Mage Miriam was a senior mage with a fiery (or maybe arrogant) personality, which was likely why he excelled in controlling fire demons and golems, making him become a warrior amongst mages in a sense. Naturally, few would want to provoke this outlier among mages, but at the same time, the mages with gentler and more sensitive personalities would shy away from showing their exclusion against him.
“I heard that after sealing off the lowest level, Mage Miriam was given the task of overseeing the rune disk that could slice through space,” Alister whispered in a tone that sounded like a sleepwalker’s.
In contrast to Evan, Alister still held onto his admiration for and fantasies about high-level mages. Seeing Mage Miriam’s corpse (if he could even be called a mage) visibly shook Alister’s spirit.
“I never expected that… someone like Mage Miriam would end up in such a pitiable state,” Alister mumbled to himself, seemingly unaware that he was speaking out loud.
Evan silently listened to Alister’s monologue. A faint sense of irritation stirred beneath his skin, causing his brows to reflexively furrow.
“It’s possible that this isn’t the worst possible outcome for him,” Evan mumbled, though he wasn’t entirely sure why he said it.
Alister’s soliloquy suddenly stopped, and he looked at Evan with an odd expression. “Why do you say that?” he asked.
Evan didn’t appreciate Alister’s tone. Irritation faintly prickled beneath his skin.
“What about it?” he replied coldly.
“When you said that, it sounded like you knew something, as if…”
As if you know of the worse outcomes that he could’ve faced.
Alister halted his tongue and did not complete his statement, but Evan clearly got the message.
A rare, unspoken understanding of each other existed between them. Had this incident not occurred, they might have cultivated a deep friendship over time—a sarcastic inner voice deep in Evan’s heart remarked.
“Just a gut feeling,” Evan awkwardly asserted.
As he spoke, countless bizarre scenes flooded his mind. Compared to them, Mage Miriam turning into a “bloated serpent” truly did not seem to be the worst outcome.
Of course, Evan had no intention of elaborating on this.
Hiss…
Behind Mage Miriam’s corpse, a muffled groan resonated from the depths of the former laboratory, attracting Evan and Alister’s attention.
Alister’s face paled in an instant.
He turned to Evan and asked, “Do you think…”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Evan furrowed his brows and nodded.
“Unfortunately, if Mage Miriam did indeed control the rune disk as you mentioned, we’ll have to enter no matter how unwilling we are. At the very least, the spacial rune disk might provide some insights into this situation.”
Abruptly, Evan gestured toward the window.
“…I don’t think the darkness outside is caused by night,” Evan added. “I can’t sense starlight.”
After hearing Evan’s words, Alister seemed on the verge of fainting.
After all, the stars would always be shining down on earth regardless of the time or place. Starlight was omnipresent, even in the wilds, or in the days of old that magic could no longer pry into.
This was common knowledge among mages. There was no magic out there that could block starlight, unless…
“Are you suggesting that the floor we are on has been severed?” Alister asked, his voice quivering.
Even before Alister could fully articulate the question, the answer was already clear to him. The eerie silence and strangeness they felt earlier suddenly made sense.
A mage tower that had been severed from its normal position and transported to another realm would lack magical essence and would remain devoid of any signs of life.
“But it doesn’t make sense. A forsaken space should be eternally silent and stagnant, yet both of us can move freely… and so can Mage Miriam,” Alister said in a panic.
“Yeah, I really hope my conclusion is incorrect,” Evan replied absentmindedly, his gaze fixed on the laboratory door.
An invisible hand seemed to push the sturdy door out even further, and the subtle rustling noise grew louder.
Evan felt that he’d caught a whiff of a metallic scent.
“We should move quickly,” Evan absentmindedly remarked.
He moved towards the laboratory.
Alister let out a noise of alarm. Perhaps he’d said “watch out” or “wait”. Evan could sense Alister’s hesitancy and fear, but that wasn’t very important.
Evan pushed open the door which seemed to be hiding something ominous. The metallic scent, which was growing ever more familiar to Evan, intensified.
The laboratory wasn’t entirely cloaked in darkness. A thin layer of mold-like substance covered the floor, walls, ceiling, and windows and emitted a dim, cloudy luminescence. Strangely enough, neither Evan nor Alister had noticed this glow from outside the door.
After getting a clear view of the state of the laboratory, Alister’s intense aversion to this place became more understandable.
Numerous translucent vines occupied the laboratory. They intertwined and separated, causing their secreted mucus to form thin membranes between them. Countless round holes opened up in the membranes under tension.
The intricate patterns on their bodies were the source of the dim, murky light. Their translucency had led Evan to mistakenly believe that what covered the laboratory’s surfaces was mold.
