Gawain had initially planned to call Rebecca along, but she had been heavily involved in building "Magic Net One" lately. She hadn't rested properly for days, and tonight was her rare chance to sleep early. Gawain didn't have the heart to wake her up. After all, bringing her along would only add another fireball launcher to the team—not exactly more useful than Gawain wielding his own sword.
Herty hadn't yet gone to bed. She was still in her tent, studying the rules and plans Gawain had written up. When she heard that something had gone wrong with the ruins in the mountains, she quickly threw on her coat and came over.
Seeing her slightly anxious expression, Gawain reassured her, "Don't worry. It's just some unusual sounds—probably just some ancient facility inside the ruins stirring to life. If it were a real collapse, we'd hear more than just a couple of bumps and bangs."
Herty nodded, still visibly worried.
Knight Byron quickly picked a few capable soldiers, and with Gawain leading the way, they headed along the mountain path toward the ancient ruins' main gate. A temporary outpost made of wooden boards had been set up here, where five soldiers regularly guarded the entrance. Torches illuminated the gate area, making everything visible at a glance: aside from a few tense-looking guards, nothing seemed amiss.
"Sir…" A soldier stepped forward, saluting immediately upon seeing Gawain. "There were two more noises inside just now."
"Hm, I'll go in and check myself." Gawain began walking toward the gate as he spoke. "You all stay here; no one goes in without my command."
At the entrance, Gawain used the platinum disk to activate the ancient Gondor magic patterns. Seeing the usual magical glow streaming across the heavy purple steel doors, Gawain felt a bit of relief: at least the mana channels here were still intact, meaning there likely wasn't anything seriously wrong inside.
Herty instinctively gripped her staff and started forming an ice arrow spell model, but she canceled it the next moment, opting instead for a support spell—biu-ing and missing would just be embarrassing.
The purple steel doors slowly opened under the power of the mana, and the crystal stones in the hall lit up, casting a steady, bright light. Gawain placed his hand on the hilt of the Pioneer's Sword, stepping inside with heightened vigilance.
The hall appeared undisturbed. The metal ingots and weapons they hadn't yet transported were still neatly in place, their surfaces gleaming under the stable light of the crystals. There were no signs of collapse or instability; everything looked as it should.
Yet, after scanning the room, Gawain immediately noticed the change: the doors deep within the hall stood open.
This ancient ruin was more than just the hall before them; within the mountain lay an even larger structure, as suggested by the scale of the entrance and occasional glimpses of construction within the rock walls. However, up to this point, Gawain and his team had only made use of the entrance hall—not because they didn't want to go deeper, but because the doors leading further inside had been sealed.
Seven hundred years earlier, when the Northern Pioneering Corps had discovered these ruins, the doors to the deeper levels were already locked, using a magical seal entirely different from the one on the outer gate. The pioneers of that time had managed to break the magical key to the first layer of the entrance but had found the inner doors impervious. Thus, they'd simply used the hall as a treasure vault, reset the seal, and left. Seven centuries later, Gawain had returned with the Cecil pioneering team, only to find himself equally helpless before those doors.
Herty had spent a full day studying the treasury hall, unable to unravel the seals on those doors; the magic technology from Gondor's golden age was far beyond the skills of a third-tier mage like her. Gawain had originally intended to leave those doors alone and only revisit them once the situation had stabilized. But today, those doors had opened on their own.
Herty noticed the open doors too, tugging on Gawain's sleeve with some unease. "Ancestor, those doors…"
"I see them. Heaven knows how they opened," Gawain replied, frowning as his mind wandered to the recent mana surge caused by the red-spot flare incident. Could that same mana surge have reached the ruins and loosened the seals here? Or perhaps the frequent opening and closing of the first layer's seal, as he and Herty or Rebecca came to collect items, had inadvertently triggered something deeper?
Given what Gawain knew of ancient Gondor's magic technology, it was certainly possible.
He led a few soldiers over to the three doors, contemplating the situation.
Usually, heading into ruins like this in the dead of night was textbook behavior for anyone seeking a gruesome end, but that depended on the genre. If this were a Western TV show, everyone who went inside would be as good as dead. But if it were Japanese, they might at least spot a ghostly figure before meeting their doom. And if it were a Chinese drama…
There was a fair chance he'd end up romancing the ghost.
