Level Up Inquisitor [EN]: Chapter 36

36. The Ruins (5)

Smash!

The rusted iron bars, densely packed at the end of the blocked passage, were kicked away by the man.

Aile, who was inside, crawled out with his back bent.

After entering the passage from the last room where the ceiling had collapsed, it didn’t take long to get out.

The first place his foot touched was not the floor but the top of a towering pillar.

The thick pillar connected to the end of the passage stood firm despite its shabby appearance.

Even though the pillar was wide, it was high enough that a fall would be fatal, but his mind was completely occupied elsewhere.

“This is…….”

Aile, his mouth wide open, stared blankly ahead.

The interior of the ruins unfolded before him, an incredibly vast space that was hard to believe existed underground.

The walls on all sides were densely covered with unknown characters, and in the center, a huge pyramid towered.

There was no sun, but the subtle blue light lingering on the floor and walls revealed the scene intact.

“What is this place for…….”

Alisa, who followed, muttered, showing the same reaction.

Was it a dungeon with monsters lurking? Ruins where special items lay hidden? A place related to quests?

Whether this place belonged to any of these categories, or perhaps included all three, he couldn’t tell right away, but one thing was certain: it was on a different level from anything he’d seen before.

Aile, who had been frozen for a moment by the magnificent sight, regained his senses and said, “Let’s go down for now.”

They couldn’t understand the details by just staying on the pillar.

The pyramid occupied most of this huge space, creating many blind spots. He needed to examine the area directly to get a better sense of it.

The two carefully climbed down the rugged pillar.

Grooves in the middle provided ample places to grab or step on.

Just in case, he looked down while descending, but no monsters were visible, and there were no statues that would suddenly move and attack like before.

Thud!

Aile, who landed first, knelt on one knee and examined the floor.

The dust piled up and the moss spread everywhere told him that this was an old space where no one had set foot in a long time.

“Apparently, there were a few visitors after it was first discovered, but there are no recent traces. It seems we’ve rediscovered this place.”

Even the posts uploaded by the first discoverer, and the posts of the few people who visited for fun afterward, made no mention of such a place.

Perhaps they hadn’t found the real entrance because the boss, the giant statue, didn’t activate, and they entered another space through the fake entrance in the last room.

It seemed likely that the previous space was a trick, and considering the scale of the current space, that was plausible enough.

“That’s good news, isn’t it?”

Alisa reacted cheerfully to Aile’s words.

Rediscovering such a place was a jackpot for players, even considering the risks.

Of course, since only monsters in the level 20 range had appeared so far, it wouldn’t be recognized as much as its original value because the discovery was so late.

However, even so, it was certain that it would be very helpful to them, who were still low-level users, if the situation worked out well.

The two began to investigate the surroundings in earnest.

They had to enter this mysterious giant pyramid, but before doing so, they first examined the outside.

It was a natural decision, as there might be clues about hidden items or places.

‘I’ve never seen this writing system before…….’

Aile thought, looking at the patterns engraved on the wall.

Even backgrounds or basic settings that wouldn’t be a big deal in other games are of considerable help in quest progression in War Lord.

Naturally, Aile had a rough idea of all the characters of the different races in the War Lord world, as well as the ancient characters that were no longer used.

Even if it was impossible to completely interpret the meaning, he was able to recognize the type of character it was.

But he had never seen this type of character before.

‘The fact that there are pyramid ruins like that in the central region is also strange……. I can’t get a sense of it at all.’

Pyramidal architectural style.

It wasn’t a common style in War Lord, but it wasn’t as if it had never been discovered before.

However, as far as he knew, all of them had been related to the western desert area, and this was the first time that ruins of this type had been discovered in other areas.

‘Is it somehow related to the western region?’

In the vast continent of War Lord, the north, west, south, and east were all barren, unexplored lands.

Almost all users were concentrated in the central region where the kingdom was located, and almost all cities and towns also existed only in the center.

Most users would not give up the well-established infrastructure of the central region and head to such remote areas, except for explorers or treasure hunters who were interested in items that had not yet been preempted or new areas.

At least in the north, one of the leading large guilds was directly involved in reclamation, but the west was rather used by vicious criminals who were chased by guilds or users to escape, and it was safe to say that it was a lawless zone itself.

“Aile, did you find anything?”

“No, not at all.”

“Me neither. I guess we’ll have to go inside.”

