Only My Magic Levels Up - Chapter 63



Only Noblemtl

The moment he saw the question mark in the status window that suddenly popped up, Galen remembered what had happened a few months ago.

When the ghosts of the horsemen mingled with the spirits near the Dawn Archipelago.

Even then, a question mark appeared in the Spirit Creation status window.

‘···But other than that, they don’t really have anything in common?’

A distortion that shook the very roots of one’s sense of handling spirits.

It was such an intense experience that it is still vivid in my memory.

On the other hand, now the feeling itself was too faint.

If the status window hadn’t popped up, I would have just thought it was strangely unsettling and let it slide.

‘Was it an illusion that I felt a little awkward?’

It could have been.

Even after thinking back over my senses, I didn’t detect any particular abnormalities in any of the water flow manipulation, spirit creation, vanity heat wave, or earth binding.

While Galen was reflecting on himself, Lilia was talking to Akanksha.

“I feel something! It feels a little bit unpleasant, but also not?”

“They say that’s a characteristic of ancient ruins. They say it’s because some unknown power remains. There’s also a hypothesis that this power is the reason why the ruins don’t collapse and have endured for so long.”

“I see. But this, somehow, somewhere······.”

Lilia, who had been thinking for a moment with her words trailing off, reached out her hand.

Pot!

Slender fingers, wrapped in the light of the miracle of purification, waved about in the air.

“What are you doing?”

“Oh, just in case.”

“huh?”

“I’ve been to the Devil’s Cradle before. It felt a little similar, so I thought maybe it was related!”

“Hey, if it’s a place related to the devil, would you be leisurely hunting for treasures? You wouldn’t even call it a ruin.”

“Right. The church wouldn’t have left it alone, right?”

If it had anything to do with the devil, there was no way the Archbishop would not have made a statement.

No, Galen and Lilia would never have come here before.

The devil is an absolute justification. Even if the Archbishop himself moves, the Stillwall family must keep their mouths shut.

As Lilia nodded and put away her doubts, Galen opened his mouth.

“What do the earth elves think that power is?”

“We don’t know either. It might be something like ancient magic… or some kind of forgotten technique.”

Akanksha said nonchalantly.

“I’ve never heard of anyone saying that it’s harmful to your health if you do this for a long time. So that’s fine. There’s no way to investigate this, and even if you did, nothing would come out.”

I asked since I was out. Galen grumbled to himself.

First of all, the status window does not respond to aerodynamics or physical power, but only to magical power.

The earth fairy’s guess that it might be some kind of magic seemed plausible at first glance.

However, there is a question mark in places where something like the official name of magic is written.

All the magic I’ve encountered so far has been marked as ‘progress until first acquisition’, but even that part only shows ‘progress’ and the percentage is a question mark.

Is it because it’s ancient magic that it’s not compatible with the status window?

I don’t think I’ll be able to acquire it in this broken state.

“Is this leaking out from that gap in the entrance?”

“Maybe? The reason we were able to find those ruins was because part of the mountainside had collapsed.”

Akanksha answered Lilia’s question.

The entrance to the ruins, which had been completely buried in dirt, rocks, and tree roots, had a very small gap created by a landslide or something similar.

A sensitive earth fairy happened to pass by nearby and accidentally detected a strange power seeping out through the gap.

“That was early winter. Before we could even properly start excavating, there was a fight with the humans, so we were left unattended for almost a month… This winter, there was a lot of snow. There was no need to push ourselves too hard to excavate. We took it easy, and when we heard that the supervisor had arrived, we quickly finished.”

We didn’t dig that deep, so if it weren’t for the winter, we might have finished excavating and started exploring a long time ago.

If that was the case, Jiaba would have had no choice but to act as the supervisor.

The heavy snow gave me some free time and gave me a chance to meet Galen, who was far away. The world is full of unpredictable things.

“Since the lid hasn’t even been opened, I have no idea what the inside of the ruins is like.”

“Will there be any problem? This much power is being invested. No matter what happens, there’s enough to get out.”

“I didn’t mean it to be dangerous. I just found it interesting.”

Because I already obtained the magic of the earth elf, which was the top priority for this quest, before even starting.

Galen, who felt relieved, just hoped that no accidents would occur in the ruins.

After the status window popped up, I started getting a little more interested.

If it was a magical place, not just a place that was simply magical, it needed to be looked into carefully.

“I look forward to working with you tomorrow.”

“Okay. I ask you to be a fair director too.”

*

I went to bed early and woke up early, and work was in full swing since dawn.

While the relic exploration team was eating breakfast and getting ready, the outside waiting team was mobilized to finish digging the blocked area.

“Entrance secured!”

The fully exposed entrance looked like a mine shaft.

It was not a narrow cave, but rather a tall and wide automobile tunnel like a modern Earth.

Others’ impressions were similar.

“Is this an ancient mine?”

“It’s a mountain range where veins are still discovered today. It wouldn’t be strange if there were mines like this.”

“Either they made use of the abandoned mine as their home, or they intentionally decorated it to resemble a mine. It’s not the first time I’ve heard of either.”

“I’m not a mole. I have no idea what ancient people’s residential tastes were like.”

Galen and Lilia just sat there quietly listening to what the other four were saying. They were able to gain quite a bit of information just by listening.

At least on the surface, it doesn’t look like a particularly bizarre relic.

“Okay, okay. That’s enough looking around. Let’s go in.”

Sachette clapped his hands together.

There are a total of forty-eight people in this room. All of them were skilled at one hundred or more.

A total of twenty-eight people will enter the ruins.

Twelve from House Steelwall, twelve from the Red Rock Alliance, and four from the Overseer’s party.

