Chapter 133
[Translator – Kie]
[Proofreader – Kawaii]
Chapter 133: The Ruins (1)
***
“Then, Victor-nim, let’s go back. If you want to find decent accommodation, you need to move now so you can lie in bed before dark.”
Damien nodded at Thibaut’s words.
“No, I changed my mind. I’m going into the ruins right now.”
“Yes…? You’re going to go into that dangerous place without any preparation?”
Damien didn’t listen to Thibaut’s words and headed for the iron gate.
At that sight, a conflict appeared on Thibaut’s face.
“Damn it, do people nowadays want to die young?”
Thibaut cursed and followed Damien. The two passed through the iron gate and entered the ruins.
The inside of the ruins was like a different world.
Unlike the small iron gate, the inside was a very long and wide corridor.
The walls, floors, and even the ceiling were all bare. I didn’t know what material it was made of, but it was completely different from modern buildings made of stone.
“This is the ruins…”
Thibaut looked around with a curious face.
You could tell just by entering the entrance. How advanced the ancient civilization was.
The two of them walked inside. As they walked down the corridor, entrances to other rooms appeared on either side.
<┻┓┣┫┗┛>
These letters were written on the entrance to the room. Translated, it meant ‘Guard Equipment Storage’.
Damien entered the armory.
The inside was empty. There were only a few long benches fixed to the ground.
“There won’t be anything left in this place. Other explorers have already cleaned it all out.”
Thibaut said to Damien. It was only natural that it was empty since it was the closest room to the entrance and would have been touched the most.
“You need to go deep inside to find something. So it’s dangerous, so it’s better to be fully prepared…”
Damien was not paying attention to Thibaut’s words at all. He was looking at the letters written on the wall.
<┳┓┏┳┓┏┳┓>
Translated, it meant ‘Equipment Storage’.
It was written in ancient letters, but there was nothing else. It was just a wall.
Damien recalled the memories of exploring the ruins with Dorugo in his previous life.
‘I definitely activated it by infusing mana into it.’
Damien felt the wall. He searched for a way to open the equipment storage by infusing mana.
‘It’s harder than I thought.’
How much and where to inject mana. He had to figure it all out with his own abilities.
About a minute passed like that.
With a clatter, the wall suddenly opened to the left and right. And the equipment rack appeared.
“Uh, uh? Uhhhuhh?”
Thibaut, who was watching from behind, was startled and shouted.
“H, how did this happen…”
Damien checked the storage.
Unfortunately, there weren’t many items left. There was only one helmet on the stand.
It was probably the helmet used by the guards who guarded the ruins in ancient times.
Unlike modern helmets, it was not jagged or pointed, but round. It looked like a perfect sphere.
It also had a structure that allowed the guard to be raised and lowered to protect the face.
‘I thought there would be a map showing the structure of the ruins.’
Damien was disappointed. He thought he would find a map that would help him find the treasures in the ruins, but there was no such thing.
Damien was not interested in the equipment used by the guards at all. They were only unique in appearance, but not very good.
Even the artifacts, if they were low-grade, did not differ much in performance from the equipment being made now.
They were just unique in shape and much stronger, but that was all.
Even Dawn would have been able to easily break a helmet like this.
‘Maybe if it was an item used by a high-ranking person. I don’t need this.’
The equipment from the ruins increased in performance dramatically as it went up to the top grade.
Advanced technology, excellent performance, and powerful power.
What people commonly think of when they talk about artifacts is all about the top-grade items used by high-ranking people.
‘Even these low-grade items are said to be sold for a high price… Shall I take them for now?’
Damien picked up the guard’s helmet and handed it to Thibaut.
“Take good care of it.”
“Yes, sir!”
Thibaut hurriedly received the helmet as he said that. He opened his backpack, took out a large cloth, wrapped the helmet in it, and put it on his back.
After that, Damien looked at three more storage rooms.
He opened the storage boxes hidden in the storage rooms and gathered all the remaining items.
Thanks to this, Damien was able to complete a set of guard uniforms.
‘It’s a shame I couldn’t find the map.’
Damien’s first goal was to find Gathdal.
If he had a map, he would have been able to infer the location where Gathdal might be hiding, but it was a shame.
Maybe it was on another floor.
“Let’s go down.”
“Yes!”
Thibaut shouted at Damien’s words, carrying the guard’s uniform on his back.
***
The second floor of the ruins was a large open space, in contrast to the long and narrow corridors of the first floor.
There was one entrance on each wall of the open space.
‘It says 3rd floor entrance, break room, and supplies warehouse.’
Damien read the words written on the entrances one by one and pondered where to go first.
‘The supplies warehouse would be good. There might be a map left over for the guards.’
Damien headed to the warehouse with Thibaut.
As they passed through the entrance, a corridor appeared. After walking down the corridor for a while, doors leading to different warehouses appeared here and there.
They checked each one, but they were all empty. Only dust was rolling on the floor.
The two of them reached the warehouse at the deepest part. There was nothing left here either.
“They all took everything greedily. There’s nothing left.”
