Chapter 23
The Book of Dragon Chants (3)
It was a complete coincidence that Ian found the book of dragon chants.
After he had retired, he toured the continent, during the return to his home town.
Without a plan, without making preparations for war.
Just a random walking trip, filled with fresh air and under the stars.
The old ivory tower was just on his route.
‘I used to want to visit here in my life.’
In the past, Ian found a hidden wine storage under the old ivory tower.
The storage was chilled by a freezing spell.
Thanks to that, the wines in there were tastily fermented.
‘I can’t just leave it there.’
After he took some wines which were in a fine condition, he decided to dispel the freezing spell on the storage.
Its power source might have worked for a hundred years.
Enormous amounts of mana must have been injected to power the spell.
It was safer to dispel the magic to prevent further unexpected accidents.
‘Then I found something. There was a lower s.p.a.ce under the storage.’
It figured out that the storage hadn’t been chilled by magic.
Of course, there was no source of mana as well.
It was cold energy coming from far underneath that was chilling the storage.
"It’s the same as before."
The wine storage that he now visited earlier than in his former life.
It had stayed the same as in his memory.
Chilling air, magic sealed wooden wine containers.
The wide area was filled with containers.
Most of them were empty containers.
‘I don’t know who made it, but he must be an alcohol lover.’
Ian approached the large sized wine container, which was located in the centre.
It was so huge that it might be able to contain 10 grown men in there.
It was fixed to the ground.
*Tong Tong!*
Ian gently knocked on the large wine container.
It echoed back as it sounded hollow.
Like in his former life, it has a big size, but contained no wine in it.
*Bang!*
There was no need for hesitation.
He smashed the container with his magic.
Its insides were then revealed.
It wasn’t an ordinary wine container. It only looked like a wine container.
In reality, it had no bottom. Instead, the rocky floor of the ivory tower was revealed.
‘He hid the entrance quite smartly.’
In the past, Ian thought the entrance must be hidden by some high-level technology.
For instance, hidden by magic or a magic operated door.
Just like the entrance of the wine storage, he expected some entrance with magic.
‘And I figured out that the entrance was under the container.’
As those words were said, the foot of the candle was dark.
He was absentminded.
It caused him to feel ashamed of himself until now.
*Grrrrrrr!*
Ian strongly pushed the rocky floor to side.
He enhanced his strength with mana.
*Whirrrrr……*
With freezing air, a staircase was revealed.
It was so small that he needed to squeeze himself inside to go down further in his former life.
‘Not this time.’
Since Ian had the body of young boy, he didn’t need to.
Maybe this was the first time that he was thankful to have a young body.
*Splas.h.!.+*
The water under the staircase welcomed Ian first.
The underground was invisibly dark.
A single light orb wasn’t enough.
"Light."
After he made a few more light orbs, he was finally able to find the way.
Although he had been here before, he couldn’t find the way as he was blinded.
Furthermore, in a deeper area, ‘the thing’ would come out.
‘Gargoyle.’
After pa.s.sing the narrow aisle, he arrived at a round room.
There were no further paths in the wide room.
In the middle of it, there was a statue.
In his former life, when he first saw that gargoyle statue, he was freaked out.
He thought it was just a statue.
‘Who would have imagined that there was a gargoyle under the ivory tower?’
In addition, he was able to recognize one important truth.
There was no mage who could tame the gargoyle.
Which meant the underground wasn’t made by the ivory tower.
‘From the wine storage to these gargoyles.’
After the mages moved their tower,someone probably came here and made it.
Not only in his former life, this time as well.
*Crack! Grrr…..*
The gargoyle statue started to move while removing the dust on it.
Its surface would rupture soon and reveal its terrible appearance.
This time, he was prepared.
*KAAARRRRKK-!*
With its strange grow, a grey colored gargoyle jumped out.
It leered at Ian as it came dribbling towards him.
It seemed the gargoyle decided to eat him.
‘Its eyes were purple.’
Its eyes were s.h.i.+ning like amethysts.
Ian heard that its eyes are a very rare alchemy ingredient.
With its appearance, Ian could admit that.
‘In my former life, I couldn’t look at it clearly.’
In the past, he was freaked out and used too much force.
An unimaginable magic that he wouldn’t dare to use with his current body.
Naturally he didn’t have any time to see it in detail.
Not just destroyed it, he turned it into dust.
‘Ledio will like it.’
Luckily, Ian also had his alchemist
He might brew some nice elixir for him.
"Aqua ball."
