Talent-Swallowing Magician Chapter 48

Episode 48

Cheongyeon’s Labyrinth

“Is this guy going to fail? Hehehe!”

It was when Augustine was holding his back and looking contentedly at the bottom of the extremely cruel cliff.

“Oh my! I came here just in case… You just had an accident. “Is this okay?”

Augustine turned his head at the voice heard from behind.

An old man who appears to be slightly younger than Augustine.

However, his behavior was very unusual.

Because I was riding on the back of the neck of a white tiger that boasted a size larger than most houses.

That wasn’t all.

On the left and right shoulders were different birds, including the double-headed eagle, which is considered auspicious in the southern tip of the continent, and the purple plum, which is very rare in the East.

Around its neck was a boa constrictor that was said to swallow an elephant in one bite, and on its head was a brown-furred weasel.

‘King of the Beast’ Gility Tenz.

At one time, he was a wanted criminal who was a member of the Free Revolutionary Army that shook the empire, but now he was a guest and elder of the Neresta family.

Augustine had a life-saving grace, and they had a close relationship where they treated each other well.

“Are you here?”

“No, is it okay to stay still and do nothing? From what I heard, you’re a beginner who started learning magic in earnest less than six months ago!”

“There are also rumors that it has been brewing since then.”

“But it’s true that I didn’t have a proper teacher!”

Giliti was dumbfounded.

That’s because I was watching right next to Augustine when he stormed out, exclaiming with joy, ‘I’ve finally found the successor to the deer!’

I know full well that accidents always happen when Augustine makes a fuss like that.

That’s why I came to Nopashim, but it seems I was late.

But Augustine still held his back and just snorted.

“joy! Didn’t I tell you? This old man has finally found a successor. “This is not a child who should be put through an ordeal like this.”

“So much.”

“No, really?”

“Do you know how many times I’ve said that already? If I remember roughly, it must be about 15 times. It must have been a year ago, but even then, they said they were looking for a good talent and dropped it here, and on the way, it fell head first and the lower half of its body was crippled! “I and the head of the family went through a lot of trouble to treat you because of that!”

“… Well, you didn’t expect that there would be a stone beak sticking out right nearby.”

“I think it was five or six years ago before that, they brought in twins and dropped them… !”

“Stop it! “It’s so different between then and now!”

Augustine waved his hand loudly as if he didn’t want to hear any more.

Gility still had a very untrustworthy face.

“As I asked you to do earlier, only release the dire wolves below.”

“If you taste human meat, you’ll be in big trouble…” .”

“Oh, really, that won’t happen! If you don’t believe me, just look below!”

Giliti tilted her head as Augustine continued to shout loudly until the end.

And I looked down at the edge of the cliff.

“Can’t you see anything? “Are the big breasts already covered in blood?”

“Not there! Right below! “I have to look at the cliff side!”

“If there are people there, they will get hit by stones like last time…” Eh?”

Giliti stopped grumbling and had to roll her eyes halfway through.

A little far away. Icicles were sticking out very long from the cliff. There was a young man hanging at the end of it.

“You’re really alive, right?”

The young man glanced upward, and then, as if he thought it would not work, he began to move slowly downward.

Although it was a very small amount, I could see the mana stream coming in little by little.

“her! “I’ve heard of Mervinger, but he’s a real thing.”

There was a hint of envy in Giliti’s voice.

In fact, teaching someone of that caliber was one of the wishes that every wizard would have.

“Labyrinth, how many levels do you think he can survive?”

“Step 3.”

“Hmm! “Like that?”

Cheongyeon’s Labyrinth.

It is a training place that Nokya is proud of, and applicants are tested in a total of 5 stages.

Cheongyeon’s Jinggung also had such great history that it was built by taking only the basic elements from this place.

Of course, Augustine or Gillity would be places where you could just lift a finger and it would be over.

Still, for beginners – of course, by their standards – there was no better place to develop their capabilities.

Considering that the disciple whom Giliti had boasted of as a ‘brilliant’ also entered this place and was found dead in the second stage, it meant that the level of difficulty was extremely extreme, but deep faith was evident on Augustine’s face.

“We’ll see. “That guy must be the same person who will fulfill the secret wish that our school has cherished for over a thousand years.”

There was deep trust in Augustine’s wrinkled eyes.

* * *

“Here… “It won’t work, right?”

『If you think it will work, try it. Even if you fall, the one who hurts is you, not the king.』

“shit.”

Elric stood on the icicles that formed at a right angle from the cliff and looked upward.

I wondered if I could go up again, but it seemed like I had to give up that thought.

It wouldn’t have been great if he could freely manipulate magical power, but if he did something like that in his current state where he could barely draw mana from the air, he would end up looking like Icarus with melted wings.

In the end, Elric decided to go down and attempted to do so by slowly creating ice stairs.

I thought I caught a glimpse of another old man I hadn’t seen before Augustine, but for now I felt like I had to focus on escaping from this cliff.

Then, when his feet finally touched the surface of the ground, he couldn’t stand his shaking legs and fell down.

“eww… ! “If I fall off a cliff again, I won’t be human.”

There was a time when I jumped down a crevasse to get to my family’s safe house, but that time I did it willingly.

Now it was a stranger.

The difference was very big.

After taking a couple of breaths, Elric could feel calm returning.

Thanks to this, the surrounding terrain naturally came into view.

『The fog is thick here too, just like in the place called Cheongyeon’s palace. Do you see anything?』

“wait a minute.”

Fortunately, the Mind’s Eye does not require magical power. Although it was possible to show more if you had magical power, it was not required.

