Chapter 119

“Ohhh, sis, it’s the Giant Race Ruins!”

Roo shouted excitedly.

Ariel, who had crossed the Siland River on Teodoras, had finally arrived at the Giant Race Ruins.

Ariel quietly looked around.

A massive stone structure standing tall amidst the dense forest.

The surface of the building was weathered, bearing the marks of time, with moss growing in patches.

Yet, its grandeur remained intact.

Ariel stepped inside the ruins.

The sound of the wind blowing echoed eerily in the silence.

After a while, she arrived at the center of the ruins, where a large fountain stood.

Though now dry, it must have once gushed water with great force.

“Wow! This is amazing!”

An excited Roo flew around quickly, while Ariel slowly approached the fountain with Teodoras.

In front of the fountain stood a large statue.

“This looks like you.”

Ariel pointed at the statue and spoke to Teodoras.

The statue was shaped like a turtle, resembling Teodoras quite closely.

Teodoras blinked and stared at the statue intently.

It looked as if he was standing in front of a mirror, making Ariel chuckle.

At that moment.

“Grooar!”

A rough roar came from behind.

Turning around, a massive shadow stood at the entrance of the ruins.

A giant, three times the size of a human…

No, not a giant.

It was a monster resembling a gorilla.

Fiery red eyes filled with rage.

Thick limbs bulging with muscles.

A body covered in black fur.

“Grooar!”

The monster roared again and began charging with terrifying force.

Teodoras stepped forward to protect Ariel.

He lowered his body slightly, as if preparing to defend.

Teodoras’s shell looked incredibly sturdy.

As the monster reached Teodoras, it raised a large fist.

Just as it was about to strike.

Crack.

The monster’s neck twisted backward.

“……”

Silence fell over the ruins.

The monster collapsed in the position of raising its fist.

With a loud thud, the ground shook slightly.

Teodoras looked at the monster in shock.

He reached out and gently shook the monster, but it didn’t move.

It was dead.

By Ariel’s magic.

Teodoras had witnessed this scene several times since crossing the river.

But he still couldn’t get used to it.

No matter how powerful magic was, how could it so easily break the neck of an opponent?

In the face of such magic, even Teodoras’s sturdy shell would be useless.

He would die with a broken neck before he could even hide in his shell.

Thud, thud.

Ariel walked over and reached out toward the monster.

The monster’s body disappeared without a trace.

This was also a scene Teodoras had witnessed several times.

It seemed like Ariel was storing the monster’s body in some magical space.

Teodoras asked Ariel.

“What are you going to do with the monster’s body?”

Ariel glanced at Teodoras.

“Sell it. At the Black Market.”

“Black Market?”

“Yeah.”

“You can sell monster bodies at the Black Market?”

“Yeah. The rarer the monster, the more popular it is. Originally, you too…”

Ariel stopped there.

Teodoras’s face turned slightly pale.

“Wh-what originally…? What were you going to say?”

“Nothing.”

Ariel awkwardly avoided his gaze.

“I wasn’t going to say anything.”

“Bu-but you definitely said ‘originally, you too’…”

At that moment, Roo shouted from afar.

“Sis! I found it!”

Seizing the opportunity, Ariel walked away, and Teodoras crawled after her.

Roo was in front of a wall slightly away from the center of the ruins.

The wall had a painting that matched the description in Eras’s book, “History of the Giants.”

“Hmm, seeing it in person makes it clearer. This is definitely a code. Only those who seek the truth can open the door to Azgrad.”

Roo flapped her wings and looked at Ariel.

“We need to find the truth.”

“……”

Ariel narrowed her eyes and stared at the painting.

As if trying to find the truth within the painting.

At that moment, Teodoras muttered beside her.

“The floor is moving.”

Ariel and Roo looked over, and their expressions froze.

The floor where Teodoras was pressing with his foot was shifting.

As if something was hidden beneath it.

Ariel used telekinesis to lift the floor, and Roo flew over.

“Wow! What’s this?”

Roo sprinkled Flying Powder to levitate it.

It was a massive book, with the word “Records” roughly written on the cover.

