Chapter 258
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 258
Chapter Title: Underground City Valhelonia
"But first, we need to secure materials."
"Materials, you say?"
In truth, my bag held more than enough for undead creation.
But if possible, I wanted to check out materials from beyond the walls first.
Stuff I'd never encountered before from outside the walls.
There was always a chance I'd spot some new possibilities there.
'A gathering of land beasts—surely they've got things for sale.'
I planned to procure some of those materials.
"So let's hurry to the Collapsed Tower."
"We'd better make haste."
Nugail clenched his fists with renewed resolve.
His eyes evoked the Hanok from those early days.
Along with Hanok, the faces of the others flashed through my mind one after another.
'Hope they're doing well.'
I wanted to go back.
Before I knew it, time spent with them had become so familiar that such thoughts arose naturally.
For some reason, it felt like I was a father on an overseas business trip, leaving his family behind.
So I had to return loaded with gifts.
The bone wolf carrying Leyzon and Nugail pressed on relentlessly.
In the meantime, Nugail had resumed his old training regimen.
Thanks to Leyzon, his bones were sturdier now than in his youth.
So he could pick up those past drills once more.
"That's some serious intensity."
Nugail's training was brutally demanding.
Proof came in the sweat pouring down his face like a rainstorm.
He mainly wielded a mace.
A mace offered more versatility than a sword.
But it came with substantial weight as a trade-off.
And Nugail handled that hefty mace with impressive skill.
For the record, the mace was a gift from Leyzon.
It was a weapon he'd gathered back when collecting armor for Haron.
"This is the opportunity Lord Leyzon granted me. If I may be so bold, I hope one day I can repay the favor if you're ever in peril."
Quite the reliable words.
Whether sincere or not, it wasn't bad news for Leyzon.
"Good. Looks like we're almost there anyway."
Leyzon said that and lifted his head.
There, at the edge of the horizon.
A colossal ruin of immense scale loomed into view.
A tower that dominated an entire horizon with its overwhelming size.
The Collapsed Tower, home to the greatest concentration of land beasts.
"We arrived much faster than expected."
Perhaps because they weren't walking as usual but riding the bone wolf.
Nugail, his sense of distance thrown off, showed genuine surprise.
He wiped away his sweat and straightened his clothes.
By then, the bone wolf had reached the very doorstep of the Collapsed Tower.
Up close, the tower proved far grander than imagined.
Once, it had pierced the heavens.
Even now, toppled and sprawled across the ground, it retained its majestic aura.
"They say when the tower fell, the entire world shook."
An event from ancient times that even Nugail had never witnessed.
Few in this world could still remember it.
The Collapsed Tower was a remnant of lost history.
"Do you know when it collapsed?"
"Not precisely, but it's said to be well over a thousand years ago."
That would place it before the founding of the Niflheim Empire.
'Back in the Kalтура Empire era, probably.'
An unimaginably distant past.
"It's said the number of prophets surged after the tower's fall."
"Before that, land beasts stood on equal footing with them, or so the tales go."
Land beasts who had even aspired to reach the Transcendent Realm, home to transcendent beings.
They must have been more than capable of rivaling prophets.
But their greed proved excessive, and they met their end.
Now, scarcely any land beasts could challenge a prophet.
Most were just beasts crawling beneath the earth.
"The entrance is this way."
Nugail strode forward purposefully.
His movements no longer befitted an old man.
'During training, he must've realized how much broader his body's limits have become.'
Nugail had lived as an elderly man for years after aging.
So his first step was shedding the habits of old age.
An enfeebled elder had sluggish reflexes and an instinctive caution.
That would only hinder him going forward.
Aware of it, he'd awakened his senses through training.
Proving to himself that his body was no longer that of an old man's.
'Got myself a solid one here.'
The future looked promising.
Following Nugail led beneath the Collapsed Tower's rubble.
The debris seemed ordinary ruins at first glance—nothing special.
But Nugail easily located an entrance to the underground.
"There are entrances leading below the Collapsed Tower all over the place."
"Even prophets tread carefully down there, making it a perfect hideout for land beasts."
Multiple entrances meant multiple escape routes.
In a pinch, they could flee anytime.
That alone made it ideal for land beasts seeking shelter.
Leyzon descended along stairs carved from sand and stone.
Soon, a vast open plaza appeared, drawing his admiration.
A massive underground space.
Houses hewn from rock lined the walls.
Land beasts of every variety lived there.
Among them, children played freely.
Children frolicking so carefree spoke volumes about the security.
The place teemed with diverse races mingled together.
Watching them go about their daily lives was fascinating.
Yet they shared one grim commonality.
Even fleeing here from prophets, they couldn't escape the black plague.
"Doesn't clustering like this put you at risk from the black plague?"
"Below the Collapsed Tower, the plague doesn't spawn domains even if it breaks out. We can't stop deaths, but it prevents extra casualties from domains."
