The massive door slowly opened with a heavy and muffled sound.
A thick layer of dust fell from its edges, and the smell of age, stone, and thousands of years of moisture spread in the air.
Lian stood there for a few moments, behind this door there could be any kind of threat and danger, even though he was confident in his power, he knew it was not absolute.
Unfortunately, if he faced a danger that he could not handle, he could not use the ability to leave the Ruined Realm either.
He was also a member of the Quest, and until it was completed, he could not leave the Ruined Realm either.
He slowly stepped inside, the sound of his shoes hitting the old stones echoed several times in the space ahead.
The hall in front of him was much larger than he had imagined, the ceiling height was easily over a hundred meters.
Giant pillars, each the size of a multi-story building, extended on both sides of the hall.
Among them, hundreds of stone statues were placed, all in two regular rows, and all with the same posture, their heads slightly bowed, and their gazes fixed on the center of the hall.
The space was so vast that even the sound of Lian’s breathing was lost among the pillars, and every step he took, its echo would return from the darkness several seconds later.
He felt like he had entered a temple that no living creature had set foot in for thousands of years, this ruin was clearly very old with just a simple look.
It could be hundreds of years old to maybe thousands of years old, and this showed how old and ancient the civilizations of this world were, but unfortunately, most of them had perished.
His gaze fell to the ground again, the blood trail continued, but it was no longer just a few drops, sometimes a bloody handprint could be seen on the wall.
A few meters ahead, the mark of a knee that had been dragged on the stone.
And in some places, a clear trace of a human body being dragged on the ground remained.
Lian quietly knelt next to one of the traces and touched the dried blood with his finger.
His mind started analyzing quickly.
"If this blood belongs to Kain, he was still alive when he entered this hall, but the severity of the bleeding..."
A frown settled on his face.
"He was badly wounded." An awakened one has a high rate of self-healing, but it is not absolute, and it depends on the wound and the type of wound.
Some wounds cannot even be healed by self-healing, especially wounds caused by powerful magic.
Now the question is, if Kain was wounded, how was he wounded?
This conclusion alone was enough to make his steps faster.
The closer he got to the center of the hall, the more the grandeur of the structure showed itself.
Suddenly he stopped in front of something that even made him forget to breathe for a few moments.
A massive statue, its height maybe reaching twenty meters.
The figure of a woman made of white and shining stone, but what shocked him was not the size or the art of its construction.
But its indescribable beauty, the face of the statue... was perfect.
As if all the concepts of beauty in the world were summarized in its existence, calm eyes, a very faint smile, and hair that flowed down to her shoulders.
Even though it was only a statue, its presence created a strange sense of peace.
Lian unconsciously stared for a few seconds.
"Really... could a creature exist that is this perfect...?"
The base of the statue was covered with unknown writings, this time the symbols were different from all the writings he had seen on the way.
And the system reacted.
[Ancient Civilization Language Detected]
[Translating ... ]
The system was able to identify a few words.
Praise be to Divine of Light
The Eternal Radiance
The First Flame
Lian quietly repeated under his breath.
"Divine of Light... the god of light...?"
But he immediately shook his head.
Here, the word God was not used, but Divine, but in fact, he had understood that it was synonymous with God.
This was not the first time he had heard about such a word, and even the title Divine of Light itself was not new to him.
In the nine Ruined Realms that had appeared and been cleared so far, traces of worship of similar beings had always been seen.
The names sometimes had small differences, but their identity... was always the same.
As if all the destroyed worlds worshipped the same beings.
Not different gods, but the same gods, and one of them was the goddess of light, or in other words, the Divine of Light, known by various titles in the previous nine Ruined Realms.
The goddess of light, the source of light, The First Light, The Almighty of Light, The Bringer of Light, and The Mother of Light, and now Divine of Light.
And this was one of the greatest mysteries of the Ruined Realms.
Who were the gods really? Did they actually exist at one time? Or were they just legends that were repeated in all civilizations?