At the junctions of these vines, several wriggling cocoons hung.
These cocoons were similarly translucent and resembled faintly glowing mold. Through their surfaces, one could discern the beings incubating inside. After observing them, Alister firmly understood the implications of Evan’s earlier statement.
Indeed, within this bewildering and bizarre realm, Mage Miriam’s transformation into that monstrous state might not have been the worst imaginable fate.
“Bleugh…”
Evan heard Alister retch dryly behind him.
“Quiet,” Evan gently cautioned. “You’ll startle them.”
Truth be told, the names of these indescribable monsters had surfaced in Evan’s mind the moment he’d seen them. However, those names were made of an ancient language so profound that Evan couldn’t translate them into something humans could understand. However, from a certain standpoint, this also proved how malevolent and treacherous these “things” were.
Evan suspected that all of them were once human—mages and mage apprentices, innocent or not. Unfortunately for them all, once ensnared by these vines, their destinies were sealed.
There were subtle whispers that could not be ignored originating from within the slowly breathing and wriggling cocoons.
They sounded like crazed laughter and wailing, muffled several times over. Evan knew Alister couldn’t hear them.
As for himself, Evan chose to ignore them as a matter of course.
“What do you know about Mage Miriam? Any idea where he might have hidden the rune disk?”
Evan treaded carefully, stepping over a few vines, before directing this question at Alister. After the latter’s initial bout of retching, he had quickly suppressed all his movements and signs of life. However, his shaky state remained apparent.
Only after Evan’s gaze met Alister’s did he manage to muster a bit of energy.
“Well… um… let me think… I could make a guess… maybe… Mage Miriam was a fire mage, so his thought process should be quite straightforward…”
Alister rambled on, seemingly oblivious to the way he was neurotically and uncontrollably licking his lips.
Even though Evan knew that Alister was trying his best to find a tiny rune disk within the humongous laboratory (that also happened to be teeming with danger), he couldn’t help but find the way Alister’s eyes rolled about in their sockets displeasing…
At one point in time, Alister’s tongue seemed to turn dark red and just a little too long.
Evan narrowed his eyes and abruptly recalled how Alister had been bitten on the forearm by the bloated snake. Back then, Alister didn’t seem to have noticed the injury, but…
“There,” Alister suddenly murmured.
Evan snapped back to his senses. Looking in the direction the red-haired mage was pointing, he couldn’t help but furrow his brows.
There was something there that was likely once a wide and sturdy desk, crafted from fire perch wood. Even now, various reagents and potions sealed within crystal bottles still lined up neatly on its surface, even though the bottles had already turned dull and yellow-brown, and the labels had long been rendered unreadable. Despite this, Evan recognized the flame dragon insignia on the bottle caps. These were Mage Miriam’s personal belongings.
Alister was right—Mage Miriam’s thought process was undeniably straightforward.
He stowed the rune disk he controlled in his desk.
Everything seemed straightforward.
Yet this did not make Evan any happier…
From what he could see, the desk had been ensnared by five or six vines. Evan suspected that the desk’s material — the horribly expensive fire perch wood — was somehow attracting these annoying and exceedingly dangerous vines.
The vines were encircling the desk, and seven or eight bulging cocoons hung on them. Compared to the others, the “creatures” sealed within these cocoons were larger and more terrifying.
Unlike the translucent cocoons, the outer membrane on these cocoons were so stretched out that they were more or less transparent. Suspended within the turbid greenish mucus were some of the most grotesque beings Evan and Alister had ever encountered.
In comparison, the bloated snake that Mage Miriam had transformed into seemed as beautiful as a familiar under the goddess of beauty, Venus’s command.
Unfortunately, the dark stone plate of the rune disk was peeking out from beneath that creature’s body.
As if it had sensed their gaze, the monster, which was about to be born, slowly swam in a circle in its monstrous amniotic fluid. It seemed to have turned its face to Evan and Alister and observed them, though the numerous eyes that covered the creature’s body like a skin disease remained closed under gray eyelids.
Evan fought to avert his gaze from the creature. His hair stood on end, and a chill ran down his spine, yet an undercurrent of anger once again pulsed through him—the sensation had surfaced again.
Evan lowered his head and saw the veins on his wrist twisting like a frightened snake. However, when he focused his gaze, everything returned to normal.
“It’s right there… right there…”
During Evan’s momentary daze, Alister swayed towards the desk. He looked like he was in a trance, seemingly unaware of the monstrous being that occupied it.
“Thud— Wait!”
Evan had nearly used that peculiar and grating sound to communicate again.
(The cocoons wriggled more intensely after hearing that minute sound.)
In the next moment, Evan grabbed Alister firmly.
