Chapter 60

The days of wandering and using aliases have now become something I can look back on as memories.

…

Or so I thought, until yesterday.

“Ah, life is really something.”

I understand now, having found myself in a similar situation again. The vivid frustration from those days is coming back to me, and it seems I can’t just brush it off as nostalgia.

As I watched the lightning fire giant climb out from the bottom of the ruins, I swallowed my curses.

A humanoid body formed from brilliantly flashing lightning. In its left hand, it held the upper half of a charred resolver. Ash scattered from the giant’s electrified form, spewing sparks.

Behind the resolvers confronting the lightning fire giant, clumps of Argeyirion mentors were slowly approaching.

A headache crept over me as I watched from a distance. How did it come to this?

***

Ortes hadn’t intended to cause such chaos from the start. Initially, he only wanted to delve into the deeper levels to confirm the location of the Thunder Talisman.

However, something strange soon caught his eye. He had been told that there was one excavation team for the surface layer and another for the deep layer, both departing every morning.

But when it came time to depart, there were three groups gathered.

At a glance, the teams for the surface and deep layers consisted mostly of resolvers and mercenaries, aside from a few mages from Torres Tower accompanying as guides. But the third group was different.

It included mages from Torres Tower mixed with an unknown crowd. There was a sense of uniformity in their attire. Were they from another magic tower?

Ortes asked the surrounding resolvers about the third group.

For some reason, he felt people were slightly more friendly when his face was hidden behind a visor compared to when he walked around bare-faced, but Ortes dismissed it as an illusion.

“Oh, it’s some company contracted with Torres Tower. Actually, there’s a middle layer besides the surface and deep layers. It’s the cream of the crop where all the management systems for the deep and surface layers are concentrated.”

“Sounds like a good excuse to only bring trustworthy people.”

“The corruption is ridiculous, but what can you do? They say it’s a company run by a relative of one of the higher-ups at Torres Tower.”

Including the site supervisor and other high-ranking officials, the middle layer excavation team was specially managed. Ortes memorized this information in case he failed to find the Thunder Talisman in the deep layer.

***

Thus began the descent into the deep layer, where Ortes, under the name Utes, displayed remarkable prowess.

Five branching passageways lay ahead. Choosing the wrong path would invoke an ancient curse.

Without hesitation, Ortes walked toward the second passage on the right.

“Hey! We don’t even know which path is safe, and you’re just walking in…!”

“Good luck.”

At the end of the passage, a stone door appeared. The door featured a rotating ring that required specific symbols to be arranged in order.

The resolvers tried deciphering the magical language inscribed on the walls or finding clues from photographs of previously excavated artifacts.

“Damn. A riddle from the Magic Age. We need to arrange the three symbols in the correct order—”

“Good luck.”

With a resonating boom echoing through the vast space, the stone door slowly began to open. Ortes could feel the growing expectation in the gazes of the resolvers watching him, but he didn’t mind much.

‘Anyway, I won’t see these people again after this job!’

Half-lidded eyes behind the visor. Ortes utilized all available information as he descended deeper into the ruins.

In truth, considering the current progress of the excavation, ‘descending’ might be better described as a ‘rapid plunge.’

The number of resolvers following Ortes began to increase. In their eyes, Ortes was a once-in-a-lifetime resolver with unparalleled skill in ruin excavation.

Ortes didn’t give any orders to the resolvers trailing behind him. He had anticipated that a certain number of people would gather.

Still, the reason he continued to swiftly bypass traps was simple. If he turned back mid-way claiming “my luck has run out,” who could fault him?

The moment Ortes sensed the presence of the Thunder Talisman, he planned to halt all excavation work and return to the surface. Once back above ground, he would wait for the others to leave and then descend alone to steal the talisman.

In short, the current ruin exploration was merely groundwork for stealing the talisman.

Ortes repeatedly opened and closed his eyes, praying for the detection of the Thunder Talisman’s information.

‘Something feels off.’

An artifact as refined as the Thunder Talisman should have its presence immediately detected. Yet, despite being deep within the ruins for quite some time, there was no sign of the talisman.

Ortes stared at the metallic door before him.

Beyond it lay a straight corridor leading to a single room.

The moment Ortes sensed something beyond the room, he closed his eyelids again. Whatever it was, it wasn’t the Thunder Talisman.

An unusually dense concentration of thunder energy was condensed there. If whatever was beyond the door was the Thunder Talisman, the thunder energy wouldn’t be confined in one place as if sealed; it would be continuously emitted.

‘Damn. Is it in the middle layer?’

Ortes turned around. Dozens of resolvers packed into the narrow corridor all looked at him.

Not just resolvers, either. Somehow arriving unnoticed, over a dozen fully-armed mages from Torres School were closely observing Ortes’ every move.

