Chapter 59
Chapter 59
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 59
Chapter Title: The Mythical Age
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“Alright, listen up. We're at the ruins now. Activate your recording devices. The entrance shouldn't be too dangerous, but stay sharp. Oh, and you know it's a disciplinary offense if you turn off your recorder, right?”
Kask, the greenhorn.
He was surprisingly good at giving orders.
Everyone followed his instructions, activating their video recording artifacts.
With this, the institute would not only gather data on the ruins but also keep an eye on us.
Mercenaries could always try to pocket valuable artifacts, after all. It was a safety measure of sorts.
I slowly looked around.
‘So these are the ruins of the Mythical Age.’
I’d never seen ruins like these before, but the moment I stepped through the entrance, I felt like I somehow knew the purpose of this massive structure.
‘A fortress…’
For starters, the entrance wasn't really an entrance, just a smashed-in hole.
The metal wall had been blasted inward from the outside.
It looked exactly like the kind of ‘breach’ that would be created if something massive had melted and crushed its way through a solid barrier.
And upon entering,
‘I can see outside.’
The building was clearly buried inside a mountain, yet I could see outside clearly in every direction.
I had no idea what kind of magic was at work, but this structure—surrounded by solid walls, yet allowing one to see out from within—
fit the definition of a ‘fortress,’ a facility designed for defense, quite well.
Kask’s subsequent explanation supported this.
“This place is a network of large and small rooms connected organically, with bulkheads separating each section. This area should be no different. So, we’ll search one section at a time, disarm the bulkhead, and then move to the next.”
Bulkheads dividing the sections. Weren’t they also meant to stop intruders?
But that raised a question.
‘What in the world were they fighting to cause all this?’
The six of us split up to search, and a closer look revealed a ghastly sight.
Blasted and shattered walls everywhere.
No human remains were visible, only crumpled armor and metal fragments scattered about.
And,
unidentifiable masses of flesh covered the walls, squirming as if still alive.
I couldn’t be sure,
but it seemed certain that a great terror had once descended upon this place.
‘The wars and destruction of the Mythical Age…?’
It was an incredibly intriguing topic.
We searched thoroughly through the traces of that pandemonium.
“Not this one… This one is… questionable. Pass.”
The institute wanted well-preserved artifacts as samples.
Because of that, I had to search a fairly large area before I finally found one intact item.
‘But is this thing even useful?’
It was a rectangular object that fit perfectly in one hand.
The front was as black and dark as an abyss, while the back was a milky white with a sophisticated metallic sheen.
It looked unusual, but I had no idea what it was used for. It didn’t react when I touched it, either.
“Kask.”
The greenhorn seemed very uncomfortable around me.
When I called his name, he flinched and straightened his shoulders, clearing his throat to feign composure.
“Wh-what?”
“Look at this. Is it any good?”
“Oh?!”
Kask’s hesitant demeanor changed in an instant.
“Wow! A magitech terminal! And so well-preserved! Lorraine will love this!”
“Really?”
“Absolutely!”
Do people start to resemble those they like…?
This kid also became incredibly talkative once he got excited about something.
“According to archaeological research, people in the old days used these to cast magic! Even non-mages!”
“An artifact?”
“Yes, but its flexibility was on a whole other level! Long-distance communication and data transmission were standard, and instead of containing a specific spell, you could store whatever magic you wanted in it at any time.”
I didn’t get it.
“Store magic? So you’d have to go to a mage and pay them to store it for you each time?”
“I told you. ‘Data transmission.’ Mana and magic were also included in the concept of data. So you could instantly store—and even modify—new magic whenever, wherever!”
…Does that even make sense? Is that even possible?
“Then you wouldn’t need mages, would you?”
Isn’t that too overpowered?
“That’s why it’s the Mythical Age! It must be something the gods created!”
After hearing the explanation,
I wanted it.
Is there any way to get that thing working?
I really want it…
But he said there had been almost no research on them due to a lack of samples, so all I could do was lick my lips in envy.
And so, the exploration of the first section concluded. The only find was the magitech terminal I had discovered.
The passage to the next section was blocked by a bulkhead.
“So this is the bulkhead…”
When I heard ‘bulkhead,’ I’d imagined something like iron bars. But what we actually faced was a translucent barrier emitting a faint red light.
*Vmmm— Vmmmm—*
Its faint vibrations pushed away the surrounding air, creating a breeze, and just getting close made my chest feel tight.
“What in the world is this?”
I muttered unconsciously.
“What do you think? It’s magic from the Mythical Age!”
