Underwater Castle Exploration

A castle.

Standing tall and majestic in front of Ale was a huge castle.The sheer majesticity left him speechless as he observed the whole thing.

Shining with a bright golden light, the castle was inviting Ale with a sign so obvious that he had a hard time containing himself.

There was a huge golden door right in front of Ale, as if it was inviting him inside with great care. Feeling the air in his lungs slowly decrease with time, he stopped thinking and just headed forward.

But it wasn't long before he realized the closer he got to the door, the sharper the water around him became. There was a vortex of water all around the castle, and it was full of blade like water slices.

'Ouch! ow oww..'

He groaned as he felt the waters slice through his clothes and leave shallow cuts everywhere. They weren't too deep, neither too long. Like papercuts. Yet, as those numerous cuts came in contact with the sea water, they burned like hell.

'We're doing this the hard way? Fine!'

Feeling angry at the castle, or rather, the artifact that was behind all this, he finally activated his power. The power of light.

And this time, it wasn't the size of a small finger like before, he had activated the power to its fullest. The water around them brightened as a bright golden light, far far brighter than the castle itself surrounded Ale.

It made a path of light ahead of him, stopping everything in his way. The water vortex couldn't work wherever the light reached. It was as if Ale was in complete control of the place wherever his light touched, even the mana in that area.

'Making me work so hard..haah..'

He walked forward and grabbed the handles on the palace doors. Pushing the two handles forward at the same time, he opened the door with a loud creak.

Although it was underwater, he could still clearly hear the sound.

As he put a foot inside, he suddenly lost his balance only to realize seconds later that there was no water inside the palace.

"Wow.."

He took a big breath and admired the inside of the castle after coming in. Except the water that was stuck to his clothes and hair, there wasn't any sign of water inside.

He looked around, feeling a bit more comfortable. But it felt weird to feel such comfort inside what should be a dark or ominous artifact. Yet, he didn't feel out of place at all.

"How weird.. Are people supposed to feel this comfortable in a place like this?"

Ale looked around, the castle which looked even bigger from the inside had a basement and another floor on top. It was a pretty huge castle to go unnoticed for so long.

"Hmm.."

He decided to go down first, since basement is where you're supposed to find the hostages.

And just as his years of experience indicated, he found numerous jails like structures down below. All of the cells were full of humans and some even had animals in them.

"Are they all alive?"

He got closer to the cells and tried to check whether they were alive or not. None of them had any bleeds or wounds. They weren't pale or white either.

'They just look like-'

"They're sleeping."

"Yeah. They look like they're sleep-nn?!?"

He was happy to find someone who thought the same as him only to realize moments later that he was the only person who was supposed to be here.

As he looked back quickly, trying to find the source of the voice, he almost dropped his jaw in shock.

*Gasp!*

'An angel?!'

That's the only thing that came to his mind as he looked at the flawless beauty floating in front of him.

'An angel?!'

Is the first thought that came to Ale's mind as he looked at the person in front of him.

A face beautiful enough to be sculpted by the Gods themselves, enveloped with layers of white silk floating in the wind, giving vibes similar to that of a pair of wings.

The more Ale observed the person in front of him, the more divine they looked. Gold ornaments and lips the color of cherry complimented each other more than they should have.

The silver hair that reached up to her calf and golden pupils only added more charm to the divine aura she was giving off.

The woman that was floating in front of him slowly came down and stood in front of him. She was slightly smaller than Ale in height, which could be called pretty tall for a woman.

As she looked him in the eyes, a smile bright enough to dissipate all the darkness around them appeared on the corner of her lips.

"Thank you for coming here."

She spoke with a tone that strangely matched her demeanor, calm and gentle. Yet there was no hesitation or doubt in that voice, just like that of an 'Empress'.

And as the same thought crossed through Ale's mind, he finally managed to come to a conclusion.

"A holy relic?"

He asked subconsciously, yet, at that point, he was more than sure about his findings. It was just too unbelievable.

Seeing his shocked expression, the one in front of him couldn't help but laugh. As her laughter spread throughout the entire palace like a gentle wave, she slowly nodded her head in answer to his question.

"That's impossible-no wait. It doesn't make sense. Why'd you harm the people if you're a holy relic?!"

