“The reason for splitting the team became very simple after that.”
“No clues were found in the wasteland territory, and now we're caught in a territorial dispute. The captain decided to follow the vice-captain's suggestion to head back to the Black Forest and look for the ancient ruins along their original route.”
“One of Professor Duncan's students was injured and decided to withdraw from the expedition, returning to a nearby town with the lord's party to recover...”
Nothing significant happened during the process of splitting the team, so Ansu skipped directly to the records after entering the ruins.
“There was a hidden secret beneath the dry well. Through a slanted tunnel dug by grave robbers, we finally reached the interior of the ancient ruins.”
“This place is more dangerous than expected. The underground ruins are like a labyrinth, with winding corridors and an excessive number of traps. We even saw the corpses of grave robbers along the way...”
“The monsters here are incredibly underhanded. Dried-up demon living corpses always hide around corners for sneak attacks. There are even damn mimics...”
“Wait, was this dungeon designed by Hidetaka Miyazaki? There are even doors that ‘does not open from this side’...”
As Ansu continued to flip through the pages, crookedly drawn maps appeared in the 《Future Diary》, along with various detailed annotations, such as where the mobs were around corners and where the shortcuts were located...
Ansu felt like he was creating a ‘speedrun’ manual for a dungeon.
However, even though this place was so treacherous, the witch still possessed the ‘beauty of raw power,’ and the team advanced almost like a steamroller.
Natural-born geniuses were indeed more impressive than players like him who only knew how to follow guides and memorize patterns...
Because progress was fast, the atmosphere of the team was initially quite relaxed. Professor Duncan was cheerful all the way, shouting with delight at the complex mechanical structures and even saying he wanted to pry a piece off to take back for research.
However, he soon found himself unable to laugh.
This was because members of the Echoes of Truth cult had caught up.
“The good news is that Freya did indeed intercept Samantha, but the bad news is that the lineup the cult sent to hunt us down is incredibly powerful. Samantha mobilized all the executors from the eastern provinces; they've almost completely emptied their ranks.”
It seemed Samantha was truly enraged...
She was tilted.
“By capturing a cultist alive, we learned that after Samantha discovered she had been deceived, her emotions were extremely volatile, even to the point of ignoring the previous strategy for the cult to remain low-profile. She mobilized eleven Truth faction elders, six Restorationist faction elders, and a large number of cultists. The old witch gave a kill order: the cult must purge the traitor and kill Ansu.”
Ansu clicked his tongue. After many of her confidants had followed the old witch to the Royal Capital, these people were indeed the strongest lineup she could mobilize.
A cult elder was at least a high-level mage with formidable strength, while those executors were low-level mages. With so many mages gathered to cause trouble, someone who didn't know better might think they were starting a holy war with the Church of Holy Light...
However, compared to these elders, Ansu was most worried about Samantha herself.
Freya should have followed his instructions to ‘entertain’ this guest who had arrived at the Royal Capital, but Samantha had many tricks. Once she knew the coordinates here, she would definitely find a way to escape and then teleport over.
While flipping through the 《Future Diary》, Ansu didn't forget to pay attention to Celia, who was leaning against him.
He had intended for her to meditate to recover her mana, but she must have felt safe, as she had actually fallen asleep on his shoulder.
The continuous, exhausting battles had made her sleep very deeply, and she even emitted a soft snoring sound.
Ansu gently put his arm around her slender body, letting her rest her head on his lap to sleep, and then took off his coat to cover her.
Looking at that tranquil face as she slept peacefully, Ansu gently brushed away the messy strands of hair on her face. “Sleep. You'll feel better after sleeping a bit longer...”
“Ansu...”
Celia suddenly murmured, opening her arms and wrapping them around Ansu's waist like she was hugging a large doll.
In her deep sleep, she seemed to be dreaming of something very happy; she murmured occasionally, the corners of her mouth turned up, and her grip tightened.
Ansu couldn't help but smile as he continued to flip through the notebook.
The underground ruins had a multi-layered structure. Moving down from the labyrinth-like upper layers, the traps and mechanisms decreased, but rustling sounds began to come from the depths of the darkness, along with black tentacles flashing across his vision.
“Deep underground dwells a creature that looks completely indescribable. That thing is like a twisted mess of countless limbs and flesh. It has a vertical, slit-like mouth, and both sides are crowded with countless large and small eyeballs.”
