Chapter 54: Hunter’s Memories (1)

The Alliance advanced deeper into the prairies.

Along the way, they had repelled numerous surprise attacks and destroyed every orc settlement they came across. None of those battles had been particularly difficult.

It seemed everything was progressing smoothly—until what they feared happened.

The supply line was cut off.

The convoy bringing provisions from Gid and Valshard to the Alliance stopped arriving. The orcs had blocked the passage.

Yuri muttered,

“What a nuisance.”

It wasn’t a serious problem. The Alliance had stockpiled enough supplies in advance.

“Orders have been given to reinforce the convoy’s security.”

“That’s the right call.”

The Alliance was already very close to Okua. At that distance, it wouldn’t be surprising if the orcs gathered all their forces for an all-out attack at any moment.

The final confrontation was near.

“Raymond.”

“Yes.”

“What do you think that is?”

As they marched, Yuri pointed toward the horizon.

In an area covered with dense vegetation, something that looked like a massive rock was partially exposed. Its angular shape didn’t appear natural.

“I’m not sure.”

Raymond tilted his head.

“That stone looks like the ones we saw in Valshard…”

“Right?”

“Could it be manmade?”

Just as Yuri was about to respond, the ground began to tremble. Horses reared in fright, and the marching soldiers crouched down simultaneously, trying to keep their balance. Weapons clattered to the ground with loud metallic clangs.

“Stay calm!”

Yuri dismounted and placed a hand on the ground to assess the situation. The tremor didn’t stop.

Fortunately, there were no nearby structures that could collapse. Suddenly, the flag of Briol, carried by the standard bearer, began to tilt dangerously.

Yuri summoned his manasword and rushed to hold the pole.

“S-sorry, Your Highness.”

“Don’t worry.”

The standard bearer lost his balance and fell to the ground. Yuri re-planted the flag firmly and looked around.

The entire Alliance was shaken by the quake. He even saw a few flags from other nations fall.

Yuri smiled.

“We can’t let the flags fall. It’d make us look bad, don’t you think?”

“S-sorry!”

“Oh, I wasn’t talking to you.”

The earthquake, which had seemed about to end, dragged on a bit longer before finally subsiding.

Yuri returned the flagpole to the bearer and checked his unit’s status. The knights were fine, and among the soldiers, there were only minor injuries from falls.

Yuri personally made the rounds to restore order. Once everything was back under control, Laurent approached him.

“Your Highness.”

“Hmm?”

“Look at that.”

Laurent pointed toward the horizon.

“Huh?”

The shape of that strange rock they had seen earlier had changed. The buried part had risen, forming something like a hill.

“What is that?”

Earth was sliding off the newly exposed structure, gradually revealing its full shape.

It was a stone building. Its style closely resembled those they had seen in Valshard.

It looked like an ancient ruin.

“That’s definitely intriguing.”

“Should we go take a look?”

“Yes. Better check it out.”

Yuri stared at the ruins and muttered,

“Then let’s ask for permission.”

He had a feeling he needed to inspect that place with his own eyes. The prairie still held many secrets.

And maybe those ruins would help in the fight against Okua. Yuri went with Laurent to speak with Ragnar.

The Empire was composed. Both the black-armored knight squad and the soldiers were organizing their gear without showing any emotion.

“Quite the opposite of Brusen.”

Earlier, when they passed by Brusen’s camp, it had been complete chaos.

Froin was running around yelling it was a sign of a great catastrophe. When Yuri appeared, he noticed the Empire’s knights casting glances his way.

“They’re staring a lot.”

“Seems that way.”

“Maybe they admire your skill.”

“Doubt it…”

It wasn’t long before Ragnar arrived, overseeing his troops.

“Yuri. Everything alright?”

“Yes.”

“A sudden earthquake… how strange.”

“Quite.”

“What happened?”

“Well…”

Yuri explained what he had seen at the front of the formation. Ragnar stood on his horse and used a spyglass to view the horizon.

“There really is something out there.”

“If I may, I’d like to investigate it.”

In any case, if the Alliance kept advancing, they would pass through that area.

“Night’s almost here. We could camp near those ruins.”

“Understood.”

“I’ll assign you knights from the Empire.”

“Excuse me?”

“Don’t want them?”

“No, it’s not that.”

Ragnar ordered three imperial knights to be assigned to Yuri. They were extremely quiet.

Wearing black helmets, their faces weren’t even visible.

“Pleasure to meet you.”

“Yes.”

“You’re not uncomfortable going with us, are you?”

“No.”

“You don’t need us to babysit you, right?”

“No.”

“Can you say anything besides ‘yes’?”

“Yes.”

“Perfect. Then let’s move carefully.”

“Yes.”

Yuri recruited ten knights from Briol in addition to the three from the Empire that Ragnar had assigned.

The fourteen of them, counting Yuri, rode toward the ruins. While the Briol knights chatted loudly, the three from the Empire remained completely silent.

“They look like death knights…”

He exchanged glances with Jared. Yuri shrugged.

They had once faced a talking skull together in Erich Briol’s dungeon. Of course, that one had been much more talkative.

“Looks like this is the entrance.”

It didn’t take long to find a structure that resembled a doorway.

“Let’s see…”

They didn’t know how to open it. Jared tapped several points on the gate.

“Will we need a key?”

“Then there should be a lock.”

They circled the entire stone structure, carefully inspecting every corner. The only part that could be considered an entrance was the door they had found first.

