There was one on the continent as well.
“Damn it.”
Gedenhide was in an exceedingly foul mood. Because of the intruders who had barged in out of nowhere,
as many as fifteen liches had been smashed to pieces. It was the greatest loss he had suffered in the five hundred years he had spent guarding the lair.
Of course, given the nature of liches, losing an arm or a leg did not even count as an injury.
The problem was that most of the casualties had been reduced to dozens of fragments or more. As long as their Life Force Vessels remained intact, they could be revived, but it was obvious that they would be unable to return to guard duty for quite some time. The human slaves imprisoned in the lair alone were not enough to restore them, and until additional slaves arrived, they would have no choice but to lie in their sickbeds.
Moreover, the most important thing was that this fact must have reached Belkis.
Since the liches he had personally created had suffered damage bordering on annihilation, it would be absurd to think that Belkis, who possessed their Life Force Vessels, had failed to sense it. That was precisely why Gedenhide was so restless.
“This is serious. To think Lord Belkis’s slumber has been disturbed by worthless human rabble…”
In a fit of rage, he had ground all the intruders’ corpses into powder, but that had not been enough to satisfy him. As Gedenhide recalled the moment he had faced the intruders, a subtle gleam appeared in his eyes.
“Judging by their numbers and skill, they were no mere Treasure Hunters. What in the world was their objective?”
Of course, among Treasure Hunters, there were occasionally Sword Masters mixed in. But those were rare cases in the truest sense, and most Treasure Hunters had to be regarded as greenhorns chasing luck. Yet in Gedenhide’s eyes, the skill of these intruders had truly been anything but ordinary. If most of them had been Sword Masters, then they were certainly not people who had invaded for some simple purpose.
“Could they have come to rescue that stupid fool?”
Gedenhide’s gaze shifted. Where his eyes came to rest, a lich stood stock-still. It was the very lich he had ordered to kill the fool.
“You carried out my order without fail, I trust?”
The lich, its body trembling faintly, answered without delay. Gedenhide had long since become an object of terror not only among humans, but among his fellow liches as well.
“As you commanded, I annihilated him without leaving a trace. Not even his corpse remained.”
“You are certain?”
“Of course.”
The lich answered without the slightest hesitation. Gedenhide seemed as though he should have been satisfied by that sight, but instead he shook his head back and forth.
“Should I have questioned him instead of killing him? Since I killed him outright without thinking, I have no way of knowing why those bastards barged in.”
As Gedenhide sank into thought, a lich creeping in quietly entered his sight. The moment he saw it, flames of fury surged in Gedenhide’s eyes. Nearly all the liches had been mobilized to stop the intruders. Yet this detestable bastard, who had not shown even the tip of his nose during all that, was only now sauntering in. Gedenhide could not help but be enraged. He spread his fingers wide and called the creature over.
“You, come here!”
“Do you mean me?”
The fellow approached with a brazen air, as if nothing had happened. That sight only fanned Gedenhide’s anger further. He had lived a full seven hundred years, but this was truly the first time he had encountered someone so hopeless. The lich walked up before him, puffed out its chest as if to ask what the matter was, and looked at Gedenhide. At that sight, Gedenhide could only feel even more dumbfounded. In the end, he shook his head.
“Forget it. Arguing with you will only give me a headache…”
“Then why did you call me?”
At the other party’s response, Gedenhide once again felt his anger surge to the top of his head. The only reason he did not fly into a fit was because of all the experience he had dealing with this fellow until now. No matter how he beat him or inflicted pain on him, the other party’s attitude never changed. Gedenhide knew that fact all too well. After five hundred years of dealing with the fellow, he had keenly come to realize it.
“I shouldn’t even bother speaking.”
Shaking his head, Gedenhide turned away. He had a duty to report to Belkis about the incident that had just occurred. A flash of light flickered in Damon’s pupils as he stared at Gedenhide’s retreating back. Unfortunately, Gedenhide, having turned around, did not see that look.
After ordering the liches to maintain an airtight watch around the lair, Gedenhide headed to Belkis without delay. Belkis was currently sunk in a deep sleep within the underground cavern located at the very bottom of the lair. For the long span of five hundred years.
