The Academy Regressor is Obsessed

Simplified Labyrinth 2nd Floor.

Just like the real labyrinth, the 2nd floor had an active aquatic ecosystem. It wasn’t that there was no walkable land, but there were more flowing streams and lakes than solid ground.

Small man-eating fish and strangely shaped merfolk swam in the water, occasionally leaping above the surface to tear off flesh. Asel quickly grabbed a fish that suddenly jumped up with his hand and observed it closely.

Its size was no different from ordinary fish. However, its huge mouth was densely packed with hundreds of teeth similar to human teeth. An oral structure more specialized for crushing rather than biting. Asel electrocuted the fish to death and then threw the corpse back into the water.

Splash!

Immediately, other creatures frantically swarmed around the dead fish. In the blink of an eye, the corpse disappeared, leaving only bones. Only bloody water flowed along the stream.

“It’s better not to enter the water if possible.”

Selene muttered. Asel nodded and layered even more shields to protect the group.

For waterways that were impossible to traverse on foot, Asel ensured safety by directly placing his hand in the water and electrocuting all the creatures living inside. All sorts of creatures instantly floated to the surface. Asel extended the shield like a long bridge to cross the wide lake.

It was an astonishing level of formula shaping. Although Shield is one of the most basic defensive magics, it’s very difficult to mold its shape at will. The simpler the formula, the harder it is to modify.

But Asel was achieving this effortlessly on the spot. Moreover, he wasn’t even a magician who primarily learned defensive magic.

‘Where on earth did such a guy come from, really.’

Even to Selene, who had grown up being called a genius in the magic tower, he was an existence beyond imagination. Moreover, he wasn’t just handling lightning magic. He was a multi-attribute holder who freely handled all sorts of magic branches.

Every time she witnessed his magic, she could feel how vast the world was. She realized that even outside the closed group of the magic tower, there were superhumans who could change the world just by breathing. However, rather than despairing at this fact, Selene burned with even more competitive spirit.

It was a position she too would reach someday. What did it matter what the situation was now? If she could see the constellations and wield them, if she could handle the power of the stars, there was nothing to be intimidated or afraid of.

Just as the countless constellations always floating in the sky never deviate from their orbits, Selene firmly believed that her genius would never fade. That’s why she could purely admire the performances Asel showed.

Saya, not having much knowledge about magic itself, felt nothing beyond the impression that it was ‘amazing’.

Slash!

When an eel with lightning resistance came up to bite his leg, the edge of the shield bent slightly and flew like a harpoon, cutting the eel in two.

Probably a creature with characteristics similar to an electric eel.

Asel stared at the blue blood spreading in the water for a moment, then continued walking. Soon they were able to step on solid ground. After confirming that even Saya, who was walking at the very back, had completely left the lake, he retracted the long-extended shield.

“Hey hey, look over there.”

At that moment, Selene tapped Asel’s shoulder and pointed to one side. Turning his head in that direction, Asel could see numerous fish-men standing as if guarding the stairs going down.

Not merfolk. Fish-men. They had two legs like humans but covered in colorful scales. Their upper bodies were just like fish bodies.

Sharp tongues repeatedly protruded like spears between their gaping mouths. Seeing that they had no arms, they probably fought with those tongues.

“……”

Despite their creepy appearance, the aura they exuded was quite strong. A powerful fighting spirit incomparable to the Finger Worms they had dealt with on the 1st floor. However, it wasn’t to the extent that the group couldn’t handle. Although there were quite a few of them, there were two magicians here specialized in mass slaughter.

Cooking fish would be no big deal.

“I’ll handle this one.”

But it was Saya who stepped forward. She released her hidden tail and dyed her pupils cyan.

Youki (demon power), granted only to a very few among fox beastkin. As it was unleashed, the surrounding air became quite sticky. It felt as if mucus had settled on the skin. Asel looked at Selene, who stuck out her tongue going “Yuck,” then spoke to Saya.

“There’s no need to go that far.”
“No, it’s fine. The deeper we go, the stronger creatures we’ll encounter, so at least until then, it’s better for me, with the weakest combat ability, to take action. And these aren’t opponents that would be much of a burden.”

Saya smiled as she looked at the fish-men who started squawking upon sensing her youki. Asel also smiled bitterly and took a step back.

“Alright. Then I’ll leave it to you.”
“Yes.”

She nodded and answered like that, then snapped her fingers while looking at the fish-men who had raised their long tongues straight up. Then, cyan fox-fire bloomed beside her head. A flame of enchantment that could bewitch people just by existing. It seemed to work the same on the fish-men, as their eyes suddenly became unfocused.

-Squawk?
-Gurgle! Kyaaak!!

Some were still clear-headed, but more were momentarily bewitched. Saya didn’t miss the opening created like this.

“My children.”

A voice filled with youki burst from her mouth. Hypnosis, one of the magic arts allowed to fox beastkin, kneaded the brains of the fish-men using her voice as a medium.

-Kweeek……

Their bodies went limp as if all life had drained from them. Just as the fish-men who were somehow maintaining their senses opened their mouths to wake up their comrades,

“Kill them.”

At Saya’s following words, the bodies of the slumped fish-men stiffened. Then, like dolls with broken joints, they turned their heads and pierced the hearts of the other fish-men with their tongues.

Squish!!

