Chapter 449: The Last Fortress.
Chapter 449: The Last Fortress.
Humans knew.
And dragons knew as well.
The Great War.
This war, fought under different beliefs for control of the continent for decades, had left both sides with nothing but deep scars and devastating losses.
Would they protect what was theirs, or would they reclaim what was lost?
Perhaps that was why neither side could afford to back down.
And so…
The final battle in a certain mountain range, where humans and dragons had poured all their strength, finally brought an end to the long, long war.
After descending the hill, I was at a loss for words at the sight of the fortress before me. This was the very last bastion built by humans before the final battle... the final fortress.
How could I even begin to describe it?
From above, the thick fog had obscured any clear view.
But now, having come down from the hill and seeing it with my own eyes, I could feel its overwhelming presence anew. The scale of the fortress, even seen faintly through the mist, was truly immense. It seemed no medieval army, no matter how large, could ever breach its walls. The idiom for ‘impregnable’ must have been coined for times like this.
“I can’t believe we found it as soon as we mentioned it.”
“Well, it took us nearly a week to track it down.”
Turning around, I saw Heo Junyoung and Cha Sorim chatting quietly. The other clan members were much the same, either discussing the fortress or simply staring at it in a daze. I clapped my hands a couple of times to get their attention.
“Alright… now that we’ve discovered the ruin, it’s time to go excavate it.”
“Heh. You planning on going in right now?”
Our true objective was to rescue Ahn Hyun, not excavate a ruin. I’d made a lighthearted joke, implying we were going to ‘excavate’ him, but no one reacted. Feeling a little disappointed, I nodded.
“Yeah. No need to drag our feet. First, we need to find the drawbridge.”
“Drawbridge?”
Vivian tilted her head. As Seon Yuun began to explain, I turned my gaze back to the fortress and started walking quietly toward it.
A good fortress is usually built on a strategic vantage point, offering a wide field of view to look down on the surrounding area.
But this facility, named the Final Fortress, was different. It was situated in a low-lying area, with its back against a massive mountain.
I didn’t know the reason for its construction, but it made me think they had been making a last stand.
“Man, this mountain range is relentless. We’ve struggled all this way, and now we have to explore a ruin… Ugh, seriously.”
“Haha. Cheer up. We’re here to rescue Hyun, aren’t we? And who knows? You might find a dagger with some killer stats in there.”
Just as Yoojung’s weary tone was followed by Hanna’s comforting voice, I suddenly felt the ground beneath my feet give way.
“Huh?”
Looking down, I saw a pit dug more than ten meters deep. It ran alongside the fortress wall, clearly a moat designed to stop enemy invasions.
Directly in front of the moat stood the fortress wall, easily over fifteen meters high. At the end of the wall was a circular tower, and behind it, another wall, suggesting a dual-layered structure separating the inner and outer sections.
The height and structure of the walls were incredible, but what was truly astonishing was that they remained so well-preserved after all this time.
A flicker of greed sparked within me. If I could get my hands on the architectural plans for this fortress, I could significantly boost the defenses of Magia, which was set to open this year. Ah, but Magia is a city run by magic, so maybe this wouldn't matter much?
“Damn, this fog is too thick. I can’t see a thing clearly…”
“Indeed.”
A voice suddenly cut through the air. The one grumbling in that deep voice had to be Shin Jaeryong, and the one who replied in a short, low tone was definitely Seon Yuun.
“It’s always been foggy, but I don’t think it was this bad… I have a strange feeling about this, too. Clan Lord, we should be careful… Miss Ahn Sol?”
Shin Jaeryong, who had been clicking his tongue and offering advice, abruptly stopped mid-sentence. Wondering what was wrong, I turned around and saw Ahn Sol, her face deathly pale for some reason.
“Miss Ahn Sol? Miss Ahn Sol!”
“…Huh? Y-Yes!”
“Are you feeling unwell? Your face is completely white…”
“Ah, no. I’m fine. Nothing’s wrong. I just suddenly felt strange…”
I walked over without delay. Knowing Ahn Sol’s Player Status and the abilities she had shown so far, I made it a point to check on her whenever she reacted like this.
“What’s wrong? How are you feeling?”
