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“Did they hide it in the rocks? They did a pretty good job.”
-You’re good at keeping me in suspense.
“It was designed to forcibly fix most of the natural phenomena related to climate and geology throughout this land.”
-Oh?
“Honestly, it’s an unthinkable idea.”
Perserk touched her chin as if she thought my words were interesting.
-Is the curse the reason why it doesn’t rain here?
“Something like that. The only thing I’ve found in my decoding is the effectiveness of the curse. It maintains certain circumstances.”
The word ‘maintaining certain circumstances’ came off a little strange, but if it unfolded in a certain area for a long time, it became a very scary and very dangerous curse. Not to mention if it was a particular situation set in malice. Thanks to the fact that everything except temperature remained constant for a long time, the drought continued, and the land was consumed due to the lack of circulation.
If it was a function of the curse, it was already doing its job. The creator of this curse probably intended to slowly desiccate the Hines estate here. Now I wonder if the owner was even alive. What if it could be controlled, rearranged, or modified? The earth, climate, temperature. What if we change it so that we can adjust it according to our will?
It wouldn’t be strange to call it paradise magic, not a curse. If you maintained warm temperatures and certain precipitation in certain areas, it wasn’t a matter of growing special crops accordingly. Thanks to the medium that controlled the surroundings, I could find mines that hadn’t yet been discovered.
Was that all?
The temperature is as low as it was now, so even if winter arrived when everyone had to wrap up to stay warm, they would be able to maintain warm and quiet temperatures like spring and summer. There was also ample potential as a tourist resort. The moisture in the air could also be changed as it pleased.
For now, all of these were just hypotheses and not certain, but one could expect this to happen. I stood in front of a rock that looked tens of meters long after I stopped walking calmly. The arrow guiding me pointed to this huge rock.
“Hmmm…is it here?”
It was a dead-end, but I wasn’t disappointed as I reach out to the surface of the rock. Then, I slowly pulled up the commanding mana as if it moved in a certain pattern.
Whoo-hoo…
At the same time, the command mana stretching out of my hand began to resonate with the wall as if it had become a key, and the hard rock began to pull me in as if it had become a black hole. If I opened this door without knowing it, I would be quite shocked, but this felt more familiar to me, having seen similar things.
* * *
The interior of the rock led to a huge space. To describe the form in a word…
“Ruins?”
The interior of the huge rocky mountain was an unexpected space. The height of the huge hallway looked 5 meters high, and elaborate patterns carved on the wall conveyed an antique feeling. In addition, even though it was a hallway that should be dark because no light could come in, a glowing blue stone on the ceiling shone softly inside the hall of the ruins.
I never thought there was such a huge space in these rocky mountains.
– If you look at the architectural style, it’s not the style that came out after the Great War.
She was now as small as my palm, but her original identity was the leader of the Demons who fought against the humans’ thousands of years ago. She was like a living witness of history, so if she said it was an architectural style she had never seen, it could be regarded as a historical site. If the alchemists or wizards heard about this, they would drool and go crazy.
I couldn’t believe this space hadn’t been discovered before.
“I wouldn’t know how to get in here if I hadn’t used the Re-Fix Curse.”
Aside from its location, it may have taken months to find a way to break through this defensive spell. In a sense, it was quite thoroughly hidden because there might be some side effects if the passage was broken with determination.
-It could be dangerous.
“But we can’t just let it go; let’s go in.”
On the continent, civilizations that existed too far in the past to be preserved in records, were considered to be from the Ancient Age. The period is so distant that it could be at least 10,000 years in the past. Sadly, it couldn’t be identified in the corridor because there were no figures from that time. However, its existence was well known due to the few ancient relics that had survived throughout the world.
It didn’t feel like anyone was around, but I felt a lot of mana around me. Contrary to what we expected, where the curse was manifested, the command mana was a little different. Most of the power dissolved in the atmosphere was mana.
“Maybe it’s not the work of the Black Wizards.”
-Maybe they didn’t realize that this place existed here. However, it was worth questioning why the long-lost curse had recently been activated.
