The clock made ticking sounds as I laid there in bed while staring at the ceiling. The entire inn was quiet since many people was asleep. The same couldn’t be said for the rowdy adventurers camping outside on the streets. They had been making noise since last night.

‘I can’t sleep.’

As expected, I was worried about the future. I couldn’t get rid of the restlessness inside my heart.

“Even if I wanted to do something, I’m still powerless...”

I was still a boy that recently entered the middle stages of the 5th stage of mana. If I recklessly tried fighting an enemy like Zero then I’d undoubtedly die. The past me might’ve charged at them like an idiot. I was sure of that.

My spirit core might’ve been at the highest level a human-being—or elves for that matter—could achieve but that power was still unstable. I couldn’t even cast any big spells without Undine’s assistance.

I heard movement behind me.

“Clyde? Where are you going?”

While I was busy putting on my robe, Miya spoke to me.

“I can’t sleep. I’m heading out of the gates to get some fresh air.”

“But won’t it be too dangerous? There’s no—yawn— telling when the portals would open up.”

She rubbed her eyes and stretched.

“I’ll stay away from the dungeons. I’ll only visit the forest and come back before we depart.”

“Still–“

I didn’t give her a chance to speak and chanted [Sleep]. She fell down onto the cushion after closing her eyes.

“You don’t have to worry about me.”

I stroked her white hair and her ears. It was addicting for some reason.

“W-what am I doing...” I coughed and stood back up.

Since the two of us didn’t really know Byron and the others well, they were kind enough to rent us another room. Miya and I were in a room at the end of the halls.

After grabbing my staff and gloves, I left through the door.

CREAK...

The door to the room opened up with a creak. I was careful to not make any noise as I walked down the stairs. I used the wind to make my steps lighter.

“Damn...”

The first floor was filled with people that were sleeping on the ground.

‘The other inns must’ve been too full.’

I avoided touching any of them and quietly opened the front floor.

A cold breeze blew against my face after I exited. Since my face was covered in cold sweat, the wind made my body shiver.

I infused mana into my robe and felt its warming effects. The cold wasn’t a problem anymore.

I walked past the adventurers who were discussing things near a large fire. They were the ones who were so rowdy earlier.

I covered my head with my robe’s hood and avoided looking at them. I probably looked like an easy target to rob.

◇◇◇

I checked my pocket watch and saw that the time was still three in the morning. We would head out by seven.

As I walked, I saw villages at the bottom of the hill I was standing on. It looked so dark that you could assume that no one lived there. There wasn’t even any lampposts that were lit up.

“That must be where the attacks have been happening.”

The Hydra would enter the lake through the underwater tunnels connecting to the Labyrinth and rise to the surface looking for prey. It had killed over a hundred people so far. My guess was that the people temporarily evacuated from the village until it was exterminated.

“It must like the taste of humans.”

They would usually hunt big marine animals like whales or sharks.

I decided to avoid the lake unless I wanted to be ambushed.

After walking a little more, I arrived at a lone tree in the vast field of grass.

“It kind of reminds me of that tree where I chanted my first spell.”

I giggled as I remembered my first attempt at magic. I fainted after casting just one after all. That happens to most mages when they attempt to cast their first spells apparently.

“Let’s see how much Gale has improved.”

Spells had limits but those limits could be crossed by using more mana.

A giant magic circle appeared above my head. Mana was instantly sucked from my arcane core.

WHOOSH...!

The air gathered at the palm of my hand. A vibration shook the surroundings.

...

“Holy mother of Sol…”

The Gale was at least ten metres in diameter.

The violently spinning winds was so strong that I could barely keep my eyes open. The tree behind me was rattling back and forth. I had to use spatial magic to keep myself on the ground.

I aimed my hand at the sky.

RUMBLE...!

A torrent of air ascended into the sky. It cleared away the clouds above the tree.

The moon became visible after the clouds went away. It was a moon tinted with a red hue.

“I really improved from that day.”

Back when I first used the spell, it was a small ball but it was now it was several times larger.

ROOOOAR....!

A roar suddenly made me jerk up.

I could see a winged creature flying above the clouds from where I stood. Its shadow was majestic at it moved its wings across the sky.

I was suddenly reminded of something.

“I wonder how Edna is doing.”

The two of us parted a few months ago on my way to the Elca Kingdom.

Did she manage to find the Elder Dragon? Chances were that her mother was still alive and he knew of her location. I wished there was a way for me to contact her.

The Draconic Kingdom was a kingdom that worshipped dragons and their kin. It was said that the dragon lords were the ones that established the kingdom so they could have a new home for their family.

The kingdom was ruled by a dragonkin king called Drake. He was a hybrid between a dragon and a human. The human father was said to have been a dragon slayer that bred with the dragon as a reward for winning against her in battle.

