The Nymphs and the Secret of Chios Island # 2
“Ruins have been discovered off the coast of Chios Island?”
The news reached me just as I was calmly going through my discharge paperwork — and it was hard to ignore. Since the Typhon typhoon incident last night, word had spread that Greece's awakeners had uncovered something new.
“While tracing the typhoon's formation and path, we found that everything began right off this island's coast. When I looked up the coordinates, I found this—”
Tik-tik.
Achilles tapped on his tablet PC and showed me a series of images: photos taken deep beneath the waters off Chios Island.
“These were shot by the divers who were chasing the Chimera Ants that fled into the sea. As of a few days ago, there was no such ruin down there. But it seems the typhoon shifted the seabed, and it was exposed.”
It was said that the seas around Greece held little chance of new discoveries anymore. From ancient times, famous divers, treasure hunters, and archaeologists scouring the depths in search of the mythical city of Atlantis had swept the seafloor clean.
But yesterday's typhoon had apparently transformed even the terrain underwater. A strange ruin had appeared out of nowhere.
In other words, it was a transference phenomenon.
Just as the intense rift called the Tower that formed in the Typhoon of Spacetime had occasionally shifted entire structures into the world, this ruin, too, must have been relocated in the same way.
“The Atlantis expedition is being reorganized as we speak. This could turn out to be a discovery that rewrites human history. Would you care to join the expedition as well, Ildo-ssi?”
“Who, me?”
“Yes. You contributed greatly to defeating the Typhoon, the Beast of the Storm. You may be a foreigner, but given your merit, you have every qualification to take part.”
I hesitated for a moment at Achilles' question. Exploring a freshly discovered ruin would make me feel like a proper adventurer — it sounded fun, at least.
“…Senior, you need to rest! You entered an overloaded rift without any protective measures or safety protocols whatsoever, so it's only right that you keep monitoring your condition for the time being…!”
But Ari, my self-appointed physician, opposed the idea of exploring an underwater ruin. And her opinion was spot-on.
Hadn't the overloaded rift been saturated with unstable mana? Even when I deployed my own mana, spatial control had been anything but easy.
After fighting that fierce battle in such a place, it would be no exaggeration to say that my body and the beasts' bodies had been exposed to some kind of threat. The hospital tests had come back clean, but a rift was still an unknown world — and there might be variables inside me that hadn't yet been detected.
“Resting would probably be for the best.”
━Woof-woof…!
━Hio-ong…!
I looked over at Keongkeongi, who was wandering here and there through the temple of the Pantheon Guild, and Kwang-kwangi, who sat quietly on my shoulder. Both animals seemed to be in excellent shape, but after their ferocious battle with the possessed body, perhaps another day of rest wouldn't hurt.
Just then, Achilles asked:
“And this lovely woman beside you, Ildo-ssi?”
“Ari is my junior. She's a doctor.”
Swish—
Achilles Legion extended a hand toward Ari. She took it, and the two exchanged a brief handshake.
“Yu Ari, surgeon.”
“Difficult to gauge your skill. An awakener, I presume?”
Apparently, the handshake alone had told Achilles that Ari had once been active as an awakener. Truly, the skills of an S-rank, world-ranked fifth, were on another level.
Swish—
Releasing Ari's hand, Achilles tapped his tablet again.
“A shame that Ildo-ssi can't join the expedition. Since we'll be crossing mana-rich waters, the more skilled awakeners we have, the better. And the schedule would take at least a year as it is.”
What? At least a year?
I thought back to the archaeology documentaries I'd occasionally watched. Expeditions to sites like the pyramids or the temples of the Inca, I recalled, were always planned on a minimum scale of years.
If I had joined the expedition, I would have ended up spending years off the Greek coast.
That would have been a problem. I had to get back to Korea, after all.
I'd even promised to help Lee Jina move into her new place next week.
Good thing I'd turned them down.
“Muhhehe, excavating ruins… I detect an extremely strong smell of money about this, it does…! This Illinoi would be willing to lend a hand, that she would…!”
“This Coris is quite confident in swimming and diving, that she is…! For nymphs are, by nature, fairies of rivers and springs, and therefore excellent swimmers, that they are…!”
“This Oinoi wants to explore the ruins too, that she does…!”
The nymphs thrust their hands up eagerly. They seemed deeply interested in the underwater ruin discovered in Greece, and they had apparently decided to help with the exploration on a strictly one-day, hit-and-run basis.
“Then shall we head to my home, Ildo-ssi? There is something I'd like to show you. I did promise to teach you how to use the Whispering Coin.”
I followed Achilles to his house.
It stood on a stretch of beach where an old lighthouse stood sentinel — a gorgeous home with a sleek balcony and a structure reminiscent of the Sydney Opera House, and in its underground garage, more cars were lined up in a gleaming row than I could be bothered to count.
So that was how S-ranks who made good money lived.
“Nymphs, you say?”
“Those beings from myth and legend…”
“Not quite what I imagined.”
Aboard the ship out at sea, the nymphs found themselves surrounded by a bearded professor, the captain, and the crew — all of them renowned archaeologists. They were utterly stunned to be meeting in the flesh the fairy nymphs that had only ever appeared in myth, and the nymph Illinoi smiled a sly, muhhehe grin at the scene.
