Record of a Thousand Lives: Chapter 14
Chapter 14. Record of a Thousand Lives
There was no name associated with the southwest wasteland of the Sylphia Continent.
Hardly any explorers or merchants crossed the land, either.
Therefore, it was unexpected that there would be a ruin in such a place.
It was the first time that Shanette, who had been living in the Kellyine Territory for years, had heard about it.
“Aren’t ancient ruins normally formed by monsters in the region? If there’s a ruin in this wasteland, then there must have been a lot of people here at one point.”
It was always difficult to discover significant places like ruins in a territory’s history.
After all, the ancient continent’s ruins traditionally shared two characteristics.
First, they were full of a massive number of monsters.
At a minimum, many hundreds of monsters lived in a single ruin.
Due to the effects of a ruin’s magical power, the monsters inside it would not able to exit.
Monsters do not eat or drink, so they could survive in the ruin, but their rage would grow to the point of exploding since they were confined for a very long time.
No matter who the intruders were, they would shred them up.
Second, ruins contained a precious reward.
A ruin would be considered conquered once the treasure at the heart of the ruin was taken.
That treasures is almost always rare items that weren’t easily found.
On top of that, the treasure at the heart of the ruin was guarded by boss monsters.
To this day, there were countless clans that strove to explore the ruin faster than anyone else, in order to obtain the treasure.
“This ruin is not dependent on its territory.”
Not even bothering to survey the area, Kang Yoonsoo walked forward without any hesitation.
“It’s just difficult to locate.”
At the end of a long walk, what welcomed the two was an overgrown field of thorny brushes.
This mysterious field of thorns was one of the factors that had contributed to turning this land into a wasteland.
“There was a place like this in the wasteland?”
The large field of thorny brushes stubbornly survived on the desolate grounds of the wasteland.
The thick bushes had thorns that made it look like, if one got close to them, they would tear flesh.
Shanette asked with an apprehensive look on her face.
“You want to go through that?”
The machete that Kang Yoonsoo had prepared was for use in jungles.
It worked fine in battles, but it was a specialized knife for cutting bushes or tree branches.
However, Kang Yoonsoo shook his head.
He extended out his right arm.
“Summon Salamander Sally.”
A small flame appeared in the air.
After the small flame turned into a twister, a pretty girl showed herself.
“Daddy-!
Sally ran over to Kang Yoonsoo, and stood right in front of him.
“Daddy, daddy, why did you call me?”
Kang Yoonsoo pointed to the field of thorny brushes.
“Burn it.”
“Then what are you going to give me?”
“What would you like?”
“Hm…. A hug?”
Whirl.
“Aaak!”
As Kang Yoonsoo hugged her, Sally rubbed her reddened cheek on his.
Shanette thought it was unexpected.
She thought that he was a man who didn’t know how to express his emotions. Perhaps, he wasn’t only a callous man after all?
Sally raised both her hands high, and shouted at the field of thorny brushes.
“Flame of wrath!”
A flame twister originated from her hand and began to spread out.
It was a blaze of brilliance and passion.
The flame was even more effective since the wasteland lacked moisture.
The flame burned up the entire field of thorny brushes at once.
The girl looked up at Kang Yoonsoo, and rushed toward him as if asking him to praise her.
“Daddy, daddy, did Sally do well?”
“You did. Go back.”
“Aww. Praise me more.”
“Don’t feel like it.”
Sally pouted, then walked over to Shanette and clung to her waist.
“Sally likes mommy, too. I’m going, mommy!”
“OK, goodbye Sally.”
After sending Sally back to the summoning world, Kang Yoonsoo moved quickly.
Shanette blankly stared at the surrounding land, where the heat of the flame still lingered.
Turning his head, Kang Yoonsoo said quietly.
“Come quickly.”
The burned thorny bushes had already begun to slowly grow again.
Their regeneration ability was incredible.
Scarily, the surrounding area rapidly began filling with thorny bushes.
Alarmed, Shanette followed Kang Yoonsoo.
Shrreek! Shreek!
The thorny bushes quickly grew and were crowding the area.
They couldn’t be seen as ordinary plants.
If they delayed at all, it was possible they would be trapped in the field of thorns.
“At this rate, we won’t be able to get out!”
“So, hurry up.”
Kang Yoonsoo said nonchalantly.
The two ran to the point of being unable to breathe.
It was hard to tell how he found it, but Kang Yoonsoo ran into an underground tunnel.
“This way.”
The thorny brushes carpeted the ground as if trapping them.
Shanette ran fast and jumped.
As soon as she made it into the tunnel, the thorny brushes entirely closed its opening.
Shreeek!
“Ah, that was close.”
Shanette said, swallowing dryly.
However, Kang Yoonsoo was already walking further into the underground tunnel.
Letting out a breath, she followed him.
He was a man with zero trace of emotions, just like when he was dealing with the dragon mercenary ordeal.
Hermione’s comment came to her mind.
