Chapter 33
Even without confirming his face, I knew who the owner of this voice was.
Rupel Dieb.
Why was he in this place, when I clearly thought he had transferred to another location with the rest of the party... no, even before them?
For a mont, my mind didn't process it.
“No way… You pretended to move first and then hid?”
“Exactly.”
Along with a playful voice, a black light burst from behind .
“Black magic… An Archmage?!”
Balta’s eyes, which had been rushing towards , instantly filled with confusion, and he hastily slowed down, switching to a defensive stance.
It was a natural reaction.
Even if he was one of Odin’s heroes, an Archmage was never an easy opponent.
Of course, Lupel Diev’s magical abilities were considerably inferior compared to most well-known Archmages, but Balta had no way of knowing that.
Although I knew I shouldn't take my eyes off Balta, my gaze involuntarily shifted to Lupel Diev behind .
At the mont the black light shone most brilliantly between Rupel Dieb hands, clasped neatly in front of his chest.
“Ryan Kaltz. If you want to live, you’d best hold your breath.”
A single, arrogant word from Lupel Diev was uttered.
Balta and I simultaneously stopped breathing.
Bang!
A trendous black explosion occurred between Balta and .
A dazzling light, ear-splitting noise, and a massive amount of smoke poured out, making it impossible to see an inch in front of us.
However, what surprised was that despite the collateral effects of the explosion, there was no physical damage whatsoever.
Tap, tap.
Rupel patted my shoulder.
Although I had been holding my breath according to Lupel Diev’s advice, Lupel Diev himself was calmly inhaling.
I quickly analyzed the current situation.
‘…It’s a fake.’
I exhaled the breath I had held and inhaled fresh oxygen.
So black smoke ca with it, but nothing unusual happened to my body.
Lupel, with a mischievous smile, pointed to the door behind us.
We ran towards the door.
Balta, realizing he had been tricked, would probably go crazy and chase after us soon, so we had to pass through as many doors as possible before that to complicate the route.
Lupel and I passed through the door.
Instead of a place filled with black smoke, a new location appeared.
Not stopping there, we passed through several more doors.
Of course, Balta, with his power of detection, would easily track us.
While our lives had been saved for now, the thought that it was just a temporary reprieve made my running speed slow down a bit.
“It seems your gamble failed.”
After passing through several more doors.
Rupel , judging that he had a mont to spare, paused to catch his breath and spoke.
“…It appears so.”
“Haha! Don’t be too disappointed. Wasn’t it a gamble with a 1% chance of success anyway? If it had succeeded, that would have been a miracle.”
“……”
I stared at Rupel blankly.
Rupel , who had been hiding in that room, must have overheard the conversation between Balta and .
The peculiar conversation between soldiers of two hostile nations, where a White Hero called a Union soldier 'commander,' was difficult to comprehend rationally.
Reading the emotions in my gaze, Lupel Diev looked at with his characteristic mischievous smile.
And he said,
“I respect you.”
“Respect…?”
“I do not know what path you have walked until now. Whatever worries you had, whatever choices you made, we have no right to point out that they were wrong… I don’t know what my father would think, but at least I believe that. Even if a miracle happens and I return from this place alive, I will not tell anyone about you.”
“……”
It was a kind thought.
But I wondered what aning it held.
While it was true that we had escaped Balta’s sight for now, his power of detection didn't just tell the target's location; it also provided the optimal route to the detected target.
No matter how much we complicated the path using the ruins' transfer function, if Balta followed the power's guidance, he would appear before again.
With my current abilities and knowledge, there was no way to shake off Balta.
‘If there’s one way, it’s to use the exit opening ti…’
The forced transfer phenonon occurs when one touches any building or what could be called a 'door' inside the ruins.
It traps people in a labyrinth, but once the lid is opened, no such eerie tales exist of being permanently stuck in the labyrinth and never escaping.
The reason is simple.
The forced transfer phenonon doesn't operate 24 hours a day.
From 3 AM to 4 AM.
For about an hour, the distribution of magic power within the ruins decreases, and the forced transfer phenonon stops working.
If one aims for that ti, it's possible to exit the ruins by simply walking out.
Players call that one hour the 'exit opening ti.'
The problem was whether we could evade Balta until the exit opening ti, and even if we did, there was no guarantee that Balta wouldn't catch up to us while we were leaving the ruins.
I had to think of another thod.
If I wanted to live.
To survive.
I had to squeeze out every possible idea.
“Ryan.”
Ruppel called out to while I was deep in thought.
Every second counted, but I couldn't ignore Ruppel, so I gave him my attention.
He seed to ponder for a mont, then, with a resolute expression as if he had decided sothing, he took off his necklace.
“Your gamble failed, and from what I can see, you don’t have any other ideas right now. So, I’m saying, will you join in my gamble this ti?”
