Chapter 284 : Exploring the Underground Ruins
"Wah! Sethilu fell down too. Are you alright?"
Seeing Sethilu's figure also disappear, Suling asked in panic.
But Elucia shook her head and said: "Should be fine. This seems to be some entrance to ancient ruins... And below, there should be teleportation devices."
"Should we jump down too?"
"No, that's too dangerous. This ruin should have other entrances. Let's search for them."
Elucia's expression was very calm and rational, as if she wasn't worried about anything at all.
But as if guessing her thoughts, Zhou Mixue asked:
"Elucia, is it really alright?"
"What's not alright?"
"Lonis. Princess Sethilu aside, her strength is formidable, but that little fox... was already very fragile to begin with."
"Hmph, of course it's alright. Just a little fox. If she breaks, I can just buy a new one."
......
Although Elucia spoke decisively, only she knew...
Her mood was now completely off. Because the ruin activating was something she had completely failed to anticipate.
But she couldn't panic.
She couldn't lose her rationality just because she was worried that stupid maid might be caught by tentacle monsters, might be harmed by traps, might be crying from fear.
The situation of this underground ruin was unclear. Perhaps it was full of dangers, perhaps it recorded some unknown matters.
And she needed to successfully rescue Lonis while protecting everyone's safety.
"Bai Ye, did you find the entrance?"
"Found it. According to root detection, at the entrance 60 meters ahead of us, there's a tunnel leading downward."
"Yes, everyone be careful and follow me forward together."
Under Elucia's leadership, everyone walked toward the ruin's entrance together.
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......
"Sethilu?!"
Seeing the beautiful silver-haired girl, Lonis instinctively startled and wanted to cry out.
But her mouth... was directly covered by this princess!
"Shh, Hero. Keep your voice down..."
"Muh?"
"When coming over, I discovered many monsters sensitive to noise. If you scream loudly, you'll attract their attention."
Sethilu pointed toward the distance, indicating this place wasn't safe.
Then she released the hand covering Lonis's mouth, trying to take her to a safe place... But such intimate behavior made Lonis blush somewhat.
Because aside from Elucia and classmates, she hadn't had such close contact with other girls.
"Princess Sethilu, where is this place..."
"Yes, Hero probably doesn't know yet, right? This seems to be ruins of the Post-Apocalyptic Independent Kingdom, and when we were camping, we seemed to accidentally trigger some mechanism..."
......
Through Sethilu's explanation, Lonis learned what happened while she was asleep.
While celebrating that everyone was alright, Lonis also felt a bit ashamed of her behavior... Why were her nerves so thick!
Not only did she fall asleep on Elucia's back, but she just rolled out like that, and only vaguely woke up after falling to the bottom.
Really... too embarrassing, wasn't it?
But fortunately Elucia wasn't here, so Lonis could still muster courage to ask Sethilu:
"Princess Sethilu, where should we go next?"
"Yes, when coming over, I saw a place that looked like a command center. There seems to be some information there."
"Eh?"
"Hero, please follow me~~ But these weapons..."
"Ah, I'll put them away."
......
......
While following Sethilu forward, Lonis also saw some monsters hidden in this ruin.
They held weapons and looked very much like people.
But unlike the demons in Lonis's memory, they were monsters composed of a mixture of flesh and machinery... The muscle parts formed joints, while the metal parts formed skin and weapons.
This allowed these monsters to maintain the agility of ordinary creatures while being sturdy and difficult to damage.
"Princess, you said the Post-Apocalyptic Independent Kingdom was destroyed nearly a thousand years ago. Have these monsters also lived for nearly a thousand years?"
"Yes, but... they seem to have suddenly activated because of our arrival."
"Eh?"
"Because if they were brand new, they would have swarmed us already, right? Now their structure has somewhat aged, and their alert range is much smaller than before."
"That's true..."
Lonis remembered that she had talked to herself in the library, but ultimately didn't attract any terrifying monsters.
"But we still need to be careful, because there might be other monsters in this underground ruin."
"Mm-hmm!"
......
......
Partnering with Sethilu was a completely different experience from acting with Elucia.
When walking with Elucia, Lonis was always mocked coldly. Even if she had questions in her heart, she would be ridiculed as an idiot by Elucia.
But Sethilu held nothing back and very gently and patiently told Lonis all the information she knew.
"Lonis, be careful at that fork ahead, go right."
"Oh... then, what's on the left?"
Seeing Sethilu's cautious expression, Lonis became curious.
"Um... over there is an entire warehouse of tens of thousands of corpses."
"What?!"
"When I came over earlier, I went down to investigate. I found those corpses had all died nearly a thousand years ago."
"Ugh... isn't that very scary?!"
"Hehe~ They've all turned into skeletons, so it doesn't matter. But on those corpses, I discovered some very important clues."
"Important clues?"
"Yes, those corpses' bones all have rope marks on them. This means they didn't die in the warehouse. It's more like they died elsewhere and were transported there..."
......
......
Just like that, Lonis followed Sethilu's steps and came to a tightly closed iron door.
Compared to the stone doors she had passed through earlier, this iron door looked much more complex and advanced... Even the passage of time hadn't left any traces of rust on it.
Very hard to push open, but Sethilu took out the long sword at her waist and cleanly cut through the iron door's chains.
"Sethilu?!"
"Yes, don't worry. I've already confirmed this area has no power."
"Eh?"
"So it won't trigger any alarms or anything... Little fox, come in with me."
......
......
Just like that, Lonis followed Sethilu's steps and walked into a place that looked very much like a command room.
The tables here were densely covered with various buttons... red, green, blue. Just the indicator instruments showing various readings numbered in the dozens.
This scene inexplicably reminded Lonis of airport control towers directing aircraft takeoffs.
But this control console had long been covered in dust, and most of the instruments had completely aged and could no longer be used.
"Princess Sethilu, this place is..."
"Yes, I don't know what this place is for either. Little fox, let's search together and see if we can find some useful clues."
Smiling gently at Lonis, the silver-haired princess and Lonis began their search together.