A terrifying presence exuded from the magic circle, along with a voice. After a second, a faint projection started to conjure out of the magic circle. It was a half-face with a vertical eye having a black patterned purple iris.

“Hmm?” Mura-Oni was surprised before understanding the situation quickly and growling, “how dare you!!”

“Meow~ This is a weak bastard. Heh, an entity requiring only fifteen young blood sacrifices can only be so powerful,” Tarto scoffed before appearing in front of the half-faced Mura-Oni while grinning and opening his mouth.

“What are you doing?!” Mura-Oni angrily shouted.

“Eating you,” Tarto grinned before his head became five meters big and devoured the whole projection face.

On the other hand, the young men were frozen with fear, and even Zevien started sweating when that terrifying presence exuded from the Mura-Oni. He was sure it was no less powerful than a 1st class magician.

“STOP!! There is 10% of my source power in this avatar! Y-you fuc—Arghhhhh.”

Tarto devoured Mura-Oni’s avatar entirely and didn’t even burp.

“Alright, our business here is finished,” Tarto said before licking his paws.

“No spell concept phenomenon?” Zevien was disappointed before shaking his head, “maybe it’s because you killed him, and I didn’t even hit him.”

“Nah, the rules of magic labyrinths have changed. More like, they are upgraded. The magic spell concept phenomenon doesn’t come in the obscure form now but as a reward in an inscribed slate,” Tarto said casually, “maybe you will get it once these kids safely reach home.”

“Hope so,” Zevien nodded before turning to the young men, “it’s time to go home.”

…

Everyone left the dormant volcano and saw a small troop of ten knights riding on horses in front of them.

The knights saw the kids and sighed in relief before finding out the whole situation.

“Thank you for saving the kids, young magician,” the leader of the knights cupped his fist and thanked Zevien, “please come to the King as he would surely want to reward you for your efforts.”

“Sure, let’s see how broad-hearted your king is,” Zevien nodded with a smile.

The knights became a bit uncomfortable hearing what Zevien said, but they didn’t take it to heart seeing Zevien’s smiling expression, which showed that he meant no rudeness with what he said. [A/N: no shit]

“Let the kids sit on your horses while I follow you by flying,” Zevien said as he unfurled his vampire wings and flew up. Smiling, he spoke, “we can return faster this way.”

“That was our intention,” the knight leader nodded before he and the other knights put the young men on their horses and started moving towards the kingdom.

Zevien followed them while flying as they arrived at the town where Zevien first appeared.

“The king is here? I don’t see a castle or anything in this town,” Zevien muttered with doubt, “oh well, I’ll see soon.”

After they dropped the kids to their parents, Zevien saw the information in his head.

==================================

[You have successfully completed the Magic Quest and earned a random chain. Activate it to know more about it.]

[Follow the knights to earn the gold coin rewards.]

==================================

‘That’s it?’ Zevien questioned Tarto, ‘it seems that you were wrong. I didn’t get any magic spell concept slate, or were you talking about the reward I will gain after completing this chain.’

‘Yeah, maybe you will get it after completing that chain adventure. I am not sure since I am not like you. I just saw someone getting a magic slate in the fairy spirit labyrinth, that’s all,’ Tarto replied nonchalantly.

Zevien was speechless but didn’t say anything and continued following the knights. Anyway, he was stupid to get his hopes high.

The knights led him deeper into the town. After arriving in front of a big tent that screamed the word “Royal” they stopped and gestured for Zevien to enter inside.

‘It seems that the king was in this town for a short visit,’ Zevien speculated after seeing the tent. He went inside and saw the king sitting in a chair with a young man and a girl sitting on his left and right.

The young man had short light-blue hair while the young girl had long light-purple hair. They both appeared to be seventeen-eighteen years old.

The king had purple hair and a beard. A regal aura exuded from his muscular body. He gestured for Zevien to sit in front of him on a couch with a smile. “Well done saving those kids, young magician. What is your name?”

“Zevien,” Zevien smiled, “just Zevien.”

The king caressed his beard with a nod before taking out a pouch filled with gold coins, “please take this meager reward of 1000 gold coins for saving those kids.”

“Oh, it’s fine,” Zevien waved his hand and shook his head, “these meager 1000 gold coins are not needed. It is a moral duty of everyone to save people if they are in the clutches of evil hands.”

‘What are you playing at here, Zev?’ Tarto asked with a curious expression.

‘I am just risking these 1000 gold coins to get something better. I am in front of a king, so he should have more valuable things than merely gold coins,’ Zevien replied.

The king was startled for a moment before smiling and taking back his gold coins, “indeed. A talented young magician such as yourself can easily earn 1000 gold coins. It appears that I was short-sighted in presenting my reward.”

“Father, a magician only wants one thing aside from wealth,” the princess said with a smile.

“Hahaha, indeed,” the king smiled and nodded before waving his hand lightly, which caused a scroll to appear in front of him. The scroll floated towards Zevien as the king spoke, “this is a tier-4 spell, Chasm Severing Sword. You might not be able to learn it now, but it will be useful to you in the future.”

Zevien’s eyes lit up as he didn’t expect to get such a big haul and grabbed the scroll before standing up and cupping his fist, “thank you for this valuable reward. I was not expecting this.”

The king laughed and waved his hand, “I was the one who created that spell, so it’s fine. It’s my first ever perfect tier-4 magic spell, and I believe you can also use it to its full potential and combine it with other spells to make it stronger in the future.”

“Father, I want to have a duel with Zevien,” the prince spoke with fighting spirit in his eyes.

“Leave it, Dorel. Sir Zevien’s magic power is higher than mine,” princess Tina said as she rolled her eyes, “you can’t beat me, so you won’t be able to beat Sir Zevien.”

“What?” prince Dorel was startled as he muttered, “higher than Tina? But he is of similar age as me.”

‘Tarto, how much magic power do they both have?’ Zevien asked.

‘The boy has approximately eight hundred magic power, and the girl has a bit over one thousand,’ Tarto replied, ‘well, they are no match for you…because of my shaman seed.’

Zevien was speechless before snorting inwardly, ‘humph, I manifested my magic eidos body one year late like many others while they were one year early, that’s all.’

“Hahaha, you can duel with others after a few years, but not now,” the king laughed heartily, “you two have to inherit our ancestral magic first.”

…

After talking a bit more, Zevien also found out that they caught the scamming vendor after Zevien left the town and also burned those books.

Ten minutes later, he left the tent and then the town before activating the chain at his wrist.

==================================

[Chain activated: Mirror of Oz-Fin]

-Follow the trail, find the location, and earn a relic.

==================================

From his wrist, Zevien saw a faint trail appearing like a rope that extended beyond his vision.

‘Pretty far,’ Tarto commented.

‘How far?’ Zevien asked as he took off and started following the trail.

‘Two hundred kilometers.’

‘Oh…’ Zevien wondered while flying, ‘the chain’s name is Mirror of Oz-Fin. Is it related to the relic? Because the name does sound like one.’

‘Who knows,’ Tarto shrugged, ‘but we will find it when the time comes. I also want to know fully about this new system of magic labyrinths; that’s why I am accompanying you.’

Zevien continued flying. As time passed, he encountered magic beasts on the way and killed the ones he could kill while running away from ones that were more powerful than him.

He was tired and exhausted when he was fifty kilometers away from the location. It was time to leave the magic labyrinth.

Zevien traveled a bit more to find a good spot. He found a waterfall which he entered and hid behind it. The waterfall had a hollow space behind it at which Zevien sat down crossed-legged before trying to stay here as much as possible by meditating.