The Failure Marquis Is A Genius [EN]: Chapter 157

Chapter 19: The Ruins: The Found Scoundrel

Poseidon City Back Alleys.

Beneath the seemingly clean and orderly city lies a dark underbelly, a shadow that rarely sees the light of day.

It’s like the flip side of a coin, teeming with crime and hedonism, where base desires run rampant.

Addicts crave drugs extracted from jellyfish, thugs extort small business owners, women sell their bodies and run scams, and human traffickers buy and sell merfolk bodies.

More than anywhere else, the logic of power reigns supreme.

The eldest of the Butcher Brothers was one such merfolk who exploited this advantage very well.

Even among the merfolk, his overwhelming size and the prominent horn on his forehead were intimidating. His extraordinary intelligence, unusual for his bulk, played a crucial role in dominating this alley.

However, One-Horn had been in a foul mood recently.

His younger brothers, Hunchback and One-Eye, with whom he had committed countless crimes since childhood, had ventured into the northern district and met a tragic end.

“Damn it! Just my luck.”

The initial revenge was already complete.

The steel-hearted brat who didn’t know his place and dared to talk about contracts had his limbs torn off. Afterward, some of his tribe were kidnapped and turned into finely minced meat. The meat on the table now was also from the Steelheart tribe.

Yet, One-Horn felt a thirst.

The human who had taken his brothers from him was openly roaming Poseidon City.

He wanted to mobilize his forces and drown him immediately, but One-Horn, having witnessed the human race’s power during the Martial Arts Tournament, acted cautiously.

He didn’t underestimate the humans. That guy was definitely a top-tier expert in Poseidon City.

‘Is there a good way?’

As he pondered, gnawing on a merfolk leg, a knock came from outside.

Knock knock.

“Boss, it’s me.”

“Come in.”

The door opened, and a shrimp-headed merfolk with a long beard entered.

A typical back-alley thug who started as a pickpocket and now scams people with a loan shark business card. Recently, he had jumped into the fake pearl business, or so he claimed.

Anyway, in this place overflowing with strong but stupid guys, he was at least somewhat clever, so One-Horn kept him around and found him useful.

“What’s the matter?”

“I came to give a regular report. You told me to track the movements of that human named Khan, didn’t you?”

“Ah, right. Any noteworthy developments?”

“If you can call it that, we seem to have caught a big fish.”

One-Horn’s ears perked up at the mention of a big fish.

“Looks like he bit on something.”

“Yes, he’s planning to visit the ancient ruins soon.”

“The ruins? You mean that ominous, haunted place?”

To the south of Poseidon City, there was a ruin said to have been built by the merfolk’s founder.

Like bees to honey, tomb raiders were naturally drawn to the ruins. Many tried, but none returned alive.

Some of One-Horn’s men had also disappeared there. Since then, the back-alley merfolk considered it a haunted place and avoided it.

“That’s right. Khan is exploring the ruins under the king’s orders.”

“The king’s orders? The Merfolk King ordered the exploration himself?”

“Yes. Even Prime Minister Ilina has teamed up with the human to explore. Doesn’t that smell fishy?”

The shrimp merfolk was right.

One-Horn also had a strong feeling that something was in the ruins.

Yet, he hesitated.

The lack of information about the ruins held him back.

“Are you still hesitating? Then how about this?”

At his subordinate’s clap, the door opened, and a woman tied up with ropes was brought in.

The woman, dressed in rather fancy attire and blindfolded, trembled with pale lips, terrified of being kidnapped to an unfamiliar place.

“Who is this woman?”

“She’s a palace maid who works in the royal palace. She knows quite a bit, so I brought her.”

One-Horn questioned the palace maid about various things.

The information she spat out was quite delicious.

“I only know that there’s a huge treasure hidden in the ruins and that the Prime Minister and the human champion are going to find it! That’s all I know! Please spare me… Aaaagh!!”

The palace maid’s head was severed in one stroke by One-Horn’s swung sword. He flicked off the blood from the blade and unconsciously licked his lips. It was a habit he naturally took when he became greedy.

‘Judging by the circumstances, it seems true that a huge treasure is buried in the ruins. Should I follow the Prime Minister and the human?’

He was going to deal with the human anyway. If he could also get a valuable artifact, it would be the icing on the cake.

