Chapter 124
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 124
Chapter Title: Hunt (2)
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After leaving the entrance to Max, we slowly descended into the ruins via the rope ladder.
The Silver Guard Knight went down first, followed by me. Then Shuren, Ilenia, and Wedin followed in turn behind me.
As we climbed down the rope ladder for quite a while, a thick fog gradually enveloped us from all sides.
"Be careful. The ladder's short."
The Silver Guard Knight, who had landed on the ground ahead of us, called out to me. I braced myself a bit before jumping down to the floor.
It was higher than I expected, and my ankles throbbed.
We stood in a dead-end corner of a deep cave.
There was only one way forward. The fog filling the surroundings didn't dissipate even when swept away by hand.
The cave looked naturally formed, like the ones we'd passed through before.
Only the strange patterns etched into the walls and ceiling occasionally glowed faintly blue.
"Liberic, I can see the cave's shape."
The Silver Guard Knight, having surveyed the surroundings, asked me for confirmation.
"Yes..."
I raised my staff and cast a defensive spell enveloping our surroundings.
As the boundary of the defensive spell swept across the cave walls, the patterns all lit up blue in unison before fading away.
The cave's form didn't warp or change even after the spell passed over it.
"No illusions here."
"I see."
In the meantime, Ilenia, Shuren, and Wedin arrived on the ground one by one via the rope ladder.
The last to arrive was Ash.
Just before entering the cave, I'd whispered to Ash that there was a way to come down in a form other than a wolf.
But in the end, Ash chose to descend tied to the rope in wolf form.
At this point, I was starting to worry that Ash had forgotten how to take human form.
I untied the rope from Ash's waist, and he shook himself lightly, fluffing his silver fur.
"According to the records, this ruin is shaped like an inverted cone. There's only one path leading to the bottom."
The Silver Guard Knight pointed to the sole passage leading inward.
"Those records reliable?"
At Shuren's worried question, the Silver Guard Knight glanced at me.
I shrugged and answered in his stead.
"This is one of the more famous Nameless Era ruins. Plenty of people have researched it. Results weren't great, but everyone agreed on the ruin's shape."
Of course, that was before the current situation arose. It hadn't been this dangerous back then.
There were tales of magical beasts and illusions, but Shaika lived north of the Quint Mountains, not down here.
The Silver Guard Knight took the lead and began descending the path. He placed a hand on his sword hilt and proceeded cautiously.
I followed behind him with Ash.
A faint blue glow lingered on the walls and ceiling of the ruins, so it wasn't too dark.
However, we couldn't escape the thick fog obscuring our vision or the heavy, suffocating pressure.
I gripped my staff, focused all my nerves, and maintained the defensive barrier. As its boundary brushed the walls and ceiling, the blue patterns lit up and vanished.
The Silver Guard Knight walked carefully within my defensive barrier, glancing back at me as if concerned.
"Can you keep the barrier up?"
I drew in a long breath.
I wanted to say yes easily, but honestly, it wasn't simple.
"I'll hold it as long as I can. Without it, illusions or Shaika could hit us anytime without warning."
"Don't push yourself. The space isn't wide, so even if Shaika appear, they won't have room to attack us easily."
"That's what I'm not sure about."
I frowned as I spoke.
A doubt had been nagging at me for a while.
Gordon had said the space wasn't narrow.
Even if the illusions showed different landscapes for each person, the snowy plain or forest illusions had plenty of open space around.
One possibility came to mind... I touched the right wall and pondered for a moment.
The Silver Guard Knight suddenly halted.
Having been focused on walking, I barely stopped before bumping into his back.
"Wh-what is it?"
The Silver Guard Knight didn't need to answer.
A few steps ahead lay two corpses.
We all gasped in surprise and approached. The Silver Guard Knight knelt before them and examined carefully.
"Kingdom Knights."
He found the Kingdom Knight Order's emblem on the bodies and carefully retrieved it to return to the order.
The two men, pale-faced, wore similar travel attire and clutched swords in their hands—as if they'd used them until the very end.
They hadn't been dead long; their faces were clean and pale. One stared wide-eyed in shock.
"Something's off here."
The Silver Guard Knight closed the corpses' eyes with a grim expression.
"No blood. And not much damage either."
Shuren said, seriously inspecting the bodies.
Shuren and Ilenia checked the corpses meticulously, but Wedin had stepped back a few paces, face drained of color.
Holy magic wasn't needed for those already dead.
