Magic Academy's Villain Bodyguard: I Must Tame All The Princesses-Chapter 28: Hidden Linkgate

It was unfortunate that Azariah had to do that.

But it was necessary.

He had done it from behind so they’d think it was accidental, but it had to be like this. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

The tide of lava falling toward him would instantly make them think that he was dead.

After all, he was only but a Novice rank.

’They were good people but...’

He had somewhere else to go. He could only hope that they’d not go back to report his death and move forward to clear the dungeon.

As for him, he had easily been able to escape the lava tide by moving the moment he triggered those pillars.

Hiding behind a lava mountain now, he quickly started looking around.

’It should be here somewhere.’

He needed to be careful not to be seen by any wasps or monsters.

A screech from them would alert the party that he was alive, and the last thing he wanted right now was that.

What he was looking for right now was another lava plate. These lava plates were similar to pressure plates on geysers from his world.

However, the plate he was looking for had a specific shape.

Like that of a door.

Looking around and around for minutes, Azariah was almost about to give up and head somewhere else until he finally saw it.

It was hidden by a bit of lava on its surface, but he was quickly able to clear it.

This door-shaped lava plate wasn’t actually a lava plate.

’Here it is.’

It was actually an entrance—an entrance to another Linkgate.

Very, very, very rarely, Linkgates of high ranks would have another hidden Linkgate inside them.

Like another pocket dimension. These were Linkgates that could be completely opposite to what the original Linkgate was.

Their rank was completely random as well, so one had to be extra careful where they could lead you to.

However, if one ventured inside a hidden Linkgate and cleared it, it was said that the rewards obtained from the Linkgate could be even better than the original one’s rewards.

Stepping on the plate, Azariah saw it suddenly disappear and turn into a portal, sucking his foot inside.

***

Brrr...

Azariah felt a wave of coldness hit his body as he stepped out of the portal. He felt nauseous once more, but fortunately, there was nothing to gulp out this time.

The impact was definitely better than last time.

However, there was one problem now.

Azariah couldn’t see anything. It was all pitch black for him.

And no, it wasn’t the area that was dark, but rather his eyesight had been taken away.

He was now stuck in an icy blizzard with no eyesight at all.

However, he wasn’t surprised. Azariah knew this was going to happen.

From the start of coming to this dungeon and even knowing about its location, Azariah knew everything as the creator, and he was prepared for it.

This time, he was prepared to suffer.

There were no plans, as the dungeon—regardless of whichever artifact or weapon you had—made it fair for all.

’I could have done with better armor though.’

Unfortunately, he didn’t have that much time to go out and handpick armor.

Suddenly, Azariah heard a slash cut through the air and his senses fought against him to dive, which he did.

He wasn’t fast enough unfortunately.

A scream erupted from his mouth as he felt a sharp pain in his left arm, cutting through his layers of clothes.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

Azariah gritted his teeth as he heard the sound of his blood dripping on the ground.

"Kekekeke..."

He heard another sound from the corner. It was really faint in the harsh winds of the blizzard, but he heard it.

It was like the cackles of a demon.

’I need to focus.’

Azariah closed his eyes, trying to catch the creature’s movements but—

Whoosh!

His instincts screamed at him immediately to dive once more, but again he was too slow.

Slash!

A clean slicing sound hit his leg as he fell to the ground in pain, trying to muffle his screams in the wind.

"Fuck..."

Azariah had heavily underestimated the challenge. This was the hidden gate of an Advanced Linkgate.

One wrong move and a slash could separate his neck from his body. He would be totally done for.

’Come on. Azariah.’

Closing his eyes once more, Azariah tried to repeat the same process and focused on the creature.

He needed to shoot it dead in the head with one bullet to end it all.

Unfortunately for him, it was the same result.

Slash!

Once more he was slashed on his thigh as he dived to the right on the cold floor, his clothes torn from every corner now.

Azariah could hear the creature’s hysterical laughter in the cold hard winds.

"Kekeke, you are so weak, human."

Slash!

Slash!

Slash!

Multiple times the same process repeated until Azariah could practically feel his body smeared with blood.

But it was funny to him.

He didn’t feel any sort of nervousness or tension that he was on the edge of losing his life.

’Maybe it’s cause of the cold.’ he thought.

The cold had numbed his senses and blood so much that he was unable to discern if he was really close to dying.

For the umpteenth time, Azariah heard the creature lunge at him from the darkness once more.

However, it was then that it suddenly clicked in his mind.

’Numbing my senses...’

That was it.

As he felt the creature’s claws slice through the air, Azariah completely ignored his instincts to dive.

Here it was. A gamble.

Slash!

A smirk spread on Azariah’s face as he heard the sound cut through the air.

’I was right.’

That was the whole purpose of the dungeon from the start—by taking away his senses.

To not trust his instincts.

His own body was deceiving him to launch himself into the way of the demon, which led to a cut every time on his body.

Whether he lunged late or early, it didn’t matter.

However, it made Azariah learn something else as well.

’The demon...’

It could only lunge in one direction.

Once it launched itself, it couldn’t change directions mid-air.

It wasn’t like every time Azariah was diving meters away from his original position. So by not diving, if the creature wanted to strike him, it would’ve.

But it didn’t. Or more like—it couldn’t.

Its body was restricted to one sole direction.

’Focus, Azariah, focus.’

"You disgusting human," he heard the demon’s frustrated insult after it missed its attack.

However, the white-haired boy completely drowned out its words.

He put all his mind into separating the harsh winds of the blizzard from the creature’s footsteps on the floor.

The way the air moved when it lunged.

After a month of training and expanding his mana pathways, Azariah had become sensitive to even the smallest of motions around him.

It was there.

He could hear the movements of the demon as clear as day now.

Step. Step. Whoosh.

Suddenly, he heard it lunge through the air, but unlike the other times, his instincts did not tell him to move at all.

’This clever bastard.’

Unfortunately for it, Azariah had heard its movements this time.

He raised his gun with total focus and a second later—

Boom!

All went white the moment he heard the bullet collide with the demon.