Ch.60Grave Robbing and Theft (3)

I could now think of the days when I was on the run using aliases as mere memories.

…or so I thought until yesterday.

‘Hah, life is really something.’

Finding myself in a similar situation again, I understand now. The vivid frustration from those days comes rushing back—it seems impossible to simply dismiss it as a memory.

I swallowed a curse as I watched the lightning giant crawl up from the bottom of the ruins.

A humanoid body formed of brilliantly flashing lightning. In its left hand was the charred upper body of a Solver. Scattered ashes seeped into the lightning storm’s body, spitting out sparks.

Behind the Solvers confronting the lightning giant, clusters of Arguilion’s silver threads were stealthily approaching.

A headache assaulted me as I stepped back to observe the scene. How did it come to this?

***

Ortes hadn’t intended such chaos from the beginning. Initially, he only wanted to enter the deep level to confirm the Thundering Talisman.

But soon, something strange caught his attention. He had been told that excavation teams departed every morning—one for the surface level and one for the deep level.

Yet at the departure time, there were three groups.

At a glance, the surface and deep level excavation teams consisted mostly of Solvers and mercenaries, apart from a few Torres Tower mages accompanying as guides. But the third group was different.

It was a mix of Torres Tower mages and unidentifiable individuals. Their attire suggested uniformity. Perhaps personnel from another tower?

Ortes asked nearby Solvers about this third group.

For some reason, he felt people were slightly kinder when his face was completely covered by a visor rather than when he walked around bare-faced, but Ortes considered it an illusion.

“Ah. Seems to be some company with an exclusive contract with Torres Tower. Actually, besides the surface and deep levels, there’s also a middle level. It’s the real prize, containing all the management systems for both the deep and surface levels of the ruins.”

“‘Only trustworthy people can go there’—what a convenient excuse.”

“The collusion is shitty, but what can we do? Just accept that it’s run by a company owned by some Torres Tower bigwig’s relative.”

A middle level excavation team specially managed by the site supervisor and other higher-ups. Ortes memorized this information in case he couldn’t find the Thundering Talisman in the deep level.

***

And so, in the deep level, Ortes, using the name Utis, performed brilliantly.

Five branching passages. Those who chose the false paths would be struck by forgotten ancient curses.

Ortes walked without hesitation toward the second passage from the right.

“Hey! We don’t know which passage is safe, you can’t just walk in—!”

“Lucky me.”

A stone door appeared at the end of the passage. The door had rotating rings that required specific symbols to be arranged in order.

The Solvers tried to decipher the Mado Era language written on the walls or find clues from photographs of previously excavated artifacts.

“Damn. It’s a Mado Era puzzle. We need to arrange three symbols in the right order—”

“Lucky me.”

With a resonant sound echoing through the vast space, the stone door slowly began to open sideways. Ortes felt the growing expectation in the Solvers’ gazes, but he didn’t particularly care.

‘I won’t be seeing these people again after this job anyway!’

Eyes narrowed behind the visor, Ortes descended deeper into the ruins, maximizing the information coming to him.

In fact, considering the excavation progress so far, “descended” was an understatement—it was more like a “rapid dive” in terms of advancement speed.

More and more Solvers began following Ortes. In their eyes, he was a ruins excavation specialist with unparalleled skill.

Ortes didn’t give any orders to the Solvers following him. He had expected a certain number of people to gather.

Nevertheless, he continued his swift bypassing of traps using his eyes for a simple reason. If he were to say “my luck has run out” midway and return, who could say anything against it?

Ortes planned to halt all excavation work and return the moment his eyes detected the Thundering Talisman. After returning to the surface, he would sneak back into the ruins alone when no one was around to steal the talisman.

In other words, the current exploration was merely groundwork for stealing the talisman.

Ortes repeatedly opened and closed his eyes, praying for the Thundering Talisman’s information to be detected.

‘Something’s not right.’

An artifact as complete as the Thundering Talisman should have been immediately detectable. However, despite having been in the deep level of the ruins for quite some time, he couldn’t sense the talisman’s presence.

Ortes stared at the metal door before him.

Beyond it was a straight corridor leading to a single room.

The moment he sensed something existing beyond that room, Ortes closed his eyelids again. Whatever was there, it wasn’t the Thundering Talisman.

There was an unusually dense concentration of thunder energy. If whatever was beyond the door had been the Thundering Talisman, the thunder energy wouldn’t be gathered in one place as if sealed, but would be continuously emitting.

‘Damn it. Is it in the middle level?’

Ortes turned around. Dozens of Solvers packed in the narrow corridor all stared at him.

Not just Solvers. Somehow, over a dozen fully armed Torres School mages had arrived and were closely watching Ortes’s every move.

Ignoring their gazes, Ortes took a step forward.

“W-wait. Aren’t you going any further?”

