Chapter 206 – Ancient Missing Link (5)
When it comes to archaeological research, finding ruins is more difficult than exploring them.
After 3 hours of research, I felt the damn fact that I had forgotten about for months. It’s easy when you’re done with anything, but the preparations and post-processing are the hardest.
“Let’s rest for a while. It’s lunchtime, so I need to eat and catch my breath.”
It was when the pocket watch pointed to 12:00 PM. I took the party members and moved to the safe zone. It was because Fran, who was in charge of enemy detection + trace investigation, had reached the limit of his concentration.
We go up to the second floor of the building to the place marked on the map and prepare a meal.
This building was a safe zone where the undead did not respawn. The sun was shining, but it was a bit creepy because it felt like I was taking a test of courage in an abandoned abandoned hospital. Because it was a safe zone, there was a lot of trash left behind by other adventurers.
“Abby, that dirty thing.”
-Kaan. I kicked the dented water bottle on the floor and opened it. Dissolved beef jerky and solid soup in water, finished the battle-food sex and took a break.
Of course, it is right to overwork the head while the body is resting. It’s time to exchange information before the afterglow of the meal.
“My dear. Did the soul react to the rune at all?”
Veronica in god mode asked. She had unlocked her bi-con mode transformation to conserve mana and set up her sound barrier. I keep as far away from Lalilura as possible to minimize the recoil of the curse.
“I am not at all. What about you?”
“There is no sign of being biased toward darkness and negative mana. It moves like the wind from above the city to the basement.”
“Me too. All traces of battle seemed to be fighting zombies.”
The answer was that there was nothing special about it. Anyway, if I found something, I would have talked about it on the spot. I rinsed off the fucking aftertaste of the solid soup with water.
The ‘## ## temporary base’ that the map found in the underground tower was talking about.
There was a high possibility that it was in Mozriun. It didn’t seem like the Ghost City incident that happened in Mozuriun decades ago had nothing to do with the ancient civilization’s frontline base.
‘It’s hard to imagine that the ruins here are hundreds of meters underground like an underground tower.’
The underground tower that the unicorn warlock dug while using golem spawn promotion magic!
The reason why the tower severely cut off access to the tower was because it was a recovery material factory. The wire supply route established by the ancient civilized nation of Orwalia paying close attention to never being caught by the ‘enemy’.
‘War is a war of material attrition.’
The war in another world was a battle of attrition between mana and the superhumans who dealt with it.
An elixir that will revive even the lagging nation’s top power is worth investing a lot of fucking mana in. Because 1 Orihalcon class is better than 1000 Btak.
‘But even an ancient civilization wouldn’t have let all the bases consume mana.’
It may not have been a nuclear shelter, but according to our reasoning, the base drawn on the map was a frontline base.
Every time a battle takes place, soldiers or supplies have to come in and out, and all of them are replaced with 〈 teleport 〉 magic circles? Bullshit is also a summer salt kick.
The mana of this world was both electricity and oil for Earth’s civilization. Transporting soldiers as combat materials for fighter jets to roll. Even the United States, which fought in World War II, would not have paid such a fortune.
‘There’s no way this ruin is a potion lab.’
It is the most important military facility, but would you have marked the location on the map?
The reason why they found the coordinates of other bases in the underground tower was to supply potions. Even if there were other potion labs, the possibility of sharing the location was almost 0%.
Anyway, so what is the conclusion?
“The ruins we are looking for will have a passage physically connected to the ground.”
There must be an entrance somewhere in the city that no one has found.
Of course, I don’t know if Mozriun’s base is Orwalia’s or Ancient Germania’s. We do not know whether the two countries were allies or enemies in the great war at the end of ancient civilization.
‘But that’s not something we should think about.’
After all, we are only archaeologists and adventurers by name. To be honest, aren’t we just robbers?
Even if we put a shiny name tag on, it’s our party that will be intercepted if we attack the ruins. It was OK as long as the ruin itself wasn’t a trap, and I had thought about the strategy when it was a trap.
Lalilura wiped her mouth with a handkerchief and sighed.
“I was mentally more exhausted than I thought to be able to walk around a place where a fight might break out for three hours and not get anything. I guess nothing is easy in this world.”
“Are you making that much pain? How fortunate it is to have three search methods.”
Dana laughed and shook her head. I, Fran, and Veronica were each searching for the location of the ruins in different ways, so it was true that they were lucky compared to other ruins investigations.
First of all me
I search for the souls of the missing with the rune of ᚨ (Ansuz). It is a search based on the hypothesis that the missing people in Mozuriun are related to the ruins.
It is so unusual that it is believed that there are many missing people in a different world where human life is prevalent. It may have been thanks to the Germania Kingdom’s army recording entry and exit, but it was absolutely not an ordinary thing.
If the culprit of the disappearance case escaped the investigation of the kingdom army, there was a possibility that he would preoccupy the ruins and hide, so it was an exploration method that bet on it.
Next, Fran.
