Ebotden, underpass.

The rushing water, the whining wind, the cold and damp walls, the narrow passages, the blind eyes that can't see their fingers......

As I continued to go deeper into the passage, I walked through one intersection after another, separated from my comrades beside me, and walked towards the next entrance with no end in sight... The dark-haired wizard felt something familiar return.

It was as if I had gone back many years to the "old days" of fighting the living dead who had turned into monsters in the sewers, fighting the shells of evil gods and the night watch, and this time ......

It really looks like it's the same as last time.

Except for the enemy who has changed from a monster to an even more ferocious Azorean elven warrior, the goal has changed from a dangerous Holy Grail to an "alchemical bomb" capable of destroying the world, and the enemies who await him have changed from mentors and friends to madmen eager to strangle themselves, as for the rest......

Well, it's still beautiful!

At least this time there will be no more evil gods who suddenly stand up and say that they will kill themselves for their own good, there will be no members of the church who are desperate to stop them several times, there will be no dragons who come down from the sky and are nominally allies but actually almost kill themselves, and there will be no terrifying evil god shells waiting for them.

This time, I still have a team that is not a few friends who are willing to share life and death with me, but a team, a team that has always been particularly professional, has a plan and a goal, and I am not fighting for something that is likely to kill me, but with a group of comrades-in-arms with superior strength, excellent quality, and professionalism, to jointly carry out a mission to save the empire and the world.

Thinking about it like this, Loren suddenly felt that his change was really quite big... At least the psychological comfort is real.

"Psychological comfort?"

Behind him, the laughter of a blonde teenager was heard.

"I see, it turns out that in the eyes of dear Loren, so many friends and comrades-in-arms can only give him a little 'heart' comfort, right?"

The black-haired wizard with a twitch at the corner of his mouth quickened his pace, but the blonde boy behind him was still able to keep up with him unhurriedly, and his tone was very cheerful: "Hmm... Sounds a little arrogant, but it's not like you!"

"What, is this the first time you've found out?"

Loren, who didn't look back, snorted self-deprecatingly.

"No, I just think that dear Loren's attitude speaks volumes about your calmness. Asriel shrugged, ran in front of the black-haired wizard with his hands behind his back, and walked backwards and down:

"Dear Loren, you are the only one who understands the loopholes in this plan, or where the greatest danger lies. ”

The scarlet eyes reflected the black-haired wizard's unchanged expression, revealing a look of approval.

"Once such a vast void power is gathered, and it is in the hands of one person... To 'Black Cross' Seliol, it was as obvious as a torch in the night. ”

"In just a split second, he can see the exact location of this force and manipulate it, dear Loren, so the most dangerous part of the whole plan is not some little elf prince, not an explosion that will affect the whole world, not an Ebolden ...... doomed to destruction"

"It's Serol, the most dangerous thing is always the 'Black Cross' Serol, who has returned from the void and is gradually regaining his strength!"

"But dear Loren will not tell them this, for even if they knew, it would be of no avail, and whatever they did would eventually be discovered by Seriel. ”

"So Asriel guessed... This should also be part of Loren's plan?"

"Use this powerful enough void force to lure him to Ebolden, and then what?

Asrael, who slowed down, tilted his head to the left.

"Guess what. ”

The black-haired wizard, who didn't even look at him, continued to walk deeper into the passage.

"That's a bit too much, knowing that Asriel can't read minds anymore. ”

"Is your understanding of 'guess what' different from what I know?"

The black-haired wizard with a blank face stopped in front of the door of a slightly empty hall.

"Arrived?"

"That's right, this is where we're going. ”

Taking a deep breath, Loren stepped on the cold masonry under his feet and walked towards the back of the hall door.

Unlike the seemingly narrow passages outside, the hall behind the door is extremely empty, and can even be called magnificent.

Thirty columns resembling towering trees cling to the four walls, turning the entire hall into an irregular "ring", and the hall with no dome visible vertically up and down, as if it were an unfathomable ancient well.

