The 9Th Class Swordmaster: Blade Of Truth [EN]: Chapter 158

124. The Box

“A Platinum Dragon…?! Are you serious about hunting a dragon now?”

Aidan’s expression was more astonished than when the Bone Dragon had appeared. He directed his question to Carryl.

“I’m just kidding.”

Carryl chuckled, patting Aidan on the shoulder, amused by his reaction. “Don’t worry. We came all the way to the City of the Dead, and we haven’t even finished our work here yet. There’s no way we’d suddenly go off to catch a Platinum Dragon.”

“Ah….”

Aidan’s face flushed slightly at Milliana’s gentle correction.

“But it’s not like we won’t go at all, eventually.”

“Pardon?”

“It’s just been pushed back a bit in priority. Dragon lairs require a lot of preparation, you see.”

Carryl’s words made Aidan feel a bit foolish for thinking they might actually hunt a dragon, rather than simply being teased. The idea had seemed almost plausible for a moment.

Dragon hunting.

It was a monumental feat that would be difficult even with a lifetime of dedication, but with these people, it felt like something they could accomplish as a matter of course.

“How is it? More fun than when you were in the Shadow Faction?”

“Yes?”

“If you meet Juke Di Hold later, tell him about it. Tell him what kind of things you’re experiencing.”

Aidan shook his head at Carryl’s suggestion.

“I already have more than enough to tell him right now.”

“No. The future will be even more amazing.”

That casually uttered remark sent a thrill through him, making his body tremble.

‘Damn it….’

However, he wasn’t just happy. At the same time, he was reminded of a feeling he had forgotten.

He was the one who had come from the Shadow Faction of the Eastern Kingdom, recognized for his skills, to carry out a mission. But among these powerhouses, he felt insignificant.

‘I want to become stronger.’

He enjoyed admiring Carryl’s strength, but he didn’t want to be limited to mere admiration.

He hadn’t done anything when they caught the Bone Dragon either.

But his growth was by no means slow.

In his past life, he was a person with outstanding talent, enough to be called one of the Empire’s Seven Greats.

It was just that the people around him now were not the kind that could be described as simply outstanding.

‘If I could master that….’

Aidan bit his lip slightly, unnoticed. In his mind, there was only one way he could catch up among these extraordinary individuals.

The secret art given to the successor of the Shadow Faction.

The Super Roar Technique.

Among the Shadow Faction’s techniques, Mana Transformation instantly increases the unit of mana to allow the use of higher-level magic. However, the Super Roar Technique increases not only mana but also physical abilities in a special form called Awakening, doubling the power for a moment.

The Super Roar Technique has three stages in total, with different secret methods of transmission for each stage. Only the ruler of the Eastern Kingdom can master the final stage, the third stage, while the successor of the Shadow Faction can learn the second stage, which is below that.

However,

The downside is the limited effective time.

The higher the stage, the more powerful the force that can be exerted temporarily, but the aftermath is so severe that it is not a technique that can be used easily.

However, according to rumors, even the first stage can produce power comparable to a Sword Master, so it was the most suitable technique for Aidan, whose main focus was instant kills.

Perhaps the reason why all those from the Shadow Faction are assassins is all for the succession of the Super Roar Technique.

‘But now I won’t have anything to do with it.’

Aidan smiled bitterly.

He had already abandoned the Eastern Kingdom and chosen Carryl, so he should consider himself lucky if he wasn’t targeted by them, let alone learning the secret art of the Shadow Faction.

“Well, we’ll have to go to the Platinum Dragon’s lair someday… But if we’re here, isn’t there somewhere else we should stop by besides the lair? Gordon, how long did it take you to get to the Eastern Kingdom from here by airship?”

Aidan flinched slightly when Carryl mentioned the Eastern Kingdom.

“Hmm, about three days?”

“What about by ship?”

“Well, to take a ship, you’d have to go around the barrier, so it would take at least two weeks. But if you break through here, you can get to the southern tip in four days. From there, taking a ship would take about a week, so if you add it all up, you’d have to allow at least ten days, right?”

“Hmm, then let’s just say about a week.”

“Did you even listen to my explanation properly?”