Kask stepped forward, puffing out his chest.
“Even a top-tier Expert can’t break through this. That’s why you need magic.”
He doesn't seem to get it.
Why I was so surprised.
‘Aura? Magic?’
The barrier of light, as perceived by my transcendent senses.
It was clearly aura, but at the same time, it was magic. Mana became aura, and aura became mana in a constant exchange.
Mana becoming aura is normal.
But aura turning back into mana…? Not shattering and dispersing, but naturally like that?
A mysterious cycle, the mechanics of which I couldn’t begin to fathom.
At the sight before me, which shattered all common sense,
I was quite shocked.
The Mythical Age. Was it truly an era when gods existed?
“Hmm… okay. The flow of mana connects here like this.”
While I was lost in thought, Kask was struggling quite a bit.
He slowly pushed his still-expensive-looking sword, inlaid with ornate patterns, into the barrier of light.
Its appearance was subtly different from the last one, so he must have had another spare besides the one I’d broken in half.
But now that I looked closely, it was both a sword and something like a staff that assisted with magic.
As the complex patterns engraved on the blade emitted light, a gap formed in the barrier, and the blade slipped through it like a key.
“There. It should be dispelled within ten minutes now?!”
At his words, the mercenaries whistled.
“Whoa~ I always think this, but our captain’s magic is pretty good, huh?”
“I know, right? Even specialized mages who dispel Mythical Age bulkheads take seven or eight minutes.”
“Wow, really? But the captain’s a magic swordsman and he can do it in ten minutes? That’s amazing.”
I could see it.
The corners of Kask’s mouth curling up.
And him rolling his eyes to glance at me.
It was as if,
he were smugly asking, ‘Bet you can’t do this, can you?’
So,
*Shing!*
I cut it.
In a single strike.
This mysterious barrier, which was impossible to tell if it was aura or magic.
In the end, whether it was aura or magic, it was bound to crumble before a stronger aura.
“Huh…?”
Kask turned to look at me with a dazed expression.
I shrugged and walked past him.
“You looked like you were struggling.”
“Ah…”
Kask’s shoulders and eyebrows drooped.
His feelings were plain to see.
It’s surprisingly fun to tease him.
“Captain… you still looked cool to me.”
The mercenaries tried to console him.
* * *
The exploration process was a series of repetitions.
Search a section, cut through the next bulkhead, move on, and search again.
However, there was a distinct difference that became more palpable the deeper we went past the bulkheads.
Kask must have felt it too, because he stopped.
“Halt. From here on, we proceed with [Shield] active.”
All six of us were currently wearing magic armor.
This was to conduct the dungeon exploration and the magic armor prototype test simultaneously… but there was another reason as well.
*Bwoooong—*
Activating [Shield], a skill built into the magic armor, enveloped our bodies in a faint halo of light. Since our surroundings were dark, each of us stood out more clearly.
“Phew…”
“Much better.”
Tense faces relaxed.
I felt it too. It was nice to have the unpleasant sensation gone.
Kask warned us.
“The deeper we go into these ruins, the more anomalous phenomena occur. Visual and auditory hallucinations, and confusion become more severe, and a barrage of fine mana particles can cause internal injuries. So from this point on, we’ll keep our shields active at all times.”
With our shields up, we continued the exploration.
Kask remained conscious of me and acted awkwardly, but whenever I found an artifact, he treated me like a friend of ten years.
“This is a magitech weapon!”
“This?”
To me, it just looked like a hollow stick. The handle was unnecessarily thick and elaborate.
“Ah, you don’t hold the thin part and strike with this thick part, do you? It looks really awkward…”
As I swung the so-called magitech weapon around, Kask snatched it away with a look of horror.
“No! You press this thick part against your shoulder and shoot out of the hole!”
“Shoot?”
“Yes!”
“Like an arrow?”
“Yes!”
“But there’s no bowstring?”
Kask looked at me with contempt.
What? So what?
“It’s. A. Mag. I. Tech. Weap. On. A magitech weapon!”
Ah, right. So it shoots with magic.
He could have just said that. *Tsk…* Do I need to put him in his place again?
I casually gripped the hilt of my sword and glanced at Kask’s blade.
“That’s a nice-looking sword.”
“Huh? Oh… it’s expensive. And you already broke one in half…”
“Looks like you still have more spares?”
“Eek!”
When I threatened to draw my sword, Kask yelped and scrambled away, covering his own blade with his hands.
That kid.
He’s kind of cute.
* * *
Now, Kask watched my expression every time he spoke.
“Let’s explore one or two more sections and then withdraw.”
