Chapter 111
Chapter 111
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 111
Chapter Title: Rino's Awakening
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Rino had rarely felt that life was enjoyable.
His homeland was a barbaric land called Narvik, ruled by violence and oppressive discipline.
Born as the child of a hunter from the lower class there, he had to serve the older hunters from before he even reached maturity.
Cooking meals, maintaining weapons, and if he made even the slightest mistake, he’d get beaten half to death. Those were terrifying days where survival itself felt like a daily ordeal.
Finally, when his body grew enough to turn fifteen, he was allowed to venture beyond the purification zone of the territory and became a hunter himself.
In Narvik, even children waged life-or-death struggles as part of everyday life, and that combat endowed them with the mana resistance to endure poison.
For about a decade after that, he scraped by hunting weak magic beasts while avoiding the strong ones and selling them.
A life with no hope or expectations—just one where, if he was lucky, he’d grow old until he could no longer hunt and die, or perish a bit earlier otherwise.
The only miracle might have been the faint chance of becoming a knight.
And on a day when that vermin-like existence nearly ended, Rino met his savior.
Arsen of Belluan, a young and powerful knight from the distant East.
Saved from death, Rino soon became Arsen’s most fervent follower.
It wasn’t just because he’d been rescued.
The sight of him boldly facing a magic beast instead of fleeing, dispatching it with confident strikes—that was the ideal Rino had dreamed of as a child.
Life following Arsen was grueling and dangerous, but it shone brightly.
There were battles, there was glory, and there was the conviction that things were getting better.
That was why, as he followed Arsen, Rino always dreamed.
That he too could become a knight, and thus be of help to his idol, his captain.
“Rino!”
“Snap out of it! Are you alive? Rino!”
Amid his comrades’ distant calls fading in like echoes, Rino dimly opened his eyes.
He struggled to grasp why he was sprawled here, what had happened.
But his dazed mind couldn’t recall that he’d taken a steel giant’s kick meant for a comrade, flying over ten meters before crashing into the ground.
‘Right, what about Miro? Is he okay?’
“I’m... f... fine...”
Those were his last struggling words before Rino’s consciousness faded.
* * *
Combat, once the momentum starts to tip, becomes an unstoppable cascade.
Like a tower standing firm at its center, only needing a light push on one side to topple under its own weight.
This battle was no different.
First, Arsen rushed to Bazkal, who was struggling against two giants.
He slipped behind the giants, distracted by Bazkal, and severed one’s neck in a single strike.
The remaining one fell easily to a pincer attack.
After that, it continued in the same vein.
Aid a comrade locked in a tough standoff, who then aids another...
Finally, as the last giant collapsed with its neck sliced, its thudding footsteps silenced forever, someone shouted loudly.
“It’s over!”
That cry ignited cheers, followed by groans rising from all around.
“Finally...”
“No matter how much we beat them now, they can’t fight back...”
Those slumped over their mounts were the lucky ones; others had collapsed outright on the ground.
Considering Jisharan’s awakening agent had just reached the end of its duration, it had been a razor-thin fight.
First, Arsen bellowed.
“Any injured?”
“Over here!”
He glanced that way and saw a cluster of soldiers.
Arsen approached, trying not to show his fatigue.
“Who’s hurt?”
“It’s Rino. Sorry, Captain. He tried to save me and...”
Arsen drew close to check Rino’s condition.
Seeing the fallen Rino, Arsen couldn’t help but let out an exclamation.
“Oh.”
“We’ve done first aid. Luckily, he blocked with his shield while flying, so no major injuries.”
The mage partnered with Rino explained from beside Arsen.
Just unconscious from the impact. Leg’s broken, but we’ve set it— a healing spell should fix him right up.
Midway through the explanation, Arsen unwittingly smiled faintly.
His subordinate lay wounded, yet his captain was grinning.
Unsure how to react, the soldiers and mage stared in bewilderment.
Seeing that, Arsen spoke in an amused tone.
“When he wakes up, I’ll have to give him a congratulatory gift.”
Unlike the soldiers and mages, Arsen could clearly sense it.
The faint but distinct pressure unique to knights emanating from Rino.
The mark of one who had transcended their limits and awakened.
‘Congratulations, Sir Rino.’
* * *
Arsen ordered Rino loaded onto a stretcher and carried, then circled around to check for other wounded.
One mage with a broken arm—that was it. He instructed splinting for now.
Confirming no other issues, Arsen rallied the prone soldiers with a shout.
“Everyone, up! We head inside to rest! One last push!”
The fallen struggled to their feet and mounted up.
Soon after, they reached the door to the 4th floor.
Arsen placed his hand on it first, but the response was negative.
-This door opens only to Republic citizens. Accompany a citizen or inquire with an administrator.-
“As expected.”
He’d anticipated this. No way it’d open for those without clearance.
But it didn’t matter.
The doors of this Wigon ruin weren’t made of indestructible material.
