How a Reincarnated Warlock Lives – Chapter 92

Chapter 92: Ruins (4)

Roughly estimated, a few hundred years. In the damp corridor, which had never been exposed to light and heat for such a long time, a hot flame began to swirl.

“Back!”

Seeing the flames rising from my hand, Lephra quickly pulled the rest of the party back.

Hwaaaak!

The flames that started from a point on my hand stretched out in a huge fan shape. And in an instant, the surrounding stone walls, deprived of moisture, turned red hot.

Bubble bubble. I could see the slimes, which had started to boil, melting one by one, unable to withstand the high-temperature flames.

Confirming that the slimes, which had filled the corridor and wriggled, melted and disappeared in an instant, I slowly extinguished the flames.

Because they don’t have vocal organs, there was no sound from the slimes. But even if they could make a sound, it wouldn’t have been heard differently in this hallway right now.

Because a strong wind started blowing from the front of the narrow passage.

Hoooong!

Flames consume a tremendous amount of oxygen.

Although it started as an unnatural flame made of magical power, once it is realized in the material world, it follows the same laws.

In the place where the flames that filled the passage disappeared, a strong wind began to blow to fill the void.

“Ugh……!”

Jerit staggered, covering his face with his hand against the hot wind blowing towards the party.

After confirming that the party had not suffered any significant damage, I looked at the opposite side of the passage where the strong wind was blowing.

Hoooong.

The wind swirling along the narrow passage was making a strange sound as it hit the heated wall.

The fact that such a strong wind is flowing in means, in other words, that there is a wide space ahead.

I narrowed my eyes and looked beyond the end of the corridor that the slimes had been blocking.

At the end of the strong wind, the final gate was waiting for me.

🔹🔹🔹

Of course, it took some time to pass through the corridor.

We had to wait for the heated stone walls and the high-temperature air inside to subside to some extent.

Fortunately, the slimes, which were made of a gel form containing magical power, vaporized and did not produce any particularly toxic fumes.

I received the water bottle from Jerit and swung it at the stone wall next to me.

Chiiik. The water that touched the hot stone evaporated into smoke with a pathetic sound.

Nodding my head with a calm expression, I handed the water bottle back to Jerit and said.

“I think it’s okay to go now.”

“…… Yes?”

Jerit, who looked alternately at my face and the smoke rising from the wall, asked back with a blank face.

He stared at me for a moment, then seemed to realize that I had no intention of cooking the party to death.

“…… If you touch it wrong, you’ll be grilled.”

He said uneasily, looking at the stone wall, which had dried up again in an instant after the water had been blown away.

“Then wait here all day until it cools down.”

It was Lephra who answered instead of me. She had already started walking and stepped into the corridor of hot stone walls without hesitation.

Following me and Lephra, Marchena, and even the Saintess. As everyone started to pass through the corridor where the hot air shimmered, he stamped his feet.

“Ugh……!”

But the worry was only for a moment. Looking at me looking back at him, he soon seemed to make up his mind and started to walk with big strides.

🔹🔹🔹

What greeted us after passing through the hot passage that had not completely cooled down was a large stone door. In front of the tightly closed door, there was a stone protruding to about chest height, and the top of the stone was hollowed out like a wide bowl.

“This is……”

Everyone’s eyes turned to the pictures and letters engraved on the door.

Unlike the one engraved on the pedestal where the holy sword was placed, the letters at the top of the door were in the ancient Behjant sacred language. In other words, it was a character that everyone here could read except Marchena.

“…… The one who reached the end, the right one? …… Fill the tool heavily with the revival of ……?”

Jerit, frowning with a sweat-drenched face due to the heat of the passage he had just passed, read the Behjant sacred language sparsely. After briefly reading the short phrase, I corrected him.

“To the one who has reached the end, fill the bowl with the red sacrifice of others.”

“Ah……!”

Hearing my neat interpretation, he struck his palm with his fist. Then he looked at me again.

“Uh…… So what does that mean?”

Lephra sighed softly at his question. I looked around the party and pointed to the bowl-shaped stone in front of the door.

“It means that if you offer something there, the door will open.”

“That something is……?”

“It must be blood. Human blood.”

Lephra replied curtly. She looked at the door engraved with the holy inscription with an uneasy face.

Offering blood as a sacrifice to open the door of the ruins.

It was a very typical method.

Of course, that’s if this place wasn’t a relic of the church that houses the holy sword, but a general ancient relic with monsters and evil traps lurking.

“That kind of……”

Saintess Sophia looked alternately at the bowl and the door with a shaken expression.

If this is where the holy sword is hidden, it must be a place that selects those who are worthy of it. In other words, it would be a clear process to select a good paladin.

But from the first destruction of the statues that symbolized the citizens of the city to the variant slimes that have the worst compatibility with paladins. And even here.

The series of processes seemed like a procedure to select a person who is the opposite of a paladin.

“God……”

Lephra, who turned her gaze away from the Saintess who began to pray briefly with her eyes closed, looked at me and pointed to the large bowl.

“To fill that with blood, we’d need at least a few dozen people.”

As she said, the bowl, carved out of a whole rock, was very large. Not only the wide entrance, but also the bottom part made of stone pillars were connected as one.

