What if you are reborn as a demon after a funeral?

Page 136

The surrounding building materials were sucked in. In this disaster, which was more terrifying than ordinary natural disasters, Philon, who had plunged his wand into the ground and poured out all his magic, could no longer stabilize himself and was then sucked into the artificial black hole he had thrown out.

Zanze's hair was also sucked in, but she instantly cut off her long hair and sent the swollen strands into the underground depths, which were compacted by gravity and still had magical defenses, like a spider taking root and resisting the suction.

Duncan manipulated the earth and lifted the ground, but within two seconds he followed in Philon's footsteps, being swept up along with the lifted rock wall, instantly annihilating the black hole.

The body of the Zanze clone was also unable to resist the strong suction. In no time, the clone was sucked into the air, and clumps of hair were peeled off the ground. From a distance, it looked like a giant spider struggling in a storm. Ash's own clone, on the other hand, resisted the suction by gravity.

But in the process, the stripped-away earth and the high-speed flying rocks continued to collide with the two people's bodies.

But it didn't last long. Just as Zanze was about to be stripped away, the black hole subsided, or rather... it was removed by Ash himself.

However, at this moment, the entire underground hall seemed to have undergone a rebirth, returning to its original appearance, with only exposed rocks remaining.

"That's quite a feat. The entire deepest underground space has been reinforced with magic."

Ash landed on the ground, lightly kicking the rocks with his toes, his face full of amazement.

Under normal circumstances, the entire dungeon should have been swallowed up, but when the ancient empire built it, they reinforced the key external traps and the deepest part countless times, especially making it extremely resistant to magic.

That's why it wasn't dug through. Otherwise... even if there was a Water Mirror Demon, it would probably have been dug in long ago. After all, many mages who control the ground can easily dig deep underground and then bypass the Water Mirror Demon.

They didn't do that because it was simply impossible for them; the deepest part was a vast area, and trying to enter it with magic was just wishful thinking.

But this undoubtedly cost a huge amount of manpower and resources. Ordinary countries, or even modern empires, could not rebuild it again, which made him reluctant to completely destroy this treasure of ancient civilization.

"You surely understand my feelings, the desire to destroy this..." Ash sighed, his words devoid of any tension or urgency, and even seeming to contain very little hostility or malice, as he looked up at his clone.

But before the other party could finish speaking, he drew his sword and charged again. Without saying a word, his silent, supersonic slash was already close to Ash.

The longsword, flying at incredible speed, possesses a ferocious destructive power far beyond what ordinary people can imagine; even the figure of the person wielding the sword has far exceeded the limits of what the naked eye can capture.

Like the whispers of death, it was shrouded in a suffocating sense of oppression, but...

"...You've got the wrong target."

His high-quality and fast-paced slashes came like a storm, but he relied entirely on his intuition and instinct, precisely weakening the opponent's blade with each strike and deflecting them one by one.

All the conflicts were accompanied by high-pitched metallic clanging and sparks, like a dazzling martial arts performance that could easily captivate the viewer.

Zanze's hair couldn't even get a foothold in the fight, and the clone was steadily losing ground, but this stalemate didn't last long...

Amidst the chaotic sparks, a silver flash cleaved through the wind, suddenly striking the blade held horizontally on the replica's forehead.

"Just die quietly."

The two lightning-infused blades clashed fiercely, but with Ash's whisper—the game was over.

Boom——! ! !

Amidst a deafening roar like a thunderbolt or a meteorite collision, Ash's blade was instantly imbued with immense pressure, crushing the clone that had been struggling to resist.

The blade split in two, along with the body and the lightning, all being torn apart from top to bottom, and even the earth was ripped apart in that dazzling trajectory.

The entire underground city shook violently, and even the mountains were severed in the middle—the entire underground city was cleaved in two by the force of this powerful blow, with a thin crack being cleaved from the depths of the city by the sharp blade of gravity.

Looking up, if one's vision can exceed the limits of ordinary people, one can even see a faint ray of sunlight thousands of meters away.

The Water Mirror Demon, located deeper inside, was almost sliced ​​open by Ash, yet Ash did not destroy it.

He sealed the Water Mirror Demon's main body, which lacked offensive capabilities, and then planned to leave this deep layer... He didn't even destroy the clone of Zanze, but just patted it on the head as he passed by.

After all, the assessment still has to be conducted; otherwise, if we pass this assessment too easily, we might fail in the third round.

However, the sealing also stopped the other party's ability to continue generating clones... Otherwise, if they created another version of themselves or Frilian, it would be very troublesome for the test takers.

He had previously seen many other exits in the deepest space, so when he destroyed those clones, new clones should have gone out to destroy other intruders.

Although he knew this, he didn't really intend to interfere. After all, his clone was obviously created last, and the Water Mirror Demon wouldn't be able to recreate himself so quickly. Therefore, it wouldn't bring too much uncertainty to the exam.

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As Ash was attacking the main clones among the examinees, the torrents of magic and the occasional deafening roars caused the subsequent attack team to tremble slightly.

The distant rumbling, even from at least several thousand meters away, seemed like hoarse shouts piercing the silence of the royal tomb. The unusual feeling surging from the depths of the ground also made everyone feel an indescribable sense of unease.

It was as if something had summoned the deepest despair from the soul, causing people's legs to tremble inexplicably and go weak for no reason.

If they hadn't known they were teammates and that the competition didn't require attacking each other, most people probably would have already fled.

But Ash, who was completely unaware of what was going on, shook his head and sighed as he walked out of that deepest place and returned to his original form.

"...How could it have turned out like this?"

Although the intended goal was achieved, things accidentally escalated a bit.

This completely contradicted his original idea, because he originally wanted to have some fun and see what the effect would be if he were attacked by a group of people.

