I didn't find anything after going back to the surface, so I went down again. Candy and the others are already at the fifth basement floor together with Graham and Shelia.
"There's nothing hidden that I can see. I guess we really took everything," I said.
"That's good. There are some burned papers, but we managed to get some. Please transport them all," Candy said while pointing at the stacks of paper in front of me.
That's a lot. I think some of them are reports written by Candy and Wendy themselves.
If I gather the evidences alone, I won't be able to get that much. As expected, a special agent is special indeed. And we have two of them with us now!
"What do we do now? Should we breakthrough this door?" Wendy asked.
"Let's give report to each other first about what we found while Roy is resting. I'll go first. I found many documents about human modifications. It's probably related to the artificial master level mage," Candy reported.
"Oh, I'm next. I also found some mohawks sleeping in the room above us. One of them about to wake up when I arrive, so I killed him. They are being forced to be awoken by some researchers, but other than that one I killed, the rest are still sleeping. I brought those sleeping mohawks to Varadis so they can be researched. And in case they have been brainwashed, Russell can undo their brainwashing," I said.
I didn't find anything else other than that. But I have used quite a lot of magic. From air magic on all of us, making gases to disturb the enemies, and portals to transport the evidences. I need to take a rest from time to time, but not too long since we haven't found the Professor yet.
Next, Wendy and Celestine also gave their reports.
"Everything I found was about researches. There's nothing that says anything about the cult's plan to attack during the tournament. I guess this place is really a lab," Wendy said.
"The reinforced rooms in this place were mostly for experiments. It's so that the human experiment won't be able to escape just in case. I see that all of the reinforced room has at least a bed in it without any other important items. Though I'm not an agent, so I might be wrong," Celestine said.
But I think she's right. the artificial master level mage should be able to destroy this lab and dug to the surface even without magic. If they have created another artificial master level mage again, who is much stronger than the one we fought, it will be difficult to progress. If my guess is right, we will at least meet one of them after we enter that locked steel door.
"Celestine, what can you sense beyond that door?" Candy asked.
"My detection magic can't sense too deep inside it. It's like… a dungeon in Monsters World," Celestine said.
"Yeah, that's right. The dungeon in Monsters World have never been explored by humans and still have abundant amount of mana. Which makes it difficult for me to see through it. Beyond that door, I can only see tunnel going further in. I can't see anything beyond that. Though we are indeed at the lowest floor. Unless they built another underground facility beyond what my Divine Vision can see," I said. I agree with Celestine's deduction saying that it's similar to a dungeon.
"Then, we will continue after resting for a while. We will progress while thinking that we are in a dungeon. Which mean we will fight monsters. According to Roy, the cult has controlled a huge number of monsters in his past life. Maybe this is where they got the monster. As for the abundant mana, I think there is some sort of magic resource inside that is being monopolized by the cult. That's why they built the lab here. This time, we need mages who will fight," Candy said.
Mages who will fight, huh? We are underground, so mages with only powerful AoE attack won't be coming. Though the mages in my clan learned how to use concentrated magic so any one of them will be fine.
But since we're underground, it's best to have an earth mage. Still, that won't be enough if the enemy also has earth mages with them. And it's not good if we bring too many people as well. Maybe two or three.
"How many people should we bring?" I asked Candy.
"It can't be too much. Just us and there are already six. Not including Graham's shadow clone. For a dungeon exploration, it's already more than enough. But it's not just dungeon exploration. It's also investigation. It's best if Wendy and I didn't do much in battle and only focus on investigation. So, I will say just two people should be enough," Candy replied.
"I'd like to suggest Sara. We might need more air since we're in an underground dungeon. If there's another exit, and the cult realize we are here, it's possible that they will block the exit. Even though we have Roy here, having Sara with us will be a huge relief since Roy will most likely move on his own. And she's also an agent so we might find more things," Wendy suggested.
"Yeah. Sara is an earth mage as well. I agree with that. As for the other one, who should we bring?" I asked.
"Obviously Angela. We might enter battle more, so it's best if we can finish the fight earlier," Candy suggested.
With everyone's agreement, I opened a portal to Cassau and brought Sara and Angela to this side after resting for ten minutes.
"Angela, Sara, don't forget to put on your mask," I said to the two.
Then, the Blobby that they have transformed into a mask that covers their face. Everyone has gotten better to manipulate the Blobbies that they have.
"Sara, we will swap on making everyone's lung protected by the possibly poisonous gas or whatever it is inside the dungeon. Every hour, we will exchange who will use the magic. You will do it first now. Also, make sure that you will only shoot your gun with rock bullets created from the dungeon. We don't want them to know who we are," I said to Sara.
"Understood."
Sara is also an agent, so I actually don't need to give the order. Though I still have some pride as her teacher.
And she also has gained fame from the previous tournament with her air magic. That's why it's best to cover it and make them think that it's her earth magic that kill the enemies.
Now, we have three agents with us. And Angela is with us as well. We already have four expert level mages with us. Celestine is an expert in earth element, Wendy in her fire element, Candy in her lightning element, and Angela is multielement. With this much power, we could even destroy a country.
"What about me, Roy? What should I do?" Angela asked. She's eager to fight.
"Fight however you want with only the strength of advanced level magic. Don't use anything stronger in case they can report it to the others during the tournament. Though if the battle is too hard, you can go all out. Just try to not destroy the dungeon so we won't get caved in," I said.
"Okay. That's easy," Angela said.
I hope that's the case. Though if it's her right now, I think she has a chance to win even if she uses only the strength of an advanced level mage when she's fighting an artificial master level mage. Even if she couldn't defeat them alone, she has us to help her.
"Now, how should we open the door?" I said as I touched the steel door. It has some sort of mechanic that I don't understand.
"Simple. Breakthrough it forcefully," Angela said.
"…I think you have been influenced too much by me," I said.
"Rather, I'm more confused why you're not the first to suggest that idea," Candy said.
It's because I think that this mission is important and the one taking charge of this mission is currently Candy.
"I can do it. I can somewhat manipulate steel with magic," Celestine said.
"Really!? That's awesome!" Angela shouted.
"Yeah. It's not that bad. Just like Roy manipulating the property inside the air, I asked Victoria about earth as well. Instead of manipulating the steel directly, I will manipulate the mineral that's similar to the earth. Angela might be the strongest mage that we have right now, but I'm still someone who has been an expert level mage the longest. I need to show my seniority from time to time," Celestine said.
I see. Just like how I change the property of gas in the air, Celestine is manipulating the mineral inside the steel that is similar to the earth. There is more to magic that what everyone thinks. And it's all thanks to Victoria who came from different world with different perspective.
"This mean I can still grow stronger. Celestine, please teach me how to do it after this mission is over," Angela said.
"You have the tournament ahead of you. Let's focus on that first," Celestine replied.
Celestine approached the steel door and touched it with her hand. And then, the steel door in front of us crushed easily. That's scary and awesome at the same time.
"The door is open. Let's go!"
We proceed into the dungeon-like place under the lab. What will we encounter?