Chapter 899: Bill George
After calculating around the altar for several minutes, Leon was certain: this altar had no real effect on the overall alchemical array. Its only function was to speed up the Black Iron Orcs' advancement in rank—it was useless for humans.
That’s precisely why this altar could exist in Radiance Fortress for who knows how long. Even if the Black Iron Orcs tore down the entire fortress, the altar itself wouldn’t suffer the slightest damage.
With a wave of Leon’s hand, his mage legion sprang into action. In less than three minutes, they had dismantled the altar completely. Beneath the ten-meter-tall altar, a pitch-black hollow was revealed. Standing at the edge, one couldn’t tell how deep the passage went. Dense Abyssal fumes drifted up from below, swirling into thin mist that seeped out continuously.
Meanwhile, Wagner, seeing Leon suddenly rally his subordinates, immediately ducked his head and hid in his room. But barely a moment later, he popped out again, sneaking off toward the neighboring room.
Damn it, why did Leon Merlin suddenly gather all his men? Is he planning to start another fight? No way—I need to hide, or he’ll drag me into the battle. Hiding in my room won’t work. I’ll just slip next door. He’ll never find me there.
I’m just an eighth-rank Title Archmage. Without my legion, there’s no way I could take on those muscle-brained orcs...
Wagner snickered to himself as he slipped out the back of his room, sneaking into the one next door—trying to pull off a classic ‘hiding in plain sight’ move. But he hadn’t gone two steps when a shadow dropped from above.
With a thunderous crash, the ground shuddered violently. Wagner stared at the red-skinned orc hefting a massive hammer before him, who looked thoroughly impatient. Wagner could only offer an awkward smile.
“Uh, Shuban, right? Why are you blocking me?”
The results of the magical scans were surprising: no mana reactions, no signs of life, not even a trace of undead.
But after descending the stairs for a while, Leon understood why there were no magical defenses here.
The straight, downward-sloping passage suddenly split into three branches. Leon frowned slightly and sent three Wizard's Eyes into each corridor to scout.
Unexpectedly, the Wizard's Eyes lost clarity after flying just over ten meters—the images blurred rapidly, and after twenty meters, Leon lost contact with them entirely.
He summoned three Stone Golems, but the result was the same: after entering the passages for twenty meters, contact was completely lost. Yet Leon could sense, faintly, that the golems hadn’t vanished—they were just being heavily interfered with.
To proceed, there was only one way—choose a passage and go in, traversing this seemingly ordinary maze without relying on magic.
But this seemingly simple maze completely cut off any chance for a mage to use magic to their advantage.
With a wave of Leon’s hand, several floating sheets of draft paper appeared before him. He gripped his crystal quill, scribbling rapid calculations with the help of the Unified Mana Harness. The data on the paper was minimal—only the key numbers.
After a minute, Leon strode decisively toward the leftmost passage.
Normally, the middle corridor would seem the obvious choice, and the slightly clever or suspicious would pick the left. But once doubt arose, the odds of choosing left dropped sharply—the middle and right passages were most likely to be picked.
Leon put away the draft paper and crystal quill, frowning slightly. The owner of this relic had a psychological insight almost like True Sight—able to see right through human blind spots.
Facing a maze that wasn’t magical, most mages would rely on their own judgment. If not for the complete structure of Radiance Fortress and the array, Leon wouldn’t have chosen the left passage either.
But combining all the data and clues—the angle, position, and length of the passages—the leftmost corridor was the only one that could possibly lead beneath Radiance Fortress.
The amount of calculation needed was astronomical. Without the Unified Mana Harness, a non-magical craftsman would need at least a day, and only if they had the complete fortress and array data.
[Irrelevant reading prompt skipped.]
Even the first passage, which seemed simple, was the hardest and most dangerous choice.
And it was obvious—the other two passages must be hiding deadly traps.
A bead of cold sweat broke out on Leon’s forehead. Now he was almost certain this relic belonged to Bill George. Only someone who’d faced countless hardships in the first half of their life could lay out such a maze—seemingly simple, but deadly and insidious.
Leon summoned Wizard's Eyes and Stone Golems to scout ahead, but still felt uneasy. He opened a Hellgate and summoned an Abyssal Imp, forcing it to lead the way.