And the black-haired wizard who walked step by step to the center of the hall stood at the bottom of the deepest well of this "ancient well".

Although it was completely different from the nine-pointed star wizard tower hidden underground in his memory, the black-haired wizard still recognized the place at a glance.

During the "Holy Grail War" in Ebolden a few years ago, in order to completely expel the power of the Holy Cross Church from Ebolden, and in order to fight against the conspiracy of the Bellini family, Corona "hidden" the real Nine-Pointed Star Wizard Tower and the Holy Grail as the first patriarch of the Wizard Tower, and had to open the door to the entrance through the method of "Dream World".

After that, the Nine-Pointed Star Holy Grail was taken away by himself, and the "true" wizard tower, which had lost the Holy Grail's maintenance, could no longer hide in the dream world;

By the time of the Ebolden offensive and defensive battle, Master Corona, who had done everything he could, "restored" the power of the void of the entire Ebolden to the state of his youth, that is, more than a hundred years ago, and completely emptied the power of the void of this nine-pointed star wizard tower, leaving only the remnants of the void that maintained the circulation of the underground passage.

In other words... What he saw in front of him was the original appearance of the "real" Nine-Pointed Star Wizard Tower.

"It's breathtaking, but dear Loren, are you sure you're in the wrong place?"

Looking around, the blonde boy looked at the back of Loren's head with a smile: "Although it may be because poor Asriel is too stupid, people don't even feel the slightest power of the void. ”

"It's not a little, it's not vague, but it's really not even a little bit!"

As he spoke, the blonde boy gestured with the index fingers of both hands in front of him, as if his expression was not exaggerated enough.

"Can you gloat a little more?"

Instinctively, he rolled his eyes, and the black-haired wizard, who was faintly aware of something, looked around, and his heart moved.

If I'm not mistaken, the last time I took the Holy Grail, the Nine-Pointed Star Wizard Tower and the passages around it should have collapsed once, and the underground passages that were rebuilt after that should have been sloping upwards as a whole, that is......

"Boom!"

Dull, heavy, like the sound of some blunt object hitting the ground, echoed through the empty depths of the wizard's tower.

The black-haired wizard turned his head sharply and looked at Asriel behind him.

"Did you find out?!"

"I found it, but ......" there was only astonishment in the blonde boy's expression: "There is indeed a void force, but it seems to be a little away from us... Far. ”

"Far?"

Loren didn't understand it for a moment.

"That is, it's not around us, it's ......"

"Yes, yes, I know what 'far' means, I mean in what direction is it?!"

"It's too vague, it doesn't feel very clear. The blonde boy had a look on his face that was about to cry: "Asrael said, it's a bit far, but it's ......"

Boom!

There was another loud bang, as if it were shaking from the depths of the earth.

In the empty hall, the black-haired wizard and the blonde boy looked at each other.

"But... What?"

"But......" In just a second, Asriel regained his composure, and even smiled a little playfully: "Asriel can tell Loren where this movement is coming from." ”

Knock! knock!!!

With a violent shaking sound, the black-haired wizard barely stood still.

"Where?"

Without waiting for the shaking to stop, Loren asked impatiently.

The blonde boy stood elegantly straight, raised his left hand, raised the middle finger of his right hand flat, and pointed to the ground with a smile.

“...... Let's get one thing straight first, there's no other ambiguity in this gesture, right?"

"Of course, how could poor Asriel despise Loren?"

“...... I'll start by pretending that you haven't looked at my memory, and then the second question. The black-haired wizard took a deep breath:

"Underground?"

"Boom !!!"

..........................................

The moment the roar exploded, the gray-eyed boy immediately pounced on Albert's figure, using his back as a shield to block the old man's back.

"Bang! bang!"

Crisp sounds sounded one after another, and the spear-wielding female elf continued to shatter the rubble falling from the dome, and the two of them, who relied almost entirely on their fighting instincts, finally avoided the tragedy of being crushed to death by the collapsed rubble.

