Hwarba Ancient Ruins (Part 3)
"So, basically, all we have to do is serve as escorts for the excavation?"
"Exactly. The other groups have been acting rather suspicious lately. Dr. Felime didn't hire you on the side for nothing!"
Proni, the bespectacled assistant, nodded emphatically. The objective assigned by this story-type gate was straightforward enough. While conducting his research, the archaeologist Dr. Felime had uncovered clues regarding the ruins and secured funding from local nobles to assemble a large expedition. However, upon arriving and commencing the dig, he had sensed an unsettling tension brewing among the ranks. Consequently, he had reached out through his closest friend to hire our party as private escorts.
It's like something straight out of a movie. Weren't there plenty of films where rival tomb raiders turned on each other inside ancient pyramids, brawling over treasure? This seemed to be that exact scenario.
"Sounds simple enough."
"It's not that simple!" Proni protested. "There are quite a few of them over there, including fully armed knights. Though whether they're all on the same side or not, I couldn't say."
I had meant that the objective itself was clear-cut, but she seemed to have taken it as a comment on the difficulty.
"You just need us to keep you safe if chaos breaks out, right?"
"Well, yes, but still..."
"Don't worry. We'll do our job."
"I suppose... Lord Gerom sent you, so you must be reliable."
This gate had been altered by my class, the Lord of Subspace. There was no way everything would go smoothly.
How would things go wrong? The most obvious scenario was that Dr. Felime would discover something, prompting the other factions to ambush him. How that escalated into a full-scale volcanic eruption remained a mystery; we simply lacked the necessary intel.
While I intended to let the gate's narrative play out, I had no intention of just standing idly by.
I already know story-type gates are packed with hidden pieces.
Back in the Snowfield Gate, we had obtained an elixir from the White Tiger's cave and recovered a hero's remains—secrets tucked away in areas completely unrelated to the main objective. Not every gate would be so generous, but there was a strong chance something similar existed here. While performing escort duty, it would be wise to scour the surroundings using my spatial sense.
"Could you tell us a bit more about these ruins?" Since Dr. Felime was busy exploring, I pressed his assistant for background lore. After all, even a trivial offhand comment might point the way to a hidden reward.
"Well... you know the legend of Mount Hwarba, don't you?"
"Never heard of it."
"...?" Proni tilted her head, giving me a bewildered look. "You don't know it?"
"We've spent our lives focusing solely on combat."
"Even so, how could you not...? Good grief, did Lord Gerom actually send competent people?" Muttering under her breath, Proni pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose and continued. "A long time ago, the Fire Spirit King, Hwarba, lived here."
The Fire Spirit King.
Just as I thought—perhaps uncovering something tied to him in these ruins was what triggered the volcanic cataclysm.
"Legend says Hwarba despised mana," she explained. "He sought to incinerate all the mana in the world using pure flame."
"Burning mana with fire?" Minjae tilted his head in perplexity. As a mage, the concept didn't make much sense to him. Typically, mana was used to conjure fire, not the other way around. Then again, an elemental king might operate under entirely different rules.
"Well, I don't know the exact mechanism either. It's just an ancient myth," Proni said with a shrug. "In any case, he attempted to use this volcano to burn away the world's magic. Naturally, it failed. The volcano erupted violently, burying this entire settlement and the surrounding lands in lava and volcanic ash—even though the people here had worshipped Hwarba as their patron deity."
The scenery outside indeed resembled the photographs of Pompeii I had seen.
"Dr. Felime heard that legend and managed to locate these ruins based on it."
"What is he searching for, exactly?"
"Pardon? Searching for what? We're exploring ruins! We're verifying whether those ancient events were historical truth, and since this was a site where an elemental king was worshipped, there might be artifacts left behind."
Proni tried to sound nonchalant, but there was an odd nuance to her tone. It felt as though she was concealing something.
I didn't have any concrete proof—it was purely an instinct. Had we been in the outside world, I wouldn't have thought twice about it. But this was inside a gate. Given the impending volcanic eruption, there had to be more to the story.
Then again, she wouldn't spill everything right off the bat. We hadn't established trust yet. After all, they had hired us precisely because the other parties were acting suspicious, and when people were blinded by greed, anything could happen.
I'll find out soon enough. It wouldn't take long. The gate had given us a three-day limit, which meant a major shift would occur by tomorrow at the latest.
For now, our immediate assignment was to keep watch outside, guarding the entrance Dr. Felime had entered. The expedition was split into four factions, each exploring through separate entryways.
"Monsters do appear inside, but... since you've only just arrived today, please rest here on standby," Proni had instructed. "If anything urgent happens, you can head right in!"
It wasn't a bad arrangement. It gave us a prime vantage point to observe the other groups.
Scanning our surroundings, Uncle remarked, "The vibe around here is definitely strange."
I couldn't agree more. It felt like watching thugs trying to conceal blades beneath their coats—not that they literally looked like street thugs, but there was an unspoken, subtle tension in the air. The other factions were openly scrutinizing us as well, sizing up the newcomers who had suddenly joined the fold. The sideways glances darting our way were far from friendly; they were calculating our combat potential.
"Hyung, why would they organize the expedition like this in the first place?" Minjae asked.
The expedition's four factions consisted of Dr. Felime and three different noble factions, a result of cobbling together multiple investments to finance the dig.
"Well, the doctor probably figured relying on a single sponsor meant getting stabbed in the back," Uncle replied. "Though it looks like he just invited three wolves instead of one."
"How do they even plan to divide the spoils?"
"Who knows? Seeing as they're exploring separate sections, it's anyone's guess."
I wondered if pooling everything together and splitting the proceeds afterward wouldn't have been better. Then again, people intent on betrayal would betray regardless of the arrangement.
