Chapter 226
Chapter 226
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 226
Chapter Title: Ancient Ruins (1)
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1.
The aftereffects of returning from the inner world were never minor.
In a way, it was only natural.
Entering the inner world wasn't with the body, but with the spirit—akin to astral projection in some sense.
Returning to one's original body in that state without any aftereffects would be the real oddity.
“Ugh!”
Even El Pam's party was no exception.
‘My head feels like it's splitting open...’
The pain was so intense that no one could even speak.
Everyone simply groaned without exception.
Naturally, they had no attention for the conversations around them.
‘Why is the boss totally fine?’
El Pam acted as if he were completely unaffected by the headache, but his companions paid him little mind.
‘Ah, whatever.’
They were too busy writhing in agony.
The ensuing conversation was the same.
Crash!
Even when Heinz's mirror shattered in a major incident, El Pam's companions showed no interest.
The same went for Cheki's urgent entrance.
Everyone just kept groaning.
Even hearing about the monster called Guardian Angel Slime elicited no particular reaction.
“The problem is that the item it drops is Fried's brooch.”
But that statement changed everything.
‘Fried's brooch?’
That item made everyone momentarily forget their headaches.
That was an adventurer for you.
Irrelevant or not, they couldn't help but lose their minds at the sight of treasure.
Especially since it wasn't just any item—it was Fried's brooch?
It was enough to flip their eyes back in their heads.
His reaction was the most intense of all.
“Fried's legacy!”
Hero Tracker Pir!
With his unparalleled interest in the heroes, Pir forgot his headache and shot up from his seat.
“Is that for real?”
He rushed over to Cheki and asked again.
Cheki hesitated for a moment, flustered by his overwhelming energy, before answering.
“Y-Yes, it is.”
The moment he heard the confirmation, Pir staggered and collapsed straight to the floor.
Thud!
With a massive crash.
Yet Pir trembled as he immediately got back up, clutching his throbbing head, and said,
“Sorry I couldn't be more help. If you'll excuse me, I have business to attend to and must head out first.”
Pir didn't say where he was going, but there was no need to ask.
His next destination was obvious.
‘Ancient Ruins Partem.’
The very place where Fried's brooch had reportedly appeared.
Around that point, El Pam's companions began to regain their senses one by one.
“Ugh, Boss.”
More precisely, they started overcoming the pain.
“Isn't that guy insane?”
One of them, Dibo, glanced in the direction Pir had vanished and clicked his tongue.
It was understandable.
Right now, even sitting up on a prepared simple bed was a struggle for them—yet that guy was walking out?
“On top of that, Partem is that ancient ruin where the Adventurers' Association issued an adventure ban, right?”
Moreover, the Ancient Ruins Partem in question weren't just any place.
For starters, their discovery was recent.
Just over ten years ago, the ruins had been found in the southern region of Henesys on Victoria Island.
Of course, mere discovery wouldn't have drawn much adventurer interest.
Research on ancient ruins was typically the domain of archaeologists, not adventurers.
The issue was that the site was teeming with monsters so formidable that even the Adventurers' Association had imposed an adventure ban.
“The adventure difficulty is nearly on par with Minar Forest.”
It far surpassed Sleepywood Forest, once deemed the most dangerous spot on Victoria Island!
Adventurers went wild over it.
The greater the danger, the more they thrilled—that was the creed of adventurers.
Especially since being told not to do something only made them want to do it more, the defining trait of their kind.
Still, it was reckless.
“They've gone mad over treasure. Those types always die first, you know? Right?”
Even by Dibo's standards, it was hard to comprehend.
To Dibo, El Pam said,
“We're going too.”
“Yeah, we have to. We are? Wait, what?”
Dibo blinked in surprise at the words.
El Pam replied,
“We can't miss this chance.”
With El Pam stating it so firmly, his companions raised no further questions.
“Got it, if the boss says so, we go! When do we leave?”
They simply asked about the timing.
El Pam answered,
“Right now.”
“Huh?”
“No time. We're going right now. If we're late, the chance is gone.”
2.
Fried's brooch has been discovered!
That news shook the Maple World more than ever before.
“Isn't this reaction a bit much?”
Some adventurers voiced doubts.
“Sure, it's amazing, but compared to when Aran's item appeared, this is on another level.”
Previously, when an item from Aran—one of the Six Heroes—had surfaced in the Elnas Mountains, the response hadn't been nearly this intense.
But there was nothing strange about it.
“Hey, the situations are different! This one's confirmed!”
For one, the Elnas Mountains info had been of dubious origin.
In the end, it had been gambling, not adventuring.
But now was different.
The item's existence was certain.
That wasn't all, of course.
The threats there were clear too.
“The boss monster is confirmed!”
“I have no idea what that Guardian Angel Slime is exactly.”
They even knew it was a Guardian Angel Slime as the boss monster.
