Chapter 720
The entrance to the ancient ruins was sealed—securely and thoroughly. If left alone, no one from the fiefdom would be able to enter. However, leaving such a heavily sealed ancient ruin in this country wasn’t an option either.
Even if I was certain that no one else but could break the seal, there were probably others who would be capable of doing so. If that’s the case, having these ruins in this location itself was a risk.
I decided that the best course of action was to quickly investigate the interior and if I found anything dangerous, I would either remove it or destroy it.
With that in mind, I broke the seal and entered the ruins.
The ancient ruins consisted of a single passageway, leading downward into the earth. There were no significant obstacles, only periodic seals that were created by the barriers. After breaking through these seals, I eventually erged into a vast space.
There was so kind of massive device. The structure was cylindrical and covered with inscriptions that were carved into its surface.
It didn’t seem to be operational, but it was likely the focal point of these ancient ruins. As far as I could tell, it was a dead device. However, it wasn’t sothing that could be easily removed—as it was completely integrated into the ruins.
I was debating whether to destroy it or co up with another plan when the detection barrier I had set up earlier was triggered by soone.
It was probably a nearby villager. Since it would be problematic if they got too close, I quickly casted an additional concealnt barrier.
This should keep undetected… or so I thought as the cylinder suddenly began to emit light.
“Is it reacting to my magic?!”
I had assud the device was inactive, so I let my guard down. Its activation was fast and in an instant, a black hole appeared near the ceiling.
I recognized this phenonon.
“A teleportation gate?!”
I tried to escape, but I was a fraction of a second too slow. The device’s black hole sucked in before I could react.
The next thing I knew, I was standing in an unfamiliar wasteland.
On the ground beneath was a circular pedestal that was covered in inscriptions. It seed that this was the designated teleportation destination.
“Well, well…”
An ancient ruin with teleportation capabilities—this was quite surprising. But if it just sent sowhere, then the danger wasn’t too severe. At least, I could take solace in the fact that the ruins themselves weren’t highly dangerous.
Feeling a bit frustrated at the unnecessary expenditure of magic I would be spending, I attempted to open a teleportation gate.
But nothing happened.
“What?”
I frowned, feeling puzzled. After a mont, I realized that for so reason my teleportation wasn’t working.
This ant I was stranded in an unfamiliar land with no way to return. I couldn’t believe it—teleportation had failed, leaving stranded.
“This is… quite the predicant.”
I sighed, murmuring to myself as I assessed the situation.
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Despite my puzzlent over the inability to teleport, I began to survey my surroundings.
This place was completely foreign to . It was a vast wasteland with no visible structures in sight—nothing except the circular area I had been teleported to. Judging by the eroded landscape, it seed that whatever ruins had once stood here had long since crumbled away.
Ordinarily, wandering around aimlessly in such situations isn’t advisable, but waiting around wouldn’t help either—since nobody knows that I am now here. Simply staying put wasn’t an option.
Even though I had taken ti off, I couldn’t afford to be gone for too long. Figuring out where I was might also reveal a way for to return ho. Ideally, I needed to find a nearby village, or better yet, a town.
As I considered this, I noticed sothing.
“A dust cloud?”
In the distance, a large dust cloud was rising, indicating movent of so sort. It didn’t seem to be human, but that didn’t matter.
“If it’s a monster habitat, I might be able to get so clues.”
With that thought in mind, I started walking toward the dust cloud. Conveniently, the dust cloud was headed in my direction at considerable speed, tearing up the ground as it moved.
As I ntally ran through the nas of potential monsters, a voice reached my ears.
“Help! Soone, help !”
The voice ca from the dust cloud—or rather, from slightly ahead of it. A young boy was running at full speed to while carrying a large sword that seed too big for his body.
He was shouting frantically for help.
Behind him was a giant serpent-like… no, it was more like a giant worm. But it didn’t match any of the giant snake-type monsters I knew.
I had most monsters cataloged in my mind, but I had never seen or heard of a creature like this. Still, one thing was clear: the boy was being chased by a monster.
As an adventurer, I couldn’t ignore this.
“Co here!” I called out to the boy.
“I can’t! It’s catching up! Fire! I need fire! These things hate fire!!”
“I see.”
Nodding once, I opened a teleportation gate next to the boy. I tried it out, and it worked.
That revealed sothing important: long-distance teleportation was the problem.
In an instant, the boy was teleported to my side. I then extended my left hand forward.
“I am the one who enforces divine will, the one who knows the laws of heaven and earth. The ti of judgnt has co. The guilty shall tremble, and the innocent shall rejoice. My words are the words of the gods. My strike is the strike of the gods. Gather in this hand, oh inferno that scorches the heavens, and reduce the guilty to ashes—Execution Prominence!”
I cast a fire spell at the giant serpent-worm monster. If fire was its weakness, this should be enough.
Having suddenly lost sight of its prey, the giant worm charged at us but my spell was completed far quicker.
A brilliant flash of fire shot out from the magic circle, engulfing the monster in an instant. The flas incinerated the path the monster had taken, leaving nothing but scorched earth.
It was fortunate that this was a wasteland, so no collateral damage was done.
“Thanks for telling its weakness, kid.”
“Wha—wh-what?! Who are you?!”
The boy, who appeared to be around fifteen or sixteen years old with brown hair and defiant slanted eyes also had a scar on his cheek. After witnessing the power of my magic, he fell back, looking wide-eyed at .
I introduced myself.
“I’m Silver, an SS-ranked adventurer from the Imperial City branch of the Adventurers’ Guild.”
I figured that would explain everything.
But…
“A-Adventurers’ Guild…? W-What are you talking about?”
“You don’t know the Adventurers’ Guild…?”
“N-No, I don’t…”
“Then who hunts monsters like that?”
“Exterminators do….”
The boy showed a crest that was engraved on his arm. It was a design I had never seen before—a symbol of a dragon-like creature being pierced by a sword.
“Exterminators?”
“The Exterminators’ Union handles the continent’s monster extermination… It’s common knowledge across the continent…”
The boy looked at with suspicion. Common knowledge? If it was common knowledge, the Adventurers’ Guild should also be well-known.
This wasn’t so remote backwater area. It definitely wasn’t ignorance.
“Kid, what’s the na of this continent?”
“Schlange Continent… But why are you asking that?”
He seed confused, as if wondering why I would ask sothing so basic.
But I was just as confused.
I couldn’t believe it—the ancient magical civilizations had managed to reach a different continent?
The reason long-distance teleportation didn’t work beca clear. It was simply too far, with no interdiate points to connect to.
Yes, I had been teleported to a different continent.
“Well… This is a real problem.”
I had two options for getting back: either determine the direction of ho and fly back at full speed… or find another ancient ruin. If there was a way here, there should be a way back as well.
That said, I had no knowledge of the local geography. I needed information before doing anything.
“Kid, what’s your na?”
“I’m Allen… Allen the Exterminator.”
“I see. Well then, Allen, as thanks for saving you, could you guide to the nearest large city?”
“It’s a long walk to the nearest large city. Are you sure you’re okay with that?”
“That’s fine since I’m in need of information.”
“I can guide you, but it’s a pretty big detour. If we go directly from here, we’ll run into a bandit gang that is holed up in an abandoned castle. Instead, we’ll have to take a roundabout route and along the way, we’ll need to gather food and water…”
“No problem.”
“Huh? You’ve got food and water?”
“No, we’ll just take it from the bandits.”
With that, I began walking with Allen following close behind.
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