Since they were also on the Southern Continent, our kingdoms had no connection to speak of. This was why they were excluded from the Conference that was held back then.

“Man... I wonder when we’ll meet again.”

I had bad memories of the other continent so I was hesitant of going back. The journey would also take weeks by carriage. That was if I managed to cross the mana environments.

“Now then.”

I dusted myself off and stood up.

“Come forth, Undine.”

-As you command, my King.

A blue haired woman manifested after blue lights gathered in a single spot. Her hair glowed in the light of the moon.

“That was quick.”

“The spirits are more abundant when the night is cold like this.”

She waved her hands and then a ball of water manifested.

“Vapour?”

“Yes. It makes it easier for me to be summoned like this.” She made the water disappear. “May I know why you called for me?”

“Ah, right. I want to enter the forest.”

“Why? Is something the matter, master?”

“No...”

Undine’s hand touched my cheek when I averted my eyes.

“I can see something is bothering you, master. My water spirits are tremoring because they can sense your emotions.”

“Ah...”

I forgot that the spirits were influenced by their wielders.

“I’m scared.”

“Scared?” She tilted her head.

“Yeah... I know that something is coming but I have no idea what it is. This has kept me up for many nights...” I grabbed my face with my hand. “What if something happens to my family?”

Undine’s eyes slightly shook.

I didn’t miss that facial twitch she had.

“What!? Will something happen!?”

I grabbed her shoulders.

“That’s...” She shook her head. “P-Please. Don’t be driven by your emotions.”

She put her hands above mine.

‘Fuck. Her reaction is strange.’

I could tell from her flustered expression.

Something will happen.

“E-Even if something happens. I-I’ll be by your side. I’ll never leave your side. I have told future master this as well. We stuck together until the day he shed his mortal flesh and ascended.”

She hugged my head.

Despite her words, I didn’t feel relief at all.

The way she acted was a sign.

“Anyway! Lets enter the forest together!”

I made a small smile when she took my hand and pulled me forward.

◇

“Watch out!”

When I heard Undine shout, I hurriedly chanted a barrier spell.

TSSSS….!

My barrier melted when a strange substance landed on its surface. It was a type of acid.

HSSSSS….!

I heard a hiss from the monster I was battling.

It was an A rank Basilisk. I decided to see how strong my arcane magic had become.

That was why I told Undine to stay back while I fight it. She’d only intervene once I was unable to fight it.

‘I don’t think this monster would be a problem.’

TAK…!

TAK…!

It broke apart a tree by its root using its tail and threw it towards me. Seeing as how I could cast magic, it was maintaining its distance.

Boom…!

I threw a fireball at the tree causing a massive explosion.

The monster seemed to have run out of ideas as it charged towards me blindly.

It opened its mouth and released a strange gas. Petrification gas.

“Oh no you don’t!”

I used my spatial magic to create a type of force that pushed the Basilisk backwards. Its breath managed to hit a few nearby bushes and trees. I could see them break apart.

Crash…!

The basilisk was thrown into the side of a boulder. It got up and hissed again.

I held out my staff.

A huge magic circle formed at the end of my staff. It was a advanced rank spell I recently learned from studying Solphia’s book.

A blue flame formed above the magic circle.

‘It’s good that I came out into the forest like this.’

I was sure that the flame could destroy an entire village like it was nothing.

“『Scorch』!”

The blue flames flew towards the retreating basilisk.

---!

A loud cry followed by a large explosion rang out.

BOOM…!

BOOM…!

BOOM…!

The shockwave made the trees bend backwards from the force alone. I covered my face with my arm as the raging flames burned the basilisk.

After a while the smoke receded.

“Whoa…”

A giant crater was the only thing left from the battle. The monster’s burnt corpse was lying at the bottom.

“What an amazing display of magic! You have truly grown!”

Undine applauded when she approached.

“Ah, thanks…”

‘But this is still not enough.’

“We can’t hide the damage to the land so we better get out of here.” Undine said with a wry smile.

“Y-Yeah.”

The two of us did what we could to put out any remaining flames before I headed back.

I walked and saw the sun come up over the horizon.

“Hmm…” I exhaled deeply. “I calmed down after that battle at least.”

Although I still had worries, I could do nothing but see what the future held in store. All I had to do was be mindful of the signs.

◇◆◇

When I got back to the inn, our party was already standing outside. It seemed that the adventurers that crowded the streets were already gone.

“What took you so long?”

Byron sighed.

“S-Sorry. I had to clear my head a bit.”

“Well, you’re here now. We’re all set to move out. Luckily, the adventurers headed for the opposite direction of the labyrinth. That meant that a gates has opened.”

All of us prepared our gear.

