Chapter 51: Master of Hellscape Island (5)
―Clatter.
Evan descended along the chain.
As he reached the floor, the first thing he saw was the skeletal remains of Lina, the mage from the Viper gang.
Next, his eyes caught the traces of a magic circle that had been drawn, though it had already lost its power, leaving only faint marks.
In the center of the magic circle was a deep pit, as if a grave had been dug up.
‘Could this be the sealing magic circle? The one the instructor mentioned? Then was that vampire from before sealed here?’
Lacking deep knowledge of magic, he could only speculate.
But since that wasn’t his main concern right now, it didn’t matter much.
The reason Evan had come down here was a door he had vaguely glimpsed. That door was concealed within the shadows cast by the moonlight.
The door’s existence, briefly revealed by the glow of magical tools, had completely captured Evan’s attention, diverting it from everything else.
A sturdy door made of black iron. Not a single common decoration or pattern was engraved on it.
Unless closely inspected, it blended so seamlessly with the ground that it was barely distinguishable.
‘Could that vampire have come out of this door?’
He thought, but there were no signs of the door having been opened.
However, there was an inscription that offered a clue about the door’s nature.
[To the one who subdued the Red Count, pass through here to prove yourself. And claim your reward.]
‘The Red Count seems to match that guy from earlier, based on the situation. But prove what?’
He tried pushing the door to open it.
After all, he had defeated the vampire. But the door didn’t budge.
Stroking it yielded the same result.
‘It won’t open? Should I have brought the head to show it?’
He kicked the unyielding door lightly.
As his blood-stained shoe touched the door and pulled away, the door suddenly vibrated.
―Rumble.
For just a moment, the door reacted. Quick-witted, Evan pressed the blood-stained tip of his shoe against the door again.
And indeed, the door began to open.
‘It actually worked?’
―Thud thud thud.
Through the gap of the opening iron door, an endlessly dark corridor came into view.
As the door fully opened, the corridor lit up.
Torches hanging on the walls had ignited.
Of course, only the ones near Evan flared to life.
Beyond that, the torches remained unlit.
It felt as if they were guiding him along the path, like a marker.
The problem was…
‘Ah, it’s about time for the Head Instructor to show up…’
He worried about getting scolded by the Head Instructor for going off on another tangent.
Still, Evan was the type to act first and regret later.
‘There’s a reward—how could I pass that up?’
With that thought, he had already stepped one foot beyond the door.
Then, he crossed the iron threshold entirely.
―Thud thud thud!
As he fully passed through, the entrance closed.
No matter how he tried to reopen it, the door wouldn’t budge.
‘Even better. No one to interrupt me now.’
There was only one path forward.
The corridor before him.
As he walked, torches lit up in sync with his pace, guiding him through the seemingly endless corridor.
After a long trek, he arrived at a wide hall.
The ceiling was smooth, as if carved from the bedrock, and the floor was embedded with a grid of stones.
In the center of this empty hall, clearly crafted by someone’s hands, stood a stele as tall as Evan.
[If you have reached this place, it means you have defeated the Red Count. I commend your skill, and at the end of this path, a reward awaits the valiant. —Ernst Romarn—]
‘Ernst? Isn’t that the Great Mage who placed the barrier around the island? Then was this entire structure his creation?’
The inscription left by Great Mage Ernst piqued his interest.
‘But what kind of reward would someone like him leave behind, building all this?’
In this life, Evan wasn’t exactly strapped for cash.
In fact, he lived the life of a wealthy man, and with the Fire Dragon Orb he’d inherit upon adulthood, he was among the richest in the kingdom.
Even so, he was curious about the reward left by someone as great as a Great Mage.
It surely wasn’t just money.
His desire to find out what it was burned strongly.
After all, there was no turning back now.
[Place your hand on the stele. If you wish to return, use the return scroll attached to the back of the stele.]
But then, a way back appeared.
As the inscription instructed, a scroll was placed on the back of the stele.
Though it offered a means to return, Evan didn’t use it.
The reason was a single word written on the scroll.
[Coward]
‘Ha! That’s outright provocation! Like I’d back out after coming this far.’
And that provocation—Evan accepted it readily.
‘Fine, you sly old man. Let’s see what you’ve prepared.’
He placed his hand on the palm-shaped groove carved into the stele.
The stele began to glow, emitting blue-tinted mana.
The released mana spread in all directions, forming a thin barrier from the floor to the ceiling.
In an instant, a protective barrier enveloped the entire hall.
It seemed designed to shield the underground from the effects of the trial.
As the barrier formed, the stones in the floor began to dislodge and gather together.
―Thud! Thud!
“Oh? Magic?”
At the point where the square stones converged, there was a particularly radiant substance.
It was a power source, and as the stones gathered around it, a golem began to form.
―Thud!
As the completed golem took a step forward, the entire hall seemed to shake.
―Thud!
Watching the golem approach, Evan merely gestured downward with his hand.
The golem, reacting, looked down.
To its surprise, a dagger was already embedded in its power source.
Evan had thrown the dagger even before the golem fully formed.
―Crack.