Gedenhide descended the narrow passage leading there with extreme caution. Although he was the one in overall charge of guarding the outskirts of the lair, whenever he entered this place, he could not help but feel intimidated. This was because guardians possessing power that could never be disregarded were in charge of security here.
After passing through the corridor and arriving at the place blocked by a massive iron gate, he looked around.
Countless giant statues stood lined up along the passage. Giant statues made entirely of bronze. However, Gedenhide knew that if an enemy invaded, those statues would transform into Bronze Golems possessing tremendous strength. Bronze Golems, which could be regarded as far more powerful than Stone Golems. But that was not all. In this underground space, an even more terrifying existence stood guard. An existence that even he, a master of the 9th Circle, could not dare claim he could defeat.
“There they are.”
A peculiar light flashed in Gedenhide’s eyes as though he had found what he sought. Without further thought, he approached the iron gate. There stood two giant statues of particularly massive size. The metal giant statues, modeled after ancient Titans, flaunted naked, muscular bodies as they stood on both sides of the iron gate like gatekeepers.
Though their bulging muscles were made of metal, they seemed vivid, as if alive, and their six-meter height exerted tremendous pressure on Gedenhide as he looked up at them. Astonishingly, they were giant statues made entirely of steel.
They were none other than Iron Golems. Because their entire bodies were made of refined steel, they boasted outrageous defensive power, and since magic stones crafted by Belkis with painstaking effort were embedded within them, their movements approached those of an ogre. Compared to sluggish Stone Golems, they were truly the essence of golem technology.
Belkis treasured them so much that he had not deployed them even in the Great Battle of Northwood. Unless the entire dragon race faced an absolute crisis, these would probably never show themselves outside the lair. Recalling that fact, Gedenhide abruptly opened his mouth.
“Open the gate.”
There was no need to identify himself. Those eternally awake Iron Golems must have been closely observing his every move from the moment he entered this place… Seeming to have judged that nothing was amiss, a heavy voice rang out.
“You are Guardian Gedenhide. Your identity has been confirmed, and you are permitted to enter.”
The moment those words ended, a roar burst forth. One of the Iron Golems that had stood like a pillar began to move. Turning with a smooth motion, the Iron Golem grasped the handle of the iron gate and applied force.
Rumble, rumble.
The enormous iron gate began to move slowly, stirring up clouds of dust.
“I think it every time, but it truly is astonishing. That they can move like this…”
As the gate opened, Gedenhide shook his head while looking at the Iron Golem returning to its original posture. An ordinary Stone Golem could never display movements this quick and fluid. Of course, it might be possible if one inserted a powerful magic stone, but in that case the body itself would be unable to endure it. Given the nature of stone, the body would most likely crumble before it could move properly…
Lost in such thoughts, Gedenhide stepped inside the iron gate. Pitch-black darkness enveloped him, but it posed no obstacle to him. If anything, Gedenhide welcomed darkness more than dazzling sunlight…
The sound of the gate closing behind him reached his ears. When the staircase descending below came into view, Gedenhide headed that way.
Step, step.
The sound of footsteps spread through the darkness. But that sound soon faded. The passage was shorter than expected. Upon arriving before the enormous wall blocking his path, Gedenhide knelt without hesitation. The guardians’ report should already have conveyed his arrival. In that state, he waited for Belkis’s response. The reply came before long. Of course, from beyond the wall.
“Is that you, Gedenhide?”
“Yes, Lord Belkis.”
Still kneeling, Gedenhide bowed his head respectfully. Every one of his gestures was steeped in reverence toward Belkis. It was enough to show just how deeply he submitted to Belkis.
“Several liches were damaged. Enough for me to sense it.”
“Th-that is correct.”
Gedenhide’s prostrate body was trembling. As expected, he was beside himself at the fact that Belkis had awakened from his sleep.
“If they possessed that much power, then they must have come from Arcadia. Explain the situation in detail, Gedenhide.”
“Y-yes, my lord.”
