Chapter 88

Hugo Grafton had been an adventurer since the age of fifteen. He had chosen this perilous path because he dreamed of striking it rich, uncovering treasures lost within ancient ruins. It was a common enough motivation for an adventurer, though one could just as easily call it a pursuit of romance.

In any case, he had been active in the field for eight years. Though still a young man at twenty-three, he was already a seasoned professional.

From Hugo’s perspective, however, the trio in robes—especially their leader, the young man he’d dubbed "The Tyrant"—was an anomaly. This was true both of his temperament as an adventurer and his sheer combat prowess.

As expected, the monsters inside the ruins had become more aggressive than usual. Narrow spaces like these were ill-suited for combat, and most adventurers would have called for a retreat the moment things turned sour. Naturally, Hugo had suggested exactly that.

The man’s only response had been a single word: "Coward."

Worse, he had proceeded to force Hugo to continue acting as their guide. I might have come up with the nickname myself, Hugo sighed, but he really is a tyrant.

"But damn, he’s strong..." Hugo muttered, watching a scene that had already repeated itself several times.

At the robed man's feet lay the carcass of a monster, sliced into three distinct pieces—head, torso, and lower body. Thick, fresh blood continued to pulse from the remains.

The creature had appeared only seconds ago. The moment it moved to attack, it was over. Whether Hugo’s eyes were finally adjusting or the man simply wasn't trying as hard as he had against the Spiral Moles, Hugo was starting to catch glimpses of his movements.

Just now, he had drawn the sword from the sheath at his waist with enough force to decapitate the beast. With a fluid return stroke, he’d bisected the remaining body before sheathing the blade in one continuous motion. Because he finished fights so effortlessly, there was no role for Hugo—a man with respectable combat experience—to play, let alone the two companions who claimed to be mere baggage carriers.

Before he knew it, they had reached the deepest part of the ruins currently known to man. Normally, exploring ruins meant a slow, cautious crawl where encountering a monster often forced a standoff or a retreat. Thanks to the robed man’s overwhelming strength, those considerations were non-existent.

To an adventurer like Hugo, it felt like cheating. This man didn't just ignore the common sense of ruin exploration; he rendered it entirely obsolete.

In the blink of an eye, they arrived at the deepest point of the explored zone. It had taken only a few hours.

"This is the limit of current exploration. No one’s ever made it past here," Hugo said, his voice echoing through the massive space.

They stood in a cylindrical chamber roughly fifty meters in diameter. Much like the dome-shaped area near the entrance, a spiral walkway wound along the walls.

What truly dominated the room, however, was a massive door engraved with an intricate pattern. This door remained stubbornly sealed, having never been opened in recorded history.

To unlock it, one had to solve a hidden mechanism within the cylindrical chamber. The difficulty was legendary; researchers had been attempting to decode the mural on the door and the scattered fragments of Ancient Script for years, but progress was agonizingly slow.

The Hybar Ruins were a relatively recent discovery, which was part of the problem, but the real bottleneck was the Ancient Script itself. With no surviving reference materials, deciphering it was a game of pure speculation—so much so that historians referred to it as the "Lost Script."

Strength alone couldn't conquer these ruins. This was why people said ruin exploration was never a straightforward affair.

Surely even the Tyrant is stumped by this, Hugo thought, stealing a glance at him. He couldn't read the man's expression, but the leader stood with his arms crossed, staring fixedly at a single point. Following his gaze, Hugo saw more of the Ancient Script.

After a moment of silence, the man let out a short breath. "I see."

"Wait, don't tell me you can actually read that!?"

"Naturally."

"Like hell you can!" Hugo barked.

Scholars and experts worldwide could barely read half of it with any certainty. For this man to claim he could decipher it so nonchalantly was staggering. If he was telling the truth, the knowledge he possessed was a key to the very history of the world. He would be the most sought-after man on the continent for any research institution. Actually, Hugo wondered, maybe he already is.

"So, what does it say?"

"『Summit's Flame』. 『Origin of the Stars』."

"...Doesn't mean a thing to me."

Hugo, who wasn't exactly a scholar, couldn't grasp the meaning behind the ancient words at all.

However, the man seemed to have reached a conclusion. He looked upward, scanning the heights, until his gaze locked onto something. Without a word, he started up the spiral path. Hugo and the two servants followed in his wake.

They climbed to a height equivalent to the fourth or fifth floor of a building. The path had no railings, and several sections were crumbling, yet the robed trio moved without a hint of hesitation. Hugo began to suspect they simply lacked the capacity for fear.

Breathless, Hugo finally caught up to them in one of the many small rooms along the path. These rooms had long since been picked clean of anything valuable.

The only thing inside was a stone candlestick about the size of a man, common to every room in the sector. The robed man approached it and lit it with magic. The room brightened, but nothing else happened. Just as Hugo thought it was a dud, the man peered at the base of the candlestick.

"Give me a torch," the leader commanded.

