Chapter 33 : Chapter 33
Chapter 33. The Dragon Ruins
The next morning.
The storm in the Dragon Mountain Range had not paused for even a moment.
A squad appeared on last night’s battlefield, trudging through the deep snow.
They were Demi-Humans as well, but their standard leather armor was of far finer quality.
Branded onto their chests was the emblem of a savage eagle claw, and every one of them carried an aura several times steadier and heavier than the assassins from the previous night.
At the front was a powerfully built wolf warrior.
His name was Karl, a centurion of the “Shadow Claw” guard under the hawkish prince of the Demi-Human Empire, and a peak fourth-tier powerhouse.
“Captain, we found it! Over here!”
A scout waved from behind a mound of snow.
Karl strode over in large steps.
The scene before him made his pupils contract.
Seven or eight ice sculptures of differing forms stood lifelike upon the snowfield.
Each one retained the posture it had held in its final moment before death.
Terror.
Shock.
Confusion.
Those emotions had been perfectly frozen upon their faces.
Karl recognized them at a glance.
This was the first wave of “expendables” sent to capture the prince.
He walked up to one of the ice sculptures.
The surface of the black ice crystal was as smooth as a mirror, yet within it flowed a dark gleam that made one’s heart tremble.
Not the slightest trace of cold leaked out.
Karl stretched out a hand.
With the fingertips of his leather glove, he carefully touched the surface of the ice coffin.
A bone-piercing chill surged up through his fingers.
Karl jerked his hand back, his chest heaving violently.
What terrifyingly powerful ice magic!
“Captain… are we still pursuing them?”
One of his men asked in a low voice, unable to suppress the tremor in it.
Pursue them?
Karl sneered inwardly.
With what?
With their lives, just to test whether the other party could turn them into ice sculptures in a single breath as well?
He slowly straightened up and swept his gaze across the bizarre battlefield.
“The target encountered an immeasurably powerful figure.”
Karl’s voice was low, but every word struck heavily against his men’s hearts.
“This is not a level we can handle.”
“This is not a pursuit.”
“This would be a declaration of war against an unknown powerhouse.”
His mind worked at high speed.
Anyone capable of doing this was at least sixth-tier, perhaps even higher.
Why would such a figure appear in the Dragon Mountain Range?
And why had they attacked his people?
There was too little information.
But one thing he was certain of.
If they continued the pursuit, they would only be delivering themselves to the enemy.
“Abandon the chase.”
Karl gave the order in a tone that allowed no argument.
“Use the Image Crystal to record everything here.”
“Report it to His Highness the Prince immediately.”
The squad members all let out sighs of relief.
They quickly took out specially made Magitech devices and began recording the black ice coffins from every angle, these coffins that radiated endless pressure.
Karl gave the sculptures one last look, then turned and left.
He had a feeling that this pursuit had already changed from a dirty job that should have been foolproof into a massive disaster capable of tearing open the heavens.
…
Deep within the mountains, four figures were struggling forward through the wind and snow.
“A dragon ruin!”
“You traded an entire dragon ruin just to get him to escort you for one trip?”
Walking behind them, Alice was so exasperated she nearly jumped in place as she whispered angrily to Alectos.
“Are you out of your mind, Are?”
“That is a dragon ruin!”
“Any single item in there could buy ten duchies!”
“And you just handed it over to some guy you met less than a day ago?”
After a night of rest, and with the heat source and medicine provided by Logaris, Alectos looked much better.
He gave a bitter smile and shook his head.
“Alice, a ruin I can never reach has no value to me at all.”
“Lord Logaris' help is priceless.”
“But he—”
Alice still wanted to say more.
“He has already saved us twice, has he not?”
Alectos cut her off.
“And besides, do you not feel safe following him?”
Alice was instantly speechless.
She secretly glanced at the figure walking at the very front.
Logaris wore that long black research robe and walked through the raging blizzard at an unhurried pace.
Any snowflake that drifted within half a foot of him automatically slid away.
He had not even raised any visible barrier.
Ever since he appeared, this man had been shrouded in mystery.
Alice had to admit that with him leading the way, the constant tension of being hunted had indeed disappeared.
“Hmph.”
“I just think you got the short end of the deal.”
She muttered softly and stopped arguing.
Lilith listened quietly from the side, doing her own calculations in her heart.
A dragon ruin?
