Regressor Of The Fallen Family [EN]: Chapter 340

A heavy thud echoed in the dark tunnel, followed by another, slower thud.

A voice echoed through the tunnel. “They’ve dug very far in just three months,” the voice said.

No one answered. The voice bounced off the damp tunnel walls, fading into the darkness.

Only the flickering torches cast dancing shadows, and the sound of footsteps filled the straight, stone passage. The air was cool and smelled of damp earth.

Logan paused at the tunnel entrance, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword. Something felt wrong.

He hadn’t rushed down immediately, suspecting something might be amiss.

‘No one’s hiding,’ Logan thought, his eyes scanning the shadows, his ears listening for any sound besides his own footsteps.

Logan’s eyes darted from side to side, his nose twitching, catching the scent of dust and old stone. He listened intently for any sound that wasn’t natural in this place.

Suddenly, the tunnel opened into a wider space, and a pure white wall, glowing softly, blocked his path.

A low hum filled the air.

The light was so bright and pure white, it seemed to glow from within the wall itself. It felt… holy.

“Hmm,” Logan murmured, studying the wall. This light… it was familiar.

Logan recognized the light instantly. From what he knew, this had to be a relic of the Magic Saint, Jibric Cassel.

However, remembering a past deception with fake divine power, Logan suspected this might not be real either.

‘…I still can’t tell the difference between real and fake divine power,’ Logan admitted to himself.

Bishop Ilia claimed to have immediately identified the fake divine power, but Logan couldn’t manage that.

But.

‘Breaking it is another story.’

There was no reason to waste time.

Clang!

The moment he made up his mind, his sword moved in a blur of motion, cleaving the barrier in front of him.

A clean draw, wasting not a single ounce of power.

Lux, his sleek sword, glowed with power as he swung it.

Kwaaaang! The sound of the impact was deafening, shaking the tunnel.

But the pure white barrier stood firm, unyielding.

“I thought so…” Logan muttered. His jaw tightened, and his eyes narrowed as he stared at the unmoving barrier.

His control over his sword was perfect. He could guide its every move.

But even his most powerful strike, delivered with perfect skill, did nothing to the barrier. Furthermore, he was certain that amplifying his destructive power with any ordinary technique wouldn’t even make the barrier budge.

‘So, I have to use the Holy Sword’s technique after all…’ Logan thought, a sigh escaping his lips. He really didn’t want to.

Though reluctant, he couldn’t simply turn back. Logan took a deep breath, focusing his will. This time, golden energy flowed into his sword, and he prepared to strike again.

Flash!

Golden light erupted from the sword, flooding the tunnel ahead with a brilliant glow.

And then.

Tssst tssst.

The white barrier shimmered, then dissolved, like mist in the sun, under the golden light of the blade.

(Sound of energy draining) Hooo.

Logan gasped, feeling his energy drain away. More than half of his power was gone in that one strike.

Logan took a deep breath to steady himself, his face set in a hard line.

Then, something strange happened. His disguised hair turned back to its natural color, his eyes changed, and his face shifted, becoming his true face again.

“Blast it…” Logan muttered under his breath, feeling his true appearance return. He sighed, annoyed, and clicked his tongue in frustration.

It was the power of the Heavenly Sky Severance, his most powerful sword strike, that had broken the barrier. But the force of the strike had also backfired. The magic item that kept him disguised, a device made by Clayton, was now broken.

It was a mistake born of his inexperience.

‘I need to control this power better,’ Logan thought. ‘Once I get used to the Heavenly Sky Severance, this won’t happen again.’

He had rushed things, even though he had just learned the Heavenly Sky Severance. With more practice, he could control its power better. But worrying about his disguise was for later.

He pushed the thought of training aside. The relic was right in front of him. That was what mattered now.

“Hmm,” Logan said, looking at what was now in front of him. The white barrier was gone, revealing a grey stone wall behind it.

The grey wall, made of some strange stone, had also been broken by his attack. A doorway now gaped open, leading inside.

Logan stepped through the opening and found himself in a wide corridor. It stretched left and right, clearly not a simple doorway but a passage designed to be entered from the middle.

The wide and tall passage, very wide, easily able to fit ten people side by side, was filled with vibrant murals on both sides.

Logan’s eyes widened as he looked at the walls. Paintings covered every inch, bright and colorful even after all this time. Dragons, humans, lizardmen… were these all pictures of ancient races?

