Words that should have sounded utterly grim were spoken by Landi and the others with startling ease. Their tone was sincere, light, and completely free of falsehood. Through their actions—and their lives—the members of the Familia proved their loyalty and obedience to their goddess.
If another monster wave appeared, even one far smaller than the last, then a team without a Level 3—and with only a single Level 2—would undoubtedly be wiped out. There would be no other possible outcome.
In the end, under Artemis's direct order, the search party was reinforced by two more Level 2 members whose injuries were minor, bringing the total from five to seven. The rest were tasked with maintaining the security of the outer group and withdrawing in full from the outskirts of the Aelsos Ruins. All the potions, meanwhile, were handed over to the search team.
Once the preparations were complete, the two groups moved out almost simultaneously.
One immediately retreated back into the Great Tree Sea.
The other seized the lull before any new monsters could appear and rushed straight for the ruins.
Crossing the broken stone bridge, they arrived at the main gate of the ruins. The ancient, desolate structure was enormous. Though the stone buildings had long since fallen into ruin under the erosion of time, the sheer scale of the place still conveyed a faint impression of the grandeur it had possessed a thousand years ago.
At the heart of the ruins stood a temple. Its portico alone was five or six meters tall, and the hundred-meter temple loomed there in silence. Strange cultural symbols Duncan could not understand were carved across its walls.
As they passed through the temple gates, they found stonework on every side—above, below, left, and right. Though it was a sealed ruin, the air inside was neither stale nor dim. A soft blue radiance shone through the cracks between the stone bricks, illuminating the corridor so clearly that no torches were needed.
And etched upon the stone were murals of the scorpion and Artemis.
"This is…"
Duncan could not help but glance at Artemis, who was walking at the front.
"This is why the Guild entrusted me with this recurring commission," Artemis replied, answering his unspoken question as she walked. "That light is the light of the seal. The one who created all of this was a spirit connected to me—my earliest Familia."
Long before the gods descended in the flesh, they had already formed ties with the lower world. It was precisely that bond that made the gods ever more fascinated by it, until, in the end, they all chose to descend.
After about two minutes of walking through the stone corridor, they came to a heavy metal gate. Rust mottled its surface, and the cracked stone pillars on either side spoke of the passage of ages. Even so, it was still carrying out its duty, refusing to let the evil beyond it break free.
Artemis placed her right hand against the indentation at the center of the gate. Carved within it was the emblem of her Familia—a drawn bow with an arrow poised to fire.
Blue light flared.
The emblem in the recess rotated downward, and with a deep, thunderous rumble, the massive gate began to open. A metal door that had not moved in a thousand years slowly revealed what lay beyond to the people of this age.
Only, what waited inside was never going to be a pleasant sight.
"What is this?!"
Reddish-brown masses of flesh had swallowed up the surrounding stone walls. The meaty surfaces wriggled and pulsed in a grotesque rhythm, as if they were alive. Everyone instinctively tightened their grip on their weapons, a chill creeping up their spines.
The constantly throbbing walls reminded Duncan of the living stomach lining of the toad Jiraiya had once summoned in Naruto. But seeing something like that in person was infinitely more revolting than in anime or manga. The foul, fishy stench that drifted through the air and the withered egg sacs hanging from the fleshy walls made one thing indisputably clear to him:
This ruin had become a monster's nest.
"Let's go."
Artemis's brows drew together as she stepped forward first.
The squirming, yielding sensation beneath their boots darkened every face. Even battle-hardened veterans like Letsa had to grit their teeth and force themselves onward, driven only by the instinct to protect their goddess.
The instant they all crossed into the interior of the ruins, the fleshy walls began to writhe violently. In mere moments they swallowed up the gate behind them. Then the eggs that had not yet withered seemed to receive some kind of command, frantically hatching immature black scorpions in an attempt to seal off the intruders with sheer numbers.
"It seems whoever has occupied this temple has no intention of letting us pass easily."
"I'll take the vanguard."
Before Letsa could step forward, Duncan had already rushed out.
The corridor was narrow, and after being overrun by that flesh, it allowed no room for multiple adventurers to fight freely side by side—especially someone like Duncan, whose main weapon was a long polearm.
"Be careful. I'll take the rear," Letsa said at once. "Everyone else, watch the walls and the ceiling. Protect Lady Artemis!"
She nodded without hesitation. After days of fighting together, they already had a natural understanding. A seasoned adventurer could see at a glance the strengths and weaknesses of Duncan's weapon in this situation. Rather than keep him trapped in the middle of the formation where he would only be hindered, the correct choice was to let him charge ahead and break the enemy's momentum.
The abandoned temple was not just a structure above ground.
On the contrary, the corridors stretched downward, and the deeper they went, the wider they became. The fleshy growths spread just as far, blanketing everything like a fungal carpet.
Perhaps they had already reached the core region of the temple, because now giant scorpions—far larger than the black scorpions they had faced before—rose up to block Duncan's path. These massive black scorpions stood as tall as a man. Like the earlier ones, they possessed shells that gleamed with a sinister black sheen, but streaking across their armor were faint crimson lines, flowing like liquid.
Duncan's storm-like assault seemed to enrage these elite guardians of the broodmother. A cluster of giant scorpions surged forward, their enormous pincers swinging.
Though the temple passage had grown broader as they descended underground, it was still only five or six meters wide. With bodies two to three meters across, just two of these giant scorpions were enough to completely seal the way ahead—let alone the several more lined up behind them.
A single approach was indeed easy to defend.
But that assumption only held if the defenders' toughness was sufficient.
Duncan's white spear stood out starkly among the black monsters, like a pale flower blooming in darkness. He struck as he had against the lesser scorpions, but for the first time, the spear that had seemed capable of anything met resistance.
A dull, heavy clang rang out.
As expected, the sharp spearhead pierced the giant scorpion's shell—but the recoil numbed Duncan's wrist, and a thin line of blood appeared at the base of his thumb.
So hard! Even scaled up several times, this is absurdly tough!
The thought flashed through his mind the moment they clashed.
It was a dead end.
Even the giant bears had not possessed such defensive strength. A Level 3 attack could only crack its armor rather than kill it outright. That fact alone was enough to leave a Level 2 adventurer utterly helpless.
The moment the strike failed to finish it, Duncan did not hesitate. He kicked off hard and retreated at once. In the very next instant, several massive pincers smashed down where he had just been standing.
The formless power brought by Swift Edge Ascent flooded through him in a heartbeat. Duncan had originally intended to conserve his stamina for whatever monster lurked deeper within, but now he had no choice but to activate the skill ahead of time.
His spear transformed into the silent scythe of death.
With a single strike, it ripped through the giant scorpion's hardened shell.
Its crushing pincers, massive body, and impenetrable armor—all of it crumbled before absolute sharpness.
....
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