Fairy Tale Survival with Ability Copying

Before Meriel could even react, Levi pulled her onto the back of a Cloud Spirit.

At his command, the Cloud Spirit drifted toward the royal capital of the Kingdom of Valeria.

Their figures were perfectly concealed within the clouds. From the ground, nobody could spot them.

This was Meriel's first time flying through the sky.

Levi had originally assumed she would be excited, just like the others had been.

But to his surprise, the fallen princess only took one glance at the ground below before her entire body stiffened. She began trembling uncontrollably.

Uh...

She was afraid of heights.

Levi tried speaking to her several times, but she gave no response at all. It was as if she had been frozen in place. She simply clung tightly to him with both hands, refusing to let go.

Shaking his head helplessly, Levi closed his eyes and began meditating to recover his Magic Power.

The Cloud Spirit was not particularly fast, but for the current Levi, that was actually a good thing.

It gave him plenty of time to restore his Magic Power.

By the time Levi and Meriel Dres arrived atop the Cloud Spirit above the heart of the royal capital, more than half of his Magic Power had already recovered.

Levi felt that should be enough to explore a ruin.

After all, in the fairy tale, even an ordinary king—or at most a king's son-in-law with somewhat exceptional physical abilities—had been able to cut the White Snake into three pieces with a sword.

That suggested the place probably wasn't very dangerous.

With that thought in mind, Levi looked down from the sky as blue light flickered in his eyes.

His Third-Ring Detection operated at full power. Combined with the intelligence he had obtained from Meriel, he quickly locked onto the target.

The Denis Cathedral located within the royal palace grounds.

The private cathedral of the royal Dres Family.

It was also their final resting place.

Multiple kings of the Kingdom of Valeria were buried there.

Among them was the tomb of Meriel's maternal grandfather.

Her mother's tomb had once been located there as well.

As a Gatekeeper Family, the Dres Family had another reason for constructing their mausoleum here.

They were guarding the ruin hidden beneath the countless tombs.

The Denis Cathedral had only been built later.

That ancient ruin, meanwhile, had already lain there silently for over a thousand years.

Using Detection, Levi quickly discovered a hidden passage.

It had been secretly constructed by Meriel's biological father when he was overseeing the construction of the old king's tomb. He had used the opportunity to create a secret tunnel that would allow him access to the White Snake's flesh.

The tunnel was guarded by his most loyal servant.

That same servant had been the one who used the Three Snake-Leaves to save him.

After ascending the throne, the new king had rewarded his faithful retainer with an exceptionally high noble title and vast territories.

His rise could only be described as meteoric.

Yet instead of traveling to his lands to govern them, he entrusted them to his family and carefully selected stewards.

He himself remained within the royal palace of the Kingdom of Valeria, continuing to serve the new king with unwavering loyalty.

In the story of the White Snake, the new king—Meriel Dres's father—obtained the White Snake flesh he consumed every day through this very tunnel, traveling deep beneath the mausoleum.

At the moment, however, that loyal servant was not inside the castle.

Neither was the king.

Archbishop Cologne had received a holy decree from the Church assigning him to take up his new seat within Levi's territory.

This was an important political event, one with far-reaching consequences.

Especially since the Kingdom of Valeria had only recently suffered a defeat.

The several thousand prisoners captured by Levi had still not been ransomed back. They remained in the mines, working as laborers.

If mishandled, the situation could deal a severe blow to Meriel's father's rule.

As a result, the king had been making frequent visits to the cathedral where Archbishop Cologne resided, meeting with him repeatedly in hopes of reducing the political fallout caused by the relocation.

Judging by the results, however, those efforts had not been very successful.

Otherwise, Meriel's father would not have needed to keep returning over and over again.

Today was no exception.

The king had gone once more.

And wherever the king went, his loyal servant naturally accompanied him.

The palace's security level had dropped by a notch as a result.

Levi led the weak-kneed, conflicted-looking Meriel through the royal palace with ease, perfectly avoiding everyone's notice. Eventually, they entered a certain room within the castle and stepped into a pitch-black secret passage.

"Come on, Princess Meriel. Let's see what exactly this so-called Gatekeeper Family of the Dres Family has been guarding all this time," Levi said.

Blue light flickered in his eyes as he activated Detection.

Clear arrows—visible only to him—appeared before his eyes.

Leading the expressionally conflicted Meriel, he advanced deeper inside, passing the tombs of numerous kings.

