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HEL SCANS
[Translator – Kie]
[Proofreader – Kawaii]
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Chapter 136: The Ruins (4)
***
Rumors about Damien spread quickly throughout the Almond Country.
Within a day, everyone near the ruins knew about him, or rather, Victor.
“Did you hear? A new explorer named Victor has appeared. He’s apparently very good at finding relics.”
“So what if he’s good at finding them? Why are you so excited?”
“Didn’t you hear? He found an APG!”
“What? The 1st and 2nd floors have been dry for a long time! Where did he find such a precious thing?”
“I don’t know either. But sometimes there are people who have a knack for sniffing out treasure.”
People were amazed and talked about the items Damien had found.
“It’s been a while since a big shot appeared. Maybe this explorer can find the Relic sword.”
“Well… maybe he’ll die before that.”
“What do you mean?”
“That Victor guy messed with Duplessis’ faction.”
“What, really?”
The Almond Country was currently filled with nobles who wanted to find the Relic Sword and marry Princess Freize.
Among the nobles, there were many who formed alliances instead of exploring the ruins alone.
Of the factions that were created in this way, Duplessis’ faction was the largest and most powerful.
“If what you say is true… that young Victor won’t last long.”
“It’s good for us. It means one less dangerous competitor.”
While people were talking about him, Damien was lying in bed at the inn, making plans.
“It’s a total of 7 floors deep.”
Damien muttered as he looked at the map he had obtained from the ruins.
The ruins were shaped like a triangle. The scale got larger and larger as you went down the floors.
“It’s going to take a long time to search this place thoroughly.”
It wasn’t enough to just search the visible areas. There were probably hidden rooms in the ruins as well.
However, Damien was not too worried. Damien’s detection range was very wide.
If he could detect even a little bit of Gathdal’s dark magic, he could follow it and find him.
“Maybe he’ll come out to catch me.”
Gathdal would definitely react in some way after Damien destroyed the undead he had created.
Would he be angry? Probably not. The undead that Damien had destroyed during the day were simple undead that Gathdal could create easily.
Right now, Gathdal was in the process of collecting people’s souls for his research on ‘memories’.
And not just any souls, but souls with rich combat experience.
So there was no way he would let go of a skilled warrior like Damien. He would try to catch him by any means necessary.
“I’ll have to go deeper tomorrow.”
Damien decided to become the most tempting bait possible to lure Gathdal out.
***
The next day, Damien headed to the entrance of the ruins early in the morning.
“Lord Victor! Good morning!”
Thibaut greeted Damien, bowing his waist.
“Please leave all the annoying tasks to me today!”
He looked at Thibaut and said in surprise.
“You didn’t run away?”
Before they parted ways yesterday, Thibaut was trembling, saying that the Duplessis faction would not sit still.
So Damien thought Thibaut would have run away to avoid being associated with him anymore.
“To be honest, if I said I didn’t think about that, I’d be lying…”
Thibaut said with a determined face.
“When else in my life will I meet someone as great as Lord Victor? I can’t miss this opportunity.”
“I never said I would give you an opportunity?”
“Huh? Yes? That’s…”
Despair appeared on Thibaut’s face. Damien laughed.
“I’m just kidding. If you do your job properly, I’ll make sure you get a share.”
Thibaut’s knowledge was quite useful, even though Damien didn’t know it.
Thanks to him, Damien didn’t need to learn about the Almond Country separately.
“Here.”
Damien threw the guard uniform and APG he had obtained yesterday to Thibaut.
Thibaut took the equipment and looked at Damien with a surprised face.
“Why are you giving this to me…?”
“I’m not giving it to you. I’m lending it to you.”
Damien was planning to go deep into the ruins today.
Damien himself was not in danger, but he didn’t know about Thibaut.
“It might be dangerous, so I’m lending it to you. Use it carefully and return it.”
“I’ll lend it to you in case you have to fight. Use it carefully.”
“Yes!”
“If you do a good job, I might just give it to you.”
Thibaut’s eyes widened at Damien’s words.
“T, this Thibaut! I will work with the attitude of a living saint!”
“Then let’s go in.”
