Chapter 649: Entering the ruins

Once everyone had been patched up, they began extracting the beasts’ cores from the corpses.

Cole crouched beside one of the wolves, still looking rather displeased as he worked.

"These wolves were annoyingly quick on their feet. If not for that, we would have had a much easier time taking care of them," he complained.

"Even so, we managed to kill them all fairly quickly because of that," Mayumi replied as she extracted a core from the last of the monsters.

She was right, and the only one who had suffered a truly gruesome injury was Cole, who had already recovered thanks to Nora’s healing magic.

’I guess I had the wrong idea about her,’ Elion thought, glancing toward Nora.

Not only was she a good utility mage who could cast buffs and debuffs, but she was also a decent healer, though using so much mana had clearly exhausted her.

Her face was incredibly pale, and sweat clung to her forehead.

Elion walked over to Maya’s side, lowering his voice slightly. "What should we do? Nora’s complexion isn’t looking so good. Should we wait a bit before scouring the ruins, or head inside and hope nothing else is waiting for us?"

"What, you can’t check for us?" Maya asked, raising a brow. "You seem to have a very useful reconnaissance ability. I didn’t ask before, but it must have something to do with those mysterious eyes of yours, yes? What exactly does it do, and how much information can it give us?"

Elion shrugged, understanding why she would suggest it.

Using his eyes would have been the best way to find out, but he had already tried and failed, which was shocking, to say the least.

"There’s an invisible barrier around the tower, and it’s blocking me from seeing what’s inside," he explained.

"A barrier, huh... Will it block us from going in?"

"No, it seems to be purely for the purpose of any sensory-related abilities from seeing what this place truly is; Physically, we should be able to head inside without any difficulty. That run-down doorway on the side seems to open onto stairs leading underground. There’s a massive structure beneath us as well, but it’s also protected by a barrier, so my eyes can’t see any farther."

Maya frowned, looking toward the tower. "What are the chances that there’s another monster inside?"

Elion shrugged again. "If worst comes to worst, I can just go all out and annihilate it."

Maya nodded thoughtfully, though his answer seemed to bring another question to mind.

"Why are you holding back anyway? You should have been able to kill that SSS-rank wolf easily, considering how little trouble you had defeating us in the bloodline trials. You even survived the Demon King Asmodeus, and you’ve only grown stronger since then. It makes no sense that you’d struggle against these beasts when they’re so weak by comparison."

Elion brushed his cheek awkwardly, briefly looking away. "Well, you see, my master banned me from using most of my unique skills. I can’t use most of my strongest moves either, unless the situation calls for it."

"Ah, I’m assuming your master is someone from the vampire clan?" she asked, and Elion nodded.

Maya let out a quiet breath before continuing, "Well, you should have said something. I was giving instructions and planning our attacks around the fact that you’re our strongest fighter."

Elion laughed sheepishly. "Yeah, sorry about that. I should have told you. I didn’t think it would be a problem, though. I have little reason to go all out or take anything seriously, since no one who entered this place is stronger than me."

’Well... except for one,’ he added inwardly.

Maya smiled, a small chuckle escaping her as she looked at him. "Narcissistic much?"

Elion shrugged. "Do you blame me?"

She raised a hand to her mouth and giggled, and Elion watched her for a moment before putting on a thoughtful expression.

"You know, when we met in the bloodline trials, I thought you came across as shy and cute. Now I’m realising you’re quite talkative, confident, and easygoing too."

Maya blushed lightly, though her smile remained. "That was all an act. No one would suspect a petite, shy mage of being a traitor, after all."

"Ah, how devious," Elion said, smiling as she gave him a mildly defensive look.

"It worked, no?" Maya asked.

"That it did," Elion replied.

"Anyway, I’ll let you fight as you see fit going forward," Maya said. "But if things get dicey, please just go all out."

Elion nodded. "Of course."

"Do you guys think these wolves would make good food?" Mayumi asked from the side, turning one of the corpses over with her foot.

"I don’t see why not," Cole replied. "Most beasts tend to be edible, though the taste and texture are a different matter entirely. The tentacle monster was quite chewy, and I’d bet this wolf meat will be tough and gamey."

And so, once again, they harvested what meat they could from the corpses, mostly from the legs and ribs. They took care to skin them neatly and used water spells to wash the harvested portions before storing everything away.

The pack leader’s core turned out to be the biggest and also the brightest among all the twenty cores they had harvested, but that was hardly surprising.

All the cores had a flaming dark ember trapped within the orb, and given the high quality as well as the dark flame elemental affinity, its value could not be understated.

Once they were done, they checked their gear to make sure they were ready to head inside the tower. Maya glanced toward Nora, who had been resting while the others worked.

"Nora, how are your mana reserves now? Have you recovered at least a little?"

Nora looked down at her feet and nodded. "I’ve recovered about ten percent of my reserves."

"Alright," Maya said. "You’ll be on standby for the next battle, if there is one. Take as much time as you can to recover. We have a long day ahead of us, and I don’t want to use those mana recovery potions unless we really need to."

Nora nodded again, and Maya turned her attention toward the tower’s entrance. Elion led the way toward the tower while everyone else followed behind him.

The barrier was still there, obscuring everything beyond the weathered walls from his senses, but when he reached out, his hand passed through without meeting any resistance.

A faint ripple spread across the air around his wrist, then disappeared.

He waited for a moment before stepping forward, finding that the rest of his body passed through just as easily.

"Well, that’s convenient," he murmured, looking back as Maya followed him. She glanced over her shoulder at the others before turning her attention toward the door.

Up close, it looked as though it had been struggling to remain upright for centuries.

The wood was dark and deeply cracked, its surface reinforced by strips of corroded metal, while one broken hinge left the entire thing hanging crookedly against the frame.

Elion placed a hand against it and pushed.

The remaining hinge gave a prolonged groan before the door moved inward, scraping across the stone and releasing a cloud of stale dust.

He pushed it far enough aside for them to pass, revealing a narrow stairway descending into eerie darkness.

There was no sign of the floor at the bottom.

Maya raised her staff, gathering a soft glow around its tip before sending it drifting through the doorway.

The light brightened as it moved ahead, revealing the first stretch of steps and the narrow walls on either side.