"Seems there's less in here than we thought, huh?"
"It does appear that way."
Roswin remarked, and the Grand Duke responded in the spacious chamber.
There was no need to light a fire. After all, everyone in the room was a mage capable of summoning light on their own.
The dungeon exploration had been long, and everyone took turns to rest in the available space, spending a day doing so.
"Perhaps it was just the empty cart that made a racket. We don't see the magical tome that's been causing such a stir."
"Rather than not seeing it, it feels more like it has been deliberately hidden."
"I have the same thought."
Roswin was quite talkative.
The Grand Duke, on the other hand, only spoke when necessary.
And the woman was silent.
Luna moved at a leisurely pace. She would respond a beat late when Roswin or the Grand Duke called her. Most of the time, she would slowly nod or shake her head to their questions, hardly ever speaking.
There were no significant traps or labyrinth barriers like the ones outside.
However, they couldn't afford to be careless, so they proceeded slowly, which took a considerable amount of time.
The Grand Duke and Roswin both took the lead at different times.
The Grand Duke couldn't help but notice that Roswin was far from an ordinary mage. Although he spoke a lot, he was cautious in his actions and always seemed to be on guard.
However, the woman who introduced herself as Luna remained quiet.
She simply followed the group slightly to the side, neither taking the lead nor falling behind.
She did nothing.
She just trailed alongside the group with a slightly unhurried stride.
"Luna seems to be anything but ordinary."
"I agree."
The Grand Duke nodded in response to Roswin's words.
There were no ordinary people in the room, but the most extraordinary among them was Luna, who had yet to reveal anything.
Clad in an unremarkable outfit and a plain cloak, Luna attracted the awe and curiosity of the Grand Duke's mages.
Her abilities, intentions, and whether she was a friend or foe remained unknown.
Everyone was watching her elegant, unhurried steps, whether they realized it or not.
It wasn't fascination but fear mixed with awe.
Although the interior was excessively desolate, Luna appeared to be out for a casual stroll, occasionally brushing her fingers along the walls in the mysterious space.
In fact, she had not slept and had quietly walked around the chamber for the entire day. She would occasionally stop and gaze at something.
As if she was lost in deep thought.
"Let's move on. There's nothing special here, and it's not a place we should stay in for long."
"Shall we?"
At the Grand Duke's signal, the mages prepared to depart, and Luna watched them before joining the group with her usual unhurried pace.
It was strange.
Despite her leisurely steps, she had never once fallen behind.
"Lady Luna seems to be quite an extraordinary individual," Roswin commented with a smile.
Luna, gazing in the direction they were to proceed, quietly replied, "If one looks at the world with an extraordinary perspective, can anything really be considered ordinary?"
"Even if we try to see it as ordinary, isn't it a fact that there are extraordinary beings?"
In response to Roswin's somewhat sarcastic question, Luna finally looked directly at him.
"Less ordinary than a being that is neither human nor has given up its humanity."
Her gaze was indifferent, neither hostile nor friendly.
"…Haha, is that so?" Roswin chuckled, the corners of his mouth twitching upward.
'This one, is he not human?'
The Duke steadied his breath as he observed Roswin's cold smile.
He recalled the ancient teachings, warning against getting too close to anything peculiar.
He hadn't intended to exploit the mysterious power, but the fact that he had become involved with it remained unchanged.
'Sure enough, when one gets involved in mysterious affairs, mysterious things get tangled up.'
As the Duke walked on, he reaffirmed the truth of his ancestors' words.
The Duke had come in search of a tomb.
Hoping that the tomb of the stranger would not become his own.
"Let's go."
"Yes, Your Grace."
"…"
The Duke led his party.
—---
The tomb of the Lich was deep and vast.
However, both Roswin and the Duke shared a common observation: while the space was very large, most of it was empty. There were no traps or monsters.
"It seems like there used to be something here, not an empty space."
"That's how it appears."
It wasn't a discovery that required exceptional observational skills. There were numerous rooms and facilities in the dungeon, most of which were empty. But the scratches on the walls, the areas without dust—these traces indicated that there had been something in this space, but everything had been cleared away.
"It feels like everything was taken out and moved somewhere else… Why would they do that?"
"I have no idea. But it doesn't seem like it was plundered."
The feeling was not of mere looting, but of the entire space being thoroughly cleaned.
"Traces of traps were found, but they've all been disassembled."
The Duke's mages also diligently investigated the area, reporting their findings to him.
A Lich's tomb is a magical research facility. Traps are installed to kill or repel intruders who dare to enter such a place.
Yet the equipment was gone, and the traps were all disassembled.
"It's possible that they removed all the miscellaneous items to make sure those who broke through the labyrinth would be drawn straight here without being distracted."
"…And why would they do that?"
"I am not the owner of this place, so I have no way of knowing."
It made no sense that they had cleared everything away to ensure an undistracted path to the core.
However, it was hard not to agree with Roswin's words.
The party advanced slowly, ever wary of the possibility that their entry could be met with an ambush from an unexpected quarter. Given the complexity of the labyrinth that had unfolded before them, it would be foolish to underestimate the challenge at hand.
The sheer scale of the place, combined with their cautious movements, made for a long and arduous exploration.
As they spent days exploring, traversing underground rooms, corridors, and halls, the party eventually found themselves unable to proceed any further. The darkness had enveloped them, signaling that night had fallen.
