Chapter 33

Even without confirming his face, I knew who the owner of this voice was.

Rupel Dieb.

Why was he in this place, when I clearly thought he had transferred to another location with the rest of the party... no, even before them?

For a moment, my mind didn't process it.

“No way… You pretended to move first and then hid?”

“Exactly.”

Along with a playful voice, a black light burst from behind me.

“Black magic… An Archmage?!”

Balta’s eyes, which had been rushing towards me, instantly filled with confusion, and he hastily slowed down, switching to a defensive stance.

It was a natural reaction.

Even if he was one of Odin’s heroes, an Archmage was never an easy opponent.

Of course, Lupel Diev’s magical abilities were considerably inferior compared to most well-known Archmages, but Balta had no way of knowing that.

Although I knew I shouldn't take my eyes off Balta, my gaze involuntarily shifted to Lupel Diev behind me.

At the moment the black light shone most brilliantly between Rupel Dieb hands, clasped neatly in front of his chest.

“Ryan Kaltz. If you want to live, you’d best hold your breath.”

A single, arrogant word from Lupel Diev was uttered.

Balta and I simultaneously stopped breathing.

Bang!

A tremendous black explosion occurred between Balta and me.

A dazzling light, ear-splitting noise, and a massive amount of smoke poured out, making it impossible to see an inch in front of us.

However, what surprised me was that despite the collateral effects of the explosion, there was no physical damage whatsoever.

Tap, tap.

Rupel patted my shoulder.

Although I had been holding my breath according to Lupel Diev’s advice, Lupel Diev himself was calmly inhaling.

I quickly analyzed the current situation.

‘…It’s a fake.’

I exhaled the breath I had held and inhaled fresh oxygen.

Some black smoke came with it, but nothing unusual happened to my body.

Lupel, with a mischievous smile, pointed to the door behind us.

We ran towards the door.

Balta, realizing he had been tricked, would probably go crazy and chase after us soon, so we had to pass through as many doors as possible before that to complicate the route.

Lupel and I passed through the door.

Instead of a place filled with black smoke, a new location appeared.

Not stopping there, we passed through several more doors.

Of course, Balta, with his power of detection, would easily track us.

While our lives had been saved for now, the thought that it was just a temporary reprieve made my running speed slow down a bit.

“It seems your gamble failed.”

After passing through several more doors.

Rupel , judging that he had a moment to spare, paused to catch his breath and spoke.

“…It appears so.”

“Haha! Don’t be too disappointed. Wasn’t it a gamble with a 1% chance of success anyway? If it had succeeded, that would have been a miracle.”

“……”

I stared at Rupel blankly.

Rupel , who had been hiding in that room, must have overheard the conversation between Balta and me.

The peculiar conversation between soldiers of two hostile nations, where a White Hero called a Union soldier 'commander,' was difficult to comprehend rationally.

Reading the emotions in my gaze, Lupel Diev looked at me with his characteristic mischievous smile.

And he said,

“I respect you.”

“Respect…?”

“I do not know what path you have walked until now. Whatever worries you had, whatever choices you made, we have no right to point out that they were wrong… I don’t know what my father would think, but at least I believe that. Even if a miracle happens and I return from this place alive, I will not tell anyone about you.”

“……”

It was a kind thought.

But I wondered what meaning it held.

While it was true that we had escaped Balta’s sight for now, his power of detection didn't just tell the target's location; it also provided the optimal route to the detected target.

No matter how much we complicated the path using the ruins' transfer function, if Balta followed the power's guidance, he would appear before me again.

With my current abilities and knowledge, there was no way to shake off Balta.

‘If there’s one way, it’s to use the exit opening time…’

The forced transfer phenomenon occurs when one touches any building or what could be called a 'door' inside the ruins.

It traps people in a labyrinth, but once the lid is opened, no such eerie tales exist of being permanently stuck in the labyrinth and never escaping.

The reason is simple.

The forced transfer phenomenon doesn't operate 24 hours a day.

From 3 AM to 4 AM.

For about an hour, the distribution of magic power within the ruins decreases, and the forced transfer phenomenon stops working.

If one aims for that time, it's possible to exit the ruins by simply walking out.

Players call that one hour the 'exit opening time.'

The problem was whether we could evade Balta until the exit opening time, and even if we did, there was no guarantee that Balta wouldn't catch up to us while we were leaving the ruins.

I had to think of another method.

If I wanted to live.

To survive.

I had to squeeze out every possible idea.

“Ryan.”

Ruppel called out to me while I was deep in thought.

Every second counted, but I couldn't ignore Ruppel, so I gave him my attention.

He seemed to ponder for a moment, then, with a resolute expression as if he had decided something, he took off his necklace.

“Your gamble failed, and from what I can see, you don’t have any other ideas right now. So, I’m saying, will you join me in my gamble this time?”

