Chapter 140
Chapter 140
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 140
Chapter Title: The Stone of Life
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Lee Seo-jun nodded at Yoo Ara's words.
"Yeah. The visions from the past discovered the relic site earlier, right?"
"......Did they fail to conquer it?"
"Hmm. I don't think so."
"Let's head forward for now. We'll find out when we get there."
And so, Seo-jun and I took the lead and kept walking. After trudging through the long passageway for about five minutes, a mummy monster wrapped head to toe in bandages appeared.
—Kieek!
The people behind me gathered their mana in preparation for battle. But before they could, I cast my spell and unleashed it toward the creature.
Pang—!
The magic orb left a streak of white afterimages as it shot toward the mummy's head.
The magic orb struck the creature's head dead-on, producing a loud boom.
The mummy lost its form and vanished completely.
"Oh. Nice shot."
Lee Seo-jun, who had half-drawn his sword, sheathed it again and commented. I shrugged it off like it was nothing.
Before long, we arrived at a certain point in the relic site.
"What is this? The path's blocked?"
A dead end with strange patterns etched into it.
Yoo Ara and Lee Hyun-joo touched the wall blocking the path.
That was when it happened.
—The path's blocked.
The ghost voices started up again.
—What? Did we take a wrong turn or something?
—Doesn't seem like it.
Soon, two ghosts appeared, touching the dead-end wall.
They were the woman who resembled Lee Seo-jun from earlier and a young Choi Il-hyun.
But judging from the voices, there were probably more people here besides those two.
"This is where it suddenly dead-ends."
"Look over here. There's some writing."
"Yeah? 'Only those who have embraced death may open this door.' ......What the hell?"
"What kind of bullshit is this? Embrace death? Does that mean we don't qualify?"
The ghosts vanished again. An eerie silence settled over the space.
"......Ugh. This is giving me chills."
Song Seung-ah clung to Choi Seo-yoon's arm. Tension crept onto Choi Seo-yoon's face as well.
I stroked the wall.
I couldn't sense any mana. Even using an outsider's blessing yielded the same result.
Proof that this wall was made not with 'mana' but with 'mystery.'
That was when Lee Seo-jun stepped forward.
"Looks like the people from the past couldn't open this door after all."
"Yeah. That's why the relic site wasn't conquered......"
Yoo Ara nodded in agreement, then examined the writing on the wall.
"It seems like a hint or something. 'Those who have embraced death'......"
"Maybe it means we need to use that mummy monster from earlier? Mummies embrace death, right?"
"That makes sense."
Yoo Ara's eyes widened at Choi Seo-yoon's reasoning.
I glanced at Lee Seo-jun. He was still staring at the wall with a troubled look.
If I left things as they were, he'd figure out how to open the wall on his own, just like in the original story. But there was no need to wait for them to puzzle it out themselves.
I said to Lee Seo-jun,
"Lee Seo-jun. Come here."
"Why? Did you figure something out?"
Lee Seo-jun looked at me with eyes full of expectation. I could sense his trust in me.
"Inject some mana into the wall."
"......Mana? Nah, it can't be that simple."
"You never know. Just try it for kicks."
"Why make me do it when you could?"
"Don't talk back."
Lee Seo-jun nodded at my words.
"......Okay."
He touched the wall and injected his mana. Then, his blue mana began seeping into the entire wall.
And then.
Wuuuuung—
A powerful vibration echoed through the whole space.
"What the—?"
Everyone reacted with surprise at the sudden change.
The wall began to glow with bright light. With a flash!, the wall vanished completely.
"......You just needed to inject mana?"
Lee Seo-jun stared at me in astonishment.
"Hey. What are you? How did you know?"
"Don't you know it's basic to try injecting mana when you hit a blocked path in a dungeon or relic site?"
"Yeah, but. It actually opened this easily?"
Lee Seo-jun eyed me dubiously once more.
That was when Yoo Ara approached us.
"Did you just open it by injecting mana?"
"Yeah. It reacted right away."
"What? When I tried injecting mana earlier, nothing happened."
"Really?"
"Yeah. For real."
Lee Seo-jun furrowed his brow.
"But why did it open for me?"
Yoo Ara crossed her arms, lost in thought.
"The writing said 'only those who have embraced death may open this door'...... Are you undead by any chance?"
"You're joking, right?"
"Sunbae-nim's undead? During the captain exam, you did kinda look like a zombie, so that explains it."
Song Seung-ah chimed in with a joking tone. But Lee Seo-jun responded seriously, not taking it as a joke.
"What kind of undead? Have you ever seen an undead that handles light attributes?"
With that, Lee Seo-jun turned to me. His eyes demanded an explanation.
An explanation for why I'd told him to inject mana.
I responded leisurely.
"Everyone's mana has different properties, so stuff like this happens sometimes. It was worth a shot. But I didn't think it'd actually work."
The wall in the relic site opened.
We conquered the relic site at a rapid pace.
The initial wall had held us up briefly, but after that, it was no different from a typical relic site.
Battles and trap disarming. Repeating those two things over and over, we soon arrived at the final location in the relic site.
"Whew. The final room already."
"We came to enjoy the festival, and somehow it turned into this."
"Yeah. I'm a bit thrown off too."
I placed my hand on the door, taking the lead.
"Let's go right in."
"Sure."
Kkiiik......
As the door opened, a vast, enormous space came into view.
[You have entered the final room of the 'Boundary Relic.']
[You have acquired 3,000 points as a reward.]
The relic site's final room.
