Chapter 106
Chapter 106
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 106
Chapter Title: Chapter 21 Grave Robber (6)
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I wonder how much mana you absorb doing drive hunts like this.
It feels like solo play, so I’m curious how you usually handle the driving.
‘Guess he’s curious since we didn’t form a party.’
I was just traveling with Yang Tae-ho, not partying up.
He was insurance for emergencies, not a comrade to share mana with.
So from Yang Tae-ho’s perspective, he was probably wondering how much mana I was absorbing.
“These guys don’t give much. I’ve probably absorbed a bit over 10,000 right now?”
It wasn’t exactly a secret, so I didn’t dodge the question.
Yang Tae-ho whistled in admiration.
After that, we kept hunting Volpo, and the corpses that didn’t get buried piled up accordingly.
Fortunately, the Volpo bursting out of holes stopped before we got buried under the bodies.
I zoomed out the map to check, and quite a few were still left far away.
We hadn’t caught all the ones in this contaminated area; we just couldn’t lure any more with sound.
“Tch.”
I wanted to finish it off cleanly since we’d started.
“A few left, but they’re not moving.”
“Huh? How do you know that?”
Because I have the map and radar.
But I had no intention of explaining the system privileges given to me to others.
I vaguely said my mana detection range was wide and moved on; Yang Tae-ho didn’t pry deeper.
“Then should I shout louder?”
Instead, he seemed to change the subject by raising his shield.
‘Do we need to?’
We had to move anyway to destroy the Meseo.
It’d be better to relocate than try luring the distant ones with sound.
‘No point digging more here either.’
We’d shoved too many bodies into the spot we were standing on.
The ceiling was noticeably closer than when we first entered this cavern.
‘We’ve reduced their numbers plenty.’
I checked the height to the ceiling and decided to move.
“No, let’s relocate.”
The Meseo marked on the map were scattered pretty far away.
The problem was the map didn’t show the tunnel paths.
I’d have to head toward the Meseo and find paths one by one.
That’d take a fair bit of time.
‘Start with the closest one first.’
I hurried along with Yang Tae-ho.
Fortunately, tunnels tall enough for people continued on.
We walked along them for a while before I suddenly stopped.
“What now?”
Instead of answering Yang Tae-ho’s question, I examined our position.
Up, down, left, right—thoroughly, without missing a spot.
Yet there was no side path.
According to the map, there was a Meseo at the 3 o’clock position from where I stood.
But no path led there.
“What the…?”
A glitch? Lag?
I’d never experienced this while using the map, so it left me flustered.
Then suddenly, the monsters crawling out of holes during the drive hunt flashed in my mind.
I alternated glances between the Meseo direction and the tunnel paths.
No guarantee those paths connected to the Meseo.
‘Going the long way around would be a waste of time.’
In the end, I reached toward the Meseo direction.
I decomposed attribute mana to extract earth attribute and pushed away the dirt wall; Yang Tae-ho, who’d been watching me, joined in.
At the deepening pit’s end, we hit hard bedrock.
We cleared the surrounding dirt, revealing a boulder bigger than me.
‘Smashing it might be risky.’
Didn’t know the thickness, and too much impact could collapse the tunnel—troublesome.
So instead of breaking it myself, I turned to Yang Tae-ho.
Hadn’t I brought along someone with rock-series mana?
No reason not to use him if he had it.
“Ugh, decomposition’s not my strong suit… just wait a sec.”
Understanding what I wanted, Yang Tae-ho placed his hand on the rock and took a breath.
Slowly, a scratching sound started as the rock’s surface crumbled.
The speed wasn’t fast.
As he’d said, decomposition wasn’t his forte.
Rather than rush him, I waited patiently.
Progress came after digging about five meters into the boulder.
The thinned rock cracked and crumbled away.
Yang Tae-ho stepped through first and gawked around with his mouth agape.
“Whoa, what the heck is this…?”
His torch swung wildly left and right.
Wondering what was there, I followed him out of the hole.
“Huh.”
The sight hit me, and I was stunned.
“Followin’ you around, we see all kinds of weird stuff.”
I’d felt something off since hearing Meseo were underground.
The space we’d dug dirt and broken rock to reach was a massive tunnel.
Carved from rock, about five meters high.
Despite being underground, the high ceiling made it feel spacious.
“Man, all sorts of crazy things underground.”
