Chapter 101
Chapter 101
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 101
Chapter Title: Ire Ruins (4)
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Inside the ruins, everyone let out an inward sigh.
The interior was an eyesore, to put it mildly.
Tables clearly designed to chain people up with their metal shackles, and on the relatively intact ones, tools that looked like they were meant for torture.
To top it off, the floor was marred by dark red or purplish stains that added to the eerie atmosphere.
Scattered around were several glass tanks in strange shapes, though whatever had been inside them was long gone.
Looking at it all, Arsen recalled the voice's words.
“It’s like some kind of laboratory...”
“Exactly.”
“Do you know what this place was used for?”
Maroon nodded at Arsen’s question.
“According to what’s written here, it was an ancient mage’s lab. Someone found a diary.”
Unfortunately, that diary had been lost after they took it out.
After that, they split up to search the lab.
They found bulky glass tanks, mysterious lab equipment, rare metal shackles that could fetch a high price—items that were generally large, heavy, and impractical.
“I figured it’d be something like this... but it’s still disappointing.”
“The good stuff was probably grabbed back then.”
Maroon replied as he picked up a small glass tank.
“But this isn’t just ordinary glass.”
Grinning, Maroon slammed the tank onto a nearby metal table—but it didn’t shatter.
Not even after putting real force into it.
Seeing that, Arsen remembered some knowledge he’d heard before.
“Reinforced glass from ruins... durability somewhere between wood and iron...”
“That’s right!”
He’d heard it was one of the pricey items sold in cities.
Modern tech couldn’t produce it, but mages could reshape it with magic.
While packing up the loot, Bazkal approached with a greatsword.
“Bro, check this out.”
Arsen turned to Maroon.
“Do you know what that is?”
“Oh, that...”
Maroon gave an awkward smile.
“They said it was left behind. It’s defective...”
According to the guidebook, the greatsword itself wasn’t bad.
But the magic embedded in it was one-use only—once activated with mana, the blade would collapse.
That made it no better than modern relics.
It was the kind of thing people already loaded up would leave behind.
Arsen negotiated with Maroon on the spot and handed the greatsword to Bazkal, who looked like a dog eyeing food.
He added that it was fulfilling a promise from when they’d first met.
“Thanks, bro!”
Bazkal had been thrilled with the relic armor, but receiving a sword sent him bouncing with joy.
After calming Bazkal down, they searched the lab more thoroughly but found no cipher.
“Looks like there isn’t one left here.”
“Yeah? A big stone slab would be hard to miss...”
The leader had left ciphers in four ruins total.
And there were six ruins where Berburmi had mentioned hearing something—potential cipher sites.
No time to lament the dud; Arsen clapped to wrap things up.
“Anyway, this haul will make good military funds. Let’s head out.”
On the way out, their formation spread out more than on the way in.
Especially the soldiers who had loaded bulky items onto their mounts and now had to walk them.
Arsen rode Jin just in case, but even Eloise had dismounted to help load heavy crates onto Jin, barely touching it while controlling.
Retracing their steps, Arsen’s group reached the exit door.
“Oh, there’s the exit.”
“Let’s open it.”
Everyone fanned out beside the entrance, waiting. Arsen stepped forward and placed his hand on it.
“Open the door.”
The moment the door swung open, an unexpected sight greeted Arsen.
“What...?”
Beyond the door, over ten knights and dozens of soldiers were waiting to welcome them back.
* * *
“This is boring as hell.”
Moru grumbled, kicking the floor.
They were camped right beyond the massive door where the traps began, in the ruins’ depths.
Ready to ambush Arsen’s group when they returned battered and exhausted.
Rashuka chuckled at Moru’s complaint.
“Why don’t you play some dice to pass the time?”
“What if they come?”
Rashuka confidently replied to Moru’s uncharacteristically cautious words.
“This door’s too heavy to open easily. Unless it’s someone with your brute strength. We’ll have plenty of time to prep while they struggle with it.”
“Yeah?”
A few hours passed, and soon not just Moru but the other knights had set up a game right there, a short distance from the door, killing time with all sorts of amusements.
Only a few poor soldiers clung tight to the door, ears perked for any sound.
“This seems too lax.”
When an old knight commented from the side, Rashuka replied.
“I agree, but it’s better than leaving Moru standing around idle and dealing with his temper. It could take over a week anyway.”
The old knight nodded in agreement.
Moments later, a soldier by the door shouted urgently.
“I heard something!”
“What? Everyone quiet!”
Rashuka clapped sharply but whispered the order. The lax atmosphere vanished, silence filling the chamber.
Truly seasoned criminals.
Smiling with satisfaction, Rashuka issued orders.