Moss-covered rocks and various statues were visible.
Colorful flowers bloomed on the floor, surrounded by massive trees.
A sacred aura emanated from it, unmistakably feeling like a 'relic site' at first glance.
"Wow. This is really cool. I've been to artificial relic sites a few times, but a real one is my first."
"Me too."
Everyone except me was seeing a real relic site for the first time and looked around in wonder.
"Ah, I gotta take a picture of this. Seo-yoon, want me to get one of you?"
Song Seung-ah said, holding her smart student notebook.
"No thanks. We're not here to play."
"Aw, come on. Ah, Sunbae Kim Sun-woo! Stand next to Seo-yoon. I'll take one of you both."
"What picture? No thanks."
At my words, Choi Seo-yoon said to Song Seung-ah,
"See? He doesn't want to."
Song Seung-ah gave me a strange look and sighed deeply.
"Fine, then. I'll get one of Seo-jun sunbae-nim and Hyun-joo sunbae-nim."
"Us?"
I'd assumed they'd refuse, but surprisingly, the two readily posed together in front of a fancy statue.
They even stuck close and struck a pose amiably.
Smile. Click.
......Those two are so carefree.
Once the photo was done, Lee Hyun-joo ran over to Song Seung-ah.
"Nice pic? Send it to me when we get out of the relic site."
"Sure. Want me to edit it first?"
"Nah, that's fine."
The mood suddenly shifted to like we were on a field trip, so Lee Seo-jun spoke up first.
"But where's the reward?"
"Isn't that an altar over there?"
Yoo Ara pointed somewhere. Everyone's gazes followed.
"Oh. Yeah? Looks like it."
We walked toward the altar. As expected, atop it sat a transparent gem glowing with pure white light.
［Stone of Life (Holy Relic)］
Description: A stone containing the power of life.
［Usage Effect］
►Miracle of Life
Inject mana into the stone to invoke the miracle of life.
All diseases are cured.
All wounds recover and regenerate.
*Reuse cooldown: 3,650 days
Durability: SSS
The Stone of Life.
It was exactly the reward from the original story.
A holy relic, known as the epitome of 'mystery'—the most unfathomable power in this world.
The Stone of Life probably wouldn't see immediate use, but it would become one of the key items far into the story's progression.
With this, we were one step closer to the main scenario.
"A stone? A gem? Hmm. What is this? An artifact?"
"Looks like an artifact, but I'm not sure."
As everyone stared at the Stone of Life, Lee Hyun-joo spoke up in a more serious tone.
"This isn't an ordinary artifact."
"Then what is it?"
"A holy relic."
"H-Holy relic?"
True to her setting of being very interested in mysteries, she recognized the item's true nature, just like in the original.
"Yeah. I've seen a holy relic with my own eyes before. See that faint white glow from the outside? That's proof it's a holy relic. And you can feel that unique energy too."
At the words "holy relic," everyone looked shocked.
"Wow. So this is one of those holy relics we've only heard rumors about. Hard to believe."
"Let's keep today's events our little secret."
Everyone gave Lee Hyun-joo puzzled looks at her words.
"There are a lot of people in the world who covet holy relics. If word gets out we have one, things probably won't end well."
I nodded at Lee Hyun-joo's words. She was spot-on, no exaggeration.
There was no need to spread word of acquiring a holy relic. This world was full of people obsessed with 'mystery,' even without counting Ja-un.
Yoo Ara chimed in too.
"Lee Hyun-joo's right. There are plenty of people out there who'd kill for treasure without a second thought."
Yoo Ara muttered bitterly. She was probably thinking of something from her own family. Song Seung-ah and Choi Seo-yoon nodded.
"Yes, I won't tell anyone."
As the mood started to darken, Lee Seo-jun stepped in with a bright voice, as if to lighten things up.
"So, shall we grab the reward?"
"Yeah. Who’s gonna hold onto it?"
No one answered Lee Hyun-joo's question.
Someone might covet such a holy relic reward, but after the previous talk, everyone seemed reluctant to take it.
I turned to Lee Seo-jun.
"Lee Seo-jun. You hold onto it."
"Me?"
"Yeah. You opened that dead end and got us here, after all."
It was his item to own from the start anyway.
"I guess that's true...... Hmm. Alright, for now. But if anyone here needs it later, we use it then. Cool?"
"Sure."
As Lee Seo-jun reached for the Stone of Life, I stopped him.
"Hey, hey, hold up. Wait a sec."
"Huh?"
Everyone looked at me at my sudden action.
"Everyone, get ready for battle."
As with most relic sites, retrieving the reward in the final room awakens the guardian.
It meant we still had one last fight ahead. Everyone nodded at my words.
"Oh. Right. Forgot about the guardian."
"Another battle? Ugh. How strong are guardians anyway? They say stronger than dungeon bosses."
As everyone gathered mana and finished prepping for battle, Lee Seo-jun said,
"Alright, taking it?"
"Yeah."
Lee Seo-jun grasped the Stone of Life. At the same time, brilliant light burst from the stone, and the entire relic site began to vibrate.
Wuuuuung......
Sand from the ceiling started falling to the floor. Then, a massive something shifted with a loud rumble.
Kudung!
Blue eyes glowed in the darkness. Turning my gaze, I saw a giant statue clutching a huge spear walking toward us.
It was nearly 10 meters tall.
And behind it, another statue, slightly smaller, appeared.
"Get ready for battle!"
That was when it happened.
Kudung!
Another massive footstep echoed.