Ch.393Thief King

After the official western frontier expansion began, the first giant monster that the pioneers encountered was the troll.

The overwhelming physical strength emanating from their massive bodies and their endless regenerative abilities drove countless adventurers to the brink of death until the discovery of “fire” as a strategy against them.

Perhaps due to the trauma from those desperate battles, when a new species of giant monster called ogres was discovered, the Adventurers’ Guild devoted all its resources to finding their special abilities and weaknesses.

As a result, it was revealed that ogres had no special defensive or regenerative abilities or weaknesses, and their threat level was classified one rank below trolls…

Less than a month later, an incident occurred that led to a complete revision of the monster threat level classification system.

*Swoosh*

*Clang!*

*Whoosh*

*Swish*

This was the reason why.

Unlike trolls who relied solely on brute strength to swing their clubs mindlessly, ogres’ combat techniques—with their controlled movements and skillful transitions between attack and defense—could rightfully be called a “martial art.”

The fact that five minutes into the duel with Seti, not a single effective hit had been landed by either side proved this point.

“Isn’t this dangerous? Shouldn’t we help?”

Watching Seti’s situation, Mina suggested providing covering fire to Phillis.

Given their policy to minimize injuries, they needed to limit Seti’s exposure to the giant monster’s fierce attacks.

With a five-meter giant as the opponent, there would be no need to worry about friendly fire, but…

“…No. It’s enough to just keep watch and prevent any interference.”

Phillis, observing Seti’s ceaseless movements, shook her head and answered.

Perked-up ears, a gently swaying tail.

These were the little habits Seti displayed when she gave herself over to the exhilaration of battle.

If she had been thinking only about defeating the ogre, she would have unleashed one-sided attacks with wind blades that the iron club couldn’t block.

Instead, Seti was enjoying this moment—weapon clashing against weapon, warrior against warrior.

That was Phillis’s assessment, and it was indeed correct.

“Hup!”

*Clang!*

Seti’s spear thrust toward the ogre’s thigh.

The ogre deflected it with its iron club and kicked up dirt from the ground.

The cloud of soil flying toward Seti’s face—

*Whoosh*

—was blocked by her raised cloak, rendering it ineffective.

But as if even this was within its calculations, the ogre swung down its iron club the moment the cloak obscured Seti’s vision.

‘Now!’

As she gripped the shaft firmly, a faint light emanated from the silver-white spear blade.

This wasn’t the power of ‘Demon Lord Slayer.’

It was the cat-folk ability to nullify monsters’ physical resistance by channeling magical power into weapons.

This was Seti’s new technique, an enhanced version of that ability.

*KAAANG-!*

A clear metallic sound rang out.

The cleanly severed iron club flew past Seti and crashed to the ground.

The four watching from a distance couldn’t help but widen their eyes in astonishment.

“What in the world!?”

“She cut through iron!!”

At the Great Sage’s Magic Tower, Seti had learned how to cut through magically formed barriers.

But she wasn’t satisfied with just that.

Not long after beginning her adventures with Will, in the depths of the Blackforge Mine.

She remembered how powerless she had been against the rock-hard carapace of the Tyrant Worm.

The quadrupedal monster that occupied the Korkas Mine—what Will called a “Dragoon.”

The Stone Golem in the hidden ruins that only women could enter.

Every time she faced an enemy too hard to pierce with her spear, Seti felt frustrated. Based on inspiration gained from the Fairy Glyphs, she developed a technique that could cut even iron, and—

“Success.”

She proved its effectiveness just now by slicing through the ogre’s iron club.

And that meant the ogre no longer had any means to block Seti’s sharp spear—

*Slash*

Having its Achilles tendons cut in both legs and then its heart pierced was the inevitable outcome.