A basic magic like fire ball.
A few aqua b.a.l.l.s were revealed around him.
It wasn’t that useful against a gargoyle.
It was just simple water b.a.l.l.s, while its opponent had stone-hardened skin.
‘The power is not always the answer.’
The current Ian didn’t have enough power to destroy the gargoyle with a single magic.
He didn’t drink the half elixir either.
So, he needed to increase the efficiency of his spells.
"Aqua ball."
Numerous water b.a.l.l.s smashed the gargoyle.
Of course it didn’t receive damage from it.
The gargoyle just got wet from it.
"Aqua…."
"Kaaaaarkk!"
It rushed towards Ian while screaming.
It seemed Ian’s water b.a.l.l.s made it angry.
Nevertheless, Ian just kept shooting water b.a.l.l.s.
Aqua b.a.l.l.s were reloaded endlessly.
"Karr, Karrr….!"
Ian avoided its attack like a snake.
Now the gargoyle started to stretch its wings.
It looked mad now.
‘I wouldn’t be able to avoid it.’
There was a clear limitation of magically enhanced body.
It wasn’t impossible to avoid the charge of a gargoyle with its wings.
The gargoyle knew this as well by its instinct.
Ian moved to his second plan.
"Kaaaaaaaa-!"
It cried with confidence.
The confidence that the little young boy would become its food with this attack.
It started to charge with its wings.
Its speed was dramatically increased.
And Ian,
"Ice wall."
An ice wall suddenly erupted out of nowhere.
Thanks to the cold energy nearby, the speed of spell casting was twice as fast.
Did he make it to s.h.i.+eld him from the charge of the gargoyle?
No, he didn’t mean to.
He didn’t make a wall in front of him. Instead he made it underneath him.
*Smas.h.!.+*
Its body smashed the ice wall.
it was strong enough for its upper body to pa.s.s the ice wall.
In another point of view it was stuck in the ice.
It wouldn’t able to move out for a while.
"Woah, I would die if I was standing behind the wall."
Ian softly jumped down from the top of the ice wall.
He could only see the b.u.t.t of gargoyle.
Satisfied, he focused mana on each of his hands.
*Spark! Spaark! Spaaarrrkk!*
lightning started to dance on each of his hands.
He wet the gargoyle for this moment, didn’t he?
"lightning."
A powerful white lightning stream struck the gargoyle.
Actually, it struck the whole ice wall, including the gargoyle.
The Gargoyle’s soft inner skin was hidden under its hardened outer skin.
And there was nothing better than lightning to burn its inner skin.
"KAARRRRRAAAK!"
It screamed for a while.
When it stopped screaming, its dead body laid on the ground completely.
"Hew."
Its burnt smell filled the air.
It certainly wasn’t a nice smell.
It caused him to feel nauseated.
‘It should be open now.’
According to Ian’s memory, a new aisle should be revealed after killing the gargoyle.
More precisely, at the center where the gargoyle stood petrified before, a wide hole had appeared under the statue base.
It should be same this time.
*Thud! Thud! Crrrrr…..*
As he expected.
A hole started to appear at the centre.
It’s almost there.
It will be there under the hole.
But he needed to do something before going down.
‘This is the important part.’
Holding its leg, Ian drew the corpse of the gargoyle near the hole.
It was as heavy as its size.
Thanks to help of mana, he could move its body.
"Ah, its eyes first."
It didn’t seem to be an enjoyable process, but he had no choice. It was a precious ingredient.
Taking a breath, he took out its eyes.
They were as hard as amethyst.
"Hmm not bad."
It was a much easier process since its texture was stone like.
If it was squishy, Ian would feel sick.
After that, Ian restarted moving the corpse.
Then he pushed it away into the hole.
It fell for a long time since the hole was deep.
A few seconds later,
*BANG! BAAANG! BaBam!*
Sounds of explosions were heard.
It was just the beginning.
Not only explosions, many other noises were heard.
The sound of lightning, freezing and so on.
Each sound recalled some great magics.
‘He installed stupidly many traps.’
It was the sound of ‘Mana Trap.’
In his former life, Ian dealt with it by himself.
There were no problems since he had used the greatest s.h.i.+eld magic, but right now he wouldn’t be able to endure it.
‘It seems to have ended.’
The noises stopped.
There might be a few traps still unactivated, but he would able to take care of it.
"Feather Fall."
The book of dragon chats was close now.
And a few ‘Useful’ items.
All of them would be staying under the hole.
Ian jumped down the hole with slow falling magic.