novelraw Chapter 127 : Chapter 127
Chapter 127 : Chapter 127
Chapter 127. Aman (2)
Aman walked for several days and nights without rest.
He hadn't even been able to properly thank the people of the fishing village who had saved him, but he had no time to wallow in sentimentality.
His heart pounded as if it would burst, and his legs ached as if they would break, but he couldn't stop.
He had to find the continent's 'Hero' as quickly as possible and tell him everything.
How long had he walked?
An unbelievable sight unfolded before him.
A land shrouded in the aura of death, distinctly different from what he had seen before.
He could read the faint letters on a broken signpost.
He didn't know the continental language perfectly, but he could vaguely make out the word 'Polotsk'.
‘This is the Principality of Polotsk?’
He held his breath.
There were traces of prosperity from not too long ago.
But what lay before his eyes now were literal ruins.
The city's form was barely recognizable, and piles of undead corpses were stacked like mountains amidst the debris of burnt buildings.
Skeletal soldiers, ghouls, zombies, and so on.
It was a gruesome sight that was hard to look at.
“……”
Aman clenched his fists instinctively.
This horrific scene brought back a nightmare he had wanted to forget.
That evil Lich King who had tried to capture him until the very end.
‘It must be his doing.’
Primus, the absolute evil, was already more than enough to handle, and now a creature like that was moving as his subordinate.
Aman felt deep despair along with surging anger.
Memories surfaced vividly before his eyes.
The images of his family, relatives, and friends mercilessly slaughtered by the Lich King's hand.
That evil Lich King had even resurrected his fallen acquaintances as undead and made them attack him.
The misery and powerlessness of that moment when he had to flee, unable to use his magic.
“Keuk!”
He barely swallowed the groan that escaped him.
‘Never. I will never forgive them. The Lich King. And Primus.’
A desire for revenge burned through his entire body, but he soon shook his head.
Revenge was a matter for later.
Right now, there was something far more important and urgent.
‘I must tell the Hero about this.’
Primus and Nox were currently in Reubungwo, destroying the ancient towers that maintained the balance of the world.
If those towers were all destroyed, the consequences were terrifying to even imagine.
The entire continent, no, the entire world would be in danger.
Aman gritted his teeth and started walking again.
West. The direction the old couple who had saved him had pointed to.
The place that looked like ancient ruins was said to be there.
Perhaps he could find a clue there.
Several blisters had already formed and burst on the soles of his feet, and his muscles screamed in protest.
But he paid them no mind.
Only one goal remained in his mind.
To survive at all costs and warn them of this crisis.
He staggered but did not stop, once again crossing the desolate plain.
***
Thanks to the hot spring recuperation, his body was recovering quickly, but Douglas Junior spent more time lying in his sickbed.
Rather than forcing his bandaged body to move, he would often get lost in thought, recalling the all-night special training with his master a few days ago.
‘It was truly a dazzling sight.’
The Hero's Sword Ki, unfolded under the moonlight.
That overwhelming brilliance, as if all the light in the world had been gathered into one point, was just as the legend described, capable of felling even the Demon King.
To think he would show such an incredible technique to a rookie like himself.
‘That alone showed me how much my master trusts and acknowledges me.’
Of course, he hadn't been able to block the final blow and had collapsed, coughing up blood, but that wasn't important.
He had to live up to the faith of Frank, who had shown him the path of a Hero.
‘I will definitely become as strong as him.’
Thinking such thoughts, Douglas seriously contemplated how he too could use such a divine technique.
Could he one day emit such a light?
Just then.
The door to the sickroom opened cautiously, and Noemi peeked her head in.
“Oh? You're awake?”
Lately, she had been visiting his sickroom at all hours.
It was awkward at first, but it turned out they were the same age.
After talking a few times, they naturally decided to speak informally.
“You're here?”
Douglas greeted her happily.
“Yeah. Is your body feeling a bit better?”
Noemi asked, her face still looking a little worried and forlorn.
It seemed she thought his master had pushed him too hard.
Douglas Junior grinned and deliberately struck his chest hard with one arm, as if to show he was fine.
Pang pang!
Wookssin-
‘Keuk.’
Damn it, it seemed the bruises hadn't fully faded yet.
It hurt like hell, but he didn't let it show and said.
“Keum. I'm fine. This is nothing. So don't say too much to my master. He must have done it to make me stronger.”
But Noemi shook her head worriedly.
“Still, that was a bit much. It's the technique that defeated the Demon King. To use something like that on you. What if something had gone wrong?”
“I said I'm fine.”
Douglas chuckled and shook his head.
He thought that continuing this conversation might only worsen the relationship between the father and daughter, so he quickly changed the subject.
“By the way, I heard that Lady Adel and Lady Iris have already broken through the fiftieth floor? They seem really amazing.”