Even as he spoke like a proper expedition leader, checking the mana heart that powered the magic armor, he kept glancing at me and edging away.
He really didn’t have to do that.
And yet, it was admirable how he still managed to fulfill his role.
“Everyone, stay alert. This is the first time I’ve been this deep. The other side of the mountain was mostly just wide-open outskirts.”
He said that just as we passed through a corridor and a large chamber opened up before us.
“Wait.”
I stopped Kask just as he was about to step into the chamber.
“Wh-what is it?”
Kask was startled by my approach.
“Back up for now.”
Even for a magic swordsman, it seems he can’t sense this.
Then again, their presence was incredibly faint.
But.
“Keep going, further back.”
After making the group retreat a sufficient distance, I picked up a stone and threw it into the chamber.
*Clack! Clack! Clack. Rattle…*
The stone rolled to a stop in the silence.
And then,
- *Kyaaaaaa!*
- *Kraaaaaaa!*
With monstrous screams, ashen beasts shot up from all corners of the chamber and began to charge.
There was a huge number of them.
A rough estimate put them at 150? 200?
They were repulsive creatures.
They had limbs and heads like humans, but they were completely twisted.
Some had large maws instead of arms, others had wing-like flaps of flesh, and one even crawled like a spider on four arms and four legs.
Even for me, who had lived in Roverland where monsters ran rampant, these were bizarre things I had never seen before.
I drew my sword.
Kask shouted urgently from behind me.
“Lansen! You can’t handle them alone! Everyone, cover me! While I cast a wide-area spell…!”
I didn’t listen.
There was no need.
No, I didn’t *want* to.
*Kwaaaang!*
The moment I kicked off the ground, a thrill shot through me, raising the hair on my arms.
‘This is it.’
Even without using any special techniques, I achieved a speed comparable to when I used the royal family’s secret art, [Tempest].
The magic armor.
I had been itching to use it in a real fight ever since I first put it on.
The horde of monsters was on me in an instant. Normally, even using Aura Thread, which specialized in one-versus-many combat, it would have taken a while to annihilate them all…
But right now, I was wearing magic armor.
I’d really wanted to try this.
[Sword Spirit Awakening]
My magic armor had four built-in skills. I activated one of them.
*Wuuuuung—!*
My sword rang like a great bell.
I had never felt a resonance like this before.
*Fssshh—*
The Aura Threads bloomed, burning through the air.
Sharper than usual, more numerous than usual, and reaching farther than usual.
‘Ah…’
Sword Spirit Awakening. A skill that, true to its name, awakened the sword spirit to a greater degree.
It was the first time I had felt the sword spirit’s will so clearly.
At least, aside from the moment I underwent my metamorphosis.
*Bwoooong—!*
The scattering Aura Threads were a mix of the dark blue aura I drew out and the transparent aura created by the sword.
Every time that sharp aura grazed them,
*Thudududuk!*
Mottled flesh and ashen blood splattered everywhere.
It didn’t even take thirty seconds.
To finish off all those monsters.
“Hoo…”
I let out a long breath.
‘The power is even greater than I expected.’
Just how many times stronger had I become with just this magic armor?
An explosion of power beyond estimation.
It was thrilling,
and yet, disappointing.
‘If I use this right, I think I might be able to feel that sensation again.’
The one that led me to my metamorphosis.
The state of Sword-Self Unity I had briefly reached.
If I continued to communicate with the sword spirit enhanced by the skill… I felt like I could find a clue to that state again.
But to do that, I’d need a more worthy opponent.
Perhaps if I pushed my concentration to its limits by trading blows in an extreme situation, I could feel that sensation again…
In that respect, these opponents were far too weak.
As I sighed in disappointment, Kask muttered from behind me.
“…Fine. You do everything.”
His voice was a mixture of dejection, jealousy, and shock.
I lightly ignored him. That wasn't what was important right now.
‘I knew it. This place is related to the cult.’
Those monsters from before.
They gave off a similar feeling to those vampires and the wolf monster I fought in Glowingsteel.
Which meant that deep within these ruins,
there was something I needed to deal with.
Isn’t that also why the madness and the violent flow of mana grew stronger the deeper we went?
“We’ll just have to withdraw for today! We’ll come back and search this section tomorrow. Everyone, check your gear! Let’s head back!”
Kask’s voice rang in my ears.
I took one last look at the ruins of the Mythical Age before turning to leave.
Just how large,
and how deep it was, I couldn't tell.
The ruins of the Mythical Age.
What other secrets did it hold within?
My interest grew more and more.