It happened in an instant. The hypnotized fish-men advanced, killing their own kind all at once. Those who weren’t hypnotized tried to respond as best they could in their confusion, but they couldn’t avoid the spear-like tongues coming from all directions and died helplessly.

“Wow……”

Blood and grayish-white flesh splattered everywhere. The perceptive fish-men realized that Saya was the cause of the current situation and rushed to kill her, but they were pierced and killed by other fish-men who threw themselves to protect her.

After a while, when there were no more unaffected fish-men left, the hypnotized fish-men pierced each other’s hearts and committed suicide.

There were no more fish-men standing on two legs. Only cold lumps of meat rolled on the floor.

‘More impressive than I thought.’

Asel thought as he looked at the blood soaking the floor.

This was the second time he had seen Saya fight. The first was when they encountered Birsia and the doppelganger’s nest.

At that time, she didn’t use magic like hypnosis or enchantment. She simply lit fox-fire with physical substance and pushed back the approaching undead. So it was fair to say this was the first time seeing her true worth.

For someone in a non-combat department, there seemed to be no lack in her handling of youki. If she mixed magical engineering machines into combat along with this… she might even be more formidable in battle than the average magical studies student.

“The cleanup is done. Shall we go?”

Saya turned towards Asel, who was lost in thought, and asked. Asel smiled slightly and nodded.

“Good work. Let’s go.”
“You, you were a more amazing beastkin than I thought?”

Selene, who had been standing far behind, chattered as she came to stand beside Saya. Saya laughed softly and walked forward, burning the obstructing corpses on the floor with fox-fire.

After crossing over the countless piles of corpses, a deep staircase leading down came into view. Asel shot a bolt of lightning towards that dark space.

Zap!!

The fiercely burning lightning raced through the space, momentarily pushing back the darkness. The stairs revealed like this were not much different from before.

Sticky and humid air spread all around. Water droplets falling from the ceiling and clear, intense malice rising from below. And a few ordinary bats on the stairs, that was all.

The only addition from the stairs they saw when descending from the 1st to 2nd floor was the bats. It was a simple structure that didn’t even require moving with much tension. Of course, that didn’t mean they intended to completely let their guard down.

The labyrinth itself was a place full of variables. Many cases of losing one’s head due to a moment’s carelessness, so rushing in recklessly was no different from suicide. So Asel controlled all the darkness on the stairs with shadow magic, created small clusters of light through radiance magic, and descended the stairs. The two followed behind him, watching their surroundings vigilantly.

Not long after, they reached the 3rd floor.

The 3rd floor was almost identical in structure to the 2nd floor. Countless lakes spread out around small stone paths, and streams flowed following gravity.

The creatures living there didn’t seem much different either, as the same life forms they saw on the 2nd floor appeared.

The group wandered around the 3rd floor for a few more minutes, then realizing there was no value in exploring further, they set out to find the stairs. As Asel began wielding lightning in earnest, the monsters simply burned away without being able to do anything.

Before long, they were able to find stairs leading down. They also searched for stairs going up but couldn’t find any, so the group went down again this time.

And so they arrived at the 4th floor.

What unfolded this time was a dense jungle. Stifling heat weighed down on their bodies, and bizarrely shaped monkeys sitting in trees looked down at the group.

A natural environment where finding stairs itself was difficult. But Asel immediately employed his magical power.

There was no problem in doing research through corpses. So securing visibility was the right thing to do first.

Fortunately, among the lightning magic Asel handled, there were many spells suitable for this environment. Asel chanted one of them, a magic that annihilates over a wide area, and manifested it right away.

[Thunder Breakthrough]

Rumble!!

As he clapped his hands, thunder roared from them. The monsters’ nerves stood on edge at the sudden enormous noise. Asel’s magical power raced to the extent the sound reached.

Soon, the magical power changed into lightning and swept through everything the sound touched.

Crash!!!

There was no time to resist. The rampaging, spreading lightning overturned the jungle terrain itself. Trees burned and vanished, and the dense undergrowth turned to ashes without leaving a trace.

The creatures were beyond mentioning. From monkeys whose spines snapped from the lightning’s recoil, to a tiger with its mouth and anus reversed, convulsing madly while spewing lightning from its whole body. Besides those, eagle-like pterosaurs and huge drakes were scattered about, their bodies brutally mangled.

The group examined these briefly, then went down again this time.

And so they reached the 5th floor of the Simplified Labyrinth.

As the group was imagining what strange ecosystem might appear this time, a mansion revealed itself before their eyes.

“…What is this…”

Asel muttered with a dumbfounded expression at the sudden appearance of the mansion. The faces of the other two were not much different from Asel’s.

A mansion built in a labyrinth without a single light. Its size was so enormous it could be compared to one of the Academy dormitories. The interior couldn’t be seen at all, as if black curtains were drawn over the windows, and an eerie atmosphere was creeping out from the mansion.

‘The book definitely said the 5th floor of the labyrinth was a resting place.’

So is this ominous mansion supposed to be the resting place?

But the atmosphere it gives off and its scale seem very out of place for a simple resting area. It feels like a mad magician conducting human experiments might live there.

Just as Asel was about to manifest detection magic with a hopeful heart,

Creeeeak.

“Yawn… Huh? What are these things?”

A man wearing a shabby robe appeared from inside the mansion.