Moreover, Elric had already found the year of Cheongyeon’s True Palace.

Fortunately, this place seemed to have a similar structure.

“maze… “I think so.”

“maze? Wasn’t that the same for Jin Gung?』

“no. It’s a little different. That’s just an illusion created by multiple magics complexly intertwined, but here, the terrain structure itself is just a maze. “f*cked, this.”

The cliff wasn’t just where Elric fell.

The black cliffs stretched out like a folding screen.

Thanks to this, all that can be seen is a narrow, steep canyon and a path between cliffs.

The problem was that the fog was so thick that it was difficult to see clearly, and it was so desolate that it was difficult to find even a single blade of grass.

At least there was green moss growing on the cliffs and in shady places, but it was unclear whether it could be used as food.

A place with no drinking water or food.

What on earth are we supposed to do here?

‘Is there a place with terrain like this on or near the ecliptic? ‘Why don’t I remember it?’

If I had any idea where this place was, I would at least guess the road.

No matter how much I looked into my knowledge of ‘Continental Geography’, which earned me an A+ at the Academy, I couldn’t think of a place like this.

Eventually, Elric stopped thinking and considered a way to get out of this place.

I think I need to get my magic back first… .

That moment.

[As expected, it seems that admission was successful without any problems.]

As Augustine’s voice boomed from above, I raised my head.

[As expected, can you hear this old man’s voice clearly? Why did he pretend not to hear when he was in the palace?]

“I almost died.”

[Yes, I am still watching.]

Are they telling you not to worry about dying because they are watching you, or are they telling you to just focus on the test because they are watching you?

I couldn’t figure out what was going on.

[This place is called Cheongyeon’s Labyrinth.]

“labyrinth… .”

[As the name suggests, Cheongyeon’s Jinggung came from right here. To be more precise, you can think of it as a deterioration of the place you just entered.]

In an instant, Elric’s eyes changed.

It was as expected.

And that also meant that he could further develop the ‘Relentless True Palace’ that he had stolen.

[haha! As expected, the eyes are different. There you must survive for 100 days from now.]

“what? Stay in this stuffy place for a hundred days? crazy… !』

Mephisto looked up with a puzzled expression, but unfortunately Augustine could not see him.

“There is no drinking water or food here?”

[You have to figure it out on your own. It’s not like this old man can take care of that.]

『How about it?』

[And in the meantime, don’t get bored. I plan to release a few dire wolves one by one.]

『Awesome?』

Elric also looked as shocked as Mephisto.

A dire wolf is just a wolf in name, but in reality, it is safe to say that it is a different species because it has a different approach.

Fierce and rough. In addition, they are three times the size of regular wolves and live in packs, so they were classified as monsters in some places.

[There are three ways to pass the level 1 test.]

The first is to survive for 100 days as previously mentioned.

The second is to train the dire wolves that are deployed or hunt them all down to capture the leader.

The third is.

[…] Just get out through the exit. haha. It won’t be that easy, right?]

Elric could see that the ‘exit’ that Augustine was talking about was right above, in the sky.

[It’s up to you to decide what to do. Then, look forward to it.]

Augustine’s voice ended there.

and.

Crrr-

Crumble, rumble!

As if they had been waiting, two dire wolves slowly walked out from around the corner.

Both eyes were shining evilly, and saliva was dripping from the corner of the mouth.

Just by looking at them, it is clear that they have starved for several days.

Elric frowned.

It would at least give us time to explore the terrain and make a plan, but what would we do if we put everything into it like this?

‘I was just planning to just accept the magic they taught me… ‘I didn’t mean to roll around like this!’

Since I had already failed in the arrangement given by Otto Hahn, I thought I would take it easy this time.

It seems that the world was not so kind.

Wow!

The dire wolf kicked the ground violently. The other guy ran after him, saying he wouldn’t lose.

“shit!”

Elric turned back and started running.

This would only make him look like prey and ask me to bite him, but bravado was only used when conducting a search war.

It didn’t work on people like me who were blinded by hunger.

“weapon! “Shouldn’t you have a weapon?”

Elric screamed loudly for Augustine to listen, but there was no reply.

It seemed like he meant to figure this out on his own.

* * *

“omg? How long has it been since you started that you’re already putting in two? “If you do that, you’ll really die!”

Giliti, who knew the fear of dire wolves well because she raised them herself, jumped up and down in her place.

As usual, the dire wolves would be deployed a day later.

In the meantime, the occupants had to explore the terrain, find ‘sanctuaries’ hidden in various places, stock up on food, and make weapons.

Then there was also one dire wolf that was pushed in.

However, Elric’s test was conducted at a level that could not be compared to the existing difficulty level at all.

but.

Augustine’s eyes were shining without answering.

It seems like they want to push Elric’s limits and see how far he can show his skills.

And then.

“Uh, huh?”

Giliti’s eyes as she looked at the crystal ball wavered.

Elric was suddenly running well, but he tripped over a rock and fell. And he didn’t want to miss that chance, because the dire wolf running ahead jumped forward and attacked Elric!

I stood up thinking that if I stayed like that, I would be in really big trouble.

puck!

“… Eh?”

Giliti’s eyes widened.

Because the dire wolf that attacked Elric had a blue ice blade sticking out from its back.

Although it was not strong enough, it quickly crumbled.

It was enough to make the dire wolf fall to the side, coughing up blood.

Apparently, pretending to have fallen was a trap to attract the dire wolf.

What a spontaneous response to such an emergency situation.

Giliti looked back at Augustine with an expression of disbelief.

“Did I tell you? “That guy is different.”

Augustine grinned as if it was amusing.

Wizard who swallowed talent