-5 days after the battle in Hage-
"Oi, kid. You got anything to eat?"
Asta looks at his groceries, "lemme see... Just a few potatoes and a bunch of spices."
"Only that!? Who ate our food!?!"
Edward, Jester and Asta look to the side. There was only Princia there, cooking a potato with Conrad's magic.
She looks back at the others, gulping down the potato down in one swoop. "I have no idea what you are talking about."
...
It has been five days since Asta talked and bluffed his way into a conversation with the wizard kings and this is what it has brought him to.
Currently he was in dungeon, the same dungeon he once fought Mars and found the Demon Dweller sword in.
For what reason you may ask? For that you will have to look at the map and compass in Asta's hand.
[The world map- the map containing knowledge of geographic state of the entire world, range visible is limited and increases with System level]
[Compass to Lord's keep- a simple compass that points to the Bastion]
Asta had no idea what the "Bastion" was. However here he was, venturing into a ruined dungeon alongside not one or two. But four wizard kings.
The map on the other hand had no end, like a scroll with a zoom in and zoom out feature where you could control what you wanted to see with just your thoughts.
However to Asta and the Wizard kings, it was a map so important that they even put aside their other plans.
"No matter how many times I look at it, it always blows my mind. " were the only thought Asta could think whenever he saw the map.
In the map they saw the four kingdoms of Clover, Diamond, Heart and Spade in a middle of a ocean with a few mountains between them like a circle on a paper with a cross in between. The kingdoms together were marked as Cardonic Plateau. Even so, their focus wasn't on the kingdoms, but on something at the very edge of the map.
A landmass over 20 times the size of the combined size of four kingdoms. The distance between the kingdoms and the land mass was a ocean so vast that someone would have to fly circles around the Clover kingdom 40 times to reach it.
Crumble
"Jester...The right size is a little weak."
The voice of Edward reached Asta's ears, pulling him out of his focus to look forward.
This was the result of his conversation with wizard kings. A joint venture and a temporary alliance.
๐๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ฒ ๐ก๐ ๐ฆ๐๐๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ณ๐๐ซ๐ ๐ค๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฌ, ๐๐ฌ๐ญ๐ ๐ญ๐จ๐ฅ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ฆ ๐๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ ๐ข๐ง ๐๐๐ญ๐๐ข๐ฅ. ๐๐ก๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ซ๐๐๐ญ ๐จ๐ ๐๐๐ฏ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฌ, ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ก๐ข๐๐๐๐ง ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ง ๐๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฌ'๐ฌ ๐๐จ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฐ๐๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฐ๐๐ซ ๐จ๐ ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐๐ ๐ข๐ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ก๐จ๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐๐ฅ๐๐๐ข๐ง๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ๐จ๐ค ๐จ๐ฏ๐๐ซ ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ฑ๐๐๐ญ ๐จ๐ซ๐๐๐ซ.
๐ ๐จ๐ซ ๐ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐๐ซ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ซ๐ข๐จ๐ฎ๐ฌ, ๐ก๐จ๐ฐ๐๐ฏ๐๐ซ ๐ฐ๐ก๐๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ฒ ๐ก๐๐๐ซ๐ ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ญ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ฌ ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ข๐ง๐ฏ๐๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ข๐ซ ๐จ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ซ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ฅ๐ ๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ ๐๐๐ข๐ฅ๐๐ ๐ข๐ง. ๐๐ก๐ ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐๐๐๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ฆ๐๐ญ๐๐ก๐๐ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ข๐ซ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฐ๐๐ซ๐ฌ, ๐ ๐๐ฏ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ฆ ๐ ๐ข๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ.
๐๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ง๐, ๐ ๐ญ๐ซ๐ฎ๐๐ ๐ฐ๐๐ฌ ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ฆ๐๐. ๐ ๐ญ๐ซ๐ฎ๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ฅ ๐๐ฎ๐๐ข๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐จ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐ซ๐๐๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐๐ซ๐ ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก. ๐๐ฏ๐๐ง ๐๐จ๐ง๐ซ๐๐ ๐ก๐ข๐ฆ๐ฌ๐๐ฅ๐ ๐๐๐๐ข๐๐๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฅ๐๐ญ ๐ ๐จ ๐จ๐ ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ ๐ซ๐ฎ๐๐ ๐๐ฌ, ๐ญ๐๐ฆ๐ฉ๐จ๐ซ๐๐ซ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฒ. ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐๐๐๐ญ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ฅ๐ ๐ก๐ ๐๐ง๐ฏ๐ข๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐๐ ๐๐๐ง'๐ญ ๐ก๐๐ฉ๐ฉ๐๐ง ๐ฎ๐ง๐ฅ๐๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ซ๐๐๐ญ๐ฌ ๐๐ซ๐ ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐๐๐ญ๐๐ซ ๐๐ฅ๐ฅ.
Amidst The darkness of the dungeon, the group of five together dig their way through collapsed rubble. The light of Elsdocia held by Asta acts as their Lantern, Jester is incharge of maintaining a barrier, Conrad destroys the way forward while Edward make a foundation that will last as a way out when they are done with their mission.
Princia however, is just free loading in the back while munching on the rations. Her magic is made for brute forcing and wars. The soldiers she makes do nothing more than collapse the floor with their weights so she was sidelined from the work.
"How much longer do we have to dig? It's been well over 4 days.." Princia says as she slumps down onto a metal soldier, "- just when will be reach that keep or whatever..? "
Edward frowns, "stop acting like you are doing any work, you glutten. You have ate a month's worth of food in four days."