After that, it took less than 30 minutes to completely eliminate the remaining goblins in the cave.

~~~ Deep Inside Ogre Hill Cave ~~~

“Ooh~ There it is.”

After defeating the ogre and clearing out the remaining goblins, Seti’s group thoroughly searched the inner cave and reached a hidden room that had a distinctly artificial feel.

Though calling it “hidden” was a stretch, as the secret mechanism at the entrance had long since broken, leaving it wide open.

“A cooking area, makeshift bed, numerous storage containers, and even what appears to be a bathroom… This is remarkably well-equipped for a hideout inside a cave.”

“Looks like they prepared to hole up here with serious intent.”

“Besides precious metal accessories, there are many remnants of what seem to be daily necessities and tableware.”

Twenty storage containers were neatly stacked on one side of the room.

Most contained scraps of cloth presumed to be clothing, rusted tableware and tools, and crumbled remains of something unidentifiable. Only four contained precious metal or jeweled accessories.

The precious items weren’t in good condition and would fetch less than a quarter of their original value, but Mina was confident they could still get over 20,000 gold if they sold everything.

Meanwhile, Seti, lying flat on the floor to look under the bed, discovered a hardcover book.

“This book is relatively intact.”

“It must have been treated with anti-deterioration measures. Not uncommon for records found in ancient ruins, as I’ve heard.”

“I wonder if we can read it? Let me see.”

Carefully opening the book revealed ancient characters written in severely scrawled handwriting.

She considered taking it to Jessica, but there was one more person here who could read ancient script.

“This appears to be… the diary of this room’s owner.”

“What does it say?”

“Most entries are about trivial daily occurrences. Stomach aches lasting all day, stubbing a toe on the bed corner after being startled by an earthquake… Oh?”

Anastasia, who had been flipping through the pages with a bored expression, suddenly changed her demeanor at one particular page and began reading aloud.

“It’s my fifth year holed up in this cave. The situation seems to be worsening. I should consider stopping my outside excursions and hiding completely. I’ve prepared processed food to last ten years, which should be more than enough…”

The facts that could be gleaned from the diary were roughly as follows:

The room’s owner was a male human from ancient times called the “King of Thieves,” who converted his usual hideout into a secret bunker to survive the black magical power.

He stocked up on ten years’ worth of meal-replacement pills commissioned from an alchemist, along with plenty of precious metals and jewels.

He thought that if he held out long enough, the black magic incident would somehow be resolved, and afterward, he planned to live luxuriously by selling his stashed valuables…

But the Thief King’s ambitions came to a futile end in his sixth year of seclusion.

No matter how deep in a cave one hides, minimal ventilation is necessary to breathe and live.

And that meant black magical power could seep in through the ventilation ducts.

Of course, even without that, the black magic that covered all of Grantis would have penetrated deep into the ground, ultimately reaching the bunker-bound Thief King and weakening him.

“One day I woke up unable to hear, and by midday my condition had rapidly deteriorated. By the next day, I could barely see. The final page of the diary concludes with the Thief King, certain of his death, cursing the world.”

In the end, the room’s owner, the Thief King, met his demise weakening from exposure to black magic, and his meal-replacement pills, soap, clothing, and other items rotted away over the long years…

“The goblins must have recently discovered this exposed shelter with its broken locks, adorned themselves with the gold items from the containers, and then were spotted by the ogre.”

“Though it seems the ogre couldn’t enter the inner cave because of the low ceiling.”

So the treasures that once belonged to someone in ancient Grantis had passed through the hands of the Thief King, goblins, and ogre before finally reaching Seti’s group.

Moreover, the remaining odds and ends and the diary were rare traces of the ancient Grantis human race.

While not comparable to the Great Sage’s Magic Tower, this was undoubtedly a significant discovery.

“When you think of these accessories as ancient crafts, it seems a bit wasteful to just sell them for money.”

“Hmm~ But the reward for handing them over to the Pioneer Administration isn’t much…”

“We should discuss that part with Jessica. Let’s gather as much as we can and take pictures too.”

While placing various accessories and relatively intact items into the Box of Stopped Time, Mina discovered a ring in particularly good condition and secretly rejoiced at the thought of selling it for a high price…

But no one could have predicted that it would lead to yet another adventure in the near future.