One of the servants immediately produced a meter-long wooden rod. The man took it, touched it to the candlestick’s flame, and moved out.

He left the room, descended a certain distance, and entered another small chamber to light its candlestick as well. He repeated this process, moving up and down the spiral path while pausing to read Ancient Script in various locations. In total, he lit five specific candlesticks.

Suddenly, a low, tectonic rumble shook the ground beneath their feet. No way, Hugo thought. He rushed out of the room to look down at the door below and found himself speechless.

The door was opening. The same door that had stymied countless adventurers and researchers was finally swinging wide.

The man who had solved the puzzle so effortlessly showed no sign of triumph. He simply began walking down the path toward the entrance. Hugo couldn't help but shout at his back.

"H-Hey! How did you know the combination?"

"The instructions were written in plain sight."

"That’s what that Ancient Script meant...?"

Apparently, if one could actually read the script, the puzzle was child's play. Of course, Hugo wasn't sure if there was another person in the world who could read it besides the man in front of him.

Who is this guy? His strength, his knowledge—everything about him was off the charts. Though he sounded like a young man, Hugo felt he could believe it if someone told him he was following a War God or a Sage.

The man paid no mind to Hugo’s inner turmoil. Beyond the door, the ruins grew wider and more artificial. The rough gravel gave way to smooth, white stone floors. The walls transitioned from jagged cave rock to meticulously carved surfaces decorated with thick pillars and exquisite sculptures.

Stranger still, it was incredibly bright for being deep underground. The floor, walls, and ceiling were all embedded with Light Stones. But these were different from the ones they’d seen before. Instead of a harsh glare, they emitted a soft, warm, white radiance that illuminated every corner without stinging the eyes. If one were to pry these stones from the walls, they would be worth a fortune.

Yet, Hugo didn't even consider it. The chalk-white chamber was filled with such a divine, sacred atmosphere that even a man as irreverent as Hugo felt it would be a sin to defile the place.

For a time, only the echoes of their footsteps filled the air. Then, as they reached the center, even that sound stopped.

"Incredible..." Hugo whispered. He didn't even realize he had spoken, his eyes locked on the ceiling in a daze.

They had reached an open plaza centered around an altar. Like the hallway, it felt otherworldly, but the ceiling was the true masterpiece. A massive cluster of crystals grew there, dominating the view. At the center was a thick crystal five meters long, surrounded by hundreds of smaller ones.

Bathed in the white light of the room, they sparkled like the night sky had fallen and come to rest just out of reach.

While Hugo was mesmerized by the view, the robed man marched into the sacred space with zero regard for the atmosphere. His sheer audacity was almost impressive.

The man stopped before a treasure chest enshrined upon the altar. Then, to Hugo’s surprise, he gave a slow, deep bow.

I didn't think he had a polite bone in his body, Hugo thought, having pegged him as nothing more than a selfish, arrogant brat.

The man straightened up and reached for the chest, but it wouldn't budge, only letting out a dry rattling sound. Hugo leaned in to look; it clearly required a key.

"Now what?" Hugo asked.

"...The idea that a chest won't open without a key is a rule that only applies to a world managed by a system."

"Huh?"

Hugo had no idea what that meant, but before he could ask, the man acted.

He drew his sword and, before anyone could blink, delivered a lightning-fast strike. There was a sharp metallic cling, followed by the sound of something hitting the floor.

The man had simply destroyed the lock. Hugo immediately retracted his earlier thought about the man being polite. I guess he’s still a tyrant after all.

"Alright, let's see what the big prize is," Hugo said, his adventurer’s curiosity flaring.

But just as he prepared to see the contents, a sound echoed through the chamber—a series of sharp cracks, like glass fracturing. Hugo looked around, confused, unable to find the source. The noise grew louder and more frequent.

A glint caught the corner of Hugo’s eye. He looked down and saw a small, transparent shard reflecting the light. Then another. And another.

A cold shiver ran down his spine. Following his intuition, Hugo looked up.

The hundreds of giant crystals on the ceiling were webbed with countless fractures. They looked as if they were about to explode.

"Hey, this is bad! We need to get out of—"

Hugo didn't finish the sentence. The crystals shattered. A rain of countless shards poured down, and in the midst of the chaos, something massive slammed into the floor with a deafening roar.

As the crystal dust settled, a spherical object about three meters tall emerged. It looked as if it were made of polished metal. Hugo had no idea what it was, but it had clearly been sleeping inside that crystal cluster.

"What the hell is that...?"

Hugo hesitated to even move. As he watched, the sphere began to change.

With a heavy mechanical thunk, a section of the metal plating peeled back to reveal a glowing red light. Two sharp, blade-like arms slid out from the sides, and eight insect-like legs deployed from the bottom, hoisting the main body into the air.

Moving with terrifying mechanical precision, the sphere turned to face them. In the glowing red point that served as its eye, there was a clear, unmistakable intent to kill.