Training-Addicted Mage In A Progression Fantasy-Chapter 24: Ancient Mages Lair (1)

The Wooden Sword absorbed the Mage’s Core in the blink of an eye and quieted down again.

“...”

Leon stared blankly at the Wooden Sword.

He never imagined it that not only could it absorb Mana, but it could also absorb a Mage’s Core.

Only then did Leon truly realize that the Wooden Sword was a Magic Sword.

Wait......

Could the Magic Sword have absorbed the red-haired man’s Core too?

The Core should have naturally disappeared upon death, but it might still have happened without Leon’s notice.

Leon fell into deep thought for a moment.

But the conclusion was already set.

Even so, I can’t seal this Magic Sword.

In a world where danger could strike at any time, deliberately not using a powerful weapon?That was unthinkable.

I’ll have to use it carefully.

However, his wariness towards the Wooden Sword had definitely increased.

There might be more abilities that Leon didn’t know about.And he couldn’t be certain that they would all be beneficial to him.

****

Leon didn’t leave his lodgings for the remainder of the Exchange Festival.

He gave up on the idea of selling the items he had.

He couldn’t walk around freely after leaving traces of battle in the middle of the Magic city.

Even if he could conceal it with an ordinary person’s Magic Power, Leon decided to be cautious.

Anyway, his initial plan to secure Mana Stones could still be considered as accomplished since he had the Mana Stones of the red-haired.

As he stayed cooped up in his room for the remaining period, the ordinary disciples sharing the room looked at Leon with disgusted eyes.

“Wow... he’s really something else.”“How can he stay in all day when we’ve come all this way......”

There were a total of 12 ordinary disciples.Excluding Leon and Aaron who had just joined, there were 10 others.They were already continuing their Training while balancing it with work.

The one with the highest Realm among them was Apprentice 2nd Grade.Even though he was past the age to enter the Academy, he still had the desire to train and consistently balanced his work life with training.

Even he shook his head at Leon.

***Thus, as the Exchange Festival concluded, the day came to board the sky sailship and return to Widia.

Arpina said she would visit another city with her Disciple and didn’t board the ship, so Berford was the only Mage who had reached the late Mystic Grade.

For two days, the sky sailship had been sailing smoothly.

Berford, standing on the foredeck, turned his head at the sound of someone approaching.

“Master Berford!”“What is it?”

The Mage approaching Berford held a red orb in his hand.

“We just received news from the Magic Tower. They say an Ancient Mage’s Lair has been discovered.”“Oh......”

Berford let out a regretful sigh and asked again.

“Tell me the exact details. Were we the first to discover it?”

“...It seems so. They say it’s the closest location to Widia, but to be precise, it wasn’t discovered but rather revealed when someone accidentally triggered a Magic Circle......”

“Who triggered the Magic Circle?”

“The mages who were there were searching for traces of a colleague who suddenly disappeared 7 days ago when they discovered the Magic Circle blocking the entrance and reported it. From that Magic Circle, they deduced it was an Ancient Mage’s Lair. It seems they were swallowed by that Lair. Since the Tower Master is in seclusion, everyone is unsure of what to do. As you know, the exploration priority......”

“Wait.”

Berford raised his hand to silence the Mage and fell into contemplation.

After pondering with a serious expression for a while, Berford spoke again.

“Did you say 7 days ago?”

7 days ago would have been when the Sparring was still ongoing before the conference.This means it happened when the owner of the ruins exploration priority hadn’t been decided yet.

“Turn the ship around.”“...Pardon?”“We’re going there right now.”“But...... isn’t there an ‘agreement’? It could lead to a major conflict.”

Berford knew this.But for some reason, he spoke firmly.Perhaps because it was none other than an Ancient Mage’s ruins.

“A Mage from our Magic Tower disappeared 7 days ago, how can we just sit still? We must attempt a rescue.”“......Understood. I’ll relay that message.”

And so the ship’s course was altered.

They flew for 5 more days towards the location provided by the Magic Tower.

The ship floated above a dense forest.

Berford gathered numerous mages and spoke.

“We’ve had to come here urgently upon hearing news that one of our mages was caught and trapped in an Ancient Mage’s Lair.”

The gathered mages knew this was just a pretext.

But no one openly pointed it out.

“All Mystic and Arcane Grade Mages should join me in exploring the ruins. The most important thing, of course, is to rescue our mage. Don’t forget that. Those remaining can replace the Mana Stones here and return to Widia. Gale will be responsible for them.”“Understood.”

