Genius Engineer in the Labyrinth - Chapter 387
Only Noblemtl
Catacombs (2)
Walls filled with reptilian skulls or towers made of piled up bones are common finds when exploring catacombs.
However, there was a secret hidden in the decorations that we encountered so frequently and took for granted.
As soon as Alan recognized the Skull Gate, he opened the space gate leading to it. A distance of 1km in a straight line, or several kilometers if you add the winding passage, was erased in an instant.
The reptilian who had been instigating the massacre tried hard to hide his traces by spinning around and spreading his scent, but the moment he was discovered, he simply danced on Alan’s palm.
Phew!
As soon as he saw Alan, he screamed and pulled out a dagger from his waistband. He crouched down and used the walls and ceiling as footholds, bouncing around frantically as he rushed at him.
A speed that ordinary people could not dare to follow. All that could be felt was the sound of rocks crumbling in the passage and a blurry black shape.
The reptilian reached Alan’s nose. He was confident that the attack would be successful.
But a red mass emerged from the dark-colored space door. Taylor’s hair glowed redder than usual due to the use of magical power. He reached forward and grabbed the assassin by the neck, pinning him to the ground.
“Who dares to···.”
“Your junior is not in danger, but he’s acting cool.”
“Was it cool?”
“Do you have a filter in your eardrums?”
“You punk. This is the wisdom of the old.”
Taylor smirked and dragged the reptilian towards him. The creature flailed its arms wildly, but it was too weak to penetrate Taylor’s armor and magic.
Alan put a finger between the reptilian’s eyebrows. The glowing creature foamed at the mouth and rolled its eyes.
“Let’s see…, it’s a reptilian belonging to the Assassin’s Cult.”
“I knew it right away.”
“The changes on the 50th floor are not trivial. In times like these, a solid clue is essential.”
“We found the secret passage, so let’s go down there.”
“You said you were tired, but now you’ve become more proactive.”
“Finish quickly and rest quickly.”
Taylor walked ahead, with Shiva following behind.
“You forgot, brother.”
“what?”
“For us, rest is of little consequence. For Brother Allen, rest is synonymous with preparation for exploration.”
“Oh, that’s right.”
Unlike explorers who take at least a month off after completing an expedition, Alan prepared for a week and then went back down.
“But rest is rest… I hope that a paper that captures Alan’s heart is published. Or I can find an academic journal and show it to him.”
“You hated studying more than anything, but you’ve changed.”
“If you want to rest for a long time, help me. Zion, you too.”
Zion, who had been clinging to Alan like a shadow, lightly stepped on the floor. The darkness that had spread everywhere began to blur, and Zion appeared next to Taylor.
“They say that everyone has at least one hometown. Starting today, I’ve decided to consider the 50th floor my hometown.”
“Oh my, that guy is useless.”
“Do you get a vague feeling when you look at the city?”
“Of course it’ll be hazy. Your memory will be hazy because of the mental control.”
Alan looked up at the dim light illuminating the secret passage. Luminescent stones were embedded in the eye sockets of the skulls that adorned the passage.
The secret passageway, unlike the existing passages in the catacombs, only went down. The frequently seen fork in the road was now finally encountered.
Nicola looked alternately at the darkness to his right and left.
“Shall we divide people?”
“no.”
“What’s there to be afraid of on the 50th floor?”
“Then, Nicola, go to the left alone.”
“A colleague is a colleague because we go together.”
Everyone’s footsteps headed toward the right passage. After walking for a while, the passage was blocked. Alan looked at the skull stuck in the center and pulled out the assassin he had kept alive.
Kreuk!
Of course, the guy wasn’t going to open the door. If it had been Alan a few months ago, he would have tried to appease the reptilian or somehow crack open his brain to figure out a way. But now, there was an alternative.
I threw the reptilian into the box, and it vacuum-packed it as if it had been waiting and put it in the drawer. It looked like a hunting spider.
Meanwhile, Alan aimed the key at the skeleton. When he placed the tip of the key on the skeleton’s forehead, a mystery that even Alan’s eyes could not figure out flowed inside.
Yeah, yeah!
And then the door opened.
‘That’s why people are looking for Oparts and new soldiers with fire in their eyes.’
Until now, I only carried around handmade magic tools, but after obtaining the key, my thoughts have changed little by little. Because good things are better when I use them myself.
A room connected to a secret passage appeared. Alan could see where the blood absorbed into the ground had gone.
‘pool.’
Red stalactites hung from the ceiling of the large room, and blood flowed down them, filling the pond in the center.
“hello.”
Krrrr! Krrrr!
When Alan greeted them, the other party responded enthusiastically. The assassins who had been preparing something drew their weapons and greeted them.
But their active hospitality soon died down, as the darkness that covered the floor swallowed them up like a swamp.
The Reptilians of the Assassin’s Cult worshipped the Dragons who controlled the darkness, so they could control similar powers, but they were worse than their opponents.
As the pitch-black swamp swallowed the assassins up to their waists, two blue eyes flashed. A panther, engulfed in darkness like a flame, rose from the swamp.
Alan said as he walked across the black swamp.
“Deal with it.”
Kkwaduk!
Alan crouched down, the sound of bone breaking behind him. He dipped his finger into the puddle of blood, then withdrew it to examine the liquid.
“It’s blood.”
“You can tell just by the smell. It’s dripping. Wipe it off quickly.”
The rune [Flame] appeared on the back of Alan’s hand. The strong flames cleansed the dirt on his power suit gloves. Nicola looked at it carefully.
“Should I learn magic engineering properly?”
