Chapter 66
Chapter 66
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 66
Chapter Title: [Gamur Arkpension—The One with Eyes that Twist Beyond Truth]
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Representative Traits: [Spirit Magic (SS)] [Archery (S)] [Appearance (SS)] [Irregular (S)]
Hidden Traits: [Heartlessness (A)] [Scheming (B)]
I raised one eyebrow and smirked.
‘Irrregular?’
I was already aware that Traits existed which I didn’t know about, but this one felt peculiar.
So, was there any reason I had to hold back my curiosity right now? Especially with it dangling right in front of me?
“What do you mean by that?”
In a situation where entering the ruins meant I might not emerge for who knows how long, and I had no idea how to pry answers out of him later, I opted for a direct confrontation.
“I have been waiting here for a very long time. Ordinary elves live for 300 years. High elves live from 500 to 700 years, but I have endured even longer than that…”
In response to my question, Gamur began spouting vague nonsense.
“To that dragon, it might seem laughably short, but a thousand years is no brief span even among our long-lived races. For that entire time, I remained here without even knowing what I was waiting for.”
His pale, slender fingers caressed his wooden chair, as if he had spent ages upon it.
“And now I know. I was waiting for you.”
His gemstone eyes, a mix of green and yellow, swept over me and Kane Luna before locking onto mine.
“If I list too much, it might tip the scales further, so I’ll tell you just one thing. Do not speak that one’s full name aloud.”
His gaze, which had paused on me, now fixed on Kane. I tilted my head slightly to glance at Kane, then turned back to speak, but Gamur struck first.
“Leave the child behind. When you return, I can offer some assistance.”
His perfectly sculpted fingers, like carved marble, pointed at Zero. From beside me came the loud sound of someone swallowing dryly.
“Bahaadi. Might I impose upon your spring for a short while?”
“Yes, Great Elder. We can relocate immediately.”
For now… let’s enter the ruins. As long as this place doesn’t collapse and he stays alive, I can unravel my questions later.
Part of me wanted to plant myself here and dig deeper, but my nape prickled and itched like I’d overslept on exam day. No time for that.
I needed to wrap this up before it got any later.
I flashed Gamur a grin, rose from my chair, pulled Zero—who had been standing beside me—into my seat, and ruffled his hair with my hand.
“Then take good care of our house kid. I’ll head into the ruins right now and be back soon.”
“Um… are you really leaving me here alone?”
Zero’s anxious eyes met my blunt thoughts.
“Be good, study hard, and learn a lot while you wait. Got it?”
I patted his shoulder and gave him a slow smile.
* * *
The secret space in the wall opened by the Great Elder.
As soon as we turned our backs and exited the narrow passage, the smile vanished from my face.
A quick check of my Trait window showed no new additions. Given this filthy feeling, I half-expected something like ‘Intuition’ to have popped up.
“My nape won’t stop itching.”
“No tangles in your hair, and I didn’t trim it wrong either…”
Luna stepped back at my mutter, tilted her head, and spoke. Kane added in a stiff tone.
“I don’t like the feel of this either.”
Something like fireflies scattered a soft glow through the air, so it wasn’t dark. The path was straight and linear, sloping very slightly downward.
The scenery alone might make one feel like the protagonist of some grand adventure, but there was this nagging irritation, like someone tugging lightly on a single strand of hair.
Was this an emotion implanted by Raychelle, or just my own anxiety and gut feeling?
“It’s a barrier that elves couldn’t unravel for ages, but in truth, it’s little more than racial discrimination.”
To bypass the Great Elder’s barrier, he had wrapped a vine around each of our wrists. I brushed it with my fingertips once, then gazed at the massive wall—no, the door—that loomed after our long walk, and opened my mouth.
A metal door utterly alien to the wooden passage. It stood as tall as three or four apartment floors.
Despite the immense passage of time, its surface bore not a speck of rust, pristine as if fresh from a factory, without so much as a scratch.
Drawing closer, the once-smooth face revealed exceedingly fine patterns twisting into coils that sprawled across it.
“Kane, come here.”
In the original story, one had to solve patterns visible only to pure-blooded humans’ eyes.
When reading the book, I’d pictured visible light wavelengths. Humans and insects perceive different visible spectra, seeing different colors and patterns on the same flower, right?
I grabbed Kane’s wrist as he approached and pressed his palm against one of the swirling patterns.
A faint needle drew his blood, and with a low hum, the coiled lines—all like fine cracks—glowed red.
“This.”
“Yeah, you see it too? Solve it.”
“Does something appear to the two of you?”
The patterns invisible to Luna, the beastkin. A highly advanced puzzle, perhaps. The designs etched into the three-or-four-story door materialized before us like a hologram.
Felt like a 3D puzzle. Some lines broken, some overlapping, some twisted.
An ordinary person wouldn’t dare, but Kane was a genius. And I’d played my share of lesser versions in games.
We twisted, pushed, and solved the illusory patterns with our fingertips until the image of a man subduing a massive dragon formed alongside ancient script reading ‘Final Master’.
And then—
The metal door slid open. As if it had never been sealed for ages, it parted smoothly, and lights flickered on inside with a small sound.
“It looks weird…”
“Go in first. Gotta close the door.”
