The Ancient King's Awakening
“Katz! I finally found it!”
Hudson shouted.
Katz stopped his grave-robbing work and ran over.
“Are you sure?”
“My detection skill just reacted right here. Damn, that took forever.”
Hudson carefully struck the stone wall with his hammer.
The ancient stone wall crumbled, revealing the hidden treasure.
It was a massive coffin.
Katz swallowed dryly.
“Whose corpse do you think is inside?”
“At the very least, it has to be an ancient noble.”
“Why?”
“Look at the patterns carved on the coffin. They’re incredibly ornate.”
The two grave robbers had arrived here two months ago.
While wandering the desert, they had fallen into a sand pit that unexpectedly led to a vast underground space.
A passage in the middle had weathered away over the centuries, and the two had apparently dropped straight through it.
“Shit, all the hell we went through is flashing before my eyes.”
After securing an exit, the two grave robbers had begun exploring the area.
It looked like a tomb built for someone important.
The stone walls covered in unknown script and colorful murals practically reeked of treasure.
And sure enough, within a single day they had uncovered a hoard of rare gems.
“How many yen would this fetch back in the real world?”
“I don’t know the exchange rate, but it should easily go for thousands of dollars.”
The two grave robbers had chosen not to venture any deeper. They gathered the jewels and left.
There was an old saying that greed in an ancient tomb invited disaster.
However, the jewels they had painstakingly stolen were all confiscated by a corrupt investigator.
“Instead, I’ll overlook the theft charges you two have accumulated so far. That should be enough, right?”
It was enough to drive a man insane with resentment.
In the end, the pair had returned to the Extinction Desert.
Retracing their steps to find that tomb again had taken far more time.
Considering all the suffering they had endured, the two decided to claim the most valuable treasure in the tomb.
Looking back, giving up on treasure just because of some old superstition seemed ridiculous.
“So this coffin holds the most valuable treasure?”
“Let’s open it first. Coffins usually contain valuables alongside the corpse.”
The two men placed their hands on the coffin lid and heaved with all their strength.
But the coffin showed no sign of opening.
There was no visible lock, yet the lid was as heavy as a block of iron.
“Hoo… What the hell is this?”
“How are we supposed to open it?”
At that moment, a powerful vibration rang out from both of their Terminals.
You have awakened the long slumber of the ancient king Carteon.
That was the only message that appeared.
Yet an inexplicable sense of unease rose within them.
“Something feels… off.”
Hudson muttered.
Then the coffin lid rattled.
A right hand shot out from the gap and seized Hudson’s forearm.
“U-ughaaaah—!”
Hudson didn’t even have time to finish his scream.
His body instantly shriveled up and crumbled into dust.
Katz’s eyes widened as he gripped his sword.
“W-what the hell! Hudson!”
The coffin lid slid open with a low scrape.
A gaunt, emaciated corpse slowly rose.
It had no hair, and its eyeballs, ears, and lips were almost entirely destroyed.
Yet it was adorned with lavish ornaments, and an hourglass hung from the center of its neck.
Katz forgot to run. His body trembled violently.
“What year is it now?”
The corpse asked in a voice like scraping metal.
Katz was shaking so badly he could only shudder.
The corpse waited a moment, then asked again.
“Answer me. Unless you want your lifespan shortened like that fool just now.”
“I-it’s the 15th day of the Sun Month, Year 468 of the Leorcarn Empire calendar.”
Katz answered while glancing at the date displayed on his Terminal.
“Leorcarn Empire calendar?”
The corpse ran its slender fingers across its face.
“Is Leorcarn the name of the dynasty currently ruling the continent?”
“Y-yes, it is.”
“So much time has passed.”
The corpse clenched and unclenched a hand that was little more than bone.
As if its own body felt unnatural.
“Resurrection consumes a great deal of time. My body hasn’t fully recovered either.”
Katz mustered what little courage he had left.
“W-what the hell are you?”
“I commend your foolishness for asking me a question instead of fleeing. I shall answer. I am Carteon de Racil, sovereign of Sharchanon.”
“S-Sharchanon?”
Katz’s eyes widened.
Even a grave robber would know of Sharchanon.
The ancient kingdom of Sharchanon that had once flourished.
The countless treasures and relics discovered in the Extinction Desert were all remnants of that fallen realm.
Had he truly awakened an ancient king?
