Chapter 185. Wyvern? Why? Me? Wyvern?
A dim, pitch-dark ancient ruin.
At the very start of a long corridor, we stayed put, not advancing any farther.
In the center, Myserln sunbae’s expensive luminous stone was casting its light, and along the walls our shadows stretched long.
A brief silence.
The first to speak was me.
“We’re trapped, right?”
“……Mm. Seems so.”
“It won’t open, right?”
“……That much is certain.”
“Then we’re trapped.”
“……So it is.”
Entering the ancient ruins was fine. Great. But that massive iron door that shut on its own and absolutely refused to open.
Of course, I could get out if I used Blink (Blink), but….
Did he sense what I was about to do?
“If you’re thinking of doing what you did earlier, I wouldn’t recommend it. From the looks of it, the barrier is back. Opening it from outside is impossible. And you also have to consider the water pressure.”
Water pressure. Yeah, that was the problem.
It was something I hadn’t realized because we’d come down without trouble thanks to Myserln sunbae’s help, but the water pressure in this place was apparently quite significant.
Not enough to crush a person flat, but enough to damage lungs and other internal organs.
It wasn’t something I properly understood either, so I decided not to try anything reckless.
That aside, just how long had we been descending?
As I reached that thought—
“I’m sorry.”
Myserln sunbae bowed his head in apology.
We all… no, except Chenbi, had come here aware it was dangerous, but once we were actually isolated like this, he must’ve felt sorry.
But unexpectedly, the first to answer with composure was Chenbi.
“It’s okay. Everyone dies anyway.”
That doesn’t sound okay at all.
Anyway, enough assessing the situation.
It was time to make a decision about what we’d do next.
‘Let’s set aside getting back outside. The water pressure… well, it doesn’t seem impossible to endure, but opening the door is a separate problem.’
So, in the end, what choice did we have left?
‘Advance.’
Yes. Go deeper inside, rescue the spirits first. As for how to get out… well, if we search the ruins, won’t we figure it out?
I conveyed that thought to Myserln sunbae, Demian, and Chenbi.
Their reactions varied.
Naturally, Demian didn’t think much of it.
“Adventures always come with danger. Times come when you can’t retreat, like this.”
And Chenbi…
“It’s okay, Aster. Like I said, everyone dies.”
Lastly, Myserln sunbae—he pressed his lips together as if feeling ashamed and nodded.
Anyway, the direction was decided.
Now all that remained was moving forward.
But before that, there was something I wanted to check.
It was that strange sense of déjà vu I’d felt when Myserln sunbae had “chewed up” the golems earlier.
I approached the completely shattered remains of a golem and examined them, and soon I understood what that déjà vu had been.
‘This… isn’t an ordinary golem.’
Why weren’t these ordinary golems?
To understand that, you’d have to talk about how golems developed over time. But I don’t really know that either, so let’s skip it.
Anyway, the commercialization of modern golems was thanks to improvements in the “golem core,” but naturally, objects in the form of “golems” have been found consistently since ancient times.
But regardless of the era, golems shared one common trait.
The existence of a “core” and a “magic circle.”
A commonality across history, shared by golems of every age.
And that was exactly why I said these golems weren’t “ordinary.”
Clatter, clack.
With a suspicion, I rummaged through the golem debris, and sure enough—
‘…There’s no magic circle.’
No matter how smashed they were, if I searched this thoroughly, at least traces should remain, but the scattered fragments on the floor were simply clean.
Meaning…
It was as if they’d just been ordinary chunks of stone.
But then something else was strange.
‘The core is here.’
What?
It was something I couldn’t understand.
I’m not deeply versed in magitech, but I do know that to run a golem you need a “core” and a “magic circle that binds the core to the body”….
A core exists, but there’s no binding magic circle?
“Mm… no way.”
I glanced at Myserln sunbae, who had come up beside me at some point.
Did he have a hunch too?
“Ah, wait a moment. I’m not certain, but… just a moment.”
Saying that, Myserln sunbae examined the golem remains he’d destroyed, looking them over from side to side.
It wasn’t long before he let out a sharp exclamation.
“Wait—come here. Would you look at this?”
“This is….”
“Among them, I picked a relatively intact core. Take a look.”
What Myserln sunbae handed me was a crystal ball about the size of an adult fist.
The one that had been mounted in the golems’ heads earlier.
But what was I supposed to look at?
Maybe because I couldn’t get a feel for it at all,
Myserln sunbae was about to speak—and a voice overlapped his.
“It’s a core, but….”
“There’s no mana (Mana) at all. Even if it stopped running, a golem core usually has the habit of drawing in mana (Mana), but there’s none of that.”
Chenbi examined the golem core in my hand from side to side, then nodded as if he was sure.
“I’m certain. I can’t feel mana. Aster, you don’t know?”
“I….”
I don’t.
More precisely, it wasn’t that I didn’t know mana couldn’t be felt—it was that I didn’t know “mana not being felt is strange.”
“Golem cores have developed across every era by drawing in mana (Mana) and using it as a power source. If you ask why it has to be that way… it’s boring, isn’t it?”
“Ahem, no. I was listening.”
“No, I get it.”
In a voice with no soul whatsoever, Chenbi expressed agreement, then turned his gaze to Myserln sunbae.
“Then what were you going to say, Lord Myserln? I think I cut you off in the middle… I’m sorry.”
“Mm, no. It was the same thing you were going to say. Thanks to you, I’m glad I didn’t chant a spell into a goblin’s ear.”
What does it mean to chant a spell into a goblin’s ear?
It’s what you say when no matter how much you teach and explain, the other person still doesn’t understand.