And that wasn't the end.
“But ancient ruins are dangerous, right? The Adventurers' Association didn't ban adventures there for nothing.”
“It's still just Victoria Island.”
The stage being Victoria Island was a surprisingly big factor.
“The Elnas Mountains—especially the cursed Zakum mine area—are child's play compared to this.”
To adventurers, particularly those 5th Circle and above, Victoria Island was laughable territory.
A place for newbies.
To 6th Circle adventurers, it was mere child's play.
That didn't mean there were no issues.
“But it's a 500-man Mystic Gate, isn't it? The boss there can't be some average monster.”
Virtually no info existed on the Guardian Angel Slime emerging from it.
Normally, lack of boss info was the top reason to avoid an adventure.
But not this time.
“It's still just a slime.”
To 5th Circle and higher adventurers, slimes were trivial no matter the type.
In short, everyone was underestimating the Guardian Angel Slime.
El Pam's party was no exception.
“A slime as the boss? This competition's gonna be fierce.”
Dibo and the others saw the Mystic Gate conquest as easy pickings because it was a slime boss.
Of course, it wasn't blind arrogance.
‘We've got the boss.’
With none other than El Pam as leader, such confidence was only natural.
‘That's the problem.’
There was one exception.
‘They're underestimating it too much.’
El Pam knew.
‘That thing's a monster.’
What the Guardian Angel Slime really was.
He had no choice but to know.
Before returning to the past, countless adventurers had challenged the Mystic Gate housing the Guardian Angel Slime.
At the time, they hadn't known what lay beyond.
They learned only after the door opened.
Then the Guardian Angel Slime appeared to the world, and adventurers finally understood.
‘A monster that spawns endless slimes and never dies.’
How terrifying it was.
The Guardian Angel Slime that El Pam knew was an undying being, impervious to any attack.
Not truly immortal, of course.
‘Near-infinite health.’
Just that no amount of attacks could kill it.
Even more headache-inducing was its ability to spawn countless slimes.
And that wasn't all.
‘It commands them as minions.’
The moment any slime in the Maple World fell under its dominance, it became the creature's slave.
‘Its appearance on Victoria Island was a nightmare of nightmares.’
Victoria Island had the highest slime population in the Maple World.
The instant the Guardian Angel Slime emerged there, a slime army formed—and that army razed half of Victoria Island.
‘We have to take it down before the door opens.’
That was why El Pam prioritized conquering the Guardian Angel Slime.
‘Regardless of Fried's brooch.’
From El Pam's perspective, the Fried legacy exciting all adventurers now was an unexpected bonus.
He hadn't even known it existed.
‘A real pain.’
In his current position, the emergence of Fried's brooch was far from good news.
‘The more adventurers fail to conquer it, the stronger the Guardian Angel Slime gets.’
The Guardian Angel Slime El Pam knew grew its summoned slime numbers proportional to the threats it sensed.
And those numbers weren't in the thousands, but tens of thousands.
In other words, each adventurer failure swelled its slime army.
Fail ten times?
That meant facing ten times more slime minions than now.
Hardly pleasant.
So El Pam was certain.
‘This is their scheme too.’
The brooch's appearance was the work of the Black Mage's followers, no one else.
He could even guess why they'd pulled this stunt.
‘There's only one they want dead most right now.’
3.
Akairum.
Among the Black Mage's legion commanders, the animal representing him was none other than a snake.
In other words, he was cold and calculating like a snake.
Merciless as one too.
If a subordinate erred, he executed them on the spot without a second chance.
He wouldn't even tolerate the offender standing before him.
That was why.
“Ebob.”
“Yes, Lord Akairum.”
Ebob, kneeling before Akairum now, was more tense than ever.
Normally, by Akairum's nature, he'd have met death the moment he spoke.
“Remember what you said when you came to me.”
What was even more shocking was that this meeting had been requested by Ebob himself—and they'd actually conversed.
It was unthinkable.
Just making the demand would've been enough for Akairum to kill him outright.
Yet Ebob had made that proposal for a simple reason.
“I swore that if we fail to kill El Pam this time, I'll take my own life.”
“That's right.”
He had someone he wanted dead so badly he'd stake his life on it.
Of course, that was Ebob's issue; to Akairum, it was no different from an ant sharing its dreams.
Ebob knew as much. He'd fully expected death upon proposing it.
But it hadn't been a hard choice. Ebob had no other options anyway.
Failing to kill El Pam's party in the Elnas Mountains had essentially put him on death row.
If he was doomed regardless, better to gamble with that life.
And the gamble had paid off.
“So I granted your request.”
Incredibly, Akairum hadn't just listened—he'd provided massive support.
“Yes. Thank you for lending us Fried's brooch.”
Thus, in this moment, Ebob spoke with confidence.
“Thanks to you, this time we can finally kill El Pam.”