His doubts were valid. But since he still didn't know her side of the story, the full picture was still out of his consideration.

'Holy Relics' as the name sounds are relics left behind by the holy age. They're simply tools or ornaments used by the strongest beings of the holy empire.

These relics stayed by their side throughout their whole life and managed to assemble themselves with their owner to the point that they could hold part of their owners' soul after their death.

These relics were rare and hardly mentioned even during Ale's first life. Even someone with Rudy's luck would only manage to get glimpses of them or be able to borrow their strength once or twice during their lifetime. That's how rare they were.

And as the name suggests, they are supposed to be 'holy', meaning they'd normally be found in temples and sacred places, not at the bottom of a nameless ocean surrounded by disasters.

"I didn't harm them. I saved them."

She looked at the countless people lying unconscious behind them as she spoke. There was no doubt in her voice, making Ale wonder what exactly was happening here right now.

"Can you please explain.. umm.. your majesty..?"

Since it looked like the relic belonged to someone at the level of an empress at least, Ale decided to tread carefully without making hasty judgements.

"I believe it'd be more effective if I just show you."

She said as she slowly started walking deeper into the basement. But unlike before, it no longer gave Ale the chills or felt creepy.

The places she were about to pass lit up immediately by her approach and he could see the end of the place.

As Ale slowly approached the end of the corridor, the chills he was getting earlier started coming back. He could now clearly feel a really ominous aura coming out of the room at the end of the corridor.

As they approached the room, his heart which was usually calm and unwavering, started beating faster and a weird feeling started bubbling in his chest.

"Are you okay?"

She asked out of concern just before she was about to open the door in front of them. Ale nodded his head hiding the flush in his face and looked forward.

"Please open the door."

At his determined reply, she nodded her head and slowly opened the door.

As soon as the door opened, a strong wave of dark energy came crashing towards their direction. Before Ale could react in any way, he saw the woman move in front of him.

With a wave of her hand, the wave of energy dissipated and disappeared completely, leaving the space empty again.

As Ale peeked inside the door from behind her, he could finally see it. A sword darker than the night sky without the moon, and a dazzling red gem shining in its handle. It was floating in the middle of the room and was clearly the source of all misfortune.

"How.. did this get here..?"

Ale asked absentmindedly as he kept staring at the sword. He looked a hundred times more surprised than when he saw her.

"A group of people dropped this here a while ago."

She replied looking at the sword, unaware of Ale's expression.

"I was unable to suppress it completely."

The disaster that Rudy and his party were facing was only the tip of the iceberg. Even with a holy relic suppressing it, the sword was powerful enough to create a disaster so strong.

An Artifact can never suppress or surpass a holy relic, meaning this was something way beyond their level.

"I see. So you attempted to merge with it?"

Ale could finally tell what was happening. It was cannibalism of some sort. They were both relics, trying to gobble each other up.

Since she was unable to suppress it, she decided to bet on the chance of her coming out of the merging process as the winner, absorbing the sword as part of her.

'She must've lost..'

Ale could tell that trying to suppress the sword all the while protecting the countless humans and other victims must've been too much for her.

"Thank you.. for protecting my people."

Ale bowed his head slightly to show his gratitude as a smile appeared in his face. Yet, the smile looked full of sadness rather than happiness for some unknown reason.

"Your people? I see.. They're in good hands.."

She simply said those words. It was a praise coming from someone at the level of an empress. Ale couldn't help but feel butterflies in his stomach as he took in the compliment.

"Please let me take care of things from here on."

Ale said as he stepped forward. He felt like he finally knew why she brought him down here. Ale was a light user, one of the very few people who could help her out in this situation.

She was expecting him to use his power to suppress the already weakened sword completely and then help her destroy it. Or so Ale assumed.

But Ale's thoughts were different. So were his actions. As he took out a small cube the size of a grapefruit from his pocket, he could see the holy relic stare at him in confusion.

"I'll seal it inside this box."

"Seal it...? But I-"

"I cannot let you do that. Merging with it. That's too dangerous."

Ale said, sounding as if he was worried about her, which was a misunderstanding. He clearly cared more about his dear sword and wanted no one to touch or alter it in any way. That was his true intention.

'My baby~ I finally found you!'

He was jumping on the inside.