Chapter 171 - Into the Keep!

[Whoopsies, was I too loud]?

[A little], I complained while making sure my hearing and eyesight were still intact. It's a good thing majimonster techniques become weirdly selective during battles, otherwise I'd be deaf or blind by now.

"What was that?!", I heard Albina shout.

"I think it was some kind of technique", Bori explained, "Whatever Voxea did, it was a really powerful one".

"Wait...shouldn't we still be in the Fog of War",Boleros asked.

"Uhhh guys", I heard Savina trail off. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_51303209699954704 for visiting.

As my vision came back into focus, the whiteness turning back into shapes and colors, I finally saw what had shocked Savina.

"Well...that's horrifying".

Standing before us were the dozen or so charging Ergworms, frozen solid...well, hollow ice statues of them anyways. It was an oddly comforting thought that the dungeon still follows the "rules" when it comes to majimonsters.

I just didn't expect Voxea's techniques to be so devastating, and judging from the looks on my friend's faces, neither did they.

"Well then", I began in an attempt to try and get my friends to stop gawking at the horrorfying ice sculptures, "our path appears to have been cleared. Let's move on, shall we"?

I proceeded to put on a brave face and walked forward, carefully avoiding the hollow ice sculptures as to not disturb and suddenly break them. The majimonsters that used to be in them were gone, but a part of me didn't want to touch them.

My friends hesitated for a bit before quickly following.

As we reached the end of the island and arrived at the path of floating rocks, we realized that it wasn't a singular path but a crossroad of three.

To the left and right of us, I could make out larger floating islands with the left covered in what appeared to be crystal spires while the right looked like a rock pockmarked with over a dozen or so holes.

Directly in front of us, the path lead directly to the strange looking castle.

The six of us stood there and discussed for a bit about our next course of action before taking the risk of just going to the weird castle.

The logic behind our rationale?

It was big, painfully obvious full of something neat and Voxea had a gut feeling there was probably good loot inside.

[Like I said, maji are creatively straightforward. Mutated aether gathering circle aren't excused from this logic].

Destination in mind, we strode forward towards the strange castle.

The rocks leading to the other two islands floated away as we walked forward, meaning we couldn't change our minds now that we reached this point of no return.

As we got closer, Voxea began to comment on the castle's design.

[Tiered shingle roof, animal statues and strange pillars...yup, I think I know who established this circle].

[Oh]?

[The Clay Overlord].

[The who]?

[Well, he used to be the"Clay Puppeteer". He was this crazy coot of a maji who specialized in Geomancy, earth magic, but he lacked the raw might and stamina that most other earth maji had].

[And that's an issue because...], I asked and prompted.

[Earth maji need to be as immovable as mountains, be able to cut through deserts and throw boulders as easily as a child can throw a piece of cheese], Voxea explained, [all these feats require a maji practicing earth magic to be as steady and as strong as their element].

[Huh...so how did he get the name "Clay Overlord" then]?

[ The Clay Overlord lacked the sheer might of most other geomancers, instead he had a wicked sharp eye, incredibly graceful hands and surprising aptitude with clay and mud, soft earth if you will. I imagine if his aptitude was different, he would have made an excellent water or air maji], Voxea said going on a tangent.

[Ok that explains the clay bit...what about the Overlord part]?

[Well, what's an overlord without his soldiers? The Clay Overlord was able to use his magic to make and control countless number of clay puppets at will, hence his old title as the Puppeteer. From simple constructed beasts of burden to elaborate archers, his clay army tactics made him a terror to face. Once everyone started making majimonsters, he tried to animate his clay soldiers in the same manner. It worked incredibly well, hence he changed his moniker from "Puppeteer" to "Overlord"].

[Huh...neat].

Just as Voxea finished her exposition on who this dungeon belonged, we had arrived at the front gate of the strange mountain castle.

Unfortunately, the massive stone gate that served as the entrance was closed.

"So...how are we going to get in?", Savina asked.

I was about to suggesting smashing it open, but as if sensing my intent or Savina's question, a strange rumbling sound occured.

*RUMBLE* *SCRAAAAAAAAPEEE*

The massive stone doors slowly opened, revealing a darkened corridor that slowly became brighter as balls of flame manifested out of nowhere and began floating in place.

"Well that's...ominous", I commented.

[Looks like things are gonna get fun~]