"Gordon said they were attacked by Shaika. Magical beasts attack to eat."
"They didn't die from Shaika attacks."
The Silver Guard Knight flipped one body over to check the back.
With no dried blood, the wound stood out starkly.
A deep gash piercing straight through the back.
That strike had shocked him and claimed his life in an instant...
Even we non-sword users could guess what weapon caused such a clean thrust—knights who wielded swords certainly could.
"This... no way."
Shuren's eyes widened, unable to continue.
"Looks like the illusions didn't just alter the surroundings."
The Silver Guard Knight frowned, repositioning the body and checking the other.
Ilenia assisted beside him.
"This one has sword wounds too..."
Ilenia's voice sank in dismay as she examined the wounds.
While the Silver Guard Knight and Shuren neatly arranged the bodies by the path, we waited in somber silence.
We'd heard from Gordon what happened here, but his account was warped by illusions...
"I thought it was strange."
As we resumed walking, the Silver Guard Knight spoke in a subdued tone.
"Snowfield Shaika don't approach recklessly if they sense danger. They can attack from range. And in such a narrow space, their swift movements are hampered."
"Gordon said there was plenty of room to swing a sword. Each saw different illusions, so he must've been mistaken."
Gordon had been disoriented from the ongoing illusions when recounting the event.
The Silver Guard Knight halted once more.
Two more corpses lay in the cold cave. This time, Prius Silver Moon Knight Order knights.
The Silver Guard Knight silently examined them thoroughly before taking their identifying tokens.
Their bodies bore clear sword wounds, with no bloodstains.
Additionally, one had frostbite marks similar to Gordon's.
Proof that at least one had faced a snowfield Shaika.
The Silver Guard Knight recited a memorial prayer for the fallen, staying by their side to the end.
We waited quietly behind him.
These were knights he'd personally selected. He'd seen many knights die before, but it didn't look routine.
"Why no blood anywhere? It's like all their blood... was completely drained."
Ilenia murmured, staring at the bloodless corpses.
If they'd been attacked and bled out fatally, blood should be splattered on walls or floor.
Yet the bodies looked wiped clean. Faces pale without a trace of blood, no pooling from post-mortem leakage.
"Blood reacts strongly to mana. Maybe that's why the mana here is so dense..."
I glanced up at the walls and ceiling as I said it.
Every time I touched the wall, complex patterns flashed blue.
The defensive barrier still surrounded us, but it was starting to waver.
The ripples were visible now. Getting worse as time passed.
"No sign of Fren."
After gazing at the knights for a long while, the Silver Guard Knight rose heavily.
Prius knight trio, kingdom knights duo, and mage Fren—one group. Gordon survived, four corpses here, leaving only Fren.
"Gone deeper?"
Shuren asked, and the Silver Guard Knight nodded in agreement before moving on.
We followed wordlessly.
Thud.
The cave shook with the sound of something colliding.
Debris rained from ceiling and walls; the world tilted before my eyes.
"Whoa!"
"Wedin!"
Shuren caught Wedin as he nearly fell.
I hurriedly steadied myself against the wall.
The Silver Guard Knight lowered his stance, gripping his sword hilt; Ilenia pressed against the wall.
'Liberic, this is...'
Ash crouched low, scanning the surroundings warily.
I looked up at the violently churning barrier.
It was getting harder to hold. The mana here resisted my control, turning savage as if to devour me.
Thud. The cave shook again.
"Careful."
As I spoke, I noticed white breath escaping my mouth. The temperature was plummeting.
"Incoming."
The Silver Guard Knight drew his sword, wreathed in blue light.
Bang!
With a deafening roar, the barrier shattered. A bluish quadruped beast leaped into our midst.
Its red eyes gleamed as it skidded to a halt right before me.
Inverted triangular head, crimson eyes.
A vivid blue crystal was grotesquely embedded above its left brow.
The Shaika from yesterday...!
Before I could even inhale, it bared fangs and lunged. Right in my face.
'Liberic!'
I reflexively backpedaled as Ash slammed into the Shaika's side.
They tumbled entangled across the snowfield.
I watched, seated in the snow.
...Snow?
White flakes swirled everywhere; my breath puffed white.
Chill seeped into my fingertips on the ground, into every lungful of air.
"What the—?!"
Ilenia shouted in panic.
The ruin's cave was gone. We stood in a snowy forest blanketed in white.
Amid dense trees on a vast blue-tinted snowfield, heavy flakes endlessly whirled.