"…How strange," Roswin hesitated, "It feels… different."
"I'm not sure if it's the right word, but it seems like it's been renovated or expanded…?"
Up until this point, the rooms and halls had given off a worn and aged aura, but from here on, they appeared to be new additions, albeit still pristine. An endless staircase led them further down.
"We should be cautious," they agreed, and with a growing sense of certainty that they were delving into the heart of the dungeon, they descended ever downward.
How far had they gone?
"I think we've reached the deepest part," one of them surmised.
The heart of the dungeon was unassuming, yet grand. The light from the mage's conjured orbs struggled to illuminate the vast expanse.
With a snap of his fingers, a brilliant white light erupted from the ceiling, illuminating the entire chamber. It was a simple, massive space devoid of any patterns, decorations, or embellishments.
For a place rumored to lure people with rare spellbooks, it was not particularly menacing. It was a desolate and barren place that only managed to overwhelm with its sheer size.
In the center of the room, there were three wooden chairs.
They were not grand thrones of intricate woodwork, but rather, simple makeshift seats fashioned from logs and planks. Upon these humble chairs sat three figures: a person clad in a black robe, a skeleton wearing a gray robe, and an old man in a black suit and a bowler hat, leaning on a cane.
These figures gazed silently at the party that had intruded upon their space for the first time.
"Are they the masters of this place?" The Duke murmured.
Luna remained silent, simply watching the spectacle before them.
Then, suddenly:
"Antirianus…!"
With eyes bulging to the point of bursting, Roswin spat the name as if it were a curse.
"Oh, a young man who recognizes me."
"Of course… it was you!"
Gone was the composed and shrewd young mage they had known; now, Roswin emanated a sinister and foreboding energy.
With a cry, he declared, "It's because of you…!"
The old man rose from his chair, removing his hat in greeting.
"Who might you be, to recognize this old man?"
At the old man's words, Roswin lost all composure, grinding his teeth in frustration.
"For now," he said, and with a leap, he appeared right in front of the old man, who still wore that empty smile.
"Die!"
"Ho."
Rumble!
As Roswin reached out his hand, a torrent of magical power erupted from it and engulfed the aged mage.
Rumble!
The torrent of magical power that enveloped the aged mage collided with the chamber walls, creating an enormous vibration.
But.
"I recognize you."
With a single flick of his index finger, the aged mage who diverted the magical storm with a barrier looked at Roswin's furious, burning eyes and spoke.
"Surely, a worthy guest has arrived... I see."
Antirianus looked at Roswin.
"Lukren, is it you?"
Roswin clenched his teeth and shouted.
"Yes."
Roswin's eyes began to turn blood red.
"The captain himself has come. What happened to all those brave knights?"
"Don't pretend you don't know, Antirianus."
Roswin's hair, beginning to glow with a reddish hue, started to stand on end in all directions.
"You killed half of them and now you pretend ignorance!"
"Ah, well, I didn't kill all of them."
"Hoo... Hoo... Huaaaaaaak!"
Boom!
Enraged, a storm surged through Roswin's body, whipping the surroundings, creating fissures in the ground, and lashing the chamber walls.
The archmage and the mage squad held back the magical storm with barriers.
The torrent pouring from Roswin's body soon revealed his true form.
"Yes."
Antirianus, standing at a distance, smiled as he looked at Roswin.
"I thought the false rumors about Archlich might draw you in, and it turns out they did."
In human form, but with a pale skin and eyes seemingly flickering with red flames.
A pitch-black energy undulating throughout his body.
The archmage quietly observed Roswin, feeling an indescribable, formidable magical power.
There is no set form for something that exists only in legends.
However, the immense and sinister magical power emanating from that ominous being.
Oh, oh... This, this is... Archlich?
The weak muttering of the lich that had been blown away by the magical storm.
"It seems you didn't come searching for Archlich's tomb, but rather, you've been with Archlich all along."
This entanglement wasn't just a simple twist of fate.
The false rumors about Archlich had summoned the real Archlich.
As the Lord Vampire overcame sunlight, Archlich overcame his skeletal remains.
"Killing my comrades and fleeing, it was a good move, Antirianus. But after countless and immeasurable time, I have finally found you."
As there are vampires who have conquered the sun, there are liches who have conquered their lost flesh.
A being that reshapes the lost flesh with magical power.
"Now, it's time to pay the price."
Archlich, surrounded by immense magical power, reached out his hand to the aged mage.
"Die, Antirianus. We'll talk after that."
Archlich, the embodiment of impure magical power, thrust his hand down from above.
Crash!
With a single gesture, an immense pressure was exerted from above, creating fissures in the ground.
"It's going to collapse."
Luna, who had been silent for a long time, conveyed this one sentence to the Grand Duke.
-Crack
The Grand Duke watched intently as the cracks formed in the ceiling of the cavern.
He gazed at Luna in silence.
Though he feigned calmness to prevent confusion among his subordinates, the Grand Duke could not hide his astonishment that the wicked being from the legends had been accompanying them all this time.
However, Luna seemed to have known this from the beginning, as she acted nonchalantly and showed no signs of surprise.
Was the Archlich the problem?
Was it the person who effortlessly withstood the Archlich's attacks?
Or was it this woman who, despite witnessing such a spectacle, still maintained the same attitude as before?
The Grand Duke couldn't tell.
-Creaking
All he knew was that the ceiling of the cavern was collapsing.
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