Chapter 199

“The Mage King’s army, huh.”

If something like that were guarding it, it would be dangerous, but it was a pointless concern.

The ancient magic kingdom had already fallen, and their army was long gone, so there was nothing to worry about encountering at the gateway.

– Phew. I’ve told you everything. So you’ll spare me now, right? I’m glad to be alive…

Despite its muttering, the form of the evil spirit was gradually fading.

It was already in a state where it couldn’t even properly recognize its own condition.

When it completely vanished, I dispelled the Spirit Eye and blinked my right eye.

The black-and-white world regained its color.

As all the rocks that had been floating in the sky fell and nothing more happened, the group slowly let their guard down and approached.

Rieka, her voice hoarse from all the screaming, asked:

“Is it over now?”

“Mhmm. It’s over.”

“This place is a complete mess.”

A rain of shattered rocks had swept across the surrounding land.

It had been a barren wasteland to begin with, so there wasn’t much to devastate, but within a radius of dozens of meters, the ground was now filled with sharp stones like a spread of durian shells.

As Rieka blankly took in the scene, she suddenly shouted:

“Oh right! The lizards?!”

The wasteland lizards carrying our travel supplies had been completely forgotten the moment we encountered the evil spirit.

After searching the area for about 15 minutes,

Jacqueline waved from the distance and shouted:

“I think I found them! Uh… I don’t really recommend coming to see this, though.”

The two wasteland lizards we had brought from the frontier village were dead, leaving behind pools of blood and crushed flesh.

On top of that, the luggage tied onto them had been horribly damaged by the falling rocks.

“This is a total disaster.”

“We didn’t have the luxury to look after the animals.”

Shannon said it as if making an excuse, and Rieka waved her hand.

“I know. I wasn’t trying to blame anyone…”

As Rieka scratched the back of her head irritably while looking at the dead lizards, she approached me and said,

“It’s unfortunate, but it’d be better to stop the expedition here. Let’s salvage whatever food and water are still intact and head back to the nearest frontier village.”

“No. We proceed as planned.”

“Hey, I get that you’re upset, but I’m the Ground Zero expert here. Do you want to stubbornly push on and dry up in the middle of the wasteland? Even if we pick out usable supplies from the luggage, there’s a limit to how much food and water a person can carry.”

“How much?”

“Well… if we ration carefully, maybe five days.”

“The evil spirit I defeated gave me some information before it died. It said there’s a gateway nearby. If it’s intact, we might be able to travel quickly to the ancient city of Aslan.”

“A gateway? What’s that supposed to be?”

“It’s a relic of the ancient kingdom. Even if it doesn’t function properly, it would still be a site of great historical value worth exploring.”

“Hmm… alright. Just checking it out shouldn’t be too hard. But if I judge that we’re hitting the limits of our food supply, we turn back immediately. No complaints.”

“Agreed.”

After that, we led the group toward the location the evil spirit had told us about. After about half a day, a sudden depression appeared in the middle of the flat wasteland.

“It looks just like an antlion pit.”

“More like a mine. There are signs of human work.”

At the edge of the depression, which resembled an open-pit mine, dark red stone pillars supported the surrounding earth to keep it from collapsing. The pillars were clearly weathered by time and half-buried in sand.

Rieka let out an impressed whistle.

“Ohh. I had no idea a place like this existed. I’ve passed through this area countless times. How did I never notice it?”

“It’s lower ground, so you probably couldn’t see it from a distance.”

“Did they build it like this on purpose to hide it?”

“No idea.”

There were no stairs leading down, but there was a slope where the earth had gently caved in, so I slid down along it.

“Professor!”

“It’s fine. I’ll take a look myself.”

If this place really was a gateway of the ancient magic kingdom, then whatever it was, it would surely operate using mana.

First, let’s try deploying a mana field. There was an immediate response.

The mana field couldn’t penetrate beneath the ground I was standing on.

Is there something buried underneath?

To find out what it was, I stirred up a bit of sand with wind magic, and a stone slab revealed itself.

The slab was so heavily worn that I couldn’t make out any writing or markings on its surface, but I could tell it held a faint trace of mana.

Moreover, it seemed like it could be infused with more mana.

“Shannon, come down here.”

“Yes, Professor.”

Since I wanted to conserve my mana as much as possible right now, I decided to make use of Shannon.

Shannon followed me down, spread out a mana field, and her eyes widened.

“Professor, this is….”

