Mage Legend
Chapter 73: Episode 17 Secret Passage_2

Chapter 73: Episode 17 Secret Passage_2

Lynch grabbed the warrior who was about to jump into the cave, then looked at the mist curled up into a small cluster. Deluo and Nimo widened their eyes, scanning around to find the source of the voice they just heard.

"Why did you stop us?" Lynch asked the Red Mist, puzzled.

"They, they have mechanisms down there... The first one to go down is fine, but those who follow all become like this..." The Red Mist slowly transformed, splitting into two parts, then shook its body to quickly merge back together.

"Become what? Become what?" Nimo asked eagerly. Lynch waved his hand, signaling him to stay silent for a moment. "Do you know how to pursue them?"

"Hmm..." After a brief silence, a faint answer came back: "I... I have a way."

Following that mist, Lynch, Deluo, and Nimo walked deeper into the mine. All along, Deluo was looking around, trying to find where the voice was coming from, but all they saw in front of them was an empty tunnel.

"It’s... it’s right here..." The Red Mist stopped, extending a small portion of gas, shaped it like a hand, and pointed to a stone wall nearby.

Lynch looked in the direction it indicated and saw a thick stone wall. Only when he used the Eye of Insight with full concentration could he barely glimpse a passage behind the stone. Looking again at the surrounding environment, it had to be said that unless one was a skillful wanderer experienced in dealing with such secret doors, it was truly impossible for an ordinary person to notice.

Lynch pointed to the spot where the secret door was and said to Deluo and Nimo, "This is it."

Deluo stepped forward and pushed hard against the wall, which produced a screeching friction sound, but the secret door didn’t budge. Nimo walked up to the door, gently stroking the stone wall, took out a dagger, and lightly traced the wall, outlining the door’s shape in no time. He stood before the door, pondered for a moment, then turned and ran to the opposite wall, searching and feeling around again.

With a muffled rumbling sound, the secret door retracted back into the cave—it was originally a movable stone. Nimo stood on the other side of the passage, holding a lever hidden behind the wall.

"Okay, a lot of these doors have mechanisms to open them, usually somewhere on the opposite side of the door." Nimo dusted his hands with satisfaction, saying joyfully. The three of them entered through this secret door.

The air inside the cave was especially polluted, likely due to a long absence of ventilation. Lynch and the others proceeded forward slowly, only advancing a distance when they felt the quality of the air improved.

There was surprisingly no clutter inside this cave. No spider webs, no scattered garbage, and the floor was clean—aside from a thick layer of dust.

They turned a corner, and what appeared before them was a sight that stunned them.

It was a gigantic demon statue, its entire body a metallic silver-white, with only some places showing rust-like bronze; its body was inscribed with red magical runes, densely covering every corner. Both arms and half a leg had fallen from its body, lying beneath the thick dust. The entire demon statue lay silently in a recessed stone wall, its eyes vacant as it looked at the cave ceiling. The shape of the recess matched the statue’s form very well, as if the statue had been forcefully smashed into the wall, resulting in its current damaged state.

In a corner beside the statue lay a chest, half-opened, containing some papers and scrolls. Lynch estimated that based on the dust thickness here, no one had been to this place for nearly a thousand years. The fact that those papers and scrolls hadn’t rotted meant only one thing: They were either enchanted with magic or they were magical scrolls.

Nimo approached and carefully examined the statue’s broken leg. He turned his head toward Lynch and said, "This is mithril, the whole statue is made of mithril! But what’s strange is... these mithril are not as good in quality as the ones you brought."

"According to records, long ago, there was an ability to create Secret Silver Magic Statues. This represented a whole new concept of constructed creatures: They had unmatched speed compared to other apparatus creatures, destroying all obstacles during high-speed advances. More terrifyingly, they were completely immune to all magic. Their design purpose was to protect their fragile masters—the Great Arcanists—when they ran out of spells. Even the Great Arcanists wouldn’t choose to fight such creations head-on. They could basically be called the strongest killing machines on the battlefield—of course, there was also the Refined Gold Magic Statue, but that was too slow—after the Great Arcanists vanished, the method of creating such things was lost as well."

"It sounds like these things could be mass-produced?" Nimo eyed the colossal being before him. "It must have consumed very little mithril!"

"Don’t worry, those were not mithril ore. They used a peculiar spell to transform iron into mithril. Now this arcane technique is basically lost."

"Basically... lost, what does that mean." The mist floated towards the statue and slowly addressed the mage.

Lynch looked at the red mist and the red magic markings on the statue, gradually understanding the gist of the situation, he carefully chose his words: "I may not be able to use this magic, but I know where it might be documented."

The Red Mist floated silently in mid-air, its two black eyes staring at the mage. After a long while, it finally spoke again: "If... if you had that spell, could you repair this... statue?"

"Yes."

The red mist circled the statue twice, then floated to Lynch and the others: "Can you swear..."

Lynch smiled at the red mist, "I can."

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