Any ancient ruins left behind by the ancient magic civilization usually contained things that even modern experts would find incredibly troublesome. Whether deadly traps or powerful defense mechanisms, many ancient ruins had these in place, designed as countermeasures against intruders.
Because of this, discovering ancient ruins required careful planning before exploration since no matter how many valuable things were inside, if they couldn't be brought out, it would all be meaningless.
For this reason, holding a strategy meeting before an exploration was absolutely necessary.
In all honesty, it was the same principle as dungeon exploration in the world of Danmachi.
Before every expedition, Loki Familia would discuss countermeasures and action plans over and over again, which became even more crucial once they reached the 50th Floor.
As the familia captain, Finn was eager to drill every possible scenario into the familia members' heads and prepare multiple strategies.
Finn's justification for this was simple—you can never be too careful in a dungeon.
As a result, when Raven, Nibald, and Kaiser started discussing their strategy on the spot, Riezel, who had been listening absentmindedly, unexpectedly found himself feeling a bit nostalgic.
'Seriously... why do I keep thinking about the familia lately?'
By the time Riezel realized it, he was already smiling wryly to himself.
'Looks like I need to head back sometime soon. If I keep reminiscing like this, it's gonna be a problem.'
Having this thought, Riezel then continued listening to the discussion of Raven and the others.
Naturally, the first thing they talked about was the Autonomous Guardians.
Nibald and the others had seen the two Autonomous Guardians standing at the city gate, but they had assumed they were just incredibly lifelike statues. It wasn't until Raven brought it up that they realized those things could move.
"Artificial giants guarding an ancient city? Are they alchemical dolls? Or just large golems?" Nibald asked, his interest was piqued.
"No idea, but they're definitely not living creatures." Raven shook his head. "While the one I ran into with the Lightning Sword Saint was smaller than the two at the gate, they're probably the same kind of thing, so they might attack us—no, since they're guardians, if we want to get inside, we're absolutely going to have to deal with them first, right?"
Riezel agreed with this assessment.
He had already tested it earlier that even if he used flight magic to bypass the city entrance and fly straight in, the two Autonomous Guardians would immediately react.
Even though they couldn't fly, the stone spears in their hands could be thrown, and they could even hurl boulders, so thinking they wouldn't attack just because he didn't use the gate would be way too naive.
Moreover, their sensory system was also different from living creatures, as whether Riezel used 'Perfect Unknowable' to stealth past them or 'Greater Teleportation' to teleport inside the city directly, the two Autonomous Guardians would instantly charge at him.
In other words, there was no getting around it.
If they wanted to enter the ancient city safely, they would have to take down the two Autonomous Guardians.
Understanding this, the group began asking questions.
"So, the strength of those two—how strong are they?" Nibald asked the crucial part.
"Not sure..." Raven shook his head again. "But the one we ran into was really strong. Even with both me and the Lightning Sword Saint attacking together, it still took us some time to take it down."
"It took both of you some time even together?" Axel muttered in surprise. "Yeah, that's definitely strong."
At the same time, the others' expressions turned serious.
Raven's claim that the Autonomous Guardians were powerful was something Riezel agreed with. If nothing else, just looking at the one he and Raven encountered—when it came to its STR and END, it probably surpassed Riezel as he was now.
In other words, its STR and END were at Level 7, and even among Level 7 individuals, it was on the higher end. On the other hand, its DEX and AGI were pretty low—forget about Level 6, even Level 5 seemed a bit of a stretch.
It was precisely because of this that Riezel had been able to kite the Autonomous Guardian so easily because it was just too slow and clunky. Against an enemy that sluggish, as long as one didn't let it get close or land a hit, even a Level 6 could slowly chip away at it until it went down.
Nevertheless, if one wanted to use a kiting strategy, a Level 6 still needed to prepare enough medicine, which was essential—not just high potions but also magic potions depending on the situation, and possibly even elixirs if things went badly—as that was the only way to wear down the giant after battling for more than half a day.
On top of that, they would need to at least use first-class special equipment, or they wouldn't even be able to scratch it.
Before Riezel knew it, he found himself thinking about dungeon strategies from the world of Danmachi, but of course, his thoughts were based on the Autonomous Guardian he and Raven had fought—not the two at the entrance of the ancient city.