“Although this monster looks bloated and heavy, it is actually exceptionally agile because of its thick tentacles.”
With monsters in front and pursuers behind, the situation began to spiral downward.
To reach the bottom level of the ancient ruins, the team had been fighting almost the entire way. Those twisted monsters seemed to be kin of an evil god; not only were they difficult to kill, but every attack also carried inherent mental pollution, making them much harder to deal with than the cult elders.
In every battle, Celia not only had to give her all but also had to fight against the pollution, which resulted in her consuming a great deal of energy.
Ansu looked down at Celia. No wonder Samantha in the original plot wanted to exhaust the witch in this place; this location was indeed sinister.
“The cult elders are wary of Celia and don't dare to attack rashly, so they have been forcing the team downward. After that, it was endless combat, and Celia's condition grew worse and worse...”
“The cult took the opportunity to launch a sneak attack. One of Professor Duncan's students died on the way. He himself was grazed by a Shadow Bolt, nearly being shot straight through. It is already difficult for the team to continue downward; they can only rest where they are.”
“But the even more dangerous situation isn't that...”
“Celia suddenly said she heard whispers in her ears, as if there were an unseen presence tempting her to slaughter, to fight... until death.”
Ansu closed the notebook with a heavy heart. The records ended here, and with that, he had completed all the memories of the journey.
The situation... was indeed not great.
But he would not stop. There were still 48 hours left; he had to find a way to reach the bottom, the deepest part of the ancient ruins.
“Did you... did you hear some kind of sound?”
Professor Duncan, who had fallen into a stupor due to excessive blood loss, suddenly opened his eyes with a paranoid intensity, staring fixedly at the endless darkness surrounding them.
“What is it... what exactly is it...”
“Ansu, Hailey, there's definitely something ahead! Go check it out! Then kill them! Don't let them get near me!!”
Ansu lit an Illumination spell, and a large expanse of darkness ahead was brightened.
The underground environment made the glow of the Illumination spell look pale and ghastly, but there was indeed nothing ahead. Ansu frowned as he looked at Professor Duncan, only to see him staring into another part of the darkness as if he hadn't seen the light, becoming paranoid and alert again.
“Over there, it's definitely over there... Ansu, quick!”
“Professor, please stop scaring me. You're going crazy right now...” Duncan's student had a mournful look as he desperately tried to persuade him. “The further down we go, the more wrong your state becomes. Maybe we shouldn't continue. Let's head back the way we came...”
“Miss Hailey and Junior Ansu are both so strong; those cultists definitely can't beat us... Professor, let's go back quickly, or we'll lose our lives...”
“No! Of course not!” A sinister murderous intent actually appeared on Professor Duncan's face as he stared deathly at his student. “Whoever blocks me shall die! Eddie! Do you want to stop me from realizing my ideals?”
Eddie looked at Professor Duncan in shock, even feeling a bit frightened by his expression.
Ansu watched this scene coldly.
He could feel that a certain presence deep underground was gradually influencing their emotions, making them sensitive, irritable, and bloodthirsty.
If they continued like this, they would likely lose their reason entirely and be completely dominated by ‘slaughter’...
“Ansu... what are you all arguing about...”
Celia, who was in his arms, rubbed her eyes tiredly and then looked at the increasingly hysterical Professor Duncan.
“Huh? Why has Professor Duncan become like this? He looks so mean...”
“I don't care what Professor Duncan has become, but why are you suddenly fine?” Ansu blinked in surprise as he looked at the witch in his arms, who was still tired but whose eyes had regained their luster.
“Me? Was I not fine before?”
Celia was stunned for a moment, then she remembered and shook her head helplessly.
“After sleeping like that, I feel like my spirit is much better, and those voices have weakened quite a bit...”
She raised her head, her gaze fixed intently on Ansu.
“I think... it's all because of you.”
Feeling Ansu's warm embrace, Celia snuggled into his arms with pleasure, even feeling too lazy to get up.
“Me?”
“Yeah!” Celia laughed. “With you here, I feel at peace. I don't even care about those annoying whispers anymore~”
They were both like ships caught in a storm, but Ansu was her steadiest anchor!
Rate on N.U.