“Yeah. My sisters are really amazing.”
Noemi nodded obediently.
Her eyes sparkled with pride for a moment.
Then she looked at Douglas again and asked.
“Why? Are you going into the dungeon again?”
“I plan to go in as soon as my body has fully recovered. There's no better training than a real battle.”
“Don't overdo it. If you really hurt your body……”
Noemi trailed off and looked at him with worried eyes.
At her sincere concern, Douglas felt his chest warm for a moment.
An emotion that couldn't be fully expressed with words welled up inside him.
Without realizing it, he gently placed his hand on the back of hers.
“I'm the Hero's disciple. So this is nothing. Thank you for worrying, Noemi.”
“D-Douglas……”
Noemi blushed slightly in embarrassment, but she didn't pull her hand away.
An awkward yet sweet current flowed between the two for a moment.
But they didn't know that another pair of eyes was quietly watching them from the crack of the sickroom door.
“……”
The owner of the gaze was Adel.
She watched the two for a moment with a complicated expression.
It was difficult to read the emotion contained in her blue eyes.
Soon, she stopped watching them, turned her footsteps quietly, and quickly disappeared into the darkness.
Without leaving any sound behind.
***
Rude visited the mansion for the first time in a while.
He had been so busy that he couldn't even catch his breath since the insect cuisine business hit the jackpot after the dungeon's opening, but he had taken some time out to see me today.
We drank tea and talked about the dungeon's operational status and the recent atmosphere in Lumen Fortis.
In the middle of our conversation, Rude put down his teacup and suddenly said.
“By the way, did you know that a sage from the East visited the Continent of Ista a long time ago?”
“A sage from the East?”
I nodded my head.
I remembered reading about it in the setting book.
“Of course. It's a very old story, isn't it? It was him who brought East Camellia. But why do you suddenly bring that up?”
Rude's eyes shone with interest as he spoke.
“I recently found a very interesting record while looking through some ancient documents. It said that the sage from the East did something very strange after returning to his homeland.”
“A strange thing?”
“Yes. There's a record that he built hundreds of giant towers that pierced the sky all over his homeland. Towers, why on earth would he do such a thing?”
Towers?
It was the first I had heard of it.
It was a content that was never mentioned in the game scenario I knew.
Perhaps this was also a difference between reality and the game.
Or it could be a hidden setting that I had failed to discover.
“So? Did you find out the reason?”
At my question, Rude lowered his voice and said.
“It's not certain, but putting together various circumstances, it seems the sage from the East built those towers to stop the primordial being, that is, Primus.”
“To stop Primus, you say?”
I nodded my head with a meaningful expression, asking back.
For some reason, my heart was pounding.
‘Is this it? This might be the core story I was missing, the one that was perhaps meant to be covered in a DLC!’
Something had felt strange.
Primus was clearly an absolute being with the power to destroy the world.
But why hadn't he come to the forefront in full force until now, instead sending out subordinates like Nox to test the waters?
I had suspected that there might be some kind of 'shackles' restricting his power, and if Rude's words were true, it was highly likely that the true identity of those 'shackles' were the towers built by the sage from the East.
‘Indeed, without such a restriction, there would be no reason for Primus to have left the Continent of Ista alone until now. Since there is something tying him down, he must be trying to destroy those towers by sending Nox to the far eastern land, Reubungwo.’
It felt like all the pieces were falling into place.
I hid my excitement and asked Rude.
“Then what are the sage's descendants doing now?”
“It's just my guess, but……”
Rude frowned and continued.
“If his descendants still exist, wouldn't they be desperately protecting those towers? And Primus and Nox are likely there right now to destroy those towers.”
I nodded in agreement with Rude's speculation.
It was a plausible scenario.
But at the same time, a realistic problem came to mind.
“That could be. But it's a problem. The land where the sage from the East lived is a distant place across the sea, isn't it? Like the dragons' paradise, you'd have to pass through a cursed strait teeming with all sorts of vicious marine demonic beasts to get there. Even if you're right, we have no way to go there and confirm it ourselves.”
A place that was impossible to approach.
That was the biggest problem.
But Rude, upon hearing my words, looked rather puzzled.
“Didn't you know? That there's a way to safely cross that cursed strait?”
“What did you say?”
“The secret vault of the Durani Empire's Emperor. I heard that there's an ancient magic device hidden there that prevents the approach of marine demonic beasts and calms storms.”
The secret vault of the Durani Empire's Emperor?
An ancient magic device?
My eyes flew open.
A new clue had appeared from an unexpected place.
Perhaps that could be the decisive key to stopping Primus.
“Alright. If there's a way, it's worth a try.”
I stood up from my seat and slowly opened my mouth.
“That magic device, I must get my hands on it.”
At those words, Rude blinked his eyes as if surprised.