Damien was about to enter the ruins. Then, Thibaut spoke to Damien.
“P, please wait a moment, Lord Victor.”
Thibaut went into an alley and came back with a carrying pole. Damien looked at him with a dumbfounded face and asked.
“What did you bring that for?”
“Oh, I just brought it in case. If we have more luggage than yesterday, it will be difficult to carry.”
Thibaut was a more prepared man than Damien thought.
***
Damien went down to the 3rd floor of the ruins with Thibaut.
Like the 1st and 2nd floors, the 3rd floor was also empty. This was because the mercenaries and explorers had already taken everything of value.
‘It doesn’t seem like there are any hidden items here either.’
Damien skipped the 3rd floor and headed straight to the 4th floor.
The 4th floor had multiple entrances. Damien entered the 4th floor through the nearest entrance.
As soon as he entered the 4th floor, he heard a loud noise.
“Hey! This area is ours first!”
“Nonsense! We got here first!”
Mercenaries were fighting everywhere. Some were hitting the walls with pickaxes.
“From what I know, when nobles conquer a certain floor, other people flock to it and take everything that’s worth money.”
Thibaut said to Damien. That’s why there were so many people on the 4th floor.
‘It doesn’t seem like I need to go around the 4th floor either.’
It was hard to believe that Gathdal would be hiding in a place with so many people.
It was also difficult to find hidden items because there were so many people watching.
“Let’s go to the 5th floor.”
Thibaut’s body stiffened at the mention of the 5th floor.
Unlike the 1st to 4th floors, the 5th floor had not yet been fully explored. It was also very dangerous.
“You can go up if you’re scared.”
“Oh, no! I’m not!”
There were also many doors leading to the 5th floor. Just as Damien was about to enter through a nearby door,
“Stop.”
Two men standing at the entrance stopped Damien.
“This is the door to the exploration area assigned to the ‘Obter’ mercenary group. Outsiders are not allowed to enter. If you want to go to the 5th floor, go through another door.”
Damien was taken aback by the unexpected situation. Thibaut then explained to Damien.
“Lord Victor, I’ve been here before. I heard that the deeper parts of the ruins are divided into exploration areas by powerful forces.”
“Why are you telling me this now?”
“I didn’t know they would block the entrance.”
Thibaut said, scratching his head.
“Lord Victor, it’s better if you don’t clash with the Obter mercenary group if you can. They have three Middle-Class knights, including the leader.”
As Thibaut spoke with a worried face, Damien nodded as if he understood.
“Don’t worry. I don’t plan to fight unnecessarily.”
“You are wise.”
“If they listen to my demands, that is.”
“……What?”
Leaving the confused Thibaut behind, Damien spoke to the mercenaries.
“I don’t plan to interfere with your operation. Just let me go to the 5th floor.”
“How can we believe that?”
The mercenary said in a cold tone.
“The 5th floor is crawling with ancient golems. You could lose your life if you make one wrong move. We can’t have a risk factor behind our backs.”
The mercenaries said in a firm tone. Damien pondered for a moment and then opened his mouth.
“Then there’s nothing I can do. I have no choice but to force them to understand.”
“What nonsense are you talking about? How can you force understanding……”
Damien’s hand moved quickly. The back of his hand brushed lightly against the mercenary’s chin.
That was all it took for the mercenary’s head to shake violently. The mercenary lost consciousness.
“Henson!”
Seeing that, his companion was taken aback and drew his weapon.
“How dare you…”
Damien’s hand moved again. Once more, his palm brushed against the mercenary’s chin, causing him to collapse.
“Luckily, seems like these two understand me. Shall we go in now?”
Thibaut looked at Damien with a bewildered expression.
“Why? Do you have something to say?”
“T-That’s not it…”
At that moment, something suddenly flew out from the door leading to the fifth floor.
After rolling on the ground several times, it stopped in front of Damien.
“Eek!”
Seeing it, Thibaut screamed. The object that flew from the door was a person.
Covered in blood, his limbs were crushed and his form barely recognizable.
“No…no escape…all dead…the leader and…the members…all dead…”
Before he could finish speaking, his head slumped to the side. He had stopped breathing.