“You have a method?”

“Look at this necklace.”

He held out the necklace in his hand.

It wasn't flashy or expensive-looking, but it was an old necklace, elegant yet antique.

One unique feature was that the central gem was broken.

“It’s a bit late to say this, but this necklace is the reason I came to these ruins, even going so far as to deceive the eyes of the kingdom and the empire.”

“……”

Given the situation, my expression probably clearly showed ‘So what?’, but Ruppel merely chuckled pleasantly, without pointing out my rudeness.

“This is an artifact containing powerful strength. It's a very precious item, but… as you can see, the core gem broke, and it lost its power. And this is also a memento left by my mother, who died on the battlefield. You’ve probably heard of her. Maria Diev.”

“...Indeed. It's a name I remember.”

How could I forget?

About seven or eight months ago, I had engaged in battle with a fleet led by a middle-aged woman.

She was Maria Diev, and the fleet she commanded was one of the strongest in the Alliance.

However, Odin ultimately emerged victorious.

Just as the final blow was about to be delivered, by some unknown means, the numerous ships suddenly vanished with a flash of light.

The light was a large-scale transfer.

Leisia, who witnessed it, made a face I had never seen before and said.

It was impossible, something that should not happen.

A transfer magic of that scale could only be performed by the White Queen and the Black Dragon of the Alliance after several days of preparation.

It was not a magic that a mere Archmage could accomplish.

I remembered her passionately explaining it.

‘It’s impossible through ordinary methods. That’s why I was convinced that she must have borrowed the power of some special tool.’

My gaze naturally fell on the memento Maria Diev had left behind.

Nine times out of ten, that memento was the item that made the large-scale transfer possible.

Of course, no notable magical energy could be felt from the broken necklace.

However, Ruppel said that this necklace was the reason he came to these ruins.

In other words.

There was a way to restore that necklace.

‘If I restore the necklace and use a large-scale transfer like Maria Diev did that day…’

The possibility was strong enough.

Hope had emerged.

It felt as if the darkness that had clouded my vision was slowly brightening.

“Is there a way to restore the necklace?”

“Ryan . I achieved my purpose for visiting these ruins. No, to be precise, I had achieved it.”

“That’s past tense.”

“The timing was bad. Finding the artifact to restore the necklace was good, but then I happened to encounter a White Unit, and a battle ensued. In the process, I lost the artifact.”

Lupel Diev seemed so disheartened that he let out a deep sigh and hit the innocent wall with his fist.

He had put too much force into his angry punch, so Lupel Diev grimaced, shook his hand, and continued.

“The artifact must be carelessly left somewhere in that battle zone. We need to find it.”

“Battle zone… abandoned artifact…”

Suddenly.

An object I had momentarily forgotten about came to mind.

Why had I forgotten it?

Hadn’t I acquired an artifact in that place where burnt corpses lay, a place filled with the traces of battle between the White Unit and the Alliance?

Opening my bag, I took out the carefully kept artifact, a lump of magic power.

Lupel Diev’s eyes widened.

“Ryan Kaltz. What in the world is this…?”

“I picked it up on the way.”

It was true that I picked it up on the way, so it wouldn't be a lie.

A pure, bright smile I had never seen before blossomed across his face.

I couldn’t be sure.

But I was probably making a similar expression.

* * *

It was merely a lack of talent and effort.

Rupel was still an Archmage, admired by all mages.

Black magic shone radiantly in his hands.

With his mother’s memento in his right hand and the artifact found in the ruins in his left, his expression was more serious than ever.

The black magic connected the memento and the artifact.

As time passed, the artifact deteriorated as if struck by the passage of time, and the crack that had pierced the center of the memento slowly healed.

It wasn't a long time, but thinking that Balta of Odin was still chasing us, it felt endlessly long.

“I thought it would be nothing, but it’s surprisingly not easy. If I had known this, I would have skipped half as many classes.”

“It seems the idea of being diligent in class isn’t something you entertain.”

“Diligence… That’s not a word that suits a person like me.”

Still, judging by his lighthearted jokes, he seemed to have found a bit of composure.

And so, time passed relentlessly.

“…It’s done.”

The artifact in his left hand completely turned to dust and fell like snow.

And the memento in his right hand, as if it had never been damaged, was perfectly restored, showcasing its beautiful appearance.

Even the Dragon’s Eye, which had not activated until now, recognized this memento as a valuable magic item, giving me a faint pain in my eyes.

[Diev’s Oath]

One of the three treasures passed down in the Diev royal family.

A treasure received long ago after pledging loyalty to the Black Dragon, containing the Black Dragon’s power.

Upon use, it awakens the target’s latent abilities.

“……?”

What on earth happened?

My expectation that it would contain a large-scale transfer magic was utterly wrong.