As I got closer and asked, I felt the eyes of the other clan members fall on us. Ahn Sol just shook her head and offered a faint smile. It was forced.
“N-No, it’s nothing.”
“It’s okay, you can tell me.”
“It’s just… my chest hurts, and I suddenly feel so sad… It’s nothing strange. I’m sorry for worrying you for no reason.”
“…Hmph. I see.”
It was an unspoken message, asking me not to press further.
Ahn Sol’s face was a mask of confusion. I knew pestering her wouldn’t get me anywhere, so I nodded and moved back to the front. I waited for her to calm down, then began walking along the fortress wall. If we followed it, we were bound to find the drawbridge.
It didn’t take as long as I expected to find it. As luck would have it, the direction we had started in was the front, and after about ten minutes, we discovered an old drawbridge barely resting on the bottom of the moat. I worried it might collapse, but when I stepped on it, it didn’t even creak.
“Alright, we’re heading in.”
Just before we crossed, a few clan members had already repositioned themselves.
Until now, we had mostly moved in a defensive formation, switching to a combat formation for battle. The three of us in the melee class, including myself, remained at the front, while the priests and mages moved further into the center. And since we didn't know what might jump out at us inside the ruin, Seon Yuun and Hanna moved to the left and right flanks to react flexibly to any sudden situations. As archers, their senses were sharp.
Crossing the drawbridge, we were greeted by the dark, gloomy entrance to the castle. One step inside revealed a passage so dark it felt like an endless tunnel, with no light in sight. After using Sensing and confirming no abnormalities, I gave the signal. Hanbyul and Shin Jaeryong cautiously cast a Light spell. As our surroundings became slightly visible, I started walking again.
And then, I felt an endless silence.
…It’s quiet. Too quiet.
…This is too strange.
Walking through the dark passage, I was seized by a baseless anxiety. When I had stood on the hill with Istantel Low, this ruin had seemed genuinely dangerous.
It was an instinctive fear, so to speak. Han Soyoung had felt something similar, hadn’t she? That’s why she had summoned her queen’s army and sent them in first. And that summoned army had vanished without a sound or a trace.
The feeling from back then was so intense that I had kept Sensing at maximum range since we came down. But so far, nothing had been detected. It was as if the area around the fortress, and the inside, were completely empty.
Still, I couldn't let my guard down, knowing what might lie ahead. I continued forward, remaining vigilant.
After about five minutes of slow walking, we finally found a tightly shut door. That must have been why we couldn’t see any light from the entrance.
It was a bit strange to find a door just inside the entrance, but after a careful inspection with my Third Eye, I confirmed one thing.
There are signs it was opened recently.
To be precise, the iron door before me wasn’t completely closed. It was so thick that it looked shut, but the edge of the door and the frame were slightly misaligned. And the scratch marks on the doorframe clearly indicated that it had been closed and opened at least once recently.
I swallowed hard. It felt like it had been a long time since I’d felt this tense. This wasn’t the tension that came from a lack of skill. It was the tension of being in a place that no one, across both the first and second playthroughs, had ever conquered—a place about which nothing was known.
I calmly steadied my heart and placed a hand on the iron door, which radiated a chilling cold. There was no handle, so it seemed I just had to push it open.
Before I pushed, I glanced back and saw the clan members watching me with tense expressions. I gave them a look that said, ‘be careful,’ and then slowly put my strength into my hands.
Kk-geung, kk-geu-geung…!
The iron door began to open with an unpleasant groan. A single ray of light streamed through the slowly widening gap.
I gave it one last, firm push, and with a sound like it was about to break, the door swung wide open. At the same time, a freezing cold air washed over us, wrapping around our bodies.
Kk-ririk!
Simultaneously, the sound of someone drawing a bowstring echoed through the passage, but there was nothing in front of us. As expected, it was empty.
The only peculiar thing was that the fog was even thicker here than it was outside.
Heo Junyoung took a step forward, peered into the fortress, and frowned slightly.
“The fog is unexpectedly dense. I’ve enhanced my vision, but I can’t even see ten meters ahead… At this point, I’m starting to doubt if this is even fog.”
I recalled Shin Jaeryong saying he had a strange feeling earlier, and I had to agree.
