CHAPTER 737: 579 THE LABYRINTH INSIDE THE TEMPLE

The magic civilization had met its demise eleven thousand years ago.

With the passage of such an extensive period, even the ancient city inside the underground beast Yarakulon had turned to ruins, losing its original form, let alone the ancient ruins in the desert, which were definitely in a state of considerable dilapidation.

However, when Reiger thought this, he was quite astonished to find, upon arriving at the ancient ruins, that although they were covered in dust, they did not appear dilapidated at all.

The majestic temple’s surface was dull and lusterless, yet it bore no cracks or missing pieces.

Its presence was not strong, but there was a kind of invisible oppressive force spreading outward.

Faint traces of magic power fluctuated within the ruins, visible to Reiger through his clear-sighted world.

Clearly, even after eleven thousand years, the ancient ruins still operated with intact protective mechanisms, undamaged by the passage of time.

"This is..."

Liz stood beside Reiger, looking at the majestic temple-like ruins with a particularly complex expression.

It was then that the anomaly occurred.

"Buzz!"

The sword of Moslo, held in Liz’s arms, suddenly trembled and forcefully flew toward the ruins.

"Ah!"

Caught off guard, Liz was dragged away by the sword of Moslo, her whole body flying toward the ruins as she let out a cry of surprise.

Seeing this, Reiger quickly reached out his hand, grabbed Liz as she was being pulled away, and kept her by his side.

"Buzz, buzz, buzz!"

The sword of Moslo then vibrated repeatedly as if discontent, much like a child who wants to go home but is being blocked and is throwing a tantrum.

"Thank you, Master."

Liz hurriedly clung to the sword of Moslo and thanked Reiger.

"It’s nothing," Reiger shook his head, looking at the still-vibrating sword of Moslo in Liz’s arms, and said lightly, "It seems we have indeed come to the right place."

The reaction of the sword of Moslo was already a clue to Reiger and Liz that this ancient ruin had an extraordinary connection with it.

The last time the sword of Moslo reacted this way was in the ancient city inside the underground beast Yarakulon.

At that time, the sword of Moslo seemed to have detected the presence of the treasured artifact of the hero clan in the temple at the city’s center, hence the reaction.

This time, the reaction of the sword of Moslo appeared to be even stronger than before, proving that there was something within the ancient ruins more significant than the hero clan’s treasured artifact attracting it.

"[Eye of God]."

Thus, Reiger launched Detection Magic, creating an invisible magic eye, controlling this eye connected to his vision, and moved it towards the direction of the ruins.

The big door of the ruins was as enormous and solid as a city gate, clearly not something ordinary people could open.

Reiger then controlled the magic eye to approach the door, intending to let it penetrate through.

Yet, when the magic eye touched the gateway, it was blocked outside, unable to penetrate inward.

"Indeed, it won’t work?"

Reiger was not surprised.

Since the protective mechanisms inside the ancient ruins were still operating, it was normal for internal exploration to be hindered.

Reiger even approached a wall of the ruins, drew his hermit sword from his waist, and struck it with all his might, only to produce sparks without leaving any crack on it.

The materials constructing the ruins were clearly not ordinary stone but were specially treated with magic, reinforced and hardened.

These materials, if present today, would be considered treasures, valuable both practically and for research. Were someone able to transport the entire ruins for sale, the money obtained would likely be enough to buy the territory of a small country.

It could be said that the ruins themselves were an invaluable treasure.

"If even the ruins themselves are such a precious treasure, how much more valuable must the contents be?"

At this thought, even Reiger felt a compelling urge to storm into the ruins and turn everything upside down.

"Master."

At that moment, Liz, tightly holding the sword of Moslo, called out to Reiger.

"There seem to be footprints here."

Upon hearing this, Reiger was momentarily taken aback.

"Footprints?"

Reiger then curiously came to Liz’s side and looked towards the ground she was pointing at.

Indeed, there were footprints on the ground, many of them, distinctly fresh, extending forward until they disappeared at the great door of the ruins.

Realizing this, Reiger immediately understood.

"Someone entered the ruins before us?"

Reiger narrowed his eyes.

"Did someone enter the ruins, Master?"

Liz also hesitantly mentioned this, thinking along the same lines as Reiger.

"Most likely," Reiger nodded and said, "It’s not surprising. That Play Magician’s team leader’s sister mentioned that many desperadoes have their sights set on these ruins and occasionally bring some forbidden items back to Xinyelle, suggesting that not a few people have ventured into these ruins over the days."

The impediments Sgranot placed here could obstruct ordinary people, but not everyone.