Cracks began to spread from the dagger’s point in the power source.
Soon, the power source shattered, and the golem collapsed, powerless.
―Rumble.
Approaching the pile of stones that was once the golem, Evan retrieved his dagger.
“Did you really think I’d just stand there waiting for you to finish transforming?”
He spoke into the air, as if addressing the Great Mage who designed this trial.
And as if in response to his words, the barrier lifted. As the path to the next stage opened, Evan stepped back into the corridor.
It seemed the end of this path wasn’t just one trial, as promised.
At the end of the corridor was another hall, identical in structure, with another stele.
The difference lay in the inscription on the stele and the massive hourglass placed behind it.
Intrigued by the hourglass, which was as tall as he was, Evan read the inscription.
[How did you defeat the Red Count? With a sword? With magic? Whatever the means, this place is a stage to prove what kind of fighter you truly are.]
After reading the inscription, Evan placed his hand on the stele without hesitation.
As before, a barrier formed.
Then, the hourglass floated into the air and flipped over, as if to measure time.
But the sand didn’t flow downward.
Instead, it spilled out of the hourglass, scattering onto the floor, where it began to form the shapes of soldiers.
‘First stones, now sand?’
One by one, they multiplied until they filled the hall.
A platoon-sized group of sand soldiers.
Each held a spear and shield made of sand.
‘Not just ordinary sand, I bet. Shall we test it?’
Evan threw a dagger at one of the sand shields.
―Ting!
The dagger bounced off cleanly, as if it had struck a real shield.
‘It’s sturdy. Then it’s safe to assume what they’re holding is real enough.’
As Evan launched a preemptive strike, the sand soldiers grouped together, forming ranks and advancing toward him.
―Clack! Clack!
They aligned their shields in a row, covering them with more shields.
Then, they thrust spears through the gaps, creating a moving fortress.
‘That formation—it’s the one used by the desert kingdom’s spear units.’
The impregnable shield wall slowly pressured Evan.
But he had already devised a counter.
‘In a confined space like this, that formation can hold off thousands with just dozens. But it’s not invincible.’
After a few light hops to loosen his legs, he sprinted toward the side.
Then, he scaled the wall and leaped over the formation in one swift motion.
―Tadadak!
‘If the front is blocked, just go over it.’
Landing on the other side, Evan stabbed a soldier in the exposed rear with his dagger.
Piercing the heart precisely, the sand collapsed, and part of it flowed toward the hourglass.
―Ssssh.
The sand filled the upper part of the hourglass and began to flow downward.
‘Looks like I need to fill it up…’
The problem was that before the sand ran out, some of it spilled out again.
The spilled sand formed new soldiers.
‘Whatever. I just need to take down the ones in front of me, right?’
Gripping his dagger tightly, Evan dove into the midst of the soldiers.
***
The number of sand soldiers Evan had defeated had already exceeded a hundred.
Each one displayed the prowess of an elite, but their opponent was the Commander of the Empire.
Where he passed, only scattered sand remained, flowing into the hourglass.
After cutting down dozens more, the hourglass finally filled.
―Psssssh!
As the sand filled, all the soldiers collapsed at once.
Evan fanned away the thick cloud of sand dust, grimacing.
“Ptoo!”
Spitting out the sand that got into his mouth, he brushed off his clothes.
‘Damn it, I should’ve fought more cleanly. I still have a long way to go.’
Reflecting on the battle, he took a moment to self-critique.
Then, shaking off the sand, he hurried to the next stage.
‘What’s next? After stones and sand…’
This space was twice as large as the previous ones.
[To the one who passed the previous trials, you have proven your exceptional ability. But those were merely gates you should have overcome if you defeated the Red Count.]
Evan nodded in agreement with the stele’s inscription.
‘True, compared to fighting that vampire, the golem and sand soldiers were just a hassle.’
Thus, the stele continued:
[This final trial is the one to truly test your worth. The previous two were merely preparation for this moment.]
‘Preparation?’
[Therefore, I urge you to proceed with utmost caution until the very end. Your final opponent will be unlike any you have faced before.]
A cryptic sentence.
Yet, it contained words that ignited his competitive spirit.
—An opponent unlike any you have faced before—
Had anyone in his life fought more foes than he had? Perhaps, throughout history, such a person existed. But he could confidently claim to stand at the forefront of them.
Yet the inscription declared with certainty.
‘An opponent I’ve never faced before…’
Evan was genuinely curious about what this opponent could be.
‘It sounds like a serious warning. But isn’t it human nature to want to do something when told not to?’
Without hesitation, Evan accepted the final trial.
As expected, a barrier formed, but unlike before, the opponent didn’t appear immediately.
Instead, a familiar aura emanated from the corridor ahead.
As he tried to identify it, something flew toward him.
―Clang!
Reflexively, Evan deflected it with his dagger.
What fell to the floor was none other than a dagger identical to the one he held.
‘No way…’
From the dark corridor, the opponent finally emerged.
Seeing it, Evan let out a wry laugh.
“Ha! Yeah, I’ve never faced you before.”
The figure that appeared before Evan was another Evan, identical in every way.