{Obelisk of Bael}

A dimly lit spacious room that traces of grandeur could be seen clearly. In the middle of it, a man stood lonely with his long brown hair billowing graciously. Around him littered many corpses of his slain enemies. Monsters that endangered human, the terrors of mankind.

His stature remained unperturbed. Instead of taking pride in finally clearing the last Obelisk alone, he had a puzzled expression on his face. His sharp brows furrowed gently, and he bit his lower lip delicately.

“This is not right. The last word of the Obelisk Master, the seven princes’ arrival, bothered me.”

Obelisk Master, a term that was used to call the holder of authority in an Obelisk. Obelisk Master was the leader of all the horde of monsters produced by the Obelisk. To successfully clear an Obelisk, one had to slay the Obelisk Master.

Obelisk of Bael’s Master, Goliath, in his last breath spewed some threads of unintelligible words to his slayer, Basil Pacifer.

“Ku-ku-ku.. you may think you have won…” He talked unintelligibly after that, and the last intelligible things he said was, “Just wait! When the Seven Princes arrive, only despair shall await you!”

This, of course took Basil’s attention. His cautious nature naturally made him consider those words a fact, not just some baseless threats. But, he still couldn’t think of anything that had something to do with Seven Princes.

While pondering this, new questions popped instead.

What is the true identity of Obelisk?

Who created it?

What is the purpose of its creation?

With those thoughts filling his mind, puzzlement naturally appeared on his face.

“Pheww… can’t help it. No matter how I think about it, nothing comes out,” he sighed before moving his gaze to a black gigantic door in front of him.

“Alright, let’s explore the secret chamber first. Now that the Obelisk Master has died, I can consider myself lucky. I don’t have to search the secret chamber after all. It’s right in front me!” Though he said it brightly, there were no happiness on his face.

As always, he was stoic and cautious.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

His steps were gracious and quiet. Though he was walking, in the perspective of normal people, he looked like gliding through the floor. It wasn’t Art by any chance, it was just how he walked normally. It showed how amazing of a mage he was.

The highest level of magic mastery, the ninth circle. That was the level Basil currently in. History only recorded 4 people that managed to break that boundary and attained a level above the ninth circle. But, it was believed that it was merely a myth.

Nothing clear about the history of humanity from 2000 years ago. It was a time that was labeled The Age of Chaos due to how chaotic the situation. That was the time where Obelisks showed themselves for the first time.

Monsters were pouring ceaselessly from the Obelisk. Obelisk Master wasn’t cooped inside, they freely roamed the outside world.

Many people were slaughtered. Humanity faced its first crisis that was worse than natural disasters. The population dropped to 40% of the original population. No longer having a war against each other, people decided to unite under one banner, that was Humanity.

Although powerless, they kept struggling with everything they had. The previously 40% of the population, dropped to 35% and kept dropping until it hit 20% mark. In the time of absolute despair, at last, humanity found its hope.

Four heroes showed themselves and helped humanity to fight the monsters. They were the very first human grasped the concept of magic. Standing at the very front of the battlefield, they slew millions of monsters and tens of Obelisk Masters alike.

Inspired by the four heroes, people who had lost their will to fight previously requested to learn magic from them. Only by then, humanity learned the existence of magic circle. Located on their heart, magic circle was the only way human had to utilize mana effectively.

Right after humanity managed to push back the monsters back inside the Obelisk, the four heroes mysteriously gone. It took 40 years of war for humanity to win. Thousands of ninth circled mage was produced, yet none of them were close to the might of the four heroes.

With their sudden disappearance, people assumed that they had attained a level that was simply too high for the world to bear. Thus, they left the world. Although it wasn’t confirmed to be true, many people believed so.

No one wanted to remember bad memories. Especially, the memories of struggles and near annihilation. Back then, people only thought of survival. Therefore, no documented information could be found.

“Such a long history of magic, yet rather than improving, we keep degrading from time to time. Stagnancy is something to joy, not to say improvement. It would be a miracle,” mumbled Basil by the time he arrived in front of the gigantic black door.

Exactly as what Basil said, rather than increasing, the number of the ninth circled mage was decreasing. Even currently, there was only one ninth circled mage. And that was himself. The other mages only reached the level of eighth circle at best.

Because of this, he was hailed as the humanity’s hope. Of course, if he heard it, he would snort and said, “I am neither your hope nor your saviour. Help yourself, don’t bother someone else.”

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Upon knocking on the door, Basil waited for a few seconds before pushing the door.

“Three knocks and three seconds rule. If there is still no response, you are free to barge in,” he uttered righteously. Of course, it was only applicable for someone like him. If just anyone tried to do it, they would have their head rolling on the floor faster than they could blink.

Creak.

A loud sound of the door’s lower part clashing against the floor resounding in the room that was far bigger than the room belonged to the Obelisk Master.

Whoosh.

In a closed space, naturally no wind could blow inside. Simply said, it wasn’t a wind blow, it was an aura of oppression that would make an eighth circled mage and below wet their pants. Basil straightened his posture even more.

He exhaled and muttered, “Here we go again.” Quickly observing his surrounding, he made his first step inside the secret chamber. There were no lightings inside, but it was no problem for him. He could even fight with his eyes closed.

He could see two notable things inside the room. An altar that was as big as a house and a tablet that was displayed inside a magic barrier on the altar. Although nothing shiny could be noted from the tablet, in Basil’s eyes, it was blinding.

“Well, isn’t it a jackpot?” Finally, he managed to arrive in front of the tablet. Although it was inside a magic barrier, the barrier didn’t obstruct one’s vision, so Basil could easily see the content of tablet. And, as expected…

“What kind of person has this chicken scratch like handwriting,” he sighed and decided to stop trying on comprehending it.

Basil extended his hand and gathered his mana in the tip of his index finger. An amethyst like aura was exuded from his finger. An oppressive aura that was incomparable to the aura of the secret chamber surrounded his body.

“[Heaven Piercer]!” Basil muttered softly. Such a domineering name! But, it wasn’t that his naming sense was bad. It was what his Art actually did. Once he used it, it had the capability to pierce the heaven! At least, that was how it looked. Basil was aware he couldn’t pierce the heaven… yet.

Boom!

Crack!

The magic barrier that was protecting the tablet slowly broke under the crazy power of Basil’s Art. When it finally broke, a stone tablet with the size of a book could be seen. Looking it with a normal person’s eyes, it was just an ordinary stone tablet.

But in Basil’s eyes, it was shining even more. Impatience! A feeling he had not had for a long time already. But this time..

‘I feel attracted to it. It is as if I were to hold on any longer, I would lose it!’

Then, incautiously, Basil touched the tablet. More than before, it shone brightly. Basil who was having a direct contact with it felt as if an extremely powerful wave crashed on him.

It was so bright that Basil was forced to close his eyes. Just as he closed his eyes, the crushing wave that he felt earlier gone as if a lie.

“Eh?”

And by the time he opened his eyes, the stone tablet along with its blindingly bright light was gone too.. Undoubtedly, his current facial expression was the most comical face he ever made.