Return of The 8th Class Mage 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 space 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 .

 

*Splash!*

 

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 passing 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 shining 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 this time .

He might brew some nice elixir for him .

 

“Aqua ball . ”

 

A basic magic like fire ball .

A few aqua **** were revealed around him .

It wasn’t that useful against a gargoyle .

It was just simple water balls, 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 **** 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 **** made it angry .

Nevertheless, Ian just kept shooting water **** .

Aqua **** 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 shield 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 .

 

*Smash!*

 

Its body smashed the ice wall .

it was strong enough for its upper body to pass 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 **** 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 shield 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 .