The colors of the paint were incredibly vibrant, as if the murals had been painted just yesterday, not ages ago.

One mural showed a huge, terrifying dragon, scales like black iron, roaring fire that swallowed entire mountains. Before it stood brave warriors of different races, their faces determined.

It was strange to see them together – humans, elves, dwarves, and others, races usually at war with each other, all united against the dragon. The murals to the left and right seemed to depict the story before and after the battle.

Logan’s gaze naturally turned to the mural depicting the aftermath of the battle.

Amidst a desperate, bloody struggle, the dragon was depicted with its scales torn off, and countless members of various races were dying.

Logan wanted to study the murals more closely, but he knew he couldn’t waste time.

He was curious whether the murals depicted actual history or were the product of someone’s imagination, but he didn’t have the luxury to ponder and examine the contents.

He ignored the murals and walked quickly towards the direction where the pull was strongest.

‘I need to find the Holy Sword first,’ Logan thought. That was his main goal here.

He knew the Imperial Army would be back, no matter how long it took. And next time, they would bring even stronger soldiers than before.

He had to find what he needed in this relic and leave before the army returned.

Logan’s pace quickened, his boots echoing louder in the passage as he hurried deeper into the relic.

This underground relic felt like the dungeons he had heard stories about – ancient places filled with monsters and traps.

Historians said that these traps and monsters were put there on purpose by the powerful magic users who built these places, to keep out unwanted visitors.

But as Logan moved deeper, he realized something was strange. This relic had no monsters. And so far, no traps either.

‘No monsters… that’s not too surprising,’ Logan thought. This place was filled with divine power, which would probably keep monsters away.

Monsters, creatures of darkness that fed on magic, were rare these days.

These days, you could only find large numbers of monsters in two places.

One place was the Demon Forest in the north. It was a huge forest filled with magical beasts, creatures changed by the dark magic left behind by the Great Demon King long ago.

The other place was the Forbidden Zone in the south, also called the Southern Mountain Range or the Sea of Endless Mountains. It was a dangerous, wild place where many races had vanished long ago during something called the Great Migration.

Besides, this relic was filled with holy power. That power would naturally keep monsters away.

But traps? He hadn’t seen any traps either. That was even more unusual.

‘It’s almost like… like it *wants* people to come in,’ Logan thought, a shiver running down his spine.

The lack of danger made him bolder. His cautious steps became quicker, almost eager.

As he reached the end of the passage, it opened into a large plaza. The sudden open space and the strange lights ahead made Logan slow down again, his caution returning.

Bright, colorful lights flickered at the far end of the plaza, almost blinding him. Logan’s senses sharpened, his vigilance returning full force.

Just because there were no traps so far didn’t mean there wouldn’t be any ahead.

Logan carefully scanned the plaza, his eyes searching for tripwires, pressure plates, anything that looked like a trap. Then, something on the wall caught his attention again – a detail in one of the murals.

The mural at the end of the passage showed three dragons—red, blue, and yellow—along with two people who looked like they were connected to dragons. There were also figures of an Elf, a Dwarf, a Lizardman, and an Orc.

Each figure had a bright white light around them, and they seemed to be riding on soft, white clouds as they went up into the sky. Below them, a human figure looked up, his face twisted in pain as he watched them go up.

The mural strangely caught his eye.

‘What is this?’

For a moment, Logan forgot about searching for traps and became completely focused on the mural. He couldn’t tear his eyes away. It felt like the mural was trying to tell him a story, a strange feeling in his head.

He had never formally studied ancient history, and there were no other paintings to explain it, yet it continued to fascinate him.

But then he shook his head, remembering why he was there, and Logan shook off the vague feeling, turning his attention back to reality.

‘I don’t have time for this.’

Fortunately, his senses detected no traps, and with a serious face, Logan cautiously stepped into the plaza.

As soon as he entered the plaza, his eyes were drawn to a mountain of treasure, piled high enough to nearly touch the ceiling.

When people think of ruins, they often imagine places where ancient rulers hid countless riches and treasures. Most ruins that people have dug up did, in fact, contain such treasures.

Historians guessed that ancient rulers had power and authority like gods, collecting wealth in their homes.

And this place, thought to be the ruins of Zibric Kassel, was also filled with a huge pile of treasure.

The treasure was piled up like a golden hill. There were gold coins from a time long ago, shining ornaments, beautiful artworks made of gold and silver, and weapons covered in colorful jewels like rubies and emeralds. Everything shone brightly.