I impatiently shoved Kane and Luna’s backs, urging them inside.
In the original, Kane encounters the stone moss in the spirit forest after this place explodes, spilling its contents and getting destroyed.
Meaning something inside was beyond Bahaadi and Gamur’s control.
No clue how the Evil God Cult awakened it, but it couldn’t have been too hard, since they succeeded.
—Two humans plus one entity. Unauthorized intruders. Two humans plus one entity: unauthorized intruders. Security protocol activates in 3 minutes.
Or maybe the cult didn’t awaken it on purpose—it emerged on its own.
I bit my lip hard at the voice echoing from somewhere.
“There’s gotta be a control room somewhere.”
Kane paused at my words, then slowly turned his gaze.
—Evacuate intruders. No authorized controllers present. Initiating Type F response.
Bad feeling. A faint vibration hummed underfoot, and from the end of the pristine metal corridor came the sound of multiple doors opening.
“That way.”
“Young master, I’ll carry you.”
Kane broke into a run, sensing something, and Luna scooped me up to match his speed, following behind.
Seriously, next loot has to be speed-related items. This sucks.
Wind whipping my eyes from the speed, I cast a shield from the codex and eyed Kane’s back.
“Intruders detec…”
Bang!
Puppets with metal skeletons lunged out, and Kane slashed one in half with his sword.
As its bisected torso crumpled against the walls with a crash, I furrowed my brow.
‘Gotta seize the control room first and find the stone moss.’
Mass-produced golems—faceless, bodiless metal constructs—leapt at him with mana at their fingertips. Kane’s weapon morphed repeatedly as he moved.
Swords for close ones, chain sickles to cleave distant golems, and when one burst from behind Luna and me, he switched to meteor hammers, smashing its chest with fist-sized weights.
Thank god Kane’s the protagonist and on my side. The mental strain of freely reshaping weapons like that—admiration flashed for a split second.
—Five humans plus 143 entities. Unauthorized intruders. Five humans plus 143 entities: unauthorized intruders.
“Argh, fuck.”
Just my luck.
Obviously the Evil God Cult. That announcement meant they’d breached the Great Elder’s mansion.
Zero, the Great Elder, and Bahaadi had moved to the spring, so the cult struck the moment the mansion was empty.
I’d given them the ruins entry method and intel on the traitor Twirn before entering, but maybe time ran short.
‘No, more likely Zero was the variable.’
Normally it would’ve taken days longer, but my intervention—entrusting Zero’s training—drew the Great Elder out, triggering this.
“How long?”
“Can’t go straight. Not sure, but around 10 minutes.”
At each fork, Kane chose a path without hesitation and dashed on.
He definitely knew where the control room was.
“How do you know the way?”
“Mana fluctuations. Something incomparable to ordinary mana stones.”
If Kane said so, it was like an engine core. So the cult targeted the ruins for that?
How did they even know it was here?
I swallowed one rising doubt, blasted a mass-produced golem approaching Kane with a magic missile, and spoke.
“We need to get it first. Hurry.”
“If it’s an order.”
Kane glanced at me, rounded another corner, and halted.
“Use force if needed. Shortest path.”
His weapon, a chain of blades, shrank rapidly into a longsword.
Kane steadied his breath, then surged forward, sword trailing white vapor.
Crunch—
The golem half-destroyed, the wall unscratched by multiple strikes split, a chunk falling free.
He’d used considerable force—his chest heaved, mana drain evident.
“Control room’s just beyond.”
Before he finished, Kane swung at me. Before I could shield with the codex.
Before Luna could dodge with me.
My shield shattered, an explosion roared past my ear—sudden silence on one side, then needle-like agony boring into it!
“Urk!”
I hunched, clutching my ear, sticky warmth coating my hand.
“Young master, you okay?”
“Impressive instincts…”
Eardrum burst? Dizziness hit hard. Pain spreading from one side made that eye hard to open.
I fumbled a potion, gulped it down, forced some into my ear, and whipped around.
“Looks young. Kinda pisses me off. Guess good Traits make up for everything.”
A sneering voice, polite in form but dripping disdain. Short black hair, glossy black eyes like snake scales. A man in his late twenties smirked mask-like, scratching his cheek lazily.
‘Staff? …No, cane-staff?’
Black shaft with subtle curves like cleaved water, crystal-carved head.
That clashed with Kane’s sword, birthing the shockwave.
His steps so subtle only close inspection revealed them as he advanced one pace. Kane tensed, blocking me.
“But greenhorns not even fully grown need a taste of adult discipline. Right?”
The man snickered, flicking his free hand. Kane switched to chain sickle and swung; the staff coiled around it, locking in a tense struggle.
—Intruder detected. Intruder detected.
And a crisp footstep from behind the broken wall.
—Commander entity Leaf detects three humans plus one entity. Request intruder elimination beyond control room restoration. Request elimination.
Not a mass-produced metal golem—an organic-looking lifeform.
Faintly pale, long green hair, single remaining eye yellowish.
From when Kane sliced the wall, one side of its head sheared diagonally from the eye, but it regenerated slowly, no blood from the cross-section.
‘Stone moss!’
Evil God Cult ahead, stone moss behind. I spat curses under my breath while downing potion.