The Heart of a Mage
[Chain Quest 'Lair of the Four Dragons' has been updated.]
[Check the renewed information.]
The quest objective that once read "Enter the interior" had now changed to "Explore the interior."
In other words, it was urging us to go deeper—into even greater danger.
But our advance through the lair was going astonishingly smoothly.
"Uraaaah!"
Kals slammed open the gate of the Seven Stars.
"Hyaaaah!"
"..."
"..."
He was mowing down the lair's guardians like straw dolls.
At this point, Kals didn't have a strategy or formation in mind.
"There is only destruction."
Boom!
['Kals Sillion' has defeated 'Giant Slime Cleaner'!]
['Kals Sillion' has defeated 'Repair Technician Arachne'!]
['Kals Sillion' has defeated 'Porter Centaur'!]
[…]
"Sir Sillion, aren't you overexerting yourself?"
Tyrbaen looked genuinely worried at his reckless charge.
But Kals only shook his head violently.
"I'm fine! Just keep the healing spells coming!"
"..."
The little witch pressed her lips tight and turned a sharp gaze toward me.
"You damned apprentice."
Her eyes were filled with accusation.
I looked away innocently.
"What? What did I do? Is there a problem?"
"Sigh… I should just stop talking."
Of course, I knew exactly why Tyrbaen was mad at me.
Kals was pushing himself that hard because of me.
And honestly, she wasn't wrong.
Even if everything had ended well, he'd watched his liege take a beating right in front of him.
'…As a knight, he must've snapped completely.'
Now he was determined never to let that happen again—throwing himself into every fight, taking on all the monsters alone, as if combat were his sole duty.
But I didn't feel too guilty about it.
Because, in truth, this was also helping him.
"I should stop him soon. His stamina drain is too much."
Kals looked ready to intervene, but—
"No. Leave him be for now."
I stopped her.
"He needs this."
"He needs this?"
How to explain…
"You know how mages get when they find a new spellbook? That irresistible urge to test it out?"
"Ah…"
Tyrbaen nodded in understanding.
'Yeah, he's definitely protecting me—but he also wants to test his newfound power.'
He'd just reached the rank of Seven Stars, after all. It was natural he'd want to see what that felt like.
Like a kid who just got a new toy and can't wait to tear open the box.
And truth be told—I was no different.
***
[Fate Card] [S-rank]
Punish the countless magic criminals who defile the Age of Magic, even if your own hands are stained with their blood.
Bound Skills:Land of Judgment, Pursuit Verdict, Forced Execution.
'Ugh, I'm dying to use these!'
Honestly, I was itching to test out the newly obtained Magic Inquisitor skills.
My hands were trembling from the urge.
…In fact, I might've already tried one.
[Blessing Magic: Land of Judgment]
While Kals was rampaging through enemies, I'd secretly activated one of my new skills.
But, as expected, it failed.
[Magic canceled for unknown reason.]
Because of the mana immunity affecting my Mana Heart, my internal mana flow couldn't properly activate.
The spell fizzled out before it could even begin.
'What a shame. Just dropping Land of Judgment would double our progression speed.'
The S-rank High Magic Inquisitor was an all-rounder card capable of tanking, dealing damage, and healing.
Thus, its skills covered all three aspects—Tank, DPS, and Heal.
***
[Blessing Magic] — Exclusive skill of the High Magic Inquisitor.
Creates a wave of intense magical energy beneath the caster's feet, simultaneously healing allies and slowing enemy movements within range.
***
If I could use this, Kals' health would stay stable, and the lair's guardians would all move sluggishly.
'That'd make our clear rate twice as fast.'
But alas, it wasn't happening.
With the mana immunity still binding my Mana Heart, it was nothing more than a distant dream.
'I need to get that Non-Elemental Magic, fast.'
We were almost there.
At some point, the lair's guardians had vanished entirely.
The wild, rough cave walls had transformed into neatly polished stone.
Soon, the terrain I'd been waiting for would appear.
'…The Sea of Dragons.'
A space created to prove that these exalted beings—the dragons—had an entirely different sense of aesthetics from us lowly humans.
That magnificent chamber was just ahead.
***
"Hmm?"
Kals, leading the way, suddenly stopped dead.
"Your Highness, there's something ahead."
"Of course there is. There should be."
That was our destination.
Step, step.
Without pausing, I walked past him.
Kals jumped, rushing to my side, while Tyrbaen trailed behind with a long, weary sigh.
But as soon as we turned the corner of the tunnel—
"...!"
"By the heavens…!"
Both of them froze in place, awestruck.
I smiled faintly at the familiar view.
"Impressive, isn't it?"
At the end of the passage stretched a vast cliff.
But it wasn't an end—it was a beginning.
It was the mouth of a boundless sea of flame extending endlessly into darkness.
It was as if we were staring into a boiling hell that could engulf the world itself.
"I-Is all of that lava?"
Cold sweat ran down Kals' forehead as he looked around in disbelief.
He couldn't fathom how deep underground we'd come.
But I chuckled and shook my head.
"Of course not. If that were real lava, we'd be steamed alive by now. It's not even hot, right?"
