Into the Ruins (Part 2)

Just as Saleen was about to give up hope, a violent vibration erupted from the bottom of the pond. The pond began to bubble and a large whirlpool appeared, sucking Saleen and the others down to the bottom of the pond.

Earthquake? Volcano?

Saleen thought about it calmly as he tried his best to lean towards the giant bubble that was protecting Sarah and Sika.

Even at the brink of death, Saleen was not flustered. Since he had been young, he had brushed with death many times. This feeling of nearly touching another world was familiar yet helpless.

The whirlpool was unusually strong, and even the diasikala were unable to escape. Saleen and the others were at the heart of the whirlpool. However, there was no pressure from their surroundings. The only thing they felt was the enormous suction from the bottom of the pond.

It had only lasted ten seconds but Saleen felt as though he had gone through a black hole. A surge of immense pain coursed through his entire body, as if the inside of the black hole had been filled with countless blades of ice. His body felt like it had been chopped up into millions of pieces and then reassembled. If Saleen had not constantly used his badge to train his mental strength, he would have fainted long ago.

A booming sound appeared and Saleen caught a glance of a wounded Canghong falling in front of him. This man had in fact not died. Both of his eyes were open in a shocked expression, frozen into this moment.

In this whirlpool, there was not a single drop of water. This was a black cave, and if it had not been for the layer of light from the water shield that protected the falling Sika and Sarah, Saleen would not have been able to clearly see his surroundings.

Saleen glanced down at his feet, large holes having appeared in the sides of his shoes. His feet weren’t badly wounded and his walking was unaffected.

The water shield that protected Sika and Sarah broke, the bubble bursting with a popping sound. Saleen released four Fluorescence spells and four lights flew upwards, slowly illuminating the cave.

"Saleen!" Sika left Sarah’s side and pounced forward. Saleen lost his balance and nearly fell over.

"Are you alright?" Sika felt him up and down. How could he have been alright? He was hurting all over and was relying entirely on his willpower to continue standing there and not roll around the floor in pain. Sika’s hands as they felt around his body were even more unbearable than a knife poking him.

However, Sika’s eyes were filled with worry and Saleen was too embarrassed to push her away. He unhooked the golden bottle from his waist and pushed the bottle into Sika’s hands, saying, "Treat Canghong, he’s dying."

Chasing away Sika, Saleen turned his attention to Sarah. She was injured fairly badly but was not in danger of dying. Saleen took out a Grade 3 magic nucleus and held it in his hands, absorbing its elemental powers and restoring his magic chords. For a mage, it was a bad feeling to not have any magic chords, because there was no sense of security.

Saleen also knew that even though Sika had reassured him that she was alright, the damage done to her by the ascetic had been extensive. Sika was neither a sacrifice nor a mage. Her mental injuries could not be seen.

Sika’s ability to tame magic beasts could no longer be used, her fighting ability had decreased tremendously, and even her cudgel had lost its former power.

The area lit up by the Fluorescence spell was small in the vast area of the cave. While restoring his magic chords, Saleen observed his surroundings, but there was no end to the darkness. By his feet were flat rocks of a black color. Saleen crouched down and used his fingernail to scratch at the surface of the floor, feeling the friction of the rocks.

It was a whole piece of steel rock.

To say that steel rock had no monetary value was to show respect to other gemstones, as this material was the main material used in building magical towers and magical gates. A single gold coin could purchase only a square meter of it. For most mages who did not possess such wealth, despite having trained until they had reached Grade 6, they could only use normal stone materials to build their magical towers.

Saleen used his senses to observe a depth of one meter underground. In Saleen’s observable sight, what was beneath his feet was all steel rock. What left him most surprised was that the steel rock under him was a complete piece with no cracks whatsoever. Had this cave been chiselled out from steel rock?

These had to be the ruins of the Second Dynasty. Besides that magical empire, none had been as lavish.

Sika used the gold bottle to wash Canghong’s wounds. He had hundreds of wounds on his body and Sika could only choose the bigger ones to treat. The remaining restorative water, she had Canghong drink.

Canghong’s face settled down, but his heart was anything but calm. He saw Saleen holding onto a magic nucleus with one hand, absorbing its powers, while the other hand used magic to light up the area as he observed his surroundings.

Saleen was actually a mage with a powerful lineage!

For a normal mage to restore their magic chords, they would usually have to be stationary. They could not even move a muscle, much less cast a spell at the same time. During that time, there was no need for a person to attack. If a mage was disturbed at that point, they would have be maimed by their own magic and crippled.

Although Canghong was clueless about the rules of meditation, he understood the meaning of possessing magic lineage. Saleen’s teacher must have been an unusually powerful person. What was strange was that Saleen’s grade was still very low, so why had he left his training? This was a dangerous place, especially a place like the Chaotic Swamp. Wasn’t Saleen’s teacher fearful for their student’s life?

