The size of the hole was considerable, and it appeared large enough for two peasant houses to comfortably fit in; under this squarish entrance, never-ending darkness lay beyond it.
‘How deep is this place?’ Zich infused mana into his eyes and looked down. Yet, he still couldn’t see the bottom of the hole. He couldn’t see as well as he did in a bright space, but the hole was also unimaginably deep.
“How is it? Do you think we can go down?” Lyla asked.
“There’s nothing that I can see that looks dangerous. Since I can’t see the end, we will have to make sure.” Zich took out the chains he placed inside the magic box and handed them to Hans.
“Hold onto this.”
“Yes, sir!”
Even if he jumped down right now, Zich would probably not die with his skills; but at the same time, an unexpected danger could be waiting for him. Zich grabbed the chains tightly and pushed his body down the hole.
Thud! He positioned his feet onto the walls and went down smoothly. For a while, the group only heard chains clashing against the wall or Zich’s feet kicking off. After some time passed, Zich began to see the floor.
‘Is it a stone tablet?’
Broken shards lay on the ground. If he estimated the original shape and form of the tablet, the tablet was probably similar to the size of the hole.
‘I think that used to be a plate that brought people up and down from this hole.’
He theorized that the plate was probably activated with mana, but that was simply a guess. It was Zich’s first time seeing such a device. Even the master of the magical tower at Sunewick with the most proficient knowledge about mana in the world didn’t use a device like this. However, if he considered Clowon, which they supposed had culture and technology superior to their current time, the existence of such a device wasn’t surprising.
As Zich went down a bit further, he used up the whole length of the chain. Yet, there was still a great distance from the floor. Thus, Zich took out another chain. Crunch!
After driving the awl into the wall, Zich switched to a new chain and went down again. After a while, Zich was able to step on flat ground.
‘There aren’t any other dangers.’
Although he had expected traps shooting out fireballs or casting down lightning against trespassers, it seemed like this hole was simply a passageway that connected the top to the bottom. Zich took out a wooden block from the magic box and made a torch. It wasn’t to light up the area but to send a signal to his companions. In case they failed to see one, he lit up about a dozen torches. Not long after he sent this signal, Lyla and the rest of his companions slowly descended the hole with her magic.
After erasing her magic, Lyla said in surprise, “It’s really deep.”
“Isn’t this deep enough to be below the ocean?”
“There’s a high possibility.”
A ruin under the ocean—at the sound of such a mystical place, everyone gulped. They couldn’t believe that this place could be below the endless, deep blue ocean. Yet, Zich didn’t seem excited as he complained about the stuffy, damp basement. Meanwhile, Lyla crouched over the broken rock pieces on the ground and turned them over. Their smooth surfaces clearly indicated that they were created by human hands. Zich approached her from behind and said, “I think it was a plate used to transport people up and down the hole. Don’t you think so too?”
“I think so too.” Lyla showed him the surface of one of the broken rock pieces and exposed its rough sides. With his good eyesight, Zich easily caught the small hole on the surface.
“These are probably traces of a magic circle, which means this stone plate was a giant artifact.”
“They made an artifact with a s-stone?” Elena was beyond surprised, stunned really. As someone who carefully studied artifacts to prepare funds for her magic studies, she knew exactly how unbelievable making an artifact with an ingredient like stone was. Creating an artifact with steel was a skill surprising enough to make mages’ eyes pop out open, and common stone was even more surprising.
“Look at this. It’s a trace of a magic circle.” Lyla showed Elena the surface of a stone. Elena stared hard at the surface.
“…It really is a magic circle.”
“Let’s study this later.”
“Yes!” Lyla stuffed all the stone pieces into her box, and Elena eagerly helped until there was not a piece left. After waiting patiently for them to finish, Zich asked, “Are you guys done?”
“Yes, thank you for waiting.”
“Okay, then, let’s continue moving.”
The area under the hole was quite spacious. The smooth walls and ceiling also indicated that the place around them was artificially created. In front of the side where the plate used to be, there was a giant hole. Its square-shaped entrance seemed to suggest that there used to be a door attached to it. The party left the hole. With the fireball Elena made, the surrounding darkness receded, and a new scene came into view.
“Wow!” Elena exclaimed in admiration. A giant city located deep underneath the basement reflected in her eyes. Buildings made from stacked bricks stood side by side in a grid pattern, indicating that this city had been carefully planned. Other members of the party couldn’t hide their admiration. Although they had seen a sight like this before, this city also had its own charm. Zich went inside the closest building. Perhaps, the previous residents of this place had taken out all the household items or they had all turned to dust from the long period of time, but its insides were all empty.
Zich went inside several houses like this and looked around. All the houses had the same structure.
‘It’s not an ordinary city.’
This place went beyond an ordinary planned city. It wouldn’t have been strange if one area had the same houses, but other than a few exceptions, all the buildings had the same shape.
Lyla also seemed to have similar thoughts as Zich. “The buildings are all uniform. It’s not an ordinary city. Do you think these buildings are part of a camp or a dormitory?”
