The slender priests entered the narrow crevice in the cliff. After searching the surroundings, they soon found a door sealed by magic.
“There must be a pattern for undoing the seal.”
“When are we supposed to find it and undo it? Just break it.”
They tried to destroy the seal, but unfortunately, their magical power was far weaker than that of the mage who had erected the barrier.
Left with no other choice, they found the thinnest part of the wall and bored a hole from inside the cave toward the cliff.
Beligan and the remaining priests entered through the hole, and together they broke the seal on the door.
When the priests floated small Light Orbs inside, an interior packed with corpses was revealed.
“Those are the uniforms of the Sarapi Imperial Army. Was this an Imperial Army facility…….”
“But why was the door sealed with magic?”
One priest wondered whether it had been sealed to prevent something trapped inside from escaping.
The echo of sounds and the cold, damp air blowing from within told them that the interior was quite large.
“This is not the time to worry about that.”
Remembering the Beast King’s Heart embedded in Ernolf’s hand had been black, Beligan spoke.
“We must recover the Sacred Relic before those bastards learn how to awaken it.”
“Yes, High Priest Beligan.”
When Beligan swept his arm forward, the priests carefully entered.
As they passed the corpse-strewn entrance, the priests who had experienced the twins’ power warned the priests who had joined them later.
“Do not underestimate them because they are young. Neither of them is ordinary in experience. The bastard who uses Aura already wields an Aura Blade at that age, and he is exceptionally vicious with his hands.”
“That is right. The one who uses Aura is formidable, but the one who uses mana is no ordinary opponent either. His casting speed was so fast that it felt as if he were deploying several spells at once.”
He also made sure to mention that although the boy used low-level spells, the perfection of his casting made their destructive power exceed expectations.
They had ambushed the twins, yet their side had suffered greater losses. Three priests had died instantly in the brief fight, and two had been seriously injured.
It was shameful, but they had to admit that the children’s combat ability was far higher than their own.
Beyond the entrance, two identical corridors appeared before them.
A priest skilled in tracking scattered mana searched for the trail left by the little ones who had gone ahead.
Then bloody footprints appeared along the right-hand path. They seemed to be marks left by stepping in blood spilled from the corpses.
“This is the way.”
“Let me inspect the path first.”
The priest most skilled in Clairvoyance among the group placed his hand on the ground and focused.
An image of what lay beyond the walls appeared in his mind like a painting. Beneath both paths and inside the walls were metal mechanisms and pipes.
“There are identical mechanical devices hidden on both sides.”
“The brats passed through this path unharmed. It cannot be anything serious.”
They had already lost much time summoning the priests left in the city and drilling into the cliff to enter. If they wasted any more time, they might lose the twins.
“We will go first.”
The priests cast Shields in preparation for any danger and entered the corridor ahead of Beligan.
“Faint traces of mana remain on the wall.”
“Was that boy responsible?”
“What could he have done?”
Worried that he might have laid a trap, the priests carefully passed through the corridor.
Contrary to their concerns, nothing happened while they crossed it.
The next fork was the same. Mechanical devices were hidden inside the walls, and there were traces that the one who had gone ahead had manipulated their interiors with magic.
“It seems they disabled the trap mechanisms as they passed through.”
“Even so, we cannot let our guard down.”
Once again, Beligan’s group did not relax their vigilance and slowly passed through the corridor while maintaining their Shields.
As expected, nothing happened in the second path either.
The third fork was the same. The boys’ trail ran down one of the three branching paths, and pipes and mechanisms were hidden in every wall.
“We do not have time. Let’s go.”
They had not even caught a glimpse of the boys’ backs. Growing impatient, Beligan increased his speed and crossed the corridor. Once again, no mishap occurred.
When a fourth identical corridor appeared, they rushed inside without even casting Shields.
“Aaaah!”
When the priests reached the middle of the corridor, green liquid sprayed from the ceiling and both walls. The liquid dissolved flesh and bone, then fell to the floor and turned into a green mist.
“Sh-Shield!”
“Healing!”
The priests each fired off Shields and Healing Magic, forcing their way through the corridor filled with poison mist.
“Ghk! Cough!”
Two priests whose airways had melted collapsed before they could make it all the way out of the corridor.
Another priest grabbed their arms and tried to pull them out. Their upper and lower bodies separated, their joints having been dissolved by the poison.
Aside from the two dead priests, the rest were not in good condition either. Gasping for breath, they poured Healing Magic onto themselves.
As he was larger than the others, Beligan had been drenched in more poison. He twisted his face, made hideous as its skin melted away, into an even deeper grimace.
“Aaaaargh!”
In his fury, Beligan tore the skin from his own face and threw it onto the floor.
The priests nearby poured Healing Magic into him.
Beligan shook them off, cast Healing Magic on himself, and ran toward another fork.
‘Damn it, was it a trap that activated if we took too long?’
Beligan guessed that, beginning with the first mechanism, there might be a set time limit for passing through. Once that time passed, poison mist would be released into the corridor.
‘Unlike us, the little ones must not have hesitated as they passed through.’
Did they not say that ignorance was courage? Beligan guessed that because the little ones had simply rushed on without being careful, they had avoided the poisonous shower.
“We have to get through before the other paths are covered in poison. Hurry!”
The priests staggered after him.
The moment Beligan entered the fork with two paths, poisonous liquid poured down through the corridor like rain.
“Urgh, the poison!”
When he looked back, the poison mist generated in the path they had taken was filling the corridor and approaching them.
They had no choice but to force their way forward through the corridor drenched in poisonous liquid.
“Damn it!”
Beligan ground his teeth and dashed forward.
The Shields drenched in poisonous liquid melted away in streams.
