place prepared to serve Desikan.”
Wherever the torch illuminated, symbols and images of worship to the Demon Realm filled the space.
“Such a chamber hidden in Strofan’s Mansion. It’s truly abhorrent. How did it come to this?”
Watching Biedler’s open revulsion, I asked Rifed, the High Priest.
“Is Desikan still watching over us?”
“He’s asleep for certain. I feel no watching gaze. If he’s recovering his strength, this is our moment.”
“Could we escape through that Magic Circle?”
As I gestured toward it, the High Priest hesitated before answering.
“We cannot trust it. We might lose body and mind to Desikan if we use it carelessly.”
“Then we’ll have to find the entrance again.”
“No, we can create one.”
“Pardon?”
Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned in surprise at Rifed’s words.
Rifed exhaled deeply and withdrew something wrapped in cloth from his robes.
“You’ll all remember the object that transformed the Magic Tower into the Intermediate Zone days ago. We can do the same with this cave.”
“High Priest Rifed? How is that possible?”
“I kept this. It’s broken, but power remains.”
What he held was the very Artifact Fragment that Cayden had shattered with his Holy Sword.
The object that had possessed enough power to link the Magic Tower and the Intermediate Zone.
In the chaos, I hadn’t thought to salvage it, but he had.
“This place already lies under Desikan’s influence, so even this will suffice. Then we can all pass into the Intermediate Zone. But if we delay…we may not return.”
Rifed looked at each of us in turn, as if presenting a choice.
“Elder Wyatt, you need not go. I will remain at this child’s side.”
“Ha, she is my teacher’s granddaughter. If anyone keeps watch, it shall be me. I’m going as well.”
“And Your Highness….”
“I’m going too.”
“Then let’s begin. No point in wasting time.”
In the end, we all decided—none would remain behind—to connect the cave with the Intermediate Zone.
To harness Desikan’s power, we excavated the center of the Magic Circle-inscribed ground and buried the fragment.
Then Rifed produced another Pouch he’d been carrying.
“This holds the evil essences that Cayden purified and shed. We’ll use these.”
We stepped outside the circle Rifed had drawn and waited quietly.
The ground trembled slightly, but the surroundings didn’t transform all at once.
‘It was the same at the Magic Tower.’
It began changing so slowly that by the time we sensed something amiss, the Intermediate Zone had already consumed us.
“To return, one of us must remain here.”
“Then who?”
As we looked at each other, Rifed pointed directly at Elder Wyatt.
“I would ask the Elder to take this duty.”
“Why me?”
“Because you are strongest. You have the highest likelihood of maintaining yourself without being seduced by the Intermediate Zone.”
“That may be true, but….”
“Time Distortion warps the senses in the Intermediate Zone. Once thirty minutes have passed while you keep watch here, you must shatter the connection.”
“Hm. Understood.”
“And if anyone descends here, you must never surrender the fragment.”
Rifed repeated the warning several times with a grave expression.
Anyone could descend the stairs, and this place lay in enemy territory.
“I’ll erect protective wards immediately.”
“I’m counting on you, Elder.”
“Understood. Bring my teacher back safely, if you can. But you must return unharmed as well.”
Elder Wyatt gripped my hand firmly.
I nodded and gazed inward. As the Intermediate Zone overlapped, the cave vanished, revealing parched earth in its place.
“We only have thirty minutes, don’t we?”
“More than that is dangerous. Go now.”
We began to run forward.
An empty wasteland stretched before us, with skeletal trees scattered sparsely here and there.
It felt even more desolate than my previous visit.
“Which way should we go?”
Biedler asked in confusion.
“First, we look for vines. We need to find where they lead.”
As we sprinted forward, a massive blade suddenly materialized from empty air.
“Watch out, sister!”
Seniel stepped forward and intercepted the blow. The force was so tremendous that it drove him backward.
Though we avoided the main assault, Seniel’s shoulder grazed the blade, drawing blood.
Rifed chanted from behind and channeled Holy Power, while Cayden slashed at the empty space with his Holy Sword.
“…Ahhhhh!”
A scream, and then something thudded and fell to the ground with a heavy sound.
But nothing was visible.
“What was that?”
“Creatures that dwell in the Intermediate Zone. They’ll come in greater numbers now that they’ve caught the scent of blood.”
I immediately treated the wound with Holy Power, but Seniel’s blood had already fallen to the ground.
As Cayden had warned, I felt malevolent presences closing in around us.
“There’s no time to waste. Everyone, run!”
Fortunately, the Artifacts we carried and the High Priest’s blessing shielded us from most attacks, so we focused purely on escape and managed to break through.
“Good thing they’re slow.”
“They really are. We’ve gotten clear for now, at least.”
After running for a long stretch, we escaped the barrage and looked around.
Sand covered the landscape like a desert, and undulating dunes rose and fell around us.
“It’s far too vast. How do we find Meyson here?”
“Wait a moment.”
The moment we crossed over, I felt it—my grandfather’s aura, faint but present.
The essence he’d infused into me when he told me to practice wielding magic.
It was responding within my body.
“He’s nearby. He’s somewhere here.”
“What?”
“Is that truly so?”
I clenched my fist and nodded.
“Focus a bit more.”
I closed my eyes to pinpoint the direction when suddenly thunder cracked overhead.
Startled, we all turned toward the sound—a Wyvern crying out as it soared through the sky.
“Sister, that one might be… difficult.”
“The beings that vanished from the continent still linger here, it seems.”
“And if there’s a Wyvern, there’s likely an adult Dragon as well.”
“A, a Dragon, you mean?”
“Seems like someone’s pleased.”
Even in this crisis, I noticed Seniel’s eyes light up with wonder—character truly does find its way.
I smiled slightly and turned toward the direction where my grandfather’s aura called.
“Let’s head that way for now.”
“Move carefully—don’t catch the Wyvern’s attention.”
Rifed created a shield of Holy Power to obscure the Wyvern’s vision.
But it had no effect on the recklessly charging Evil Spirits.
“I’ll clear a path.”
Cayden possessed the greatest strength against the Evil Spirits of the Intermediate Zone.
My blade, Seniel’s, and Biedler’s couldn’t touch them—we had to wrap ours in Holy Power.
But each use depleted the Holy Power, forcing us to recoat repeatedly.
“I should have borrowed a blade from the Temple.”
“I’m here, after all. It’s fine.”
Though Cayden had to face many opponents alone, he never lost his smile, wielding his sword with steady grace.
Thanks to him, we advanced without pause, moving swiftly forward.
“High Priest! There—that hill! Do you see a door on top of it?”
As I traced my grandfather’s aura, I spotted a solitary door standing atop a distant dune.
I turned in alarm to ask Rifed, but he shook his head.
“I don’t see it.”
“Seniel, can you see it?”
“No, I can’t. What’s there?”
“Let’s go anyway. Since you can see it, that means something.”
“It could be a trap.”
Cayden voiced his concern, but lacking another clear option, we decided to investigate and ran toward the dune.

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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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