The Old Demon Artifact Warehouse

Zane Cromwell left the classroom and walked down an empty hallway.

As he walked, lost in thought, he soon arrived at a corridor in an abandoned building where no one ventured.

… … Knock! … … Knock! … … Knock!

Drops of water fell from above, trickling down the rusty railing and seeping into the cracked floor.

The Holy Academy boasted a vast size that could not simply be described as "large." It was so immense that even among the graduates, not a single student fully understood its internal structure.

Moreover, because the building itself was so large and old, there were several places designated as off-limits. These included classrooms slated for demolition, hallways that were old and at risk of collapse, and flooded basements.

Zane turned his head and looked at the entrance to the cellar submerged under the black water.

'This school is strangely filled with magical energy. Is it a problem with the location itself?'

The worship building of the Holy Academy had been built on a special site.

'Somehow, every time I breathe, dark mana gathers. Why did they build a building for priests in a place like this?'

Zane quickly guessed the reason.

'… I see. Is it to suppress the bad energy?'

If the energy of the land wasn't good, a building with positive energy would be constructed on top to suppress the negative. It was a traditional method passed down for a long time. This is why schools are often built on cemetery sites, to suppress the negative energy of the dead with the positive energy of children.

The reason hymn classes were held here daily was likely to suppress this strong negative energy.

Zane gazed silently into the flooded cellar.

'... There's definitely something down there.'

A powerful, negative dimension of mana was slowly rising from beneath the ground.

Although the presence of aspiring priests and professors who had already attained a certain level of skill burdened him, Zane was certain that something sinister lurked underneath.

'It's surprisingly not a bad environment for growing into a warlock.'

Of course, since divine energy flowed everywhere, if he were a weak warlock, his body would have rejected it, and he would have been exhausted.

But Zane was a black magician who had reached the highest level. In addition, he had gained new power by combining the divine power inherent in his reincarnated body with the newly absorbed dark mana.

'It's like starting off in much better conditions than before. It's full of good fortune.'

Zane Cromwell, the original master of the body, had taken his own life out of despair over his perceived lack of talent and the weight of his circumstances.

To Zane, however, it was like complaining after a feast. When he had first begun to study black magic, Zane had been a miserable war orphan and slave.

He was a newborn baby who had first sensed dark mana from the rotting corpses of his dead parents.

Afterward, he had been taken in by a black magician who traveled around war zones, stealing and processing corpses, and thus became a black magician himself.

'I was crippled and always hungry. The hunger and malnutrition were so severe that I couldn't even guarantee I would be alive to open my eyes the next day. The constant abuse from my master, the fights with demons, the pursuit by the Holy Cult, and the continuous mana surges... Looking back now, it was truly horrible.'

Compared to that starting point, how were things now? The difference was like night and day.

Zane walked slowly down the hall, content with his current situation.

At that moment.

[Kkiing- kkiing-]

He heard a small sound ahead of him.

Zane raised his head and saw something moving in the shadowy corner of a stone pillar, which looked ready to collapse at any moment.

A part of the shadow seemed to emerge from the floor, and soon a small lump of soot came hurtling toward Zane.

[Wang wang wang wang!]

It was the Hellhound he had summoned last time, a being whose thoughts were trapped in the body of a dead dog.

---

[◎Magic Encyclopedia B+ Grade 6, Hellhound (γέεννακύων)

'If you see this, it means you are near the entrance to hell.'

- Habitat: Unknown

- Ecology: A black magician's servant, surviving by using black mana.

- Note: A dog-shaped demon that spits sulfur fire from deep within its lungs. Bleeding and burns caused by its bite cannot be cured unless with white mana.]

---

The Hellhound had reverted to its small body, likely because it had expended a significant amount of magic power.

"Have you been hiding well?" Zane thought, stroking the puppy's head.

'… Even if I hide it in an abandoned building where no one comes, there will eventually be a limit. It's not like I can create an entire ghost army in a snap.'

Zane recalled the dead soldiers he had commanded in his previous life—an army of immortals so vast that it could cover mountains and fill seas.

However, it would still take time to relearn subspace magic, which could store a large number of corpses.

As Zane stroked the whining Hellhound pup, he said, "Hold on a moment. There seems to be an interesting artifact nearby."

His gaze drifted toward a pointed building visible through the window of the abandoned structure.

It resembled a spire driven into the ground like a giant stake. Professors' research labs were gathered there, and the room Zane focused on was at the very top of the tower.

'I feel a strangely familiar energy.'

It was an atmosphere so intriguing that it had led Zane on this walk.

Searching through Zane Cromwell's memories, he recalled the name of the place: *The Old Demon Artifact Warehouse.*

'... There might be some useful items sealed there.'

It was an appealing location for both a warlock and a priest.