Ch.436Chapter 436 – Toward the Seal of the Snow Field (3)

After the conversation with Lizzy, some time passed.

Chris lightly struck the stone statue with his stone tablet and quietly said,

“‘Guide our path forward.'”

Though simple words, his voice carried divine power.

In response, the statue began to glow and float upward.

And beneath it, as if it were only natural, a descending staircase appeared.

“There aren’t any traps, right?”

“It’s fine. There won’t be any danger ahead.”

Chris seemed confident.

She was the first to enter, with Beatrice and Sia following right behind her.

As we descended the stairs in order,

I was watching Eve’s reactions from slightly behind.

“Hmm…”

Eve was staring ahead as if displeased.

I was following behind her, with Sera accompanying us beside me.

And directly in Eve’s line of sight were Noah and Lizanis.

Occasionally when Lizanis would glance back, Eve would either touch or slightly draw her sword, causing Lizanis to flinch and quickly look forward again. This scene repeated several times.

“The famous Lizanis has completely become a mouse before a cat. Despite being Bestia’s great warrior.”

Noah said with an amused smile.

It was natural for him to react that way since he wasn’t directly involved in the situation.

As the one who was directly involved—the one who created this situation—I honestly found it troublesome.

“Given the circumstances, I’ve allowed it for now, but…”

Sera spoke softly enough for only me to hear.

Like me, she was watching Eve cautiously, not daring to mediate.

“It seems she really can’t help disliking it.”

“Maybe I asked too much of Eve…”

I trembled slightly, recalling when I told Eve about Lizzy’s request.

Sera smiled reassuringly and said,

“If we’re being fair, it was the lizardmen who asked too much. Besides, we all agreed in the end, right?”

Naturally, I had eventually accepted Lizzy’s proposal with conditions.

The condition was that I would consult with my companions before making a decision.

While consulting them was essential since it could add danger, it was also partly an excuse because I couldn’t bring myself to tell Lizzy to behead her sister.

In reality, except for Sia, Noah, and Chris, everyone was reluctant to bring her along without good reason.

If it weren’t for the situation where a sister had to behead her sister, they probably would have opposed it completely.

It was understandable, as I would have opposed it too under different circumstances.

Still, everyone seemed to understand Lizzy’s position and my true feelings, so they eventually gave their permission.

Only Eve added extra conditions:

Lizanis must remain in her sight, and she must not make unnecessary contact with me.

With these two additional conditions, she reluctantly permitted Lizanis to join us.

‘If I just easily forgave her, she’d think she was pardoned and try to crawl back,’ she had said.

I wanted to think that wasn’t true, but Lizanis was such a simple person that I couldn’t be certain.

Even so, from Eve’s perspective—being thoroughly angry at Lizanis—this was already a significant concession.

Still, she clearly disliked having Lizanis in her sight.

“…How should I apologize to Eve?”

“You don’t really need to. I think Eve appreciates that you didn’t hide anything and asked for her opinion.”

Sera added that in such situations, people often hide things from those involved.

In fact, I had briefly considered hiding it from Eve before deciding to honestly explain the situation.

“Normally, if you said nothing out of consideration for Eve, she would have been confronted with an unpleasant situation without any warning. So you were actually being considerate. That’s why Eve listened to your true feelings.”

“Really?”

“Like you, she probably wanted to avoid a situation where family kills family. She might not like it, but she probably thought such a harsh death was too much.”

Sera smiled reassuringly.

“So Eve set aside her feelings about the lizardmen and gave permission. Don’t worry too much. When you’re alone with Eve later, give her your full attention. Of course, when you’re with me, give me your full attention.”

Sera briefly touched her shoulder against mine before pulling away.

Seeing her smile as if encouraging me, I found myself nodding.

After that, we continued our descent, occasionally witnessing Eve slightly drawing her sword and Lizanis turning around in fear.

Then familiar murals began to appear on the walls.

“These murals?”

“They’re about gods and heroes.”

I quietly answered Noah’s question.

