Zoukar invoked some magic while grabbing Kazuma with his hand. He stuck to the cave wall as firmly as one could. Zoukar prepared Kazuma to feel stuffy in that congested setting. Yet Kazuma had no idea what and why Zoukar's behavior meant.Still, he had some inkling that Zoukar had not planned to abandon him yet. However, his breath stuck in his throat when the cave shook more fiercely than before. That trembled Kazuma's heart, and he let out a squeal in that state.Unfortunately, this fickle sound enraged Zoukar, and he clenched Kazuma's neck tightly. He gradually tightened his grip and whispered in his ears, "You bastard, are you trying to make us all die here by the horde? If I hadn't invested much in you, then I may have thrown you out as bait. Shut your trip and watch that."Kazuma tried to endure the choking and glanced at the cave. He noticed some mana around them, maybe some shield or something else, but he also noticed some shadows or silhouettes of something coming towards th
Kazuma and Zoukar marched forward in the dungeon cave to subjugate the queen ant while Kazuma kept contemplating the dangers Zoukar told him about in his self-talk. The queen guards, according to Zoukar, are the most ferocious in this dungeon, even more so than the queen ant herself.As they moved forward, the loud noises from the back chamber echoed and gradually faded to where that horde moved to. Kazuma still remembered the horror of that ants' wave howling in strange voices. He still shivered.But Zoukar and Kazuma were faster than before until the noises faded from their ears, yet the threat persisted, so they walked cautiously with each step. Zoukar moved with his mouth shut all the while, and Kazuma felt that was the weirdest part.The man who never stops blabbering some nonsense and some valuable information along with it was silent for so long as if he had a lot on his head. Kazuma had no inkling as to what Zoukar faced before summoning him or even how long he was here in thi
Zoukar and Kazuma yet again hid behind one of the cave corners with illusion magic. They sat together as Zoukar threw a monster carcass in front of Kazuma. The so-called spoiled and decayed food smelled even worse than shit itself.Kazuma felt nauseous and threw up, yet he couldn't even do that since his body had not consumed anything for a long time and he had nothing to eat after his summoning. Kazuma twitched his nose and sneezed a bit while coughing.He turned to Zoukar, who had some grains and meat jerky for himself. He tore the raw and tight jerky with his old molars, crunching some grains with it. He snorted with each bite as if it didn't taste good enough.Kazuma still found Zoukar’s food edible since he saw Zoukar eating it without vomiting, while Kazuma had to eat something outrageously bad, poor in odor, and must be worse in taste. Kazuma didn't even try to sniff the food; its odor was already spread all over the place.Zoukar snorted and rebuked, "Eat that stuff fast, or el
After a short rest, Kazuma and Zoukar set out to conquer the dungeon again. The moment Zoukar removed his illusion and barrier magic, they heard loud shrieks echoing all over the cave. Nobody could name which way those sounds sounded since they were coming from everywhere. They took a cautious step forward further into the dungeon, startled by their surroundings. The dark cave grew larger and larger the further they walked inwards or outwards. Kazuma had no inkling as to what and where he stood in the dungeon called Anthill.Kazuma knew nothing about whether the dungeon was something the same as what he read in the novels or something entirely else. The anthill could be a place many feet underground, or it could also be a giant mountain above the ground.This place could be anything. Kazuma realized it has many possibilities and, similarly, lots of dangers within it. Kazuma still only had a simple spell that could blaze fireballs from his mouth and nothing else. He wanted to learn new
"With this, we can definitely win through this predicament of battling the queen and her guards!" Zoukar exclaimed. He resumed, "This stone is called an 'elemental stone' and since it's red, this stone belongs to the flame element. These are usually hard to come by and contain some expensive magical spells that a person with a different elemental affinity can use. I found this stone in a dungeon similar to this one. It contains the flame level 2 spell [Conflagration], which surrounds the user with an aura of heat, combusting almost anything within proximity of the user. We also get a short-range fire blast that effectively incinerates anything close to the user."After a momentary laugh, Zoukar resumed, but this time his statement was directed at Kazuma. He said, "Oh! You must not know about the level of spells. Each primary level spell is required to learn a greater level spell. Every element has a series of such magic spells. Similarly, [Conflagration] is a successive spell of the pr
Although Kazuma thought Zoukar wouldn't notice, that was something too big for an established black magician to not even feel slightly. The sudden fluctuations of undead mana in the surroundings twitched his brows as he flinched while concentrating on the queen and her guards.Zoukar swiveled around to check whether something was off or if it was nothing but his delusion due to stress and tension. He looked everywhere, but he could only see the dark cave and a small familiar creature, Astroth. Other than these usual things, he found nothing strange, and that mana fluctuation faded from the surroundings.Zoukar's sudden turn startled Kazuma since he never expected Zoukar to pay him attention, at least not when Kazuma used an opportunity to trick Zoukar. Kazuma gazed at Zoukar with widening eyes and a frowning brow. He felt his blood turn cold and a shiver passed all over his spine.Kazuma swallowed and contemplated with a frightened gaze, "Did he find out about my theft? Will he begin t
Kazuma and Zoukar stood before the ants as firmly as they could. It was challenging for the tiny creature Kazuma inhabited to stay composed before the intimidating aura and killing intent leaked by the queen ant and her royal guards. That was one hell of a threat. The ants daunted him with only their presence.Kazuma swallowed and sweat profusely while Zoukar giggled slightly. He concentrated mana around him and focused on casting a spell. He invoked [Summon Undead] and a small army of undead soldiers conjured from the ground. They stood tall before the ants with dark mana shrouding their dead bodies.Startled by the undead, the royal guards raised their sharp claw-like appendages toward the undead soldiers. They made some crackling noises and marked the undead soldiers as their targets. Two guards stood before the ant queen while another two stepped forward to face the undead soldiers.Zoukar commanded the undead, "Go and remove the nasty pest from my eyes!" The undead soldiers marche
While Kazuma and the three undead skeletons stood against the two guard ants, due to the intimidating presence around them, Kazuma shivered. He felt the severity of the circumstances he was surrounded by and how far he could go depended on his wits since he had no faith in Zoukar, not even a bit.As he sweated profusely from the intimidation, suddenly his brow twitched from some chanting behind him in a familiar voice. Kazuma swiveled around and confirmed the chants belonged to none other than Zoukar.Zoukar snorted and chanted some spell to invoke, "[Relentless Charge]." Kazuma sensed some dark energy or some dark mana shrouded around him and the skeleton knights beside him. Kazuma felt a sudden boost in his strength, agility, endurance, and vitality by a large amount. The skeleton knights beside him also had the same mana shrouding them.Kazuma understood from the concentration of mana that this spell was about the same level as the spell Zoukar used to summon the skeleton knights. F