Ancient ruins (1)
“Your Majesty. I heard that you have accepted a young man and a woman as expedition members.”
The news that Count Delite had received Harang and Taniya soon reached the ears of the expedition leader.
The leader of the expedition protested to the count with a look of discontent, but he did not seem to care at all.
“That’s right.”
“It’s only the day before the expedition starts. We have 50 expedition members who have been working together for a long time.”
“Isn’t it common to hire local treasure hunters?”
“They are not treasure hunters. I heard they are Taoists and bodyguards. And they are only in their twenties… … They are useless. They will only hold you back.”
“We’ll have to wait and see.”
“… … .”
When the Count spoke calmly, the leader of the expedition team asked back with a look of complete incomprehension.
“Have you verified the true abilities of the woman who claimed to be a Taoist priest?”
“They said they guessed the weather.”
“Anyone can do something like that… …what about the inaction of a warrior?”
“He cut the rock with an iron sword. It would be difficult for anyone but a true expert to do something like that without using an aura.”
“Our agents can do that too.”
“Can’t everyone do it? It’s not a bad thing to be with someone who has great inaction.”
“… … .”
“Rohan. I received them all with my own thoughts. They have their own uses, so don’t worry.”
“You said it was useful… … .”
Count Delite looked leisurely in the mirror and stroked his moustache.
“We sent a reconnaissance team to this ruin. But they brought back some very ominous information.”
“… … What kind of information was it?”
He put the mirror down and clenched his fists. His expression became slightly serious.
“For a ruin where the relics of a warrior sleep, it’s filled with excessively cruel traps. The ruins of a warrior that have been revealed so far haven’t been like that. You know that, right?”
“Of course.”
The Legacy of the Warrior Kaladan.
The relic, known as the ‘Kaladan Legacy’, was so valuable that it was said that if you found just one, your entire household would be on the rise.
Among the several notable families loyal to Caladan were some who had been commoners but who had found and offered holy relics in exchange for their status and enjoyed wealth and honor for generations.
That is why the world was once filled with treasure hunters looking for the legacy of Kaladan, and it is said that most of the legacy was discovered.
However, it is said that less than 10% of the heritage that Kaladan owned or blessed has been discovered… … .
“Most of the relics that were discovered were either hidden, magically enshrined, or hidden in other mysterious spaces, making them unseen and dangerous.”
“Yes. But this time it’s different. The information that it’s the relic of the warrior Kaladan is almost certain. Over the course of 500 years, someone who existed in this desert to protect the relic seems to have built all sorts of dangerous devices to protect it.”
“That’s not possible… If I had obtained the relic, I would have offered it to Kaladan.”
“Well, there’s no reason to do that, right? There were many who hated Kaladan in the past. There are also many legacies that didn’t return to the Kaladan family.”
Some of the valuable and dangerous items from Kaladan’s legacy are rumored to have ended up in the hands of Ainglass or the legendary treasure collector.
Not all treasure hunters are willing to offer up their offerings to Kaladan. It is not unusual for someone to approach them first with a promise of a better reward than Kaladan.
“This item may have been the same. It was so dangerous that if it were to fall into Kaladan’s arms, the situation on the continent would change. That’s why it was kept hidden away.”
“… … Then, this will be a more dangerous mission than I thought.”
“That’s right. It’s a ruin that has been tightly blocked so that even the world’s best Kaladan can’t find it. Especially considering the ruins’ style, which is built in the style of ‘Ancient Miscalippo’… … .”
“Hey, Miss Calypso!”
Miscalypto was a mysterious ancient civilization that was lost long ago. It was said to have been the most prosperous nation in the world until a thousand years ago, but it was said to have been destroyed overnight as a punishment from heaven.
Their traces are often found even in modern times, and they carved an extremely evil spell called ‘blood magic’ into the ruins, taking the lives of countless treasure hunters.
“One of the characteristics of the ruins of Miscalippo… … is that you must offer a sacrifice to receive a reward or to leave the ruins.”
The ruins of Miscalippo caused comrades who had trusted each other for many years to betray themselves.
The cursed rooms that required sacrificing someone’s arms or both eyes to escape were very basic, while others showed off more brutal operating structures, such as a room where everyone was trapped in with rising water and someone had to sacrifice their head to escape, or a door that would only open if someone sacrificed their heart.
“There aren’t many expeditions that have obtained this information yet. They must be recruiting additional personnel by now.”
“… … ! Indeed, that’s so.”
In other words, the Taoist priest and the bodyguard received this time are worthy of being used as sacrifices in the future.
“Even if that’s not the case, well. It wouldn’t be bad to take her with you anyway. That woman, you may not know because you haven’t seen her… but she’s incredibly beautiful. She’s comparable to the great Princess Wilzed and Princess Herael. If she had been born into a noble family, she would have been a beauty on par with them.”
“Is that right?”
“Yes. He’s just a useless Taoist monk with no affiliation. Even after this mission is over, I can keep him with me under a contract. If I have to, I can even take that guy, the bodyguard, as a hostage. He had eyes that seemed to hold that man in high regard.”
“……All right.”
The Rohan expedition leader nodded in agreement at Count Deliten’s words.