“It’s a sign that we’ve come to the right place.”

“I didn’t expect to find these here…”

“If Lizzy were here… she’d be happy.”

Noah and Lizanis marveled at the sight.

As we continued down the long staircase,

Suddenly, those at the front stopped.

“…How can this be?”

“What’s wrong?”

For a moment, there was no response from those ahead.

Then Chris spoke to me with clear confusion in her voice.

“Um, everyone should come forward and see this.”

Something strange had happened.

I exchanged glances with Eve and Sera before quickly moving forward.

And I immediately understood why the group ahead had stopped.

“The stairs are blocked?”

A rock wall was blocking the descending staircase.

+

Beatrice and Sera immediately began investigating.

After examining the wall and stairs with magic and tools for a while, they nodded to each other as if reaching the same conclusion.

Beatrice spoke first.

“As you’ve probably noticed, this wasn’t originally part of the seal.”

“It’s not a natural collapse either.”

“How can you be so certain?”

Looking at them both, I asked, and this time Sera answered first.

“The composition of this rock is completely different from the rocks that make up the seal we’ve been descending through.”

“The age is different too. By measuring the composition, we can estimate how old a rock structure is.”

Beatrice tapped the mural-covered wall lightly and continued.

“Unlike these walls that were made at least hundreds of years ago, the wall blocking our path isn’t even a hundred years old.”

“So someone deliberately blocked our path.”

Who did it and how they managed to completely block the path on such a scale remained unknown.

The immediate problem was that we needed to get down there.

“What about breaking through the rock?”

“I’d like to, but…”

Beatrice responded to Sia’s suggestion with a grim expression.

“This is designed so that if one part collapses, everything below will fall at once.”

“So if we make a hole, everything below gets destroyed.”

Beatrice nodded, saying they were essentially holding the seal itself hostage.

Sera quickly added more explanation.

“And if we use magic or explosives powerful enough to destroy the entire wall at once, the seal itself might collapse.”

“We must avoid that.”

Chris spoke firmly at the mention of the seal collapsing.

“The seal must not collapse. That absolutely must not happen.”

“I agree.”

After all, we came here to reach the deepest part of the seal, not to do something as foolish as destroying it.

The conclusion was that we needed to find a way around this wall.

“What if we dig a hole elsewhere to move through?”

“If there’s no other way, that might be our only option. But the surrounding ground is quite hard, so it would take a lot of time…”

Beatrice added to Sia’s suggestion.

Since it seemed like the easiest available option, Sera began discussing ways to dig more quickly, and a serious discussion was about to begin.

“…Excuse me.”

“What is it?”

Lizanis spoke up, and Eve responded sharply.

Though intimidated by Eve’s gaze, Lizanis slowly raised her hand while looking at me.

“Over there, the smell seems a bit strange…”

“Smell?”

Noah sniffed the air in surprise.

While he seemed unable to detect anything unusual, Lizanis quietly continued.

“It smells like gunpowder…”

“……”

Eve looked at me briefly, and soon we both nodded.

We had nothing to lose in this situation, so it wouldn’t hurt to check.

I walked past the discussing group toward the wall Lizanis had indicated.

Changing my weapon to a mace,

I lightly tapped the wall.

-RUMBLE

With a heavy sound, the rock began to move.

The discussing group immediately stopped talking and gathered around me.

“Helmet, how did you…?”

“Lizanis smelled it.”

Beatrice looked at Lizanis with a bewildered expression.

“…Are all lizardmen like this?”

“Even I pride myself on my intuition… But Beatrice, you couldn’t have missed this, right?”

“The wall was too thick. Even with magic, it’s hard to detect empty spaces behind such thick walls.”

Beatrice narrowed her eyes slightly and added.

“This method seems familiar.”

“…No way.”

Sera looked at me with slight surprise.

But nothing was confirmed yet.

Meanwhile, Noah stepped forward and said,

“…So whoever blocked the main path wanted to guide us this way?”

“It could still be a trap…”

I nodded slightly at Sia’s words.

