Ch.120Ancient Ruins

Mana Lamp.

The principle itself is relatively simple.

Only three things are needed.

A catalyst for engraving the light-emitting magic, a mage to inscribe the magic, and Mana to continuously supply it.

However, this technology has only been commercially available for about 200 years.

Even then, it was only utilized in the capital and a few major cities.

There were plenty of mages who could use light-emitting magic.

But it took one hundred and fifty years to develop the technique of inscribing magic into materials—enchantment.

And two hundred years to develop a catalyst that could maintain it semi-permanently.

It was difficult to find materials that could withstand the prolonged Mana load.

Scrolls are destroyed after a single use. Not even worth discussing.

Steel or black iron can withstand momentary Mana loads.

Weapons imbued with magic were such cases.

Things like bows that shoot fireballs, or swords that emit Mana slashes.

But these metals were also unsuitable as catalysts for Mana lamps.

For lighting purposes, the Mana needed to be maintained for at least ten hours a day.

No metal except true silver could withstand such prolonged loads.

But using true silver was impossible due to its extreme rarity.

The Magic Tower found the answer.

After centuries of research, the Magic Tower succeeded in developing a semi-permanent crystal catalyst called magic stone.

The core manufacturing technology remained a secret exclusive to the Imperial Magic Tower.

One problem remained: how to continuously supply Mana.

The early Mana lamps were defective products requiring mages to visit several times a day to manually infuse Mana.

Thus, the Empire spent a long time searching for a way to activate magic without a mage’s management.

Once again, the Magic Tower found the answer.

Their conclusion was to give up. A disappointing conclusion for the Empire.

It was impossible for inanimate objects to gather Mana on their own.

The Magic Tower completely changed their approach.

After all, the result would be the same if they could supply Mana throughout the capital.

They installed long metal pipes throughout the capital.

Pipes connected to every Mana lamp.

The opposite ends of the pipes were connected to the Magic Tower.

So Magic Tower mages could supply Mana in shifts.

As they expected, the Mana flowing through the pipes was distributed to all Mana lamps in the capital.

It was a results-oriented approach… but with this, the Empire gained semi-permanent light that didn’t disappear even in the middle of the night.

—-

The core of this lengthy story is simple.

Unless continuously maintained by people, the light of Mana lamps cannot last long.

The corridor before us was defying that common sense.

A ruin at least a thousand years old.

There couldn’t possibly be living people here.

In other words, those inscriptions on the ceiling were accumulating Mana and activating magic on their own.

It was the technology that all Imperial mages dreamed of, but had practically given up on.

“…If we report this to the Empire, wouldn’t it be an enormous achievement?”

“Not just for the Empire, but a world-changing discovery…”

Frider broke out in a cold sweat. So did I.

It’s an extremely dangerous technology.

This was essentially the realization of perpetual motion based on Mana.

Would it be right to reveal this technology?

Judging by the state of this world so far, it seems like they’d just use it extensively for war until the world collapses.

The world would be covered in dark Mana.

Dark Mana is an energy that seeps in through the gaps in Mana.

“Let’s… continue inside for now.”

I urged the group, who couldn’t take their eyes off the ceiling in amazement.

I should probably keep this hidden.

I’ll have to destroy everything on the way back.

We proceeded down the corridor lit by the dim light.

After walking for about three minutes, the appearance of the walls changed dramatically.

“Was this place perhaps an ancient temple or something like that?”

“It seems so…”

Demian and Frider murmured as they looked at the walls.

From about 1m above the ground to near the ceiling, reliefs carved into the walls extended continuously.

The images depicted were truly horrific.

Tens of thousands, perhaps billions. An uncountable number of monsters.

It was a scene of war with armored people fighting against the monsters.

At the forefront of the people stood the man who had been carved on the door we passed earlier.

A young man wearing elaborate armor and wielding a greatsword.

Surprisingly, the shape of the greatsword resembled the Holy Sword.

Though there were some minor differences.

…What connection could it have with the Holy Sword?

I don’t know.

“Monsters…? Those are monsters, right?”

“Yes. An enormous number. It would exceed all the monsters the Empire has ever exterminated combined.”

The carved images continued along the corridor.