They were going to strike it rich.
Even if that golden-scaled prince had said the lion’s share would go to the master, if the master ate the meat, surely she could at least drink some soup.
Even a tiny bit leaking out from between his fingernails would be enough for her to go back home, buy an estate, and live as a landlady.
At that thought, Lilith found Logaris' back increasingly pleasing to the eye, and even her steps grew lighter.
Logaris paid no attention to the discussion behind him.
His spiritual perception remained highly focused as he sensed the changes in the surrounding environment.
The deeper they went into the mountain range, the richer the free Aether in the air became.
And the more violent it grew.
This region seemed to be enveloped by an invisible barrier.
After walking a while longer, Logaris stopped.
“Why did you stop?”
Alice nearly ran straight into his back.
“We are here,” Logaris said calmly.
Here?
Everyone looked around.
Other than the endless white snowfield and the jagged, grotesque rocks, there was nothing there.
Alectos closed his eyes and carefully sensed the guidance of his bloodline.
“That is right.”
“This is the place.”
“My blood is telling me that the entrance to the ruins is nearby.”
He opened his eyes, but confusion lingered on his face.
“However… I cannot sense the exact location.”
“It feels like something here is interfering with my perception.”
“It should be a maze formation,” Logaris said, adjusting his glasses.
“A very ancient dragon-language maze formation.”
“A maze formation?”
Alectos' expression changed drastically.
“That is bad.”
“The ancient records mentioned it.”
“This type of maze formation is used to guard the dragon race’s core forbidden grounds.”
“It twists both space and perception.”
“One wrong step, and we could be teleported a thousand miles away into some dead zone.”
Alice grew anxious as well.
“Then what do we do?”
“Can you break it?”
“Or should we just blast open a passage with magic?”
“If you attack the maze formation with brute force, it will only become even more unstable,” Logaris replied, his voice still calm.
“The most likely outcome is that all of us will be randomly teleported to different locations.”
“Then the turbulent currents of space will tear us into pieces.”
Logaris looked at the intricate Aether network built from ancient dragon language, his mind racing.
With his knowledge, if he spent several hours on it, he was indeed confident he could break it.
But then he thought of a simpler method.
And a more interesting one.
He turned to look at Lilith, who had been wearing a thoroughly bored expression.
“Lilith.”
“What trouble is it this time?”
The assassin girl sighed, wanting nothing more than to get this miserable trip over with.
“Do not stand there looking so idle.”
“That little Anti-Magic trick of yours can occasionally be useful.”
Logaris raised a finger and tapped at a point in the air.
“See that spot?”
“Aim at it.”
“Use every bit of strength you have and give me one shot.”
“Simple and crude.”
“It suits you perfectly.”
“Are you insane?!”
Lilith actually raised her voice for once.
“Using the power of a Nullifier on the core node of an ancient maze formation?”
“That is no different from performing heart surgery with a battering ram!”
“The backlash will tear all of us apart!”
“Is that something you need to worry about?”
Logaris glanced at her as though looking at a student whose intelligence still needed improvement.
“I will handle the calculations.”
“You handle the output.”
“I have no intention of wasting several hours here, standing in the cold wind with the rest of you.”
“Unless you do?”
Lilith choked on her words.
She curled her lips and stepped forward with obvious reluctance.
“Fine, fine.”
“If this all goes wrong, do not blame me.”
She crossed both hands.
A mass of darkness began to gather, a black energy that seemed capable of swallowing even light itself.
“Release.”
At Logaris' command, Lilith violently thrust that mass of dark energy forward.
Space shattered like a broken mirror.
Countless web-like black cracks spread out from that point, forcibly tearing open a writhing and unstable passage.
“Move!”
Logaris grabbed Alice, who had not yet reacted, and shoved her and Alectos inside.
Lilith followed immediately after them.
At the very instant Logaris stepped through last, the spatial fissure behind him abruptly collapsed and vanished completely.
Alectos snapped out of his shock.
The bloodline within his body resonated with scorching heat.
He walked up to a dragon-shaped relief buried beneath the wind and snow, bit his fingertip, and let a single drop of golden blood fall onto the sculpture’s eye.
“HUM—”
With a deafening roar, an enormous stone gate slowly opened.
An ancient aura mixed with dust and the weight of time rushed toward them.
The gates of the dragon ruins had opened wide.