Chapter 120

The principle of magic lamps is quite simple.

All you need are three things: a catalyst to engrave the light-emitting magic, a magician to inscribe the magic, and a continuous supply of magical power.

However, this technology has only been commercialized for about 200 years. Even then, it’s only used in a few major cities, including the Capital.

There were plenty of magicians capable of using light-emitting magic.

But it took 150 years to develop the technology to engrave magic into materials—enchanting. And another 200 years to develop a catalyst that could maintain it semi-permanently.

The challenge was finding a material that could withstand prolonged magical stress.

Scrolls were destroyed after a single use, so they were worthless.

Steel or black iron could handle momentary magical stress, like weapons imbued with magic—bows that shot fireballs or swords that unleashed magical slashes.

But these metals were also unsuitable as catalysts for magic lamps. To be used as lighting, the magic had to last at least ten hours a day.

No metal, except for mithril, could endure such prolonged stress. But mithril was absurdly rare, making it impossible to use.

The solution came from the Magic Tower. After centuries of research, they succeeded in developing a semi-permanent catalyst in the form of a crystal called magic stone. The core manufacturing technology, however, remained a secret of the Empire’s Magic Tower.

The remaining problem was how to continuously supply magical power.

Early magic lamps were flawed—magicians had to visit them several times a day to pour in magic. So, the Empire spent a long time searching for a way to activate magic without constant magician supervision.

Once again, the Magic Tower found the answer.

Their conclusion was to give up. It was an unfortunate conclusion for the Empire, but it was impossible for inanimate objects to gather magical power on their own.

The Magic Tower changed their approach entirely. As long as they could supply magic to the entire Capital, that was enough.

They laid long metal pipes throughout the Capital, connecting every magic lamp.

The other end of the pipes was connected to the Magic Tower, allowing the Tower’s magicians to take turns supplying magic.

As they expected, the magic flowing through the pipes was distributed to all the magic lamps in the Capital. It was a result-driven idea, but with it, the Empire gained a semi-permanent light that didn’t disappear even in the dead of night.

—

The core of this lengthy story is simple: without continuous human maintenance, the light of magic lamps cannot last long.

The corridor before us defied this common sense.

This ruin was at least a thousand years old. There couldn’t possibly be anyone alive here.

In other words, the engravings on the ceiling were accumulating magical power on their own and activating the magic. It was a technology all the Empire’s magicians dreamed of but had practically given up on.

“…If we report this to the Empire, wouldn’t it be an enormous achievement?”

“Not just the Empire, this discovery could change the entire world…”

Freide was sweating. I felt the same.

This technology was too dangerous. It was essentially the realization of perpetual motion based on magic.

Would it be right to reveal this technology? Judging by the state of the world we’ve seen so far, it would probably be used extensively in wars, leading to the world’s destruction.

The world would be engulfed in magical energy. Magical energy is the force that seeps into the gaps of magical power.

“Let’s… keep going for now.”

I urged the group, who couldn’t take their eyes off the ceiling.

It’s better to hide this. We’ll destroy everything on the way back.

We continued down the dimly lit corridor. After walking for about three minutes, the walls changed.

“Was this place an ancient temple or something?”

“Seems like it…”

Damien and Freide muttered as they looked at the walls. From about 1 meter above the ground to near the ceiling, there were reliefs carved into the walls.

The engravings depicted a truly gruesome scene.

Tens of thousands, maybe even hundreds of millions—an uncountable number of monsters. Armored humans were fighting against the monsters in a war scene.

At the forefront of the humans stood the man engraved on the door we passed earlier. A young man in splendid armor, wielding a greatsword.

Surprisingly, the greatsword resembled the Holy Sword, though the details were slightly different.

…Could there be some connection to the Holy Sword? I’m not sure.

“Monsters…? Those are monsters, right?”

“Yeah. An overwhelming number. Even if you combined all the monsters the Empire has ever slain, it wouldn’t come close to this.”

The carved images continued along the corridor. We walked down the corridor without taking our eyes off the engravings.

