Fwoosh! Transparent gas flooded out of the ceiling. The sweet, aromatic gas tickled Lloyd's nose. It drifted deep into his brain, making him drowsy. The gas was notorious in the continent for its potency. It was so strong that even an elephant fell asleep after a whiff.
Once someone fell asleep from the gas, they would never be able to wake up again and die.
The gas was made out of asonia extracts.
Fwoosh! The closed space was soon filled to the brim with asonia gas. If it wasn't Lloyd and Javier but other ordinary people trapped in here, they would have collapsed already and entered into a permanent state of unconsciousness.
However, it was a different case for these two. It's exactly the same as the novel!
Lloyd casually looked around. The asonia gas kept assaulting and entering through his nose and mouth but not a single sign of drowsiness or sleepiness could be traced in Lloyd.
"Are you okay, Young Master?"
"Yeah." Lloyd's lips moved as he replied.
There was a white leaf in between his lips, and it had been staying there for quite a while.
The white leaf was the insonia that could neutralize the asonia's effects. I've come prepared.
The metal walls and fatal sleeping gas. These two things appeared in The Knight of Blood and Iron. Thus, he was able to prepare it prior to entering the dungeon.
He had plucked the insonia flower's petals every time he saw one on the way here from the village. Afterward, he carefully stashed them in the pocket until he brought them out a while ago and bit them.
So the asonia gas failed to induce sleepiness in Lloyd and Javier. However, biting the leaf came at a cost. This leaf…it's very spicy. I wonder if this leaf wakes the bitter with its spiciness. Lloyd assumed so as insonia was indeed spicy. Any part of his lips that touched the insonia leaf burned. It burned so much that he wondered if his lips were being burned to a crisp. I'm so glad that I'm a Korean. Thankfully, he was Korean and they loved spicy food so much that they dipped chili peppers into a spicy paste.
Lloyd was the same. He craved spicy food when it rained and often ordered hot wings.
On hot and sunny days, he made fermented bean soup with an excessive amount of spicy peppers that made him sweat. His tastes didn't change even when he was forced to live in a dorm room after his family's downfall. He used to pick out the spiciest triangle kimbap when he needed a quick bite in the convenience store. So, his lifelong diet built him a tolerance to capsaicin, and it was helping him very much at the moment. That was how he endured the burning pain and managed to keep biting on the leaf.
"How about you? You okay?" Lloyd asked as he endured the burning sensation.
Javier yawned a little to Lloyd's surprise.
"Yes. But I am a little sleepy."
"Sleepy? How bad?"
"Just enough to remind me what it feels like to be sleepy after meals."
"Really?"
"Yes."
Javier was telling the truth. He was a bit sleepy but it wasn't enough to put him to sleep because, after all, he suffered from insomnia. Just like every insomniac, he had attempted every possible method to sleep like a log. He counted the sheep in his head. He put on the sleep shade. He took a bath, even a foot bath. He burned an incense candle good for sleep.
He meditated to find mental peace. He even attempted yoga, which he had heard was a trend in a far continent. When all else failed, he resorted to the last method—sniffing the asonia. However, it failed to cure his insomnia. So Javier's eyes were left bloodshot as he spent many waking nights without a wink of sleep. So, this small attack meant nothing to Javier.
However, it did cause an onrush of sadness in his heart. Whew…Even the large amount of asonia gas doesn't affect me. It's really nothing compared to Master Lloyd's lullaby. Has it reached a point where I can't sleep without his singing? Javier started to feel anxious as he realized that he might be stuck with this man for life. He became absolutely ashamed of himself at the thought. It was so bitter, like a cup of espresso. Javier unwittingly heaved a sigh. He strove to deny the reality and drew his sword. Now that he had learned him to get out of this trap.
"Do you want me to smash the metal wall?"
"No."
Lloyd shook his head.
"I know you're not going to slash or stab it. You're gonna use the mana blast to penetrate the wall, right? Just so you know, my eardrums will pop the moment you use it in a closed area like this."
Javier guiltily laid down his sword. Lloyd instead picked up his shovel.
"Let's just dig. I'm going to make a tunnel. You follow."
"Yes."
With that, Lloyd began shoveling. He activated the optional skills to the Asrahan Core Technique. Energizer.
Ding Dong.
[The skill option of the Asrahan Core Technique, Energizer, has been activated.]
[The double circle's efficiency has been brought to the max.]
[You will never get tired for the next ten minutes.]
Time to dig! Scoop! Thwack! Fwoosh! His shoveling looked like a frenzied dance.
Each time Lloyd dug, a bucketful of earth got excavated, and a pit appeared in no time.
It was knee-deep at first. Next, it was waist-deep, and at last, it was deeper than Lloyd's height.
Once he was done with the depth, he changed the direction of the shoveling.
It's time to make a tunnel! The skill lasted only for ten minutes, but it was enough to dig a tunnel that would lead them out of the wall.
Lloyd moved forward, his shoveling full of pizzazz and fierceness. Javier, on the other hand, quietly stayed behind. Staring at Lloyd's back, he thought to himself. He looks like a mole cricket. I'm going to remember this and use it against him next time. If he makes fun of me, I'm going to shoot back at him with this someday.
Javier wrote this expression in his head and he simultaneously looked around lest the sorcerer attack them from the top of the tunnel.
A few minutes later, "Hey." Lloyd called.
"Come over here. Stab to the side, and boom, mana blast. Got it?"
"What about your eardrum?"
"It's fine. You're not hitting the metal anyway."
"Yes." Javier nodded.
