Chapter 63
Chapter 63
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 23
Chapter Title: Ruins (2)
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Chain Lightning
Lightning chained from ten fingers bound the incoming monsters like shackles. The bolt then split in multiple directions, intercepting the other monsters all at once.
"Master, behind you!"
He already knew.
Without even turning around, Jamie sent a stream of electricity backward.
With a crack, the monster's scream echoed through the air.
He extinguished the lightning from his hand and looked around.
Vena was just finishing severing a werewolf's spine.
"Ugh..."
Vena shuddered exaggeratedly as she gazed at the limp werewolf.
"Good work."
"Master did all the work."
Vena glanced at the monsters Jamie had taken down.
While she had been wrestling with the werewolf, he had hunted over a dozen monsters single-handedly.
It was the difference in the versatility of their magic, but Vena knew full well that even if she had that kind of power, she couldn't fight like Jamie.
"Let's get out of here first. More monsters will come."
The commotion would draw them soon enough.
He had no desire to fight more, so he quickly retreated with Vena. Sure enough, not long after, other monsters appeared and began devouring the corpses, just as Jamie had predicted.
Jamie moved toward a place with as little presence as possible.
Monsters prowled everywhere he went.
It was a truly vicious forest.
Irritating as it was, turning back wasn't an option.
After walking for a couple of hours, Vena grumbled beside him.
"Is this really the place the goddess mentioned?"
"No doubt about it."
He had felt it upon first arriving at the forest, and the deeper they went, the more certain he became.
If it wasn't here, it would be deep inside the Great Forest, which was practically impossible at their current level.
They wouldn't last an hour there.
It wasn't called one of the world's six forbidden zones for nothing.
"If Master says so, then it must be."
Jamie felt a bit embarrassed by Vena's unwavering trust.
Honestly, all he had done for her was help her escape the Gav Academy.
He figured she resented him for turning her into Sara's plaything afterward.
"Guess I do feel a bit guilty."
"Ahem."
Having lived off side-eye glares for ten years seemed to have honed her perceptiveness to a razor's edge.
"Isn't playing with Sara exhausting?"
"You're the one who threw me to her. What are you saying now?"
"...No words for that."
"Hmph."
Vena snorted and turned her head away sharply.
Jamie had nothing to say to her reaction.
Seeing him speechless, Vena grinned and continued.
"Just kidding. Honestly, I love it now."
"Huh?"
"Sara's a bit too rough, but when will I ever get that kind of love again?"
She had nearly been force-fed dirt clods from all that affection.
Jamie pretended not to hear her mutter.
"Anyway, I don't hate Sara, and I especially don't hate Master. You're my benefactor, after all."
"Glad you see it that way. Thanks."
"Hearing Master say thanks gives me chills."
"You little."
As Jamie and Vena bickered while heading toward their unknown destination...
Squelch-
The ground gave way.
It happened suddenly.
The moment he thought it might be a trap, he awakened his mana.
With flight magic at his disposal, such pitfalls were no big deal. He could just grab Vena's hand and fly up.
"Master!"
Vena plummeted at tremendous speed.
Jamie couldn't withstand the overwhelming force pressing down from above either.
'What is this?'
The power flowing through the forest poured solely toward this spot.
Caught in the bizarre phenomenon, Jamie couldn't resist.
'Damn it. What the hell is this forest?'
It had sealed his black magic before, and now it was forcing him downward.
Jamie watched the surrounding space blur past at incredible speed. If he kept falling like this, even his reinforced body would burst on impact.
What about Vena?
A Valkyrie's body far surpassed his current one. Infused with the forest's vital energy, it was as sturdy as rock.
But would that be enough?
'No way. Vena would die too.'
Die in a place like this?
Too pathetic.
Yet something felt off.
Despite the dire crisis, he felt no fear or anger at being denied revenge.
It wasn't the detachment of imminent death.
'This... yeah.'
He didn't feel like he was going to die.
This sensation was dangerous, but not life-threatening.
The corner of Jamie's mouth twitched upward.
'I get it now.'
Mid-fall, Jamie twisted to look below. The bottomless pit was pitch black, revealing nothing.
Jamie spread his limbs wide.
In that instant, the darkness lifted, and dazzling light enveloped him.
When the light faded...
"Master!"
Vena hugged him tightly.
A massive softness smothered his face.
Jamie shoved her back, gasping.
"Can't breathe!"
"You're alive! Thank goodness!"
Vena gripped his hands tightly, her voice trembling with tears.
The sudden collapse and the immense force pulling them down must have terrified her.
With her soft heart, she must have been beside herself.
Of course, Jamie was nonchalant about her reaction.
"They never intended to kill us in the first place."
"What do you mean?"
"It was just the entrance."
A crude method, but that irresistible fall was the gateway here.