There were also depictions of other races. Elves, demi-humans, beastmen, and even races that are now extinct or turned into monsters. They weren’t participating in the battle but were watching from afar as humans and monsters killed each other.

As if they were about to raise a toast.

The humans, overwhelmed by the monster horde, were dying one by one. The man with the greatsword was fighting to the end, but… defeat seemed inevitable.

The colors were vivid.

…It feels similar to a heroic tale from mythology.

Stories that end in tragedy, you know.

No sooner said than done, a monster with a spear appeared before the man.

The monster’s strike shattered the greatsword, and the man’s chest was pierced.

The man stabbed the monster’s shoulder with the broken sword and fell.

The painting ended with the few remaining people retreating into a temple-like building.

“Horrifying content. What were the ancients thinking when they carved such a picture?”

“Hmm… I don’t know either.”

“It must be one of three things. Prophecy, record, myth. I don’t know which one it is.”

Perhaps they carved it as a warning of future events, or recorded their own downfall.

Or maybe they just painted the myths of that era in the temple.

Like how today’s cathedrals paint the life of Carolus on their walls.

Which one is the correct answer? No one knows.

—-

As we passed through the corridor, a circular staircase leading downward came into view.

The stairs were quite long, and the further we descended, the thicker the mana became.

After descending for a while, we reached flat ground.

A huge rectangular open space. The walls were shattered as if they had been dug out.

The floor was littered with weathered bone fragments turned to powder and crushed weapons and armor.

Clearly, traces of a battle.

The mana in the air had now thickened to a level no different from the heart of a contaminated zone.

Even I was starting to feel uneasy. The party took out holy water and drank it again.

“Everyone, stay alert. With this level of mana, there must be monsters nearby. Ha-shal-leur, do you sense anything?”

“I don’t know. I don’t feel anything in particular.”

No sounds of breathing, movements, or enemies could be sensed.

Just the dense mana.

Just in case, everyone drew their weapons and entered the open space.

Looking around, there were only shattered debris, nothing of note.

“Seems like there’s nothing here. Let’s move to the next room.”

“Next room? Which one of the three?”

Freide asked. There were three doors in total, one on each wall.

The doors on the left and right were crude, but the middle door was intricately engraved, making it quite ornate.

Looks like a design where a dungeon boss might pop out.

Maybe one really will pop out. My intuition is usually spot on.

So what should we do…

Well, it’s better to fight a strong enemy when everyone’s in good condition, right?

“Let’s take the middle one. It looks the most important, doesn’t it?”

“That’s true. Damien, Milia! Stop sightseeing and come over here!”

I placed my hand on the door with Freide.

At that moment.

– Whirr!

An unusual vibration sound, and beams of light burst from the door.

The engravings pulsed violently, emitting thick magical power.

Clearly, some unknown magic was about to activate.

“Huh? What’s this?!”

“Magic?! Was it a trap…! Let go, Ha-shal-leur!”

Freide urgently shouted to let go.

I also tried to pull my hand away.

It was impossible.

My hand wouldn’t budge…!

“What are you doing? Hurry up-”

“My hand won’t come off!”

As if it had become one with the door, no matter how hard I pulled, my hand wouldn’t come off.

Considering my strength, this was absurd.

In that case…!

I pulled my other hand behind my shoulder.

Planning to smash the entire door to pieces.

No matter how strange the magic, the door was fundamentally just marble. It couldn’t be unbreakable.

Just before my fist could strike, another burst of light shot out.

It was bright enough to fill the entire room.

I instinctively closed my eyes for a moment.

When I opened them, I was in a completely different place than before.

Leaving the other three behind.

I quickly turned around, but only a rock wall blocked the way, and the door that should have been there was gone.

I immediately understood the situation.

Spatial teleportation.

A phenomenon that wasn’t practical until the end of the game, only experienced in a few dungeons.

It made sense that the party didn’t come with me.

Dungeons with spatial teleportation had restrictions preventing entry before reaching a certain level.

In short, this place required at least a master-level entry.

…This might be a bit dangerous.

I immediately drew Durandal.