Because it was not magic, the Transparent World was not obstructed by the Anti-Magic Stone mixed into the hardest metal door, fully revealing the internal structure of the metal door before Riezel’s eyes.
Riezel relied on the Transparent World with his perception pushed fully open, feeling his way along the hardest metal door in front of him, so focused that he did not even notice when the surrounding noise gradually disappeared.
At some point, the members of the Loki Familia stopped their discussion and all looked toward Riezel, who was reaching out and feeling along the door, exchanging glances with one another as they slowly fell silent.
Finn and Ais, in particular, felt a faint stir in their hearts as they watched Riezel in this state.
Ais, relying on her understanding of Riezel, vaguely sensed that something was happening with him.
Finn, on the other hand, saw Riezel feeling along the hardest metal door as if he were confirming something. He narrowed his eyes and suddenly spoke.
"Can you break it?"
Finn’s question drew everyone’s gaze toward Riezel, and only then did Riezel come back to himself.
He neither nodded nor shook his head, merely saying a single sentence.
"It’s worth trying."
Orichalcum, known as the hardest metal, was not something that could be damaged easily.
If Riezel went all out, it might be possible, but in his current suppressed state, having just entered Level 6, his STR was not even as high as Gareth’s, and if Gareth could not do it, then neither could he.
Moreover, with the Anti-Magic Stone interfering, magic effects were weakened, and Riezel really could not claim that he could easily destroy a door made of the hardest metal.
Of course, it was not as if he had no options at all.
As long as he drew Rhongomyniad and awakened it, then no hardest metal would be anything more than roadside debris, easily annihilated. But what would be annihilated then would not just be the hardest metal door, but the entire Orario.
The same was true of other magic powerful enough to destroy the hardest metal and Anti-Magic Stone—they were either tactical-class or strategic-class, and once used, at the very least, Daedalus Street would collapse.
He did have magic used for lockpicking, but that kind of functional magic would definitely be interfered with by Anti-Magic Stone and would not work.
He even suspected that if he used Reality Slash, which could cut through space itself, to strike this hardest metal door, then, after being weakened by Anti-Magic Stone, the released Reality Slash would still fail to damage the door.
Hence, considering Orario and avoiding casualties in the surrounding area, magic was most likely unable to do anything to this hardest metal door.
Unless he was willing to consume excelia and use Wish Upon a Star, he could only attempt to break the hardest metal door with pure physical attacks.
But without going all out, that would be extremely difficult.
Fortunately, Riezel still had the Transparent World.
’Use Transparent World to find the weaker spot in the door’s structure and hit it there.’
’Since this door’s mixed with Anti-Magic Stone and there’s impurities in it, there’s gotta be a weak point somewhere.’
’Once you find that weak spot, its durability probably won’t even compare to the metal walls next to it.’
In the end, what Riezel intended to destroy was the hardest metal door, not the super-hard metal walls.
Besides, that weak point had already been found.
*BOOM!*
Under everyone’s gazes, scorching flames suddenly burst forth from Riezel’s body, their heat reaching a frightening degree.
"Wha—!"
"Riezel?!"
Every member of the Loki Familia was startled, crying out in alarm as they instinctively retreated from Riezel, avoiding the oncoming heat waves and flames.
Second by second, the temperature in the air continued to rise.
Wrapped in raging flames, Riezel slowly drew his weapon—the black sword, Hermit.
Yes, he did not use Fool and instead took out his personal Nichirin Sword, Hermit.
Purely in terms of power, Hermit was, after all, far stronger than Fool, and there was no reason not to use it at a moment like this.
Unfortunately, none of the members of the Loki Familia noticed this, as all their attention was drawn to the abnormal phenomenon erupting from Riezel’s body.
"What... is this?"
"Fire enchant-type magic?"
"Riezel learned this kind of magic, too?"
Bete, Tiona, and Tione spoke up one after another.
The first looked somewhat displeased, as if he had seen something irritating, while the latter two were shocked, wearing the same expressions as everyone else around them.
"No, this isn’t magic..." Riveria said, staring intently at Riezel, whose entire body was engulfed in flames. "I don’t sense any magical energy from Riezel’s body, nor do I see a magic circle."
Everyone’s expressions changed immediately, while ripples appeared in Ais’s clear, golden eyes.
"It’s a Breathing Style."
Ais, who had already mastered Wind Breathing, noticed this almost instantly, realizing that Riezel’s breathing rhythm had changed, becoming fiercer and more powerful than when he used Wind Breathing.
As a result, she noticed something else as well.
"It’s... stronger than Wind Breathing."
More precisely, the Breathing Style Riezel was using was far stronger than Wind Breathing, to the point that they were not even on the same level.
Realizing this, the ripples in Ais’s eyes grew even more pronounced, while the others were likewise filled with shock.
"So this is that thing he called a Breathing Style?"
"Isn’t this power kinda way too much?"
"So that’s what it was—this kid’s been hiding another trump card the whole time?"
Tiona, Tione, and even Gareth spoke up.