“You are always welcome.”
“Let’s think about that later. The puddle is like the axis of a magic circle. What do you think?”
“I agree.”
“Let’s start with the blood first.”
Alan nodded. As he pointed his finger at the red stalactite, Zion drew his sword. A white line started from the scabbard and extended through the air to the stalactite’s roots.
Heavy stalactites fell into the pool, and thin blood surged.
Nicola sat up in horror.
“Hey! I almost asked!”
“I didn’t ask.”
“That’s because I blocked it with a barrier.”
“I expected it and cut it. Is there a problem?”
I covered my forehead because it would be a waste to argue with Zion. Meanwhile, Alan had taken out the stalactite and was observing it.
“It has the function of refining the life force contained in blood. It can be used in the soul room.”
“The path to hell keeps getting bigger.”
“It’s not the road to hell, it’s the road to the soul.”
“If you squeeze them endlessly and cause them pain, that’s hell.”
“It would be better for Nicola to be a soul.”
“···You’re not trying to put me in there, are you?”
Only then did Nicola’s movements change to something more nimble. In fact, he didn’t really feel anything, but Nicola was the type of person who would only take action if you spoke to him strongly, so he was just a little bit intimidated.
“Let’s change the name to Heaven Road. What do you think?”
“Use it···.”
“Oh, okay. Let’s finish the investigation first.”
There was also a soul similar to the Heaven Road. Alan activated two soul roads to simultaneously extract black magic from positive and negative emotions.
Some people ask why it is called black magic when it is positive. Because joy that crosses the line is also suffering.
‘It’s good to keep a middle ground in everything.’
Alan threw the iron plate engraved with [Evaporation] and [Compression] into the pool. The runes, soaked in Alan’s magical power, shone clearly even in the murky liquid.
I examined the fist-sized red stone I had obtained from several angles.
“It’s a little creepy to think of it as blood.”
“Think of it as a differently crafted magic stone.”
“It’s blood.”
“The usage is the same.”
As a young wizard, Nicola had many naive aspects. Of course, that meant he was naive compared to other wizards.
“It must be worth 500 to 1 billion won. It’s better than I thought.”
“yes.”
“Let’s go hunting quickly. If we catch fish and collect puddles, we can quickly earn research funds.”
“That’s what I wanted to say.”
As luck would have it, there was an identical skeleton embedded in the other door. When I opened the door with the key, another secret passage appeared.
While destroying the unidentified magic circle, Alan and his colleagues discovered a unique space.
“What is that?”
Taylor pushed the bodies of the assassins away with his feet and approached the altar. There were two altars facing each other, each just big enough to fit a person.
The altar was engraved with letters that were clearly written, but which my eyes and brain refused to recognize.
“Alan, it’s a labyrinth.”
“Shall we see what it says?”
Alan started reading the inscription on the left.
“We will carve a milestone through the sacrifice of the noble one who embodies His flesh.”
I looked to the right.
“Cut open the belly of the one who carries out the will of the adversary. The unclean blood will open the door.”
Taylor frowned as soon as he heard. He kicked the corpse lying there for no reason.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“The Assassin’s Cult also tried to revive the dragon.”
“okay?”
“The only being worthy of being called that is a dragon. The noble one is probably a blind saint.”
Everyone’s eyes were on Zion. She returned the gazes as shamelessly as usual.
“Hey, it says you’re the sacrifice. Aren’t you worried?”
“I have no intention of making sacrifices and I have never become a saint.”
“We may have been in the way, but you never know.”
“And the reptilians on the 50th floor are only at depth 5. What can they do?”
“I’ve taught you several times that you shouldn’t let your guard down when your nose starts to run, but this is only level 5.”
“I will stick by my junior’s side.”
Zion clung to Alan. Alan, who was concentrating on the labyrinth letters, pushed Zion away slightly.
“Please step away from me while I am researching.”
“okay···.”
Alan pointed to the labyrinthine script on the right altar.
“The enemy would be the Cloud Dragon. Who else could possibly stand up to the Dragon King? The one who will succeed him would probably be the Cloud Dragon’s contractor, Larissa, or Chairman Roman.”
“Then there’s no chance of a dragon appearing on the 50th floor.”
Nicola suddenly looked at Alan. She stared at the ground for a moment, glanced at Zion, and then spoke.
“No?”
“If I sacrifice a little bit of my blood instead of my life, wouldn’t a weakened dragon appear?”
“uh?”
As expected of a wizard, Nicola immediately put on a bewildered expression. After all, there was the kid, but if he tried to satisfy his curiosity in that area, he would be the one tied to the lab chair.
But if a dragon that is unstoppable no matter how much you fry it appears before your eyes, why would you reject it?
“No. That’s a very good idea.”
“Hey, wake up. Alan, you shouldn’t do anything dangerous either.”
“I was just saying.”
“Uh… I was just joking to lighten the mood….”
Unlike Alan, Nicola’s tone was filled with deep regret, but as Taylor said, it was better to keep away from rituals that might lead to unknown consequences.
“The altar will be powered by the pool of blood. Should we destroy it all and proceed with the ritual? The energy supply is also insufficient, so it would be okay if we proceed by offering blood instead of lives.”
But would Alan give up so easily? Once he saw something, if it piqued his curiosity, he had to see it through to the end.
Zion smiled brightly.
“Come on, let’s go hunt Larissa.”
“Stop talking nonsense. Do you think that will eliminate your competition?”
Taylor shook his head.
“Let’s read the paper and discuss it together.”
“Oh, that’s a bit···.”