Soph’s words left me speechless.
I had barely managed to capture a single control object, and now, out of nowhere, he was talking about a Demon King. It was absurd beyond reason.
“You’re saying the Demon King is sealed in those ruins?”
[No, not that. Time has passed, but there’s no way my seal would be discovered so easily.]
“Then what is that?”
When I pointed at the ruins, Soph fell silent for a moment.
Just as I was about to ask again, Soph spoke.
[……Objects contaminated by the Demon King’s power were buried in the ruins. Those objects were sealed as well, but it seems the seal has weakened over time.]
“You’re saying something that isn’t even the Demon King, just contaminated objects, can give off this kind of feeling?”
[That Demon King drove this star to the brink of destruction. If we had not sealed him, this star would have been destroyed by him.]
Even though the Demon King had been sealed, in the end, this star had been destroyed by monsters.
The Demon King’s seal seemed meaningless, but I couldn’t bring myself to say that.
[They are things contaminated by such a Demon King. If the seal is undone, they may become dangerous.]
Objects contaminated by the Demon King.
Were they like cursed swords that turned you into a monster when you held them?
Or perhaps relics that monsters could use.
[We cannot let those objects fall into the hands of the monsters. They must be sealed again, or hidden away.]
At Soph’s words, a sigh escaped me on its own.
“Of course. Nothing ever goes easily.”
If Soph was right, then I had to obtain the contaminated objects before the monsters that had entered the ruins did.
That meant I had to race the monsters in exploring the ruins.
I had only come out to scout this time, but in the end, things had turned out like this.
“Then, what should I do……”
I stared at the ruins and sank into thought.
To obtain the contaminated objects, I had to enter the ruins.
But there was no way the monsters would kindly let me in.
“Should I dig my way down? Or wait until night and try moving then?”
Both would take time, but there was no better way to move without being discovered.
While I was debating which of the two methods would be better, Soph spoke.
[The monsters have found the entrance. They’ll break through soon.]
Rumble, rumble.
Before Soph could even finish speaking, the entrance to the ruins collapsed, creating a large hole.
The large monsters waiting outside began entering the hole.
[They’ve broken through.]
“Yes, yes, I’m going.”
I sighed and rose to my feet.
At this point, there was no use agonizing over it.
On top of that, my magic skills were lacking, so in broad daylight like this, I couldn’t hide myself the way Soph did.
In the end, there was only one method left.
[A forced breakthrough, then.]
“There’s no other way.”
“Huuuuuu.”
I drew in a deep breath.
Holding it, I cast on myself a speed-increasing spell I had seen somewhere.
[Grow faster, Accelerate.]
The moment I cast the spell, the movement of the air slowed.
The spear, and even the dust rolling across the ground, moved slowly.
But the world had not slowed down.
My mind had sped up.
Was it thanks to my accelerated mind?
I realized where I had obtained this magic.
‘It was the magic Carlo used.’
The reason Carlo moved so much faster than other people was because he had been using magic without even realizing it.
Of course, he did not think that his speed was “magic.”
But I could tell. Carlo’s ability was magic.
‘Then could the other abilities be the same?’
That thought suddenly occurred to me, but now was not the time to dwell on it.
Within the slowed flow of time, I kicked off the ground.
Shaaaak!
The ground rapidly receded behind me.
I could feel the air striking my face.
It felt as though I was the only one moving in a frozen world.
‘Is this the kind of world Carlo sees?’
The moment that thought crossed my mind, I felt fatigue.
It was not just fatigue. The energy consumption was considerable.
My head hurt too.
This magic was not time-related magic.
As the incantation suggested, it was magic that made my nerves and muscles move faster.
Naturally, it was several times more exhausting than usual.
No matter how I looked at it, this was not magic I could use for long.
It was a shame I couldn’t maintain it for long, but right now, it was more than enough.
Papapap!
The ruins approached rapidly.
The monsters’ figures also grew larger at an alarming rate.
The monsters entering through the entrance grew bigger and bigger, and I could clearly see the humanoid monsters going in and out of the hole in the wall.
Perhaps in order to excavate the ruins, the humanoid monsters had tentacles resembling shovels and pickaxes attached to both arms.
I could see the control object as well.
The gigantic body of the monster standing beside the ruins drew closer and closer.
At some point, the black tentacles writhing above the monster’s body abruptly stopped.
[It noticed you!]
The tentacles turned toward me.
Weeeeeeeeng!
The sound of a siren rang out.
The control object had issued an order.
The monsters’ movements changed.
The monsters at the rear turned their bodies toward me.
The monsters that had been trying to enter the hole also stopped in their tracks.
The humanoid monsters going in and out of the hole in the wall turned their heads toward me.
Every monster was looking at me.
It was a scorching gaze, but I had received this kind of gaze not long ago.
Compared to the complicated gazes of people, the monsters’ gazes were extremely simple.
There was only one emotion in the monsters’ gazes: rage.
The monsters began to move.
Defensive monsters formed up, and magic monsters prepared their spells.
Reconnaissance monsters moved their tentacles and tried to charge toward me.
The monsters blocking my path were not as numerous as the monsters in the ruined city.
Even so, it was too many to fight alone.
On top of that, there was the control object.
If I used the black stone attached to my spear, escaping would be possible, but I had not charged in like this just to run away.
I increased my speed even further.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
The sound of the wind rushing past grew louder, and my fatigue increased even more.
Now my legs began to ache.
The monster at the very front came close enough to touch.
The monsters’ tentacles stretched toward me.
Spells began to fire.
The control object’s enormous tentacle was about to fall toward me.
At the moment of crisis.
I took one step forward.