Just as Heo Junyoung said, my vision was blurry even with my sight fully enhanced. I could barely see the ground, let alone the fortress interior. It was so bad I almost wondered if we had stepped into a cloud bank.
In any case, the iron door was open. I stared inside for a moment before cautiously taking a step forward.
Clatter!
It happened then. I felt a strange texture under my foot.
Wondering what it was, I looked down and saw pale white things piled up, overlapping each other in the dense fog. I bent down slightly and reached out, my hand closing around a faded white stick.
No. It wasn’t a stick. This was…
“Bones.”
Just as Heo Junyoung said, they were unmistakably human bones.
I immediately threw what I was holding and strode inside. With every step I took, I heard a continuous clattering from below. This meant that the ground we were standing on was covered with countless bones.
The clan members following behind must have realized it too, as they all let out low groans.
I stopped again. Sensing that I was lost in thought, Daeun and Heo Junyoung, who were at the front with me, came closer.
“It might be difficult to react if our visibility is this limited… Soohyun. What’s your plan?”
“I’m thinking.”
I replied while meticulously scanning the area with my Third Eye and Sensing. Heo Junyoung looked around as well, then clicked his tongue and shook his head.
“This is definitely a strange place.”
“I think so too. I got goosebumps for no reason when we came in… And it’s too quiet. It’s like something is lying in wait, coiled up.”
“Agreed. The fact that the bones are still intact, the mist that doesn’t feel like fog at all… There’s more than one thing that’s off. I’ve never been to a place this ominous.”
“Instead of going straight in, how about we find somewhere high up and get the lay of the land first?”
I said I’m thinking.
For a moment, I had the thought that I wished they would just shut up. But I quickly closed my eyes and calmed myself.
My nerves were on edge more than necessary. It was a habit, a custom of mine, to pile suspicion upon suspicion, and it was kicking in after a long time.
In a way, it was frustrating, but the place I was standing in was unknown to anyone. Given the nature of the Hall Plain, where one mistake could cost you your life, double-checking everything was an essential choice to increase the chances of survival.
“Find a high place first, you say…”
“Rather than that… how about we just go inside?”
As I was quietly mulling over Daeun’s words, Vivian, who had approached at some point, chimed in. I opened my eyes and looked at her as she lightly wet her lips with her tongue and continued.
“I agree that something’s weird. But if we can’t see well from here, what good would climbing up do?”
“So you’re saying we should just go in like this?”
“I’m saying, do we have any better ideas right now? Weren’t we going in anyway? Or should I summon my legion of demonic beasts and raise some hell?”
“Vetoed.”
I immediately shot down Vivian’s suggestion.
One of the rules of exploring ruins was to maintain stealth. The standard procedure was to approach the center without drawing as much attention as possible. Why would I want to kick a hornet’s nest?
Of course, I wasn’t doubting Vivian’s abilities, but that method had already been proven ineffective in the first playthrough.
Finally, after finishing my scan of the area, I reflexively glanced at Ahn Sol.
Ahn Sol, who had suddenly gone quiet, still wore a sad expression. But there was no fear on her face. She just looked so incredibly sad that she didn’t know what to do.
“Ahem. In places like this, the cause is often located in the center. Like a plaza, or some unique-looking building. What I mean is, we find the source and eliminate it.”
After a slight cough, Vivian continued. I was lost in thought for a moment.
There’s definitely something inside. I’m sure of it.
Right now, I felt like I was in the calm before the storm, just before something was about to happen. It wasn’t just me; many of the clan members had mentioned feeling an inexplicable anxiety in this place. But it was driving me crazy that I couldn’t find anything even with my Third Eye.
But as Vivian said, we had to go in eventually.
So… we’re walking into this knowing it’s a trap…
“…We’re heading inside.”
In the end, I decided to follow Vivian’s opinion and gave the order to advance, staring ahead.
Ten meters in front of us was a staircase leading up, about twenty steps high. If this was the entrance to the ruin, then climbing those stairs would mean we were truly inside.
I steeled myself. Sharpening all my senses, I took a step toward the stairs before me.
And at that very moment.
“I…”
From behind me, I faintly heard Ahn Sol’s small whisper.
“…hate the hero.”
It flowed into my highly sensitized ears like a secret.