After breaking through the labyrinth and reaching the center of the ruins, Dane Walker let out a sigh in front of the stone gate.

  "There were some writings in the ancient language all over the labyrinth, but this is an ancient magic formula. It seems like security magic, but will you be able to decipher it?" Dane Walker asked the archaeologist while touching the stone gate

  The man shook his head with a tired face. "It won’t be possible. So far, it’s been possible to figure it out on the spot because there were clues in the wall murals, but if it is related to magic, we need to take the time to study it."

  Dane Walker then looked at Kermin, but he also shook his head.

  "If it’s an ancient magic formula, only the old-fashioned ones from the previous generation who couldn’t let go of the past would have used it. Or are you saying that I’m so old that I’m like those old-fashioned fogeys?” Kermin joked.

  Dane Walker laughed.

  Perhaps if it was an archaeologist, but there wouldn’t be any magicians nowadays who had mastered the ancient language. Magic using ancient language was that complicated and difficult to use.

  "What if we just push our way in through force?" Dane Walker asked with a self-deprecating tone. Although he got the right answer unexpectedly, he smiled bitterly as he spoke.

  Molk looked at him as if he was dumbfounded. "How heavy do you think that huge gate is?"

  "Is it impossible?"

  "Isn’t that obvious! If it’s made of stone of that size, even General Bloody would have to push it with all his might to barely open it!"

  Dane Walker was rather surprised by Molk’s yell.

  "He can push that gate open? Oh my, it seems the Crow Tribe isn’t called the strongest battle race for nothing," Dane Walker said in admiration

  Molk boasted as if he had been praised himself. "That’s right. The general is also the strongest!"

  Ignoring Molk who was clenching his fists, Dane Walker asked Kermin. "Is there no way?"

  Kermin sighed and shook his head. "If it was the runic language, I could try interpreting it, but don’t you know that ancient language is like the boss at the top in the world of magic?"

  "That’s true, but—”


  While Dane Walker and Kermin eyed the stone gate lost in thought, a weak-looking court magician spoke carefully.

  "Excuse me, I know a little bit about magic formulas using the ancient language."

  The two looked back in surprise.

  "Really?"

  Feeling burdened by the gaze that seemed to look at him like a freak, the court magician said in a shrinking voice, "Yes…… If it goes well, I think I can open the stone gate."

  "Hurry and try it!" Kermin urged.

  The weak-looking court magician resolved the security magic by reading the magic formula written on the stone gate. When the magic circle and ancient words drawn on the stone gate reacted with light, Dane Walker marveled.

  "Who is that guy? I don’t think I’ve seen him before when I was in the court magician division."

  "I don’t really know either. He joined us in Lotten." Kermin replied.

  Dane Walker looked at the weak-looking court magician gloomily. "Pity. His skills are decent, but it seems he’s been wandering around the provinces."

  The court magician division was also divided into groups where there were elites working in the capital, and those that traveled the provinces and were basically only court magicians in name.

  "I know, right? If things work out well this time around, we had better bring him to the capital. It’ll be better for him and for the court magician division."

  "That would be good."

  Unaware of the Dane Walker and Kermin’s whisperings, the court magician, who had been attached to the stone gate, shouted an incantation in the ancient language.

  "Open!"

  At the same time as the cry, a red light shone from the stone gate, and a small gap opened up.

  "Ohh! That’s impressive.”


  When the gate opened, everyone cheered and applauded. While they were being so careless, a dagger suddenly flew by.

  The knights were surprised to see the dagger suddenly fly by and drew out their swords, but two magicians, who were already slow, to begin with, received serious injuries and collapsed.

  "Who is it!" Molk stood in front in the direction that the dagger flew from and shouted.

  As if in response to the cry, people in black masks appeared with swords from the paths of the labyrinth. Even if they continued to throw daggers, it would be hard to make any more gains.

  "Long time no see, Dane Walker."