"What about it? I ate much more in my days as the wizard queen. These muscles don't grow by themselves."
"Said truly like a glutten.... Your greed sickens me."
"-That's enough!" Asta interrupted the conversation. " Can we not fight when we are under a literal mountain of rubble? I maybe the stupidest and youngest here but even I have some common sense."
... The wizard kings stared at each other for a second, then they averted their gazes and begin ignoring each other.
This was the type of persons the wizard kings were, each holding a mask of calmness over their realt petty and selfish selves.
Beneath her noble face, Princia the wizard queen was a battle fanatic and a glutten just like Mereoleona and Charmy combined.
Edward was a silence loving man, a person who enjoyed hot springs and liked feeding animals and poor children with his hand made food. Only acting different from his cold expression when he was away from the pressure of his duties.
Jester was... Well, literally a jester. He got enough energy to compete with Asta and certainly has a loud enough voice to compete with him. He is most free willed of the group, acting like he wants to as long as it doesn't hurt anybody he trusts. He even tried to prank Conrad but was stopped by his cold expression.
And lastly, the vengeful Wizard king Conrad. Nothing much can be said about except the fact that he is obsessed with his hatred at the nobles that killed his lover and that he keeps thinking of strategies for his pay back even when dreaming.
"Honestly...I am surprised there hasn't been a fight until now, it's like I am back at the blackbulls, the chaos there isโ"
Clunk!
A wierd voice echoes in the rubble, followed by appearance of a water wave that swept through the ground with a river's strength.
"Stop! "
Raising his hand and Ignoring the water, Asta looks down into his hands. The compass needle was spinning similarly to a windmill, going round and round which meant they had arrived right above or below their destination.
The wizard kings saw the Compass's movements as well, immediately realising the reason and began looking around themselves as they observed the place they were in.
That's when Conrad noticed itโ a spot on the floor was shining and mark-less, like a brand new metal gate resting on the ground.
"Key magic: Unlock... Gate 12"
A magic window appears beside Conrad, a window that blasted strong gusts of wind the moment it was opened. The winds blew away the dirt and small stones, revealing the true appearance of the floor.
"Beautiful." Edward exclaimed. "Such exquisite mana circuits."
The floor was a giant metal pavement inlaid with hundreds of thin and small pathways. It looked like a painting on a silver canvas with strings of blue, making out the picture of a sword hilt being handed down to person that looked like the first wizard king.
Almost everyone gasped, all except Asta who had no care and appreciation for the architecture. His eyes instead went to the words carved out with mana stones just below the painting, reading out 'The key is for the worthy.'
"Hey!" Princia said out to Asta, " I see a key hole within the hilt! "
"Oh! Thanks."
... Asta nods for a second, thanking her with a smile while he walked ahead to the hilt's shape on the pavement. There he saw a hole, a hole similar in length to something that he was holding on to.
The wizard kings watched as Asta whirled Elsdocia on his finger, their expectations rising by the second as the sword was quickly stabbed into the keyhole.
...
...
"That's it?" Jester extends his hands in frustration.
Meanwhile Princia was on the verge of bursting into pure laughter. She was barely holding it back, " 4 days of digging alongside that stylish style of stabbing and it didn't even activate. How embarrassing. "
"... I am gonna..."
Asta had no reply, only embarrassment. He felt like he just did the most awkward thing in his life and in front of four wizard kings as well. Right now, he wanted nothing more than to go find a corner to sit in and wipe away the memories of these moment from his head. He even deactivated the anti-magic in Elsdocia, turning it's blade to a white shine.
Ting... Rumble, Clang clang clang clang clang
The keyhole immediately compresses, several metal spikes appearing within it as they stabbed through the crystal edge with ease. The mana within was immediately siphoned, spreading throughout the pathways in the floor until it lit fully in a white glow.
"WaHH! " Asta involuntarily took a step back from the sudden change, pulling out Elsdocia which had lost its glow alongside him.
The ground soon split open beneath him and the others, turning their stable foothold into a freefall through a vertical that kept stretching on.
"Is everyone Alright!? "
" Better than you, brat."
Asta's worries were baseless. The wizard kings weren't the least bit shocked by the sudden fall alike him. They were all sliding down the walls gracefully... Almost everyone except Princia who was sprinting down like walking golem ready to bash through a wall before she grabbed Asta mid-air and pulled towards the wall as well.
"Why are you panicking!? You have endured worse, right? Just use mana and walk."
"HOW!? I NEVER LEARNED HOW TO DO TTTHHHAAAAAAAโAHHHH!"
Watching the pitiful display, Edward created a small ice Phoenix for Asta to ride.
Then suddenlyโ whhoosh! The mana faded from his body.
It was not just Edward either. Everyone immediately lost their control on their mana, causing them to slip ahead and fall just like Asta.
Even Princia who was acting all confident broke her composure for a second. She was immediately sent into panic, flailing around like a fish before Asta pulled her and jumped off the wall with insane strength while grabbing each wizard king at high speed.
"You have had worse right? Miss Princia?"
"Heh.. Cheeky brat. How about you focus on how to land instead? "
"I already have! Brace for impact!"
The young one of the group had became the one everyone was depending on. The sensation of being someone's pillar of survival was the biggest pride Asta could have, his body was instantly filled with energy, his body flooded with Anti-magic he had stored for the week as he looked down in anticipation of the landing spot when it will appear.