“So it's not a trap, but the Guardian of the Ruins.”
Balud thought the same thing.
A trap would have killed a few people, however a trap that could kill this many people at once should have left a trail, but there was none.
“What if there were other people attacking? Such things are not uncommon in ruins.”
A slightly calmed Illua asked as she examined the bodies.
As a scholar, it should have been hard for her to see this many corpses, but she didn't make a single sound.
Perhaps she was born with a thick skin, with her father's explorer blood in her veins.
“I don't think so.”
Balud dismissed Illua's hypothesis.
“Even if another party ambushed them, it's odd for them to fall so unilaterally. Unless they were fools, they would have been on guard at the ruins, preparing for it.”“Well, if that's the case, then the guardians of the ruins.......”
“I'd say that's more likely than not.”
Guardian.
This term refers to the beings that guard dungeons and ruins, usually living monsters.
But they weren't always monsters.
Famously, there are gargoyles that take the form of statues and move when enemies appear.
Or it could be a golem that moved automatically, or a beast that was cursed or enchanted.
‘A Guardian that can function normally after so many years.......’
Osian rubbed his chin.
The condition of the bodies suggested they'd been slashed with something sharp.
'Most of them didn't get far, and there's little sign of a battle. It's a one-sided slaughter, which means it's a strong Guardian.’
The problem was, what kind of Guardian would leave such scars?
Osian searched his memory, but nothing came to mind.
‘Are they gargoyles? They are statues and swing huge spears the size of their own bodies. No, they are not spears. If they are weapons swinging by guys over 5 meters tall, they are rarely able to cut with such cutting power.’
There was also the case of the enchanted beast.
A wolf with a blue mane, it was characterized by rampaging with a sword in its mouth.
However, this one seemed a bit unlikely.
‘Even if it was enchanted, it's unlikely that the beast would have survived for so many years, and besides, it doesn't just wield a sword in its mouth.’
He occasionally flicked his tail and swung his claws, and I'm sure he could use magic.
But the bodies all died of cuts from something.
Besides, they had come into the ruins prepared, and they were not weak enough to be easily overcome by the beast.
‘What, there are guardians this strong, and I don't remember them?’
Something was wrong. It sounds a bit cheeky to say this, but there was very little that Osian didn't remember, at least in terms of game elements.
He might not recall a minor trap in a dungeon but there’s no way he could forget a guardian this powerful.
Still, nothing matched his memory.
‘That's right. It doesn't necessarily have to be the same as my memory. It's possible that things have changed over the years.’
Whatever the case, it seemed unlikely that there would be any immediate answers.
Osian decided to keep the possibilities open and remain vigilant.
“Are you sure you want to keep going?”
Balud asked Illua.
At this point, there was nothing they could do if Illua said she wanted to quit.
They had come this far because of her.
“No, I'll keep going.”
Illua didn't give up. It's not that she didn't feel fear when she saw the bodies. She just had a stronger sense of duty.
“All right, then. We'll be on high alert and move slowly, but first we'll have to search the bodies.”
It was unfortunate that people were dead, but they had to take what they could.
Balud's men rummaged through the bodies for artifacts, tools, and materials they could use.
They set aside the body's identification tags.
In ruins and dungeons, it's hard to keep a corpse alive, so people who come in take these tags with them. It's like a military license plate for a job offer.
It's the least you can do for the dead.
With a light moment of silence to ease their minds, the group moved past the bodies and into the center of the ruins.
Illua, usually a chatterbox, was quiet this time.
She had seen the corpses, and she didn't know when the Ruin Guardian would appear out of nowhere.
As they approached, they came to a fork in the road.
It was up to Illua to decide which way to go, but for once, she wasn't sure she wanted to go.
“Ugh. This is ancient hieroglyphics, so old, it's going to take a long time to decipher.”
The only clue they had was the inscription on the stele at the center of the fork in the road, but even that would take time.
Illua pulled several books from her pack and spread them out on the ground.
She flipped through the pages, her eyes drawn, skimming the material.
‘It's a language written in ancient ruins, possibly a new type of language that isn't even in the books here.’
This alone was of great scholarly value, but it was not at all welcome to the immediate need to find their way.
‘Nothing. What do we do?’
Even with all the archaeological material she brought with her, she couldn't find anything like the characters on the tablets.
At this point, she'd have to take a chance.
It was crazy to make a choice with a 50% chance of death.
Just then, Osian, who had checked the area for enemies, approached Illua.
He looked at the words on the tablet and spoke casually to Illua.
“It says to go left.”
“What?”
Illua asked in surprise.
So were Balud and his men.
“Left, what do you mean?”
“Because the tablet says that left is the way inward. Those who wish to face the True One must take this path. Can't you read it?”
“No. So.......”
Even though she thought it made no sense, Illua couldn't help but ask.
“Can you read this?”
“.......”
Osian also found Illua's point strange.
‘Yes. Why can I read it?’
The moment he saw the words on the tablet, his mind automatically interpreted what they meant.