Lian had no answer, in fact, no one had an answer, and in none of the previous realms had an answer been found either.
He started walking again.
A few minutes later, just as he was passing through one of the stone corridors, he suddenly heard a very faint sound from beneath his feet.
Click.
The stone he had stepped on went down only a few millimeters.
Lian’s eyes immediately narrowed.
"Damn..."
A mechanical, old, and rusty sound was heard from deep within the walls.
The next moment... both walls split open, and hundreds of poison-coated stone arrows were fired with incredible speed.
Lian moved almost instinctively.
Mana exploded in his muscles, and his body moved like a shadow among the arrows, one of the arrows passed only a few centimeters from his face.
Another scratched his clothes, and a third pierced the stone pillar behind him.
With a few quick jumps, he got out of the trap’s range, a few seconds later everything fell into silence again.
He breathed calmly.
"How are they still working after all these years?" He looked at the wall that the arrow had hit.
The wall was completely melted and destroyed.
If he had reacted only a moment later, his body would now be full of holes like a sieve.
His guard went higher than before, he did not expect the traps to still be active in an ancient ruin that was several hundred years old.
A few minutes later, he found the first corpse.
Or better to say... the first skeleton, the bones were completely dry, the decayed and worn clothes around it still remained.
A thick layer of dust had settled on everything, it was clear that hundreds of years had passed since this person’s death.
But the strangest part... was the absence of any wounds.
No fractures, no cuts, no holes, nothing, as if his body had just... been emptied from the inside.
Lian looked at the skeleton for a few seconds.
"His life force... it seems like it was completely sucked out." An unpleasant feeling formed inside him.
This corpse definitely belonged to a native of this world, and this terrible thing had probably happened to him hundreds of years ago when the monsters attacked this place.
At that same moment, the book of treasure started trembling again, this time more intensely, Lian quickly opened it, and the map appeared.
And he saw something he had never imagined, one of the golden points... was moving.
Not slowly, but completely clearly, from one corridor to another.
He stared for a few seconds.
"Moving...? A treasure should not move..."
There were only two possibilities, either a creature was carrying one of the treasures with itself, or... the treasure itself was a living creature.
At that same moment, the same feeling returned.
The feeling of being watched, stronger than before, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up.
He immediately turned around, but the corridor was empty.
Night Eyes was still active.
He extended his senses to the maximum possible limit, but... nothing.
No mana, no sound, no smell, yet he was sure, completely sure, something was here, something had been watching him since the moment he entered.
But for some reason... it had decided not to attack, and only watched.
"Could it be waiting for something?" He thought to himself, but what could this thing be waiting for?
In the absolute silence of the ruin, suddenly a faint sound reached his ears.
Clink...
Clink...
The sound of metal hitting stone, and then... a very quiet cough.
Lian immediately froze, held his breath, and put all his focus on listening.
But a few seconds later... silence again, as if nothing had happened.
He was not sure if he had really heard a sound... or if this ruin was playing with his mind.
Following that direction, a few minutes later he reached a massive crossroads.
Four corridors, each extending in a different direction, but what stopped him... was the blood trail.
The same blood trail that had come this far... had suddenly disappeared.
No drops, no traces, no trail, as if someone had suddenly vanished at this very point.
For a moment, dark thoughts crossed his mind.
"Could it be..."
"No." He immediately shook his head.
"It is too early to jump to conclusions." He could not let his emotions overcome his logic.
His gaze shifted between the four corridors, at that moment, the book of treasure trembled gently and pointed to one of the right corridors.
But the blood trail... was in none of them.
Lian stood in silence for a few seconds, then opened his status panel and fixed his gaze on one of his skills.
Blood Hunt.
A skill that could sense the presence of living creatures and their blood traces, he had not used it much until today.
But now... maybe it was the only thing that could lead him to Kain, but at least with its current level, it was useless.
"It is time to upgrade it..." he whispered quietly under his breath, and his gaze fixed on the upgrade option for the skill.