“What in the world…”
Thibaut was paralyzed with horror. Then, a heavy sound came from the direction of the door.
Something was coming up from the fifth floor to the fourth.
A metallic body.
Large external eyes occupying half of its face.
Seeing it, Thibaut exclaimed in horror.
“An… ancient golem!”
At his cry, other mercenaries on the fourth floor also looked towards the door.
“…An ancient golem!”
“The ancient golem is coming up!”
The mercenaries, upon seeing the ancient golem, dropped what they were holding and began to flee. Over dozens of people rushed towards the entrance.
“Oh, an ancient golem.”
Damien looked at the golem with an intrigued expression. Since his regression, it was his first time encountering an ancient golem.
The ancient golems here looked quite different from the ones Damien had encountered in his past life.
“┻┫━╋━.”
The ancient golem spoke in a strange language. Unlike others, Damien could understand that language.
“It seems they’ve found intruders and intend to kill them.”
Light emanated from the crystal embedded in the golem’s chest, spreading throughout its body.
Simultaneously, light began to flow from the surface of the sword held by the golem.
“Seems like it’s carrying dangerous items.”
The ancient golem itself was dangerous, but the sword it wielded looked even more perilous.
It was incomparable to the equipment of ancient guards found on the first floor.
“━╋━!”
The ancient golem leaped. Despite its metallic body, it looked as light as a feather.
“It’s better than human.”
Damien muttered in admiration as he dodged backward. At this point, a human would have been overwhelmed, but the ancient golem remained quiet.
“Perhaps because it’s made of metal, it doesn’t feel the satisfaction of ridiculing others.”
As the ancient golem swung its sword, splitting the ground and ceiling with each strike.
“This should trouble even middle-class knights. Quite a formidable piece of scrap metal.”
As the ancient golem continued to swing its sword, splitting the walls and ceiling.
Dodging another strike, Damien continued. The power of the ancient golem was remarkable, more so than he had anticipated.
The golem leaped again, aiming its sword at Damien’s head. He twisted his body, narrowly avoiding the attack.
At the same time, he swung his sword, beheading the golem. Its head fell to the ground, and its body knelt, lifeless.
Even without using Aura, Damien felt no resistance. It was evidence that the mana within him surpassed that of the metal body of the ancient golem.
“Your power has improved.”
Damien praised, and Dawn let out a joyful ring. It seemed quite satisfied.
“Collect everything. We can sell it later.”
Damien instructed Thibaut.
Since the ancient golem contained the technology of an ancient civilization, many mages were willing to pay a fortune to acquire it.
“Also, gather the weapons.”
“Understood!”
Thibaut loaded the ancient golem onto a cart and tied it to his back.
“Huh? It’s lighter than I thought?”
Thibaut said in surprise. This too was a marvel of ancient civilization. Despite its appearance, the ancient golem was quite light.
“Shall we go down then?”
“Yeah!”
The two descended to the fifth floor along the entrance.
***
As soon as they went down to the 5th floor, they saw a large sign.
<┗┓┏┛┗┓┏┛┗┓┏┛>
It said “Researcher’s Office” when interpreted.
The workshop and the researcher didn’t seem to go together, but it was nothing unusual in ancient civilizations.
After all, ancient craftsmen were also excellent researchers.
“Hey, Lord Victor. There’s something drawn here.”
Thibaut said, pointing to the wall next to him.
There was a large bulletin board hanging there. There were many papers hanging on the bulletin board.
Damien couldn’t help but be surprised as he looked at the papers.
“This is…”
These papers contained information about the equipment being manufactured in the workshop.
Among them, there was a paper that particularly caught Damien’s attention.
The surface of the paper was covered with a large sword and countless ancient characters.
Damien read the words one by one.
“A state commission… an item to protect the soon-to-be-born prince… a sword that moves on its own and protects its master… 30 blades in one body… must be able to move separately even when divided… the name of the project is…”
The last sentence was blurry, but he could somehow read it.
“Is it ‘Mana-Controlled Sword’?”
***
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HEL SCANS
[Translator – Kie]
[Proofreader – Kawaii]
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