Unperturbed by their gaze, Ortes took a step forward.

“Wait, hold on. You’re not going further?”

Ortes answered without hesitation.

“My luck’s run out. Beyond the door lies nothing but misfortune.”

***

The mages of Torres School received unbelievable news. The sluggish deep-layer exploration had suddenly advanced at an insane pace.

A junior mage from Torres School, who had been guiding the deep layer expedition, rushed up gasping for breath.

“There’s a crazy guy wearing a visor… saying he’s lucky and breaking all the traps while advancing!”

Initially, they thought it was just the antics of a reckless individual. Breaking through a 1/5 chance trap once in a while isn’t that hard.

However, as one breakthrough became two, and eventually the number of traps bypassed exceeded a single hand count, the guide hurriedly ascended to the surface. At this rate, they might actually reach the endpoint of the deep layer today!

The mages of Torres School exchanged glances. While they generally recognized ownership rights to artifacts discovered by resolvers to a certain extent, they couldn’t hand over the thunder great elemental spirit sealed in the deep layer.

The thunder elemental was essentially the reason Torres School was excavating these ruins. The elemental sealed on Crete Island was unlike any other.

Unlike ordinary elementals born from the gathering of natural essence, this elemental was once the master of a tower that existed on this island.

The art of transforming humans into elementals — elementalization — was the ancient magic that Torres School sought.

While ethereal spirits are generally freer than humans in Ethereal Space, hacking into something as complex as the Ten Sages would cause ordinary elementals to lose their mana and disintegrate upon mere contact.

And obtaining powerful elementals was difficult due to existing contractors or detection by the Ten Towers. Thus, Torres Tower aimed to use the art of elementalization to gain a foothold for hacking the Ten Sages.

Their hopes rested on this arcane art, which might now fall into the hands of an unexpected intruder.

Upon rushing down to the deep layer, the mages of Torres School witnessed exactly what the guide had described. The hooded figure ignored ancient puzzles and traps, dismantling them methodically.

Occasionally muttering “good luck,” everyone knew the truth.

This wasn’t the kind of trap that could be solved by mere luck. The man clearly had some clue or certainty before coming here.

Therefore, when the hooded figure turned away from the sealed study of the former tower master, the mages of Torres School expected him to negotiate for monetary compensation or shared secrets.

But there were no demands.

Only a chilling prophecy: “Beyond the door lies only misfortune,” before heading back to the surface.

The resolvers shifted their gaze from the hooded figure to the mages of Torres School, urging them to make a decision.

The mages exchanged looks.

“Who is he? A spy from another school?”

“Checking the contract, his name is Utes. Definitely an alias. Unknown origin.”

“Did anyone see him tamper with the door?”

“No. He just approached it briefly and stepped back. No traces of curses or enchantments remain.”

The mages exchanged glances again. Conventionally, if a particular explorer made an overwhelming contribution to discovering an artifact, the artifact would be handed over to that explorer.

But now, Utes had simply abandoned the excavation and left.

Greedy voices rose among the mages.

“If we break the seal on the door today, we’ll double the deposit! Whoever plays a decisive role in opening the door will receive five times the usual payment!”

Desiring the knowledge of the Ten Sages, Torres School chose greed over caution.

***

Ortes had anticipated the influx of resolvers, but never imagined the mages of Torres School waiting above would also descend.

‘Well, if word spreads that the deep layer of the ruins is almost completely cleared in half a day, anyone would want to check it out, right?’

It was advantageous for me. With so many personnel gone, infiltrating the middle layer would be easier.

Footsteps followed from behind. Anyway, I had planned to discard the visor and power suit. These suits powered by magic are too bulky for stealth operations.

I enter a passageway I noted earlier during my descent. The structure is intricately twisted, making it difficult for them to track me. That should be enough time to shed the suit and evade other resolvers’ gazes while ascending.

The newly procured power suit used a simple design for wear and removal via a rear-opening mechanism. For someone familiar with the operation, putting it on or taking it off takes barely tens of seconds.

Even after finishing the removal, there’s still some time before the pursuers arrive.

I might as well leave the suit standing there where it can catch the eye. Though it’s wasteful to abandon it like this, it’s not like I can’t get another.

There probably won’t be another opportunity like this where Torres School surveillance is so thinly spread for a few more days. Time to proceed.

***

Those who followed Utes found him standing still like a statue.

‘Why has he stopped?’

Under extreme tension, the resolvers scanned the surroundings.

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

The corridor of the ruins filled only with breathing sounds. One brave resolver approached Utes.

“Hey! What exactly is this misfortune you spoke of—”

The moment the resolver’s hand touched Utes’ shoulder, his figure wobbled and collapsed.

Clang!

When Utes’ body hit the floor, the visor separated.

Inside the visor, inside the power suit, there was nothing.

Just an unsettling void.