We walked down the corridor, unable to take our eyes off the pictures.

Images of other races were also carved.

Elves, dwarves, werebeasts, and even races that are now extinct or have degenerated into monsters.

They were watching from afar as humans and monsters killed each other.

As if they were about to raise a toast.

People lost their lives one by one, overwhelmed by the monster army.

The man with the greatsword was fighting to the end… but defeat seemed inevitable.

…It feels similar to heroic myths.

The ones that end in tragedy.

Sure enough, a monster wielding a spear appeared before the man.

The greatsword broke under the monster’s strike, and the man’s chest was pierced.

The man stabbed the monster’s shoulder with his broken sword and collapsed.

The image ended with the few remaining people retreating into a temple-like building.

“What a terrible story. I wonder why ancient people carved such images?”

“Well… I don’t know either.”

“It must be one of three things. Prophecy, record, or myth. I’m not sure which.”

Either they prophesied future events as a warning, or they recorded the history of their downfall.

Or maybe they just depicted the myths of their time on the temple walls.

Just like today’s cathedrals have things like the life of Carlos the Great painted on their walls.

It was impossible to know which was correct.

—-

After passing through the corridor, a circular staircase leading downward appeared.

The stairs were quite long, and the dark Mana grew thicker as we descended.

Only after descending for quite some time did we reach level ground.

A vast rectangular open space. Walls were broken and shattered in various places.

The floor was littered with bone fragments weathered to powder and crushed weapons and armor.

Clear evidence that a battle had taken place here.

The dark Mana in the air had now thickened to a level comparable to the center of a contaminated zone.

It was becoming uncomfortable even for me. The party members took out holy water and drank it again.

“Everyone stay alert. With this much dark Mana, there must be monsters nearby. Haschal, do you sense anything?”

“I’m not sure. I don’t feel anything in particular.”

I couldn’t sense any breathing, movement, or hostility.

Just thick dark Mana everywhere.

Everyone drew their weapons as we entered the open space, just in case.

We looked around, but apart from broken debris, there was nothing of note.

“Doesn’t seem to be anything special here. Let’s go to the next room.”

“Which of the three should we try first?”

Frider asked. The open space had one door on each wall, three in total.

The doors on the left and right were crude, but the center door was elaborately decorated with strange inscriptions.

Looks like a design where a dungeon boss might jump out.

Maybe one really will jump out. My intuition about these things was usually right.

So what should we do…

It’s probably better to fight a strong enemy when everyone’s in good condition, right?

“Let’s start with the center. It obviously looks the most important.”

“That’s true. Demian, Millia! Stop sightseeing and come over here!”

Frider and I placed our hands on the door.

At that moment.

– Woong!

With an ominous vibration, beams of light burst from the door.

The inscriptions pulsated violently, emitting thick Mana.

Clearly, some unknown magic was about to activate.

“Huh? What’s this?!”

“Magic?! Was it a trap… Take your hand off, Haschal!”

Frider shouted urgently as he removed his hand.

I tried to remove mine as well.

It was impossible.

My hand wouldn’t come off…!

“What are you doing! Hurry—”

“My hand won’t come off!”

As if I had become one with the door, no matter how hard I pulled, my hand wouldn’t detach.

Considering my strength, this was absurd.

In that case…!

I pulled my other hand back behind my shoulder.

Planning to smash the door completely.

The door might have strange enchantments, but it was fundamentally just marble. There was no reason I couldn’t break it.

If only another beam of light hadn’t erupted just before my fist extended.

It was a light bright enough to fill the entire room.

So bright that I instinctively closed my eyes for a moment.

When I opened my eyes, I found myself in a completely different place.

Leaving the other three behind.

I hurriedly looked back, but there was only a rock wall blocking the way, with no sign of the door that should have been there.

I immediately understood what had happened.

Spatial teleportation.

A phenomenon that wasn’t practical even by the game’s ending, and could only be experienced in a few dungeons.

I also understood why the others couldn’t come with me.

Dungeons with spatial teleportation had restrictions preventing entry until reaching a certain level.

In other words, this place required a minimum Master-level to enter.

…This might be dangerous.

I immediately drew Durandal.