Yuri returned there with the knights.

“How do we open this? Anyone know?”

“No, Your Highness.”

“No?”

Yuri placed his hand on the door again. If necessary, he planned to force it open with his manasword. Then there was a reaction.

“Hmm?”

The moment he activated the manasword, a faint light spread across the door, as if feeding on his energy. The structure trembled.

And began to slide sideways.

“It opened.”

Everyone looked at Yuri.

“How did you do that?”

“I didn’t really do anything.”

Beyond the door was nothing but total darkness. The stale air escaping from within had a musty smell, as if sealed away for centuries.

When the gate was fully open, the darkness flowed outward, allowing them to glimpse what lay inside.

A corridor extended from the entrance. The inner walls, made of the same stone as the exterior, were so polished they looked like marble.

“Let’s go.”

Yuri was the first to enter. The others tried to stop him, but he moved so quickly that they had no choice but to follow in a hurry.

“It’s dangerous. You shouldn’t be in front, Your Highness.”

“I’m fine.”

He quickened his pace to keep them from holding him back.

“It’s dark.”

They hadn’t brought any torches.

He could see thanks to the enhanced vision granted by his manasword, but it was still uncomfortable.

Yuri briefly looked around. At regular intervals along the walls, there were devices that looked like lamps, but they clearly hadn’t worked in a long time.

Then he remembered how the door had opened: by channeling mana, it had activated. He tried grasping a lever-like protrusion on the wall.

“Your Highness?”

As he channeled his mana, it was absorbed as if the wall were a sponge.

“No way…”

The light came on. They also heard the turning of some mechanism, and air began to circulate. You could feel the ventilation through the movement of air.

“How did you do that?”

In response to Laurent’s question, Yuri said,

“Well…”

He shot a discreet glance at the three imperial knights.

“I don’t know, it just worked.”

He lied. Though he maintained a cordial relationship with Ragnar, the Empire could become an enemy in the future.

He had no intention of sharing useful information with them.

“Maybe it recognized the visitor.”

“Could be.”

Laurent nodded immediately, picking up on the cue. The three imperial knights remained silent, walking behind.

“Let’s go.”

Yuri explored the interior. At first, there was nothing, but soon they began to see a few objects.

They found a room with a bed and a table.

“Someone lived here.”

At a glance, it looked like a bedroom. But there were no traces beyond that.

“No clues.”

“To be expected, after being buried for so long.”

“Could it be a remnant of some ancient kingdom in these plains?”

“Hard to say.”

The place wasn’t very big. There were several similar rooms, but nothing revealed the origin of the structure.

“Everything’s too clean.”

“Hmm…”

That floor consisted only of bedrooms. It felt like a simple inn.

“Then…”

Yuri looked up.

“Shall we go down?”

Everyone turned to look at the end of the hallway. There was an underground passage.

You could see stairs, but beyond them was only darkness. The atmosphere felt ominous.

“Let’s hurry. Let’s finish the exploration before the rest of the army arrives.”

Yuri said that as he shook off the unease in his mind. It didn’t seem like a dangerous place. And even if it was, he had enough knights with him to face it.

He led the descent. The darkness was so thick it clung to their bodies. The further they went down, the more suffocating it felt—like walking through cobwebs.

Suddenly, something brushed against his foot. It was too dark to see.

Yuri felt along the wall for a switch like the one upstairs and channeled his mana. The lights came on.

“This is…”

There were bones everywhere. Piles of skeletons had accumulated, with rusted weapons scattered among them.

It looked like a battle had taken place here long ago. At the far end, behind a mountain of corpses, an iron door remained closed. In front of it, a human skeleton sat, its back resting against the gate.

It was different from the others. Yuri understood why.

“A human.”

All the rest were orcs. Had the war between humans and orcs existed since ancient times?

Yuri stepped closer and stopped in front of the human skeleton. The body was covered in wound marks.

He could imagine how bloody the battle here must have been. It looked like the corpse had been guarding the iron door.

Yuri reached for the handle above the skeleton’s head. No matter how hard he pulled, it wouldn’t open. It didn’t respond to mana either.

“It’s completely sealed.”

And just as he pulled his hand away, a glow emerged from the cracks in the door.

“Your Highness!”

Yuri’s body was engulfed in a brilliant light. The skeleton by the door also began to radiate a white glow.

Yuri reacted instinctively, gripping Guilty and stepping back—but he could no longer move.

“Ah…”

The door opened. Beyond it lay only unfathomable darkness.

Suddenly, the entire space around Yuri began to be drawn into the doorway.

Unable to resist, he was pulled in by the current.

***

Yuri opened his eyes.

It took him a moment to understand the situation. As he sat up, he remembered what had happened before he lost consciousness.

He had gone down the passage, opened the iron door, and had been thrown inside.

“I’m… inside?”

A faint light hovered above his head, so it wasn’t completely dark.

He looked behind him. The door was still closed. Yuri knocked on the iron surface.

“Hey!”

There was no response. Nor could he hear anything on the other side.

He was completely isolated, likely due to some kind of magical barrier.

“What is this place…?”

He recalled the time he’d been trapped in the Erich Briol dungeon. With his hand on Guilty, he started moving forward.

He had come with others, but he was the only one pulled through to the other side.

Why just him? He soon found the answer.

“This…”

He felt a vibration in his chest and pulled out the object. The red stone that drove orcs mad floated in the air, glowing intensely.