Leon, who was listening to Berford’s words mixed in with the crowd, quietly sighed.

He wondered what was going on when the ship suddenly changed direction, but fortunately, it was nothing related to him.

Although the days of staying on the ship had increased, it was fortunate that he wouldn’t be dragged into the unexpected Ancient Mage’s Lair.

After seeing all the Arcane Grade Mages except for a few Mystic Grade Mages and Gale disembark from the ship, Leon returned to his cabin and focused on his training.

Those remaining on deck were ordinary disciples, personal Disciples of high-ranking Mages who hadn’t yet become Arcane Mages, and Apprentice-grade Academy students.

Even just the Academy Apprentice Mages numbered in the hundreds, so it wasn’t a small group.

Gale, who had entered the late Arcane stage, stood before the remaining people and said.

“We need to replace the sky sailship’s Mana Stones, so wait a moment before we depart.”

The ship was floating above the forest.There was no space for the huge ship to land.But there was no big problem as it was equipped with functions to operate on its own while replacing the Mana Stones.

Except for a few who were busy following Gale’s instructions, the rest whispered among themselves.

Voices excitedly discussing the topic of the Ancient Mage’s Lair, worried voices of those who knew about the priority situation.

As this unsettled atmosphere continued for a while.

A huge Magic Circle began to shine on the ground of the area densely packed with trees.

The only one who sensed something strange was Gale.It wasn’t even through any flow of Magic Power.

Gale, who was floating in the air with Levitation Magic and surveying the surroundings until the Mana Stone replacement was complete, happened to notice the Magic Circle shining below the ship and hurriedly stretched out his hand.

“MOVE!”

The ship moved forward affected by a physical force much stronger than Basic Psychokinesis, but its speed was too slow to completely escape the range.

Light surged up from above the Magic Circle and swallowed half of the sailship.

In an instant, half of the sailship disappeared.

“Ha......”

Gale, who was outside the range, prevented the crash of what was essentially half a sailship and exhaled a dejected breath.

Then he approached closely to check on the remaining people and held his head.

Of all places, the area swallowed by the Magic Circle was where the personal Disciples, ordinary disciples, and some Academy students who had gone into the cabin were.

“Felix......”

It was chilling enough that the beloved Disciples of high-ranking Mages were swallowed by the Ancient Mage’s Lair, but Gale’s heart sank even further as his own Disciple was among them.

***Leon staggered, unable to keep his balance as vibrations shook the cabin.

Leon, who had fixed his body with Levitation Magic and taken out the Magic Orb and Teleport Scroll from his chest, realized nothing much had happened for a while after that and put them back.

The cabin was already tilted 90 degrees so it was impossible to stand normally, but currently Leon was disguised as an ordinary person.

He had no choice but to climb onto the wall that had become the floor, painfully open the door, and stand on the doorframe.

Other Academy students who had opened their doors late like Leon could be seen.

One of them, who was floating in the air with Levitation Magic, noticed Leon struggling to stand on the doorframe and approached.

The short rod he held in his hand was a Levitation Magic support Artifact.An invisible membrane had formed around him, and when Leon entered that invisible membrane, his body also floated in the air.

“Looks like you weren’t hurt?”“No, I grabbed onto something and held on. But what’s going on here?”

When Leon, unable to use Scanning Magic, asked, the man shook his head.

“I don’t know either. We’ll have to go out and check.”

Leon went outside with him.

Confirming the dark situation outside, Leon discovered the sailship lying collapsed, cleanly cut in half.

Could it be...... we’ve entered the ruins?

Next to the sailship, it was noticeably brighter than elsewhere, as if someone had used Light Magic.

Seeing people gathered there, Leon and the man naturally approached them.

They were having a serious conversation.

Among them was Rowen, who was floating in the air in an awkward posture. She noticed Leon approaching and let out a sigh of relief.

Rowen approached Leon.

“You managed to stay safe?”“Yeah. What’s going on here?”“...I’m not sure. It seems we’ve been pulled into the ruins......”

Leon looked at the man with the loudest voice among the personal Disciples and students having a serious meeting.

“Staying still like this is no different from quietly waiting for death. Haven’t we all learned how dangerous ruins are?”“But with our skills, moving recklessly could lead us into even greater danger.”

The woman who refuted the man’s words glanced at where the personal Disciples were gathered.

