“Move! Upward!”

The exploration team members quickly made their decision.

No matter how tempting the monster was, or how badly they coveted the criminals’ bounties...

“Damn it. If we caught even one of them, each person here could take 8,125 gold coins.”

“...”

“...”

The exploration team members were shocked by the Einroguard mage who could perform perfect mental arithmetic even in a situation like this.

They had not even been thinking about the bounties because of the Empire’s notorious criminals and the monsters from the void.

In any case, no matter how tempting the monster was, now was not the time to be stubborn.

Whether the worshipper of evil gods was lying or not, they first needed to go up, relay the information, and strengthen their preparations.

CRACK!

The crystal on the necklace Alshicle wore shattered as it detected danger. Alshicle, who had foreseen the immediate future, screamed.

“Left side! Enemies approaching from the left passage! More than several dozen!”

“Fall back!”

The exploration team members immediately changed direction. Almost simultaneously, spider monsters poured out of the left passage.

-■■■■■■!

-■■■■■■■!

Lee Han did not hesitate to summon flames and expand their form into a wall. He did not stop there. He converted them into blue flames, an advanced attribute, and white flames, a divine attribute.

Blue and white.

Azure-white flames!

Seeing this, one of the exploration team members shouted urgently.

“Mage! Don’t waste your mana and join us!”

A mage’s mana was not an infinite resource. No matter how much support they received from potions or items, they should not waste it from the start.

“Don’t worry about him!”

Alshicle pushed the exploration team member’s back while summoning frost amulets and placing them on the others.

It was illusion school magic that protected against corruption and madness.

‘...How can someone be so cold!’

The exploration team member, misunderstanding Alshicle, inwardly shuddered at that coldness.

How could someone with such a cute appearance be so cold!

Perhaps that mage had even frozen his own heart while pursuing the secrets of ice magic.

“At least put an amulet on him!”

“What? No! He doesn’t need one!”

When the exploration team member pointed at Lee Han and asked for a frost amulet to be placed on him, Alshicle flapped his wings and refused.

Like an experienced mage, Alshicle was sharply calculating his remaining mana and concentration. There was no magic to spare for someone immune to corruption and madness.

‘Really, this is too much!’

“All done. Let’s go!”

Lee Han, who had summoned enough fire to burn the entire passage, belatedly caught up.

The exploration team member was surprised to see him moving at the same speed as the group without taking any time to recover mana.

“Are you all right? What about recovery?”

“Ah, he’s fine! Worry about yourself! Move!”

Alshicle got angry instead.

Seeing this, the exploration team member made a decision.

When they returned above, he would definitely report the cruel true nature of this young genius mage to the Imperial Newspaper!

***

“Die!”

The giant hybrid warrior, Basirmac, greatly inflated his lungs, then drew up mana and let out a roar.

The battle cry of a warrior who had reached mastery became an intense shockwave that swept through the passage. The spider legion swarming like clouds was crushed all at once.

However, many spiders were still swarming behind them.

So many that the reduction was barely noticeable.

“Why are there so many?!”

“Their reproduction speed exceeds imagination.”

Kitarenannum said with a groan.

No matter how he thought about it, it made no sense for monsters that had crossed dimensional barriers to boast such numbers in such a short time.

This speed was on a completely different level from ordinary asexual reproduction.

“Do they eat any surrounding matter and lay eggs?”

“Is now the time for magical analysis, you spell-slinging bastard?!”

Basirmac pointed ahead.

Of the mercenaries they had brought, only two remained. The others had been swept away and vanished into the wave of spider monsters.

The apocalyptic mage who had survived this situation was grinning unpleasantly. Basirmac regretted not throwing that one earlier.

WHOOSH!

Suddenly, fire arrows made of mana formed among the spider monsters and were fired.

Though they were not very powerful, Basirmac and Kitarenannum were startled.

They had not known these spiders could use magic.

“They can use magic too?! What the hell!”

Basirmac knocked away a fire arrow with the back of his hand while shouting. But Kitarenannum could not answer either.

“I, I don’t know. Were they from a dimension where they could use magic? But they definitely didn’t use any at first...”

“That fire arrow was definitely the magic the brown-haired mercenary used.”

Kitarenannum flinched when the apocalyptic mage suddenly spoke.

“What...”

“Don’t you have a guess?”

-Damn it. It has absorption abilities too!

Great Demon Esadojikwa muttered in shock.

No wonder even demons had been swept away without a trace. This monster could absorb the abilities of those it devoured!

Even among monsters, those with such power were extremely rare.

-What if we let this one escape?!

-Be grateful we obtained even this much information, mage!

“At least that’s fortunate. Those mercenary bastards weren’t much. Even if it uses magic, it won’t be threatening.”

“We should also consider what happens if it devours more. If it eats a hundred mages, then even absorbing only one percent from each would give it one whole person’s worth of magic.”

“Then you and I definitely can’t be devoured...”

The giant hybrid warrior, who had been speaking, instinctively sensed danger and shouted.

“Get down!!”

“What...”

Kitarenannum, who had been focusing only on the spider monsters, reacted too late.

The apocalyptic mage was already casting magic at the two of them.

‘Already?!’

Kitarenannum had to admit he had underestimated his opponent.