Now that they passed the metal wall through the underground tunnel Lloyd instantly made, it was time for them to come up to the ground. Of course, the surfacing part had to be quick and forceful. They needed to catch the sorcerer unprepared.
"Please step back."
Once Javier checked that Lloyd was at a safe distance, he held up his sword. He pulled and stabbed.
Swoosh!
At the same time, the three circles spun around his heart at an incredible speed. The circles began to spin at opposite angles and two circles closed in on each other at lightning speed, finally causing a giant collision.
The shockwave spread from the heart and raced along the veins.
It amplified as it traveled to the muscles and reached the sword after navigating through his elbow, wrist, and fingers. It then spurted out from the tip of the sword and exploded.
Boom! The explosion boomed in a vertical direction, and the earth evaporated out of thin air, creating a thirty-feet hole that led to the ground.
"Let's go! Quick!"
Lloyd, who was covering his ears, yelled. Two of them bolted up to the ground, like two fierce animals escaping out of a zoo. The dark sorcerer's eyes snapped open in pure panic when he saw them.
"Eek! What the!"
He had complete trust in his defensive posture but it got neutralized so easily.
He couldn't believe it. No way. That silver-haired guy is the one that didn't make it through the entrance a few days ago!? In fact, he had been keeping a close eye on the situation ever since Javier tried to enter the dungeon.
It had been a while since the dungeon had a visitor. Though Javier walked away because of the magic circles at the entrance, the sorcerer figured that he mustn't be overlooked. Why? Because Javier didn't die after being hit by the magic circle, the dark sorcerer thought to himself that this intruder would show up soon.
My prediction was right.
So he began to work. After he was left alone, he ramped up the defenses in the dungeon by doubling the number of magic circles.
That gave him some relief and he thought that he was safe now. He realized that he was wrong. The silver-haired man appeared with someone else, and this time, they managed to encroach into the deepest part of the dungeon. Even worse, they didn't even activate a single magic circle on their way!
He was shocked. The intrusion was made plain to him only after they made inroads into the dungeon. He didn't know because they avoided all the magic circles. So, he proceeded to use his last resort for defense.
The metal walls had shot down from the ceiling to trap them, and then a deadly gas was released.
And yet! They managed to bypass that! These two just rose from underground. It turned out they were no ordinary people. It was time to focus or he would lose. He immediately clasped his hands. "Yap!"
His laced hands formed a special shape. Some fingers were bent. Some were straightened.
Mana flowed following his hand signs, to be rearranged in a special pattern. A large four-inch dark magic circle appeared right in front of his hand. Then, he stretched out his hand.
"Take this!"
Swoosh! The magic circle jerked.
A mysterious liquid gushed out like a monster puking out acid.
Splash! The slimy liquid gushed forward, forming a straight line, directly to Javier. Just then, Javier wielded his sword and struck the air. From bottom to top his sword moved vertically, creating a force that shot straight ahead. When it met the gushing liquid, it split in half. The liquid parted by the sheer power of force.
When the liquid spluttered onto the rocks, they soon boiled and melted away. Meanwhile, Javier hurtled toward his opponent.
Kaboom!
The dark sorcerer's eyes widened in shock. The magic he just cast was an acidic attack, so it couldn't be protected. It was especially so for swords and shields. It had to be. But he just slashed the liquid in half! With just a force he had created out of the blade! That's impossible. That silver-haired knight is ridiculous. Is he a sword master or something?!
He concluded to himself that he could be a sword master. The knight was different from the rest of the sword experts he knew. However, this didn't mean that he was going to give up now and surrender. Animosity flashed in his eyes.
"Argh!" He took a knee as he yelled viciously.
He widened his arms and touched the ground with his hands. His fingers dug into the earth.
The mana arrangement changed again depending on the angle and depth of his fingers in the earth. A new magic circle was formed on the ground.
Rumble! The black magic circle wriggled and seconds later, it trembled as it tapped the ground. Bam! A gray hand shot upward under the earth, grabbed Javier's ankle, and stopped him from charging at the sorcerer.
There was more. A second after Javier hesitated, dozens of hands popped out of the ground at the same time.
At first, it was the hand, then it was the wrist, the arms, the shoulders, and eventually, the rotten face.
"Kaaaak! Kwoop! Kaaaak!"
Ghouls thrusted for fresh human flesh.
"Kaaak!!"
Ghouls sprang up around Javier. There were fifty ghouls in total. So, Javier found himself besieged by these demonic monsters. The dark sorcerer started to smile at the sight.
Wahahahaha! These aren't just ordinary ghouls! They are different from the brainless and slow ordinary ghouls! I spent 100 days experimenting and strengthening my magic circle to create them! Their skins are granite-hard! They move like the wind! And they're absolutely obedient to me. And what ferocity they possess! Each ghoul is as strong as a death knight, and one can battle dozens of sword experts! This is my weapon, the powerful and…
Even before the dark sorcerer had the time to smile fully, a strong flash of light burst around Javier. It was followed by a deadly, chilly wind. The fifty ghouls rushing to him stopped dead in their tracks. They all made the same noise a second later.
"Ghouls?"
That was the end of them. Thud, thud. All of them were beheaded and their heads dropped to the floor followed by their arms, legs, waist, and then body. Each section of the body was cut one after another. These so-called enhanced ghouls collapsed like broken legos.
Thud. A cold silence fell over the dungeon. Javier lifted his head in silence, and his cynical gaze moved to the dark sorcerer.
"Do you have any more friends to invite?"
At that moment, the dark sorcerer despaired. I'm going to die today.
Translator: https://bettertranslation9.wordpress.com