“That’s right. The Thirteen Heroes are a relic of the past. They couldn’t win against Master who is at the cutting edge of new magic techniques.”

“I also feel that Master had already surpassed the Thirteen Heroes. If Master could control the Death Knight, the Empire would gain the greatest fighting power.”

“They say the power of one could not defeat the power of many, but that is just because the power of that individual is still too weak. This Death Knight is truly the strongest being.”

No one could see Fluder’s wry smile since he was standing at the very front. Only the eyes of the Death Knight saw it.

“Even Master couldn’t dominate… this Death Knight. Just how powerful is he?”

“That… remains unknown. Theoretically, it could be dominated. Does anyone have any idea what are we lacking?”

After some time, the answer was still silence.

The undead could be dominated through magic, but the only one who succeeded in doing so was one of the Thirteen Heroes. Fluder was powerful enough to dominate undead that had a rather high level and he was powerful enough that he might just be able to dominate the Death Knight before him.

However, that was just in theory, dominating the undead requires a rather complicated process. Basically, the control and destruction of undead should be done by priests using the power of god. By using magic in place of the power of god, it was natural for all sorts of problems to arise.

“...I don’t mean to offend Master…”

One of the disciples spoke in a heavy manner, and Fluder gestured for him to continue.

“Maybe Master isn’t powerful enough? This Death Knight might exist because it had been summoned by magic of the 7th tier...”

“That is a good observation.”

“I heard the adventurers use numbers to gauge the difficulty level of monsters. How about using that?”

“But their gauge is very vague, I heard that the age and size of the monsters will render the numbers meaningless.”

Another disciple spoke.

“Apart from unknown monsters, there is nothing clearer and simpler than that. And since they represent the accumulated experiences of the adventurers, they shouldn’t be too far off.”

“Wouldn’t that be meaningless to a legendary monster like the Death Knight?”

“By the way Master, does the secret book chronicling countless monsters mention such a monster?”

“No.” Fluder stroked his beard. “Leaving the complete Eryuentiu aside, the version open to the public is useless.”

One disciple asked another a question. Their voices were soft, but it seemed loud in the quiet room.

“What is Eryuentiu?”

“Isn’t that the name of a city?”

“I heard about that. But what a queer name.”

“Ahh… I looked it up once, it means ‘the tree in the center of the world’ in an ancient tongue.”

Warning the disciples who were speaking casually, Fluder knocked his staff on the ground. This was a place imprisoning a legendary level undead, not some place where you could let down your guard.

Obeying the warning of the master of the room, ‘silence’ returned. The only sound was the squirming of the Death Knight as it tried to break its bonds.

“Regrettably, there is nothing else we can do here. At least for today. Let’s go.”

“Yes Master.”

After receiving several relieved replies, Fluder started moving away from the Death Knight..

Even Fluder had a different pace comparing his arrival and departure. With the pressure of the Death Knight’s gaze on his back, he unconsciously sped up. It was the same for the disciples.

Walking ahead, Fluder remembered the name one of his disciples had mentioned.

“Eryuentiu.”

The capital of the nation founded by the Eight Greed Kings, and also the last city that remained. At the same time, it was a city guarded by thirty guards equipped with overpowered magic weapons.

If he had a magic item from the Eight Greed Kings, Fluder was sure his magic skills would rise another level. It would never fall into the hands of others, the only exception being the few items the Thirteen Heroes had been allowed to take with them.

A dark flame flickered in Fluder’s heart.

The Thirteen Heroes. Heroes of the past. Fluder was someone who could rival them, but they received permission while he didn’t. He didn’t understand what he was lacking.

Fluder waved away the flickering flame and consoled himself. His current status and what he had achieved was on par with the accomplishments of the Thirteen Heroes. No, in the hearts of the Empire’s magic casters, Fluder had already surpassed them in status.

But the dark flames of jealousy couldn’t be extinguished so easily. He was not jealous of their power, talent or strength, but of their chance to peek into the abyss of magic before him.

Fluder was the best magic caster. This was a fact acknowledged by everybody, and the only ones that could be compared to him were the Thirteen Heroes of the past. However, he couldn’t dominate the Death Knight, and could only use—according to rumours —six of the ten tiers of magic.

He was far from reaching the abyss of magic.

And he was old.

Fluder was a mental spell magic caster using one of the system of the Wizardry-based class— Forbidden Arts. By using spells that were taboo, he stopped his aging. Of course, it was a complicated spell considering Fluder’s level of training, but he forced it through by using a combination of ritual and spells.

However, his method of making the impossible possible had a flaw. Fluder, who shouldn’t be aging anymore after casting the spell perfectly, could still feel himself aging slowly.

It was still manageable for now, but with the passage of time, his end would come one day.

That’s right. Fluder would die before seeing the abyss of magic.

If someone else had done so before him, he might be able to arrive at this stage earlier, but with his lack of predecessors, he had to pave his own path.

Fluder looked at the disciples around him.

The ones walking on the path paved by the figure known as Fluder.

With fuel added to the flames of jealousy, the fire burned brighter.

He, the most talented one of everyone present, how much time had he taken to reach the stage his disciples were at? No, without even thinking about it, he was definitely older than those disciples of his. Someone who was taught and the pioneer who paved the way, that was how wide the difference was.