Chapter 46
Chapter 46 – Underground City of the Ancient Gods 5
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Translator: Kell Editor: Weasalopes
Underground City of the Ancient Gods 5
Relatively powerful undead monsters resided beyond the wall . Poison Ghasts – superior zombie-type monsters – flocked together, releasing poison from their purplish bodies which turned darker and darker as they evolved . Hikaru and Lavia took a detour to avoid them altogether .
Like the book said, Living Heads were basically floating heads . It seemed like they could see light as they closed in on the magic lamp they had on . But they couldn’t see Hikaru and Lavia . After spinning their heads around for a bit, they flew away .
There were Dark Slimes as well – black puddles on the road . The roads were dry, so Hikaru knew they were not ordinary puddles right off the bat . He tried sticking a twig into the puddle, and slowly it melted . There was no need to kill it so he simply ignored it .
「Things will be different from here on . 」
Ignoring monsters along the way, they made good progress . Beyond the first wall was the first residential district and now they were about to pass through the second wall, to the Noble District . Unlike the Ponsonia royal capital, there was no second residential district here . The roads were paved with stone . Doors were shut tight, with no signs of buildings being ransacked .
Up until now, there were indications that adventurers had looted the place . Campsite remains and broken doors . Yet there were no corpses around . Did they turn into undead monsters?
But there were no such signs in the Nobles District .
A Dead Noble stood still, wearing clothes with a design Hikaru had never seen before . It was nonetheless extravagant, adorned with gold threads .
「… – – – …」
The monster muttered something and mana shot out from its hand . Gently, the mass of mana floated away to the other side of the building . Hikaru kept his eyes fixed on it and from there a Dead Citizen appeared .
「…What’s that?」Lavia asked .
「It looks like it’s reusing dead monsters . 」
Hikaru inched closer to the Dead Noble and stabbed it from behind . He could kill them in one shot, it seemed .
I ranked up .
His soul rank went up fast, perhaps because Dead Nobles were superior versions of Dead Citizens .
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They strolled through the streets of the Nobles District . Each house – rather, mansion, was huge . Through the open windows, Hikaru could see undead monsters walking down the hallways .
He checked a few of the buildings . Various works of art – vases and paintings – were left untouched . The treasures, however, were inside vaults sealed with magic . Hikaru couldn’t open the safes, but he could see where they were with Mana Detection .
It was similar to Lavia’s magic prison . The only difference being the mana in the vaults was still flowing, at least for the last six hundred years .
They must have some sort of a system that consistently provides magic .
The poem mentioned something about compiling powerful sorcery spells . It would be an incredibly powerful spell if it lasted six hundred years . Would it last forever? There was no such thing in Hikaru or Roland’s memories, at least .
Is Gafrasti looking for this spell?
Coins and jewels not inside vaults were scattered about inside some of the nobles’ houses . They picked those up . The design on the coins were peculiar . Hikaru15 wasn’t sure if he could use them at all .
Three hours had passed since they set out in the morning .
「I can see it, Hikaru . It’s the royal castle—」
「This way . 」
The castle loomed in the darkness . Surrounded by a ditch, the only way in was a bridge . Hikaru noticed the undead and quickly pulled Lavia behind a building . His Instinct was telling him to run .
Hikaru peered from the shadows . More than a hundred Zombies, with swelling muscles and over two meters tall, stood in a row .
「Draugr!」
Hikaru only saw them in files . Draugrs were undead monsters with extremely high physical abilities and acute senses . One could destroy a whole house on its own . Their commander was a Dead Knight wearing silver plate armor, eyes fixed on the road path to the castle .
「…What now?」
「I’m not sure…」
It wasn’t like they were lining up closely . But if they chose to push through, they would come within a one-meter radius of the monsters .
I could throw a rock or something to draw their attention… It would be great to decrease their numbers so I can scout… Then again, that would only make them more cautious .
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「How about I eradicate them with magic?」Lavia proposed .
「Magic, huh… Not a bad idea, but there’s two problems with that option . First the monsters inside the castle will notice the commotion . Second the bridge might fall . 」
「Yes, I might destroy the bridge . 」Lavia said .
「I guess we’ll just have to go through the front . 」
「The front?」
「It’s okay . 」
I think .
Hikaru pulled up his Soul Board and put one point each on Life, Mana, and Group Obfuscation . He now had zero points left . If this wasn’t enough to pass by unnoticed, he’d just have to kill more Dead Nobles to increase his level and max out Obfuscation . Although they wouldn’t be able to clear the place within the day .