Now I understood why so many land beasts gathered here.
For them, the Collapsed Tower was a precarious sanctuary.
Then.
Thud—
Leyzon's steps halted abruptly.
He tilted his head upward slightly.
"Nugail."
"Yes?"
"Looks like they don't exactly roll out the welcome mat here either."
In that instant, the ground beneath Leyzon erupted, sending him plummeting below.
"L-Lord Leyzon!"
The startled Nugail lunged toward the pit.
But a figure blocked his path.
A burly man with a dog's head.
He swung his greatsword at Nugail without hesitation.
Nugail hastily drew his mace and swung it to meet the blade.
Claaaaang!
A heavy clang echoed as Nugail staggered.
The man's muscles bulged savagely.
Revealing the vivid wing emblem on his chest.
Nugail gritted his teeth at the sight.
"Valhelra Guardians, why do this to us?!"
Valhelra Guardians.
Elite land beast warriors sworn to protect Valhelonia.
That was the man's identity.
"Woof, why?"
A guttural bark erupted from the man's maw.
Baring his fangs, his eyes gleamed fiercely.
"Dare you, traitor who led a prophet into our sanctuary, ask that?"
Prophet.
Nugail's eyes wavered at the word.
He too had once mistaken Leyzon for a prophet.
And truthfully, his power rivaled theirs.
"It's a misunderstanding!"
But a misunderstanding it was.
Leyzon was the benefactor who could cure the black plague.
Attacking him like this was a grave error.
"He can save our land beasts! I understand why you might suspect, but hear us out!"
"As if words from one who offered his body to a prophet hold weight."
Whoosh!
Green flames erupted from the man's greatsword.
Dangerous.
Nugail had once trained on the edge of cliffs in his youth.
He knew the most vital element in battle.
Innate mana within a person.
The ability to manifest it from inside out.
Empire folk called it skills—Manifestation.
Manifestation progressed like primitive magic, in tree stages.
From Stage 1: Seed.
Stage 2: Sprout.
Stage 3: Sapling.
Stage 4: Shrub.
Stage 5: Tree.
Stage 6: Giant Tree.
Stage 7: Thousand-Year Tree.
Stage 8: Cosmic Tree.
The dog-man before him had reached a mature Stage 5 Tree.
Nugail, by contrast, lingered at the entry of Stage 3 Sapling.
The gap was stark.
And he wasn't alone.
Valhelra Guardians emerged from all around.
Including the one who'd triggered Leyzon's fall.
All at Stage 5 Tree or higher.
Nugail's breath caught.
They said the full Guardians could even rival prophets.
He felt the truth of that now.
Thud!
The dog-man's pressure on Nugail intensified.
All Nugail could do was hold his mace against him.
"Receive your punishment."
As the dog-man's Manifestation burst into fierce green flames—
Eternal Slumber
Weapons of all Guardians in range explode!
"Eternal Slumber."
Leyzon's voice rang in their ears.
Boom!
In that moment, every Guardian's weapon detonated, including the dog-man's.
The Guardians stared dumbly at the sudden turn.
Black smoke billowed from the pit.
Purple light flickered amid the haze.
"Fire!"
At the Guardian's shout, they conjured bows in unison.
Arrows forged from Manifestation flames rained into the pit.
Each one potent enough to pierce thick steel.
The hole bristled like a porcupine in seconds.
As Nugail gaped at the scene in shock—
"Chain Tracking Shot [S], huh? Even warrior types use it."
A voice sounded from right behind him.
Leyzon stood there, a purple halo glowing above his head.
Grinning casually, he aimed his staff downward.
"Intriguing. The world beyond the walls really is different."
As he finished speaking, the dog-man charged like a mad dog.
Leyzon's vision filled with the oncoming beast.
His body swelled, fur thickening massively.
Flesh Bullet Beastification [SS]
Dog Clan's innate skill—enhanced by Manifestation
Flesh Bullet Beastification [SS].
The Dog Clan's unique skill.
Activated via Manifestation, its power was amplified.
As the dog-man's fangs lunged for Leyzon—
Ting—
A black shard burst from Leyzon's chest.
It spewed purple light right before the man's nose.
Eternal Slumber
Black shard detonation—target repelled!
"Eternal Slumber."
The explosion hurled the dog-man tumbling across the ground.
Leyzon's shadow surged up, blocking the blast.
The dog-man struggled to rise again.
But then he realized his legs wouldn't move.
Unknown runes flowed over them.
A curse.
"Land beasts, I didn't come here to fight."
Leyzon emerged from between the shadow walls.
His purple eyes gleamed menacingly.
"What you and I need to do is talk."
Guardians stepped in front of the dog-man.
Leyzon leveled his staff at them.
"Refuse to talk, and what follows won't be a fight—it'll be a massacre."
So don't make the wrong choice. Cooperate.