Bending his head at a right angle, Gedenhide soon began to divulge the facts regarding the intruders’ attack. From the infiltration of a party consisting of roughly ten people to the group that attacked afterward, he reported in detail the process by which they had repelled the invasion, then added his own conjecture.
“It seemed likely that they were connected to the party that entered first. Either they were chasing them, or they intended to protect them.”
“Judging by the fact that as many as fifteen guardians were damaged, their skills must have been considerable.”
“Th-that is correct. Most of them were Sword Masters, and among them, ten were especially skilled. Judging from various factors, they were experts who ranked among the very highest. Of course, four of them died by my hand.”
Naturally, there was one fact Gedenhide had failed to realize. In Arcadia, those whose skills were lacking were not called Sword Masters, but by the title Paladin. Upon hearing his words, Belkis showed a somewhat surprised reaction.
“Then that means the strength of the Arcadians has increased dramatically compared to five hundred years ago.”
“That will not be so. Over the past five hundred years, the orcs have also grown by leaps and bounds, so they will never fall behind humans. If the dragons, including yourself, Lord Belkis, join them, the outcome is already decided.”
Despite Gedenhide’s boastful declaration, Belkis’s reaction was less than pleased. No one knew more keenly than Belkis what kind of hidden strength humans possessed. After maintaining silence for a moment, Belkis spoke.
“There are exactly ten years left until my sleeping period ends. Therefore, just as you have until now, you are to guard my lair like an iron wall. Do you understand?”
“I understand.”
“And one more thing. Since those Treasure Hunter bastards may come swarming in again, take several of the treasures that came in this time to Zikrate’s treasury and store them there. It is an important matter, so you must do it personally.”
“I shall carry it out without fail.”
As though satisfied with Gedenhide’s attitude, no further answer came from beyond the stone wall. It seemed Belkis had fallen back into deep sleep once more. Rising unsteadily, Gedenhide headed for the exit without delay.
“It’s done.”
Damon, who had been pressing his palm to the floor, slapped his hand down. After worrying for over an hour in order to eavesdrop on the conversation between Belkis and Gedenhide, he had achieved his objective. Having accomplished what he set out to do, he dispersed the mana he had gathered without delay. Since he had learned something important, there was no room to linger any longer. A look of delight floated in Damon’s pupils.
“As expected, they never noticed in their wildest dreams.”
In truth, eavesdropping on the conversation between Belkis and Gedenhide was an exceedingly difficult task even for someone of his ability, having reached the level of a 9th Circle master. He could not use a familiar or eavesdropping magic in front of Belkis, and neither could he sneak in while avoiding the eyes of the Iron Golems, so he had spent a very long time agonizing over this matter.
Even if he used gnomes, spirits of the earth, he could not deceive Belkis’s eyes and ears. But the solution unexpectedly revealed itself in the arts. Its name was the Thousand-Li Earth-Listening Art. A Central Plains technique he had learned to grasp the scale and composition of an enemy from afar had greatly aided him in accomplishing his purpose.
In truth, the Thousand-Li Earth-Listening Art was not widely used in the Central Plains. Given the nature of martial artists, who conducted most important conversations through sound transmission, its function as an eavesdropping technique was inevitably limited. In addition, because it eavesdropped on voices through the vibrations of the earth, unless one possessed extremely deep internal energy, one could not properly make out the contents of a conversation. For that reason, Damon had invested a long time in increasing the sensitivity of the Thousand-Li Earth-Listening Art, and at last he had achieved the results he had anticipated.
“I’ll have to hurry. If things proceed as expected, I should be able to leave this place by tomorrow or so.”
As if there was no need to think further, he launched himself away. In truth, he had not even grasped where Zikrate lived. But that was no longer a problem. Around tomorrow, an existence that would kindly guide him to Zikrate’s lair would be setting out. Moreover, he had already finished devising a way to deal with Zikrate, the green dragon.
Of course, the possibility of success could be said to be extremely slim. If he succeeded, he would be able to obtain Nidelhark’s sealing sphere, and if he failed, he would lose his life at Zikrate’s hands…
“After all, everything in life is a gamble.”
Damon’s body soon vanished from that spot.