Vol 5 Chapter 52

"I couldn't see it properly because it was too far. I did detect a blue light with Detect Magic, so whatever's in there is probably something magical."

[ Something magical... Any guesses? ]

"None."

[ Well, now that you've finished scouting, it's time to show your real skills. If magic below 6th circle is useless, does that mean most of the magic you can use now is trash? I'm looking forward to it. ]

What would happen if he threw this damn stick into the lava?

Unable to resist the sweet temptation, Kapros's fingers twitched near the stick, clenching and unclenching several times, but in the end, he decided against throwing it and looked around widely.

'What magic could I use to cross this place?'

It was frustrating, but Superior was right. As a 6th circle mage, the magic he could use to pass through there was nothing...

'Wait. Is it really nothing? Why did Superior say "most"?'

"Why most? Not all of it is trash."

When Kapros retorted gruffly, Superior let out a confident laugh.

[ Of course, you have to exclude mine! Learning two of my spells might be the best thing you've done so far! ]

Superior, who had finished saying something that would take others 10 years of bad luck in just one go, gave Kapros something to think about while he was pondering how to repay this absurdity.

[ My magic isn't blocked by such barriers. If I had thought my magic would be blocked by barriers, I wouldn't have created it in the first place. ]

"Really?"

When Kapros questioned skeptically, unable to tell which part was serious, Superior got angry as if he had been insulted.

[ You, don't you believe me? Just try it! The fact that my magic is the best in the world is unchanging, whether 500 years or 1000 years pass! ]

"..."

If he insisted that much, maybe Kapros should try it, considering he had nothing to lose.

After moving his head a few times, making cracking sounds, his neck and shoulders, which had been stiff with tension, felt a bit better. Roughly gauging how much magical power he had left, it seemed to be just under half.

'It's fortunate that I can still use 6th circle spells a few more times with this much.'

Using Superior's magic required much stronger concentration than using other magic. How many dungeons had he gone through and how many hundreds of monsters had he swept through to make it easier to summon Superior's magic?

Recalling those memories, Kapros quietly closed his eyes. Inferno, the hellfire that really doesn't listen well. He wasn't sure how impressive it would be in this sea of lava that was like real hellfire... but it was the only thing worth trying.

"Inferno!"

As he shouted and opened his eyes to look at the air, sparks scattered like falling ash from where he was looking, and then a bright red flame revealed itself, flickering its tongue like an evil demon. Though it was a small flame, its color was even redder and more vivid than the lava.

After looking at Inferno, which still followed only where his gaze fell, with mixed feelings, he turned his gaze to the distant land on the other side.

'Fly!'

Inferno flickered for a moment as if resisting, but when Kapros glared at it with all his might, it finally began to move stealthily, floating in the air and starting to fly. After some time, its movement became faster and faster, and later, it excitedly crossed the air at a speed that made it look like a small Fireball.

When it finally seemed to have reached the area where the Aerial Servant had been neatly blocked by the barrier earlier, Kapros unconsciously clenched his fist, tensed up, and prepared for any possible backlash from a magic failure.

'Yes, the barrier should appear around there...!'

Just as Inferno was about to reach the barrier, Kapros unconsciously relaxed his eyes to slow it down slightly due to tension.

Swoosh!

Inferno passed through the barrier area without any resistance and flew into the wall next to the cave where the path on the other side was.

Boom!

Thanks to the explosion that occurred where it hit, broken rocks rolled down merrily into the sea of lava and melted.

'How could this be...'

Could Superior's ridiculous words have been true?

As Kapros stood there, staring blankly at the scene, Superior spoke cheerfully in a proud tone.

[ How about that? Isn't it amazing? ]

"...Yes. With this..."

If he pushed himself, he might be able to cross somehow.

Although Kapros didn't finish his sentence, Superior didn't seem to particularly want his answer. Kapros immediately began to concentrate on devising a way to cross the sea of lava using only the two Superior magic spells he had learned. After a while, he was able to take the first step towards crossing the sea of lava with a determined expression.

At that time, Rob and his companions had been walking endlessly for over 20 minutes in the darkness, their hands on each other's shoulders like a train game. The tension that had been present at first had long since disappeared, and all that remained was irritation and fighting.

"Evan, are you sure we're going the right way? We haven't taken a wrong turn, have we?"

"Ah, stop asking already, seriously!"

"If you're anxious, you can check, why do you have to pick a fight over everything?"

The fight between Blue Lady and Chow had been getting worse since they crossed the black hole. Rob, who had been following them while thinking how nice it would be if he could just recognize that noise as background music, had to bury his nose in the back of Chow's head when Evan suddenly stopped.

"Ouch. What is it? Why so sudden?"

"Somehow it feels... a bit hot."

"Hot?"

At this unexpected remark, Rob frowned and looked around at the surroundings where only darkness was visible, but he didn't feel anything unusual.

"I don't really feel it."

"Ah... Then maybe it's just my imagination. I'm sorry. Let's keep going."

"Well, okay."

After ending the conversation awkwardly, they continued walking. Rob, perhaps because he had heard Evan's words, tilted his head as he strangely felt it getting hotter and hotter.

'Is this the placebo effect? How strange.'

However, it was no mere placebo effect.