Chapter 23: Relic of an Ancient Civilization
On the other side of the World Star River, an unknown world, halfway up an unknown mountain range.
"My god…"
Just as everyone was struck speechless by the colossal monsters in the sky, the knight Clark knelt on one knee, gazing up at the heavens with heartfelt reverence and murmuring softly, "These monsters… so enormous, so ferocious… so beautiful."
"I can hardly believe they're really dead…"
He stopped mid-sentence, not because he suddenly realized his big mouth should shut up, but because four hostile gazes were bearing down on him from four directions.
(Say one more word, and see what happens.)
Materialized malice surged like deep ocean currents, forcing the knight to clamp his mouth shut.
Yet, precisely because of this, the nearly frozen atmosphere was broken.
"What the hell is this?!"
The alchemist plopped down on the ground, startled into blurting out his hometown dialect. He glanced at his gauntlet-clad hand, then looked up again at the colossal monster corpses in the sky, swallowing hard. "What kind of world is this?!"
"At least there are elves in this world—and a large group of them at that—proving that these monsters… though terrifying, are probably harmless."
The team's intellectual backbone, the mage, reasoned calmly, "To be honest, being scared by those 'moons' has actually made me less worried than before… This world is clearly very special. If headquarters sends people, they should discover it quickly."
"I'm not worried anymore… but now I'm scared." The clergy first muttered a prayer to the Seven Gods, then turned to Priest and said in a low voice, "Captain, what should we do?"
"What else? Keep salvaging the hovercar parts."
Priest, who seemed lost in thought earlier, rolled his eyes irritantly at the clergy's words. "Don't overthink it. Just treat those things as if they were real moons. We're still being tracked by a bunch of savage elves—this isn't the time to scare ourselves."
With that, he turned around first and began sifting through the wrecked hovercar parts again. Most of the parts were compatible with their mana armor, and in a sealed alien world with no supplies, every single component was a priceless treasure.
Inspired by their captain, the four exchanged glances, sighed, and forced themselves to ignore the feeling of something watching their backs as they resumed salvaging.
In truth, Priest was right. Now wasn't the time to panic over the monster corpses hanging in the sky. As members of the External Exploration Team, they had undergone countless long and grueling training sessions, their mental fortitude far surpassing ordinary people. Besides, no matter how terrifying those 'moons' were, they couldn't compare to the Black Mist Mother Entity or the wrath of that amiable lord!
Halfway up the unknown mountain range, some vegetation grew, but the shockwave and intense heat from the hovercar crash had burned and blasted away the surrounding plants. After nearly an hour of salvaging all recoverable parts, Priest and his team finally had a moment to carefully survey their surroundings. They were somewhat surprised to find that the plants on the mountain were noticeably larger and more magnificent than those below.
Whether trees, grass, shrubs, wildflowers, or even moss—everything was a full size larger than what they had seen while walking through the forest below. This was no trivial issue to overlook.
But even so, priorities still had to be set.
After dividing the sorted parts into five bundles for each person to carry, the elite squad stood silently at the bottom of the hovercar's impact crater, staring in confusion at the silvery-white metal body beneath the rock layer.
"There's definitely some kind of civilization relic buried under here… And judging by the material, the tech level is very high—higher than we imagined."
Priest bent down slightly, reaching out to touch the layer of metal. After a moment of thought, he said, "Mage, you're better at materials science. Can you tell what kind of metal this is?"
In response, the mage pushed up an imaginary pair of glasses, stroked his staff, and said calmly, "It's actually quite obvious… Just from the mana reaction, it's some kind of mithril alloy, mixed with about five percent amethyst sand to block psychic scans. Beyond that, I can't tell. The remaining information would require detailed analysis of a sample in a lab."
Even so, this information was enough. The clergy let out a breath upon hearing this. "Mithril alloy… Even just this much we're seeing is worth over five thousand gold coins."
Not to mention that a mature mithril alloy formula could be traded among major powers for enough wealth to elevate an entire family to high society.
"Let's dig it out and take a look!"
The knight suggested this, looking the most enthusiastic. He even shouted loudly, "I have a feeling this thing…"
"Word of Silence." "Decree of Muteness."