Gordon frowned slightly and asked Carryl.

“If it’s a route that takes a week, then a ship to pick us up will be enough in three days.”

“You’re plotting something again, aren’t you?”

Gordon looked at Carryl’s confident expression with interest.

“But why?”

“It’s nothing much.”

Carryl kept his plans to himself at Gordon’s question, and instead tapped Aidan on the shoulder lightly once before moving on.

Aidan couldn’t help but smile wryly at Carryl’s knowing gesture, as if he sensed what Aidan had been thinking a moment ago.

“First, we need to resolve things here. We’ll have to break through this barrier to take a ship to the southern tip.”

“Yes, we need to hurry. If they find out that the Bone Dragon is dead, monsters will definitely appear from the castle.”

“Knowing that so well, are you two just chatting? Seriously….”

While scolding Carryl and Gordon, Milliana rummaged through the broken bones and stood up.

“This came out of the Bone Dragon’s heart.”

She held something in both hands, seemingly quite heavy, and showed it to the group.

Since it was already a corpse, there was no proper heart, but instead, the green smoke that was the medium of necromancy that moved the body had turned into a sticky liquid and flowed out onto the floor when the Bone Dragon died.

What came out of the Bone Dragon’s corpse was, unusually, an old box.

The green slime smeared on the box dripped down her arms and onto the floor.

“Hmm, this….”

“Who knows? Maybe it contains the key to unlock the sealing magic on the barrier.”

“That would be nice. Give it here.”

Gordon received the box from Milliana and examined the locked part.

Creak… Creeeeak….

The sound of metal twisting could be heard.

Veins bulged on his thick arms.

“Hoo…!”

But surprisingly, Gordon tried his best to open it, but the tightly locked box didn’t budge.

Eventually, Gordon gave up and threw the box on the floor, exhaling.

“What is this?”

Even if it was the most solid sealing magic, he had always been able to break it with brute force until now.

Gordon stared at the box in disbelief.

“It’s a place that existed even in the Magic Era. Maybe it’s not human magic. The Bone Dragon was still a dragon in life, after all. Let me try.”

Milliana tried to concentrate her magic and channel it into the box.

Zap–!!

But at that moment, her hand was thrown back with a strong spark, and black smoke rose above the box.

“Kugh?!”

The lock of the box trembled and stopped, as if repelling the dragon magic. Milliana frowned slightly at the stinging pain.

“Are you okay?”

“It’s nothing. But is there a metal that repels magic? This is the first time I’ve seen something like this.”

Milliana looked around the box, but couldn’t find any significant magic circles.

“This….”

Aidan, who had been watching them, came one step closer and stared intently at the box she was holding.

“Do you know something?”

“It’s not exactly the same, but it looks similar to the Shadow Faction’s Sealing Lock? I don’t know why a box with a secret art is here, but….”

“Sealing Lock? What’s that?”

At Milliana’s question, Aidan lifted the box and examined it, saying.

“Perhaps people on the continent don’t know much about it. *Yeokro* [a special plant that only grows in the Eastern Kingdom], is aged for a long time in a dark room until it hardens. If it is *jujo* [cast/molded] with a special secret art passed down only to the ruler of the Eastern Kingdom, a special Sealing Lock is created that cannot be opened with magic or force.”

Carryl nodded at his explanation.

“Hmm… Similar to *cheongnin* [blue phosphorus]. *Cheongnin* also becomes as hard as a mineral when *jujo*, but it’s actually not a mineral but moss from the Spring of Vision.”

“Huh…?! *Cheongnin* is moss?”

Milliana was surprised and asked Carryl back.

“Yes. That’s something I’ll tell you later, so let’s move on for now.”

She pouted her lips slightly at Carryl’s words.

“Hmm, the Ghost Castle and the Eastern Kingdom may not be completely unrelated. There’s even a theory that the continent’s black magic was created based on the secret arts of the Eastern Kingdom in the first place.”

Gordon looked at the tightly locked box with fascination and said.

“The City of the Dead itself can be said to be a collection of black magic.”

