CH 74.1

Chapter 74.1. Deep In The Labyrinth

-Loki’s POV-

The guardian Hercules Knight was found in the innermost part of the hidden temple. It is a golden hercules beetle-shaped monster with almost infinite stamina and powerful resistance to both physical and magical attacks, and its weapons are more powerful than the latest weapons of today.

However, the mythical monster, which had slaughtered its opponents using various martial arts, lies on the ground with its horns broken and its legs chopped off. Its beautiful golden exoskeleton was cruelly crushed and charred.

“We finally beat it. ……. That was an unexpected sacrifice!”

Wiping away the sweat, the old man looks around abjectly. From the 9 magicians who had been his high disciples, excellent monster users, 5 had fallen. Some were headless, some had only their upper bodies missing, and others had large holes in their chests.

Cerberus was the first to fall, Thunderbird was shot down, and most of their monsters were killed by hercules knight. They finally defeated it using their trump card, the Guardian of Hell.

The battle was over, but the old man was already battered and bruised.

“I was surprised. I didn’t expect you to struggle even with the emperor’s power.”

Breathing on his shoulders, Loki also opens his mouth, exhausted. He was also a little surprised at the power of hercules knight, which was stronger than he had expected.

“I’ve heard that it was a monster that imitated the mythical demi-god and demi-human Hercules, but it was a monster with a name that was nothing but a bad joke. …… But since we could obtain its magic stone with such power, I guess we just had to make a sacrifice…”

The old magician strokes his chin and looks lost at the hercules knight they had defeated. The monster stones will be recovered and processed by ritual magic to become monster stones for other monster users. The monster users can’t just get a demon stone and start using it on the spot. They have to process it properly.

“…If such a monster becomes yours, you’ll become invincible.”

Casually, Loki puts his hand on the corpse of the fallen Hercules Knight and licks the blood off it.

“I wish it were smaller. Well, still, there are plenty of uses for it. More importantly, open the sealed door, Loki.”

“All right, I’ll do that. Now, is there any treasure? What’s this? Nobunaga was a strange man, wasn’t he?”

Loki chuckles mischievously and smiled, then approached the door and was about to hold out his hand when he saw the writing on the door and tilted his shoulders.

[Business hours are 9 to 5. Lunch break 12:00 to 1:00 p.m.]

That’s what it said, but the old magician behind him doesn’t have time to worry about it and yell at me.

“Open quickly!”

“Yes, yes. Okay, okay.”

As Loki, transformed into the emperor, touches the mithril door, a mechanical voice comes from somewhere.

[Imperial blood confirmed. Release]

The Great Door of Mithril because of its magical power, doesn’t decay, doesn’t rust, but shows a silver shine. That great door began to open with a faint glow as Loki touched it.

With a gurgling sound, the door made of thick mithril opened, and the old magician peered inside in alarm.

[Oh! This is wonderful!”]

And so they were impressed by what’s inside. The old magician’s disciples seeing the scene were also impressed.

“It’s true. This is wonderful!”

Hidden treasures. Even Loki, who had thought the story was dubious, based only on oral tradition, was awed by the sight that exceeded his expectations.

The room itself was 50 meters square and not that large. The walls were made of stone and looked nothing out of the ordinary. There were no mythological carvings or murals to give the room a mystical image.

However, it was precise because of the room’s simplicity that he could see the brilliance of the treasures.

The room has a thousand boxes placed in various places, their lids opened and overflowing with large and small gold coins. Among them peeked jewelry and jars made of true silver. They were filled with golden glitter, and the glitter illuminated the faces of Loki and his friends, in the back, they could see an altar, where swords, spears, necklaces, and rings with powerful magic powers that they could see even from a distance were placed, along with various other magical tools.

“Well, Nobunaga seems to understand the image of treasures. This much brilliance, I’ve never seen it before either.”

“Mm. It’s a mountain of gold, silver, and treasure. I didn’t expect this much.”

The magicians enchanted by the golden glow weren’t complaining about their earlier frustration. Grinning and smiling, they looked at the treasures.

“Now, the magic tools in the back there. Among them, there must be the magical tool I am looking for. There will be a Dromi that can control all kinds of monsters.”

With a grin, the old magician smiles cunningly and slowly turns to Loki, gripping his staff. Loki looks at the old magician with a smile that doesn’t match the emperor’s stern face.

“So. What do you want to say?”

“It means that my promise to Duke Kanna ends here. It was a promise from the beginning that we would work together to get to the treasure room.”

“Indeed. That was the agreement. So?”

“Loki, I know you’re formidable. But are you a match for this number of people? We may have business with you in the future. Leave quickly. Take as much of this gold as you can.”

At the old magician’s words, Loki’s face turned dumbfounded, then he laughed.

“No, I thought you would kill me if I had no more use for you, but you are surprisingly rational.”

“I’m hired for money because there aren’t many awesome magicians. So what do we do?”

The old magician thought there was no advantage in fighting with this magician when he thought about escaping from there on out. Loki is a mercenary for hire. He thought if he gave him some of this treasure, Loki would easily betray Duke Kanna.

But Loki shrugged his shoulders, laughed, and turned his face down. The old magician, who had predicted that he would nod immediately, frowns dubiously and casually signals to the high disciples. The high disciples begin to be on the lookout for the monsters they’re leading, putting them in a state of alert.