“You have a thod?”
“Look at this necklace.”
He held out the necklace in his hand.
It wasn't flashy or expensive-looking, but it was an old necklace, elegant yet antique.
One unique feature was that the central gem was broken.
“It’s a bit late to say this, but this necklace is the reason I ca to these ruins, even going so far as to deceive the eyes of the kingdom and the empire.”
“……”
Given the situation, my expression probably clearly showed ‘So what?’, but Ruppel rely chuckled pleasantly, without pointing out my rudeness.
“This is an artifact containing powerful strength. It's a very precious item, but… as you can see, the core gem broke, and it lost its power. And this is also a nto left by my mother, who died on the battlefield. You’ve probably heard of her. Maria Diev.”
“...Indeed. It's a na I rember.”
How could I forget?
About seven or eight months ago, I had engaged in battle with a fleet led by a middle-aged woman.
She was Maria Diev, and the fleet she commanded was one of the strongest in the Alliance.
However, Odin ultimately erged victorious.
Just as the final blow was about to be delivered, by so unknown ans, the nurous ships suddenly vanished with a flash of light.
The light was a large-scale transfer.
Leisia, who witnessed it, made a face I had never seen before and said.
It was impossible, sothing that should not happen.
A transfer magic of that scale could only be perford by the White Queen and the Black Dragon of the Alliance after several days of preparation.
It was not a magic that a re Archmage could accomplish.
I rembered her passionately explaining it.
‘It’s impossible through ordinary thods. That’s why I was convinced that she must have borrowed the power of so special tool.’
My gaze naturally fell on the nto Maria Diev had left behind.
Nine tis out of ten, that nto was the item that made the large-scale transfer possible.
Of course, no notable magical energy could be felt from the broken necklace.
However, Ruppel said that this necklace was the reason he ca to these ruins.
In other words.
There was a way to restore that necklace.
‘If I restore the necklace and use a large-scale transfer like Maria Diev did that day…’
The possibility was strong enough.
Hope had erged.
It felt as if the darkness that had clouded my vision was slowly brightening.
“Is there a way to restore the necklace?”
“Ryan . I achieved my purpose for visiting these ruins. No, to be precise, I had achieved it.”
“That’s past tense.”
“The timing was bad. Finding the artifact to restore the necklace was good, but then I happened to encounter a White Unit, and a battle ensued. In the process, I lost the artifact.”
Lupel Diev seed so disheartened that he let out a deep sigh and hit the innocent wall with his fist.
He had put too much force into his angry punch, so Lupel Diev grimaced, shook his hand, and continued.
“The artifact must be carelessly left sowhere in that battle zone. We need to find it.”
“Battle zone… abandoned artifact…”
Suddenly.
An object I had montarily forgotten about ca to mind.
Why had I forgotten it?
Hadn’t I acquired an artifact in that place where burnt corpses lay, a place filled with the traces of battle between the White Unit and the Alliance?
Opening my bag, I took out the carefully kept artifact, a lump of magic power.
Lupel Diev’s eyes widened.
“Ryan Kaltz. What in the world is this…?”
“I picked it up on the way.”
It was true that I picked it up on the way, so it wouldn't be a lie.
A pure, bright smile I had never seen before blossod across his face.
I couldn’t be sure.
But I was probably making a similar expression.
* * *
It was rely a lack of talent and effort.
Rupel was still an Archmage, admired by all mages.
Black magic shone radiantly in his hands.
With his mother’s nto in his right hand and the artifact found in the ruins in his left, his expression was more serious than ever.
The black magic connected the nto and the artifact.
As ti passed, the artifact deteriorated as if struck by the passage of ti, and the crack that had pierced the center of the nto slowly healed.
It wasn't a long ti, but thinking that Balta of Odin was still chasing us, it felt endlessly long.
“I thought it would be nothing, but it’s surprisingly not easy. If I had known this, I would have skipped half as many classes.”
“It seems the idea of being diligent in class isn’t sothing you entertain.”
“Diligence… That’s not a word that suits a person like .”
Still, judging by his lighthearted jokes, he seed to have found a bit of composure.
And so, ti passed relentlessly.
“…It’s done.”
The artifact in his left hand completely turned to dust and fell like snow.
And the nto in his right hand, as if it had never been damaged, was perfectly restored, showcasing its beautiful appearance.
Even the Dragon’s Eye, which had not activated until now, recognized this nto as a valuable magic item, giving a faint pain in my eyes.
[Diev’s Oath]
One of the three treasures passed down in the Diev royal family.
A treasure received long ago after pledging loyalty to the Black Dragon, containing the Black Dragon’s power.
Upon use, it awakens the target’s latent abilities.
“……?”
What on earth happened?
My expectation that it would contain a large-scale transfer magic was utterly wrong.
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