Chapter 106
Chapter 21 Grave Robber (6)
If the mole hunts in this way, how much mana is absorbed?
It seems like you’re playing solo, but how do you usually drive around?
‘They didn’t have a party, so they must be curious.’
I only accompanied Yang Tae-ho and didn’t have a party.
He was just an insurance policy in case, not a companion to share magic with.
So, from Yang Tae-ho’s point of view, it seems that he was curious about how much magical energy I absorbed.
“Because these guys don’t give a lot. Have you absorbed a little over 10,000 now?”
It wasn’t even a secret, so I didn’t avoid answering.
At that, Yang Tae-ho stuck out his tongue.
Even after that, we continued to hunt Volpo, and as a result, the number of unburied carcasses increased.
Fortunately, the ball gun protruding from the hole snapped off before being crushed by the corpse.
When I zoomed out the map, there were quite a few guys that were far away.
I didn’t catch all the guys in this polluted area, but I couldn’t call the sound as bait anymore.
“Tsk.”
I wanted to finish what I started with.
“I have a little left, but it doesn’t move.”
“Huh? How can you not know that?”
That’s because I have a map and a radar.
However, I had no intention of explaining to others the preferential treatment the system gave me.
After roughly answering that the magical power detection range was wide, Yang Tae-ho did not inquire too deeply.
“Should I hit it harder?”
Instead, he raised his shield as if to divert the conversation.
‘Why?’
You have to move to destroy Meseo anyway.
It would be better to slowly move away than lure them away by sound.
‘There’s no place to bury more.’
We pushed too many corpses where we stand now.
Thanks to this, the ceiling is closer than when I first entered this cavity.
‘I even reduced the number drastically.’
After checking the height to the ceiling, I decided to move and opened my mouth.
“No, let’s move.”
Meseo marked on the map is scattered over a fairly long distance.
The problem is that the map doesn’t show the way to the tunnel.
As you go in the direction of Meseo, you have to find your way one by one.
That too will take up quite a bit of time.
‘For now, start with the nearest place.’
I hurried my steps with Yang Tae-ho.
Fortunately, the cave was high enough for a person to pass through.
After walking along it for a long time, I suddenly stopped walking.
“What, what else?”
Instead of answering Yang Tae-ho’s question, I looked at the spot where I stopped.
Up, down, left and right, meticulously without missing a single spot.
Still, there was no way to go sideways.
According to the map, there is definitely Meseo at the 3 o’clock position where I am standing.
I couldn’t see any way to get there.
“What is this again… … .”
is it an error? lex?
I was just embarrassed because I had never had anything like this while using the map.
Then, suddenly, the images of monsters crawling out of the hole while the mole was hunting just before flashed through my mind.
I looked alternately between the direction of Meseo and the direction of the cave.
There is no guarantee that that road leads to the site of Meseo.
‘Then going back a long way is a waste of time.’
Eventually, I reached out my hand in the direction of Meseo.
After disassembling the attribute magic and extracting only the earth attribute, I pushed away the soil on the wall, and Yang Tae-ho, who had been watching me, joined in.
What I encountered at the end of the pit that got deeper and deeper was a hard rock.
When I finished clearing the surrounding soil, a rock taller than my height was revealed.
‘It would be a bit dangerous to break it.’
I don’t know how thick it is, and if the impact is so great that the tunnel collapses, it’ll be annoying.
So instead of destroying it myself, I looked back at Yang Tae-ho.
Didn’t you just bring a rock-type magic holder?
I don’t know if it’s not there, but there’s no reason not to use it.
“Kkeuh, I don’t have confidence in disassembly… … You just have to wait for sleep.”
Yang Tae-ho, who understood what I was trying to say, put his hand on the rock and caught his breath.
Then, slowly, with a crunching sound, the surface of the rock began to crumble.
The pace wasn’t fast.
Yang Tae-ho already said that he was not confident in disassembly.
Instead of rushing him, I waited patiently.
The result came out when I dug about 5 meters into the rock in question.
As it thinned out, the tip of the thinned rock crumbled with a crisp sound.
Yang Tae-ho, who stepped over it first, looked around with his mouth wide open.
“Wow, what is this… … .”
Each time, the torch he held went back and forth frantically from side to side.
When I followed him through the hole, wondering what the hell was going on.
“her.”
When I saw the sight that came into my eyes, I was stunned for a moment.
“You follow him around and you see all sorts of strange things.”
Ever since I said there was Meseo in the ground, what was strange?
After digging up the soil and drilling through the rock, the space I faced was a huge tunnel.
It seems to have been carved out of rock, but it seemed to be about 5 meters high.
Perhaps because of the high ceiling, there was no feeling of stuffiness even though the space was prepared in the basement.
“Ahhh, there are all sorts of strange things in the ground.”
The underground tunnel, wide enough to echo Yang Tae-ho’s murmur, reminded me of a tunnel on a highway.
As I looked around, I noticed something familiar.
“This… … .”
Let’s get closer and take a look.
[Illumination Stone with exhausted magic]
• Classification: Ornaments, Furniture, Auxiliary Tools
• Obtaining Difficulty: Rare
• Rating: ★
• Description: A lighting magic tool commonly used throughout the continent, helping to secure vision in dark places. Now, all of its magic power has been exhausted, and it cannot be used.