“Probably... there’s a high chance Master Gale will come looking for us. It might be better to wait quietly like this......”“You think he’ll come knowing where this place is?”

As their opinions clashed fiercely, Rowen raised her hand.

“If that’s the problem, I have a solution.”

She showed them the red necklace hanging around her neck.

“If I send a signal, my Master will be able to find my location.”“If it’s Maelyn......”“Wow, that’s a relief......”

Leon roughly grasped the situation and surveyed his surroundings.There was no immediate great danger, so Leon’s expression was somewhat calm.

This place, which looked like a cave, was dark, but there were light-like things embedded in the ceiling, emitting a soft glow.

Is this the Ancient Mage’s Lair......?

It was a space so vast that it seemed impossible for humans to have created it.Moreover, this vast space had lighting fixtures meticulously embedded.

As Leon scanned the surroundings, he soon discovered two passages branching off in the distance like a fork in the road.

Just then, as if the opinion had completely shifted towards staying, the woman spoke in a relieved voice.

“First, we should check if there’s anyone who couldn’t escape from inside the ship......”

Unfortunately, the woman’s words couldn’t continue.

Thwack-

The sound of something hard colliding echoed clearly in the cave.

Scrape- Scrape-

And only then did people realize that a faint friction sound had been leaking out continuously.

The sound, as if scratching the cave surface, strangely sent chills down the listeners’ spines.

“Scorpions?”

By the time people noticed something was wrong, dozens of Scorpions were already approaching them from far away.

The Scorpions, covered in Ivory carapaces, were much taller than a person.Even though they were crawling.

“K-Kill them.”

At someone’s voice, the mages came to their senses and began preparing their Magic.

Numerous spells flew towards the Scorpions, but their speed didn’t slow down at all.

It seemed the Apprentice Mages’ Magic couldn’t penetrate the Scorpions’ carapaces.

Leon was hanging back with the ordinary disciples, but he realized they needed to run away.

They had to start running now while the distance was still far.

But would people follow his words?

Leon felt frustrated and frowned.

While Leon was pondering this, someone who had similar thoughts to Leon shouted in a loud voice.

“We have to run away! Everyone, fall back!”

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Only then did people stop their Magic and start retreating.

The speed of retreat gradually increased, and soon people began running with their backs completely turned to the Scorpions.

“To the passage over there!”

Even though they ran with all their might and got close to the passage, the distance with the Scorpions hadn’t narrowed much.It had actually decreased.

“Use Levitation Magic......”“But those who can’t fly......”

Levitation Magic consumed extreme amounts of Magic Power, but they were in no position to be picky when their lives were in immediate danger.The problem was that there were also those who couldn’t use Levitation Magic.

As everyone hesitated, unable to bring themselves to suggest leaving those people behind.

Leon stepped forward.Looking at the two branching passages, he thought this was rather fortunate.He had been feeling frustrated about not being able to use Magic.

“Everyone escape through the right passage.”“What? What are you saying?”“I’ll draw their attention by going left, so please escape.”“Are you crazy?”

Rowen, startled, cried out sharply.

Leon shook his head and took out the Wooden Sword from his Subspace.

It’s better to move alone and use Magic. I can also escape with Teleport if it gets dangerous.

If he could buy time, the chances of Rowen’s Master finding them through her necklace would increase, so there was no better method than this.

“Go to the right! Quickly!”

With that shout, Leon ran towards the left passage while striking the ground with his Wooden Sword.

The approaching Scorpions flinched, stopped moving, and all looked at Leon at once.

Leon didn’t stop at once and continued striking.

Then the Scorpions began to change direction and run towards Leon.

To the others, this looked like Leon desperately trying to draw attention.

There were no high-ranking Mages here who could sense even a sliver of the Magic Power waves spreading around the Wooden Sword.

“No, wait!”

Rowen tried to grab Leon, but someone caught her shoulder.

It was the man who had been strongly voicing his opinion from the beginning.He shook his head.

“It’s already too late. Don’t make his sacrifice meaningless.”“What nonsense are you talking?”“Don’t you understand his feelings? He thought we’d all die if we continued like this!”

As the situation became urgent, he stopped being polie too.

“If we hesitate now, we’re all dead! Are you going to ruin his sacrifice?”

He hurriedly ran towards the right passage, taking care of the small-framed Rowen who was biting her lip.

“Let’s go! Everyone save your Levitation Magic! We can’t let his death be in vain!”