I wanted to let them use their abilities properly, but I was careless... I acted too quickly and eliminated too many, which made things boring.

"...I should have dragged it out longer, but it's no fun fighting with the puppets all the time. Let's see how everyone is doing."

With a bit of annoyance, he left his regrets behind and quickly traversed the underground city.

Although the greatest threat had been eliminated by Ash alone, but...

The massive tremors and torrent of magic earlier stimulated the various monsters hidden deep within to begin moving, and even the mechanisms were activated by the tremors.

A thousand years is enough time for many mechanisms to malfunction or for various monsters to enter a deep hibernation.

However, the enormous tremors he had created earlier also helped to clean up mechanisms that were originally blocked by excessive dust and unable to be activated, or to directly activate mechanisms with rotten key parts.

The monsters are in a deep sleep, but they are also awakened from their dormancy by the magic and fear.

Walking through the dark tunnel, he could clearly hear the mournful cries coming from all directions, the roars of monsters, and the unique vibrations of various mechanisms being activated.

Even... after running haphazardly for a distance, the ground in front of Ash seemed to start vibrating, small but frequent.

This was because he had already noticed Philon and the others ahead through his magical search, and subconsciously looked up to observe the upward-sloping tunnel above.

But you really don't know until you see it, and when he did, he was startled because—at that moment, a cylindrical crystal that was blocking the entire passage was rolling down from above.

Philon, Frilian, and Zanze were running as fast as they could with comical yet terrified expressions.

"This is... a Demon-Sealing Stone?"

Even from afar, Ash, whose magic was restricted, could immediately sense what the blue crystal acting as the log was.

That large and well-formed sealing stone was an extremely rare and valuable item. A stone the size of a fist could buy a mansion, and one several meters in size could basically build a castle. It could also seal magic within a considerable range. As a result, the three of them, as pure magic users, could only flee for their lives and could not even fly.

"—Run!!"

In the past, Frilian always attracted strange things and would run ahead under the guise of exercise, always leaving Philon behind. Now, she was running ahead of the three of them and kindly reminded him as they passed each other.

Philon, the tallest of the three and equally accustomed to running away, clutched his wand with a terrified expression and shook his head repeatedly at him.

Later on, Zanze, who was a noble lady and a magician, had basically never exercised. Her running movements were like paddling, and she was already out of breath.

She seemed completely exhausted at this moment. She opened her mouth as if to ask for help, but could only gasp for breath. With a tearful expression, she looked at him with pleading eyes.

Because the Demon-Sealing Stone can seal away surrounding magic and has the highest hardness among all ores, it is impossible for normal humans to use it when magic is ineffective.

It possesses immense magical power within, making it difficult to break. While it's not impossible to destroy it by brute force, its sheer size would likely cause a massive explosion.

This annoyed him slightly, so he grabbed Philon, who was passing by, and hoisted him onto his left shoulder, while simultaneously grabbing Zanze with his right hand and tucking him under his right shoulder.

With one person on each side, he still moved with incredible speed, overtaking the cunning Freya, who was running ahead, in an instant amidst the exclamations of the two girls.

"Ah..." Frillie, who hadn't stopped for a moment, unconsciously followed the three of them. After a brief moment of surprise, she suddenly pounced on Ash at the bottom of the slope with a "Hey—!" and grabbed him by the neck, making him turn around speechlessly: "...What are you doing?"

“I’ll die if I fall!” Frilian hugged his neck, responding expressionlessly.

"You're so good at running away, yet you can fall? To be honest, I've never actually seen you fall."

"It would be bad if something unexpected happened."

Despite making Ash very upset, Frilian refused to let go, clinging to him like a pendant around his neck, believing that even if she might fall, he would never.

And so, with a helpless sigh, Ash was forced to become the three's means of transportation.

.............................

Chased by the rolling demon-sealing stones, Ash ran quite a distance before arriving at a fork in the road.

The moment Ash rushed into the fork in the road, the three girls watched as the Demon-Sealing Stone continued to roll downwards, and they all unconsciously breathed a sigh of relief.

"...Luckily I ran into Ash, otherwise I don't know if I would have had a chance to turn at the fork in the road~ Even if I had fallen, I might have been crushed. Hmm... This maze even has this kind of thing, how interesting~!"

Frillie, who had just gotten off Ash, patted her clothes and gave him a thumbs up. Her face showed relief at surviving a disaster, but even more so, it was filled with undisguised joy.

"...I don't find this interesting at all. If someone is just crushed to death without being able to put up any resistance, wouldn't that be too tragic?"

Even though she was out of danger, Philon's fingers were still trembling slightly.

Like a doll, Zanze, who was being held close to his waist, looked at his hands, his heart also filled with the relief of surviving a disaster.

"I had the same thought... As expected, this is still an unconquered dungeon, and it even happens to contain items specifically designed for mages; although, given that it was an empire during a period of great unification, it's not surprising that a royal tomb would contain such items..."

"When you came down, you said... as a first-level mage, you could turn the tide even in the face of more troublesome and desperate situations. But didn't you run away with us? And you even had to rely on Lord Ash to save you?" Upon hearing this, Philon looked at Zanze with full resentment, after all, she was the one who chose this examination venue.

"...That's true, but since I met Lord Ash, I've often encountered things that even a first-level mage would absolutely not be able to do."

Recalling Ash's previous request and the situation of encountering the Demon-Sealing Stone, Zanze regained his expressionless demeanor, looked up at the girl on Ash's shoulder, and said seriously, "Besides, haven't you always been by Ash's side? So just listen to these kinds of words."

“…Zanze, you’ve grown up.” Ash couldn’t help but look at the girl under his command with a sense of satisfaction upon hearing this.