Chapter 468 - It's A Dinosaur

Celestine and I entered the second path from the left. We split up with the others because there are four paths to take.

"Celestine, what makes you pick this path?" I asked Celestine.

"I don't know. I just have some feeling about this path. And I think it's best if I'm the one going to this path," Celestine said.

"Can you detect if someone has earth element magic? Maybe that's the case," I randomly guessed why Celestine picked this path.

"No. For example, Sara and Angela are both earth element mages. But I don't know that they are earth element mages until they told me," Celestine said.

"Hmm… What if it's because the enemy ahead is an artificial master level mage? Because this one is incomplete unlike the precious mohawk, you can sense the earth element that this enemy has. Maybe that's why Wendy picked the last path since she detected a faint wind element."

"Maybe. We can only know after we see what's inside. Though I also feel similar things on the other paths," Celestine said.

If that's the case, maybe each path will lead to earth element artificial master level mage. I hope everyone will be okay.

Normally, I would think that the group splitting is too weird. After all, Celestine and I are together.

I can be considered as the strongest among everyone in the alliance. And Celestine is one of the longest expert level mages that we have. The two of us together is too much.

Logically, I would be partnered with Sara since she's the weakest. But because she's an agent, she needs to be grouped with our strongest mage, Angela. Since the goal is to investigate this place, we have to split up this way.

As for my familiars, I think Candy decided it because that's how we split up back when are investigating the surface area of this place. Candy with Shelia, and Wendy with Graham.

That's why I am partnered with Celestine.

We walked deeper into the tunnel, and encounter various powerful monsters that we haven't seen before. Though they are still not that strong. We can easily defeat them.

Though the one who did the most is Celestine. It's because I need to save my magic for portals and various other uses later. If the Professor is indeed somewhere deep in this dungeon, there should be a lot of research that he did. And that's why I might need to use portal a lot more.

"…There are a lot of monsters with powerful defense. Typical of monsters in cave-type dungeon with earth element. Though the strange feeling is still up ahead. I don't know if it's a monster or a human," Celestine said after defeating a lizard type monster.

"Since they are here, they must be an enemy. As soon as you noticed what it is, I will move ahead and kill it in an instant," I said.

"Not going to capture them?"

"Safety first. Until I know that the enemy is weak, I will go with the intent to kill from the start."

Human or monster. Whatever in front of us, we need to proceed.

Whether the Professor is here or not, at least we need to clear everything in this place. Once we do, we can come back here anytime we want in the future to investigate even deeper.

If so, then why do we have to investigate this place from the start?

Well, after we're done here, it's not like there will be people who are free and will guard this place the whole time. After all, the tournament is up ahead. And the cult will do something big at that time. We need every manpower that we have.

During that time, there's a chance that someone from the cult will come here and destroy everything. That's why we need to grab as much as we can today just in case.

Though I think we have grabbed everything.

Well, I can't say for sure. I'm not a pro at this.

"Roy, it's ahead. Whatever it is, it's inside that room," Celestine said as she pointed at the room in front of us.

It's a room from the dungeon, but there were some modifications made by humans. Like having a door. Though the door is a normal wooden door instead of the steel door like before.

It's a big room, but there's no one in there. That's suspicious.

We enter the room carefully while being fully alert. Even if there's no one here, there must be something that makes Celestine feels strange things.

"Roy, there's an envelope in that table."

Victoria saw the envelope. I think that it's from the owner of this room. But when I see closer with my Divine Vision, I can read the first two words in the letter inside the envelop. Dear Intruder.

I checked the letter again, and there's a writing in the envelope. It says, to the intruder from Professor.

"…He knows we're coming. That's already expected though."

I checked if there's any trap in the envelope. And when analyze it enough to know that there's no trap at all, I opened it.

[Dear intruder.

I'm the one you looking for, the Professor.

I don't know how you defeat my creation, but you should have the compass it has. That compass will bring you here. If you can somehow get this far, you might be able to meet me. I won't run, but it's up to your power if you can find me. 

You should be able to realize that you are inside a dungeon that has been modified. It's a good dungeon with a lot of resources I can use for my experiment. I am at the exit of the dungeon. Or should I say that it was the entrance? Whatever.

If you break through the steel door, there's a magic that will be activated and destroyed the surface area where you came from after thirty minutes. You will be trapped inside the dungeon and you can only go to the other exit through the dungeon.

If you're lucky, you will still be alive. And I will promise you that I will keep it that way if you give me the Black Slime. Whether you are Roy who is the master of the slime, or someone else, if you manage to survive and find the exit, I will keep you alive if you can help me get the Black Slime.

I left a gift for you in the room. I hope you will like it.

Sincerely, the Professor]

…he called himself the Professor. I guess we still didn't get his name. But does it mean there's something else in this dungeon?

As expected, he knows that we are coming. He even knows my name. If we managed to get to the exit, he will be waiting there with his army. Even with how they have reduced their number thanks to the cult making a big move, there should be some powerful people left behind.

"Roy, I found something," Celestine said.

"Yeah, me too. Tell me yours first. I'll tell you mine later."

"It's inside that glass cage."

Celestine pointed at the glass cage inside the room. I didn't see anyone inside there. Just an empty room, with moving brown goo inside it.

Wait! A brown goo? Is it a slime? I don't think it's a slime.

"…Victoria. Your cousin?" I asked Victoria.

"No. In case you forgot, I used to be a human. My cousin should be a human as well. If I had any," Victoria replied.

"That's the thing that makes me feel weird. And it's related to earth magic. That's why I can sense it. Though I finally noticed it when we're this close," Celestine said.

A brown goo with earth magic that makes an expert level earth mage feel uneasy. That might be dangerous.

And as I thought so, the brown goo gets bigger and the shape changed into a four-legged beast. It looks like a reptile. A big reptile with spiky armor and a bludgeon on its tail.

"That's a dinosaur! What was it called again? Right! Ankylosaurus!" Victoria shouted.

"Thank you, my dinosaur encyclopedia. Are they some sort of creature that can change from a brown goo?" I asked.

"No way. They supposed to be extinct in my world and if you know about dinosaur, there should be exist in this world, right? At least in the past? Do you think they came from goo?" Victoria asked.

"I don't know. What I know is that a Brown goo is disgusting. I can produce one, but I'm not proud of it," I said jokingly.

"That's disgusting."

"Enough chat. It's coming!"

"You're the one talking nonsense!

The brown ankylosaurus hit the glass cage with its tail and destroyed it. Why would anyone put something dangerous in a glass cage? Even if it's for research, can't they use something even stronger than glass?

"Celestine, according to your description, it has earth magic, right? Then we can assume that it can use magic. We need to be careful. Let me handle it from the front, while you attack it from the rear!"

"Understood. Let's finish this quickly," Celestine said.

Since we faced a brown goo in this path, the others should be facing similar goo in other paths. Maybe the Professor wrote letters and put it on the other three paths as well.

I need to defeat it fast and check how the others doing.