Act 1: Chapter 17: 《Distorted World of the Cursed Mirror》

Act 1: Chapter 17: 《Distorted World of the Cursed Mirror》

Once we returned to the hut after the graduation test (which actually wasn’t), Noble Mimic approached us while dragging his bottom on the floor.

「HoW WaS The ReSUlT of YouR ExAm, Kanata? Ka 」

「I’ve defeated Lv. 150 Earth Dragon without a hitch.」

「Oh My GoD, ThaT WAs FasTEr ThaN My ExPectAtioN, GrAtS! 」

Noble Mimic gave me his blessing as he hopped in place.

And yet, he suddenly stopped hopping up and down, pitched forward as if he felt sad about something.L1tLagoon witnessed the first publication of this chapter on Ñøv€l--B1n.

「... BuT, It’Ll Be LonEly OncE YoU LEAve.」

「Ah, you’re wrong... My training has yet to end.」

「Eh? 」

「Uhm... I’m not ready yet to leave this place. Because the one who sent me off to this place will surely be aiming for my life.」

「... BuT, Lv. 150 shOUlD Be EnoUGh For YoU to SUrviVe Outs-...」

Noble Mimic suddenly shut his mouth as soon as he was looking in Lunaire’s direction.

I followed his line of sight too and averted my gaze in the next second.

I then looked at Noble Mimic again.

「W-What were you trying to tell me just now? 」

「... WeLL, I’M noT thAT InTeRestED WiTh thE OUtSIde WorlD. Let’S LEaVe iT At THaT.」

... I smell a conspiracy here.

That day we had a short break after a brief session about magic. Thus, we decided to splurge a bit for dinner to celebrate me achieving the minimum requirement to leave 《Cocytus》.

The next day, with a sword in one hand, I followed Lunaire.

「Are we going to hunt Lv.100 golems today? 」

In fact, to me, hunting monsters above my level meant more EXP.

But, there was a level cap for 《Sand Puppet》.

It seemed that the level cap for 《Sand Tyrant》 was Lv.200 but, the efficiency worsened if I kept fighting against the same enemies.

「Well I actually can make a slightly more powerful monster with different magic but, let’s pass on that for today. There... is a slightly better method for leveling in your current level.」

Lunaire said with a slight pause in the middle.

A... better leveling method?

「But, can I really fight against the demons on this floor? Well, I might be able to raise my level on this floor if you help me, Master. But, my contribution would be...」

This place was swarmed with Lv.2000 demons.

Lunaire was rolling up the cloth that was covering the《Distorted World of the Cursed Mirror》 with her left hand as she looked at me.

A while after I saw that she seemed to be troubled by something, she gently pulled my sleeve.

When Lunaire moved forward, it was as if her figure was swallowed by the mirror.

And I was pulled along with her into the mirror.

「U—WAAAAOW! 」

I fell onto the floor.

I managed to stand on my knees and looked around.

I arrived in an eerie place.

That place was enveloped by rainbow-colored light.

I turned around and saw something like a warped black curtain which seemingly acted as the connection between this place and the place where we come from.

As for Lunaire, she stood right next to me.

「Where... Is the devil that you were talking about before, Master? 」

Then, I saw eyes appear all over the place before Lunaire had the chance to answer my question.

The things that appeared before me was a scene that surpassed even the horrors I had seen in 《Cocytus》: flying-cow with an eerily long neck and three eyes, statues with tentacles growing from its body and black mist with a huge mouth.

There were even angel-like beings that continuously shed blood from their mouth and eyes and giant-like beings whose bodies were covered with eyeballs.

All of those evil beings were heading towards us.

Though I’m more than aware that the monsters residing in 《Cocytus》 are barely qualified as “resembling” a living being, the monsters I saw in this place are complete aberrations.

A-Am I going to face these aberrations to level up from now on!?

Nonono, think again about it, I might gain a whopping 80 levels in one fell swoop victory.

I tried my luck and checked with 《Status Check》.

‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐

Race :%#&hあ=

Lv :3142

HP :15082/15082

MP :17595/17595

‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐

A-Are you kidding me!?

Even the monsters in 《Cocytus》 were only around Lv.2000 strong!

Wasn’t the difficulty of this “Next step” of my training basically going from heaven to hell compared to the previous Lv.150 Earth Dragon?