***
A sound as faint as a mosquito yawning came from beyond the darkness. It was too weak for an ordinary person to detect, but Kazar, an Aura User, did not miss it with his sharp hearing.
“Looks like those snake bastards fell into it.”
“I see.”
“What did you set up in the corridors at the forks earlier?”
“It’s not what I did. It’s what I didn’t do.”
“What do you mean, you didn’t? You kept tinkering with this and that the whole way here.”
“I did something like that.”
“What was it?”
Ernolf was busy with something else and could not be bothered to explain, so he answered half-heartedly. Annoyed, Kazar kicked Ernolf’s heel. With a sigh as if he had given up, Ernolf answered.
“I disabled several of the traps ahead.”
“You let them lower their guard and lure them deeper inside.”
Memories surfaced of pretending to be at a disadvantage or fleeing on the battlefield, luring out the enemy army, and wiping them out. Kazar smiled.
“You are quick on the uptake.”
Ernolf found that he could unexpectedly communicate well with Kazar, and a smile came to him without his realizing it.
“And also…… Ah, wait a moment. Let’s examine this first, then talk.”
Ernolf was too busy reading the Magic Circuits etched into the floor. This time, Kazar did not interrupt him.
***
“Huff, huff…….”
Constantly casting Shields and pouring out Healing Magic while running made it feel as though mana were leaking out of him.
When Beligan’s group reached the end of the corridor, a deep ravine appeared before them. A long stone bridge without railings stretched across the ravine.
Beligan formed a Light Orb and sent it flying ahead.
Bathed in the Light Orb’s glow, the stone bridge shone white.
“High Priest Beligan, up ahead!”
At the entrance to the corridor beyond the bridge, the shadow of a child flickered and disappeared.
“Those bastards!”
If he increased his speed just a little more, he could catch up to the boy. Impatient, Beligan and the priests cast body-enhancing magic and leaped toward the bridge.
Their powerful leap was beautiful enough to be awe-inspiring…….
“Urgh, the bridge!”
“Aah!”
It was pitiful enough to be absurd.
They had clearly landed on the bridge, yet for some reason, their bodies did not stop and kept falling.
CRASH!
SPLAT!
What greeted the falling priests were dozens of sharpened stakes.
When the magically reinforced stakes tore through their Shields, the priests’ bodies were skewered alive.
“Healing!”
As they struggled to escape while casting Healing Magic on themselves, green poison mist poured down over them like a waterfall.
“Uuuugh!”
Beligan let out a cry that could have been either a groan or a scream as he hauled himself up at the edge of the cliff.
Able to jump farther than the other priests, he stepped on the broken end of the bridge and barely managed to climb into the corridor on the other side.
When Beligan turned around, he beheld the dreadful sight and burned with rage.
“Damn it!”
Everyone except those who had not crossed the bridge because they had failed to get completely out of the corridor had died.
***
Having finished analyzing the circuits, Ernolf let out a light breath to ease his tension and answered Kazar’s question.
“You know what else I did. You were the one who cut the bridge.”
“You were the one who covered it with an illusion that made it look intact.”
The two smiled at the same time.
“They are educated in their own way. Would they really fall for such a childish trick?”
Ernolf shrugged at Kazar’s words and answered calmly.
“Yes, you are right. Only an idiot would fall for such a petty trick.”
Whenever he entered ruins with an expedition team, Ernolf had always been troubled by tomb robbers who secretly followed them and stole relics.
That was why he had developed a habit of advancing while setting traps to deal with the tomb robbers following behind. That habit remained even now.
“In any case, this is becoming more entertaining than I expected.”
Ernolf spoke as he surveyed the entire inner chamber with Clairvoyance.
Whether it was fortunate or unfortunate, he had repeatedly crossed the line between life and death and squeezed out every last bit of mana, causing the Mana Heart’s growth rate to exceed expectations. Ernolf could now search a broader area more deeply than before.
“What do you mean?”
“The Imperial Army built this fortress on top of a seal.”
“Ah, they intended to break the seal and wipe out their enemies if the fortress was taken.”
Kazar’s words startled Ernolf. For a mine slave, Kazar understood military operations far too quickly.
‘Do Self-Awakened Ones also possess exceptional insight?’
Ernolf was amazed at Kazar’s intelligence, which was specialized for combat.
“You are sharp when it comes to things like this.”
“I am always like that.”
“Yes…… It is truly surprising.”
In Ernolf’s experience, Kazar spoke like a petulant child and acted childishly, but he was intelligent, quick to judge, and calm. That was why he did not feel like a fourteen-year-old boy.
“So the entire floor of this storehouse is a seal?”
“Yes.”
“I do not know what it sealed, but it cannot be something small and cute.”
“Probably not.”
With a weary sigh, Ernolf braced a hand on his knee to stand.
Standing nearby, Kazar slipped an arm beneath Ernolf’s armpit and helped him up.
“That sword is the activation device. Whatever lies beneath the seal will not be something we can handle, so never draw it.”
Ernolf said this while pointing to the fine sword atop the pedestal.
Perhaps because it was bait, it was beautiful enough to draw the eye at a glance.
“That really looks like it wants to be drawn.”
“It does…….”
Ernolf had just warned Kazar not to draw the sword, yet he could not help agreeing with him.
The two could not take their eyes off the large gemstone embedded in the end of the hilt.
“If we just dug out the gemstone…….”
“…….”
“We should not, right?”
“Is your goal in life to die young?”
Though he answered firmly that they should not, Ernolf was actually thinking the same thing as Kazar.
‘Have I been living too poorly lately…….’
He knew nothing was more precious than his life, but as he stared at the gemstone, he swallowed a dry gulp and his hands itched.