The clergy and mage unhesitatingly pulled out their crystal ball and staff, striking decisively to nip the greatest threat in the bud.
"Even though Clark's alarmist talk is annoying, his suggestion isn't wrong."
Although the knight was now silenced by their combined efforts, his opinion was unexpectedly adopted. Even Priest nodded, agreeing that they should indeed try to excavate this strange buried civilization relic and see what it was.
Without any further ado, the five Gold-rank exploration team members transformed into digging machines, rapidly beginning their engineering work.
"Boom!" With a thunderous roar, the mage raised his staff, casually conjuring massive balls of flame to scorch the rock layer. After about ten seconds, when the rock surface began to glow red, the mage's mana shifted, creating a freezing gale at minus fifty-two degrees Celsius that blasted the ground.
The rapid temperature change caused countless cracks to spread across the surface. At that moment, Priest and the knight, both combat specialists, unleashed their brute strength, rapidly breaking apart the ground and shoving aside large chunks of rock.
On the other side, the alchemist and clergy worked in swift coordination—one using acid to weaken the rock shell, the other shattering it with Holy Light Fists (physical).
In less than a minute, they had excavated dozens of square meters of rock and soil. After thirty minutes, half the mountainside had been dug open, revealing a large hole. And this was with the five of them holding back, wary of potential combat. If they had gone all out with Gold-rank destructive power, the mountain itself might have collapsed by a third.
But now, the five of them felt no pride in their rapid progress.
They stared blankly at the nearly thousand-square-meter depression they had excavated, their minds struggling to comprehend what they were seeing.
It was actually quite simple.
Just a stretch of silvery white—nothing more.
"…I say."
Priest looked at the silvery-white alloy layer beneath the rock, curving in a strange arc. He swallowed hard, his voice trembling slightly. "Could it be… that the entire mountain is made of this metal?"
On the other side, the mage, already somewhat delirious, touched the metal layer on the ground with a violently trembling hand. "I'm afraid… even just what we've seen contains enough mithril to exceed a normal mine's annual output… This is a mountain of gold!"
"Thud!"
A loud noise made everyone turn toward its source. Priest and the mage looked over to see the alchemist and clergy, both wearing serious expressions, jointly casting spells to attack the thin metal layer.
They seemed to be trying to break through this metal shell to determine what lay behind this ancient civilization relic—no, now it should be called an ancient civilization ruin.
The method was simple, crude, but direct and effective. Soon, Priest and the others joined in without further comment, adding their own attacks to the barrage.
"Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom!"
Explosions and impacts rang out continuously. At first, everyone held back a little, but as their attacks failed to dent the metal layer at all, even the calmest mage began to use his full power. Compared to the truth behind this strange civilization relic, the possibility of being discovered by forest dwellers was utterly insignificant. If they were found, so what? Did they really leave because they were afraid of those elves?
Thus, the magic grew more powerful, the physical strikes more forceful. Under the relentless assault of five Gold-rank experts, even the mithril alloy, made by unknown techniques, began to show signs of damage. This immediately delighted the observant mage, because if they could cause damage, it meant that with enough time, they might breach this unknown defensive shell and uncover its secrets—perhaps even secrets related to whether they could return home!
But sometimes, what comes with joy isn't necessarily good news.
"…Detecting energy fluctuations above 'Glory-rank.' Determining that external target has the potential to destroy the 'Aklafa Hub.' Initiating countermeasures."
Suddenly, a spiritual voice seemed to pierce directly into the deepest recesses of everyone's mind.
And with that voice, in an instant, countless energy black holes appeared in the atmosphere. A violent energy storm, like a typhoon, drained all ambient energy from the entire mountain range in the blink of an eye, creating a complete vacuum zone. Everything—including their mana armor and all magical items—temporarily became unusable. It was exactly like when their hovercar's mana engine suddenly stalled and sent them plummeting!
Then, the cold, merciless spiritual voice spoke again.
"Activating automatic defense measures. Activating Chaos Annihilation Protocol—commencing full-scale purification procedure."