"I'm going to take a look around the perimeter," I said.
"Sure. If anything happens..."
"Have Minjae shoot a spell into the sky."
With nothing else to do, I decided to scout the immediate area. With my teammates holding down the fort, I wasn't particularly worried; if trouble arose, it wouldn't happen immediately.
I roamed around the ruins for a good while, but unfortunately came up empty-handed. Even with my spatial sense spread wide, nothing pinged my awareness.
"Find anything interesting?" Uncle asked when I returned.
"No. Looks like we'll have to wait until tomorrow."
"Nothing we can do about that."
"Just being inside an ancient ruins gate is a huge win already," Minjae chimed in.
In truth, we had gotten exceptionally lucky in the Snowfield Gate by stumbling upon that hidden piece. Here in an ancient ruins gate, whatever lay inside the main site would be reward enough. Though the gate had wound back time to when the ruins were an active settlement... that might actually mean the treasures within were in pristine condition, just like last time.
"Say, Hye," Uncle ventured hesitantly, having clearly mulled it over while I was gone. "Wasn't the last one a ruins gate, too? Does your ability only activate in ruins?"
"It looks that way, though there have been exceptions."
I had been pondering the exact same thing. This was the second time my class, Lord of Subspace, had altered a gate, and both happened to be ruins.
Though nothing happened in the Godmon Ruins.
Two out of three. A sixty-six percent chance was remarkably high. Did it trigger whenever I entered ruins where significant historical events had transpired? If so, disclosing this to the Hunter Association might not be a bad move. Given how much favor they showed us, they would gladly assign us as many ruins gates as possible.
How does this actually trigger? Is it really ruins?
[Negative. While my own observations are limited, it does not necessarily require ruins.]
Then what?
[To be precise, the probability of alteration increases significantly if a monumental historical event occurred at the site.]
A monumental event?
[As Master Han Hye knows, the previous instance harbored the lingering malice of an Evil God, while this one houses the Fire Spirit King.]
I understood what he was getting at. Perhaps the Godmon Ruins hadn't triggered a change simply because its historical weight lacked that tier of significance.
[This is merely a hypothesis. Even I do not know everything about the Lord of Subspace class.]
Fair enough. Even Chunbae had called our acquisition of the Sacred Stone back then a serendipitous encounter.
Still, that means ruins gates have a much higher chance of triggering it.
[A qualified affirmative. The ruins that manifest within gates possess a high likelihood of harboring significant historical events.]
After discussing it with Chunbae, I concluded that triggering this class effect wasn't something I could deliberately force.
While we were discussing this, Dr. Felime emerged from his exploration. One glance was enough to tell he was the scholar in question.
"Are you the ones Gerom sent?" Looking somewhat weary, the doctor inspected us with an impassive expression.
"Yes, sir."
"Three men and one woman. That matches."
I had wondered how he would verify our identities, but it seemed the gate established identification protocols upon entry.
"Let us step inside. You will be accompanying me into the depths starting tomorrow, and there are matters we must discuss."
"Matters?"
"You must be apprised of the safety precautions for the excavation. We cannot have anyone recklessly tampering with the relics."
With that, we followed him into his tent. The instant the flap fell shut behind us, the doctor's expression transformed entirely. He looked almost frantic with anticipation.
He shot Proni an urgent glance and gestured with his hand. In response, a gentle pulse of mana rippled from the assistant's fingertips.
"It's soundproofing magic," she whispered.
Dr. Felime's previously stoic eyes now flared with undisguised ecstasy.
"Proni."
"Doctor, could it be...?"
"Yes. I found it! Traces of the past!"
His impassive demeanor earlier had clearly been an act for the prying eyes outside. He seemed like an entirely different person now.
"Did you see it with your own eyes?"
"A glimpse of it, yes. Though it was thoroughly concealed. First of all, this is no dormant volcano. It is the seal where Hwarba was imprisoned!"
"Your hypothesis was correct all along!"
"Indeed. The heat grew increasingly intense the deeper I ventured."
The doctor and his assistant chattered excitedly back and forth, leaving us struggling to keep up with the academic details. Still, the revelation that Hwarba was sealed here was more than enough.
"Ah, forgive me. I nearly forgot our guests."
"Our job is simply to protect you," I said, "but what exactly did you discover down there?"
"The truth of the Hwarba ruins! Records of antiquity, if you will. This is a monumental historical discovery!"
"Does that mean treasure?" Uncle asked, his eyes gleaming.
The doctor shook his head with a stern scowl. "Something infinitely more precious than mere treasure! The records of history!"
"Ah... right..."
Just as Uncle's face began to fall in disappointment, the doctor added, "Though, of course, if one delves deeper along that path, treasures are bound to be found as well."
Uncle's face instantly lit up again.
"You shall accompany me inside tomorrow," Dr. Felime instructed. "Keep your wits about you. We must proceed with utmost secrecy. From what little ancient script I managed to decipher, the passage is guarded by Fire Knights and Magma Golems."
Fire Knights and Magma Golems?
I was familiar with Magma Golems, but Fire Knights were an unknown entity. Were they constructs tasked with guarding the seal, or guardians of the treasure?
"Well, seeing as you were sent by Gerom, I trust combat will not be an issue."
"You needn't worry on that front," I replied.
I wasn't sure how tough they would be, but even though the gate's level range had jumped to 45, that rating likely accounted for the impending volcanic eruption. Which meant the regular monsters should be well within our ability to handle.
What kind of secret is waiting down there?
Anticipation fluttered in my chest. Setting aside the Class Skill Acquisition Ticket from the last time, we had still walked away with a C-rank spear. This time, surely we could expect at least an A-rank weapon or a secret skill tome.