Vol 1 Chapter 8 – Ancient Ruins【Vol 1: The Beastkin Hero Arc】

Allen had traveled through various regions and countries for his missions, giving him a general grasp of the flora and climate of almost every nation on the Human Continent. However, his current location didn’t match anywhere in his memories.

“…No, seriously, where am I?”

After finishing his disguise, he began exploring the area.

Before long, a giant black tree loomed in front of Allen and Asmodeus — despite not having a single leaf on it, the tree bore fruit. Its brown fruits were shaped and patterned exactly like human faces, making them incredibly grotesque.

Elsewhere, there were mushrooms taller than a person with tentacles sprouting from them, and flowers blooming while continuously spewing poisonous-looking smoke. In short, it was a forest filled with nothing but bizarre plants.

As she stared intently at their surroundings, Asmodeus muttered.

“Most likely, this is the Forbidden Zone. I see nothing but unfamiliar plants whose very names elude me.”

“…I see. I really got blown pretty far away.”

The Forbidden Zone was, exactly as its name suggested, a restricted area. It was a place that belonged to no country’s territory, situated at the very edge of the Human Continent, beyond the mountain range known as the Mountains of the End. It was the Holy Empire that had designated it as restricted, and the reason was simple — it was dangerous.

What exactly made it so dangerous had never been disclosed, but as far as they could see, there didn’t appear to be any magic beasts in the forest. Nor were there any Spirit Beasts, which typically inhabited regions rich in pristine nature, far from human settlements. It wasn’t even certain if living creatures could survive on the plants growing here in the first place.

Regardless, they needed to get out of the forest and leave the Forbidden Zone — after all, there was absolutely no way a human settlement could exist in a place like this.

Standing still wouldn’t get them anywhere, so the two began walking aimlessly. Bypassing a bubbling swamp of purple poison, Allen came to a halt.

“…Is this a piece of the Evil Eye Castle?”

A massive chunk of rubble was impaled into the ground, the surrounding plants gouged out along with the earth itself. The Evil Eye Castle, which had been high up in the sky, had exploded spectacularly, and its fragments — just like Allen — had flown all the way here and crashed, leaving extensive damage in their wake.

“Allen, there is something down there.”

The impact of the falling rubble had created a hole. Walking over to the crater and stepping inside, Asmodeus peered beneath the debris and called out.

“…It’s Noir, Noir. Right now, I’m just a humble mercenary named Noir, so—”

“Allen, this looks interesting. Let us go down.”

“…Do you perhaps just not like the name Noir?”

Ignoring Asmodeus entirely, Allen also peered into the hole.

Strangely enough, he could see stairs leading down beyond the opening — an underground passageway.

“A mysterious underground passage in the Forbidden Zone. Smells like treasure.”

“Does it not?”

While his yearning to be a hero was long gone, Allen still retained a boyish sense of adventure.

However, the rubble was in the way, preventing them from entering. To remove the obstructing debris, Allen activated a combat skill.

“—Combat Skill: 〈Adamantine Muscle〉”

From the mana core located in the center of Allen’s chest, mana was supplied throughout his entire body via his bloodstream. The basic combat skill 〈Adamantine Muscle〉 could only be used by those whose mana core type was either a Knight or a Brawler — a Knight Core or a Brawler Core. To put its effect simply, it was a skill that enhanced one’s physical abilities.

Just like the other World Knights, Allen possessed a unique Brave Core that did not belong to any of the five basic mana core types, yet he could use the combat skills available to those with Knight Cores without any issues. However, he was completely incapable of using elemental magic, elemental enchantments, healing magic, and the like.

“Alright, shall we go take a look?”

“…Mhm.”

Having removed all the rubble blocking the collapsed entrance, Allen took the lead, guiding Asmodeus down the stone stairs.

“…What is this place?”

The underground space was astonishingly vast, the entire wall gray and etched with countless white lines that would occasionally glow faintly. There was no sign of human presence, but as a facility, it seemed to still be fully functional.

“—Hmm, hmm. Most likely, these are ancient ruins.”

Asmodeus widened her eyes as she stroked the wall with her small hand, and Allen turned around, tilting his head.

“…Ancient? No, in terms of civilization, the ancient era was…”

“The Exiga Empire was far more advanced than the present.”

Asmodeus spoke with a tone that suggested she knew exactly what she was talking about. Come to think of it, Allen recalled that all the 【Ancient Artifacts】 were creations forged by the great empire that had existed in ancient times.

She looked around the area, seemingly finding something rather irritating.

“…Well, you should be fine.”

“Did you say something?”

“‘Tis nothing.”

Looking somewhat guarded, Asmodeus gave a vague, evasive smile and gave Allen’s back a push.

“Hurry up and go, Allen. If these truly are ancient ruins, there might be 【Ancient Artifacts】 inside, you know?”

“…Well, I am curious.”

Prompted forward, Allen reached the bottom of the stairs, where a giant gate appeared before them. Like the surrounding walls, the gate was etched with lines that occasionally flashed with light, and when he tried touching the material, it had a strange texture that felt like stone, yet also like metal.

In front of the gate stood a pedestal with a stone slab atop it, a hand-shaped indentation hollowed out of its surface.

“A fingerprint scanner, I see.”

“…A what now?”

“Allen, try placing your hand against it.”

“…Like this?”

When Allen matched his hand to the stone slab, a loud mechanical sound echoed out.

『—Authentication failed. Authentication failed. Match with an authorized user could not be confirmed. Two more failures will result in being classified as an intruder.』

Hearing the loud, static-laced voice, Allen grimaced beneath his mask.

“Whoa, what is this? This is kinda creepy.”

“…So it was no good after all.”

“Can we turn back now?”

“What is the world’s strongest hero getting frightened over? You can simply cut down a gate like this, can you not? Allen, are you not curious? There are ancient ruins hidden in the Forbidden Zone — this cannot be a mere coincidence.”

“…I suppose so.”

Persuaded by the little girl, the hero drew his longsword.

The Forbidden Zone was an unexplored land. Allen had only accidentally set foot here because he had been caught in the Evil Eye Castle’s explosion and blown all this way. The reason the Holy Empire had designated this land as a restricted area… perhaps it was to hide these very ruins.

To uncover that answer, Allen channeled mana into his pitch-black longsword and swung — a godspeed strike, unleashed in total silence.

A massive diagonal line cut right through the center of the gate. As Allen sheathed his sword, Asmodeus gave it a light tap with her finger, and the beautifully severed lower half of the door fell backward.

『Gate destruction detected. Presence of intruders confirmed. Initiating the External Threat Elimination Program set by Authorized User Priority Number One — Emperor Eizelaham Gransfelt Exiga.』

“…Eizelaham? Gransfelt?”

Amidst the blaring alarms, Allen tilted his head at the familiar-sounding names.

“Huh, didn’t we know a guy with a name like that?”

“…That would be the Empire’s monster of an old geezer, you fool.”

Asmodeus stared at Allen with exasperated, half-lidded eyes. The fact that he always just called him “the Emperor” because he couldn’t remember his long name was a secret he kept to himself.