“Anyway, Chenbi has said about half of what I intended. Thanks to that, I can explain it comfortably.”
“No, it’s fine. Everyone dies anyway.”
“…….”
Ah. So he hadn’t reached enlightenment.
He’d just been holding onto that line.
Anyway, Myserln sunbae’s awkwardness only lasted a moment.
“Ahem. Ahem. First… everyone, gather in. Demian, come here. Hey! Don’t touch just anything!”
Demian, who had been touching something in the corner, came trotting over, and once he arrived, we all gathered together again.
With everyone assembled, Myserln sunbae went “Hmm” as he stroked his beard, then opened his mouth in a gentle tone—like a grandfather about to tell an old story.
No—he tried to.
If not for my interruption.
“Have you ever heard of the Grand Elemental era? It’s a very old tale, and….”
“Sunbae?”
“……?”
Lowering the hand I’d raised to claim the floor, I asked,
“Is this history class?”
“……Heh heh.”
Myserln sunbae let out a warm laugh with a kind smile. Watching him, I felt myself brighten too.
‘So this is how I spread happiness.’
They say laughing extends your lifespan, so if Myserln sunbae lives long, that’s all thanks to me.
In that heartwarming moment,
Chenbi said,
“Lord Myserln, everyone dies.”
So what, exactly, are you trying to say?
“Aster’s ‘then’ just happens to be ‘now.’ I don’t think you need to endure it.”
Chenbi, one session of mental discipline training: reserved.
Fortunately, Myserln sunbae swallowed his anger. It couldn’t be helped.
I’d only asked a question—my question had just been slightly irritating for Myserln sunbae to hear.
Anyway, thanks to my tearjerking sacrifice, Myserln sunbae’s history lecture achieved the feat of being summarized into three lines.
“The Grand Elemental era. People often call it the era of the ten thousand spirits. Among spiritists, it’s passed down like legend, and at the time, civilization was establ—”
Omitted.
“…and so I heard there exists a certain kind of device. And what would that be?”
From here was the main point.
“Spirit golems.”
“Spirit golems…?”
At the unfamiliar pairing of two words, Chenbi tilted his head.
Which was understandable—spirits, beings of nature, and golems, products of magitech, were things that couldn’t be linked no matter how you tried.
As if he understood Chenbi’s confusion, Myserln sunbae nodded and continued.
“A spirit golem is, as the name suggests, a golem driven by the power of spirits. I heard that rather than mana (Mana), a spirit is sealed inside the core to make it move.”
So the principle was simple.
Just as an ordinary golem moves by the power of mana, a spirit golem moves by the power of the spirit sealed within its core.
But despite the simple principle, no one had ever discovered the secret behind it.
After explaining that, Myserln sunbae looked around with unfamiliar eyes, as if his curiosity as a spiritist had been stirred.
“To be honest, I thought it was just rumor. You know—dragons, vampires. I thought it was the kind of fairy-tale story people tell. But to think it truly exists even now….”
But hold on.
“Sunbae?”
“Speak.”
Unlike earlier, sunbae shot me a cold glare.
But this time, my question was serious.
“Then were the spirits that asked you for help the spirits trapped inside those cores? And what happened to the spirits trapped in the cores?”
Was it a fairly sharp question?
Myserln sunbae let out a surprised breath—“Huh”—then rubbed his beard and narrowed his brow.
He’d likely been so focused on the discovery of spirit golems that he hadn’t considered it.
It wasn’t long before he answered.
“First, for now, I don’t feel any spirit aura inside the cores. Unless it’s a contracted spirit, sensing that presence is difficult… but for now, yes. It likely escaped when the body was destroyed… but as for whether those were the spirits that asked me for help… I don’t know.”
So in the end, the answer was “I don’t know.”
Well, we’d figure it out once we went deeper.
But still.
‘The era of the ten thousand spirits….’
With unfamiliar eyes, I took in the surroundings.
According to sunbae, it had been an age when spirit arts—not magic or martial combat—had developed explosively and reached a golden era….
‘Then the slaves… ten thousand ranks?’
My eyes felt like they were snapping wide open.
Even for me, ten thousand slaves would be a bit hard to handle.
Anyway, reining in a grin that nearly split my face, I coughed and turned my gaze away.
“Then… shall we go in?”
“Let’s. What matters right now is saving the children trapped inside.”
That’s exactly what I was saying.
And so, at the moment Aster’s group began moving forward—
Deep within the ancient ruins of Baharmut.
On an altar, a massive crystal sphere trembled as it released a low vibration.
Woooong—
Inside the crystal sphere, spirits invisible to the naked eye were tangled together, writhing, their wills intertwining in chaotic knots.
It came. It’s here. Alone? Four? Friend? Human? Why? Demon. Scary. Run. No. Save. Freedom. Craving. Wyvern? Why? Me? Wyvern? Strange. Strange. Strange. Strange. Strange….
The will, tangled in every direction, soon unified into one, merging into a single voice.
[Strange. Strange. Strange. Strange. Strange. Strange. Strange. Strange. Strange. Strange. Strange. Strange. Strange. Strange. Strange. Strange. Strange.]
[Different. Different. Different. Different. Different. Different. Different. Different. Different. Different. Different. Different. Different. Different. Different. Different. Different.]
And then, at some point—
Drip—
The spirits’ will stopped.
Soon, the crystal sphere that held the spirits emitted a dazzling light.
How long did it shine like that?
When the light vanished completely, the voice became even more perfectly one than before, expressing a single will.
[Danger, remove.]
Grrrrrggg—
A vast roar spread through all of Baharmut.
A huge, chilling roar.