「Lavia, when I squeeze your hand twice, I want you to turn off the lamp . Then when I do it again, please turn it back on . 」
「You want to turn off the light?」
「We’re up against Draugrs . 」
「Oh, right . They have keen senses . 」
Hikaru noticed they could detect light back when the Living Heads floated around them for a bit . They had to turn off the lamp so they could pass through the Draugrs and the Dead Knight .
「Don’t let go of my hand, Lavia . Just stay behind me . 」
They both started down the wide path that led to the castle .
Are we really going through the front? Lavia wanted to ask, but thought better of it . Hikaru said they’d go, so she just had to believe in him . She adjusted the brightness of the lamp to light up only their feet . The moment Hikaru squeezed her hand twice, she turned it off .
Darkness enveloped her . The faint silhouette of the castle seemed to melt into the dark .
Lavia saw green lights in the Draugrs’ eyes . Tiny as a needle’s eye, they were clear in the darkness . Hikaru’s footsteps were slow, but sure . Lavia didn’t know that it was because of his Mana Detection .
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Then, she almost let out a shriek as she stepped on a stone, twisting her ankle . Taking a breath, she walked forward once more .
Metal clanged . Hikaru stopped . They should be less than ten meters away from the Dead Knight . What now? Are we turning back? Lavia wanted to ask, but she couldn’t open her mouth . Not right now . The wind had stopped blowing, and she was sweating .
Once again, the sound of metal rang . Lavia felt Hikaru’s grip on her hand loosen slightly . He walked forward, and she followed . How many meters are we from the Dead Knight? Five? Three?
Another sound .
Lavia flinched . The sound came from just beside her ear . She almost admired herself for not letting out a sound . Hikaru quickened his pace and she matched it .
Horrible stench assaulted her senses . It must be the Draugrs, she thought . Hikaru stopped, turned left for a bit, then straight, then right . Lavia realized he was avoiding the Draugrs . Though she didn’t know how he was able to know their exact locations .
Then Hikaru stood still and turned around to face Lavia . All of a sudden, Hikaru embraced her . In his arms, they moved slowly, half a step at a time . The stench was becoming unbearable . Feeling nauseous, tears welled up in Lavia’s eyes .
Are the Draugrs really that close to each other? Maybe I should’ve just blasted them all to oblivion with my spells, she thought .
Hikaru’s grip loosened . Pulling on Lavia’s hand, he walked faster than ever before . She knew they had made it past the monsters . The stench was gone as well . Hikaru squeezed her hand twice .
I know . We made it, right? Lavia squeezed back . Once again, he squeezed her hand twice .
I’m fine . Just exhausted, she answered . He did it once more .
It was hard for you as well, huh? Are you worried about me? Grinning, Lavia squeezed twice . So you have that side of you… Ehehe…
Hikaru stopped .
「Uh, can you please turn on the lamp?」he whispered in her ear .
The royal castle’s design was different from the current one . It would probably take an hour to go around the place .
「Let’s check the inside . 」Hikaru said .
「………」
「Lavia?」
「It’s nothing . Let’s go . 」
Hikaru thought she refused to turn on the light earlier . When he finally asked her directly, she finally did . Lavia held his hand with one hand, while holding the lamp with the other . She turned her face away from him . For some reason, she was beet red .
Dead Nobles roamed about inside the castle, but there was no sight of a Dead Knight . Hikaru took the opportunity to kill them all and gained three levels . With this, his soul rank was now 27, while Lavia’s was 24 .
「Where do we go from here? The throne room?」Lavia asked .
They were having bread, dried meat, and dried fruits for lunch . Inside the palace grounds, Dead Nobles that Hikaru killed with one strike were sprawled about .
「Clearing a dungeon means getting the treasure . 」Hikaru said .
「Yup, exactly . 」
Lavia was suddenly eager .
「In that case, we have to find the storage first . I’m also curious as to how this city collapsed, so it would be great if we could find clues to that . 」
「Clues? Are you planning to interview the undead or something?」
「That would be our last resort . They’d notice us if I did that . I think the royal capital sank underground and then everyone turned into undead monsters . I wonder if anyone left some records of the events . 」
「It’s possible . A king has a secretary . They probably have a record of what happened . 」
「Where can I find it?」
「They’re mostly top secret matters, so the records would either be in the king’s office, or in the archives exclusively for the royal family . 」
「So we have to check out the throne room . 」
Tossing the last piece of dried fruit in his mouth, Hikaru stood up .
「All right . Let’s look for the treasure first . This place isn’t like the nobles’ mansions . I want to find something valuable . 」