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Chapter 280: Strongest Sage, Challenges Experiment
Chapter 280: Strongest Sage, Challenges Experiment
Chapter 280: Strongest Sage, Challenges Experiment
"…We've gone quite far."
"I think it's around 100 meter deep?"
"Yea… Guess it's a precaution to prevent getting found out."
The magic freight car stopped after a while.
Our destination was a small space protected by a powerful barrier.
A general purpose powerful barrier commonly used in the past, ?Wall of Space Rupture? has enclosed us all around.
Walls, ceiling and even floor are all barrier-ed.
…Probably implying that they have no intention of letting us get out the test area.
It's possible to dig out escape holes on ordinary floors after all.
One may think that they're cutting corners by using common magic like this, but it's actually an effective method.
The fact that it's commonly used is exactly why its spell art has been through many refinements over time.
…Though it's also partly because using a spell art whose inner working you don't know well could potentially result in having its weakness used against you.
"Welcome, test partner-kun."
The elder brother Anmorr's voice could be heard when I was checking out the barrier.
Then elder Anmorr asked us after pondering just for a bit.
"…Right, I forgot to ask one thing. So Mathi-kun is here to be our test sparring partner, that's good and all, but why are those three with you?"
"It's cause we're gonna fight alongside him!"
"That's right! We're fighting too!"
"Me too, I'll fight too!"
Elder Anmorr pondered a bit after hearing the girls.
Then he shook his head.
"Unfortunately, I cannot allow that… Even if it's the strongest test body, fighting multiple foes right from the get go carries too much risk. All the more reason when one of those is a dragon in human form… Mathias-kun, you are to fight alone outside the barrier."
Elder Anmorr cast a spell after saying that.
Then the barrier enclosing us changed property.
Looks like it's been turned into a barrier that lets only me through.
"…I got it."
I walked outside the barrier.
The barrier turned back to its original state after I was outside.
"Mathi-kun alone!?"
"Are you saying we can only watch…?"
"Worry not. If you wish to fight, you'll have your turn from the second test onward… If you do not want to fight, you can become our test subjects for mana reinforcement through [Broken Star] instead. We can't have you go back alive now that you know about this place… Your honorable sacrifices will definitely prove useful for the sake of furthering magic development. I guarantee that much."
I check the surroundings while listening.
We're in a 15 meter-long cuboid space right now.
The barrier where I'm in is in one of its corners.
One man stood in the corner to the opposite of the girls.
--It's the little brother Anmorr.
"I welcome you to our proving ground! So very glad to have you here as a sparring partner for our strongest experimental body!"
Little brother Anmorr smiled like he was truly enjoying this after saying that.
However… I don't see anything resembling this test body anywhere nearby.
"…So where is this test body?"
I probe the surrounding mana.
The barrier here makes mana hard to pass through, but since it doesn't completely shut off all mana, it's possible to probe to a certain degree with [Passive Detection].
They probably did it on purpose so that they can gather data which otherwise would be impossible were mana was completely shut off.
…There are ways to collect mana data even while blocking detection though… But since these methods were mostly unknown even in my past life, I supposed these Anmorr brothers had no idea as well.
But no matter how much I used detection, it only showed me Anmorr brothers.
I found lots of mana reactions that seemed to be magic tools, but I couldn't find one weird enough to be connected to Dead Revival.
Doesn't seem like they're going to revive the test body here.
Is this a trap, I wonder.
Luring us here with seeking sparring partners as a pretext before exterminating us.
From our conversations with these brothers, I don't think they're the type that resorts to such schemes though…
Little Anmorr spoke while I was thinking.
"What do you mean by where? That test body is right in front of you."
I noticed it after hearing that.
--Little brother Anmorr's mana reaction feels a bit weird.
I could feel a peculiar mana pattern like the one ?Warmongers? had in them in little Anmorr.
The response is smaller compared to the one [Warmongers] had, but there's no mistaking it.
His mana response is obviously stranger compared to Ruli and the girls.