Yang Tae-ho’s mutter echoed in the vast underground tunnel, reminiscent of a highway tunnel.
As I looked around, something familiar caught my eye.
“This is…”
Up close, it was exactly that.
[Mana-Exhausted Lighting Stone]
• Classification: Ornament, Furniture, Auxiliary Tool
• Acquisition Difficulty: Rare
• Rank: ★
• Description: A lighting magic tool commonly used across the continent, helping secure visibility in dark places. Currently, all mana is depleted, making it unusable.
“Lighting stone…”
“Huh?”
It was the same as the lighting magic tools on the Bennett estate.
And not just one. Three within my torch’s range.
Resuming my steps, they were embedded at regular intervals.
All mana-exhausted, but a considerable number of lighting stones lined this tunnel.
The implication was blatant.
‘Artificially made.’
Not a path trampled by Volpo, but crafted by intelligent beings for a clear purpose.
Pillars to prevent ceiling collapse, even doors dividing spaces.
I watched the map and opened the nearest door.
Under thick dust, rotted blankets, leather shoes, broken wooden bowls, and junk were scattered haphazardly.
“What’s all this…?”
Yang Tae-ho, who’d come in with me, looked around curiously.
By then, I’d picked up a wooden fork next to a rotted blanket.
Smaller than half my hand.
‘Like for a child.’
I fiddled briefly with the cracked, dried wood grain.
Seeing traces of unknowns, various thoughts overlapped.
‘A bunker?’
Judging by the artificial space and scattered items inside, probably.
It strongly evoked a shelter.
But that didn’t make sense.
“Check the next room?”
“Wait a sec.”
I opened the church homepage and left a comment on the post for chatting with Jordan.
Asking when the old Kairot Kingdom territory with Viseta was taken.
After a moment, Jordan replied.
- Jordan Rodiel: Summer four years ago. The tide turned drastically in weeks, pushing us back to Hogmedia, as I recall.
Hogmedia, a castle a month southeast of Viseta.
The northern front had barely recovered from there to Viseta over the past two years.
His answer matched what I knew, intensifying the eerie feeling from this massive shelter.
I thanked Jordan and stood.
“Man, why the stiff face? Scarin’ folks here.”
Yang Tae-ho cautiously poked my arm and spoke up.
I let out a shallow sigh.
“It’s weird.”
“Weird how?”
“These spaces existing here—that’s what’s weird.”
“Huh?”
Leaving Yang Tae-ho, who asked with his expression what that meant, I exited the room.
Afterward, I walked the dust-shrouded passages, taking in the sights.
The result: I was certain.
‘A planned, designed space.’
When building new cities, you divide zones, assign purposes, then construct.
This was exactly that case.
Residential areas with blankets, clothes, tableware.
Warehouses storing rotted grain, jerky, and such.
Armories with organized rusted blades, wooden cages like for beasts.
Every space systematically divided.
‘The more I think, the weirder…’
The old Kairot Kingdom had followed a similar path to Perel.
After the dynasty fell, survivors banded into resistance.
But the two countries weren’t identical.
‘Perel had many survivors.’
Royals led troops to hold the front.
The dynasty perished, but records say about 80% of the populace survived.
Hence the people’s loyalty to the old Perel dynasty.
Relics from contaminated areas were reverently preserved.
Even greed-driven mercenary guilds made exceptions.
They brought the most relics, roaming the most contaminated areas.
Heard they’d recovered the crown prince’s remains through them for the temple.
Perel folk longed for the lost royal traces and glory.
‘Whereas Kairot Kingdom is infamous for poor initial monster response.’
Royals and nobles used commoners as meat shields, fleeing to Atar Empire while they were devoured.
Thus, northern contaminated areas yielded tons of remains.
These past days in untouched contaminated zones, I’d felt some cynicism.
A family clinging to hoarded wealth even in death.
Abandoned carts with pottery, art—not survival food, but gem boxes.
‘People are all the same, sure.’
Seeing that evoked human greed clinging till death’s door.
‘I’ve no right to mock their behavior.’
I wasn’t much different from those dead Biharans.
Early on, wasn’t I elated or down over single spoils?
So I wasn’t judging right and wrong over money.
Just puzzled by this incomprehensible situation.
‘Kairot Kingdom had evacuation facilities like this?’
Large enough for many at a glance.
‘With good space allocation, 10,000 to 20,000 could’ve lived.’
Elites abandoned the people to flee—who made this?