And if he was lucky, he could also secure Ilina, the most beautiful woman in the underwater city.

Of course, her noble status was a concern, but who would care about what happens in a remote ruin?

Even if he committed heinous acts and killed her, everyone would think it was an accident. A crooked smile spread across One-Horn’s face as he had lewd thoughts.

“Shrimp.”

“Yes.”

“Gather all the men. All the executives.”

“Are we moving out?”

“Yes. The treasure of the ruins is ours.”

The number of subordinates under One-Horn, who dominated the back alleys, exceeded one hundred, and among the executives, there were quite a few experts comparable to the deceased Hunchback and One-Eye.

‘I have no doubt. I have no doubt I’ll succeed.’

* * *

The day to depart for the ruins dawned.

A grand welcoming ceremony was held at the royal palace, where the Merfolk King had a feast prepared and ate incessantly.

“How about I provide some elite troops from the royal palace as support?”

“It’s alright. Anyone who isn’t as skilled as me or better would just be throwing their lives away. It’s better to go with a small, elite group.”

“You know best. Just remember this.”

The Merfolk King, who had been stuffing food into his mouth like a vacuum cleaner sucking up dust, stopped moving for the first time.

Wiping the grease from his lips, he stared at Ilina and me with his black eyes. The eyeballs, with only black pupils and no whites, felt bizarre.

The moment our eyes met, a suffocating aura pressed down on the hall.

“Don’t disappoint me.”

It was a short sentence, but it carried a lot of meaning.

If they failed this time, Ilina’s life would probably be over. The Merfolk King, deeming her worthless, would treat her as food. Sensing this, Ilina bit her lip and bowed her head.

“I will keep that in mind.”

After the somewhat grim send-off, they headed to the ruins, which were located surprisingly close to the capital, about a day’s journey south.

After moving a certain distance from Poseidon City, the group joined them. Old Man Orneo, Zion, and Campbell greeted Ilina.

“So, these are Khan’s companions. I’ve heard the stories.”

“I’m Zion.”

“I’m Orneo, an old man. Please take care of me. Hehehe.”

“Whew! What a beauty! Call me Campbell, Prime Minister.”

From the dryly greeting Zion to the kind old man and the boisterous Campbell, they were finally complete.

As they walked, Ilina explained what she knew about the ruins.

“Information about the ruins is scarce because all the explorers have died. Fortunately, the founder left some records when he created the ruins.”

According to the records, the ruins were in the form of a maze.

Not just a maze blocked by walls, but a series of interconnected rooms, each with bizarre trials waiting.

The problem was that there was only one correct path to the exit. If you went the wrong way, you could get lost and die, or get caught in a trap set in the room and die.

The chances of survival were slim, and the chances of dying were like a black hole, which was why the previous exploration teams had repeatedly failed.

Campbell grumbled in a disgruntled voice after hearing the explanation.

“Seriously, why hide the treasure so well?”

“It’s the essence of power left by the founder when he ended his life. It’s an enormous energy source in itself, and if it falls into the wrong hands, it would be a disaster.”

Ilina continued.

“I’ve been thinking about it. Whether it’s right to hand over the founder’s legacy to the human race.”

“What’s the conclusion?”

“Whatever happens, it shouldn’t fall into the Kraken’s hands. If that guy eats the orb and gets stronger, it will be unstoppable.”

“That’s right.”

“Even if we fail to defeat the Kraken, one of you must take the orb to the surface. Please.”

A solemn aura flowed from Ilina as she bowed her head.

Working for a long time for the archenemy who treated her own people as food, one could feel how much resentment had accumulated in her heart.

Zion, also sympathizing with her pain, approached and hugged Ilina tightly.

“It’s okay. Trust Young Master. He has overturned countless seemingly impossible situations and come this far. Everything will be alright.”

“I hope so. I will trust him.”

They arrived at the ruins.

As the name ‘haunted place’ suggested, it was filled with an eerie aura, and a hazy fog obscured the view.

Even the entrance was a graveyard. According to Ilina, the ancient merfolk royal family’s shrine had been transformed into the ruins.

[You have entered the dungeon.]

[You are suppressed by the Merfolk King’s majesty.]