"Oh? You're right. It's stuffy, but not hot at all…"
Despite the blazing inferno so close at hand, there was no heat.
Tyrbaen, listening silently, nodded.
"I see. This is all an illusion cast by dragons, isn't it?"
"Exactly, Master. But a dangerous illusion nonetheless."
"Huh? What do you mean by that?"
Kals, who knew nothing about magic, didn't understand a word—but Tyrbaen and I exchanged a knowing smile.
The place known as the Sea of Dragons wasn't truly an ocean of flame.
It was a sea of illusion, conjured by the dragons' own magic.
However, as I'd said, it was also an incredibly dangerous Lake of Phantom Flames.
And I had to go straight into its depths.
'The legacy of the ancients who once lived alongside the dragonkin.'
Hidden beneath that blazing sea were the hidden pieces I intended to claim.
And among them slept the key to curing the mana immunity afflicting my Mana Heart—
the Non-Elemental Magic.
"So here's the plan: we move across the surface of the sea, dive straight down into the flames, grab what we need, and get out as fast as possible."
Kals tilted his head.
"Your Highness, that sounds odd. If these flames are all illusions, can't we just walk in calmly and take it? Why bother crossing the sea first?"
A reasonable question—after all, if it was just phantom fire, there shouldn't be any damage.
And technically, he was right. That was one of the strategies.
But only one you could pull off if you were around level 70.
"…Here's the problem," I said, frowning at the waves of fire.
A familiar nightmare flickered in my mind—
grotesque images like something straight out of a horror movie.
"Those illusionary flames may not burn flesh, but they deliver extremely strong mental attacks. You wouldn't last long in there."
"Your Highness, as an imperial knight, my mental fortitude is—"
"Quiet. Don't get cocky just because you hit Seven Stars, got it?"
I shut down Kals' bravado and continued.
"Once you step into the fire, you start seeing illusions. Dragon magic forces you to relive your most painful memories—over and over again."
"Hmm…"
Even in the original
"And it gradually ramps up the intensity, slowing your perception of time as it goes. If you walk in unprepared, you'll go insane."
"...!"
Even I didn't have a perfect solution for this part.
Even if Tyrbaen reached the Eighth Star and layered multiple mental defense spells, the illusions would still manifest—
Because dragon magic simply outclassed everything else.
Honestly, I hated that grotesque sequence.
Game or not, watching my limbs get torn off by hordes of zombies was not my idea of fun.
'And seeing that in person? That'd be even worse…'
Just thinking about it made my spine tingle.
So I'd come prepared—with every possible countermeasure against those illusions.
I'd still have to endure a little suffering, but it was far better than walking straight in like Kals suggested.
"We'll move across the sea, pinpoint the right location, then drop straight down."
Like a bungee jump—falling in a perfect vertical plunge.
That was the only way to minimize our exposure and shorten the illusion time as much as possible.
And the way to traverse the sea…
Shff.
…was this.
[You use the Reinforced Mirror Talisman.]
[Hidden elements are revealed.]
I lifted the mirror high, and the light of the flames began to scatter.
In the shifting glow, faint silhouettes shimmered into view—
Platforms.
Tsusss…
Floating above the sea of fire, square platforms appeared one by one, scattered like stepping stones.
The artifact Reinforced Mirror Talisman.
It reflected light-attribute magical effects.
In other words, when faced with flames born of illusion, it emitted the opposite—light that dispelled illusion.
That mechanism was what allowed the hidden platforms to become visible.
'Back when I was addicted to the Lair of the Four Dragons, I could jump across these without even looking.'
…But that was a long time ago.
Relying solely on old instincts would be suicide now—especially when our lives were on the line.
'Besides, some things are already diverging from the original game.'
If the old player-community rumors were right, the phantom flames from the beta version were far worse than in the final release.
Which meant I had to be extra cautious.
"Let's move."
"Yes, Your Highness."
The platforms hung in midair, spaced three to five meters apart—impossible for any normal human to cross.
But with Spectral Leap, I had no trouble clearing them.
As for Kals…
"Hrrr-ah!"
"Kyah!"
He used his heightened mastery to carry Tyrbaen on his back and leap across the gaps with ease.
And those shy, sparkling glances they kept exchanging…
Ugh. Absolutely nauseating.
"Hey! Kals, close your eyes when you jump."
"Pardon?"
"Or maybe your Master should close hers!"
"Silence, you insolent apprentice!"
"Where's my spear?!"
If those two ever got married, would I have to pay the wedding gift?
'They met because of me, so maybe I get a free pass?'
That stupid thought crossed my mind right as—
"Oh, almost missed it."
I stopped on one of the platforms.
Right below it—
beneath the roaring ocean of flame—something was hidden.
The Non-Elemental Grimoire.
I had to recover it to refill my broken Mana Heart with fresh power.
"…Hm?"
Peering down into the fire, my heart pounding, I blinked hard.
For a moment, I thought I saw something strange.
'Was that… a black, human-shaped face?'
But when I looked again—it was gone.
A trick of the eye? Probably.
Yeah. It had to be.
"…No way. There's no way."
Oh, great.
I really hate horror games.
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