Chapter 64: Depths of the Remnants

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Actually, Gawain intended to call Rebecca too, but she had been busy with the construction of ‘Magic Web 1′ and hadn’t had a good rest for many days. She was finally able to rest a little earlier today; thus, Gawain didn’t wake her up.

In any case, an additional Fireball launcher wouldn’t be of much use either… It wouldn’t even be as powerful as Gawain slashing someone himself.

Heidi had yet to rest. She was still studying the systems and the plans that Gawain had written. After hearing that there was a problem in the treasure vault in the mountains, she immediately put on her coat and rushed over.

Seeing that she was a little anxious, Gawain consoled her, “Don’t panic. It was just some abnormal noises. Perhaps some of the ancient facilities in the remnants had budged… If it was really going to collapse, the noises wouldn’t be that subtle.”

Heidi nodded with a deeply worried face.

Knight Byron quickly picked the elite soldiers and followed Gawain’s lead to pass through the mountain paths and arrive at the main entrance of the ancient stronghold.

The temporary wooden sentry post had five fixed soldiers that would guard this entrance in rotating shifts. The fire that illuminated the entrance of the remnants had made the situation clear… Apart from the nervous-looking soldiers, nothing looked strange.

“My lord.” A soldier came over and bowed respectfully after seeing Gawain. “There were another two series of echoes from inside.”

“Mm, I will take a look personally.” Gawain then walked toward the entrance while saying, “Everyone is to stand guard outside. Without my orders, no one is to enter.”

Standing in front of the remnants, Gawain used the platinum disc to activate the ancient Gondor magical runes. As the heavy purple steel door started opening in a splendid display of magic, Gawain heaved a sigh of relief. At least the magic channels are working normally. It means that there aren’t a lot of changes inside.

At first, Heidi had subconsciously gripped her staff and drawn the spell mold of Ice Arrow, but she undid the magic immediately after. She changed it to support-type magic instead. It would have been embarrassing if my magic missed the target.

The purple steel door was gradually opening when the magic crystal situated in the center of the hall lit up. Gawain placed his hand on the Sword of Pioneers’ hilt and entered with caution.

The hall’s interior seemed normal as those metal ingots, weapons, and armors that had yet to be shifted were still in their proper place. The consistent and bright illumination of the magic crystals reflected off those metallic objects. The entire hall didn’t show any signs of movements or collapse, and everything seemed normal.

But after scanning the entire place, Gawain immediately noticed some changes… A few doors in the depths of the hall were opened.

The ancient remnants didn’t just consist of this hall after all. Inside the mountain, there were even bigger structures, and from the scale of this entrance and the walls of the mountain, one could already estimate the construction’s structure. But as of now, Gawain and the group merely made use of the entrance hall… It wasn’t because they didn’t wish to go deeper, but the doors that led into the depths had all been locked.

Seven hundred years ago, when the northern pioneers discovered the remnants, the doors that led deeper were already locked. Furthermore, it used an entirely different magic seal as compared to the entrance. Back then, the pioneers were able to break open the magic lock of the main entrance but were helpless towards the doors in the depths of the hall. Hence, they merely treated the hall as a treasure vault and put down a new seal before leaving. Seven hundred years later, Gawain led the Cecil Clan’s pioneers and revisited this place, but he and the people he brought were still unable to do anything about those doors.

Heidi had once studied the doors in the hall for an entire day and was still unable to unlock them… These seals were made with magical techniques during Gondor Empire’s peak, and it was far beyond the capabilities of a level 3 mage like Heidi.

Gawain had originally planned to leave these doors alone and would only reconsider dealing with them after the situation was stable. He didn’t think that these doors would actually open up by themselves today.

Heidi had also noticed the doors and restlessly tugged on Gawain’s clothes. “Ancestor, those doors…”

“I saw them. Heavens know how they were opened,” Gawain replied with a frown. His mind couldn’t help but recall the red-spot burst and the surge of magic a few days ago… Could it be that the surge of magic had reached the remnants and unlocked these seals? Afterwards, when Gawain asked Heidi and Rebecca to use the platinum disc to open the doors to move more items, had they somehow activated the doors on the inside?

According to Gawain’s knowledge of the Gondor Empire’s magical techniques, it was highly possible.

Gawain led a few soldiers to those three doors and started to ponder.

According to tropes, if someone was to explore an ancient site that suddenly opened in the middle of the night, the explorers would generally die in the process. But it would also depend on the setting… If this was an American TV series, everyone who entered would die. But if this was a Japanese TV series, there would be a possibility of encountering a female ghost before they died. But if this was a Chinese TV series… it was highly possible that the female ghost would do something to him…

Gawain looked at everyone. This group of people was wearing armor and helmets, or a magic staff. No matter how he looked at it, this was an American TV series.

