Chapter 140 - Byron Takes a Big Risk And a New Guest (1/2)

Ancient ruins hibernated in the darkness. A thousand years’ time could not erode the sturdy man-made construction materials, but it ate away the human auras that had once existed here. A cold yet humid air was entrenched in these corridors and rooms that had seen much of the changes in human life. There was neither vitality nor lifelessness in the air.

Such an atmosphere had lasted for such a long time until outsiders broke it.

Magic crystals illuminated the way ahead with the bright light they emitted. The fully armored Cecil combat squad trod in the depths of the corridor. They were cautious and intent as if standing ready to respond to the monsters that would lunge out from the darkness — despite the biggest living creatures that they had seen since entering the ruins being a few mice.

Sir Byron walked right at the front of the squad, while a soldier behind him held an oil lamp — in the situation where there were bright magic crystals, the oil lamp wasn’t of much use for illumination. Its main function was to raise an early warning when there was an oxygen deficit in the surroundings as well as to react when dark shadows and unclean things appeared around them.

According to Gawain’s orders, they had gone deep into these ancient ruins in the mountains. It was already their second day moving about the ruins. There still wasn’t much change to the things they’d seen along the way; there were nothing but neatly planned and astonishingly spacious corridors and empty rooms. This constructed structure in the mountains seemed to be very complicated at first, but after exploring for a period of time, one would be able to grasp the regularity — this facility clearly wasn’t designed to make a person lose his way.

But regardless of how uninteresting the things they’d seen on the way were, Byron carried out the drawing of the map and labeling of the rooms with due diligence.

The radiance of the magic crystal shone into a dark room. Byron and company arrived at the end of the corridor temporarily labeled as ‘Third Long Corridor’. The soldiers advanced in an alert formation. After confirming the safety of the room, they set up sentry at the entrance, preparing to take a break here.

Exploring in the dark ancient ruins was something that consumed effort considerably. The physical exertion when walking was nothing, but groping about in the dark was quite a test of a person’s spirit. The soldiers here this time were experienced veterans with excellent will, but they still needed timely rest in order to continue on.

After inspecting all danger factors, the soldiers encamped in the empty space in a corner of the room. They placed the magic crystals around them to provide illumination and then brought out their respective field rations and drinking water, making the best use of the time to eat and replenish their strength. Meanwhile, Byron sat beside a piece of magic crystal, looking at the map in his hands by the light.

The areas that had been explored up to now were labeled on this hand-drawn map. As the corridors and rooms were arranged very regularly, the map was very clear and easy to understand. Though the three-dimensional interior of the facility caused a certain inconvenience to the map drawing, the problem could be solved by drawing a two-dimensional view of each level alone on the paper.

Byron who was once a mercenary was well-versed in that.

“Your Excellency, it doesn’t seem like there’s anything on this level,” a veteran reported beside him. “Everything of use has been cleared out.”

“Things of value are often in places that are even deeper,” Byron replied and pointed to a spot on the map. “According to the prior regular pattern, this should be the big staircase that leads to the next level. We’ll head this way later.”

“Yes.”

Byron placed his attention back on the map and casually swept a glance at the oil lamp that just had its lampshade opened up. The bright flame was still burning well and quivered slightly because of the gentle wind.

Hold on… Wind?

Why would there be wind in a ruin in the mountains that was completely enclosed? The vent holes wouldn’t create such a big air current, would they?

The vigilance cultivated in him during his time as a mercenary made Byron hold onto this detail. He immediately closed the map and then wet his finger with saliva for a proper feel — there really was wind.

“There are air currents here,” he immediately alerted. “Light a few more lamps and split up to look around. There should be more than one exit in this room.”

The soldiers immediately took action and started to search for secret doors and gears in the room. Soon, they discovered an anomaly.

At the end of the room, there was an obvious depressed rectangle on a wall that resembled a door, and beside the sunken spot was a heap of decayed junk piled up — they were wooden shelves and scrap steel that had gone through a thousand years of weathering.

Previously, the room had been dimly-lit. Moreover, similar pits in the walls and piles of junks could be seen everywhere in this ruin — most were scraps left over after the equipment was dismantled; thus, the soldiers hadn’t paid attention to them at all.

However, there were air currents blowing out from this spot. Evidently, it was connected to the outside.

Byron ordered soldiers to clear the pile of junk. As a result, a metal piece that was half-buried in the wall was uncovered. It was a cylinder with a diameter of less than half a meter. It stood perpendicular to the ground, with half of it buried in the wall, while complicated patterns covered the exposed portion. Its upper part was even a surface sloping downwards — clearly, it couldn’t be used as a tabletop to shelve items.

“What is this?” A soldier stared curiously at that metal cylinder, a nervous look on his face. “Don’t tell me it’s a trap…”

“No,” Byron shook his head while, at the same time, recalling some general knowledge that Gawain had explained to him, “according to the Duke, articles with such outer appearances are usually used this way…”

As he spoke, he placed his hand on the slanted surface on the top of the metal object, but the latter did not react at all.

There wasn’t the least bit of embarrassment on Byron’s face. “Of course, the majority of the things here are unusable. After all, they would spoil with the passage of time. This is common sense.”