196
The rain had ceased.
Where the rainwater had swept through, the ground had sunken even further, transforming into a lake of flowing lava.
Ray halted his steps as he walked towards the lava lake.
The heat emitted from the boiling lava began to sear through his armor and onto his skin.
Ray muttered while neutralizing the surrounding heat with mana flowing around him.
“Completely beyond any sense…”
If Luna’s magic had been of an average level, Ray might have chuckled to himself with some joke like “This is why I roll for gacha,” laughing quietly alone.
However, looking at the scene caused by Luna’s magic, even jokes didn’t come easily.
‘The word “genius”… doesn’t seem appropriate either.’
To Ray, the term ‘genius’ was defined by the potential to reach the transcendent realm, however slight.
By that standard, Johanna and Speira were geniuses among geniuses.
Both of them were children gifted with the talent to inevitably reach what was called the ‘pinnacle’.
But even geniuses such as Johanna and Speira needed at least 20 years to surpass the pinnacle.
That was only natural.
No matter how talented one was, it took time to break through countless barriers and reach the transcendent realm.
One of the reasons Ray pushed himself so hard was to buy enough ‘time’ for the children before his own life ended.
If they could thwart the plans of the devil worshippers early, their rituals would naturally be delayed.
Thus, for Ray, collecting orphans was less about securing immediate talents and more about finding a hero who could lead Bella to a happy ending in the world after his death.
He had thought this way, but Luna was an exception.
She was on a completely different level.
She was entirely beyond ordinary common sense.
Ray wondered.
Had there ever been a mage in human history who possessed talent comparable to Luna’s?
Ropheiren’s warning came back to mind.
Ropheiren had warned that he was raising a monster that not even Harshia in her prime could stop.
It was true.
When all of Luna’s potential bloomed with time, even if a mythical hero returned, she would become a being no one dared to oppose.
Still, Ray greeted Luna, who had cast her magic and landed on the ground, with a perfectly clear smile.
Though Luna appeared cold at first glance, Ray knew she harbored warmth within.
Even without Ray, there would be many people in the world who could support Luna emotionally.
So there was no need to worry. Ray trusted Luna.
“Thank you. If you hadn’t come, we’d have been in serious trouble.”
With the most casual tone possible, Ray expressed his gratitude to Luna and surveyed the lava lake formed in the underground city.
“…The shadow-like creature that wriggled around wasn’t the main body, I think.”
Because of its bizarre appearance, Ray had used the ability of deciphering to closely examine the shadow.
The shadow turned out to be a kind of astral body.
Although it wasn’t purely an illusion without substance, it could be inferred that the destruction of the astral body dealt a significant blow to the original entity.
While it was somewhat unsettling that he couldn’t finish it off completely, now wasn’t the time to dwell on such things.
Now, it was time to find Ulte.
“Rune, did you say you sensed Uhte’s presence in that direction?”
“…Yes, that’s right.”
“Then let’s go.”
Ray propelled himself off the ground.
Even though the enemy’s main force had been eliminated, it wasn’t a situation where they could relax.
The cries of demons still echoed throughout the underground city.
There was also the possibility that additional forces of devil worshippers could arrive at any moment.
As Ray advanced quickly toward the direction where Ulte’s presence was detected, he smirked.
“One of them survived.”
In the rear, commanding with a wolf-like head, one demon remained alive.
It was a fairly powerful entity, but by no means a match for Ray.
The demon seemed to know this fact. However, bound by some compulsion, it couldn’t flee and was trembling in place.
Without slowing down his running speed, Ray manifested Sword Energy.
Luna attempted to cast a spell but was stopped by Ray.
“Rune, conserve your strength.”
If they had to escape the underground city urgently, they would definitely need Luna’s help.
It was tactically correct for Luna to preserve her strength rather than deal with a couple of demons.
Understanding Ray’s intention, Luna frowned slightly but retracted her magic.
The wolf-headed demon realized it was too late to escape and screamed in terror to overcome its fear.
Regardless, just as Ray was accelerating to cut the demon down,
A pressure akin to air being crushed approached rapidly from afar.
Ray’s eyes moved past the demon’s shoulder.
A flash of light was coming.
Following the trajectory of the light, the ground crumbled and kicked up dust.
Since the speed of the light exceeded the sound barrier, no sound was heard yet.
The demon followed Ray’s gaze and turned around in panic.
“?!”
Realizing the existence of the light beam too late, the demon tried to evade.
At that moment, a restored golden spear shot out, blocking the demon’s escape route.
Caught between two projectiles, the confused demon awkwardly twisted its body and was struck by the light, causing its head to explode.
Chiiang!!
The delayed sonic boom rang in Ray’s ears.
The light beam continued forward, having shattered the demon’s head, and embedded itself into the wall of the underground city.
As part of the underground city wall collapsed, Ray looked toward where the light had initially flashed.
A figure cloaked in black waves was approaching from there.
Tschak!
Soon, the black waves peeled away, revealing the face of a middle-aged man who looked as if he’d gone through quite a lot.
Looking at the middle-aged man with fading black hair and blue eyes, Ray asked with a sour expression.
“Are you Ulte?”
Ulte nodded.
“Yes. I am Ulte Gadi, legally recognized by His Majesty the Emperor to inherit the baronial title. And you, are you from the Empire?”
Ulte’s voice was as rough as swallowing a handful of sand.
His exposed wrist was also as dry as winter branches, looking like it could snap at any moment.
Despite Ulte’s pitiful state,
Ray finally let out something he had been holding back.
“You damn bastard.”
*
Ray usually tried to avoid swearing in front of Luna.
However, upon actually facing Ulte, he couldn’t help but vent the emotions bubbling inside him.