If they didn’t enter, they would certainly die, and they wouldn’t even get to see the female ghost.

Just as he had made his decision and prepared to close the doors for now, with the thought that he would come back to explore when the conditions and timing were a little more suitable. However, he heard Heidi muttering something. “There seems to be a magical response from the inside… In a very deep place.”

Gawain’s eyebrows rose up. “Magical response? Deep inside?”

“It is coming from the depths of this door.” Heidi pointed at the door in the middle. “Previously, the flow of magic must have been obstructed by the door, and I wasn’t able to sense anything. Now that the door is opened, I can vaguely feel something inside… It might be a magic circle or something that is circulating mana. But the response is very very weak, and it is constantly weakening. It might completely vanish at any moment.”

Gawain: “…”

His impulse to turn and leave had been forcefully rejected. He let out a long sigh. Humans are creatures that court disasters indeed.

No matter what was inside, it seemed like they had to see it before leaving.

Wielding the Sword of Pioneers, Gawain silently used knight skills to give himself a few additional layers of protection before he led the way.

The depths of the remnants didn’t have any light, and it was darker as they walked through the door. Heidi lifted her staff and chanted a few words quietly. A glowing magic ball floated on the top of the staff and illuminated the path.

The ability to cast the Illumination spell… a true mage!

Seeing the extensive hallway with a tall and wide space, Knight Byron couldn’t help but click his tongue in wonder. “No wonder this place was created during the prime era of the Gondor Empire… How big is this place?”

“Only the Heavens know. This was a stronghold constructed during the Meteoric Era of the Gondor Empire. They could empty an entire mountain to construct such a large-scale stronghold.” Gawain’s mouth twitched as he added, “I wonder if Amber has truly taken the funds and escaped… It would’ve been good if she was here.”

“For this kind of ancient remnants constructed with such high expertise, not even a brilliant rogue would be able to deal with it, right?” Heidi looked at Gawain with a puzzled look. “Unsealing this kind of place would normally take the expertise of a mage…”

“Not really. If Amber was here, I could throw her to scout ahead, and I wouldn’t have to experience this tension,” spoke Gawain casually. “Furthermore, she has excellent escape skills. And if she ran back, I could always throw her forward again…”

Heidi had a flabbergasted face. If the Ancestor spoke with such a lack of moral sense, what could the juniors do?!

Gawain took another glance at Heidi and smiled. “I’m just joking… It’s mainly because Amber has the Shadow Walk skill. In this place with plenty of shadows, she will be more adept in finding hidden paths than us.”

Heidi let out a breath of relief while Knight Byron nodded and said, “I know that Ancestor is a role model for knights and definitely wouldn’t do such a thing to a lady…”

Gawain’s mouth twitched. Amber…? If it wasn’t for her face and breasts, who would associate her with a lady?

To be honest, her chest wasn’t that closely related to most ladies either…

After a casual conversation that alleviated the tense atmosphere, everyone still remained vigilant. With the illumination of Heidi’s magic light sphere, Gawain looked closely at every detail and didn’t miss out on any possible trap or the occasional ancient writing on the wall.

These mostly had commonly used words of the ancient Gondor Empire. The languages used by the four great kingdoms now were developed from these writings. Due to the span of a thousand years, the writings would have some changes over time. Furthermore, the ‘Meteoric Era’ was the great revolution of the Gondor Empire; hence, only Gawain would be able to understand the ancient writings here.

Heidi could only partly understand the writings.

The scale of these mountain remnants was indeed massive; even Gawain was rather surprised.

As they advanced in the center hallway, the group encountered plenty of forks, bends, and stairs. They went deeper into the mountain, and were constantly descending. During this expedition, Heidi had tested the flow of air and was certain there was a comprehensive set of air vents in places that couldn’t be seen. It was almost expected with how incredible the ancient Gondor Empire was in its construction skills.

During the process, they had also discovered plenty of rooms and other halls.

The rooms and halls seemed to be constructed with rock-like materials. But after Heidi appraised it, she realized they were not rock-type materials after all but something man-made that was more durable than rock. Every room and hall was empty apart from some crumbling shelves or metallic tools that were about to turn into scrap. Basically, they were ancient objects without any value… It was obvious that the people who had been in this place had plenty of time to evacuate in an orderly manner.

This also fitted Gawain’s judgment of the ‘Meteoric Era’.

But Heidi felt rather regretful. She assumed she would find some antique treasures inside. Even if they couldn’t be used, they would still be things that ‘came from the Gondor Empire’s Meteoric Era’. Just those words were enough to turn a piece of scrap into a highly contested treasure.

The group didn’t have time to explore each fork and room; thus, Gawain could only order a marking made for the places they were unable to explore for now. In the future, when they had more manpower, they could slowly explore the place. The group continued on, led by Heidi’s sense of the magical echo.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep