AND THEN THERE WAS ‘GOD’

"I see…" Yue mused for a second, now that her doubts were cleared up she took Ivan's words wholeheartedly. He somewhat was able to create a spell using Concept Magic, albeit accidently.

The spell went as he hoped for, only it created a separate identical space to transmute rather than the real space the spell was activated in.

And while not tested, if the spell went as he desired when concepting it then it'd drag his enemies within range from the real world into his own world, and meanwhile the real world would be frozen until his physical body was depleted of mana.

"So there is a time limit…" Aside from the time limit, Ivan had to worry about how much mana he had at the moment.

It'd be best to save the spell as a final resort because of how much mana it consumed, but at the same time if he used it without a lot of mana left he'd only have a few seconds to fight against his opponent.

That was the question, its potency would be affected if he used it in dire situations, and it was too expensive to use as an opening move.

"Alright, thanks for the help Yue but we should focus on using our time now to boost our individual abilities. If we're to fight against a god for answers, then it goes without saying that we'll be up against more apostles like that Noint lady. She was a real pain… I'll mess around with my new ability once we're at home in a controlled environment. And then… we'll see what else we could make with concept magic. As Haltina said it could be used to traverse other worlds… in other words we may be able to create a spell capable of taking us to my old world."

Now that the group cleared every dungeon, all that was left was to hone their skills for the inevitable fight against the gods. A good brief period of time that would allow the others enough time to go back and clear dungeons they missed, such as the Orcus or Miledi Labyrinth.

The more tools they had at their disposal the better. Who knows, a few of them may even be fairly attuned with some of the ancient magic.

If the others who hadn't cleared the past dungeons were to travel alongside Ivan now, they most likely wouldn't be considered eligible to obtain the ancient magic with the reasoning that he would carry them through so they wouldn't face any peril.

The labyrinths scanned memories, meaning cheating would be difficult.

So the best next thing was to just chuck them in labyrinths and put his faith in their abilities. The labyrinths were pretty fair after all.

From Tio to Felis, everyone that wasn't Yue felt a cold breeze pass by their necks. They shivered before staring at Ivan in trepidation.

'Not that Tio has much to fear, I'd say she's second only to Yue… and not by a lot too~'

The worst out of all the dungeons they'd have to conquer would probably be Mildei's. That crazy girl had been living alone in the bottom of a labyrinth for centuries of her own volition, a couple of new challengers might send her over the moon.

'And hopefully I'll be able to squeeze some information about the gods from her…' Despite how much the little brat golem seemed to want Ivan and Yue to succeed, she never really gave them any important information.

Teleporting using the transportation system Ivan created to the bottom of the Orcus labyrinth didn't work either due to the mind reading magic circle, they'd have to go through a majority of floors before being allowed to learn creation magic,

As per the requirements set by Oscar himself.

'Actually, now that I think about it the only dungeons everyone else needs to clear are Orcus and Miledi, the former will probably take the most time just because of its sheer length.'

"Alright, everyone gather around! Let's try to figure out how we're going to get out of here. Judging from every dungeon before now I doubt we're gonna have to walk back from where we came. So— scatter!"

The group nodded before scattering off like it was some sort of easter egg hunt.

They first searched the manor, hidden bookshelf door, magic stairs, maybe humming a certain tune or whistling, however there was nothing about how to get out.

Even the bookshelves were full of useless information that seemed more for the manor owner's enjoyment than anything practical.

So that left the obvious solution, somewhere outside was the way out. Could it have been a magic circle that would transport them to the surface?

Well, perhaps but there was no such thing as much as they searched.

Even caressing the walls of the giant room they were in yielded no results, transmutation just led to more and more layers of solid ice.

Alright, so maybe there was one other place to look, and that was the treasures and art that had been scattered everywhere outside.

Paintings, statues, sculptures, jewels, one of these categories of objects likely would lead them out.

"This is….."

One sculpture in particular stood out to Ivan. It was a dragon, not any dragon but a dragon made out of crystal and ice. But if there was something he specifically had to point out was its radiant dark blue eyes, made of rare gemstones.

For a second it seemed as if the dragon was staring at him, but with the blink of an eye it seemed to be just another stagnant treasure.

'My adventurer signals are going off the charts!'

Ivan walked up toward the crystal dragon, petting it lightly with an infused hand of mana.

BZZZZZT

"Whoah!" The crystal dragon glowed with a bright intensity, slowly it unfurled its wings before raising its head proudly toward the ceiling. Its eyes now more radiant than ever.

Not wasting a single second Ivan called everyone over after slipping his mask on.

"Everyone, come south east of the manor's entrance! Quickly, I might have found a way out!"

The ground rumbled as snow kicked into the air and caught Ivan's attention. They were rushing toward him, fast enough to shake the earth beneath them. As fine as the temperature was in this lair, staring at the same colors of blue and white was damping their mood quite a bit.

"Whoah! It's so cool~!"

"A-A dragon!? Oh wait… there's Tio huh…"

"....It hurts to look at it a little… too bright…"

With a strong leap each of them climbed onto the back of the dragon, and as if sensing everyone present had gotten onboard it stood off its feet and started flapping its wings.

WHOOSH WOOSH WOOSH!

The ceiling opened up in a vortex like fashion, snow burrowed down the opening in a swift motion.

Everyone was happily enjoying the experience, except—

"Master, if I may, shall we dismount this imposter? I refuse to have you ride on the back of another!" Tio spoke with frustration, biting the hem of her kimono with jealousy visible in her eyes.

"Well I gue—" His words were cut off before he snapped his head back to the front of the dragon. "Several hundred lifeforms… intense degree of mana in each body, oh god, they're here…"

The clouds parted and the group was met with a legion of flying humanoids, apostles to be exact.

One stood forward with frightening intensity, the scowl on her face matching the emotion in which she pointed her weapon toward them.

"Mortals, for disturbing our lords game you shall be escorted out of the board. Take pride in knowing that for even a second, he considered your lives greater than that of a—"

"Sorry, we're kind of busy so… see you guys later?"

BZZZTT

Ivan clasped his hands before a circular portal consumed everyone aboard the crystal dragon, a second later they vanished. Leaving behind the dragon that seemed somewhat animatedly distressed after being abandoned.

"..."

The apostles making the formation all stared at their commander in confusion, and silence permeated the area.

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Hey hey, sorry for the shoddy quality of this chapter! I had to write this one pretty late cause I'll be very busy tomorrow (or I guess today when the chapter comes out) Why? Well that's because tomorrow is Anime Expo! I'll have to get up early and take a lyft to get to the convention center.

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