“Then go back and rest. We’ll start exploring in earnest starting tomorrow.” * * *
It was early dawn.
Ailka Wilzed looked at the two hundred explorers lined up before him. Each and every one of them was a treasure hunter with some fame, some were treasure hunters belonging to the family, and the rest were members of the Wilzed magic unit and knights.
“Exploration Captain. From now on, command is yours.”
“Understood, Your Majesty.”
“You should be in charge of assessing the situation and giving instructions on the scene. Ask only the questions that really need to be asked, including the continuation of the operation. You can make your own judgments about the rest.”
The leader of Wilzed’s expedition was Viscount Badella of House Kruel, a long-serving member of the family.
He was a former treasure hunter who earned the title of Viscount in return for bringing many treasures to the Wilzed family.
Until now, he had been wandering the world alone and serving Wilzed, but this was the first time he had directly participated in the family’s operation!
Viscount Badella Cruel clenched his fists, thinking that if he achieved great success this time, his status might rise one level further.
“We will begin the operation.”
Count Badella immediately led Wilzed’s expedition team into the center of the desert.
On the surface, the desert was a vast, white plain with nothing to see. The horizon was covered in white, so much so that if you took a picture of it and showed it to someone, it would feel cool.
But this place is hotter and more miserable than any desert.
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The pure white sand is imbued with magic, and because it is hot, your steps become heavy and you sweat a lot.
Even the journey was not easy, as strange monsters that grew by feeding on magic kept digging through the sand and attacking.
‘… … Monsters are annoying.’
Ailka frowned.
The Wilzed family’s unique blue hole magic also works well on monsters.
Any being with magical powers cannot be moved by the Blue Hole magic.
If it weren’t for the special case of the ancient species that came from Yeryeongdo, it would have been possible to clear out most monsters in one Blue Hole, but it would have consumed too much magic power.
“Oh, your highness! You are amazing!”
A 10m long pure white scorpion leapt from the ground and bit five of the explorers with its pincers, but when Ailka snapped her fingers, it was sucked in as if a black hole had formed in its center, and a hole was instantly ripped through its stomach.
A 7-star blue hole magic that sucks out even the body that contains magical power!
This magic could kill even those of a higher level with a single hit, so now that there were so many people, Ailka alone could take down a monster with 8-star power.
However, every time she used this magic, her magical power would drain away, so Ailka would naturally become tired.
Because as a wizard, I wasn’t very physically trained.
“Your Highness, don’t use too much magic. Unless it’s a dangerous situation, the knights will handle it.”
“… … That’s right.”
Because of his personality of wanting to take the initiative and solve everything himself, he couldn’t just sit back and watch. However, he thought that if the exploration was delayed because of his physical strength, there was nothing more embarrassing than causing trouble, so he had to restrain himself as much as possible.
“We’ve arrived. The footprints of the other explorers have been erased.”
Nearby, there were faint footprints that seemed to indicate that other people had passed by. Of course, Ailka could not see them.
Footprints in the desert are easily erased by the wind-blown sand.
Count Badella was only able to see it because he was a capable treasure hunter.
“What does it mean that the footprints are gone?”
“Watch carefully from now on. This is a method of destroying the magician’s barrier that was mainly used by magicians long ago.”
Come to think of it, the treasure hunters who discovered the ruins here said they studied for several days and discovered something.
The expedition moved in a strange direction across the flat desert.
He would suddenly walk to the right, then suddenly turn to the left, then turn back, and then walk forward again.
Ailka understood immediately.
‘The Mysterious Crack’s Formation.’
A spell that distorts space itself, making it impossible to see what is right in front of you.
It was a magic that was used a very long time ago and is now lost.
It must have been a fairly large formation, so the expedition team had to walk for quite some time at that unique pace.
… … After half a day had passed like that.
“We have arrived.”
As Viscount Badella spoke, Ailka felt a cool, damp wind blowing in an instant.
Hwaaaaak!
“ah……!”
She let out an exclamation of surprise without realizing it.
What unfolded before my eyes was not a pure white desert, but a huge building.
The building was covered in tangled green plants, and the forest stretched out far in all directions.
“How could there be a forest in the desert… … I didn’t feel like I was transported to another space!”
I hurriedly scanned my surroundings with my magical powers, but it really was a forest.
A massive forest that stretches across a radius of at least several hundred kilometers!
I’ve never seen or felt a forest like that before.
I couldn’t believe it at all.
“This is the mystery of the crack formation. It’s a shame that it can’t be reproduced with modern technology.”
The expedition leader said this and pointed straight ahead.
The rock structure was so tall that you had to raise your head to see it, and it stretched all the way to the sky.
“Now, that is the site of a relic erected to protect the warrior’s sacred relic.”
She swallowed dry saliva and nodded. She felt it anew, as she entered such a mysterious place. She had truly come one step closer to the warrior’s sacred relic.
‘… … I must obtain the warrior’s holy relic with my own hands.’
She had something she wanted to do. In order to take a different path from her father, she needed a rare item from Kaladan, something like a warrior’s holy relic.
‘If I don’t get that, I can’t go any further.’
Ailka clenched her fists.