Such “unbreakable doors” were rare even in antiquity.
If unqualified people couldn’t pass at all, how had the Dawn Excavation Team reached the 2nd floor?
Most ruin doors had set methods to open, and this Wigon ruin’s were no exception—just force it open.
“Alright, everyone’s exhausted, but time to push again. Let’s smash it. Take turns.”
“Got it.”
Arsen and the knights took turns hammering the door.
His axe was best for the job, so four of them rotated using it.
Soldiers and mages rested nearby, utterly spent, while the four knights relentlessly chopped away.
After a few rounds, as Bazkal swung with full force, the door finally cracked.
“It’s breaking!”
The jubilant shout drew all eyes from those resting by the door.
At last, the ruin’s end was in sight.
* * *
“Whoa...”
Someone let out a sigh of awe upon descending via lift and beholding the 4th floor.
The Wigon ruin’s 4th floor resembled prior levels—a plaza format—but instead of giants, it was furnished as living quarters with beds and desks.
Massive pillar statues dotted the area too, thankfully inert and non-aggressive.
The plaza held plenty of usable items.
This ruin was the last one Byolburmi had conquered, so they’d taken only essentials and left the rest, it seemed.
“Is that it?”
“Yes.”
What they eyed was a lion of deep blue hue with a mane black as pitch—or rather, a jin shaped like one.
“Beautiful...”
Eloise murmured softly.
As she said, this black lion’s form was artistically leagues beyond crude modern mages’ jins.
Its muscles intricately textured, short fur and even mane rendered in soft metallic fibers that felt real.
If ordinary jins were lifelike robot toys, this was a metal taxidermy.
Its size was extraordinary too—nearly a head taller than standard jins.
Arsen stroked its head, entranced.
“Cool, right?”
Marun boasted as he watched, then buried his face in the攻略 guide and began explaining.
“This ruined city Satien has legends of divine beasts. Tales of a massive black lion that saved the territory in its hour of crisis.”
“I see.”
Answering absently, Arsen recalled the Black Lion, one of the city’s martial organizations.
Perhaps their name derived from this savior lion.
Maybe exaggerated tales of a knight riding this lion-shaped jin.
“The execs back then figured taking it would draw all the city’s attention. Our magic bags were too shoddy to hide something this big anyway. Thanks to that, we get it now...”
Nodding at Marun’s explanation, Arsen cautiously mounted the black lion.
He placed a hand where the scapula would be on a real lion and infused mana.
“...Hoo.”
Linking senses, Arsen tested light movements right there.
Walk, slight jump, forward, back, side hops.
Despite its size dwarfing ordinary jins, it moved with astonishing agility and flexibility.
Executed commands without delay, and its speed far outpaced norms.
And one more thing.
Arsen guided it to an empty spot, then focused senses on its heart.
Infused mana into the heart, channeled it to the throat, and unleashed.
Toward the vacant direction.
With a guttural roar, an immense blaze erupted from its maw.
Infernal flames scorching even the ruin walls.
No knight caught in that would survive unscathed.
“Wanna test if it works on knights too? Bazkal?”
“Spare me, bro.”
Bazkal begged jokingly, and Arsen chuckled faintly.
He was in that good a mood to banter.
Riding this, he could’ve beaten two enhanced giants without the ice orb.
Of course, flaws existed.
Its bulk made it heavy—tricky on trees—and mana drain for movement was high.
Breath attack consumption was ruinous.
But such drawbacks paled against its immense value.
Other items abounded too.
Accessories were gone—easy to carry, nabbed by prior Byolburmi—but large weapons like greatswords and spears remained aplenty.
Bazkal grabbed an extra greatsword for disposables; Anun snagged a spear.
Infuse mana while impaled in a foe, and thorns sprouted along the shaft forward, inflicting lethal wounds.
“That’s vicious. Stick a person, they’re dead for sure...”
“Well, we fight magic beasts and ma-in plenty.”
Anun twirled the spear gleefully.
Miscellaneous relics aplenty, but with the black lion prize, they yielded the rest to Byolburmi.
Even then, Arsen’s side profited hugely—the black lion was that stellar—and Marun accepted, repaying the jin loan favor.
And the awaited result: the second stele emerged.
“Here...”
Like the mirror crypt, Marun cast a heating spell; liquid flowed, revealing text.
Engraved script matched prior style.
‘Fourth clue—“I have come here”—Abate wrote.’
“Fourth clue: I have come here.”
Marun murmured as if memorizing.
Arsen muttered.
“The third we saw before was...?”
“‘Sailed,’ I think.”
“Together...”
Sailed and come here.
Arsen repeated the phrase inwardly.
Regrettably, the first two clues remained unknown.
Even if guessed, they needed securing.
Inputting exact words was likely—no room for interpretive errors.
“Good. Memorized—destroy it.”
“Understood...”
Ignoring Marun’s wistful gaze, Arsen crushed the stele, erasing its inscription.
Now two of four clues secured.