Chereads / Assassin in The Witcher / Chapter 74 - Elven Ruin Exploration

Chapter 74 - Elven Ruin Exploration

Saibus has been following the corridor to the elven ruins for about ten minutes. The gallery only takes the assassin deeper into the ground, but eventually, it stops. Saibus then finds himself at the entrance to a vast room several dozen square meters in size. The hall, although in ruins, displays the glory and wealth of the Aen Undod. The room is made of marble and obsidian, and traces of gold and silver are still visible, although time has passed.

Saibus can see that there are stairs leading down to the room's interior, with several stone arches. The room is circular with remnants of white oaks, indicating that the room may have been used as a garden or resting place for the inhabitants. Saibus observes with his eagle vision and notices that several gas leaks are coming out of the floor and traces of some necrophages. Saibus discreetly goes through the room, ensuring no damage to the ruins.

In the room, Saibus discovers the remains of two Aen Undod hugging each other. With respect, Saibus buried the remains under one of the white oaks. When the burial is over, Saibus hears grunting coming from ahead. He looks up and notices five ghouls and an alghoul a few dozen meters away.

The ghouls and Saibus look at each other for a split second before the monsters run at Saibus.

Saibus draws his sword and casts a spell that covers his blade with fire. Then, preparing for battle, he gets into position and waits for the ghouls to come to him. Instead, the first ghoul comes quickly and jumps at Saibus' throat.

The latter takes a side step to his left and slices the ghoul on the fly. The cut is clean and precise, slicing the ghoul in half. The heat of the sword's fire sears the wound, preventing blood from leaving the ghoul. The ghoul falls heavily to the ground, lifeless. Its fall raises some dust.

The second ghoul attacks as the first ghoul fall to the ground. It jumps to disembowel Saibus. Saibus parries with his sword and kicks the ghoul, which sends him flying about ten meters away. Two other ghouls try to sink their claws and fangs into Saibus' body.

Just before the fangs and claws of the two ghouls penetrate Saibus' body and tear him apart, an orange shield appears and blocks the ghouls' attacks. The claws and fangs explode the Quen that Saibus conjured, causing an explosion that pushes the two ghouls back. One of the ghouls is thrown onto the remains of an archway. The ghoul breaks one or two stones of the arch. The arch shakes under the force of the projection. The shock shatters the ghoul.

The second ghoul is sent back into the vegetation and has not been hit or injured by the shock wave. It returns directly to the charge, but the last ghoul and the alga arrive before it in front of Saibus.

The fifth ghoul scratches Saibus' arms while the alghoul jumps after the ghoul try to scratch Saibus to decapitate him. Saibus lowers himself and dodges the ghoul and the alga, which end up five meters behind him.

He then starts to run towards the ghoul he sent flying with a kick that rushes towards him. Saibus is faster than this ghoul. He takes it by surprise and cuts its head off. Killing his second ghoul, Saibus turns to the three ghouls and the alga.

The ghoul in the vegetation, as well as the ghoul and the alga, sprint towards Saibus while the ghoul under the arch slowly comes to his senses. Saibus casts a spell that causes a rocky spike to spring up and impale a ghoul, killing it instantly. The second ghoul and the algoul jointly attack Saibus. The ghoul tries to slice Saibus' legs while the alga jumps at the assassin's throat.

Saibus dodges the ghoul by moving to the right and parries the alga with his blade. The collision of the edge and the alga's claws creates a high-pitched noise and sparks that fly between Saibus and the alga. Saibus takes advantage of the alga's fall to slice its neck. The alghoul can't dodge in the air and gets cut in the neck. His head flies in the air without blood falling on the ground. The head falls back on its owner's body to roll on the floor a second later.

The ghoul that Saibus dodges then attacks Saibus in the back. It jumps and claws his back. But a wall of the earth rises from the ground and blocks the ghoul's claws. Unfortunately, this last one doesn't have time to land that an earth spike extends from the earth wall. The end pierces the ghoul's body from side to side, killing it instantly.

