Ruins Exploration

In Delaire Forest south of the town of Conva, a river ran from afar and circled around a small mountain not far away.

One side of the mountain cliff was bare, revealing pure black stones. Under the illumination of the crimson moon, it gave off a sinister and terrifying feeling.

In the bay at the foot of the mountain, two girls wearing white shirts and black trousers surrounded a hidden underground entrance. They were none other than Emma and Fani who had secretly left the inn in the middle of the night.

"Fani, was this entrance dug up by you?" Looking at the passage beyond the disguise, she couldn't help but frown and ask her friend beside her.

Fani fiddled with the mechanical device in her hand as though she was examining something. After a while, she replied, "Look at the marble wall in the passage. Even if you use your brain, you'll know that I didn't dig it out."

"According to the records in the book, wasn't the baron's castle buried by a landslide? How could there be an entrance… Could it be that a storm last week changed the terrain and exposed a passage to the castle?" Emma asked in puzzlement.

"Why don't you do a divination?" Fani teased as she took out three metal boxes the size of shoe boxes from her backpack.

Upon hearing that, Emma rolled her eyes and chided, "You clearly know that I'm not good at divination…"

"So, let's not talk about demoralizing things… At this point, can you resist the urge to return without any explorations?"

With that said, Fani threw out the three metal cubes.

The metal blocks began to transform in midair as several tentacle-like metal tubes extended out from both sides of the square.

When they landed on the ground, the cubes turned into mechanical dolls that seemed to have many arms and could walk upright.

At that moment, Fani drew a triangular Sacred Emblem on her chest and added,

"With them scouting the way, there shouldn't be much danger… God will protect us."

When Miss Emma saw this, she quickly coiled her long black hair on her head and muttered, "Your grandfather treated you really well. These mechanical dolls seem to have very strong firepower."

Fani knew that her friend was actually nervous. After all, she was a noble lady who seldom had any adventuring experiences. Therefore, she explained,

"Each of the Annihilator mechanical dolls is equipped with four high-pressure steam rifles that can shoot demon hunting bullets, as well as a silver cannonball that comes with the Fire of Light. In terms of destructive power, each of them exceeds a Sequence 7 Beyonder.

Upon hearing that, Emma heaved a sigh of relief. Then, she stretched out her right hand, clenched her fist, and placed it on her chest. "May the Storm be with you."

…

Seeing the two Beyonder ladies walk down the passage, the invisible Ebner, who had followed behind, circled around the warning rune that Emma had set up and entered the passage as well.

The reason why he followed the two girls here wasn't only because he was curious about the ruins, but more importantly, it was obvious that these two girls were novices and hadn't made sufficient preparations for the expedition. If no one was watching, and if something terrifying was released, wouldn't the nearby Conva Town suffer?

With him following them, not only could they save their lives at critical moments, but they could also stop them from courting death.

The black marble staircase had been scuffed for more than a thousand years, but it still maintained its hardness without any signs of corrosion.

The two ladies followed behind the square doll and walked down the stairs to the basement. Following that, they saw the decorations and patterns that were characteristic of the Fourth Epoch.

"This… seems familiar?" Miss Fani looked around with the light from the mechanical dolls and said in surprise.

"Of course they look familiar. We've seen these patterns before at the Old John Inn!" Emma narrowed her eyes and quickly identified the source of the familiarity.

And in the back, Ebner immediately determined that not only were there decorative patterns, but even the layout of the room he was in was exactly the same as the dining room at Old John's Hotel!

I wonder if this is the "inn" that the priest from the Fourth Epoch built?

With this in mind, Ebner used the White Eye to analyze the furniture and items around him before denying his previous guess.

That's not right. The style of the furniture is unique to the Fifth Epoch, and some of the building materials aren't old enough… It shouldn't be a building from the Fourth Epoch… Could it be that it was replicated like the Old John Hotel?

But why did it have to be this style?

Just as Ebner was in deep thought, as a Cryptologist, Miss Emma naturally sensed that the layout of the ruins was almost identical to Old John's Hotel.

As she didn't discover any danger for the time being, she carefully rummaged around with her friend.

"Almost all the valuables have been damaged or rotted… There are no traces of Beyonder items for the time being."

"This is indeed the former residence of Baron Conrad. I found his emblem here. Although it has been severely corrupted, it's exactly as described in the 'Battle of the Violated Oath' in the City of Hope."

"Eh? The bookcase in the underground study is actually so well-preserved. The books inside don't seem to have suffered any serious weathering."

After the two girls probed the basement, they immediately made a new discovery.

As for Ebner, he was on high alert because he discovered something that the two ladies had missed—footprints!

It was a footprint that didn't belong to him, Emma, or Fani. It was unfamiliar yet extremely fresh!

The unfamiliar footprint seemed to follow the staircase from above before disappearing into a huge, heavy, double black stone door at the end of the underground corridor.

That was also the only place in the ruins that was different from the Old John Hotel.

That door… It seems to have been pushed open from the inside… From afar, Ebner looked at the opening of the stone door, but even with his night vision, he could only see darkness.

The stone door had already cracked open, allowing them to enter side by side. It was dark inside.

At this moment, Emma's voice came from the study.

"They're all books on biography. Many of them are collections at home… Only this handwritten notebook might have some value… But I can't understand what he's writing…"

"There are also words that a Cryptologist can't understand?" Fani, who was standing guard, asked in surprise.

"I recognize ancient Hermes, Dragonese, Jotun, and Elvish, but I'm certain that the words in this notebook aren't any of those! These are completely different languages," Emma said with certainty.

"Then bring this notebook with you. We'll find someone to identify it after we finish exploring this ruin," said Fani after some thought.

"That's all I can do…"

Although Ebner was also a little interested in the notebook, it wasn't appropriate for him to show himself. All he could do was give up.

I'll find an opportunity to show my "erudite" side in front of them after the expedition and guide them to hand over the notebook to me for interpretation…

Just as he thought of this, he saw the two ladies leave the study and arrive outside the huge black stone door.

The lights of the three mechanical dolls shone in through the cracks, but they could only illuminate a tiny area behind the door, unable to let them see it clearly.

Just as Fani was about to instruct the mechanical doll to enter, she was stopped by Emma. The latter said with a certain tone, "There's danger down there!"

Fane clearly trusted her friend. She nodded with a serious expression and said, "Then, I'll do the preliminary cleaning!"

Clean up? Before Ebner could react to what she meant, he saw a golden cannon about half a meter long extend out from the heads of the three mechanical dolls.

Right on the heels of that, the cannon barrel quickly lit up, outlining blazing patterns and imprints.

Boom!

Three golden fireballs that resembled miniature suns flew out from the "cannon barrel" and into the darkness.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The ground trembled slightly as intense light emitted from the cracks.

Invisibility in the vicinity wavered as his feet trembled, nearly causing his invisibility to fail.

At this moment, a monster the size of a calf with golden flames burning all over its body darted out from the crack in the stone door at an extremely fast speed.

That aura… Is it another monster that the Werewolf created with its poison?!