So, no matter how much you wanted to die on the way down, you couldn't.
Jamie conjured Light. The dark space brightened in an instant.
"This is..."
Jamie examined the ancient-looking debris.
"A ruin."
Beneath Mirene Forest lay ruins from an unknown era.
"The inspector has returned,"
"Tell him to come straight here."
"Understood."
The attendant fetched Sable at the marquis's command.
Sable soon entered the study.
"Sit."
Sable sat with a gloomy expression.
From his face, the marquis could guess the outcome.
"Did you lose him?"
"I have no excuse. We failed again."
"Casualties?"
Sable answered cautiously.
"...One."
The marquis nodded.
Despite bolstering the territory's defenses, they had been hit again.
All forces except the standing army were mobilized—a number fit for war.
Yet they still couldn't catch the culprit. Unbelievable.
"What's the problem?"
"...I have no words."
"I'm not blaming your incompetence. But isn't this strange? How can they still evade us?"
Sable bowed his head.
The marquis sighed and leaned back in his chair.
"I know you're capable. But I can't just watch these failures continue."
Sable was the marquis's closest aide, proven competent.
He had trusted him to handle this case.
But six murders later, nothing was resolved.
With no idea what [Demon] was after, he couldn't tolerate more failures.
"If you wish to dismiss me, I have no defense. But..."
"But what?"
"Give me one more chance."
Sable's eyes gleamed.
The marquis knew that look well—it was why he kept Sable close.
The marquis tapped the desk with his index finger, a habit when pondering.
Thud!
His finger slammed down loudly.
"This is your last chance. You know two holy executors from the Grand Cathedral are being dispatched here soon?"
"Yes."
"If you fail again, I can't entrust this to you anymore."
"I will keep that in mind—etched deeply."
"Dismissed."
At the final warning, Sable bowed repeatedly and left.
'Not a single prevention.'
Six times.
One or two failures were forgivable.
But after that? Incomprehensible.
The Bell family's soldiers weren't incompetent. So, was their commander?
The marquis formed a hypothesis even a common soldier might consider.
'An inside job?'
He stared at the spot Sable had vacated.
Their first meeting resurfaced.
'What's your name?'
'Sable, sir. No family name.'
'A faint floral scent. Delightful.'
'You flatter me.'
'I was wondering how to repay the one who saved my life, but my thoughts have changed.'
'What...'
'Come with me. I think you'll turn out splendidly if I raise you.'
It was over five years ago.
Sable had grown splendidly, as predicted—trustworthy enough for his right hand.
He didn't want to suspect him.
"It can't be. I want to believe it's not."
The marquis quietly poured whiskey into a glass.
"Why are there ruins in a place like this?"
Vena tilted her head.
Ignoring her, Jamie surveyed the surroundings.
He couldn't tell exactly how much time had passed, but from the dust on the walls to the crumbling stones, it was easily over a few hundred years.
"There are murals too."
Sure enough, murals adorned the wall.
The problem was how damaged they were from age.
He tried piecing them together, but the severe deterioration made it hard to discern.
Jamie walked along the wall.
'How old are these murals?'
They depicted a concrete story, so not primitive cave art.
'At most around 10,000 years.'
From current histories, he could infer the world had been reset once after his sealing.
Records started roughly 10,000 years ago with the dawn of civilization. That meant 50,000 years were missing after Diablo Volpir's rampage.
Yet magic existed even 10,000 years ago.
The king who founded the first civilization was a mage—the first mage, whose origins no ancient text recorded.
'A puppet of the 12 Gods, probably.'
In any case, these ruins were built within the last 10,000 years. No such archaic structures existed in Diablo Volpir's time.
How far had he walked?
Jamie spotted a wall caked in hardened dirt.
Placing his hand on it, he felt a faint breeze seeping through.
"Earth Break."
Crack!
Boom!
A massive fissure split the dirt mound, and it collapsed.
"Master! What happened?"
Vena rushed over from elsewhere.
She stopped beside him, mouth agape, staring at what lay before them.
It was a colossal door.
Engraved with countless worm-like figures.
Broken stone pillars littered the ground in front of it.
The pillars bore the same worm engravings as the door.
"What are these worms?"
"You idiot. Do they look like worms to you?"
"...Yes."
"Tch. This is..."
Jamie stood before a pillar.
He began reading the worm-like—no, ancient script—carved there.
"Enter, or turn back."
The script glowed.
Rumble...
The massive door slid open left and right.
Overwhelmed, Vena covered her mouth. Jamie muttered with a hardened expression.
"I don't know who made it, but this is interesting."
Ten thousand years was ancient history to modern humanity—let alone centuries.
But even then, this script didn't exist.
'Of course not. This is the script from my era, when I, Diablo Volpir, lived and breathed!'
Now he had a reason to conquer these ruins.