The reason is almost the same as mine, but Fran is a position to find traces of battles left in the city that ‘do not seem to have fought against the undead’.
The adventurers hunting in Mozuriun were at least the Silver class. It was suggested by Fran himself, saying that if it was an incident that led to their disappearance, it would leave a noticeable mark.
It is an arrangement that utilizes Fran’s keen eye and sensing ability. Even though it was Fran who was the first to get tired because he even sensed the undead.
Finally Veronica.
Veronica sensed the darkness and negative mana covering the city, so she decided to find the place where the mana condensed the most.
The hypothesis was that if the reason Mozuriun became a ghost city was in the ruins we were looking for, we could find the entrance to the ruins by tracing back the mana.
Veronica decided that if she used the rune of ᚱ (Reið), she would be able to see the movement and flow of mana.
‘Even with this three-color exploration method, I spent three hours.’
I thought so, but I made up my mind. It was still the third hour of the first day. If it was an old online game, it was a time when beginners couldn’t even change jobs, but what they wanted to find out was the thief’s heart.
──By the way, did you say that words become seeds?
The person who found the ‘result of the first day’, which I thought was a thief, was actually Woori Franc, a thief by profession.
“Guys. Speaking of that alley, don’t you think it’s a bit strange?”
Fran said that after looking at the traces of battle left in the alley.
“Is that strange?”
It was so amazing. Finding the undead from a while ago is nothing, but what Fran pointed out was a dark alleyway that caught my eye for about a second as I was just passing by.
Could it be that Fran was able to pierce the darkness of the alley in that brief moment and distinguish whether or not the inside was ‘strange’? An alleyway that suddenly caught my eye while being wary of the undead?
‘Isn’t it possible that all the alleyways were judged like that on the way here?’
If that was true, I would be surprised.
We knew Fran had a keen eye, so he decided to investigate the alley. Fran put on his gloves and inspected the battle scars, and he freaked out.
“Yes. After all, this alley, a little… No, it’s very strange.”
“Tsubeol. Really.”
I wasn’t quite as much as Fran, but rolling his head I could see what was the matter.
My keen eye is 〈 francs, but I am also an intelligent forager. In front of her wife, she squeezed her hair with the determination to always show off her smart and cool side, and then something was visible.
“Senior. Please explain.”
It was Lalilura who wasn’t even surprised anymore. Even Lari Lura, her learning ability is quite good, but in her brain medicine, understanding and insight were separate abilities. I hit the traces of flame on the wall with the spear.
“Look at this. The flames stretched out in radiation as if they were creeping up a wall. There is also a knife sheath on the floor.”
“What’s the matter with the scabbard or the singe? When you fight, this much… Ah.”
As if realizing something in her, Lingling named Lari Lu pulled her sword from her No. 3.5’s wrist. The battle knife cut through the floor as if it could even cut off her cow’s waist.
However, its depth and thickness were shallower than the scabbard on the floor. Even a blind person would have noticed how vigorously the person who had given this scabbard swung the sword across the floor.
“Really~. You mean there are strangely many sheaths on the floor?”
“Yes. Even if zombies crawled on the floor, it wouldn’t have been so many scratches.”
If there were 2 or 3 sheaths, I would have thought it was because a half-skinned zombie crawled on the floor, but the traces of the scene seemed to indicate that the adventurer swordsman openly focused only on the floor and cut the knife.
“Huh. How many of them stuck to the wall like salamanders? Did you even shoot magic at the wall?”
Dana ran her gloved finger over the burn mark on the wall. Ashes were buried full of fucking. It hadn’t been long since the burn marks on the wall had appeared.
A magician fired flame magic at the wall, and the traces were left radially.
Diagonal scorch marks on the wall are too obvious to be traces of the flames aimed at the race. It’s like throwing a black paintball the size of a human canister at a wall.
Perhaps this is the trace of 〈 Fire Ball 〉 magic.
“It means there was something crawling on the floor or wall and attacking you.”
Veronica muttered that and asked Fran, who was squatting.
“Franc. Did the adventurers here escape alive? If you can find it and ask what happened, that’s a huge clue.”
“… He probably couldn’t have escaped.”
Fran picked up something deftly with thick gloves. It was a world-shaking piece of chain that even a person with 3.0 vision on both the left and right sides would miss without finding it.
A necklace chain for the Adventurer Plate.
Frann takes off his gloves and looks at the cross section of the shattered chain.
“It must have been broken by being hit or pulled hard. The copper chain broke in the middle.”
“The necklace broke, but only a tiny piece remains? It’s nonsense. I cleaned up the tracks.”
It was Dana who said that while sweeping the floor with her shoes.
If the chains were broken, other fragments should have been spilled on the floor. However, the chains were not even visible here. I also put on gloves that prevent poison or contamination and swept the dust on the floor.
The two years of active service, which I stupidly went to as a veterinary student, gave me wisdom.
“Heh. You did a damn good job cleaning. The amount of dust at the corner of the alley is different from 5 meters ahead and here.”
If the raiders had missed the adventurer’s party, would they have had time to clean up the place? She must have been busy chasing after her like an old maid who lost her fucking dildo.
If her fucking Rum came back and cleaned up her tracks, that means she’s done Shimai.
“… If you look at the traces of the battle, it must be inside here?”
Rari Lura stared down the ruined street where her alleyway led.
This battle trace was to intercept the enemy who appeared in the alley. It was well worth a visit.
─Jerbuck.
We made our way through the shady alley, hushing our footsteps. There are no buildings. It’s just that there is a well.
It was like a bear who had been injected with fire chicken sauce into the well’s urethra and went on a rampage. Fran sent an emissary saying that no one was there. I approached the first Pata.
It was a good camouflage. There was nothing awkward about chewing. This is exactly what I would have done if I had to ‘hide the entrance around here’.
If you walk around in a dusty place, there will be 100% traces left. This bastard who didn’t know who he was was completely tearing down the ruins to bury those traces.
If I had passed without a doubt, I would have missed it.
Except for the cover on this well, it was perfectly fine.
“Nor. Come on.”
Fran called me. I went back as instructed. A temporary retreat
Bounced into a nearby safe zone building, we set up a sound barrier. Let’s get ready to scout.
─Poof!
Frank took a piece of stone from his pouch and threw it to the ground. It was a fragment of a giant golem core. Next up is Fran, who creates a micro golem with a spell from the full version of Blessing.
《The true nature of Amenemhet, the son of the sun god, is declared through the revelation of truth (sA ra imn-m-Hat mAa-xrw Dd.Fm wpt mAat). Arise as God (Dd.F xa m nTr).》
“Gooo.”
Thus, a golem small enough to fit in the palm of your hand was born. A little embarrassingly, the figure was exactly like me, but Fran made an impression as if he was dissatisfied with the appearance.
“Veronica? I hadn’t heard of a miniature golem summoning like this.”
“Yeah~? Aren’t you okay? You think I’m cute♡?”
Lalilura said with a smile and mischievously pokes the cheek of the wriggling Miniature Nord. Veronica shook her hand, saying that she was not at fault, just like her Veronica.
“If you have any complaints, improve the shape yourself. The golem with the spiritization spell becomes the form the caster prefers the most.”
“Paldon?”
Will it become Fran’s favorite look?
My heart warmed when I saw the petit figure that I copied.
I don’t know what the spiritization technique is, but according to the words, isn’t it that Fran’s unconscious ideal type is me? Fuck! I feel so damn hot!
“Franc. I think it’s okay to stay like this.”
“No. If I make a mistake like this, the Nord will be broken. Just make me look like me.”
It was Fran who spoke resolutely for the first time in a while.
Apparently, he doesn’t like being parked by a golem that looks like me. Write. What a waste. I liked it because it seemed like proof of the love Fran had for me.
Oh, but I really want to see the miniature franc golem.
“If that’s the case, why don’t you take a form other than a humanoid? If it looks like us, even just looking at the golem’s appearance will reveal our identities.”
At that time, Dana said while capturing the Norse Golem with her gauntlet-equipped hand.
It was a remark like our eyes, not caring about fucking romantic things. The plan to turn into a Petit Franc figurine has gone awry. Although I and Lalilura are different, I became sullen for similar reasons.
Still, it was a reasonable opinion, so the golem was decided to be a sparrow.
─Flap and flap.
Thanks to 〈 Puppet 〉, you can even fly if you use mana. It is a true flying golem.
A sparrow golem that sits on Fran’s index finger and plucks its feathers like a real sparrow. Perhaps the elementalization spell is a magic that roughly turns a golem into a remote drone.
Compared to the bio bio drones that I summon with beef jerky and dried fish, it has the advantage of less remorse when I’m lost. Although the animals have better durability and range, though.
As the old saying goes, there is no weak stand in the world.
“Please.”
Fran confronted the sparrow golem head-on and sent it flying out of her window.
When he took out a bronze mirror enchanted with runes, the sparrow golem’s vision was reflected in the mirror. In other words, it seemed like you could think of it as a golem familiar.
The sparrow golem awkwardly flapped its wings and entered the well.
When examining the well, a large hole was discovered as if it were natural! The sparrow golem landed on the ground and entered the hole. It was because it was easy to spot because of the mana and sound of flapping wings.
It was dark inside the hole.
If it wasn’t for the golem that could see even without light, there would be no answer. It’s a relief that he’s a Zatoichi sparrow with no eyes since he was born. I lived blind.
A sparrow golem that dashes while projecting a hole in a bronze mirror that has no voice support. After moving for about 30 minutes, I saw a torch. Also, someone lives inside. Damn our collective intellect properly picked the winner.
And at the finally revealed identity of the secret passage of the artifact, Fran groaned softly.
“… Catacombs.”
Hundreds of white bones were sleeping in the basement of the Ghost City.