“I require knowledge of the current world. You are worth keeping alive.”
The corpse—no, Carteon—rose from the coffin.
Carteon walked outside, and Katz followed behind him.
Not by choice. His body moved on its own.
“How much has the world changed? Do people still ride wolves and carve words onto clay tablets?”
“P-people ride horses more than wolves now. And instead of clay tablets, we write with quill pens on paper.”
“A slight improvement, then.”
Carteon asked about many other things regarding the continent.
The continent’s population, the empire’s politics, military strength, currency values, climate, geography, and more.
Even though Katz didn’t know all the answers, he replied instantly out of fear of death.
Many of the terms must have been difficult to understand, yet Carteon seemed to grasp the general idea and simply nodded.
Katz hesitated, then spoke.
“A-actually, I’m not from this continent. I came from another world.”
“Another world?”
Carteon asked with clear interest.
Katz pointed at the Terminal on his wrist.
“Those who wear this device are people from another world. We lived in a different world from this one, then suddenly found ourselves transferred to the Silfia Continent.”
“For what reason?”
“No one knows.”
“I can roughly guess.”
Carteon let out a low laugh.
“How unfortunate. You will never be able to return to the world you originally came from.”
Katz tilted his head, unable to understand the meaning behind those words.
When Carteon’s attitude grew somewhat favorable, he gathered the courage to ask.
“Your Majesty, what kind of death did you suffer?”
He immediately regretted asking.
But surprisingly, Carteon answered without hesitation.
“I was assassinated by a man named Sirian. However, I was resurrected through the power of time.”
“T-the power of time?”
“I can manipulate time.”
Katz’s jaw dropped.
Carteon looked at him and gave a dry chuckle.
“In truth, when I first encountered you, I killed you. You didn’t answer immediately, and it irritated me.”
“E-excuse me?”
“But I decided I needed information, so I rewound time by three seconds. That is why you are still alive.”
Katz swallowed hard.
“I-is something like that really possible?”
“When I kill living beings or wait, I gain something called time force. Using that, I can slightly rewind or stop the flow of time in this world.”
“By the gods!”
Carteon stopped in front of a massive gate.
It was the door that neither Katz nor Hudson had been able to open despite every effort.
Yet when Carteon placed his withered palm against it, the gate slid open effortlessly.
“But it is not enough. I need more time force.”
Inside the stone chamber were countless mummies lying within coffins.
Some were human-sized, while others were nearly as large as houses.
Carteon swept his hand outward in a wide arc.
“Awaken, my soldiers. The moment to resume my conquest has arrived.”
The bandaged mummies began to stir.
Beyond the endlessly stretching corridor, there were surely thousands more.
A colossal mummy thrust its greatsword into the ground and roared.
“Your Majesty! Now that we have awakened across the ages, what is our purpose?”
The ancient king Carteon declared.
“Regression to the past! I will annihilate all life, accumulate time force, and return to the past.”
Kang Yoonsoo scratched behind his ear.
As if he had heard something extremely irritating.
“It’s over there!”
Beyond the shimmering heat haze stood a massive white temple.
It had taken them four days of traveling with the three fire trolls to reach this place.
“Take us inside.”
“Huh? You’re planning to go all the way into the temple?”
Kang Yoonsoo nodded.
When they tried to enter the main temple, the fire troll standing guard blocked their path.
“Are you joking right now?! Only trolls are allowed inside the main temple!”
“These two are our close friends!”
“Still not allowed!”
There was no other way.
Yanak hesitated, then told a clumsy lie.
“These two are the goddess’s husbands that we kidnapped! So let us through!”
“What about the other two females?”
“Uh, they’re the mates of these males, so we couldn’t leave them behind!”
“You should’ve said that from the start!”
The guard troll let them pass.
After entering the temple, Yanak slapped his own forehead and lamented.
“Lying to my own kind! I really am a terrible person!”
The moment Kang Yoonsoo stepped inside the main temple, his Terminal rang.
Legendary Request - Main Temple of the Desert
You have completed the legendary request.
The next client is waiting inside the main temple.
The interior of the temple was vast and refreshingly cool.
Nearly fifty other fire trolls had gathered there.
“Yanak’s group has arrived!”
“You guys are the very last ones!”
Everyone had kidnapped candidates to become the goddess’s husband in order to become chieftain.