At first, I thought it was just a mine-type curse set up by the Black Wizards to destroy the entire territory. However, given the current situation, it was concluded that the unbalanced curse wasn’t only one to two thousand years old but was stuck in the ground for at least 10,000 years, but somehow it became a huge landmine.
“It’s awfully quiet.”
Perserk murmured mysteriously as she was walked forward without light magic.
-Common sense suggests that there is no Guardian at this site…
Squeak! Thump!
-Oh, my mouth is a source of trouble.
She slapped her mouth with her small hands. At the same time, the hallway, which was still a little while ago, began to become noisy for a moment, and before I could move, the stone wall of the ceiling twisted, and something huge fell toward me.
Whoosh!!!
With a huge sound, what struck me was a fist made of huge black stone.
Waaaaaaaah!
It was a matter of seconds. If the response were a little late, or if I were a little too slow, I would have been seriously hurt by the attack. Overcoming a sigh of relief, I looked at the owner of the giant fist that attacked me with a frown.
He was a blue-eyed monster with a human figure, about 4 meters tall, with angled black stones attached to it. On its forehead, a small blue jewel the size of a human palm was embedded like a nucleus, and I could realize what it was just by looking at its shape and the amount of mana contained within.
Formed of hundreds of mana stones, it was a Magic Stone. One this big, was worth its size in platinum.
“Huh? Isn’t that a Magic Stone? That’s crazy.”
I was shocked.
-Golem…I’m sure it’s a magic golem. And, it’s amazing that it’s using a Magic Stone as its nucleus.
The number of golems in front of me was roughly a dozen. All of them were using a palm-sized rock on their foreheads as a nucleus. Unlike regular golems, which usually used mana stones to move, these guys were hewn from raw materials.
“It smells.”
The sight made me think.
My expression frowned.
-It must be strong, agile, and firm beyond comparison to the mass-production golem that the Alchemist Society boasts, and there is a possibility that it has a special ability, so you must not overdo it.
Perserk’s advice came nervously, but I had already quickly dug into it.
Boom.
At the same time, a black spark popped under my rolled fist…if the opponent is made of solid rock, not flesh, a half-hearted attack would put me in danger. Besides, since it had a Magic Stone, I didn’t know what kind of functions it had. It started attacking me again, moving at great speed, but I wasn’t one to back down. Rather, I ducked under its fist as I stepped forward, swinging wildly.
[Heavenly Explosive Attack ]
Bang! Boom!
Intense sounds and black sparks scattered all over the place as the giant golem lifted in the air. It was an attack that would normally have destroyed the body of a regular golem, but these survived. Without hesitation, I reached out to the golem’s head and forcibly snatched the Magic Stone and ripped it apart.
Riiiip!
A half-broken rock was caught in my hand and was pulled out of the golem’s head.
“I can smell it!”
-Your power is amazing every time I see it. By the way, what the hell does it smell like?
I shouted proudly at her tilting her head as if she couldn’t understand.
“The smell of money! It’s the signs of a big hit!”
My statement was mindful of the possibility that the ancient ruins could control the weather conditions of the Hines estate. There were many golems here that had a Magic Stone. I didn’t know for sure, but what’s hidden here seemed to be a big hit.
It’s not an abandoned and dying land; it’s unlimited gold!
* * *
Boooom!
With a refreshing sound of destruction, the hard rock stuck in the last Golem’s head was torn apart by my bare hands.
“Whoa…that was intense.”
Perserk was wiping off her sweat in a refreshing mood.
– Intense? You need to re-learn the word intense.
“Wasn’t it a little intense, though?”
I just smiled while showing her my torn, burnt sleeves.
-Who’s to blame for your black and torn sleeves? If you look at yourself, you’ll realize how dense that statement sounds.
Her words quieted me.
“By the way, how much is this worth?”
A Magic Stone was pulled out and was placed inside of the bag on my back. I found some of the golems that gave up and tried to get away quickly and took their Magic Stones too.
My previously empty bag was now full, and it was all thanks to the meticulous dissection of the golems.
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