Chapter 126
Chapter 126
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 126
Chapter Title: The Red Palace (3)
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The mysterious red palace.
Unlike most of the ruins they had conquered so far, which traced the paths once trod by Byul Burmi, this time they had to explore a place that had truly never been breached.
That reality, along with the tension of the unknown, weighed down the party's steps.
Someone gulped loudly, and Arsen took the lead.
Clunking footsteps echoed through the entire ruin.
Moments later, they stood before a massive front gate.
"Please, Sir Arsen."
At Maroon's request, Arsen placed his hand against it without hesitation.
Fortunately, the door here didn't discriminate harshly.
-Hello, visitor...
"Open the door."
As they stepped inside, an unexpectedly vibrant space unfolded—one so lively it was hard to believe it lay within a ruin.
Bushes sprouted everywhere despite the lack of sunlight, resembling a garden left untended for centuries.
The ceiling soared high overhead, as if an artificial courtyard had been crafted within.
"Why are there so many damn weeds..."
Maroon's face was rigid as he muttered those words.
Likely from the tension of the abrupt situation.
The party advanced cautiously across the garden's center.
Then, a rustling sound came from somewhere.
Arsen whipped his head around.
'What was that?'
He wondered if it was his imagination for a split second, but no—it was unmistakably the bushes stirring.
And from a spot quite distant from the party.
"Everyone, halt."
Perhaps they were all on edge inside, because they froze in place the instant Arsen gave the order.
"S-Sir Arsen? What's going on..."
"Quiet."
After silencing Maroon, Arsen focused every nerve on his ears.
Rustle, rustle—something retreating.
'Got you!'
"Sir Arsen!"
Brushing off a mage's urgent shout, Arsen bolted toward the noise.
His explosive acceleration, courtesy of a high knight's physique, outpaced even the swiftest mounts.
The thing ahead realized it was exposed and abandoned stealth, slashing through the bushes as it fled.
But Arsen was far faster.
"Come out!"
With a yell, he swung his axe down onto the bushes hiding it.
The intangible blade sheared through them on a massive scale, as if a giant had pruned the lot.
And there beneath, frozen in place and unable to flee, was a lifeform beyond imagining.
"...A magic beast?"
He'd blurted it out from the silhouette alone, but a closer look proved calling it a magic beast was an insult to actual magic beasts.
For starters, no normal magic beast had eyes on its elbows or flanks, its back or legs.
Nor did they sprout seven legs, with some flailing wildly from the back.
Eyes weren't lined with teeth where they ought to be.
Its three tails each ended in something resembling unidentified organs.
Bluish veins bulged out, wrapping around its belly.
This asymmetrical abomination looked like something a child had slapped together from dough.
By comparison, magic beasts seemed perfectly normal.
Before it could recover, Arsen lunged and seized what passed for its nape.
The monstrosity thrashed with all its might to break free, but it lacked the strength to escape a knight's grip.
From its throat came a bizarre sound, like some brass instrument.
That's when Maroon and the mages caught up.
Maroon took one look at what Arsen held and grimaced in disgust before asking his question.
"What the hell is that?"
"I'm wondering the same thing."
As Arsen hoisted it to eye level, the thing glared at him with an eye on its belly.
The eye was elongated like a reptile's, with three pupils and irises crammed inside.
"What even is this thing, and how is it here?"
A survey of the garden revealed these bizarre lifeforms weren't limited to one or two.
They captured a few more for examination and found common traits despite the varied appearances.
First, all were small—barely reaching waist height.
Second, utter lack of symmetry and any practical design.
And third:
"That one too?"
"Yeah. No blood..."
That was why they called these things mysterious abominations rather than magic beasts.
Blood was the surefire way to distinguish magic beasts from regular animals, but these had none.
Cutting into them yielded neither ordinary animal blood nor the sticky fluid of magic beasts—instead, a bluish vapor poured out.
The mages confirmed it was mana in gaseous form.
Creatures with mana flowing through their bodies in place of blood—perhaps these were the true magic beasts.
"What is this?"
The mystery lifeforms perished once enough vapor escaped their bodies, much like a creature bleeding out.
Arsen shook his head at the sight.
"For now, we'll press deeper... Everyone, stay vigilant. No idea how they're alive, but there are living things inside."
Ones whose nature remained unknown.
So far, only the small and weak had appeared, but expecting that to continue was far too optimistic.
* * *
No sooner had they passed the courtyard than the worry became reality.
"It's coming! Fall back!"
■■■■■■■■-----!
A grotesquely resonant roar, like three or four magic beasts bellowing at once.
That was possible because the creature had four heads.
One was a proper head; the other three ended in what looked like ape hands—but each had a mouth and vocal cords capable of roaring.
Its head alone reached three meters high; without the unusually lofty ceiling, navigating the building would have been a nightmare.