“Huh? Where’s Aria?”

I couldn’t see the small girl that had the slave collar.

“She went out to scout ahead. She left two hours ago. We’ll meet her at the entrance.”

I frowned.

‘Ah, shit. I hope she didn’t see Undine.’

My high rank spell would also be bound to attract the attention of anyone in the area. I one-shot a basilisk with an extremely powerful fireball spell after all.

“We’re wasting time here. The labyrinth is at least two kilometres deep so we better hurry. After we’re done we’ll come to the bar to celebrate. Let’s go!”

As we walked through the streets, I noticed how quiet the city was. The residents also barricaded their houses with woods or used earth magic to make walls. It was like looking at a ghost town.

All I heard as we walked was the sound of our equipment rattling. The labyrinth came into our view. I saw a little robed girl come out of the entrance.

“Master!”

A small girl with black hair ran towards our group when we neared the entrance. The entire street was devoid of any people. All the stores were also closed so it was only us on this part of the district.

She froze when she saw me and hurriedly hid behind Byron.

‘Shit. She saw me after all.’

“Did you see anything unusual?”

She kept her eyes on me before answering. She shook her head.

“...No.”

I breathed a sigh of relief.

‘It looks like I scared her with my spell back there.’

It was weird that Undine didn’t detect her.

‘I guess that’s the skill of an assassin.’

She could even hide from Undine’s sensory abilities.

“I heard screams coming from inside the labyrinth when a party entered earlier. I heard them screaming that the monster was a cockatrice.”

“Shit. A B rank monster right on the first few floors. This damn Red Hunt is troublesome.” Byron looked at his cousin. “Cliff, can you prepare your divine spells? We may need it in case that monster’s petrification hits us.”

“Okay.”

He looked back at Aria.

“Go back for now and look after our luggage.”

“Yes, master.”

We arrived at the front of the labyrinth and showed our raid document to the knights standing nearby. Even as I stood there I could hear the cacophony of noises using the help of my wind spirits. There were repeated monster grunts and growls. One particular growl sounded deep and loud. It was similar to snoring.

‘The Hydra must be sleeping at the bottom.’

As we walked down the eerie dark cave, I took out a sandwich from my bag. Since I hadn’t eaten this morning yet, my stomach was threatening to eat itself. I had a feeling that we wouldn’t have any chance of eating once we enter a floor.

There was no doubt that the Hydra was mutated by the red miasma as well. Mutated monsters grow exponentially stronger once they inhale the red mana that enter the dungeons and labyrinths. As I had mentioned before, the Red Abyss connected all the dungeons in the world so it was obvious that the monsters would get affected by it.

A lot of those portals in the Red Abyss connected to the dungeons scattered throughout the world. If not for the White Order occasionally taking out the stronger monsters then the continent would’ve been overrun by them by now.

I smelled a weird fragrance when we came to the first floor. It was the smell of the miasma. It wasn’t dangerous for humans per se. But staying longer than necessary was bound to give you some difficulties. There was a chance of miasma poisoning as well. That was even more so for mages like Miya and me.

“Cockatrice; 12 o clock.”

Rela pointed ahead.

An oversized chicken with big beady eyes was busy pecking at a corpse.

Cluck-cluck-cluck

It swallowed the person’s head whole.

“I’ll immobilize it.”

Kyle pulled out his shield. After hitting it with his sword, the monster turned towards us.

---!!!

It was accurate to describe the monster as a mutated chicken with the body of a lizard. A pale grey light accumulated in its mouth.

Petrification.

“《Protect》!”

A golden light flew out of Cliff’s hands. It landed in Kyle’s body and surrounded him in a type of glowing barrier.

After the light hit the barrier, it vanished into thin air.

“Ora!”

Kyle used that chance to tackle the monster against the cave wall. It struggled to get out and could only cluck repeatedly.

‘As expected of an A rank Tanker.’

He made eye contact with me. I nodded.

I held out my hands.

“[Rock Bullet].”

Dust accumulated and formed a spiralling rock.

The small bullet sized rock flew towards the cockatrice.

SPLAT...!

Its head exploded along with a part of the cave wall. Blood splattered everywhere onto Kyle’s upper body.

When that was all over, he came towards me with a smile.

“Good work. I didn’t expect a tiny rock to hold that much power.” Kyle patted my shoulder after he came towards the group.

“Err, you have a bit of blood on your face.”

His entire head was covered in the monster’s blood.

“Oh?” He wiped his cheek. “Did I get it?”

“Never mind.”

“Your entire head is covered in that monster’s brains, you idiot.” Brooklyn added a snarky remark.

“There seems to be more of them coming this way. It looks like they heard the tremor.” Byron took out his spear and covered his body in aura. “Stay alert.”