Chapter 187

Chapter 187. Treasure Hunt (2)

And so, the treasure hunt began.

The rules were quite loose, given the high difficulty, so candidates could freely participate either individually or in a party.

Among them, what I chose was…

“Dale, are you really going to participate alone?”

Yuren asked with a disappointed expression.

“That’s right. Can’t you just join us in a party?”

“Wouldn’t it be faster to search with multiple people rather than alone?”

Iris and Berald also tried to persuade me, clearly reluctant.

“No, this time I want to try it alone.”

There were two reasons for this decision.

One was that when I joined, the party’s strength became excessively strong.

Even though the Seven Star Knights were formed from the elite of the Holy Kingdom’s heroes, they were not a difficult opponent for me, who already possessed power comparable to a ‘Master’.

‘Even Yuren and Berald alone are at a level where they can fight and win against the Seven Star Knights.’

With such strength, if the candidates formed a party?

Unless the leader of the Seven Star Knights, Johan Vasilio, the ‘Sword of the Holy Kingdom,’ personally intervened, it would be an unmanageable party.

‘Then, of course, the training purpose of gaining combat experience would be diminished.’

And the other reason.

Perhaps the most important reason was…

‘If it’s a party, I have to share the bonus points.’

Call it petty.

Call it cheap.

But.

But…

‘This time, I really want to escape from this damn last place.’

Right.

Even if Berald isn’t, Yuren, Iris, and Camila are always in the top ranks, aren’t they?

Even if I don’t get many bonus points this time, it won’t affect their rankings much, but for me, who’s at the bottom, even these small bonus points could mean a big rise in rank.

“Ugh. I wanted to be in a party with Dale…”

“Well, what can we do if he insists?”

Lanes, with a sullen expression, shrugged her shoulders, and Sophia, who didn’t seem to care whether she was in a party with me or not, also shrugged.

Anyway.

The party members decided at the end of the discussion were as follows.

1st Party: Yuren, Iris, Camila, Albert.

2nd Party: Sophia, Lanes, Berald, Juliet.

3rd Party: Me.

Even if the parties are divided into three, each member’s strength far exceeds that of ordinary candidates (except for Albert and Juliet), so they should be able to proceed with the treasure hunt without much difficulty against the Seven Star Knights.

“Alright, see you later.”

“Yeah. Now that it’s come to this, I won’t lose to Dale.”

Yuren clenched his fist, his eyes filled with competitive spirit.

I chuckled and nodded.

‘Looking at it this way, Yurina is also quite competitive.’

Well.

If she hadn’t been competitive in the first place, she wouldn’t have risen to the position of the greatest hero in her past life.

“I’ll go ahead.”

“Ah, wait a moment, Dale.”

“Huh?”

“Let me at least give you a blessing.”

“Hmm… I don’t think it’s necessary.”

“Still.”

Iris approached me and chanted an incantation.

A pure white light flowed from her hands and seeped into my body.

“Dale.”

Iris, while giving me a blessing, stood on her tiptoes and whispered softly in my ear.

“Shall we make a bet?”

“A bet?”

“Yes. The one who finds the treasure first will grant the other’s wish.”

“Oh.”

Granting the other’s wish, huh.

“What kind of wish?”

“Hehe. If I tell you now, it won’t be fun, right?”

Well.

“Alright.”

“Hehe. It’s a secret from the others, okay?”

Iris smiled slyly and winked.

I nodded and parted ways with my comrades, heading alone towards the ruins.

* * *

I passed through the bustling entrance of the ruins where other candidates were gathered and went deeper inside.

“It’s quite spacious.”

It was smaller than the abyss beneath the Reynaldo Hero School, but still much larger than most ruins.

‘Come to think of it, I never explored these ruins in my past life.’

During the war with the Mains, the entire ruins collapsed along with Grace’s tomb, so this was my first time exploring them.

‘Why did Grace build her tomb beneath these ruins?’

The interior of the ruins, with its dark and gloomy atmosphere, was the worst place for a tomb, no matter how you looked at it.

While wandering through the ruins, unable to find an answer to my question.

Clank, clank.

A knight in armor appeared from around the corner of the corridor.

“Huh? You’re alone, not in a party?”

The Seven Star Knight who spotted me looked at me with interest.

“Have you found the treasure?”

“No, not yet.”

“Really? Well then… Hmm. I’ll just make sure you can’t move for about 30 minutes.”

The knight leisurely drew the sword at his waist.

Of course, it wasn’t a real sword but a training sword made for practice.

“This is a fake, but… if you get hit, it’ll hurt, so be careful.”

“You’re quite kind.”

“Haha. I can’t hurt future heroes, can I?”

The knight said as he slowly raised his sword.

I wondered if this would really count as combat training, given his relaxed attitude, but from the knights’ perspective, they probably had no choice.

‘It would be hard to go all out against candidates.’

Of course.