‘He seems to have been living for a very long time. Something…about him is different from us.’
What was this man’s true identity?
* * *
After they had walked through the tunnel for a long time, a bright ray of light shone down on them.
It was a way out.
When they exited the tunnel, an expansive space opened up before them.
It was a place that was quite different from the wasteland.
The ground was covered with grass that was still moist with dew.
The large trees were covered with leaves.
“This place… Where is this?”
“A space made with magic.”
Kang Yoonsoo picked up a stone from the ground and threw it.
Tup!
As if the stone has hit an invisible wall, it fell to the ground after flying for a moment.
Unable to believe what she had seen, Shanette walked over to feel it personally.
She felt a hard wall, although nothing was there.
“This is beyond the limit of space creation magic. It will go back to normal if the right spot is broken.”
It might look like a forest of large trees, but it was, in fact, an illusion created by magic.
Kang Yoonsoo took out a concealed dagger from his bosom and held it tightly.
After surveying the area, he threw the dagger at the largest tree nearby.
Puck-!
The dagger precisely pierced the trunk of the tree.
At that moment, the big tree and its surrounding broke apart, and the view changed immediately.
The surrounding area returned to being a wasteland.
A huge building stood in front of them.
There was a high stone wall with odd patterns carved on it.
It was a ruin.
The Ultica Ruin.
It was the lowest difficulty ruin that currently existed on the continent.
Or course, the reward was comparable to that level.
However, hundreds of monsters still lived in the ruin, so they couldn’t take it as an easy target.
The constructions of the ruin was a remarkable feat.
Stone columns lined up in the tens, and the space inside appeared to be limitless.
“This ruin had been hidden by ma, magic?”
“It could easily be overlooked as a forest, due to the illusion.”
“But would anyone else come here through that thorny field, besides us?”
“Yes.”
Kang Yoonsoo responded nonchalantly.
Shanette had already become used to that attitude of his. So, she didn’t try to correct or ask him again.
However, the ruin was incredible.
This was the first time in her life that Shanette had seen a building as big as this one.
Although she couldn’t feel anything from the outside, it was almost certain that the inside was crawling with monsters.
“What are you going to do now?”
“Go inside.”
Kang Yoonsoo moved.
Shanette was worried, but she held the scythe tightly.
Although he was cold and talked little, Kang Yoonsoo was talented in many ways.
He had no profession, and his level was low, but he must surely have a plan.
The two people entered the ruin.
As every column had luminous stones in it, the area was not dark.
As she was marveling at the expansive space, a sound of something howling came from somewhere.
“Woooooo-!”
The noise caused goosebumps to appear on her skin.
It was the crying sound of a beast.
Soon, a wolf-shaped figure appeared in front of them.
Its entire body was covered with silver fur, and its eyes were red.
Just looking at its huge size, and its long and sharp canines, caused chills to go down her back.
A werewolf.
It was a voracious stubborn monster, which was hard to deal with.
Unlike ordinary wolves, they were beings that talked with each other and lived in large groups.
The werewolf monster’s level was about 70
There was a clear difference in the risk level between land worms and werewolves.
Shanette gritted her teeth as she pulled out the scythe.
However, the howling sound that came next put her in despair.
“Awoooooo-!”
“Awoooooo-!”
“Awoooooo-!”
As expected, there was more than one werewolf.
Several hundred werewolves came out of hiding from inside the ruin.
The area, crowded with werewolves, flashed with silvery radiance.
Instantly, the two were surrounded by about 700 werewolves.
“Krrung! Krrung!”
“Krrrrr…..!”
The werewolves growled voraciously.
“What do we do now?”
Shanette asked urgently.
However, Kang Yoonsoo was not shaken at all.
He audaciously stepped forward.
Shanette felt overwhelmed by the man’s posture, which wasn’t any different than other times.
It was when the werewolves were exposing their canines, as if they were about to devour them.
Kang Yoonsoo lifted both his arms high, and spread them wide.
In that desperate moment ,Kang Yoonsoo yelled loudly.
“Krung. Krrrung. Krrrr… Krung. Krung. Krrrung. Krung. Krrung.”
….It was the sound of a dog.
Then the werewolves’ hackles rose, and they responded loudly with similar sounds.
“Krung? Krung-krung! Krrung!”
“Krrrr…..? Krung! Krrung? Krung!”
“Keeung… Keeeeewwwonng!”
The werewolves opened up a path, closing their mouths and lowering their heads, gentle as puppies.
Moreover, a few of them even shed tears as they moaned.
The monsters opened a path in this manner!
Having witnessed an incredible turn of events, Shanette approached Kang Yoonsoo.
“Did you, perhaps, have a conversation with them just now?”
“Yeah.”
At that moment, Shanette did not know how to react.
“What did you say to get them to lower their guards like that?”
Kang Yoonsoo said.
“I told them I’ll free them from the ruin.”
“Are you really going to do that?”
“No.”
The two headed towards the heart of the ruin.