Chapter 285: From Advancing to Arriving

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Loren’s group was amazed at Konin’s pettiness, but they could not stay amazed for long. As they finally got the information they needed, the group decided to go down the spiral staircase the dragon had opened for them.

Konin was not interested in following them. He said he would block the entrance to his place of residence just in case, and would wait for Loren and the others to return.

“I’ve tried several times, but I just can’t reach it.”

Konin was just a little bit frustrated, but when they heard that even an Ancient Dragon had failed to reach the ruin, Loren and the others tensed up.

“Is it very dangerous?”

Loren, who was leading the group down the stairs, asked, and Gula, who had just been in a scuffle with Konin, responded with a tilt of her head.

“I wonder. I don’t know if it’s because he shrunk or not, but he doesn’t seem to have much power. Maybe he specializes in magic.”

There were many different types of dragons, Gula said. Some specialized in physical strength, others specialized in magic, and she thought Konin might belong to the latter.

There were also dragons that did not fall into either of these categories, but possessed ‘blessing’ as humans called it, like Klaus.

“If he specializes in magic, then it is understandable why Magna’s group could not touch him.”

The entrance to Konin’s dwelling was sealed off by a stone wall created by magic. Knowing the power of Magna and Noel, Loren had thought that they could at least break down the stone wall and get inside, but apparently this entrance could not be breached by simple physical means. To unlock it magically, they would have to surpass Konin, who surpassed Noel in magical strength. There was no way they could manifest a magic stronger than that of an Ancient Dragon, and that was why the two of them hadn’t been able to reach Konin’s residence.

“If he specializes in magic, his self-boost must also be very powerful. If he wanted to, I’m sure he could be so powerful that he would be untouchable even with that appearance.”

Lapis warned Loren to not mess with Konin, but he had no intention of even trying to. If he could defeat a dragon, he would certainly be called a Dragon Slayer, a title that would be respected throughout the continent. However, Loren could see that having such a title would invite not only respect but also trouble, and it was something he would refuse even if offered.

“Anyway, it’s pretty deep.”

Dia complained as she looked down to the bottom of the spiral staircase, which was their destination.

They were inside the stairwell. The surrounding walls, probably made of the same magical building materials that were commonly used in the ruins of the Ancient Kingdom, emitted a dim light that ensured visibility in the surroundings. However, their destination was so far down that it was not visible with such a source of light.

“The way down is easy enough. The ascent is the problem.”

Nim said in a discontented tone, and it was not unreasonable: a long way down meant that the way back up would be long as well. The fact that going uphill was harder than going downhill was also a given, and if you had to do that after exploring a ruin, even those confident in their physical strength would feel discontented.

“How far down do you think it’s going to go? It feels like we’ve gone down quite a bit. I mean, the people of the Ancient Kingdom were not that smart. If they were going to build such a long staircase, they should at least make a device that can go up and down automatically or something.”

Loren did not agree with the idea of using magic to solve everything, but this time he was inclined to agree with Gula. That was how long the stairs were.

It was a spiral staircase, so of course the distance they had to walk was longer than the actual distance descended. But even so, there was still a long way to go despite the distance they had covered so far.

The steps at their feet were just stone steps, and there were no patterns or design on the dimly lit walls. As he continued to walk down the unchanging scene, Loren lost his sense of time and began to feel as if the reason why they were going down this staircase, as well as their destination, had become vague in his head. He lightly shook his head to try to clear his mind.

Behind Loren, Nim, with both hands on the walls and legs slightly trembling, looked perplexed at the changes happening to herself.

“There’s a mild mental pollution trap here. Stay alert.”

Loren, wondering what the hell was going on, tried to take a step forward, but couldn’t find his footing and almost fell forward. Lapis, who was nearby, managed to support him and kept him from falling. Had he fallen forward on the stairs, he would have tumbled down, and there was no telling how much injury he would sustain if that happened.

Nim, who was behind Loren, was trying to continue down by walking along the wall when Gula suddenly slipped her arms under her armpits from behind and placed both hands on the elf’s breast.

Nim reflexively screamed, but Gula was behind her, and in addition to Gula’s stronger arms, she, just like Loren, was in a state of confusion. Naturally, Nim was just unable to shake the Evil God off.

In the meantime, Gula had her hands all over Nim’s chest. She released the elf after a while and gently patted her shoulders as Nim covered her chest with both arms in a defensive stance.