  Malecia, a man with one eye, walked out among the masked men who raided Dane Walker’s group and smiled brutally.

  They were already acquainted and the masks did not have perception disrupting magic on them. So Malecia thought it would be difficult to hide his identity even if he wore the mask and walked out proudly.

  "Malecia!" Dane Walker unsheathed his sword and turned vigilant.

  Malecia flashed an unrestrained smile. "It’s funny that you’re carrying a sword. Come to think of it, your nickname is Magic Swordsman of Thunder, right?”


  "Yes, during the war, because of someone, I would have died if I didn’t lift a sword, so I did some training in swordsmanship."

  Dane Walker pointed with his eyes at Kermin, wary of Malecia. He knew all too well that he alone was not good enough against the one-eyed man, known as the Mercenary King.

  Malecia was considered a monster amongst monsters and was known to be stronger than an average battle race member. Beating Eranto of the Mercenary Alliance of the empire, he was not called Mercenary King for no reason.

  It was quite a disadvantageous situation. Before the fight even began, there were two seriously injured and a non-combatant archaeologist. In addition, the environment within the ruins was not conducive to using magic because of its sparse mana.

  On the other hand, even at a glance, he could see that Malecia had well-trained subordinates. Dane Walker took a deep breath and charged in first.

  "The love of lightning that cuts through the sky! Remain in my hands!"

  At Dane Walker’s incantation, an electric current flowed through the sword.

  “The restraint of the earth!"

  Kermin caught the masked men’s feet to prevent them from avoiding Dane Walker’s sword.

  The masked men’s ankles were suddenly buried in the ground and restrained from avoiding Dane Walker’s sword. So they had no choice but to block it with their swords shrouded in sword aura.

  Kayak!

  They tried to block the current as much as possible with sword aura, but could not block the current that traveled through the air and ended up screaming painfully.

  Malecia threw a dagger at Dane Walker to keep him away from his subordinates.

  "We haven’t seen each other in a long time. You should be facing off against me!"

  As Malecia quickly charged and swung his sword, Dane Walker retreated as he shot magic bullets.

  "Take care of the Black Water Buffalo first!" Malecia shouted as he cut the magic bullets and wielded his sword at Dane Walker. His subordinates poured mana into their feet and kicked the ground to escape their shackles.

  At the same time, they attacked Molk and the knights.

  "Treasure hunters, take the wounded and the archaeologist up!" Molk ordered the treasure hunters, who were at least a little strong, to retreat and asked them to escort the wounded and non-combatants.

  "Yes!"

  The treasure hunters quickly carried the wounded and the archaeologist on their backs and fled.

  Malecia’s men tried to attack the treasure hunters with the wounded on their backs but failed due to interference from court magicians.

  "Leave the ones who are escaping! Get rid of the ones interfering!"

  Malecia’s subordinates turned away from the ones escaping and attacked the knights and court magicians.

  Malecia quickly scanned both Dane Walker and Kermin then launched a sword aura at Kermin.

  Kermin quickly created a shield to block the sword aura and attacked at the same time.

  "The Earth’s Spear!"

  When Kermin’s magic raised the ground sharply and tried to stab Malecia, the latter turned his body and avoided the Earth’s Spear.

  Taking advantage of Malecia’s distraction, Dane Walker fired at Malecia.

  "The love of lightning that cuts through the sky! Fire!”


  Malecia wrapped his sword with aura blade and made the whole space bend. Then he quickly narrowed the distance with Dane Walker and slashed.

  Dane Walker blocked Malecia’s sword with an electricity-flowing sword but was pushed away by the pressure of the sword surrounded with aura blade.

  "Hoo! How electrifying!"

  Stopping electricity traveling through the air with aura blade, Malecia rushed back towards Dane Walker.

  "Wall of the Earth!"

  Kermin quickly wrapped Malecia in an earth wall.

  "The Earth’s Spear!"

  Then he filled the inside of the earth wall with thick thorns.

  Malecia cut down thorns that stretched out from all sides. Then, he made a hole in the earth wall and pulled himself out, while also launching a sword aura at Kermin.

  Realizing that the magician that opened the stone gate was included in the range of the sword aura that Malecia launched, Kermin created a large barrier to block it.

  Kermin said toward the weak-looking court magician behind him, "It’s dangerous. Stay behind me."

  Concerned about the junior magician, Kermin immediately put his mana into his hands and tried to attack Malecia.

  Puk!

  The mana he had been collecting scattered due to the sudden pain in his back. He looked back incredulously. He could not accept the fact that his junior, who he tried to protect, stabbed him in the back with a dagger. The court magician grinned and ripped the skin off of his face.

  Kermin asked while breathing wildly. "Who are you, who?"

  "I am Jiren, one who studies under His Greatness. Ahh! Praise him! I was able to open the stone gate also because of his magic!”


  Under the skin, Jiren’s face full of fanaticism and arrogance was revealed.

  "Director-nim!"

  Dane Walker called Kermin and fired magic bullets to get Jiren away from him.

  Jiren backed away with a shield. Then he stared at Malecia.

  "You……!"

  Jiren thought Malecia had stayed still even though he could have easily attacked Dane Walker. Considering the other’s ability, it was not wrong to think that.

  "Then you should have dealt with the madosa quickly."

  Malecia did not attack Dane Walker because Kermin stared at him and kept him in check despite having collapsed.

  When Jiren was told off, saying that he was not a madosa for no reason, he burst into anger. "Do you think it’s that easy to get rid of a madosa?!"

  "That’s why I purposely created a gap for you."

  For Malecia, Kermin, who was staring and keeping him in check, was more threatening than Dane Walker, who was risking his life to attack him. There was that much of a huge gap between the levels of a great magician and a madosa.

  However, Jiren seemed to be dragging his feet even in front of the enemy.

  "The love of lightning that cuts through the sky! Disperse and run!"

  With Dane Walker’s magic, electricity poured in from all sides at Malecia and Jiren.

  Kermin’s subordinates, the court magicians, seeing him fall, also fired magic bullets at Malecia and Jiren.

  While Malecia was blocking the magic bullets, Dane Walker grabbed the fallen Kermin and distanced themselves from the enemies. Then he poured a potion containing divine power on the wound then fed it to Kermin.

  "Cough!"

  "Director-nim! Are you all right?" He held and sat up Kermin, who had vomited blood.

  Kermin said as he breathed hard, "I won’t die. Don’t worry. Haha, I’m old, too. I’ve become a madosa but got so easily stabbed in the back.”


  Dane Walker shook his head at the other’s dry laugh. "No. You couldn’t have done anything in that situation."

  Kermin smiled slightly and quietly whispered, "Go inside the stone gate, then at least that one-eyed guy will follow you. If it goes well, the one who stabbed me in the back will follow too."

  Dane Walker understood Kermin’s intention. As long as Kermin was seriously injured, the balance would be tilted towards Malecia’s side, so he was going to lure the man to balance it again. Without Malecia, the enemies would only have one magician. It would be more advantageous compared to before.

  "But—"

  When Dane Walker hesitated, Kermin smiled. "I’m a madosa too. I won’t die easily. Rather you’ll be in more danger, having to lure that one-eyed man."

  Dane Walker nodded with determination. "It doesn’t matter. It’s because of me anyway, so naturally, I’ll have to bear with it."

  "Alright, let’s survive and meet again."

  Dane Walker withdrew from Kermin and ran into the stone gate.

  Seeing that, Malecia and Jiren followed in surprise.

  Kermin clenched his teeth and raised himself up. Perhaps there was a curse on the wound, but it did not heal easily even with the divine power. But it was still possible to use magic to some degree. He had to quickly deal with the masked people and go help Dane Walker. He clenched his teeth and launched a spell.

  He was confident that if it was Dane Walker, he would survive.