It began shambling forward on all fours—or rather, where legs should have been, lizard-like heads protruded. Regrettably, heads made poor feet.
Unable to stomach the pitiful sight, Arsen channeled mana into his axe and swung.
The invisible blade rent its body clean through. The monstrosity collapsed in two as its spine failed to bear the weight.
Seemingly oblivious to its bisected form spewing blue vapor, it lunged forward with furious hostility.
"Out of the way, Sir Arsen!"
At the mage's cry, Arsen swiftly sidestepped and pressed against the wall.
Four bolts of lightning and a single mana-infused arrow streaked down the corridor, striking the halved abomination and those behind it.
Eyeballs burst under the lightning, spraying purple fluid; flames from the arrow engulfed their bodies.
Even after being split, they'd thrashed vigorously—but once burned, they shriveled and went still.
"Nice! Barely any magic resistance! Hit 'em again!"
On Maroon's cue, the mages unleashed another barrage.
The mages laid down suppressing fire while Arsen blocked or shoved back any that slipped through the gaps with axe and shield. In this way, they cleared five rooms.
And now, they threw open the door to the sixth.
They waited, but no enemies charged immediately.
"Hoo..."
The brief sigh of relief was short-lived as Maroon turned to Arsen.
"Sir Arsen, we should take a breather... Everyone's worn out."
Arsen scanned Maroon and the other mages' faces.
Sure enough, exhaustion was plain—they'd burned through a lot of mana.
The detachment's mages were fit and trained for combat, but hardly elite casters.
Their lightning staves provided solid firepower support, yet the limits were clear.
"Agreed. Rest up together. I'll scout the room in the meantime. This one's different."
"Understood. We'll catch up after a quick break."
Maroon plopped down right there and grumbled.
"Ugh, if we'd brought everyone, this would've been a cakewalk..."
"We didn't know what this place was like. We never would've come in."
Maroon nodded in agreement with Arsen's words.
Arsen let out a brief chuckle before beginning a proper search of the room.
Unlike the previous five—simple living quarters with tables, chairs, dishes, beds—this one bristled with strange devices and partitions, forming a miniature labyrinth.
Pushing past a few walls revealed an area littered with stone slabs.
'What's this?'
A closer look showed tiny text engraved before each slab.
[Ancient Magic Experiment Subject 413-1]
[Ancient Magic Experiment Subject 413-2]
[Ancient Magic Experiment Subject...]
'Ancient magic experiment subjects?'
Arsen frowned at the odd phrasing.
This was already an ancient ruin—tacking "ancient" onto it felt off.
Like medieval folk labeling something a "medieval European sword."
"What the..."
After tracing the inscription, Arsen looked around further.
This time, a book caught his eye.
It lay unceremoniously on the floor, wrapped in a sturdy cover infused with mana—enchanted, clearly.
'Let's take a peek.'
The moment he touched it to lift the cover, pain flared.
A stinging, numbing sensation spread from his fingertips.
"Gh."
Arsen realized the cover held an electrocution spell—a potent one.
But that was it; his defensive ward did its job, and the cover peeled away harmlessly.
The revealed book was plain and unadorned, its title verbose in true ancient tome fashion.
'Written by Doran Aras: The Greatest Invention to Open a New World, the Magnum Opus All Great Biologists Must Consult.'
The word "great" cropped up so often that the title alone betrayed the author's narcissism.
Suppressing his inner critique, Arsen opened it.
The handwriting was atrocious, with no regard for neatness.
Worm-like scrawls aside, ink blots rendered letters illegible, and there were stains from food scraps and broth.
Charitably, it brimmed with lived-in charm; bluntly, it was a slog to read.
The contents resembled a diary.
Breakfast chicken was nauseating; the assistant fed it some weird solution and a subject exploded; yesterday finally created a lifeform viable outside the lab...
'Created life?'
Arsen reread that part.
[At last, the first life■■ that won't die outside the la■■. I've rebuilt the lost wisdom of our great■■ forebears. Ah! How great■■ am I? That mi■■ who rejected my■■ grant last week will rue the day—I'm the greatest ma■■us, the greatest researcher■■...]
The entries that followed were similar.
Finally got a subject walking; applied immortality treatment so it won't age to death; can't figure out eye count control; legs keep sprouting from the upper body...
After poring over it several times, Arsen carefully stowed the diary in his spatial expansion backpack.
The author wasn't the diligent sort, so despite the book's size, it held only a few days' worth of entries.
Still, it allowed inferences.
First off, these abominations were products of a mage's experiments.
Likely from an era when ancient mages were first tinkering with life.
Their continued survival was thanks to this "immortality treatment," principle unknown.
And the final, crucial entry:
'I shall call these combat dolls...'
The diary stated that prototypes of these combat dolls lurked somewhere in the ruin.