Even though they were both mages, since his own mastery was far higher, he had arrogantly assumed his opponent could not deceive his eyes.

However, the apocalyptic bastard had used some method to completely fool their senses and summon magic.

CRASH!

“Spell-slinging bastard!!! I’ll chew up your heart!!!”

Basirmac took the sharp vacuum blade with his body while grinding his teeth.

After all, mages were all untrustworthy without exception.

“To ambush us with magic like this. Truly befitting a madman.”

Kitarenannum, having regained his composure, also confirmed his defenses and prepared to counterattack.

The ambush had been surprising, but its power was not very impressive. With this much, he could immediately...

“...No! No!!”

Kitarenannum realized it too late and wailed.

The apocalyptic bastard was grinning wickedly while trying to complete his magic.

“You must not finish that, you madman!!!”

“What! What’s happening...”

At that moment, all the walls and floors of the surrounding passages melted away. The spider monsters climbing up from below roared excitedly and leaped upward.

The monsters that climbed up devoured the apocalypse believer first. Kitarenannum, who barely managed to summon a new foothold, had to grit his teeth.

‘Damn it! There’s no time to switch spells...!’

“Do something! You spell-slinger!”

To prepare area-of-effect magic, he needed a moment to switch.

However, monsters were swarming from the front, back, left, and right, as well as above and below. That brief moment simply would not come.

THUD!

That was when it happened.

Suddenly, the monsters stopped moving.

Then they changed direction and tried to climb higher up.

“...Storm, break free and sweep them away!”

Kitarenannum, who had barely gained the leeway to switch magic, transformed his arm into a storm. Fierce wind pressure swept away the surrounding monsters.

Basirmac shook off the monsters’ fluids and shells, then asked.

“Why are they suddenly trying to climb up?”

“I don’t know. Did they discover new prey? Something more appetizing than us...”

“Ha! Do you think that makes sense?”

Even in this situation, the giant hybrid warrior did not let go of his arrogance.

Even in the ranking of prey coveted by monsters, he absolutely could not lose to this warrior.

“...Are we cursed by skeletons? More are coming from below. Move!”

Kitarenannum shouted in exasperation as he sensed new monsters approaching from below.

He had come as a hunter.

He could not become prey.

***

“Lord Alshicle. Doesn’t something seem strange?”

“Huff, huff huff... huff huff huff...”

Alshicle, who was being carried on Lee Han’s back after quickly collapsing from lack of stamina, could not answer immediately and panted heavily.

“What... what seems strange?” 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

“It feels like the monsters have been targeting only me for a while now...”

“That... that makes sense. You’re threatening. You have a lot of mana too.”

Alshicle was not particularly surprised.

Even from the monsters’ perspective, an enemy with abnormally high mana and immunity to corruption would feel like the greatest threat.

“But Lord Alshicle is superior in magic.”

“...You!”

Even while being carried, Alshicle felt tears welling in his eyes.

Though Alshicle did not have many mage friends, he had at least one friend he could boast about before others.

“More importantly, Lord Alshicle. That exploration team member keeps glaring at us... Do you perhaps have some past grudge?”

“No, no. Nothing like that. It’s probably because I’m being carried by you.”

Being carried by a junior mage probably did not look very good.

‘Is that so?’

Lee Han wanted to explain to the exploration team member sending contemptuous looks that mages were naturally frail, but he did not have the chance.

“To the upper floor!”

“I have something to say.”

Suddenly, the evil-god-worshipping elf spoke up. Lee Han was about to cast fire magic again, but then he looked puzzled.

“What?”

“It would be safer to abandon that mage...”

“Shut up.”

THWACK!

Lee Han struck the elf’s snout with his staff. Alshicle was startled by his junior mage’s violent reaction.

Though beaten, the evil-god-worshipping elf did not stop.

“If you do not want to abandon him, change direction. That way is already occupied by monsters.”

“Where?”

“To the side path on the right. There is another closed waterway. If you go that way, there are usable tools.”

“!”

Alshicle quickly cast divination. Then he nodded.

“To the side path on the right!”

“What are these usable tools? A floodgate control device or something?”

Lee Han asked the elf while running.

If he could sweep away all the monsters with some device made by ancient dwarves, there would be nothing more to wish for.

“No. Magical criminal Kitarenannum and separatist Basirmac are [N O V E L I G H T] there. Throw those cornered bastards to the monsters. Then the monsters will not go berserk, and you can escape safely.”

“...”

“...”

Not only Lee Han and Alshicle, but even the exploration team members were left speechless.

What kind of bastard was this?

“Can we use them? They’re notorious wanted criminals.”

“If they’re in the same situation as us, they’ll know they’re cornered. If we suggest cooperation, they’ll probably accept.”

“But they’re not fools either, so won’t they realize our intentions? If a fight breaks out for no reason, it’ll become even more dangerous.”

As the exploration team members quickly exchanged opinions, the evil-god-worshipping elf quietly spoke to Lee Han.

“Magical criminal Kitarenannum offered ninety-nine giant hearts to contract with a great demon. Tell Basirmac that. Then the two will fight fiercely.”

“Is that actually true??”

“No. It is a lie. But it is effective.”

“...”

Lee Han could clearly feel why the deity this person served was an evil god.

It was wicked rhetoric that surpassed even Einroguard students.