Saleen touched the floor, finally finding streaks of magic that had been hardly noticeable. At his feet, there was an enormous invisible magic array. The few of them had been sucked into the cave from the pond precisely because of the activation of the magic array.

Saleen was not well versed in magic arrays. Even if his memory was filled with knowledge on magic arrays, he could not decipher anything about them. However, from the complexity of the magic streaks, this magic array must have had a diameter of at least a hundred meters. Legend had it that in the imperial city of the Qin Empire, there was a large magic array that had been built by a few generations of imperial mages all together. The diameter of that magic array had only been fifty meters.

Saleen was happy. These Second Dynasty ruins certainly did not disappoint. The steel rocks beneath his feet by themselves were already worth a few million, maybe even tens of millions. This meant that even if the entire ruins were empty, he only had to dig up a few rocks and he would still be filthy rich. The only problem now was the lack of space in his Ring of Gifts…

If only his teacher were here. With Jason’s spatial tools, he could definitely bring back all the steel rock.

If Jason only knew how useless his student was, he would have surely disowned Saleen. It was just a pile of steel rocks. Once Jason broke through Grade 5, he would have the financial means to build an entire magic tower using many premium materials. For a teacher physically carry all these steel rocks? He would be better off without such a student. It was too embarrassing.

After regaining half of his magic chords, Saleen created another portion of restorative water to clean Canghong’s wounds and give to Sarah to drink. A ruin that was older than twenty thousand years was usually safe, but it was hard to say. Despite being built when the Second Dynasty had ruled their magical empire, the magic array he was standing on had still been able to activate, proving how powerful the mages had been back then. It was always good to have more help on hand.

The air in this space was clean. With the exception of lacking light and sound, there were no imminent dangers present. The magic array he was standing on was also very stable and did not look like it would be activated again. After resting for around four hours, Saleen and the other regained some of their fighting spirit.

Canghong’s external wounds had healed with scars marking his body. However, funnily enough, his face was very clean. Saleen suspected that when he was faced with danger, the first thing he did was to protect his face. The current paleness of Canghong’s face was the result of an extensive loss of blood.

Restorative water could not replenish blood. Even magic could not do such a thing.

Canghong’s voice was soft and weak, making Saleen’s hair stand on end.

"Mage Merlin, why don’t you use illumination magic to survey the surroundings?"

"I don’t know how to cast illumination magic."

Canghong was at a loss for words. All the words he had wanted to say went back down his throat. This mage of such powerful magical lineage actually had no idea how to cast illumination magic, which were spells that could not have been easier.

Saleen ignored Canghong’s embarrassment. An illumination spell might have produced a small area of brightness, but naturally, he had other ideas. He retrieved a giant gold stick from the leather pouch on his back and opened the cover on top of it. He lit up the Magic Flame Medicine hidden inside to create a magic torch.

There were six small holes at the top of the gold stick. After the Magic Flame Medicine had been ignited, white flames began to spew out, emitting a bright light that was even stronger than the effects of an illumination spell.

For a moment, everything had been silent. With the magic torch ignited, everyone could finally see everything within this space.

They were standing on a black platform. The entire piece of steel rock had a complex magic array carved into it, and at the edge of the platform were wide rock stairs. Twelve wide pillars held up this area. Below the platform was a wider spot of flat ground where a beast lying down, asleep.

This beast was ten over meters long and was not as big as the hill cyclops. It had a set of silver horns on its head, and its face was almost two meters long. Plated armor grew all over its body, almost like that of a freshwater magic alligator. Because of how effectively Saleen’s magic torch had lit up the space, everyone could clearly see all seven eyes on the beast.

The magic seven-eyed Bafendier!

Thirty thousand years ago, humans had loved to capture strange beasts from other parallel universes, including evil magic universes. There were many different types of evil magic beasts but there were only a few ways of classifying them: supreme demons, demons, and imps and spirits.

Supreme demons had powers that were greater than all of the nine classes, including mages.

Bafendier was one of the more famous supreme demons. On the wall drawings of the various dynasties, a person could easily find a drawing of the Bafendier. However, after human powers had weakened after the Third Dynasty, they could no longer cross over to other parallel universes whenever they wished.

Though once a tamed beast, Bafendier had become a greatly-feared one instead.

How hadn’t this thing gone extinct from this universe already?

Saleen swallowed, ensuring that the legendary thunder chain was not on this supreme evil beast. Evidently, this beast was free. That only meant that it was not bound by anything. If it were to leave this space, it was possible that it would wreak havoc on the Myers mainland.

How? Demons had intelligence, and some even possessed a language and words. Being locked in here for tens of thousands of years, wasn’t this demon angry?

Saleen and the others hoped with all of their heart that this demon would never wake up.