Thibaut said as he put down the guard’s uniform. He must have been tired because he sat down on a box-shaped chair nearby.
‘There’s really nothing here.’
He looked around to see if there was a separate space that could be opened, but he couldn’t see anything.
‘There’s no map in the supplies warehouse either… I don’t think it’s in the break room.’
While Damien was lost in thought,
“What are you two doing here?”
Someone shouted from the entrance of the warehouse. The two turned their heads and saw a young man in chain armor.
A large emblem was drawn on the young man’s armor. Thibaut saw it and whispered to Damien.
“Victor-nim, it’s the Almond Country’s emblem. He seems to be a soldier.”
“Why is a soldier here?”
“I heard that soldiers periodically patrol the ruins for security purposes.”
While the two were whispering, the soldier entered the warehouse.
“At first glance, you both seem to have come to Almond Country recently. So you’re looking around the ruins?”
“The young man has great insight. As you can see, that’s right.”
Thibaut said with a smile. The soldier shook his head at Thibaut’s words.
“You won’t find anything here. You have to go down to at least the 4th floor to find something.”
Thibaut’s eyes widened at the soldier’s words.
“You mean we have to go that deep?”
“You’ll have to go down to the 5th floor to find any useful artifacts.”
“Hmph… I can’t believe it.”
Thibaut sighed briefly.
“Victor-nim, why don’t we call it a day and come back tomorrow? Let’s go back and prepare thoroughly.”
“That would be a good idea. The ruins are very dangerous.”
The soldier lectured the two of them.
“And don’t think you’re safe just because you’re on this low level. You might get into big trouble if you let your guard down.”
“What do you mean by that?”
Thibaut asked with a puzzled face.
“There have been quite a few people who died on the lower floors.”
“What are you talking about? Isn’t it safe here since the exploration is already over?”
The reason the ruins were dangerous was because of the traps and ancient golems left inside.
However, since the 2nd floor was a place that had been thoroughly searched by explorers, there was nothing left, and there were no dangerous elements either.
“That’s what everyone thought… But bodies have been found here steadily until recently. No one knows who the culprit is.”
It was not an ordinary situation.
It was strange that such an incident occurred when there was no danger.
“Do you think the mercenaries killed people and stole their belongings?”
“We’re investigating that possibility as well, but… Anyway, please be careful until the culprit is caught, because the fact that it’s dangerous doesn’t change.”
“I think I know why the disappearances are happening.”
Damien suddenly spoke. The soldier was surprised and asked.
“Did you see the culprit? Or any evidence?”
Damien gestured for the soldier to come closer at the soldier’s question.
“Yes? Why are you doing that?”
The soldier approached with a puzzled face. At that moment, Damien drew Dawn and slashed the soldier’s face.
Just before being cut by Dawn, the soldier tilted his head back. He immediately jumped back, doing a backflip.
It was an incredibly agile movement for a mere soldier.
“V, Victor-nim!”
Thibaut cried out in fear.
“Y, you shouldn’t touch an Almond Country’s soldier! If you get on Almond Country’s wanted list…!”
Damien silently pointed to the soldier. Thibaut looked at him without thinking and was startled.
The soldier’s face was torn open. However, there was no muscle or blood that should have been there if he was a human.
All that was visible was a white skull.
“Ugh, ughhh!”
Unlike Thibaut, who screamed in surprise, Damien was indifferent.
Damien had known that the soldier was an undead from the moment he showed up.
‘A skeleton that can talk to people?’
Of course, it was impossible for an undead.
Undead were created by twisting and breaking the human soul. That’s why most of them didn’t have full intelligence.
The same was true of that undead. It didn’t have intelligence, it didn’t even exist.
The reason he could talk to people was because he had been injected with memories.
‘It’s definitely Gathdal hiding here.’
The field that Gathdal focused on as a necromancer was human memory.
Originally, memories were supposed to be lost the moment a person died. Gathdal pondered how to maximize the use of those memories.
The undead before him was born thanks to that research.
An undead that could pretend to be alive by regaining memories.
The way Gathdal strengthened his army was also related to memories.
‘The culprit of the lower floor murders is definitely Gathdal’s undead.’
Gathdal probably hid undead on each floor.
It was in order to attack the explorers when they came to a remote place and then take their souls.
It seemed like a shallow trick to disguise himself as a Almond Country’s soldier to induce the adventurers’ carelessness.
“B, be careful… be careful… be careful… be careful…”
The young soldier repeated the words as if he were broken.
The injected memories were not working properly due to the unexpected situation.
Almond Country’s soldier.
No, the skeleton drew the sword at his waist. A sharp aura instantly covered the blade.
“I told you to be careful!”
The skeleton roared and rushed towards Damien.
“Ugh, ughhh!”
Thibaut screamed in surprise. Damien grabbed the back of Thibaut’s neck and pulled him back.
He threw him backwards to protect Thibaut from the skeleton.
Then, he grabbed Dawn to cut down the skeleton.
It was then.
The blade of Dawn gave off a dazzling light.
***
[Translator – Kie]
[Proofreader – Kawaii]
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