“Do you know what it is?”

“Yes. Should I inject mana into it?”

Geniuses really are convenient.

I withdrew my mana field and stepped back a little so Shannon could use her mana, and she began her work.

It didn’t take long for a change to occur in the depression.

Rumble…

With the sound of massive stones grinding together, the ground trembled. Then, with a noise like a waterfall crashing down, the sand beneath our feet began to be swept away somewhere.

When I turned around, I saw a large black hole had formed at one side of the depression’s floor.

A passage leading underground had opened.

I could feel the group’s eyes on me.

“Let’s go.”

The gateway of the fallen ancient kingdom was a cold, dark stone passage.

The walls were neatly carved and a faint light flowed from something embedded in the ceiling and floor. It was hard to tell whether it was metal or stone, but it illuminated the path.

It was a magical light source, but not caraphite or caraphine.

Other than that, there were no murals, inscriptions, or sculptures that might reveal the culture of the ancient kingdom.

It was clear that this gateway had been built purely for practical purposes.

As we quietly walked along the long, dark path, a question began to form.

If we just kept walking like this, would it really shorten the time needed to reach the city of Aslan?

It was while I was pondering that—

“Professor! Wait for us!”

“You’re too far ahead!”

As I heard someone calling me, I turned around and saw that the distance between me and the group had grown quite large.

I tilted my head, wondering if I had really been walking that fast, when suddenly the figures of my companions in the distance blurred and stretched out like footage shot with motion blur…and before I knew it, Jacqueline was right in front of me.

“Professor! I told you to wait… Huh? You’re right here?”

It seemed the gateway’s spatial distortion magic was working properly.

Likewise, Rieka who had gone ahead as a scout was nowhere to be seen, and I had been wondering if she had gone too far ahead. But before long, we were able to regroup.

Rieka, who had been sitting on the stone floor chewing on jerky, hurriedly stood up when she saw us.

“What, you’re already here? I thought I’d have to wait a while.”

“This space is distorting our senses, so be careful.”

“What do you mean? More importantly, come over here. There’s something up ahead.”

“Something?”

Following Rieka’s words, I looked forward.

Just then, the passage ended, and a wide space opened up before us.

“Is that the exit?”

“More like a midpoint. If it were an exit, it would lead to the surface. Anyway, the important thing is there are things guarding that place.”

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Two massive figures walked about with heavy, echoing steps.

Even from a distance, it wasn’t hard to guess what they were.

“Golems.”

“Looks like it, right? Their appearance, the aura around them… They seem a bit more dangerous than the cheap ones you see in shabby dungeons.”

If the fortress golem I had seen before in Count Winslit’s territory was more like an external frame directly controlled by its caster, then those were real, properly made golems.

In other words, automated structures that carried out predetermined commands even without a master present.

“If, as the evil spirit said, this place was a passage used by the ancient magic kingdom’s army, those golems probably won’t just let us pass.”

“What should we do? Could we use magic to sneak past somehow?”

“If it’s invisibility magic, we could hide our appearance… but golems don’t have eyes to begin with, so it would be useless. We might be able to deceive their senses with a more complex method, but I’m skeptical about that too. This place is already within a huge magical field, making it difficult to manipulate mana with precision.”

“What’s so complicated about that? You’re basically saying it’s better to just fight it out, right?”

“That’s right.”

“Then how about this? Judging by the size of those golems, they probably can’t enter this passage. So I’ll go out first and draw their attention while you guys quickly slip into the next passage.”

“You’re volunteering to be bait. I appreciate the offer, but that’s not realistic either.”

“What do you mean it’s not realistic?”

“I have a condition that prevents me from running. So I’d be spotted by the golems before reaching the next passage.”

“Damn it, is this really the time for jokes? That’s not funny at all.”

“……”

I wasn’t joking.

Rieka glared at me and let out a sigh.

“Ugh, fine, I’ll let it slide since you’re the client. So, no choice but to fight?”

“You said you were confident in dealing with monsters, right? You take one golem. I’ll handle the other.”

“You sure about that?”

“What a ridiculous question.”

Right now, my body couldn’t handle using too much mana.

So I couldn’t just unleash high-tier magic like before.

But overwhelming enemies with sheer firepower was never my style to begin with.

As someone always in the position of the underdog, I had to pursue efficient combat. That was the role of a Judgment of Candela player.

It had been a while since I’d faced a new kind of monster, and the thought made my blood boil with excitement.