The two circled around the pyramid once, but they couldn’t find any new items or definite clues.

Now they had to head inside, and the only passage leading to the inside of the pyramid was the single entrance in front.

“Dungeons like this usually have something at the top…….”

“Haha, at this size, it would take almost several days to break through, wouldn’t it?”

Aile said with a laugh.

Assuming they started on the first floor and went up one floor at a time while circling around, it was hard to even calculate how long it would take.

Besides, they couldn’t just break through; it seemed likely that they would have to fight monsters, so it would be fortunate if it ended in a day or two.

Fortunately, they had packed enough food, so they didn’t have to worry about starving to death.

Drrrrr!

As they stood in front of the entrance, the stone door, which was already half open, went down completely.

Unlike the outside, the newly discovered interior had almost no traces of destruction, only age, and he felt a strange sense of foreboding that the entrance was already open.

But they entered the interior, and there they were met with an unexpected sight.

“This is……?”

As soon as they entered the entrance and faced the first room, a huge head filled their vision.

For a moment, they flinched, thinking it was a monster, but it was something different.

Two statues lying on the floor.

The figures were lying face down, with huge wounds all over their bodies.

A huge presence that made the boss monster they had met earlier pale in comparison.

But apart from being surprised, they weren’t worried that the statues would suddenly move again or attack.

A familiar voice was heard from somewhere.

“To come this far alive with just the two of you, you passed well. Honestly, I didn’t expect much… I’ve reevaluated you.”

A woman with red hair sitting on top of the broken statue’s head.

It was Severa Logia of the Bloody Hands, who had brought them here.

“I didn’t expect you to be waiting at the entrance…….”

Aile said sullenly, looking up at her.

“I had no choice. If you guys had set foot behind there, you would have died without a doubt.”

“Die? What’s in there that makes you say that?”

Alisa stepped forward and asked.

But Severa just smiled and didn’t answer.

Alisa tilted her head at her meaningful expression.

“I took care of the cave bandits. But I can’t see a guy named Cassano? The information was accurate, but did you deceive us?”

Aile said to Severa as if he were blaming her.

Incorrect prior information, as important as the quest objective, could be considered fraud.

If he glossed over even these parts, he would be looked down upon even by NPCs [Non-player characters; computer-controlled characters].

In War Lord, where there were so many evil characters unlike artificial intelligence, there were also many NPCs who were willing to treat users who were willing to take on miscellaneous tasks like pushovers.

“I didn’t intend to do that, so calm down. Like I said before, what reason would I have to believe in you guys who had nothing and entrust you with work?”

Severa shrugged her shoulders and said.

Then, her eyes changed in an instant, and she continued, “But now the story is different. First, check out the statues here. I left something for you.”

She pointed to the two statues lying on either side.

The statues were filled with light, indicating that they could be looted.

It was as if she had deliberately left the spoils after defeating them.

Then, while not hiding their suspicious feelings, they each approached the statue and checked the remaining spoils.

[Quest completed!]

[Level up!]

– Acquired item!

[Unidentified Purple Skill Book ×2]

“This is……!”

Aile and Alisa’s eyes widened at the same time as they looted the item.

Skill books with a purple glow, two for each statue.

A total of four skill books came into their hands, and the extraordinary items made them wonder if they had seen them wrong.

It was a whole level higher than the red skill book he had obtained after defeating Traggul last time.

It was truly of enormous value.

“This is the reward for this request. It wasn’t the reward I was originally going to give, but a skill book I didn’t need came out. It’s a waste to just throw it away.”

Severa, who was dangling her legs on the statue, jumped down.

“It took me quite a while to catch these two gatekeepers here, and it took me a lot of time because stealth didn’t work.”
“It took you a while? There’s no way the branch manager of Bloody Hands would struggle with a level 20 monster… wait, could it be?”

Aile, who was considering her words, stopped in his tracks for a moment.

The thoughts about the statues he had faced flashed through his mind, and one hypothesis suddenly came to mind.

The statues had already been severely broken when he first entered.

If it wasn’t a low-level monster from the beginning, but only in a state where its power was greatly weakened due to damage and long years, the story could be completely different.

Then, Severa, who saw his realization, smiled and turned her head toward the deeper passage that exuded a chilling aura, on the opposite side of the entrance where Aile came in.

“You’re quick to notice. Yes, this place isn’t a common dungeon. It’s an ancient dungeon from level 210, the Tomb of the King.”