It seemed this was our only path forward.

“Let’s go.”

Everyone nodded at my words.

“Sister, move to the center. Sia and I will take the front.”

“Yes.”

We immediately changed our formation.

It was natural since we were now exploring a new area rather than simply descending.

Noah took the rear, while Eve, myself, Sera, and Chris clustered in the middle.

After thinking for a moment, Eve looked at Lizanis and said,

“You stay by Kei’s side.”

“Me? You mean me?”

“Is there anyone else?”

Eve continued looking at Lizanis.

“Sia and Beatrice are enough for the front. As a precaution, you guard Kei.”

“…If the White Dragon permits it.”

Lizanis glanced at me cautiously.

When I nodded slightly, her face brightened as if she finally had a role to play.

“I, Lizanis, will protect the White Dragon with my life!”

“She perked up instantly.”

Beatrice shrugged helplessly at the excited Lizanis.

Eve looked at Lizanis with a slightly sulky expression but sighed lightly as if resigned.

Sia politely calmed the excited Lizanis, and we reformed our ranks to continue moving.

The space ahead was completely different from the sacred area filled with murals earlier—cold and solid.

As we continued descending, Lizanis, who was standing near me, sniffed the air and quietly spoke.

“Be careful, White Dragon. I hear something heavy moving. Sounds like digging into the ground. The gunpowder smell is getting stronger…”

“If I can faintly hear what she’s detecting, that says it all.”

With Sia’s amazement, Beatrice used her magic.

Creating a sphere of gravity, she quietly questioned Lizanis.

“Gunpowder smell, digging into the ground. Right? Direction?”

“Ahead.”

Lizanis pointed forward.

Beatrice threw the gravity sphere in that direction.

The sphere continued downward through the ground.

A moment later, a loud explosion followed by rising heat.

“‘Protect the lambs!'”

Chris immediately created a shield to protect the group from the heat, and I narrowed my eyes to look below.

Beatrice explained from beside me.

“I thought they might be laying mines, and it seems I was right.”

Beatrice grumbled, apparently having deduced this from Lizanis’s words.

“The thing is, they weren’t pre-laid but placed after we entered.”

“Someone is watching us.”

It meant someone had stored them elsewhere and, upon noticing us, prepared to welcome us.

Lizanis’s keen senses detected this, and Beatrice responded immediately.

“Still, if this is all, it should be easy. If these are the only traps…”

[That welcome greeting was insufficient, it seems!]

As if answering Beatrice, a mechanical voice suddenly sounded.

I immediately raised my weapon and shouted.

“Who’s there!”

[I am the guardian appointed to this place.]

“Appointed by whom?”

[By my creator, of course.]

The voice was strangely rough yet polite.

As we located the source of the voice, something fell from the wall.

It was a small sphere emitting red light.

[I should mention that this is not my main body. My main body is below.]

“And you’ve been watching us with that.”

“Correct,” the sphere quietly replied.

[My creator said that guests would certainly come here. I’ve always been waiting in anticipation for when that day would come… and finally, that day has arrived. The time has finally come.]

The sphere then quietly met my gaze.

I immediately questioned it.

“Who told you people would come here?”

[I will explain that below. But remember: it won’t be easy to proceed.]

The sphere answered as if hiding something.

But it spoke with what sounded like an amused voice.

[Perhaps it’s someone you know.]

Immediately after, a dull sound followed by footsteps began to echo from below.

Golem knights that I remembered began to appear one by one, and we quickly realized who had prepared this facility.

“Grandmother…!”

Sera whispered softly as more knights continued to emerge.

And the sphere that had spoken to me quietly continued.

[It’s a pleasure to meet you, Seraphina Medimaker.]

“You know me?”

[Of course, Seraphina Medimaker.]

The sphere answered Sera’s question.

[I apologize for the late introduction. Please call me Sophia.]

The sphere flew behind the golems that had now emerged.

[I am the golem responsible for this seal workshop created by Maria Medimaker.]

The golem knights began charging at us with their weapons raised.