“That’s right. The Immortality Society would be furious if they heard that. But their magic books don’t have anything left about the history before 500 years ago in the Anti-Hum Grand Library. Maybe the magic from before that is really related to the secret arts of the Eastern Kingdom.”

“You know a lot? Have you been there too?”

At Gordon’s words, Carryl shook his head lightly and said.

“I haven’t been there. I just know one of the black magicians and heard it from him.”

“Hmm, you know all sorts of people. The Immortality Society guys don’t even give a glance to magicians who aren’t in the same group.”

Carryl nodded as if he knew Gordon’s words well.

Of course, there was no need to say that the black magician he knew was someone he hadn’t even met yet and was just a connection from his past life.

“So, can you unlock this?”

Gordon handed the box to Aidan.

“I’ll try. Fortunately, this is crude compared to the Sealing Locks made in the current Eastern Kingdom.”

“Huh….”

Gordon Fabian became curious about the strange artifacts of the Eastern Kingdom at the story that the lock he couldn’t break with his own strength was crude.

“Just a moment.”

Aidan took out a small dagger that he always carried.

Click-

When he twisted the handle of the dagger, surprisingly, the handle part came off, and inside there were five more small needle-like things.

He put them in his mouth, reassembled the dagger, and then took out another dagger and placed the two blades together, and they stuck together like magnets, becoming a double blade.

“Huh….”

Gordon exclaimed in amazement at the sight.

He had lived the life of a mercenary for a long time, but he didn’t know much about the Eastern Kingdom either.

It was the most veiled country on the continent.

Clatter… Clatter….

Aidan began to insert the five needles one by one into the entrance of the box.

Flutter…!

When the needles were inserted into the lock of the box, the ends of the needles trembled as if they were alive.

Strangely enough, each needle felt a faint magic, as if Mana Blade had already been injected into the needle, even though Aidan didn’t use magic.

“These needles are only given to the first-class assassins of the Shadow Faction. The magic contained in them is nothing special, but the secret art contained in that magic is important.”

“What is it?”

Milliana asked him.

“It’s poison. Enough to kill a person instantly.”

“…….”

Milliana stared at Aidan, speechless, recalling the sight of him holding the needles with such potent poison in his mouth without a care, even if it was just the ends.

“You’re no ordinary person either.”

“But I don’t really use it for assassination.”

“Why?”

“Because doing it directly is more certain than using needles.”

“……I see.”

Milliana nodded, strangely convinced, stroking her neck once.

“Instead, it’s mainly used to unlock Sealing Locks. The Eastern Kingdom also uses Sealing Locks when sending secret letters.”

Crack…… Crack…….

“This poison melts away the *yeokro* that is used to make the Sealing Lock in an instant. Usually, one or two is enough… But this is so old that I ended up using all the needles.”

The part where the needles were embedded bubbled as if it were burning, and the lock began to soften.

“And finally, for the Sealing Lock that has become like this….”

Aidan pushed the double-bladed dagger he had combined a moment ago into the end of the lock of the box and twisted it.

Crack-!!!

The lock of the Sealing Lock was broken with a dull sound.

“Amazing.”

“Hehe, should we say this is a combination of magic and poison?”

“It’s a bit different. If you simply look at those two, it’s not much different from the Immortality Society’s curse magic.”

Although he had abandoned the Shadow Faction, Aidan spoke to Gordon with a voice full of pride.

“Yes, the secret art… It’s really amazing. I can’t dismiss the technology of the Eastern Kingdom either.”

“Bringing you was definitely the right thing to do. Otherwise, we would have wasted time in an unexpected place.”

“Haha, you’re welcome.”

Aidan cleared his throat, feeling embarrassed at the praise from Gordon and Carryl, whom he thought were extraordinary figures.

He was a little disappointed that he hadn’t been able to play an active role in the battle, so he felt a little childish but proud that he had helped with something only he could do.

“Good. Let’s see what’s hidden inside this box that was hidden so carefully inside the Bone Dragon’s body and even had this strange seal on it.”

Click-

The lid of the box was opened.

Everyone’s eyes were on the inside.

“……Eh?”

At that moment,

The expressions of the people who looked inside the box, like Milliana’s exclamation, all hardened at once.