“It seems more like a dormitory. They wouldn’t have built camps this nice.”
The buildings were small, but they were too nice to be camps for a temporary stay. They were also sufficient for one or two people to live inside.
“Sir, this building is big.” Hans looked up at a new building that appeared in front of them. Unique and large buildings sometimes appeared in front of them amidst all the other buildings that looked the same.
“All the buildings that look the same were probably residential houses, and these buildings were probably used for a different purpose. Like for convenience or entertainment facilities.”
Hans nodded and accepted Zich’s explanation. They went inside the large building, but there was also nothing much inside; they merely found broken glass pieces and metal ornaments. Zich’s group looked around about one-fourth of the city area. Zich and Lyla became more certain that this city was probably a type of dormitory for people to gather together for some kind of purpose and live together.
Lyla asked Zich, “I wonder, what was their purpose in building a dormitory of this size?”
“I have no idea, but if we move further down, won’t we find something?”
A goal that was important enough to build a secret city like this underground—it really piqued one’s interest. However, the city seemed to have no intention of easily revealing its secret.
“Get ready.” As soon as Zich said this, his companions’ mood changed.
Lyla raised her staff, and Hans pulled out Estellade. Snoc scattered mithril on the ground, and Elena tightly clutched onto her staff. Zich also pulled out Windur. From the darkness that Elena’s fire did not reach, something slowly moved towards Zich and his companions.
“That is…!” Lyla was surprised; she had seen them before. ‘They’re the monsters that recently infiltrated my room.’
A terrifying monster made out of liquid with a humanoid form with two empty holes for eyes. These monsters were coming closer to them in groups.
‘As expected, I can’t sense their presence.’ Zich frowned; since he couldn’t sense their presence, he only found out about them when they revealed themselves. Did they simply have a very high ability to erase their presence? Or were they strong enough for Zich to be unable to sense even their slightest presence?
‘When I fought them before, they didn’t seem particularly strong to me.’ Zich did not ponder long about this, and he could easily find answers by facing them head-on. ‘But it’s at least certain that someone or some being targeting Lyla is here.’ Zich didn’t know who it was, but he needed to punch them a few times and make them vomit out their plan.
Swish! Swish! The monsters began changing form as they reached Zich and his companions. Their hands and arms that imitated humans began wriggling and changed into new shapes. Some of their arms changed into knives, some changed into spears, and some changed into scythes. Other than these three shapes, many other weapons appeared in view.
“It’s going to be fun.” Zich pushed Windur forward and made preparations to attack in an instant.
Lyla took care of Elena. “You can do double incantations, right?”
Elena had been learning double incantations recently. As mentioned before, Elena was talented enough to be part of Glen Zenard’s team and was deeply involved with Zich’s death before his regression. Moreover, after meeting an outstanding teacher like Lyla, Elena’s skills had already improved to a level where she could perform double incantations. Even though it was definitely difficult to maintain a fireball to light up their area and cast another spell, Elena looked quite confident.
Elena confidently replied, “Yes!”
“Good. Maintain composure regardless of what happens. It’ll be easier to use magic that way.”
Elena raised her staff and firmly replied, “I will keep that in mind!”
Lyla nodded at her disciple’s confident answer and pointed her staff at their enemies. Her expression turned menacing; the caring expression she used as she kindly advised Elena was completely gone. Lyla’s fury was understandable since she almost died from one of the monsters that looked like them. Ideas churned in her brain to decide which spell to use.
‘Well, electricity is the best against water.’ However, since they were entirely made up of water and moved around in liquid form, they might not receive much damage even after an electric shock.
‘Judging by their appearance, they’re probably strong against water and fire attacks.’ However, that could also be a trap. They were mysterious, unknown monsters. Fire and water elements could be their weakness instead.
‘What I am even wondering about?’ Lightning and flames swirled around in a frenzy from Lyla’s staff. ‘I just need to test them all out!’
Crassssh!
Lightning and fire flew out of Lyla’s staff in two opposite directions. With a thunderous sound, the lightning electrified monsters in one area, and the fireballs that burned across the darkness embraced the monsters and exploded in another area. Lyla quietly observed the results.
‘Lightning doesn’t work.’ The monsters that were electrified didn’t see to receive much damage. ‘Surprisingly, fire is effective.’
Fire magic evaporated the water, and when the monster lost more than a certain proportion of their body, they lost shape and returned to normal water. Lyla continued to use many different elemental magic attacks, and she was able to come to her final conclusion.
‘Fire is most effective.’
This was fortunate. Elena was most confident about using fire magic, so she could also play a large role in this fight.
‘Even though she tries to not show it, she felt concerned about not being of much help.’
Lyla nodded as she saw a couple of monsters turn back into water puddles from Elena’s fireballs. However, even if Lyla and Elena were decreasing the number of monsters from far away, there were many more monsters. They persistently approached Zich’s group. Zich swung Windur at the monster that appeared in front of him.