“Nim-chan, a girl’s winning point is her chest.”

“Loren, can I shoot this child dead?”

The bulging veins on Nim’s forehead were especially noticeable, perhaps because of the characteristic pale skin of the elves. Nim was that angry.

Loren shook his head.

“Don’t. She helped clear your mind.”

Of course, it would be troublesome if Nim really did shoot Gula dead, but the thing was, the violent emotional swing brought by anger seemed to have dispelled the effect on the elf’s mind: her gait was much steadier than it was before Gula pulled the prank on her. Loren was not sure if Gula did it on purpose or by accident, but either way it was her who got Nim out of the trap that was affecting her mind. He thought it was alright for Nim to be angry, but shooting Gula would be a bit too much. Loren himself, too, had been able to clear his mind thanks to the elf’s scream, so he felt he had to defend Gula.

[‘Onii-san, I can’t help you with this. I could tune you into my mental resistance, but… It is an ability unique to the undead, so it might be dangerous to tune it to you, who is still alive.’]

Shayna’s apologetic voice could be heard in Loren’s ears.

The undead had a high resistance to anything that affected the mind. However, this resistance came from the fact that they did not have a mind to be affected, or that their mind had already been manipulated from the beginning. Shayna was apparently reluctant to allow Loren to attune himself to the mental resistance of the ‘King of the Dead’, the highest-ranked undead.

“It’s a plain nasty trap, isn’t it?”

“You remember how you get drowsy when riding a wagon across the empty plains? This trap does something like that, only a hundred times more powerful.”

Lightly knocking the wall with her fist, Dia explained.

“It’s a poison-like trap that gradually permeates you over a long distance. If your mind is strong, you can recover on your own, but… If you can’t, I can do something about it.”

“What do you plan to do?”

Thanking Lapis for supporting him, Loren moved away and asked Dia. She smiled and clenched the fist she had been using to knock at the wall tighter.

“It’s a trap set by the monotonous, unchanging scene. How about we break it down at places to make a change?”

“No, it will collapse.”

Loren immediately dismissed Dia’s suggestion. It certainly would break the trap, but he couldn’t help worrying about the way back up if she really did do it.

In addition, the place where they were now was right under Konin’s lair. It might cause trouble for Konin, so it was a method that he could not possibly allow her to do.

“I’m fine. Only Nim needs to be careful.”

“I’m fine, too. No problem at all.”

To say that there was a problem here would mean allowing Dia to be destructive. Nim seemed to understand this somewhat, so she gritted her teeth lightly and forced herself to sound unconcerned.

Dia stopped knocking at the wall, looking a little disappointed.

From there on, it was a long way down.

Then Loren, who had been walking at the front of the group, noticed that the staircase had come to an end at the end of his line of sight, and he realized that the long descent was over. Wondering where the path was, he saw only one smooth passage leading away from the end of the staircase.

“I wonder if the ruin is in that direction?”

After everyone had descended the stairs, Gula pointed to the end of the passageway.

Not far from where the staircase ended, a double door made from metal could be seen. In front of it was a black monument with a smooth surface, a sight that matched the information that Konin had given them.

Loren slowly approached the monument, and although there were indeed words carved on the surface, he could not read the writing.

“Here lies the armor that protects you.”

Dia, who knew from the beginning that Loren would not be able to read, quickly came up next to him, took one look at the monument, and read out loud.

“It looks like there really is an armor here.”

“If ‘armor’ was not written here, I’d think something very nasty was in there.”

“This door is open.”

Nim said, gently pushing at the entrance door. Perhaps Konin, who had apparently been here before, had somehow opened the door. But then, he had said that he had not been able to reach the destination.

“This ruin is surprisingly small.”

Loren unintentionally uttered, and the girls peeked in from behind him.

There was a passageway led straight from the door that Loren had opened, and within a short distance, a golden door with an extravagantly decorated surface awaited them.

“Is there something behind that door?”

“Well. I guess we’ll find out when we see it, won’t we?”

There seemed to be no traps in the straight pathway. Even if there was one, it would probably have been disarmed by Konin, who had arrived before them, and there would be no danger.

“Well, let’s get closer and check it out, shall we?’”

Gula said. But without being told by her, the group went through the entrance door and slowly began to examine the golden door that they reached in almost no time.

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