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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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Ruins
“…I think I should join in.”
Baldur muttered.
Indeed, as Kayla’s contribution diminished, my undead began to be pushed back little by little.
Originally, even if the Minotaurs interfered, they would slowly but steadily regenerate and return to the front line, but that was no longer possible.
Skeleton No. 1 had killed a couple of Minotaurs but couldn’t return to the front line, and No. 2 was still holding out but was in a half-surrounded situation.
Two Minotaurs were constantly interfering to prevent the undead from reviving.
Baldur wasn’t trying to step in unnecessarily.
‘…It seems Kayla will take a bit more time…’
The Minotaur chieftain’s skill was extraordinary.
More precisely, it utilized its armor very well.
‘Kayla’s aura can’t penetrate it.’
It wasn’t a hero-grade relic for nothing.
Athena seemed to be in deep thought.
Judging by how she was watching Kayla, she seemed to be wondering if it would be better to abandon the undead and deal with the chieftain first.
She wasn’t wrong.
However, the chieftain wasn’t one to be easily dealt with.
I spoke to Baldur as he was about to rush forward.
“There’s no need to step in.”
“…But.”
I didn’t respond further and instead released more magical energy.
‘…It’s about time…’
I arranged the released magical energy and used my staff to amplify the power of the spell.
Black energy spread throughout the area, and soon seeped into the corpses of the fallen Minotaurs.
“…This is…”
Land of Death.
The magic I had once used as a trap to guard my underground dungeon appeared again.
‘It won’t be as powerful as back then…’
Moreover, all the undead created were at the level of zombies and were even temporary undead with time limits.
The numbers weren’t that great either.
But in the current situation, that was enough.
Grr.
The corpses of the fallen Minotaurs began to rise one by one.
They then pounced on the Minotaurs that were regenerating, and subsequently ambushed the Minotaurs fighting Athena.
“Muoo?!”
‘The divine power… is annoying.’
Originally, I could have used this earlier, but unfortunately, due to the divine power remaining in their bodies, it took a little more time.
I had to wait for the magical energy to naturally weaken the divine power as it penetrated the corpses.
However, even then, some couldn’t be raised due to lack of time, and only about 10 actually rose.
‘This is enough.’
But it was a sufficient number to turn the current situation around.
They might lose in one-on-one fights, but they could cause interference.
Thanks to the undead Minotaurs buying time, my Living Armors and Skeleton No. 1 rose again, and Athena regained her freedom.
Noticing the situation, Kayla began to persistently engage the chieftain instead of trying to finish it quickly.
“Muo! Muooo!”
The chieftain, growing anxious, tried to shake off Kayla, but it was a futile effort.
I maintained the Aura of Death and continuously supported my allies.
Additionally, I gradually weakened their forces by newly incorporating corpses whose traces of divine power had completely disappeared.
“…My goodness. Without a single attack spell…”
Flana, the spear wielder, muttered in amazement.
Broadly speaking, Critical Wounds could be considered an attack spell.
However, it only worsened existing wounds, and to directly inflict wounds on an uninjured opponent would require reaching 6th class.
Currently, I was considered more of an indirect attacker rather than a direct one, which was why Cereo’s group didn’t particularly refute Flana’s words.
“…An army of the undying…”
That was quite an exaggeration.
‘An army of the undying…’
To be called that, one would need to be a high-ranking necromancer at least.
No, honestly, even a high-ranking necromancer couldn’t casually claim to have an army of the undying.
It was far from sufficient for that.
‘Someday…’
At the same time, it was something I wanted to achieve someday.
An army of the undying.
If I could get my hands on such a thing… how many beings would be able to threaten me?
I could probably sweep away any ordinary domain alone, and if I could even obtain an undead general, I might be able to wage war against a country by myself.
It was a distant story.
‘The possibility… isn’t non-existent.’
To do that, I would definitely need a dragon’s corpse.
“Muaaa!”
At that moment, a Minotaur howled.
I furrowed my brow.
‘…Divine power…’
But it was futile.
Although my disguised magical power was being chipped away, it couldn’t harm the essence.
Some of the Minotaurs recovered their wounds, but the tide of battle had already turned decisively.
As the Minotaurs were annihilated, the ones that became undead approached the chieftain.
The chieftain smashed the heads of the approaching undead Minotaurs one by one, but in exchange, it began to allow fatal wounds on its body.
I kindly planted curses into each wound as they appeared, and the wounds affected by Critical Wounds couldn’t regenerate.
The Minotaur chieftain tried to resist with its last strength, but all it managed to take down in its final resistance were the undead Minotaurs that were once its subordinates, and finally, it was brought to its knees by Kayla.
Silence fell over the cavern.
Cereo’s party, who had been of no help in the battle, could do nothing but remain silent.
Tildi moved urgently to check on Athena and Kayla’s conditions.
However, there were no wounds, so all Tildi could do was slightly restore their energy.
“It seems some young ones and a few females remain.”
“…We’ll have to deal with them.”
We did not capture them, we gathered the spoils, recovered our strength, and then raided their stronghold.
The females and young ones tried to resist, but we had annihilated even their main force.
We weren’t at a level to be defeated by mere remnants.
Before long, there wasn’t a single Minotaur left alive in the cave.
“…Are those the artifacts you were aiming for?”
“…The size can be adjusted. I heard they were sealed… They don’t seem to be ordinary items.”
“I’m a bit surprised too. It’s also a bit disappointing. They’re not even relic-grade… Perhaps their main effects aren’t that impressive.”
If they could adjust size to this extent without even being relic-grade, their other functions were bound to be inferior.
I twisted my words to make it sound that way.
“At the same time, that makes me expect more from the sword’s performance.”
“…Well, even if it’s just size adjustment, if it has this much performance in a sealed state…”
The implication was that while the armor had excessive functions in unnecessary areas, the sword didn’t have such functions, so it would be more focused on its inherent function as a sword.
‘Well, in truth, both are quite extraordinary items.’
“For now, congratulations.”
“Thank you. Thanks to you, we found them easily.”
“…It doesn’t seem like we did much.”
In reality, they had only provided information about the terrain, it was Athena who first discovered the traces of the Minotaurs.
“You’ve obtained the items you were aiming for… Are you thinking of returning immediately?”
“No. There are still things I need to investigate.”
Originally, it was a place I wouldn’t have been particularly interested in, but with the wall paintings and the divine power, there were things scattered all around that couldn’t be ignored.
‘If we return like this… information will leak out.’
We had made a secret agreement with Cereo’s group, but there was a high possibility it would be revealed once the request was over.
Therefore, I intended to confirm everything during this opportunity.
After taking a short rest, we headed deeper into the cave.
And there…
“…Is this a… temple?”
“To think there would be ruins in a place like this…”
We discovered a huge, half-ruined ancient temple.
Cereo and his group looked around with extremely surprised expressions.
“A place like this…?”
“Don’t move.”
As Rabid tried to touch something nearby, Cereo immediately stopped him.
“You shouldn’t touch ruins carelessly. Who knows what might be there.”
‘At least they have common sense.’
It was no less dangerous than a magician’s dungeon.
In fact, honestly speaking, most of the traps in ruins were usually more dangerous than those in a magician’s dungeon.
‘Because the past was a more extraordinary world.’
It wasn’t for nothing that artifacts from the past were more impressive than modern artifacts.
Just as relic-grade artifacts found in ruins were superior in performance to modern artifacts, the traps in ruins were also uniformly dangerous beyond measure.
It was common for traps to gradually weaken or break down over a long period of time.
However, among them were those that retained their initial abilities even after long ages, and such traps typically boasted terrifying levels of power.
Because of this, ruins were both a source of great wealth and a space that could never be conquered without proper qualifications.
‘I never heard any rumors about something like this in the past.’
I had never even heard rumors about the wall paintings we had seen on the way here.
Even just the wall paintings should have been enough to spark rumors, so the fact that there were no rumors about the ruins as well could only lead to the conclusion that they had been concealed.
‘There’s a high possibility they completely destroyed it.’
They probably destroyed everything except for the initial entrance and middle parts.
Otherwise, it would have been impossible to completely hide traces of the ruins.
‘…What on earth could this place be?’
“…What do you plan to do? If it’s investigating the ruins… honestly, I don’t think we’ll be of much help.”
Cereo spoke calmly.
However, his eyes couldn’t hide a mixture of anxiety.
‘It seems he’s afraid of being silenced.’
That was natural.
As much as relic-grade artifacts were rare, the value of ruins was truly enormous.
Therefore, when ruins were usually discovered, scavengers would swarm, and security became extremely important.
Moreover, we were skilled enough to potentially challenge the ruins.
It didn’t seem likely that we would guarantee the safety of personnel hired merely as guides, who weren’t even part of our own party.
‘Even if we’re concerned about our reputation, it’s still the same.’
Ruins were worth taking risks for.
Additionally, although we didn’t know what we might obtain from the ruins, if used well, it could potentially be traded with the Mercenary Guild.
‘After all, the Mercenary Guild is ultimately a profit-driven organization.’
Depending on the compensation, they could easily turn a blind eye.
Because of this, I couldn’t help but be a bit conflicted.
‘Originally, I had planned to slowly erode them from within.’
Furthermore, if the Minotaur forces had been just a bit weaker, I had intended to make these people get involved in the battle.
‘I had even considered making them flee for their lives.’
If they had made even a slight misjudgment in an urgent situation, I could have legally sent them to ruin.
The request amount was large, and if used well, I could have even bound them like slaves.
However, there were so many strange points that I abandoned that plan.
Peculiar wall paintings, faint divine power…
‘And now even ruins.’
To be honest, I was more interested in this than in revenge.
“Just in case, let’s proceed together for now. The request is essentially over, but we can’t return in this situation either. I trust you understand.”
Such a treasure had been discovered.
It wasn’t a situation where we could just let them go because the request was over.
“…Of course.”
Cereo’s expression showed slight relief that we weren’t going to kill them immediately.
‘For now, it’s on hold.’
You never know.
They might unexpectedly be useful.
That was why I chose to observe for now.
“If you contribute to conquering this place, I’m willing to share some of the results.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
While answering politely, Cereo maintained a cautious attitude.
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[hmm i think things will get spicy from here cuz i think this cheerio mf expiration date is coming up]
Treasure? Or Tomb?