The air deep within the mausoleum was bone-chillingly cold, carrying the scent of decaying earth and ancient stone. The faint flicker of torchlight barely pushed back the endless darkness, stretching the shadows of Levi and the fallen princess Meriel into long silhouettes across the mottled, damp stone walls.

Levi remained completely at ease.

Meriel, on the other hand, wore a solemn expression, almost as if she were making a pilgrimage. She held her breath and walked with extreme care, her boots crunching over loose gravel with sounds so faint they were nearly inaudible.

At last, they reached the end of the passage.

As though he had known all along, Levi activated a hidden mechanism.

A faint clicking sound echoed through the corridor.

Meriel's expression grew even more complicated.

"You already knew about this, didn't you?" she couldn't help asking.

"I only found out just now," Levi replied without even glancing back. His attention remained fixed on the mechanism, blue light still flickering within his eyes.

"But you look like you've been here countless times."

Levi did not answer.

There was no way he was going to tell her about Detection, a spell that allowed him to uncover all kinds of secrets.

It was one of his trump cards.

He hadn't even told Yalina about it.

Of course, Yalina was smart enough to have her suspicions. She had been with Levi for a long time and had witnessed many things.

Meriel waited for a while, but when no answer came, she stared at Levi's back and asked another question.

"Are all wizards as all-knowing as you are?"

"No one is all-knowing," Levi replied from up ahead.

Meriel fell silent.

The look in her eyes remained unreadable.

At that moment, the hidden stone door opened.

After using Detection to confirm there was no danger, Levi stepped inside. Meriel hurriedly followed.

The two descended a winding stone staircase that twisted endlessly downward, the atmosphere growing increasingly eerie.

After roughly half an hour of walking, a faint glow suddenly appeared ahead in the darkness.

It was a cold, pale light entirely different from the light of their torches.

Meriel immediately sensed that something was wrong.

"Be careful. Something seems off up ahead," she warned.

"Mhm."

Levi merely acknowledged her warning and continued forward with long strides.

Frowning slightly, Meriel followed behind him as they approached the source of the glow.

The light grew clearer and clearer.

Then, a magnificent colossal gate suddenly appeared before them, completely shattering the oppressive narrowness of the mausoleum.

The entire gate had been carved from a single block of dark-white marble.

Its architectural style was completely unlike anything found in the Kingdom of Valeria.

Instead, it possessed a solemn grandeur that seemed utterly out of place in this era.

On either side of the gate stood towering Corinthian columns.

Elegant vine and serpent reliefs wound around the columns, while intricate honeysuckle patterns adorned the capitals. Every detail displayed both exquisite craftsmanship and majestic elegance.

This was also Meriel's first time seeing the place.

She stood there utterly stunned.

"The Gatekeeper Family..."

She recalled the words her grandfather had spoken before his death, and a strange feeling rose within her heart.

Her gaze shifted toward the colossal gate.

Several grand relief carvings covered its massive doors, occupying nearly the entire surface. Their lines were sharp yet delicate, and despite the erosion of more than a thousand years, every detail remained remarkably clear.

At the center of the reliefs was a dazzling mass of light.

It looked as though it might burst out of the carving itself.

The light churned like raging flames, carrying a pressure capable of destroying heaven and earth.

Within that overwhelming radiance stood a gigantic figure, completely enveloped by the light.

The figure's form was indistinct, but its hunched posture could still be made out.

It radiated endless despair and unwillingness, as though the light were mercilessly consuming it, even its outline gradually fading away.

In the giant figure's hand was an exquisitely crafted serpent staff.

Ancient inscriptions covered the shaft.

At its tip was a lifelike serpent head whose slightly parted jaws seemed to be breathing in and out some invisible force.

A faint, eerie glow surrounded it, making it one of the most eye-catching elements of the relief.

Even more astonishingly, the serpent appeared to be slowly separating itself from the staff.

Its body coiled gracefully, full of vitality, as though it were about to break free from the relief and fly away.

Its eyes had been carved with extraordinary realism, cold and detached.

In the next relief panel, the giant figure being consumed by the light had vanished entirely.

In its place stood two identical figures.

Tall and upright, they radiated a gentle yet inviolable holy light.

The radiance draped over their bodies like a thin veil, obscuring their faces while still conveying an overwhelming sense of solemnity and majesty.!!!