Just looking at those two, they were obviously stronger than the one he and Raven fought, proven by how their nearly ten-meter-tall bodies were seriously intimidating. If their size wasn't just for show, then there was no way a mere Level 6 could handle them.
Not to mention, those two Autonomous Guardians weren't the only ones in this ancient city.
"Father, the knights sent to scout just returned." Diego said from the side. "According to their report, after using magic to scan the city, it seems there are even more of them inside. Moreover, some areas are giving off faint magical energy fluctuations, indicating there might be magical traps active throughout the city."
"Numbers? How many of them are there?" Raven asked calmly.
"At least sixty from what we can detect..." Diego replied while frowning. "Unfortunately, there are places in the city that magic can't penetrate, especially the temple in the central area that not only repels all surveillance magic but also has a ridiculously high-class magic barrier around it."
"A temple?" Axel was surprised. "You mean the city center has a temple instead of some administrative building?"
"That's right." Diego confirmed. "The knights who scouted didn't see anything resembling a government building or noble estate. In the city, the only unique structure is that temple—everything else is just regular houses."
"I see..." Nibald looked thoughtful. "Well, that makes it seem like this city might've belonged to a nation with an extremely deep-rooted religious faith."
"A city left behind by a country where divine authority overshadowed royal authority?" Raven nodded. "Umu, I've heard that some ancient ruins fall into that category."
"If that's the case, then the temple is probably the most valuable place to explore." Kaiser finally spoke. "If the rest of the city is just houses, there's probably nothing worth searching for."
"Alright, let's make the temple in the city center our primary target." Raven agreed. "But with at least sixty Guardians roaming around, that's a difficult thing to deal with."
As a marquis family responsible for guarding Jinas's southern border, the Mavros family naturally did not lack military power.
Not to mention the kingdom's forces stationed in the territory under Raven's command, including the royal knightly order and military—just the Mavros family's own knightly order alone was already quite sizable.
According to kingdom regulations, a marquis was allowed to form a private knightly order of seven hundred members to maintain the security of their territory. However, because the Mavros family bore the heavy responsibility of guarding the border, they were granted a special exception.
Similar to the Frenzel family, which had a Strategic-Class Magician stationed with them, this exception allowed the Mavros family to recruit an additional hundred knights, bringing their total knightly order to eight hundred members.
Naturally, these extra hundred knights were not ordinary swordsmen but magicians.
Given the immense impact magic could have on the battlefield, magicians were considered a crucial military asset, so no country allowed nobles to recruit large numbers of magicians into their personal forces.
Magicians were not permitted to work in the private sector and were typically only recruited in large numbers by the country, where they could serve in the royal palace as court magicians, be assigned to magician regiments, or work in key national institutions—such as research institutes for magic, military divisions focused on developing magic items, or magic schools like Spriller Academy.
Because of this, no noble, whether a high-ranking duke or a lowly baron, had magicians in their knightly orders.
Naturally, this restriction only applied to large-scale recruitment.
If a noble simply hired two or three magicians as retainers, or if a merchant company recruited a few Structure System Magicians to help produce magic items for sale, it was generally overlooked, but attempting to amass a private force of magicians, as one would with a knightly order, was strictly forbidden, and the kingdom would never allow it.
Simply put, only noble families with special circumstances, like the Mavros family, which was tasked with guarding the border and frequently engaged in warfare, were granted special permission to recruit a limited number of magicians.
As a result, among the Mavros family's eight-hundred-strong knights, one hundred of them were magicians.
Now, one hundred twenty knights from the Mavros family, which consisted of one hundred swordsmen and twenty magicians, had arrived from Bessare to regroup with Raven within Yarakulon's body. Even though they outnumbered the Autonomous Guardians in the ancient city, there was no doubt that the latter still had the advantage in combat power.
Riezel, glancing over the knights, roughly assessed their strength and could see that these knights were likely elites of the Mavros family's knightly order since each of them exuded a powerful aura.
Based on their levels, they were probably all at Level 4.
'One hundred and twenty Level 4 knights, huh?'
Riezel couldn't help but feel that taking on around sixty Autonomous Guardians was going to be a tough challenge with this force.