After all, Xinyelle is just a city, not a country.

Desperadoes attracted to this city are mostly swordsmen, whose allure for magicians is much weaker.

Magicians are rare talents everywhere, and even if they couldn’t survive in the kingdoms of Ginas or Leiblu, there were plenty of small nations outside willing to offer them opportunities.

Thus, compared to swordsmen, there are far fewer magicians in Xinyelle—during the skirmish in the abandoned warehouse district, only Yade was a magician, with all the others being swordsmen, a telling indicator.

Xinyelle didn’t even have a tactic-level magician, so how strong could the protection they installed here be?

Therefore, even if it wasn’t a large number, there certainly were quite a few who could break through and reach this point in front of the ruins, leading to the situation of various forbidden items being brought into Xinyelle.

However...

"...why does this feel so familiar?"

Reiger furrowed his brow.

He scrutinized the area where the footprints lay, and surprisingly, he felt a faint sense of familiarity in these places.

"...There’s an uncomfortable feeling."

Liz seemed to feel the same, her grip on the Sword of Moslo tightening significantly.

"Let’s go," Reiger decisively said, "We’ve come this far, there’s no need to hesitate. Let’s go inside and see what happens."

With that, Reiger took the lead towards the grand entrance.

Liz hurried to follow, not daring to fall a step behind.

The two reached the massive doors and pushed against them.

"Rumble..."

Before long, Reiger and Liz managed to push open the doors, which slowly opened inwards, revealing the interior of the grand entrance.

To their surprise, although the exterior of this ancient relic was shaped like a temple, the interior was a maze.

After pushing open the grand doors, instead of a spacious hall or a grand statue, Reiger and Liz saw only a corridor extending inward, splitting into different directions at the end.

Looking at this scene, Reiger felt as if he had returned to the Earth Mistake World, entering an underground city.

Oddly enough, it felt rather familiar.

"Rumble..."

As Reiger and Liz entered the temple maze, the great doors closed automatically, cutting off all light.

"[Everlasting Light]."

Reiger activated a magic spell, creating orbs of light that floated up, illuminating their surroundings.

"Buzz!"

The Sword of Moslo in Liz’s embrace vibrated again, then returned to calm.

"Eh?" Liz exclaimed in surprise, "It stopped moving?"

Reiger gave the Sword of Moslo a meaningful glance.

It seemed that it wasn’t something inside the temple attracting the sword, but the temple itself.

It merely wanted to bring Liz into this temple.

As for what would happen after Liz entered, only the sword knew.

Furthermore...

"There are footprints here too?"

Reiger observed the rows of footprints on the ground.

They continued inward, splitting at the junction.

Clearly, someone had entered here before Reiger and Liz and had already split up their forces.

The fact that they could split their forces indicated that the other party was substantial enough not to worry about their combat strength being diluted.

However, Reiger and Liz couldn’t do the same.

"Which path should we take?"

Liz looked troubled, turning to Reiger.

That expression seemed to say...

"Use your powerful magic to think of something, Master!"

And actually, Reiger did have a plan.

"[Magic Duration Extension - Fairy Queen’s Blessing]."

"[Magic Duration Extension - Three-legged Bird’s Guide]."

As Reiger invoked these two spells, two summoned creatures appeared in mid-air.

There was a fairy the size of a finger, with a crown and butterfly wings that radiated light, floating effortlessly. It immediately caught Liz’s eye.

"So, so cute..."

Liz’s face flushed with a suspicious hue, and she instinctively reached out as if wanting to touch it but hesitated.

As for the stern-looking three-legged crow beside the fairy, it was completely ignored by Liz.

"If you like it, I can give you one later," Reiger said as he noticed Liz’s fondness for the fairy.

"For now, let’s have them guide us."

The little fairy and three-legged crow were not ordinary summoned beings but derived from spell effects.

Both [Fairy Queen’s Blessing] and [Three-legged Bird’s Guide] were ninth level spells capable of leading the way.

The three-legged crow would lead the players towards the shortest route to the heart of the maze.

The path indicated by the Fairy Queen was relatively the safest.

Depending on the team’s condition, trap dispositions, and the nature of monsters, which guide to follow would still be a judgment call based on the situation at hand.

However, these two spells did not reveal hidden paths, and should there be any magic traps that interfered with such spells, they would become ineffective. Therefore, even with these guides, one generally shouldn’t let their guard down.

"Then, let’s go," Reiger commanded.

Following his command, the two summoned creatures flew off.

Reiger and Liz immediately followed, vanishing into the depths of the road.