“Illumination stone… … .”
“huh?”
It was the same item as the lighting magic tool in the Bennet family’s mansion.
It wasn’t even one. Within the radius of the torch I’m holding, I can see three.
When I resumed my steps that had stopped for a moment, there were lighting stones at regular intervals.
All of them were exhausted, but a fair amount of Illumination Stone was stuck in this tunnel.
What that meant was blatant.
‘It’s an artificially created place.’
It was not a road paved by Volpo, but a place created by an intelligent being for a clear purpose.
Pillars were erected to prevent the ceiling from collapsing, and doors were hung to divide the space.
I looked at the map and opened the nearest door.
Under the thick layer of dust, worn-out blankets, leather shoes, and broken wooden bowls were scattered without regularity.
“What is all this… … .”
Yang Tae-ho, who came in with him, also looked around the inside with curious eyes.
Around that time, I picked up a wooden fork lying next to the faded blanket.
It was less than half the size of my hand.
‘Looks like something for a baby.’
It’s been a while since I’ve been fiddling with the cracked wood grain.
Looking at the traces of these unknown people, many thoughts overlapped.
‘Is it like a bunker?’
Looking at the artificially created space and the scattered objects inside, perhaps.
It was a space with a strong feeling of a shelter.
But that doesn’t make sense.
“Do you want to see the room next door?”
“Wait.”
I opened the church’s website and left a comment on the text I use to talk to Jordan.
How many years ago did the territory of the old kingdom of Cairot, where the Bicheta Castle was located, be taken away?
After waiting for a while, Jordan answered.
– Jordan Rodiel: It was summer four years ago. I remember that in a few weeks, the charter turned sharply and I was pushed to Hogmedia.
Hogmedia, the name of a castle a month southeast of Viceta.
The North has barely recovered the front from there to Vicheta in the past two years.
When I saw the answer, which was not different from what I knew, the sense of incongruity of this huge shelter became more intense.
I stood up after thanking Jordan.
“Ahh, why is your face so hard? It’s scary enough to see people.”
Next to me, Yang Tae-ho cautiously tapped my arm and spoke to me.
I said with a shallow sigh.
“It’s strange.”
“What are you talking about?”
“It is strange that there is a space like this here.”
“huh?”
As if asking what that meant, I left the room behind Tae-ho Tae-ho, who asked back with a look on his face.
Even after that, I walked along the passage covered in darkness and caught my eyes here and there.
As a result, I was sure.
‘It is a deliberately designed space.’
When constructing a new city, the construction begins only after dividing the area and setting the purpose of the space.
This space is just such a case.
A living space furnished with blankets, clothes, and tableware.
A warehouse where foods such as rotten grains and beef jerky are stored.
From an armory lined with rusty knives to wooden cages that look like animals are kept in them.
All spaces were systematically divided.
‘The more I think about it, the weirder it gets… … .’
The old kingdom of Cairot has gone through a similar process to Ferel.
After the collapse of the existing dynasty system, those who survived gathered forces to form a resistance army.
However, the two countries did not show exactly the same pattern.
‘There are many survivors in Ferrell.’
This is because the royal family took the lead by leading troops and blocking the front line.
Thanks to this, the dynasty was destroyed, but I have seen records that about 80% of the people survived.
Perhaps because of such an anecdote, the loyalty of the people to the old Ferel Dynasty was high.
When royal relics came out from the polluted area, they were taken and stored.
The mercenary guild, which was a fan of money, was no exception.
Rather, it was they who brought the most artifacts.
Because it was a group of mercenaries that roamed the most contaminated areas.
I heard that there was a time when the remains of the crown prince were collected through them and enshrined in the temple.
Those who belonged to Ferel are longing for the traces and glory of the lost royal family.
‘On the other hand, the Kairot Kingdom is one of the countries that did not respond well to the monster’s attack in the beginning.’
Most of the royals and nobles put up their people as meat shields, and while they were being eaten, they fled to the Atar Empire.
Because of that, there were a lot of remains found in the northern polluted area.
In the past few days, I felt a bit skeptical as I wandered around a polluted area that had not been touched by humans for a long time.
Even in a situation where their lives depended, the remains of a family member who had died while holding tightly to the wealth they had accumulated.
A wagon left alone without an owner, and pottery and artworks on it.
Not just the food you need to survive right now, but even a box full of jewels.
‘Even though everyone’s life is the same.’
Looking at such things, I could feel the human greed that would have followed me until the moment I was near death.
‘Although I have no right to laugh at their behavior.’
I was not much different from the Biharis who died in the past.
Didn’t I have mixed feelings about a single loot in the beginning?
That’s why I wasn’t trying to discuss right and wrong in front of money.
It’s just that I don’t understand this situation I’m facing right now, so my worries are increasing.
‘There was an evacuation facility like this in the Kairot Kingdom?’
At first glance, it was large enough to accommodate a fairly large number of people.
‘I think 10,000 or 20,000 people can live if the space is well distributed.’
It is said that vested interests abandoned the people and fled, who made this?