Outside, there were ten humans and ten earth elves left. They were tasked with guarding the entrance and also as a reserve force.

“Make sure to keep a close eye on it. Make sure nothing happens.”

“yes!”

The leaders of both sides left similar remarks to their subordinates.

Since it is underground, make sure to bring portable oil lamps and torches more than anything else.

Finally, the expedition team set foot inside the ruins.

Maybe it was because it was underground, but it definitely felt warmer than outside.

It was just my body. A cold wind was blowing in my heart.

“The awkwardness is really visibly noticeable.”

Lilia whispered in Galen’s ear.

They were following at the very back of the expedition team.

The group in front was also showing a sight of being completely divided left and right.

On the left were humans, on the right were earth elves. There seemed to be a thick transparent wall installed in the center of the passage.

Of course, it’s unlikely that these people who were already at odds would suddenly become friendly just because they were exposed to the air of the ruins.

It was fortunate that the passage was wide, but I didn’t really want to imagine what would have happened if it had been narrow.

Galen whispered, covering his mouth with a laugh.

“That would be better. We won’t be seeing each other again after the expedition is over, so why force ourselves to become close?”

“That’s true too.”

“Personally, I hope he continues like that until the end and returns safely after finding the treasure.”

“Me too. By the way, what could be wandering around these ruins?”

“well.”

The three major elements of the relics that the rich wander about are mystery, monsters, and treasure.

Didn’t Damus confirm that everything he said was true?

[ ???? ]

[ Progress ???% ]

Thanks to the status window that keeps floating around if you don’t clean it up, we know for sure that that ‘unidentified force’ exists.

It’s none of Galen’s business whether or not there are valuable things.

I was a little worried that some strange beings might be wandering around.

Damus said it’s unclear what will pop out, but one thing is certain: it will be very aggressive.

It seems like they are trying to exclude the ruin explorers as intruders.

“Isn’t it still a lonely road?”

“Yeah. It’s only been a few minutes since I got here.”

“The floor is usually not hard either.”

Galen said, stamping his shoes on the floor.

When you touch it, it feels like dirt, but it’s so tightly packed that you almost wonder if it’s not rock.

Hearing that, Lilia stepped aside slightly and pressed against the wall.

“The walls are strong too!”

“The passage is sturdy, so you just have to be careful of the passage. Eventually, you’ll hit me first, so you can see it and then decide.”

“That’s not what I asked!”

“What can I do with my poor imagination? I don’t know anything.”

It wasn’t that they were completely off guard, but the two had the luxury of chatting quietly.

Whether a monster or a trap pops out, I’ll pop out first and deal with it.

We moved leisurely like that for about twenty minutes.

I didn’t get very far compared to the time I walked.

There is no reason to rush, as you don’t know how long you have to go and what might pop up along the way.

At least that was the thought of the four golden ones who led the expedition from the front. Since they were in the front, the silvers in the middle and the supervisors in the back had to follow.

Galen was welcome. The passage was a bit winding, but it was mostly flat, and I was walking along it as if I was taking a stroll, so it wasn’t tiring at all, which was nice.

“stop!”

At that moment, Alon’s shout was heard from the front.

Galen and Lilia looked ahead, wondering if something had finally come out.

The inside of the passage was dark and the light from the lanterns was uneven, so Galen could not see clearly ahead.

Lilia, who had better eyesight than him, seemed to be able to see a little bit.

“Huh?”

“Why? What is it?”

“Uh… what is that?”

“It’s a monster made of rock!”

Alon’s voice kindly resonated through the hallway on behalf of Lilia, who was having difficulty explaining.

“The danger is unknown! It has risen from the ground, so prepare!”

“Rises from the floor?”

Hearing that, Galen muttered and looked down at the floor again.

Was it buried in this solid floor? Why was it so uncomfortable? Just leave it standing in the hallway.

In games and such, don’t stone statues suddenly start to move and their eyes light up? The production is a bit cooler that way.

“······?”

Galen, who was lost in thought for a moment, suddenly felt a tingle in his senses.

Water manipulation allowed one to perceive the surrounding moisture through a magical sense of touch.

If we apply this, we can use it like radar. It can detect the movement of surrounding moisture when something moves within the sensory sphere.

That feeling was telling me.

An anomaly occurred in the back passage that the expedition passed through.

“Lilia.”

“yes?”

Lilia’s eyes widened as she looked back. The priests who had been following them also looked back and were startled.

Something was rising up from the ground a little way away.

“I was wondering what it looked like, and now they show it to me like this.”

Galen laughed bitterly.

A sturdy upper body, long arms, weak lower body, and short legs… It looks like a crudely carved human-like figure.

If it were a game, it would look like it could be called a golem.

Galen felt that it was more like dirt than rock, but originally, when a rock breaks, it becomes dirt, and when dirt clumps together, it becomes rock, so there would be no point in making a distinction.

Anyway, those kinds of things were sprouting up like bamboo shoots on a rainy day. The number I could see at a glance was more than ten.

Boom!

At the critical moment, Lilia suddenly rushed forward and kicked the golem away.

The golem was hit with a straight line before it could even be fully created, and was torn in two.

“There’s no need to wait for it to transform, right?”

“That is correct.”

Galen chuckled and held out his left hand to Lilia, who had no romantic feelings for him.

The spirit released from his wrist flowed gently downward.

“I guess the numbers aren’t just one or two anyway.”

This time I chose a look that was a little different from usual.

The spirit grows in the same shape as the earth golem.

But, its size is several times larger. Enough to fill up the passageway.

“Let’s reduce it a bit and see.”

The water golem roared.