But in the face of the constantly shaking passage, the crumbling dome and the elven warriors who were still rushing towards this side in the distance, they could only struggle to hold on.

"What's going on, is this also part of the plan?!" Shaking her arm, which was already starting to be a little sore, the female elf couldn't help but grit her teeth:

"Or is it because we've been discovered, and the enemy is ready to bury us here alive?!"

"I don't know, this shouldn't be!" roared the gray-eyed boy who was also frowning, "And this is definitely not the enemy's plan, if the underground passage collapses, then the entire Ebolden will fall into the ground, and it will be impossible for an elf to survive at that time!"

"They're not elves, they're just a bunch of long-eared bastards!

"My Lord Lothair, is this the time to dwell on this?!"

"So what do you say you should do?!"

"I... Of course, find a safe place to hide and come back when it's over, otherwise like you said, we and the Azores... The debris has to be buried alive here!"

"Keeping wizards safe under all circumstances is our top priority!"

The excited Lusen took a deep breath, and was about to get up when he was caught by the wizard advisor who suddenly got up.

"No, we can't leave at this time, at least not now!"

Holding the wrist of the gray-eyed young man, Albert's pale cheeks were a little more abnormally red: "The existence of the underground passage is maintained by the remnants of the void, and the fluctuation proves that the power of the void in the passage has become less stable than it used to be, which means that ......"

"Lord Loren... He's on the move?!"

Lu Sien's expression was very excited, and even the female elf next to him showed a little joy.

"Not necessarily, it's just one of the possibilities. Albert smiled bitterly: "There are many reasons for the fluctuation of the power of the Void, maybe it's because the enemy starts activating the alchemy bomb, maybe it's because a wizard is using a high-level spell, maybe it's because of the battlefield outside... Many, many and so on. ”

Speaking of this, Albert suddenly paused, and looked at the female elf and Lusen with a somewhat unbearable look in his eyes.

But this "unbearable" only lasted less than a second, and his expression returned to its original state.

"And in all fairness, although I have full confidence in Duke Loren, I don't think he will be able to reach his destination so quickly and open the magic array, but!" Albert stared at the dark passage, desperately trying to suppress his fluctuating emotions: "Even if it is only a thousand, or even a thousandth of ......"

"We must also take it for real!"

The spear in the female elf's hand dragged a silver light in front of her, splitting the falling gravel in two: "Believe him, the biggest ability of this big liar is to surprise and surprise!"

"Bell!"

The short sword was unsheathed, and the gray-eyed boy's expression became serious again: "I know. ”

"Lord Loren's affairs, I don't need you to remind me!"

....................................

“...... So, what more can I say?"

In the deepest part of the lowlands of the Nine-Pointed Star Wizard Tower, the black-haired wizard who couldn't help but sigh supported his body with the "Dawn" greatsword and staggered to his feet.

No way... The floor caved and fell unprepared from a height of nearly twenty meters, and when you think about it, you know that it is impossible to go unscathed.

He struggled to open his eyes and looked at the gray-blue eyes that were staring at him and hiding in the darkness.

"Knock! knock!"

A dull roar rang out, and a huge body gradually emerged from the darkness.

The streamlined back, dark blue scales, and the outstretched wings are like a curtain covering the sky, and the huge body is full of crushing power.

"Aside from the big monsters, there's no new tricks, right?"

Talking to himself, Loren put the "Dawn" sword on his shoulder expressionlessly and raised his eyebrows:

"Good morning, Iolet... Did you sleep well last night, did you eat breakfast, and want to go out for a walk?"

The black-haired wizard strolling around the courtyard was talking to himself as if he were talking to an old friend.

"Boom !!!"

He was answered by the deafening roar of the Ink Blue Dragon.

The black-haired wizard's face showed a look of sudden realization.

"Oh, so you want to warm up before you go for a walk, move your arms and legs, and... Uh, the neck or something? That's easy, no problem. ”

"I'll be with you. ”