Ariel approached the book, and Roo quickly flipped through the pages.

—

…Once, we thrived, but our bodies grew weaker over time.

The cause was the oxygen levels and gravity.

The air grew thinner, and gravity pressed down on us.

This land was no longer a suitable environment for us to live in.

If this continued, we would go extinct.

But there was hope.

Azgrad.

It is said to be a place where we can breathe and live comfortably.

We decided to leave and hid the path to Azgrad.

Lest other races covet and invade Azgrad.

I agreed with that decision, but it also made me sad.

Leaving behind the life and beautiful nature of this land pained my heart.

So, I decided to leave behind a small hope.

For someone who might desperately seek us, I left a hint to the path to Azgrad.

Have you seen the turtle statue placed in front of the Central Fountain?

It was modeled after a cute turtle I met by the river. If you move the statue, a magic circle will be revealed on the ground.

The magic circle will gradually glow when the moon is fully revealed, and soon, a dimensional gate to Azgrad will form.

I have a request for you.

Once the dimensional gate forms, please return the turtle statue to its original place.

This way, the path to Azgrad will not be exposed.

Also, please be careful not to break the turtle statue.

I put a lot of effort into making it.

I leave this record, dreaming of a new beginning in Azgrad.

And I hope that someday, you who read this record will visit Azgrad.

—

“See, I told you…”

Roo’s eyes welled up with tears.

“The Giant Race didn’t go extinct… This is amazing, sis… I can’t believe we found this…”

Beside her, Teodoras also had tears in his eyes.

Though Teodoras said nothing, Ariel guessed that the “cute turtle I met” in the record was Teodoras.

After all, the statue and Teodoras looked alike.

Ariel looked up at the sky.

The sun had set, and darkness was creeping in.

The record said, “The magic circle will gradually glow when the moon is fully revealed, and soon, a dimensional gate to Azgrad will form.”

A fully revealed moon must mean a full moon.

Today was that day.

Ariel walked to the Central Fountain and carefully moved the turtle statue aside.

Beneath it, an ancient magic circle was revealed.

“Ah!”

Roo exclaimed in awe, and Teodoras sniffed the magic circle.

Since the moon wasn’t fully out yet, they decided to wait.

They sat by the fountain, each lost in their thoughts.

Roo was excited at the prospect of meeting the Giant Race, while Teodoras reminisced about an old friend.

Ariel began to doze off, her head nodding.

After a while.

“Sis…”

Roo shook Ariel awake.

“The moon is up…”

Ariel rubbed her eyes and looked at the sky.

A large moon had risen, casting a silvery glow over the ruins.

“This magic circle is glowing, but… something feels off…”

Roo said, puzzled.

Ariel turned her gaze.

The magic circle was emitting light, but as Roo said, something felt strange.

The light seemed to be trying to create a phenomenon but kept resetting to the beginning.

“I’ve been watching it, and it keeps doing this… Maybe, sis. Is this magic circle too old to work…? Maybe it’s too old to create the dimensional gate…”

Roo looked at Ariel with teary eyes.

Beside her, Teodoras frantically tapped the magic circle.

But nothing changed.

To Ariel, the magic circle indeed seemed ancient, and perhaps that was why it wasn’t functioning properly.

“No, no… Sis, we finally found it…”

Roo stomped her feet by the magic circle, and Teodoras kept tapping it.

‘Maybe…’

Ariel approached the magic circle with that thought.

She gently pushed aside the crying Roo and the restless Teodoras and placed her hand on the magic circle.

The magic circle was indeed old.

But what if it wasn’t broken, just lacking mana?

Couldn’t it be fixed by supplying mana?

Ariel began channeling mana into the magic circle.

Zzzzt!

The magic circle started to glow.

At first faintly, but soon it emitted a blinding light.

Roo and Teodoras stared in awe, and Ariel continued to pour mana into it.

The magic circle glowed intensely, as if about to explode, and then with a flash, it scattered around.

“Si-sis…”

Roo pointed behind Ariel.

“The dimensional gate… it’s here…”

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