“Why are you looking at the nymphs with such eyes, that you are…? If you wish to look at a nymph for more than ten seconds, you must pay money, that you must…!”
The people marveled and dug through their pockets. But few carried coins or bills, and observing this, Illinoi added:
“If you have no coins or bills, bank transfer and credit card payment are also possible, that they are…!”
The archaeologists were greatly impressed that a nymph from ancient myth would use bank transfers and card payments. The world truly was full of wonders enough that one could explore it forever and never reach the end of it.
“Illinoi… Could it be that you are the nymph Illinoi recorded in the annals of von Neumann?”
Just then, Massrike, a Greek mathematician, spoke up.
“The nymph Illinoi written of in von Neumann's diary…! I thought it was a metaphor for the inspiration of some genius…!”
Illinoi folded her arms and nodded.
“Von Neumann…! Are you speaking of that boy whom I once gave a knock on the head to, that you are…? He was remarkably clever, so I appointed him an Honorary Nymph, that I did…!”
“I see it now — von Neumann. Illinoi…! The two were connected all along! This is a discovery for the history books!”
The archaeologists and every other doctor of learning aboard murmured in excitement.
Clunk.
At that very moment, the ship came to a halt.
“This is the spot! Divers, prepare to submerge!”
It was also right then that Oinoi and Coris, who had been dozing off with their heads bobbing, woke from their naps.
Without bothering to grab wetsuits or oxygen tanks, the two nymphs simply plunged into the sea with a great splash.
Their swimming and diving skills effortlessly surpassed even the veteran divers who had spent over twenty years scouring the depths for salvage. Watching the footage from the underwater cameras strapped to the nymphs, the researcher Mr. Pilos wept with admiration.
“The nymphs are roaming the seas of Greece just as in legend and myth. How deeply moving this is…!”
Of course, whether the old professors wept or not, the nymphs swam with practiced ease and soon reached the underwater ruin.
And then they froze in astonishment.
“Coris…! Behold that, that Oinoi says…! This Oinoi's imagined ruin felt quite different from this, that it does…!”
“That is so, that it is…! That is no ruin of Greece, that it is not…!”
Coris was right. The underwater ruin bore no resemblance whatsoever to the Parthenon-style structures commonly found throughout Greece.
It was built from square boulders stacked, step upon step, into a square pyramid shape.
“This is a pyramid, that it is…! Why ever would there be a pyramid off the coast of Greece…? The exploration must continue at once, that it must…!”
Just as the nymphs entered the underwater pyramid, the historian Mr. Lover History felt his white beard tremble. Seventy years old this year, his face had gone so red it seemed he might stop breathing at any moment, and his clenched fists shook uncontrollably with excitement.
“Hoooh…! So what my master spoke of was true after all? The old tale that when the Destroyer Typhon appeared, the gods of Greece were so frightened they fled to Egypt…! I had always taken it as mere allegory for the close ties that once existed between Greece and ancient Egypt…!”
The nymphs entered the pyramid's interior. And there, they discovered strange stone slabs lined up in rows — each of a different size, but averaging about the dimensions of a household refrigerator.
“Behold this, that Oinoi says…! Figures resembling the shape of the Chimera Ant are carved into the slabs, that they are…!”
“And this one here looks like a primeval ancient Dog-Squirrel, that it does…!”
The slabs bore reliefs of all manner of patterns — and, just as the nymphs said, some depicted the form of an ant, while others took the shape of a Dog-Squirrel.
Seeing them, the historian Mr. Lover History gasped in shock once more.
“A seal slab — a slab of sealing…! The slabs of Egypt, said to have sealed away the spirits and monsters and false gods of ages past…! So the Sealing of the Destroyer Typhon was carried out by Egypt's methods…!”
Before long, the nymphs discovered an enormous stone slab. It was cracked — and broken apart.
“This appears to be the slab that once imprisoned Typhon, that it does…! But judging by the smell of explosive powder scattered about here, someone destroyed it deliberately, that they did…!”
Illinoi could smell gunpowder even in the salty seawater.
Someone had intentionally detonated explosives to shatter the slab that sealed Typhon, and the blast had almost certainly affected the neighboring slabs as well — the ones holding the Chimera Ant, the Mega Squirrel, and the Emperor Crawfish.
“…Who on earth would commit such a horrifying act?”
The scholars aboard the ship spun up every hypothesis and formula they could conjure to answer that question, but not a single one of them could offer a satisfying answer.
Pat—
Just then, Oinoi spotted something among the slabs.
“Aah…! Everyone, behold this, that Oinoi says…!”
Carved into that slab was a pointed-eared girl resembling a nymph — with one difference: she had a tail.
Illinoi tilted her head at the sight.
“Nymphs have no tails, that they do not…! Then what on earth is this slab…? A nymph with a tail…! That is impossible, that it is…! Utterly disgusting, that it is…!”
“This Coris thinks it is rather interesting, that she does…!”
“Let us take it with us, that Oinoi says…!”
The nymphs hoisted the troublesome slab onto their shoulders and, pooling their strength together, hauled it up to the deck of the ship.