“Alright, form up at the door. Get ready to atta—”
Then, the door began opening.
The massive door—even two knights would struggle to push it slowly—swung open like a wooden one.
“No way, how is the door...?”
Amid Rashuka’s stunned voice, a knight on Jin appeared from the other side.
* * *
Arsen spotted the unidentified group clustered at the narrow ruins entrance.
They looked as shocked as he was, faces stiff.
“No way, how is the door...?”
The moment Arsen recognized the speaker, alarm bells rang in his head.
Suspicious foes they’d already been wary of, now with a full force.
Plus, Arsen had placed a stone slab marking the ruins as under conquest before entering.
Ignoring it in under a week was a clear rules violation—hostile action.
“Everyone! Drop your gear and mount up!”
“Attack! Don’t give them time to regroup!”
As if responding, the enemies immediately ordered an assault.
Arsen swung his axe toward the doorway.
Horizontally, channeling as much mana as possible.
A powerful invisible blade stretched out, smashing into the enemies and halting their charge.
“Argh!”
“My arm!”
Two lucky soldiers screamed and fell. Two unlucky ones lost their heads without a sound.
Comically, the knights had been lounging in the back, so only regular soldiers took the hit.
After the strike, Arsen swiftly maneuvered Jin back a few steps to dodge an incoming attack.
Immediately, something slammed into where he’d been.
“Ugh!”
A massive boom echoed through the ruins.
The special floor material didn’t even scratch, but the impact’s force was immense—just from the sound.
On normal stone or dirt, it would’ve left a man-sized crater.
“Huff.”
Someone behind him gasped.
Arsen steadied his nerves while eyeing the knight who’d smashed the floor.
Armor bristling with jagged spikes.
His hulking build and fierce face were striking, but his weapon even more so.
A haft of two mismatched thick metal rods fused together, topped with a lump of unidentifiable metal.
Colors swirled like paint, as if melted and slapped together with a mage’s heat spell.
If anything, it was a hammer—but calling it that felt wrong.
“Who swings something like that?”
As Bazkal said, the head was the size of several human torsos combined.
Arsen’s axe was huge, but this defied human imagination.
Even for a superhuman knight.
Yet the knight before him lifted it one-handed, slinging it over his shoulder to show off.
“Nice to meet ya! You Arsen?”
“Who are you?”
“Hammerer Moru—heard of me?”
“Nope.”
“Hah, figures! Maybe not.”
Before Arsen could retort about asking then, the foe swung the massive hammer again.
“Then hear it in the afterlife!”
Arsen briefly considered blocking to hold the entrance but dodged back instead.
He didn’t know if the guy was a high knight with essence absorption, but wielding that weapon proved freakish strength—too risky to clash directly.
From behind Moru, other knights and soldiers advanced to attack. Bazkal and the soldiers took positions beside Arsen, weapons ready.
They’d ditched the ruins loot and mounted up.
“Rino! Lead the soldiers and mages back to the corpse room! Knights will hold them!”
Rino called from behind at Arsen’s shout.
“We can’t pass the traps without you, boss!”
Arsen clicked his tongue, realizing.
Should he tell them? Or fight here?
In his accelerated thoughts, seconds or tens stretched, but reality was instants.
Over ten knights, dozens of soldiers ahead, mages behind.
Not hopeless, but they’d take heavy losses. Defeat possible.
He leaned toward revealing the traps were off and retreating, but no quick way to convince.
Then, a flash of insight hit Arsen.
On the way in, he’d secretly told one person the traps were disarmed.
[Eloise, take the lead and guide everyone. Back to that room with the corpses.]
Through the earring, her voice replied instantly.
[What about you?]
[With the knights, we can hold a bit. I can reactivate the traps anytime, so run to the safe zone and I’ll trigger them when you’re there. Let me know when you arrive.]
Eloise bit her lip hard, then raised her hand and fired lightning at the ceiling.
A roar rivaling the hammer strike boomed, drawing all eyes to her.
Confirming it, Eloise spurred Jin rearward, shouting loudly.
“Follow me! This way!”
“Miss!”
Someone yelled desperately, but Eloise ignored it and charged through the trap zone.
Seeing her, the other soldiers and mages spurred their mounts and followed.
The enemies in front of Arsen wavered.
“What’s going on, Rashuka? Traps aren’t triggering!”
“I see it! Chase them down!”
Arsen hurled an explosive spear from Jin at the foes.
Soaked in his mana, it detonated massively just before impact.
Seeing them falter, Arsen told Bazkal and Maroon.
“Follow the main group!”
After watching them ride off on Jin and the tiger, Arsen took the rear, following into the trap zone.
The killers’ gazes stabbed at his back.