Anderson and the others had no idea why Leon had suddenly become so cautious—almost excessively so.
But after following Leon for so long, everyone knew that situations making Leon this cautious were vanishingly rare. Even Hubert, usually the most reckless, kept his mouth shut and trailed obediently behind.
They hadn’t gone far before another fork appeared—again, three passages. Leon spent over ten minutes calculating before determining the correct route was the rightmost one.
Wagner followed, utterly baffled. He couldn’t understand why three simple choices required such lengthy calculations, or why Leon insisted on using three scouting methods even after the answer was found.
This was just too cautious. Wouldn’t it be enough to summon a few elementals to scout ahead? Any danger would be discovered early, and even if you picked wrong, you could just retreat. Leon was being paranoid—Wizard's Eye and Stone Golem weren't enough; he even risked opening a Hellgate and sending out an Abyssal Imp.
After passing seven forks, when they reached the eighth set of three identical tunnels, everyone had gotten used to it—they stopped automatically, waiting for Leon to calculate the right path.
Once the calculations were done, Leon still cautiously sent Wizard's Eyes and Stone Golems ahead for dozens of meters.
This passage, too, seemed completely safe. The rocks on either side only bore reinforced runes, just like every other corridor they’d passed—no difference at all.
At least, through the Wizard's Eyes and Stone Golems, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
Yet Leon acted as if facing a mortal enemy, forcing the not-so-obedient Abyssal Imp to scout another twenty meters ahead.
They’d gone through seven passages with no changes, but suddenly, something shifted. When the Wizard's Eyes and Stone Golems passed through, nothing happened. But when the Abyssal Imp ventured forth, some of the reinforced runes suddenly transformed. The ordinary runes rearranged and combined into new ones. In an instant, the corridor was filled with a dense web of Blazing Rays.
Each crimson ray was as thick as a finger, instantly weaving a dense, tangled web across the corridor.
The most terrifying part was that it wasn’t just one web of Blazing Rays—there were dozens, spaced every ten meters, layered atop one another.
The Abyssal Imp, dripping with malice, was instantly pierced by three Blazing Rays. A wave of burnt, acrid stench filled the passage, and a spray of violet blood splattered out, only to be vaporized by the searing rays.
The imp barely twitched before its body, passing through the Blazing Ray web, was sliced into countless pieces—instantly torn apart...
A moment later, a torrent of violet blood sprayed out, only to be instantly vaporized by the scorching rays. Even the imp's body was reduced to ashes that scattered to the ground...
Leon frowned, a glimmer of realization flashing in his eyes.
This was unmistakably Bill George’s style. That old bastard, whose first half of life was nothing but hardship and bitterness, loved nothing more than setting traps that killed before you even realized you’d walked into them—always with a touch of cruel surprise.
[End of chapter.]
A chill ran down Leon’s spine. This kind of deadly, insidious trap—one that only revealed itself at the last possible moment—was a signature move of Bill George, the exiled prince turned archmage.
Wagner stared at the remains of the Abyssal Imp, his face pale. Even with all Leon's caution, one misstep could mean instant death. This wasn’t a place for hesitation.
Reina glanced at Leon, her eyes reflecting both admiration and unease. She knew Leon’s paranoia was never unfounded—if he was this careful, the threat was real.
Hubert gripped his hammer a little tighter, the bravado in his posture replaced by wary silence. Even Anderson, usually unflappable, kept his spells ready, watching every shadow.
The group pressed on, nerves stretched taut, each footstep echoing in the gloom beneath Radiance Fortress. Bill George’s legacy was not just in magic—it was in the psychological warfare he waged on every intruder.
Leon calculated every step, every angle, every possible outcome. In these ruins, even a moment’s lapse in caution could mean the end.
The deeper they went, the heavier the air grew—thick with Abyssal power and the weight of ancient grudges. Every wall seemed to whisper warnings, every rune a threat.
Wagner couldn’t help but wonder: if Bill George’s traps were this cruel, what kind of secrets lay buried deeper? And would they survive long enough to find out?
Leon paused, his eyes narrowing as he studied the next intersection. The maze wasn’t just stone and magic—it was a test of will, of intellect, of nerve.
They stepped forward into darkness, knowing that every choice was a gamble—and Bill George never played fair.