Chapter 24: The Eye of Madness

On the 6th floor, the ominous magical energy surged, almost tangible from below.

This was different from the magic I had felt earlier.

This magic was laced with undeniable malice and despair, making my body itch uncomfortably.

A suffocating pressure pressed down on me.

I carefully sent up a doll.

I had braced myself for the doll to be destroyed.

I had also prepared more dolls in case this one failed.

But nothing unusual happened.

The doll that climbed the stairs surveyed its surroundings.

The hallway was immaculate.

Even the paintings and sculptures on the walls proudly illuminated the path.

It was nothing like I had expected—everything looked perfectly fine.

The doll cautiously moved forward.

When it reached the central hall, it turned around, scanning the entire area.

Through this, the layout of the 6th floor was transmitted to my mind.

The central hall was pristine, with not a speck of dust.

This allowed me to even infer the state of the floors I couldn’t recognize due to their ruin.

Like the floors below, the 6th floor consisted of 10 rooms.

This seemed to be the overall structure of the tower.

The central hall and twelve paths formed the base of the tower.

‘So, what was the 6th floor even for?’

There was a room with its door half-open, so I decided to enter.

Some miscellaneous items were scattered about.

But these too were in perfect condition, not a single piece damaged.

The doll left the room and naturally retraced its steps.

As if there were no issues, it fiddled with the pictures and sculptures hanging on the walls, then descended back to the 5th floor via the stairs.

I quickly used magic to scan the doll.

I felt no anomalies.

My face stiffened.

The lack of any abnormality was, in itself, strange.

Despite being surrounded by that ominous magic, there was no problem at all.

I activated the explosive magic embedded in the doll.

Red circuits began to appear all over its body.

Soon, they formed a magic circle, and in an instant, the doll exploded.

At the same time, a line of mocking laughter leaked through the magic.

It disappeared within the explosion.

I used a protective magic to block the shock and stepped back.

Something had been hidden within the doll that I had failed to notice.

A chill ran down my spine.

‘What if I hadn’t detected anything?’

I might have been dead.

I reviewed the scenes sent by the doll.

To the doll, the 6th floor appeared completely fine.

Up until the middle, I thought the same.

But the sound of a sapling shaking and thrashing around alerted me to something off.

I didn’t fully grasp the oddity until I entered the room.

The strange assortment of items—there were wooden blocks and stones.

As the dolls observed them, I finally began to sense the peculiarities of this floor.

There was no magic present.

The floors I had climbed so far had most of their magic destroyed and covered in dust.

The 3rd floor, the only one that was fully intact, still had its magic perfectly active.

But when viewed through the doll’s eyes, there was no magic on the 6th floor whatsoever.

‘So how could it look this fine?’

‘Something must have manipulated the doll’s vision.’

With this thought, I thoroughly examined the doll.

But I found nothing.

Only after the doll exploded did I find a trace.

With my face set in stone, I quickly retreated from the stairs leading to the 6th floor.

The ominous magic began to surge more intensely.

It seemed to laugh, as though it knew I had noticed it.

“Do I really have to go through that?” I muttered to myself with a bitter smile.

Cleaning.

That word had me firmly bound.

It wasn’t just my natural instincts.

I glanced at my wrist.

The contract was forcefully restraining me.

“If I pass the entrance exam by accepting Irien’s teachings, I promise to serve Irien until graduation.”

This contract had activated after the entrance ceremony and began tying my actions to it.

Even now, whenever I felt the urge to flee downstairs, the contract would slightly tremble, tightening its hold on me.

‘Was this order to clean also part of the service I had promised?’

This was the reason why wizards avoided contracts.

Once a contract was made, everything within it had to be fulfilled.

So, I had no choice but to go forward.

Even though something strange was lurking upstairs, tricking my dolls, I had to keep moving.

I steeled my resolve.

Even if it wasn’t the contract, it was something I would have done anyway.

Whatever awaited me upstairs, it wouldn’t be more terrifying than my professor.

I recalled the time I was beaten so badly that my soul seemed to leave my body.

The fear I felt then was far worse than what I was feeling now.

Remembering that gave me confidence.

Nothing would scare me.

Sending more dolls was pointless.

I had to go myself.

It was a path I had to take directly.

I looked at the turtle in my hand.

He was the only one I could trust right now.

He met my gaze and flapped his mouth.

As the sapling controlled him, he emitted magic as if to tell me to trust him.

I took a deep breath and slowly climbed the stairs.

***

When I reached the 6th floor, I quickly scanned my surroundings.

Sure enough, the information sent by the dolls had all been illusions.

The area was covered in dust and trash.

But there was no sign of anything strange.

I set the dolls in front and ordered them to clean.

They moved skillfully, tidying the path as they went.

I kept a close watch on them and manipulated the surrounding magic.

The ominous magic filled the entire 6th floor.

My heart raced.

It felt like something was watching me through that magic.

No, it was definitely watching me.

“I’ve come to clean! It’s the task Professor Irien assigned to me!” I shouted, as if to challenge it.

This was my professor’s tower.

Whatever this unknown entity was, it had to be connected to him in some way.

I thought that if I revealed this, it might hesitate a little.

