Season 2 Chapter 16
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‘It really is a large city.’
Various races lived here, and the Superior’s Heart was divided into eight sectors for each culture or specialty. Ian’s destination, however, was the ninth sector, the underground city. It was a lawless district located beneath Superior’s Heart. Those who had received Father’s Blood but had not made anything out of themselves lived there under alcohol or drugs.
Ian did not want to go, but he had no choice to meet Loken. It was not that difficult to find him, as he was famous under another name.
‘Drug Lord Loken…’
Everyone Ian met said that Loken managed all hallucination drug herbs. Ian went in deep under the waterways to meet this guy. It took a long while, but he found a Superian fishing next to him.
[You’re not a junkie from your smell. Are you a newbie?]
He was as old as Argol but talked like a lowlife.
“…A newbie?”
[You’d have seen junkies on your way here. Are you planning on becoming one of them?]
“I’m not interested in drugs or drug traffickers.”
[What then, did you lose your way or something?]
“I came here to meet Mage Loken. Do you know where he is?”
While Ian knew this old Superian was Loken by instinct, he wanted to see how Loken would react.
[What? Why Loken?]
“I heard he was good at camouflage spells, and someone had actually recommended him to me.”
[Who?]
“Michelle Greenriver.”
[That crazy bitch? Is she still alive?]
“I don’t know.”
[Then, she’s dead.]
Loken lowered his fishing rod, which was empty.
[No one could survive going through the tasks with the mask on.]
His voice rang the underground waterway as Loken clucked his tongue.
[So, why did you come all this way? You’re not going to do the same thing, are you?]
“Yes.”
[…What?]
“I am going to try the challenges, like her.”
[……]
“Therefore, I need your camouflage spell. While the one I have on is not bad, I want a perfect one.”
Loken grew silent at Ian’s ambitious words.
[You’re just as crazy. However, I really don’t care how you die. I can do the spell for you if you give me the right price.]
“What do you want?”
[Show me anything expensive, and I will decide.”
Ian was unsure what would be valuable in this world when Loken spoke again.
[That necklace.]
“……?”
[The way it shines will fetch a price. Give me that, or get out.]
Ian’s necklace had been a present from when he had accepted one-to-one training with Oliver, which had once belonged to the Empress. It had many memories, and Ian found it difficult to part with.
“Can’t any other object suffice?”
[No, I like that necklace.]
Loken’s words were firm enough for Ian to give up. He needed this spell more than he needed memories.
“Here it is.”
[It’s a low price. The one that casts a spell on you is not bad. I can do this quick.]
While Loken’s casting method was the same as Jerry and Kai’s, there were notable differences.
[Chaos of below, Owner of a thousand shapes. As your slave begs, please hand this man your form.]
The spell alluded that Loken worked under a different god, and he used drug herbs for his spell. The odor was intense, and it seemed that Ian may be affected if he kept on smelling them.
Ian became curious how Douglas would use these herbs and thought he needed to find a way to provide his friends with material from this world.
However, he needed to finish up here first.
[It’s done. I’m not at fault if you’re caught, you know. You will be paying the price of going too far with this spell. So, stay put and don’t blame me.]
“I will.”
[Yeah, right. Go. It’s annoying to do things that don’t make much profit.]
Loken waved at Ian and grabbed his rod again. Ian bowed in thanks as the Superian did not even look at him.
**
[Why do they come like moths to a flame?!]
Loken clucked his tongue as he fished.
[Sublord of Chaos, can’t you stop sending them? This is the most useless and boring thing I’ve done in some thousand years!]
Loken murmured into the dirty water, and one could see annoyance, anger, and regret in him.
[It’s too long to go on believing you have a plan or something. Look at this necklace! An offering like this would warrant a few words with you, wouldn’t it?]
Loken threw Ian’s necklace into the dirty water, and something strange happened. The water became clean and showed someone’s face.
[…You did come, Sublord of Chaos.]
**
Ian had now come to the Olympus Sector, where the Olympus Hall resided. He had come here for the temple, as the statue there gave out the first task out of twelve.
Even the memories Ian had received did not help much in telling him what would happen. The Memory Eater spell was uncertain from the first place, anyway.
However, he noted that the proportions of the temple and the people around here were similar to his own.
‘Is that the temple?’
Ian went to the all-white temple with its thousand pillars, a famous site in the Olympus Sector.
[Why do you visit here?]
The guard standing at the temple gate asked sharply. He was an officer wearing similar armor to Hercules.
“I came here for the tasks.”
[What? Tasks? You with that boney body?]
The guard did not hide his sneer.
“Is there a problem?”
[Yes, you’ll die outright with that weak physique.]
The guard had seen many fools who had come to receive the quest and become one of the clock tower, and even Hercules and a few heroes had completed them at a cost. This guy would die outright.
[Go back and find another job… hey! I’m still speaking!]
Ian ignored the guard as he went through, and the guard could not say anything more since absolute quiet was required in the temple.
Ian saw two rows of six statues inside the temple, and they were all shaped like human beings. The one nearest to the entrance caught Ian’s eye, as it was extremely beautiful.
‘Aprodite, the ruler of Captivation.’
Ian saw the small bowl in front of the statue and saw that the task would start if he placed an offering here.
He had another item he could use as an offering, a ring that Marcus Mogrian had given him. When that artifact dropped on the bowl, the statue’s eyes glowed white.
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