NOVGO.NET Chapter 1383 The Challenge That They Must Overcome
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Tomas was in shambles but tried to keep himself calm and focused.
His entire life he had always been told that he panicked too quickly, that he was too nervous, and sometimes even too emotional.
Magician families were strict, and people like him usually couldn’t thrive properly in such environments.
He had to steel himself and move aside his own emotions, learn to find inner peace even at times when the world is crumbling around him.
And the most ironic part was that even after everything he had done to reach his goal and become accepted by the magician guild, the truth about this guild and its master were much more macabre.
He was told to drink a weird potion and eat a certain thing, a heart-shaped item, which the Wizard taking care of him at the time said would allow him to “ascend” to a higher form of magic.
It was of course, a trap, the same trap many young students had fallen to, a plan for Merlinus to bolster his forces tremendously by turning every new student and disciple into a Demonic Wizard.
Once they were already Demonic, they would risk dishonoring their families or being persecuted and killed by the Paladins or the Church’s Priests, therefore, the only thing they could do was obey their masters and… become another member of their demonic cult.
Like this, over time, he himself even forced others to do the same, promising youngsters which shouldn’t had been here, that shouldn’t really get inside the tower despite their dream being this.
He tried his best to make them fail their tests, but sometimes, they were so promising that it would simply be unfair to disqualify them…
Blackmailed and forced to become an accomplice in their crimes, Tomas felt guilty despite that, and always though about how terrible of a person he was…
He was afraid too, that they would come after his family and kill them to teach him a lesson, he couldn’t let them do that, he had to protect his family.
Even the mentors he always admired ended being monsters in disguise… or so he imagined.
However, in their last breath, it felt as if they had regained some sanity.
Were they truly evil?
Or were they also brainwashed, or forced?
He couldn’t quite tell, it was impossible everyone was brainwashed, he was sure there were many that were truly evil and joined Merlinus as they shared goals.
The original members of the Cult of the Demon King of Miasma.
But the rest? Although there was no other chance than to kill them before they were to harm someone, he knew that not all of them were doing this willingly…
Out of desperation, or perhaps even mentally controlled, like he was when he was forced to become a Demonic Monstrosity to fight Planta and her friends.
“Tomas, where are we going?!” Anna asked Tomas, as he led them underground.
“We’re going to the labyrinth I said!” Tomas said. “Because I was blackmailed into joining this cult, they showed me all their secrets without caring if I would ever tell them to anybody, usually I wouldn’t be allowed, my demonic heart would shut me down or worse, kill me.”
“I-Is that so?” asked Angelina. “But how did you…”
“It’s because of Planta,” he said. “She used a powerful spell to seal my Demonic Side, and it is now finally under my control and not the other way around. They’re chains, holy chains that wrap it, trapping it… Every wizard that has turned into a Demonic Wizard gains a “Demonic Side” which is something like a Developing Demon, or a Part of their Soul. It is independent, and it can fully take over our minds, fusing with ourselves, making us go… mad.”
“T-That’s so wicked!” said Gandalf, coughing as he was being forced to run a lot. “W-Wait, don’t run too fast! Dammit, this body has too little Stamina! I should’ve invested more into that!”
“Just use the Float Spell!” said Angelina.
“R-Right!” Gandalf had completely forgotten, beginning to float in midair to move faster.
They ran downstairs, moving across several spiraling stairs and avoid several deadly traps, which Tomas and Gandalf deactivated through their Rune Manipulation Skills.
Gandalf had learned it just recently, but as a Player he could use the Skill flawlessly through activating it.
“There are more traps than I imagined…” Monica said, looking around. “And it’s quite scary around here…
“Aren’t you a ghost, Lady Monica? I don’t think it is that scary… Or maybe I’ve been desensitized,” sighed Tomas. “There are many abandoned laboratories and jails here…”
They passed through a dark corridor, with jails where dried out corpses of people they captured and left here were rotting away, nobody was alive.
Some rooms were full of broken, abandoned, and dusty laboratory gear, and sometimes, an occasional Patchwork Zombie would jump on them.
“GRUOOHH!”
“Uwaaagh!”
Elisa screamed at them, releasing beams of light from her eyes, and blowing them into pieces easily…
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
“S-Sorry, I couldn’t see that one, it’s over here!”
Tomas continued running through this abandoned labyrinth, finally reaching a huge red colored door with a demonic head-shaped decoration on top of it.
“T-This must be it!” he said, gasping for air. “Haaah… I’m exhausted. We have to break through this door though! It’s heavily reinforced with Runes to hold in place. But behind this… I’m sure! They’re keeping a huge Demonic Formation that further strengthens the Demonic Wizards and also Merlinus! It has a lot of Demonic Totems they use!”
“Then we gotta just break through!” Angelina said.
“Yeah, I agree!” Gandalf roared.
“Let me help as well!” Anna said.
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“Me too!” Elisa said.
“M-Me too?” Monica muttered.
The whole group conjured their strongest spells or skills, firing them at the door and rapidly bombarding it with attacks.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
As the door began taking some serious damage and continuously looked worn down, something weird happened.
“AAAAHHHH!”
The “head” of the door, actually opened its jaws, screaming, as its eyes began glowing bright red.
“WHY ARE YOU ATTACKING ME?!”
And it even spoke back at them.
“YOU’RE NOT ALLOWED INSIDE! ONLY MASTER MERLINUS AND HIS CLOSEST AIDES!”
Suddenly, countless eyes opened through the door’s entire body, and the ceiling, floor, and walls around it started to tremble, forming giant hands made of stone.
“I’LL CRUSH YOU!”
[The Demonic Familiar: [Possessed Demon Door: Level 350+] has been awakened from its long slumber and will fight and kill any intruders daring to enter what’s behind it.]
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