“Isn’t it fucking ridiculous that I had to crawl here through all this hardship just to save your sorry ass? Huh?!”
“…”
“Can’t you take better care of yourself if you’re not skilled enough? You stick your neck out recklessly, get stuck, and flail around with your limbs. Who’s supposed to clean up the mess then? Me? Am I supposed to do it? Am I your mother?”
“…”
As Ray was being scolded thoroughly, Ulte hesitantly asked.
“Could it be… you’re the ‘Ray’ that Count Philip mentioned?”
There exists a brash but exceptionally talented genius.
Ulte had heard about Ray several times through Count Philip’s letters.
Of course, it didn’t make sense that the person cursing loudly in front of him was Ray.
The ‘Ray’ Ulte knew was a nineteen-year-old boy, whereas the knight in front of him was a superhuman who had cut down countless devil worshippers.
Ulte had just escaped through a rift in space, was disoriented, and had momentarily blurted nonsense.
Surprisingly, it was the right answer.
“Damn, you’ve got good instincts when it matters. Yes, that’s me, the very same Ray who beat up the guy who ran off with your precious Titi. But if you repay favors like this, I’m in a bit of a bind.”
“…”
Though confused, Ulte tried to regain his composure amidst the battlefield.
“How… did you find me and come all the way here?”
“Fucking hell, exactly my point.”
For every sentence, Ray couldn’t help but insert a ‘fucking hell’, but eventually calmed himself down and continued.
“Count Philip informed me that Baron Gadi had gone missing. With Duke Prizzran’s help, I sought assistance from the Imperial Intelligence Division to track you down and arrived here.”
It was hard to believe, but now wasn’t the time to question it.
The cries of demons continued to echo from all sides.
Clapping lightly to lighten the mood, Ray brought up the main topic.
“Gadi Baron, I came all the way from Alimo to confirm your survival and rescue you if you were alive. What started as a simple forest search has grown into something much bigger.”
Turning his head to survey the underground city, Ray faced Ulte.
“Now, let’s try escaping. If there’s any information I should know, please summarize it for me.”
*
Ulte didn’t fully trust Ray.
It’s hard to believe someone would come all this way just to save me, right? Ha ha, thank you- He couldn’t simply laugh it off.
However, the man standing in front of him was undoubtedly a superhuman who had entered the underground city and cut down countless demons.
For now, cooperation was necessary.
“…I entered this underground city using an artefact.”
“Are you talking about Valerius’ final masterpiece?”
“…How do you know that?”
“I heard it from my aunt, Lady Saria.”
Only then did Ulte start to think that this man might really be ‘Ray’.
Ray looked at the black pillar-shaped artefact floating beside Ulte with a deadpan expression.
“Is this it? The one that allows ‘Blink’?”
Blink.
It referred to short-range teleportation.
In this world, there was no such thing as Blink magic.
It was impossible to grab space and tear through it to move swiftly over even short distances.
However, Valerius poured everything he had into creating his final masterpiece in his later years, succeeding in completing it.
The name of the artefact was ‘Valerius’, named after himself.
Even without finding the entrance, Ulte managed to enter the underground city using this artefact.
Since Ray knew about Valerius, Ulte opened up and explained honestly.
“After entering the underground city, I discovered a hidden message left by the dragon involved in its construction.”
A hidden message left by the dragon in case something went wrong with the underground city.
It wasn’t a coincidence that Ulte found the dragon’s message.
The power source of the artefact Ulte owned, Valerius, was a pure Dragonheart.
When Ulte entered the underground city, the hidden message resonated with the heart of the dragon kin and guided him.
Through the dragon’s arrangements, Ulte obtained various pieces of information and supplies.
Ulte summarized what was immediately necessary.
“I gained access to the main system of this city.”
Ulte pulled out a key-shaped artefact glowing faintly blue from his pocket.
“If we go to the tower located in the center of the city and use this, we can directly control the system that once governed the underground city.”
Ray glanced at the massive tower located in the center of the city.
“If we gain direct control of the system, what advantages will we obtain?”
“The ceiling of this city opens.”
“…?”
Ray made a bewildered expression.
Upon reflection, though, it wasn’t an unreasonable statement.
This was a city built by dragons, after all.
It must have been extremely bothersome for dragons to constantly ride elevators going up and down.
If the lid of the underground city opened, they could simply fly in and out freely.
“Uh… So, we open the ceiling and escape?”
“No, it’s a facility that’s over 2,000 years old. There’s no way the ceiling will open properly. If we force the function to activate, the entire ceiling will collapse. It’ll crumble completely.”
“Ahh, that sounds perfect.”
It meant they could cause the entire underground facility used by devil worshippers to collapse.
The demons and devil worshippers still roaming the underground city wouldn’t remain unscathed either.
Moreover, collapsing the underground city completely and fleeing afterward would allow them to evade pursuit more effectively compared to leaving honestly via the elevator.
With Luna by his side, Ray didn’t have to worry about being buried under rocks.
However,
Ulte wasn’t bringing this up solely to collapse the underground city.
“If we enter the control room, we can also access information related to the underground city built beneath the Forbidden Forest by the ancient nation.”
Ray immediately understood what Ulte was saying.
Is this underground city the only one here?
Judging from the circumstances, it was unlikely.
If there were multiple underground cities, their locations needed to be identified.
Only then could they raid the true base of the devil worshippers, whether it belonged to the kingdom or the empire.
The control room of this underground city would surely contain information about other nearby underground cities.
“Well, let’s head to the central tower of the city. Can you move?”
Ulte briefly checked his body.
His entire body was screaming in agony as if it were dying, but Ulte nodded.
Having lost functionality in his body was nothing new to Ulte.
Destruction (2)