Gawain glanced at his team, armored and wielding staves—they definitely looked like characters from a Western show. If they didn't go in, death was certain, and they wouldn't even get to see a ghost.
Just as he was about to decide to shut the doors and wait for a more suitable opportunity to explore, Herty murmured, "I think there's a mana presence… deep inside."
Gawain raised an eyebrow. "Mana presence? In the depths?"
"It's coming from the other side of that door…" Herty pointed to the middle door. "The flow of mana must have been blocked by the door before. Now that it's open, I can faintly sense something inside… perhaps an active magic array of some sort. But it's very weak, and it's deteriorating. It could fade away entirely at any moment."
Gawain: "…"
He stifled the urge to turn around and leave, sighing to himself: humans really were creatures drawn to disaster.
No matter what was inside, it seemed they'd have to take a look before leaving.
Gripping the Pioneer's Sword, Gawain quietly applied several layers of knightly protection and took the lead.
The ruins were pitch-dark beyond the doors. As they passed through the doorway and into the corridor, the darkness deepened. Herty lifted her staff and chanted softly, summoning a glowing orb of mana at its tip to light their way forward.
A real mage knew how to cast illumination spells.
Seeing the ever-deepening hallway ahead and the towering, expansive space to each side, Knight Byron couldn't help but marvel. "No wonder they say the Gondor Empire was at its peak… just how big is this place?"
"Who knows. Judging by the design of the ruins' doors, this was likely a large fortress from Gondor's 'Sparking Era'—it could easily fill a whole mountain…" Gawain smirked. "Wonder if Amber's truly run off with the cash; she'd be useful right about now."
"This type of ancient ruin requires more expertise than even a skilled rogue could handle…" Herty shot Gawain a puzzled glance. "Generally, only mages specialize in unlocking places like this…"
"No, if Amber were here, I could throw her ahead as a scout without a second thought," Gawain said casually. "Besides, she's a master at escaping. If she makes it back, I can throw her again."
Herty was momentarily speechless, stunned by her ancestor's audacious suggestion.
Gawain gave her a sidelong glance and chuckled. "I'm just kidding. Amber has a special shadow-walking ability; in a place filled with shadows, she could find more hidden paths than we could."
Herty finally relaxed, and Knight Byron chimed in as well, nodding, "I knew it. You're a model knight—you'd never treat a lady like that…"
Gawain's mouth twitched. Lady? Without her face and chest, no one would mistake Amber for a lady. And, honestly, even her chest wasn't all that lady-like…
A few light-hearted exchanges eased the team's tension slightly, though their alertness remained intact. Under the glow of Herty's magical orb, Gawain kept a sharp eye on every detail around them, watching for any traps or ancient scripts on the walls.
These scripts belonged to the ancient Gondor Empire, from which the common language of the four kingdoms had evolved. However, a thousand years of change had altered the writing somewhat, especially since the "Sparking Era" itself marked a period of great transformation within Gondor. Consequently, only Gawain could fully comprehend these ancient inscriptions, while Herty struggled to make sense of them.
The scale of the ruins was indeed impressive, to a point that even Gawain was taken aback. From the central corridor, the group encountered numerous branching paths, stairways, and detours, with the passage gradually sloping deeper into the mountain. Along the way, Herty detected airflow at several points, confirming that the ruins still had functional ventilation—a testament to Gondor's advanced architectural technology.
They also came across multiple rooms and halls along the way. These spaces were made from a material that looked like stone but, upon Herty's examination, proved to be a man-made substance more durable than rock.
Every room and hall was barren, with only a few decayed shelves and tools on the verge of turning to dust. Evidently, the inhabitants of this facility had evacuated with methodical precision, leaving nothing valuable behind.
This matched Gaw
ain's understanding of the "Sparking Era." Still, Herty felt a bit disappointed—she'd hoped to find some ancient artifacts, even if they were unusable. "From the Sparking Era of the Gondor Empire" was enough to turn even scrap metal into a prized treasure.
Since they didn't have time to explore every passage and room, Gawain ordered his team to mark any unexplored intersections, planning to revisit them when they had more time and manpower. Guided by Herty's sensing abilities, they pressed onward in the direction of the faint mana presence.