Shanette’s eyes widened, and she whispered.
“But can things like those really become the goddess’s husband?”
“How should I know? There’s an old saying that it’s better to eat another piece of rye bread than try to understand what’s inside a troll’s head.”
“Eat rye bread? That’s actually a pretty good saying. Who said that?”
“I made it up.”
A priest troll stepped forward.
Everyone was so desperate to become chieftain that the place was excessively noisy.
“Everyone, quiet!”
The priest troll silenced them.
The elderly troll scanned the room with experienced eyes.
“Who have you brought as candidates to become the goddess’s husband?!”
“I’ll go first!”
The fire troll at the very front stepped forward confidently.
He lifted the leash of a large lizard.
“This is a sand lizard I caught while traveling the desert! I checked its lower parts—it’s a very healthy male! It’s fully qualified to be a husband!”
“You’ve completely lost your mind!”
“Why?! It’ll be great at nighttime duties too!”
When the troll protested in indignation, the priest troll gave him a smack on the head.
The other trolls were mostly the same.
Some had brought a tiny male spider, others a male rattlesnake, and one had even brought a male desert flower.
The most acceptable candidate among them was a short dwarf.
“Don’t be nervous! We’ll let you go after this!”
The troll who had kidnapped the dwarf comforted him as he unlocked the shackles around the dwarf’s wrists.
At the same time, the dwarf pulled a black orb from his backpack and threw it to the floor.
Thick smoke erupted, and by the time it cleared, the dwarf had vanished.
“That bastard ran away!”
The fire troll clenched his fists and roared in fury.
Henrik laughed as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
“What a complete mess.”
In the end, the only one left was Yanak.
Yanak puffed out his chest and declared proudly.
“In the end, the candidate I brought will become the goddess’s husband!”
The priest troll approached and examined Kang Yoonsoo and Henrik closely.
His gaze lingered especially long on Kang Yoonsoo.
The priest troll nodded.
“Very well! These two are qualified to become the goddess’s husbands! Everyone, prepare the Trial of Flames!”
The fire trolls began moving busily.
Shanette asked.
“What is the Trial of Flames?”
“It is a trial to endure scorching flames! Only by passing it can one become the goddess’s husband!”
Yanak pointed at a sword hilt stuck upside-down in the floor.
“If you pass the Trial of Flames, you can pull out that Sword of Oracle! The blade is incredibly fierce and an excellent weapon!”
The fire trolls brought over a rack filled with various pieces of armor.
There were massive iron plates, sturdy helmets, and plenty of shields.
The priest troll shouted at the two men.
“The Trial of Flames is simple! Choose one of the armors here and endure the incoming flames! You may also use any equipment you already possess! As long as you do not collapse despite being burned, you pass!”
Yanak secretly gave them a hint.
“Pick the red triangular horn shield! It’s made from red wyvern leather, so it has the strongest fire resistance! But even if it blocks the flames properly, your palms might still melt off!”
“Thanks for the advice, but don’t you think your whisper is a bit too loud?”
“Is it?! Trolls always speak loudly!”
The priest troll smacked Yanak on the head.
“You fool! Who told you to butt in?!”
“That hurts!”
Yanak made a tearful face.
“This is the fire that will be used for the trial!”
The priest troll brought forth a heart wreathed in flames.
Even at a glance, intense heat radiated from it.
“The heart of a flame giant emits flames so fierce that no one can approach! It melts dull flesh and burns down mountains! Now, who will challenge it first?!”
The flames leaking from the flame giant’s heart licked at their feet.
Just that was enough to melt the soles of their shoes.
Henrik quickly raised his hand.
“I’ll pass.”
“Henrik! How can you do that?!”
“Who wants to burn to death?”
Henrik stepped back, leaving Kang Yoonsoo standing alone.
“Will you challenge the Trial of Flames?!”
“Yeah.”
When Kang Yoonsoo nodded, cheers erupted from all around.
Fire trolls loved brave warriors.
Having finally found some entertainment, they gathered closely to watch the Trial of Flames.
“Then choose your armor! Will you take a shield, or will you wear plate armor?!”
Kang Yoonsoo selected the finest piece of equipment present.
He grabbed Shanette’s wrist.
“You.”
“Pardon?”
Shanette blinked rapidly.
Kang Yoonsoo said calmly.
“I will use this woman as my shield.”