Chapter 719: An Ancient War Fortress

Philir and the others return from their expedition the following evening, every one of them beaming with delight.

Whatever they found, none of them intends to report it to Henwell.

Solomon soon comes looking for him. "Mr. Adolf, please keep your subordinates under control."

"Today, they treated the ruins as something to be torn apart. They destroyed intact murals and artifacts, and refused to listen to any warning."

"That was indeed excessive."

Then Henwell adds, "However, Mr. Solomon, we have been searching for these ruins for nearly half a year."

"So far, I haven't seen so much as the shadow of the treasure you promised."

"You cannot entirely blame my people. They risk their lives to make a living, and they have already spent months in this miserable place."

"They are forbidden to drink, forbidden to seek the company of women, and have not seen any profit. That situation cannot continue."

Solomon sighs. "We must be as careful as possible when exploring ruins."

"Do you think this place is the ruins we came to find?"

"You're wrong."

"This is only a small fortress on the outskirts. We are still far from the central area."

"We need to understand this place first. That will spare us a great deal of trouble and danger when the true exploration begins."

Henwell replies mildly, "We are running out of time. If we make no progress soon, I will have no choice but to leave with my people."

Solomon knows they need to move faster. The next day, he announces two days of rest followed by a comprehensive exploration of the castle ruins.

Henwell accompanies the team into the fortress.

Buried within the mountain, it has a rough, heavy style without the refinement of modern castles.

One look tells Henwell that its builders sacrificed every comfort to maximize its defenses.

It is less a castle than a pure military fortress.

Unfortunately, Henwell finds no remains of weapons inside.

Without those remains, Henwell cannot determine when the former occupants lived or how advanced their civilization was.

As Henwell explores the ruins, he notices many deliberately damaged areas. The marks appear to be only a few days old.

Philir and his companions must have caused them while forcibly prying loose gemstones, gold, and other decorations during their looting.

With so many people searching, the expedition soon discovers something unusual about the fortress.

One of its external gates has been completely sealed.

A single massive stone fills the opening, its surface bearing traces resembling spell runes.

It was presumably used to seal the fortress entirely against outside enemies.

Time has nearly erased the runes, and their extraordinary effects vanished long ago.

All that remains is the giant block of stone, almost fused with the gate around it.

With the help of two Grand Knights under Solomon, the group smashes the sealing stone and reveals an opening nearly four meters high and three meters wide.

As the stone breaks apart, a powerful gust suddenly rushes through from the other side.

It carries dust along with the smell of rot and mildew.

As before, they send an elite team forward to explore.

The team returns a short while later and reports a chasm ahead.

When Henwell and the others arrive, they discover that the gate opens onto nothing more than a platform.

Before them lies a seemingly bottomless chasm. Someone lowers an oil lamp on a rope in an attempt to measure its depth.

Henwell surveys the platform, which covers only a little more than twenty square meters, then beckons to Miller.

"Shoot an arrow to the other side."

Miller immediately takes out his greatbow, draws it to its limit, and fires a powerful shot.

The arrow tears through the air with a shrill whistle, followed by a faint cracking sound from the darkness.

Several nearby professionals hear it at once and turn toward Miller.

Henwell continues, "Use an incendiary arrowhead and shoot again."

A specially prepared arrow soon vanishes into the darkness. A crisp impact follows, and a brilliant flame flares in the distance.

The arrowhead shatters on impact. An ignition stone sets fire to the fuel behind it, creating a patch of flame about a meter across.

The opposite side is only a little more than fifty meters away, but the dwindling flames are too weak to reveal its details.

Solomon turns to his guard captain. "Throw more fuel across."

Vicky, the former guard captain of King's Shield Hotel, picks up a bottle of lamp oil and hurls it toward the fading fire.

A Grand Knight has more than enough strength and precision for the throw.

The bottle lands squarely on the burning spot and shatters, splashing lamp oil across a wide area and feeding the flames.

The larger blaze finally reveals what lies beyond.

Everyone freezes, too shocked to speak.

The outline of a city emerges before them. Though they can see only a small portion of it, the sight is enough to leave them awestruck.

What lies before them is not a chasm at all, but a defensive structure resembling a moat.

A stone bridge once connected the fortress to the city opposite, but the section nearest the fortress has been destroyed.

Only a third of the bridge remains extending from the city, and the fire is burning at the broken end.

While everyone else stares, Henwell says, "Miller, observe and record the far side. Find us a suitable crossing point."

The others finally recover and hurry to examine the area around the fire, searching for a place where they can cross the natural chasm.

Solomon's people aren't complete fools, either. Vicky soon returns carrying a barbed metal spear.

The extraordinary rope is tied to a ring at the spear's tail. Vicky erupts with fighting spirit, channels it into the metal spear, and hurls it across the gap.

Like an armor-piercing round, the two-meter spear slams deep into the paving stones near the far bridgehead.

The near end of the rope is then secured high within the castle ruins.

Once the rope is pulled taut and tested, a Knight volunteers to scout ahead. With a safety line around his waist, he uses a pulley to slide down to the opposite side.

Strong crosswinds sweep through the moat-like gorge, making the Knight sway violently in the air.

Fortunately, he reaches the far bridgehead without incident. He removes the rope from his waist and slowly pulls it across the gap.

An iron chain is attached to the rope's end. His main task is to haul the chain over and secure it to a sturdy anchor.

Several more Knights then cross, bringing additional chains with them.

After several hours of work, they finally construct a temporary suspension bridge from eight chains.

No planks have been laid yet, but it is enough to allow more people to cross safely.

Henwell naturally remains behind. He is currently nothing more than a physically helpless merchant and cannot possibly take such a risk.

The castle ruins now become a staging camp.

Supplies are carried inside without pause for three full days.

Meanwhile, the people across the bridge survey the ancient city and discover a scale almost beyond imagination.

The entire structure forms a single whole from top to bottom, as if a colossal high-rise had been carved out of a mountain.

Layer upon layer extends beyond sight, with no top visible above and no bottom visible below.

The sight stuns even Henwell. With the capabilities of the present civilization, a project on this scale would have to be measured in centuries.