This was something Osian hadn't expected.
‘Because this body is from the past?’
It was quite possible.
“Can you believe that?”
Balud asked in disbelief, and while it was unfair to Osian, Balud's reaction was perfectly normal.
One of Tirna's fixers had read the writing on the tablet, something no archaeologist had ever done? How could it be possible?
It was more believable that Osian was lying.
“Well, if you don't believe it, it doesn't matter. I just said what came to mind when I saw what was written there.”
“How did you read it?”
“Didn’t I just say that? It said, [Those who wish to face the true one, come this way].”
As soon as the words left his mouth, Illua and Balud shuddered.
Unbeknownst to them, when Osian spoke those words, he was using a different language, one they knew nothing about.
It was a language with a completely unfamiliar structure.
“Ba, how the hell did you just say that.......?”
Illua pointed a shaky finger at Osian.
An old language, written in ancient ruins she didn't recognize.
And yet, the one who could somehow speak it freely was the very fixer she'd hired out of curiosity.
It was strange not to be surprised.
“It's.......”
Osian wondered how to explain the complexity when the ground shook with the sound of something pulling a lever.
In the moment when everyone realized what was going on, Osian was the first to move.
He stood at the side of his employer, Illua. The next to move was Balud.
They weren't sure what was going on, but they knew something had happened.
“Director!”
That's when the North Blinders' men shouted.
They were running to join them, but at that moment something fell with a thud from the ceiling, creating a large wall between them.
Balud quickly approached the wall.
“This is.......”
“Looks like the trap has been triggered, and it's a terrain changer.”
Terrain-changing traps weren't immediately life-threatening, but they were vicious in that they cut off the way you came.
Getting lost in the middle of the ruins, which could be as complex as a maze, was practically a death sentence.
Osian knocked on the wall. It was no ordinary material.
‘Can I pierce it with Starlight?’
Even if the wall could be breached with Starlight, the men on the other side would have already been moved elsewhere.
It was better to hope to make it out safely and join them later.
More importantly, why did the trap work?
“Well, we didn't touch anything.”
“We didn't.”
But they weren't the only ones in the ruins.
“Huh. Who is this?”
A cheerful voice came from the darkness beyond the passage.
Illua's face paled and Balud frowned.
There was no way he didn't recognize the voice's owner.
Aaron, an explorer with the Archaeological League, appeared, leading his team.
“I never thought we'd meet in a place like this. Is there such a thing as a coincidence?”
Coincidence? I wonder if it's a coincidence.
Just by his deliberate recognition and exaggerated tone, I knew who had set the trap.
‘I can't believe they'd use a trap from a ruin we just entered today.’
He probably intended to send everyone here, including Illua, somewhere else.
But Osian's reaction was too quick, and the result was that the three of them and the others fell.
It was a situation Aaron hadn't anticipated, but it worked out for the better.
With the other members of the North Blinders, it would have been dangerous, but with just the three of them left, it was different.
Even if they killed them here, who would know about it?
Aaron saw this as the right time to show up.
Osian and Balud stood in front of him, with a frightened and cowering Illua behind them.
“Hmm? Illua, what's wrong? You seem wary of me, and so do you. Why don't you put your weapons away?”
“My ears are rotting from all this listening.”
Balud pulled a pair of black gloves from his pocket and slipped them on his hands.
“If you're going to do that, you should stop talking.”
“Hey, mafioso, don't you understand what's going on here?”
Aaron sneered at Balud.
“None of your men you brag so much about are here. Can't you see, it's just the fixer, you, and that stupid bitch?”
Aaron's side, on the other hand, had a whopping ten enhanced humans.
They were fewer than the rest of the team, but they were still a nerve-wracking opponent.
It meant that ten of them would have no trouble exploring the ruins.
“You’re still holding your neck like that, young man, when you’re begging for your life. You’re going to break your neck like that.”
“Whether it does or doesn't, we'll find out soon enough.”
Balud rolled up the sleeve of his arm.
The runes were clearly visible over the flexing muscles of his forearm.
“You're a barbarian, and you're cocky.”
Just then, one of the enhanced humans stepped forward.
It was the same one that had stood between Osian and Aaron before they entered the ruins.
White skin, white hair and a beautiful face, but it was so expressionless that it looked like a mannequin.
“Did you just look at me and call me a barbarian?”
“Yes. Not only are you stupid, but you don't even have good ears. You don't lower your pride even in this situation. This is why I don't like lowlifes.”
The outwardly silent enhanced human made no attempt to hide his inner thoughts as his eyes narrowed.
“And you.”
The enhanced human pointed at Osian and Osian asked, puzzled.
“What do you have for me?”
“You, in particular, I will pluck out your eyeballs. I haven't liked your eyes since the first time I saw them.”
Despite the brazen announcement, Osian was not intimidated.
On the contrary, he flashed a sheepish grin, as if he was amused.
“That's interesting.”
-Thrrrr.
The sword at his waist was gently drawn.
“I was thinking the same thing as you.”