Under these circumstances, the flames around Riezel’s body continued to surge, forcing everyone to retreat again and again, until they eventually withdrew from underground altogether and returned to the area near the tunnel entrance leading here.
"Holy shit! It’s so freaking hot! Why’s it this hot?"
Loki, with only an ordinary human physique, could no longer endure it.
"Breathing Style, my ass! Even enchant-type magic would struggle to hit this level of power, right?"
Hearing this, the others looked at one another, some left speechless, others deeply astonished, their understanding shattered once more by Riezel.
Riezel knew nothing of this, focusing only on concentrating his mind, causing the transparent sheen in his eyes to shine brilliantly, dyeing his pupils a translucent silver.
Soon enough, at a certain moment, after refining the precision of his breathing and continuously elevating the power of his Breathing Style, Riezel raised Hermit, letting the flames trace its path and leave bursts of fiery blossoms in the air.
"Sun Breathing - Seventh Form..."
Following this whisper, the flames surged once more, filling the entire space.
"Sunflower Thrust!"
In an instant, the flames assaulted forward like a storm, forming ring-shaped blazing arcs along the pitch-black blade of Hermit, rippling outward around the storm-like inferno.
Using his strongest Breathing Style, Riezel shot forward like a streak of fire, bringing his sword down on a single point of the hardest metal door.
*BOOOOM!!!*
With an explosive sound, the hardest metal door that even the Loki Familia, Orario’s strongest familia, found troublesome was blasted apart under the storming flame assault, completely shattered.
However, it didn’t end there, as the explosive flames poured straight into the passage behind the door, raging violently within it, making the entire underground begin to shake violently, the aftershocks lingering without end.
===
"OOOH!"
Underground, within the dark hall where the stone-made pedestal stood, Thanatos, draped in a tattered black robe, was nearly knocked off his feet by the hall’s sudden, violent shaking, and after barely steadying himself, he let out a cry.
"Amazing! He actually destroyed such a thick, hardest metal door! Just as expected of the monster rookie from the rumors!"
Whether from excitement or shock, Thanatos’s emotions ran high as he shouted.
"DAMMIT!"
Besides Thanatos, Barca, having sunken eyes and a gloomy complexion, also steadied himself and then looked at the scene reflected on the water screen: the hardest metal door was blasted apart, and the passage behind it was scorched pitch-black by the raging flames.
Rage surged violently within him.
"You actually dare to destroy Knossos?!"
"Do you have any idea how much effort we put in, how many sacrifices we made, just to reach this point, to build this labyrinth to its current scale?!"
"And you dare to attack our creation so recklessly... DAMMIT! DAMMIT! DAMMIT!"
Barca was furious, completely overturning the dark and withdrawn impression he usually gave.
"Well, don’t rush, Barca."
Thanatos spoke while pressing a hand on the man’s shoulder, then let out a chuckle.
"You know, this is a necessary loss. Once we deal with the Loki Familia, no one will come to interfere with this place anymore."
"At that point, you can devote yourself entirely to completing this labyrinth left behind by your ancestor’s tireless effort. No one will get in your way again."
"So, for now, how about focusing on dealing with these unwelcome guests who plan to interfere with us?"
Accompanied by Thanatos’s lightly mocking yet soothing voice, Barca gradually calmed down and no longer raged.
However, his eyes never left the water screen, staring fixedly at the figure that appeared amid the towering flames, as if burning that person’s face, his very existence, into his memory.
By now, the anger in Barca’s eyes had already transformed into hatred.
"Start it already," Barca said in a low, cold voice. "I don’t wanna see that guy remain in this labyrinth any longer."
"Good, good, good, don’t rush," Thanatos said while patting Barca’s shoulder, smiling as if savoring something. "The real show is about to begin. Let’s watch it unfold."
===
*Crackle—*
On the stone-slab-covered one-way passage, waves of fire continued to rage and surge, turning the area into a sea of flames that constantly emitted a scorched, searing smell.
"Huuu..."
Riezel stood within the fire, exhaling as he dispersed the flames wrapped around his body. He sheathed Hermit and, together with its scabbard, once again sent Hermit back into the storage space of the Dimensional Magic Cube.
Having successfully destroyed the hardest metal door and entered the world beyond it, Riezel lifted his head and looked ahead at the one-way passage that stretched before him.
"So this is the Man-Made Dungeon Knossos?"
Man-Made Dungeon Knossos.
Its existence was unknown to all, its appearance unseen by anyone, a transcendent masterpiece that had been silently carved out beneath Orario over hundreds of years.
The one who first built it and drew up its designs was none other than the designer of Daedalus Street—Daedalus.
He was a great craftsman who was deeply fascinated by the grandeur and mystery of the Dungeon, and because of that fascination, he conceived a world-shaking idea, which was to build a second dungeon with his own hands.
Needless to say, the Man-Made Dungeon Knossos was the product of that astonishing idea.
And now, Riezel had intruded into it, into this other dungeon whose very existence even the Guild did not know of.
===
[A bonus Chapter for every 500 Power Stones.]
[Support me and read next Chapters early at: /VALRRR]