So much so that the path to the altar where the Holy Sword was placed was barely visible.

It was a sight he hadn’t expected when he saw it in the memories that flashed through his mind like a dream.

Therefore, Logan couldn’t help but feel a bit bitter.

The riches, which would easily be worth more than the kingdom’s yearly budget, were like something he could never have.

‘To think I have to leave all this behind.’

A sigh escaped him, but the value of the treasure was not his main concern. First, he had to deal with the reason he had come here.

Logan carefully looked around. However, apart from the Holy Sword on the altar, he saw nothing but the pile of treasure.

If so…

‘The Divine Sword Art (a powerful fighting skill) is inside this?’

A wave of irritation washed over him, but he couldn’t stop searching for the Art. He had to stop the strong fighters from the Empire, who he knew he would fight many times, from getting stronger or finding his weaknesses by learning the Divine Sword Art.

Logan glanced at the Holy Sword and sighed before focusing his mind. He couldn’t possibly search through this huge pile of treasure, which was several times his height, one piece at a time.

Woooong.

Logan used his inner magic power. He was a very skilled magic user, almost the best. He focused his magic power and sent it out like a net into the treasure.

Logan closed his eyes, focusing on the feelings coming from the magic connected to his fingertips.

‘Nothing else matters. Books. Anything book-like.’

Only someone with very strong magic like Logan could do this.

The magic, spread like a net, searched through the treasure, looking for things like what Logan had asked for.

But.

‘Nothing?’

Even after searching again and again, like using a giant net to catch something, he couldn’t find anything that felt like a book.

‘That can’t be.’

Logan gritted his teeth and focused even more, making his magic net even finer and more focused. He cleared his mind of all distractions, focusing all his senses on the spread-out magic.

Soon, the finer, denser web of magic crawled through the treasure more slowly, but with greater precision than before.

However.

No matter how many times he repeated the process, he couldn’t sense anything that could be the Art.

“Huh…”

Had he wasted his energy for nothing?

Logan wiped the sweat from his brow, his face noticeably darkening.

‘If it’s not here, where did he get the Divine Sword Art?’

Perhaps Lewis, who had given him the Holy Sword and the Art in his past life, had made a mistake.

That would be fortunate, at least.

‘But what if it is here?’

What if he simply couldn’t find it with his senses?

There was no way they would have left something as valuable as the Divine Sword Art near the entrance, so if it was here, it was likely hidden.

Perhaps it was magically hidden to make it difficult to find.

But he didn’t have the time to search for it piece by piece, nor did he intend to leave it behind.

In that case…

‘…I’ll have to destroy it.’

He couldn’t allow the Empire to have what he couldn’t.

With that thought, Logan decided to destroy the treasures, which might have revealed the secrets of the ancient world.

He was about to draw his sword when something occurred to him. Logan picked up a few gold coins, a finely crafted dagger, and a piece of jewelry.

They were small enough not to get in his way, and he hoped they might give him some idea about the time when these ruins existed. As a descendant of humanity, he felt bad about destroying old and important things from history, not just treasures.

And with that, Logan stopped hesitating and channeled power into his sword once more.

– Logan raised his sword and used a powerful magic attack called Universal Collapse.

The moment the wave of bright golden light shot from the tip of his sword and touched the pile of treasure.

Golden waves spread throughout the plaza.

Rumble!

Flash!

Creeeaaak.

The treasure pile crumbled into dust with an explosion of light that seemed to shatter the air.

Whoosh.

In an instant, the mountain of treasure vanished, and the plaza floor was covered in golden dust like a sandy beach.

Logan wore a complicated expression as he gazed at the brilliant golden light.

It wasn’t because he regretted destroying the riches.

Though it was worth less than when it was whole, the dust still had worth more money than anyone could count.

But he couldn’t take it with him anyway.

He didn’t care about such wealth.

His heart was heavy for another reason.

‘I couldn’t control it properly….’

Logan was tired. Using magic to get into the ruins had used up his energy, and searching with magic had also made him tired. That’s why he couldn’t control his attack perfectly.

The problem was that the walls and floor of the plaza hadn’t sustained any damage.

‘Unless it’s an attack that tears apart space itself like another powerful attack that could cut through anything, it can’t even leave a scratch? What is this….’

He glanced at the altar, where the Holy Sword, stuck upside down, continued to exude a divine aura, showing its power.