Ortes answered without hesitation.

“My luck has run out. Beyond that door lies only misfortune.”

***

The Torres School mages received unbelievable news. The previously sluggish deep level exploration was suddenly progressing at an insane pace.

A Torres School novice who had been acting as a guide in the deep level rushed up, panting:

“There’s a madman with a visor… saying he’s lucky while solving all the traps and advancing!”

At first, they thought it was just the antics of some lunatic. Once or twice by chance. Breaking through a 1/5 probability is simple.

But when once became twice, and finally the number of traps bypassed became too many to count on one hand, the guide rushed to the surface. At this rate, they might reach the end point of the deep level today!

The Torres School mages exchanged glances. In principle, if Solvers discovered artifacts, they would be granted some ownership rights, but they couldn’t hand over the great lightning spirit sealed in the deep level.

The lightning spirit in the deep level was practically the reason Torres School was excavating these ruins. The spirit sealed on Crete Island was different from other spirits.

Unlike ordinary spirits born from gathered natural energy, this spirit was a transformed being—once the tower master of a tower that existed on this island.

The secret art of spirit transformation that changes humans into spirits. This was the ancient magic Torres School had been seeking.

It was common knowledge that spirits, being ethereal beings, were more free than humans in the Ether Space. However, when the Ether Space that needed to be hacked reached the tenth plane, ordinary spirits would disintegrate, losing their mana to the tenth plane just by attempting to connect.

As for powerful spirits, they either already had contractors or their movements were tracked by the Ten Towers. Torres Tower wanted to use the secret art of spirit transformation to create an entry point for hacking the tenth plane.

Their school’s cherished secret art might be claimed by a sudden intruder.

The Torres School mages who rushed to the deep level saw exactly what the guide had described. The masked stranger was silently disarming ancient puzzles and traps without concern.

Occasionally he would mutter “lucky me,” but everyone could tell.

These weren’t traps that could be solved by mere luck. He clearly came here with some certainty and clues.

Therefore, when the masked stranger turned away from the sealed tower master’s laboratory, the Torres School mages expected him to negotiate with them, demanding monetary compensation or sharing of secrets.

But there were no demands.

Leaving only the chilling prophecy that “beyond the door lies only misfortune,” he headed for the surface.

The Solvers now shifted their gaze from the masked stranger to the Torres School mages. Their eyes urged the authorities to make a decision.

The Torres School mages exchanged glances.

“Who is he? A pawn of another school?”

“According to the contract, his name is Utis. Definitely an alias. Identity unknown.”

“Did anyone see him do anything to the door?”

“No. He just approached the door, looked at it a bit, then backed away. No traces of curses or applied magic were detected.”

The mages exchanged looks. In principle, if a specific explorer made an overwhelming contribution to discovering an artifact, it was customary to transfer the artifact to that explorer, but…

Now Utis had abandoned the excavation and left.

The mages exclaimed greedily:

“If we break the seal on that door today, we’ll double the contract payment! Anyone who plays a decisive role in opening the door will receive five times the compensation!”

The secret ambition to steal knowledge from the tenth plane. Torres School decided to trust in greed rather than heed warnings.

***

I had expected Solvers to gather, but I didn’t think the Torres School mages waiting on the surface would come down too.

‘Well, if they heard that the deep level of the ruins was about to be completely explored in just half a day, they’d want to check it out of curiosity.’

This was favorable for me. With so many personnel drawn away, it would be relatively easy to infiltrate the middle level.

I sense footsteps following me. I was planning to remove the visor and enhancement suit anyway. Enhancement suits powered by magic are originally heavy and unsuitable for infiltration.

I enter a passage I had noticed on the way down. It’s complex and winding, so it will take some time for them to find me. That’s enough time to remove the enhancement suit and go up avoiding other Solvers’ eyes.

The enhancement suit I procured locally had a simple usage method—enter through the opening back panel. If you’re familiar with the operation, it takes only about ten seconds to put on or take off.

Even after finishing undressing, there’s still some time before the pursuers arrive.

I’ll leave the removed enhancement suit standing here to draw attention. It’s a shame to abandon it, but it’s not irreplaceable.

I doubt there will be another opportunity when Torres School’s surveillance personnel are this sparse. I’m going in right now.

***

Those who followed Utis found him standing still like a statue.

‘Why has he stopped?’

In a state of extreme tension, the Solvers looked around.

Nothing.

Nothing at all.

Only the sound of breathing filled the ruins’ corridor. One Solver gathered courage and approached Utis.

“Hey! What exactly is this misfortune you mentioned—”

As the Solver’s hand touched Utis’s shoulder, his form toppled over.

Clang!

The visor separated from Utis’s body as it hit the floor.

Inside the visor, inside the enhancement suit, there was nothing.

Only an eerie emptiness filled it.