[Your stats are reduced by 20%.]

[Self-purification activated.]

[You are immune to all status ailments.]

Was it the power of ancient magic? A system window appeared, saying I was cursed. My body felt heavy for a moment, but the passive skill activated and quickly restored me to normal.

On the other hand, my companions without Druid skills were overwhelmed by the aura of the ruins.

“This is an unpleasant place. My body feels heavy like waterlogged cotton.”

“The energy flowing through the ruins is suffocating.”

“It’s because of the founder’s magic. Only direct descendants can be free from this magic. But…”

Ilina’s gaze was fixed on me.

“Khan seems to be fine.”

“I was lucky.”

“Luck… I’ll take it as skill.”

More than Ilina’s wonder, something else was bothering me.

‘Someone is following us.’

They probably thought they wouldn’t get caught, keeping their distance and approaching slowly, but it was no match for my keen senses.

Old Man Orneo, befitting a Seven Star [A powerful and respected individual], immediately sensed the presence and looked back.

“Hmm?”

“You noticed too, Sage.”

“What’s going on?”

“We have a tail.”

[Life Control]

[Shared Vision]

As I settled into a nearby tree to secure a view, the faces of the pursuers were clearly magnified.

Well-built merfolk. Over a hundred in number, carrying brutal weapons. Most of the faces were unfamiliar, but one was quite familiar.

“The Butcher Brothers?”

The horn on his forehead was memorable. Why were they following us? It was definitely not with good intentions.

“The Butcher Brothers are famous back-alley thugs.”

“That guy is chasing us. Information has leaked. They seem to be planning to kill us and take the relics.”

“Khan, what do you want to do? Should we clean them up and go?”

After a moment of hesitation, I shook my head. It would be easy to get rid of them, but there was no need to waste energy. They were just bugs that would be filtered out inside the ruins anyway.

“Let’s focus on breaking through the ruins as we are.”

In the cemetery with numerous tombstones, the founder’s tombstone was in the very center. It was the largest and widest tombstone, so it was visible at a glance.

Below the tombstone was a narrow passage, which was the entrance to the ruins.

As they stepped into the entrance, a secret chamber made of stone greeted them.

The primal fear brought by the pitch-black darkness made their hearts clench. They lit up the surroundings with pre-prepared light stones.

Unfortunately or fortunately, the first room was empty. There were only five entrances leading to other rooms on the opposite side.

“This is difficult. I don’t know which one is the real path. I’d rather face a trial outright and overcome it, but this is too ambiguous.”

Ilina, facing difficulties from the start, looked gloomy.

On the other hand, I was fine. It felt like this was a dungeon for me. I immediately took out a small creature that I had prepared in the subspace.

It was a bat frog.

“A bat frog.”

“That’s right.”

As the taming skill developed further, I had been gathering information by using various small terrestrial animals such as mice and cats as scouts.

However, there was a disadvantage that it was difficult to use the aforementioned animals in dangerous places such as dungeons or when exploring the air or underwater. Therefore, I had to find another way.

The creature I discovered then was the bat frog, which covered land, sea, and air.

The bat frog could illuminate its vision with its glowing eyes even in pitch-black darkness, and it could grasp terrain features with the ultrasonic waves it emitted from its mouth.

Also, because it had a flexible body like a frog, it could pass through narrow gaps, making it a versatile and adorable creature in many ways.

[Life Control]

[Taming]

[Shared Vision]

So, I had taken a hundred bat frogs as familiars and put them in the subspace, and it turned out there was a place to use them.

“Go.”

The bat frogs, spreading their black wings, disappeared into the five passages in groups of twenty.

The shared vision skill activated, and a hundred or so CCTVs turned on in my mind. I carefully reviewed all the screens and found the optimal route.

The maze was vast. There were rooms full of monsters and rooms with unique traps. If I had tried to break through this mindlessly, I wouldn’t have been able to get out even in a month.

First, the primary goal was to find the exit. I ordered the bat frogs to roughly identify what trials were in each room and focus on passing through.

For stages that were too difficult, I had them squeeze through the gaps between the stone walls. It was a technique that was possible because the bat frog’s body was small.

Eventually, I found the shortest route to the exit. The time it took until then was only 10 minutes.

“I found the exit. Let’s move.”