Speaking of rescuing Mage Laem, Hailuot said with difficulty, "Master Laem is being held by Dorothea in the Dungeon beneath the Vampire Castle, and she's watching his every move. I have no way to get him out right now."
Frank's earlier excitement had faded. He sighed and said, "Master Laem is the Elder of the Rotten Wasteland for the Azure Society. Dorothea ambushed and captured him, and we've been trying hard to rescue him. But the Scorched Earth City Branch suffered heavy losses, and we still haven't succeeded.
Right now we're seeking help from other branches. If you could act as an inside contact, our chances of success might be higher."
Hailuot refused: "You should know that the Soul Eaters work for the Sorrow King, and I work for Dorothea. Just because I joined the Azure Society doesn't mean I'll put our brothers in danger to save Master Laem.
All I can do is pass along messages for you and provide information about the Dungeon beneath the Vampire Castle. Saving Master Laem is your business—I don't know anything about it."
Frank knew his request had been too much to ask. He apologized to Hailuot, saying, "I'm sorry, I was too eager to get Master Laem out.
We'll think of another way to save Master Laem. For now, let's talk about how to take back the Olden Cemetery."
Frank walked over to the side of the rectangular table.
With a wave of his hand, Frank sent all the clutter on the table flying. It sorted itself into categories and settled in the surrounding cabinets.
Next, a map projection rose above the table. It showed a dense tangle of Tomb Passages forming an extremely complex maze.
Hailuot asked, "Is this the Skeleton Maze of the Olden Cemetery?"
"That's right..." Frank stretched out both hands and channeled mana into the magical projection. The Skeleton Maze rose up and became a three-dimensional map. Once the map had stabilized, Frank explained, "This is the map we've drawn from sending people into the Skeleton Maze many times over. We've concluded that the maze itself is one enormous magic array."
The Skeleton Maze was a magic array?
Hailuot stepped closer to examine it.
But the Tomb Passages inside the maze followed no discernible pattern, and the various dead ends could not form a functioning Magic Circuit. Mana could not flow through them without interruption, so the Magic Array could not activate or operate. That was common sense.
Hailuot asked, "Are you sure this is a magic array?"
Frank smiled and said, "Hard to tell, isn't it? Honestly, even after we finished this map, none of us recognized it as a Magic Array. Master Laem figured it out.
This is a natural magic array — no amount of manpower could have completed a project this vast. You could call it a miracle.
Watch..."
Frank waved his hand, scattering a sheet of Starlight over the map of the Skeleton Maze. The Starlight entered the maze and began to flow on its own. Once its paths settled, small Magic Array patterns emerged one by one, though every pattern was incomplete.
Frank channeled Mana again to raise the three-dimensional map, revealing the lower level of the Skeleton Maze.
Inside the maze, the paths of starlight extended downward.
Frank continued, "You should notice that these Magic Arrays are incomplete. The missing sections likely connect to the Second Layer of the Olden Cemetery, or perhaps to something deeper..."
The three-dimensional map rose higher still. Under Mana's control, layer after layer of imagined underground palace maps took shape.
"Master Laem believes that the Magic Array within the Olden Cemetery has both a horizontal structure and a vertical one. It may also contain cross-spatial structures and other configurations beyond our imagination. What we can see now is only a small fraction of it.
This is only Master Laem's speculation, but it's likely the closest guess to the truth."
Hailuot stared at the massive imagined three-dimensional Magic Array before him. He could not believe that the Family Cemetery held such an enormous secret.
Frank then asked Hailuot, "Your family owns the Olden Cemetery. Do you have a map of the Lower Level of the Olden Cemetery? If you do... it would greatly help our future research."
"No!" Realizing his refusal had come out too bluntly, Hailuot quickly explained, "Ever since the Olden Cemetery was taken over by those unidentified creatures, our family declined rapidly, and a lot of what our ancestors left behind was lost. If you put me in the Skeleton Maze right now, I'd definitely get lost."
Whether or not Frank believed Hailuot's explanation, he was tactful enough not to press further. He continued, "With the Azure Society's help, I believe you'll soon recover what your family has lost. We're proceeding on the assumption that the Olden Cemetery is one giant magic array, and under Master Laem's guidance, we've tried using our current knowledge to fill in the gaps in the Skeleton Maze's magic array."
The imagined map of the Olden Cemetery descended, while the flowing Starlight separated into clusters resembling dreamlike stars.
The diagram of the Starlight trajectories stretched out. Lines of light—some solid, some translucent—sketched in and filled the missing portions of the Magic Array.
Hailuot found something familiar in the new magic array.
He said, "An Energy Extraction Magic Array!"
Frank said in astonishment, "I didn't expect you to identify an Energy Extraction Magic Array so quickly. Your knowledge of Magic Theory is completely out of proportion to your magical strength. Do you study Magic Theory without cultivating your magic?"
Hailuot replied, "That's a problem particular to our family. What else did you find?"
Frank turned his attention back to the magic array in front of him.
"Because so much of it is missing, we haven't been able to identify much more of the magic array. But the structure of the Energy Extraction Magic Array is very clear — it works like a pump with limitless power, drawing in the energy from the lower level as if swallowing it whole.
That energy then becomes Death Energy, which fills the Olden Cemetery and produces the Undead."
Hailuot asked, "The Death Energy inside the Olden Cemetery is weak now. Does that mean something is wrong with this enormous Magic Array?"
Frank answered, "No, it's running perfectly well—in fact, too well."
Then Frank gestured, and a nearby cabinet opened. An iron box flew out from within and landed in his hand.
Frank opened the iron box. Inside was a crystal about the size of a pigeon's egg, its surface veiled in a layer of white light.
Hailuot recognized the crystal and said, "That's a Chaos Crystal!"
"Correct. It's a Chaos Crystal." Frank picked it up, and it shifted through different colors in his hand. "According to our analysis, a Chaos Crystal is an Attribute-Less energy body. Being Attribute-Less means it can easily become any attribute: blazing fire, freezing ice, vigorous Health, withering Death, or even holy light..."
Hailuot watched the crystal shift through a rainbow of colors and asked, "So the Chaos Crystal is the energy that the Olden Cemetery's Magic Array draws up from the lower level?"