Jerit, who was wandering around the front with an anxious expression, shouted as if he had come up with a very novel idea.

“It doesn’t say it has to be human blood!”

I looked at Jerit, who was looking at me with a bright expression, and scratched my chin.

“That’s right. So?”

“So, the blood of monsters or animals…… Ah.”

He, who was excitedly explaining, soon stopped talking as if he realized that what he said was also something he couldn’t get in this situation.

Stone statues made of stone and slimes made of translucent liquid. What blocked us were beings that did not have red blood, as if intentionally placed to prevent shortcuts.

Lephra began to take out all the large water bottles.

Jureureuk. She poured water into the large stone bowl, but the door remained silent. As if to explain that the water did not meet the conditions, the water was seen flowing out from under the stone bowl.

“What do we do now?”

Jerit’s uneasy question.

If I were alone, I would have used high-level black magic to summon beings such as magical beasts to be sacrificed and solve the problem. But now that I have Lephra, Jerit, and the Saintess, using black magic is insane.

But there was a solution.

Instead of answering Jerit’s question, I slowly turned around and looked at one person.

“……”

Vampire Marchena.

“…… Damn it.”

She muttered softly, as if she knew what I was going to ask.

“Marchena.”

She frowned and avoided my gaze at the call.

“I’ll let you eat more than twice as much when we get out. And with those who have strong energy.”

“……”

Lephra and Jerit, looking at me and Marchena with an’Ah’expression. And the Saintess, who still had a puzzled look on her face.

Finally, unable to avoid my gaze, she reluctantly nodded and muttered in dissatisfaction.

“…… Keep that promise.”

I smiled softly at her words and replied.

“I will.”

Sreuk.

Marchena, who sighed softly, stepped forward. She clenched and unclenched her fists for a moment, then, as if she had made up her mind, she raised her sharp nails and slashed her wrist.

“……!”

The Saintess’ s face was filled with shock at the sight. But after confirming that everyone except herself showed no particular reaction, she looked at Marchena again with a puzzled face.

Chwaaaak.

From the long wound on the vampire’s wrist, the reddest blood began to flow out.

No, rather than flowing out, it would be more appropriate to say that it poured out. As if it were bursting out, unable to withstand the pressure, the red sacrifice of others gushed out from Marchena’s slender wrist.

At the same time, the witch Pekilla’s magic that suppressed the vampire’s energy was partially broken, and Marchena’s hair was dyed red again.

“What is the meaning of this……?”

I looked at the Saintess, who was faltering with a bewildered expression, and said softly but firmly.

“Explanation later. For now, you must trust me.”

“Uh, uh……”

Behind the Saintess, who nodded her head in bewilderment as she looked up at me who had approached her, the large stone bowl began to fill up.

Unlike the water that flowed out immediately, the red blood that started to fill the inside finally rippled at the top of the wide stone bowl.

Kururur.

The stone bowl, filled with weight, began to slowly sink.

And at the same time, the unlocked door slowly moved.

Seeing this, Marchena licked the wound on her wrist and stepped back.

Kurururu.

With a cloud of dust, the large door slowly began to open.

What was revealed was a place connected by a narrow cliff path. And at the end of the path, a noble light shining from the top of the pedestal.

It was the holy sword.

On the other side of the cliff, I could see the place where I had first arrived and seen the holy sword. After falling from above and passing through the long connected gates, we arrived at the opposite side of the same place.

“Oh……!”

Jerit’s face was filled with awe as he confirmed the brilliance of the sword that felt sacred.

I turned my gaze away from the sword and quickly scanned my surroundings. As befitting the inscription in front of the door that said’the one who reached the end,’there were no more traps in sight.

However.

Kurururu. The sound I had just heard came from behind.

There was only one cliff path, but there were two entrances to it.

One is the place we just passed through. And the other one is.

“Stop, Inquisitor.”

The place where the Paladins passed through, which was a different path from ours.

The word Paladins was actually a misnomer. The person who passed through the large stone door and entered the cliff path was the Knight Captain alone.

“…… Laiber?”

Lephra muttered, frowning. She seemed to be wondering how he got through the stone door.

And we were able to find out how right away.

Behind the Paladin Laiber, who was covered in scratches and cuts, beyond the stone door that had just opened, fourteen Paladins lay dead.

“No, no way……!”

Jerit’s face turned white at the sight. The fact that the Paladins lay down in groups in front of the stone door where there were no other enemies means one thing.

That he personally cut down his subordinates to obtain the blood to open the door. As if to prove that it was not a voluntary sacrifice, the bodies of the fallen Paladins were vividly marked with the traces of the fierce battle that had just taken place.

A passage full of variant slimes that are highly resistant to blades and holy power. And Laiber’s eyes, who had gone through a fight with his subordinates, were bloodshot.

He finally cut down even his subordinates to pass through the door, looking half out of his mind at first glance. Seeing the Knight Captain like that, the Saintess shouted urgently.

“St, Stop it, Sir Laiber! We can share the treasure!”

Laiber, who glanced at Sophia’s face as she clasped her hands and shouted earnestly, looked down at his armor stained with red blood and slowly opened his mouth.

“Saintess.”

He smiled coldly, but bitterly, and continued firmly.

“There is only one hand that can hold the sword.”

Sreung. After finishing his words, he drew his sword.

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