If it were ‘ordinary candidates.’

“Well then.”

The knight’s eyes sharpened as he drew upon his magic power.

A pure white aura bloomed along the blade.

“Let’s see the junior’s skills!”

Thud!

Despite wearing heavy full-body armor, his movements were light.

In an instant, the knight closed the distance and swung his sword at my shoulder.

Snap.

“Huh…?!”

I lightly caught the swinging sword and kicked the knight in the stomach.

Thud!

“Ugh!”

With a dull sound, the knight’s body rolled across the floor like a stone.

“Guh…!”

The knight swallowed a groan, got up, and immediately drew upon his magic power to the maximum, charging at me fiercely.

‘As expected, he wasn’t chosen for the Seven Star Knights for nothing.’

Instead of being shocked and babbling about how a candidate could do this, he immediately went all out and charged again.

Even for a seasoned hero, such quick judgment isn’t easily shown, so I decided to show some respect to my opponent.

Whoosh!

The sword blade fiercely burned with ash fire.

The sound of flesh burning and the smell of ash smoke seeped through the pores.

Ash Fire Sword, First Form.

Ash Cut.

The ash fire sword shattered the knight’s sword, wrapped in a pure white aura, and sent his body flying.

“Ahhh!”

Thud!

The knight’s body hit the wall roughly, causing it to dent and crack like a spider’s web.

The knight, embedded in the wall, rolled his eyes and fainted.

“Ah.”

Did I use too much force?

“First… it doesn’t seem like anything’s broken…”

I approached the unconscious knight and checked his body.

His armor was dented, and there were burn marks all over his body, but fortunately, there didn’t seem to be any major injuries.

‘Using Ignition might have been too much.’

Even though it was only for a second or so.

I used Ignition to show some respect to my opponent, but it seems I used too much force.

“Well… at least there are no major injuries, so it should be fine.”

Leaving the unconscious knight behind, I moved further into the ruins.

While looking around for clues to the treasure, I noticed something.

Whoosh.

A white light appeared before my eyes.

“That’s…”

It was the same mysterious light I saw when I was carrying a drunk Yurina on my back, walking through the garden.

‘Why is that here?’

Frowning, I stared at the light.

[The blessing of the Seven Eyes… to the one who receives…]

“……!”

Speech?

It’s speaking.

[Follow… please… come…]

The voice, like a broken radio, cut in and out.

The mysterious light, which had been hovering in the air, quickly moved away.

“…Damn.”

I hesitated for a moment, wondering whether to follow the unknown light or not.

Then, I kicked off the ground and chased after the retreating light.

‘Where is it going?’

Following the light, I arrived at a dead end in the ruins.

A place where no path led anywhere.

Whoooosh!

The white light spread out in a circular shape and transformed into a gate large enough for a person to enter.

“…What the hell.”

I frowned at the gate before me.

Normally, I wouldn’t enter such a suspicious gate without any preparation.

‘But… the voice sounded desperate.’

Even though the words were cut off here and there, making it hard to understand exactly what was being said.

But one thing was certain: the voice sounded extremely desperate.

“Phew.”

Taking a short breath, I stepped towards the gate.

Whoooosh!

A sensation of floating, and my vision flickered.

“Ugh…”

Slowly opening my eyes, I saw a vast cavern.

The cavern ceiling was illuminated by the same mysterious light I had seen earlier, and at its center was a giant statue.

A statue of a woman with her hands clasped in prayer, bowing her head.

It wasn’t hard to guess who the woman was.

“The Light of Life… Grace.”

I narrowed my eyes as I looked at Grace’s statue.

As Iris had said, Grace had an appearance that immediately brought to mind the word ‘holy mother.’

Her gentle face, exuding maternal love, was soothing even in statue form.

‘Almost on par with Iris.’

As I took a step closer to the statue to get a better look.

Whoooosh.

The lights gathered on the ceiling slowly descended.

The gathered lights gradually took the form of a small girl.

[Wow~ You really came? I was worried you might get scared and run away!]

A mischievous voice came from the girl made of white light.

No, to be precise, the voice didn’t come from her but resonated directly in my head.

“Who are you…?”

[Nice to meet you.]

The girl spun around once and smiled brightly.

[I am the Light of Life, Grace.]

“…Grace?”

[Hehe. That’s right. See the statue behind me? It’s modeled after me.]

“……”

I alternated my gaze between the statue and the girl before me, keeping my mouth tightly shut.

“Even if you’re scamming, you should do it properly…”

Rumble!

Suddenly, the cavern shook as if it were about to collapse.

The little girl smiled brightly and flew towards me.

[Why? Got a problem? If you do, go ahead and say it.]

“……”

I have no idea what’s going on right now, but one thing is clear.

‘The legends about Grace passed down in the Holy Kingdom were all lies.’

Looking at the girl with her arms crossed and a fierce smirk, I let out a hollow laugh.