The magical energy fluttered slightly.

It seemed like the person ahead was also a bit startled.

I sighed in relief inwardly.

From the way the magic reacted, it seemed like it would be a relatively easy pass.

However, that was a huge mistake.

It was when I had advanced halfway to the central hall that I began to notice someone walking in front of me.

I didn’t know when they had been there.

They had blended into my line of sight so naturally.

A chill ran down my spine.

I was sure that I was the only one here.

I quickly sent a few dolls out, but they couldn’t reach the person.

They staggered and then ran in the wrong direction.

The magic, too, was the same.

The person kept a certain distance from me, walking in sync with my pace.

When I ran, they ran, and when I walked, they walked.

No matter how fast I moved, I couldn’t catch up to them.

The ominous magical energy around us grew thicker.

Then, when I reached the central hall, I realized it.

Ah, that’s my reflection.

In that instant, the atmosphere of the space shifted abruptly.

Whispering giggles echoed from all directions.

At the same time, the space began to split.

The walls shook, and the floor melted like ice.

I quickly checked the path I had taken.

The road leading to the 5th floor had already melted away, gone without a trace.

The ominous magic, now as thick as fog, seemed to muddle my mind.

“Damn.”

I bit my lip until it almost bled.

The sharp pain snapped me back to reality.

I had to focus.

I threw the turtle onto the ground and leapt forward.

The turtle immediately expanded and settled into the ground.

As its heavy mass made contact with the floor, the melting ground began to shake.

But it couldn’t escape the weight of the turtle.

My body was sucked into the turtle’s shell.

I was glad I had decided to take it out.

The turtle quickly began running.

It wasn’t as durable as it had been during the exam.

The magic wasn’t the issue, but rather the materials.

Repairs for the damage done during the exam required various materials, but I didn’t have the funds for that.

Since the professor had settled in, I hadn’t been able to sell a single doll.

So, with a heavy heart, I had to settle for just filling the gaps with wood.

If I had known I would use it so soon, I would’ve gone into debt to repair it properly!

I regretted that as I controlled the turtle.

I didn’t know when the being had infiltrated the turtle’s body.

To protect it, I infused my magic into the turtle’s shell, activating a defensive spell.

I looked out through the turtle’s mouth as we moved quickly forward.

The stairs appeared in the distance.

In this writhing reality, the stairs stood untouched.

The more the turtle advanced, the more intense the changes became.

The walls closed in on the turtle, and the ground below seemed to suck it in like a swamp.

The dolls that had followed us were already submerged and disappeared into the ground.

But the turtle didn’t disappoint me.

It crushed the encroaching walls and continued forward.

It tore through the ground that tried to bind its feet.

The turtle pushed through all obstacles, quickly reaching my rear.

Since I was sitting still in the turtle’s shell, it too remained stationary, not moving.

The turtle crushed the being.

It scattered like an illusion.

At the same time, a high-pitched laugh echoed in my ears.

The sound of the laughter made my head spin.

I bit my tongue to force myself to stay focused.

There wasn’t much left.

The stairs were just ahead.

The closer I got to the stairs, the more the ominous magic that had filled the 6th floor began to fade.

Perhaps the being’s power couldn’t reach here, and all the interference began to weaken.

When I finally reached the stairs, I was able to breathe a sigh of relief.

I got off the turtle and collapsed onto the stairs.

That laughter.

It still echoed in my head.

The turtle quickly shrank and returned to my hands.

I crawled halfway up the stairs, gasping for air.

I looked down and swallowed hard.

The 6th floor was distorted beyond recognition.

All paths were blocked.

The magic, unable to capture me, seemed to writhe in frustration, trying to approach the stairs.

Cleaning was out of the question.

The 6th floor had completely collapsed.

I was sure the professor would understand.

I looked up at the rotating stairs above me and took a deep breath.

I had to go up.

There was no time to waste, no other choice.

All the dolls I had brought were gone.

With that, I set foot on the 7th floor.

But surprisingly, this floor was intact.

The magic of the 7th floor was operating naturally.

It was completely different from the 6th floor.

There was no trace of magic, and no strange presence either.

I held the turtle close and slowly moved forward.

It didn’t take long to reach the hall.

The way here was smooth and clean.

I started to feel a bit more at ease.

But when I entered the hall, my mind went blank.

‘What is that?’

I thought as I looked up at the ceiling.

There was a massive universe.

No, it was a sphere that seemed to contain the universe.

No, that wasn’t it.

What was there was a gigantic eye.

And then, my gaze met its eye.

In that moment, my vision shattered.

The forms of everything around me split into twelve parts, and all the paths converged into one singular eye.

The true reason within it guided me toward an endless abyss, and I accepted it with all my strength.

The unified reason dug into me, shattering everything that made me who I was, and I melted into it, screaming in agony.

My soul was crushed, and my existence shattered into tiny pieces, seeping into the smallest darkness.

It swallowed me whole.

I wasn’t me anymore.

In the whirlpool of madness, the twelve versions of myself laughed endlessly.

I was them, and they were me.

I was a part of them.

“Ah, I made a mistake. I didn’t think it would be here.”

Something struck my head.

And then, my consciousness was severed, pulled into darkness.