Saibus turns to the last ghoul, who has just come to his senses. The ghoul runs towards Saibus, but the latter only incants a spell that creates a wind blade that neatly slices the ghoul vertically. The ghoul's entrails and organs lie on the ground. Blood spurts around and spreads underneath its host. The fight didn't even last more than a minute.

Saibus extinguishes the fire of his sword and wipes off the hot blood before sheathing it in its sheath. Saibus continues his exploration of the room and finds an entrance to what looks to be the next part of the ruins.

"Groin" A small ball of light appears above Saibus' head. The ball illuminates the area thirty meters with Saibus at its center. Saibus then walks down the hallway with his sword, preparing to fight back at the slightest ambush. The corridor leads to a small starry hall with three paths, opposite, opposite right, and opposite left.

Not knowing if the paths are dangerous and not wanting to take any risks, Saibus launches several kinds of magical or physical detection and finds no traps. But according to his detection, there is a magical aura in the middle path that is not present in the other two ways.

Concluding that the middle path is the main path of the ruins, Saibus decides to explore the other two ways first. So he enters the left path, but before he does, he creates a mark on the stone next to the left entrance, indicating that he has made this path.

Entering the left lane, Saibus quickly arrives in a new room. The room has no exits other than the entrance Saibus entered through. The room is circular. It is pretty spacious. Saibus notices that the room seems to serve as a warehouse because several boxes are piled up and arranged with inscriptions like: 'rations, water, equipment, components...'.

Saibus takes advantage of the fact that there is no immediate danger to search the crates and see if he can't find useful things for later. He searches for a good hour and finds several interesting things. Then, for the more important things, he creates a portal in the Vault of Eden to deposit them all. After that, he returns and closes the outlet.

Saibus takes some time to eat and drink before resuming the exploration of the ruin. He thus goes towards the right path.

Walking slowly and carefully, Saibus dodges and defuses several traps. With all this protection, Saibus begins to wonder what the Aen Undod could store or hide in this place.

Finishing the corridor leading to the room, Saibus comes across an armory or the remains of an arsenal. The room is square with racks and armor racks. Unfortunately, most of them are empty. Only light armor is left, which looks much more resistant than the human intermediate armor. As well as short blades and bows. Saibus creates a new portal and moves back into the Vault.

Once the move is over, Saibus ventures into the central corridor where he has sensed magic, being cautious, he casts his eagle vision and draws his first blade and two detection spells.

Still sensing the magic source, Saibus enters the hallway leading to the central room. He walks for several minutes through the maze and finally arrives in a circular room. The room is a simple sunroom, though empty. Saibus searches the room but finds nothing good. He uses several spells to find out where the magic he felt was coming from. The source of the magic is an object hidden in a cupboard. Removing the spells protecting the thing and taking it out of the cabinet, Saibus has placed a sort of pre-megascope on the floor. The megascope is damaged. Saibus found the project's notes in the solar and made it functional. He puts a gem in a hole provided for this purpose. This creates a ray of light that forms a person.

Saibus recognizes this person. She is Maryanne.

"Saibus, what are you doing? If I see you, does that mean you also have a proto-megascope? You explored the ruins. What did you find?" Maryanne threw several questions at Saibus, who just cashed in.

"I explored the ruins and found this proto-megascope in a solar, and I didn't find anything else interesting except notes about this megascope prototype," replied Saibus, to which questions from Maryanne.

"Well, I have good news and bad news for you. Which one do you want first?" asks Maryanne.

"Give me the good one."

"We removed the rocks from the teleportation room, repaired the portals, and found the portal that links your ruin to mine."

"That's good news. I won't have to walk to you. So what's the bad news?"

"We can't continue exploring the ruin because the elements and other mythical creatures protect it. So we need you to come and help us," answers Maryanne with a small sorry smile.