“Blink!”
Fwaaaak.
The world turned white, and when the light disappeared, my body was inside the ruins.
Space movement magic had moved me into the ruins.
Behind me was the entrance blocked by a monster, and before my eyes, a magic monster was staring at me in shock.
I jumped upward and thrust my spear into the monster’s head.
Bang!
The head of the monster that resembled a human mage burst apart.
The monster was not dead yet. Its intact spider-like lower body and black stone remained.
It was time to pierce its body and pull out the black stone, but I couldn’t waste time here.
Leaving behind the monster with its head blown apart, I hurled myself deeper into the ruins.
***
I had felt it when I saw it from outside as well, but these ruins were different from the ruins I had seen so far.
Aside from the magic circles, the previous ruins all had a modern appearance that did not suit ancient structures.
Simple, unadorned designs, structures suited to their purpose—nowhere in those ruins had there been places extravagantly decorated with sculptures or works of art.
But these ruins were different.
On both sides of the passage stood rows of statues made of stone and metal, and on the walls and ceiling were reliefs that seemed to depict people’s lives.
On top of that, there were glowing gemstones embedded here and there in the walls.
As I was marveling at the splendid carvings that continued all the way to the end of the passage, Soph’s voice came to me.
[With the passage of time, all the colors have vanished. In the past, brilliant murals covered the walls……]
It seemed the grandeur I felt was nothing compared to its original appearance.
“What kind of facility were these ruins originally? It doesn’t seem like an ordinary place.”
[As you can see, even when I was alive, it was closer to a museum. At first, it was built as an imperial tomb, but as time passed, it became something like a memorial hall for the early pioneers.]
“And you threw contaminated objects into a place like that.”
[There was no helping it at the time. I received urgent news and had to return quickly. On the way, this memorial hall was the only place unlikely to be found by people.]
Perhaps feeling wronged by my words, Soph’s excuse grew lengthy.
As I walked down the passage while listening to Soph’s excuses, I heard a growling sound.
Grrrrrr.
It was the sound made by people with tentacles attached to both arms.
Guests had entered a museum whose doors had been closed for tens of thousands of years.
Instead of admiring the sculptures, they charged at me.
I swung my spear toward the welcoming party.
Slice. Slice.
Necks were severed, and limbs were cut away.
There were not few of them, but I paid no attention and dealt with them all.
Shaaaak!
Every time I swung my spear, white blood was painted over the beautiful sculptures.
After I dealt with all the monsters that had rushed at me, I heard a strange sound.
It sounded like metal feet stepping on the ground.
Clank. Clank.
Following the sound, suits of armor appeared before me.
They were the suits of armor that had been lined up along the passage walls.
The sight of the discolored armor approaching with spears and swords in hand was extremely grotesque.
But that was all.
“This isn’t exactly Night at the Museum.”
It was a terrifying sight, suits of armor moving as though alive, but through my senses, I could see exactly what was moving them.
Humanoid monsters were inside the armor.
The monsters that had entered the ruins had put on armor to fight me.
Even if they wore armor, nothing changed.
Slice.
Along with the armor, the monsters were cut apart.
Those suits of armor were the last things blocking my way.
I continued descending.
Like the other ruins, these ruins also extended to an incredible depth.
Even after descending for quite a while, my senses could not detect an end.
Instead, the dreadful aura grew stronger and stronger.
By now, even ordinary people would be able to feel it.
As before, I used magic to block off the external aura.
Once I blocked the aura, the splendid carvings came back into view.
Thanks to the carvings, I did not grow bored while descending underground.
They resembled murals in a pyramid, but far better made, and they showed the development of this star.
Scenes of people crossing over to this star, creating terraforming ruins, and changing the environment.
Scenes of building cities and advancing magic.
Even scenes of establishing an emperor and offering rites to a god.
As I walked down the passage, many stories made from carvings continued to pass by.
While running and admiring the carvings like that, I asked Soph,
“Don’t tell me I have to go down for more than a day here too?”
It was not boring, but if it was too deep, it would be a problem when I had to return as well.
Judging by the other ruins, the architects of this star had a perverse taste for digging down to outrageous depths.
[No. This is not a military base, so there is no reason to dig that deep. We will arrive soon.]
It was just as Soph said.
After running for about thirty more minutes, I sensed the end of the passage at the edge of my perception.
At the end of the passage was a large stone chamber blocked off by a wall.
A long passage and a large stone chamber at the end.
It was like the tomb of a pyramid.
After confirming the destination with my senses, I stopped walking.
“You said the contaminated objects were sealed at the end of the ruins, right?”
[That is what we did.]
Even with the aura blocked by magic, I could faintly feel a dreadful presence.
As Soph had said, the contaminated objects were in the stone chamber at the end of the passage.
[Is there a problem?]
The objects seemed to be there, but another problem remained.
At the end of the passage.
At the boundary of my senses, I detected something moving.
It was not a monster.
There was no way the monsters had already reached that place.
And yet, something was moving.
“There’s something moving.”
[That cannot be……]
Soph trailed off.
That meant he knew something.
I asked Soph,
“What cannot be?”
[As I said earlier, these ruins are a tomb. So, along with the contaminated objects, we laid a comrade to rest here.]
“Don’t tell me…… the thing moving now is?”
[It should not be. He fell asleep here. Even if he was contaminated by the Demon King’s power, there is no way someone who died tens of thousands of years ago would move again.]
Soph spoke in a stiff voice, but even he did not seem certain.
If certainty was impossible, there was only one method.
“We’ll know once we see it with our own eyes.”
I tightened my grip on the spear and started walking again.
Memorial Hall (2)