Chapter 1067 – Unreasonable Order

000

The party members, who were in an awkward mood after finishing the Meteorite, saw the Guardian holding the weight in front of them-

And she heard her explanation of what had happened to some extent from Schrödinger, who looked exactly like her.

The thing about the liberation gas and that the monsters in this pit were actually homunculi created by the guardian.

And before Artis appeared, he even said to Laila and the others that he would ‘just let them go.’

“Heh, heh… The other guardians told us to just let us go…”

Artis covers his mouth, perhaps a little embarrassed by the guardian’s explanation.

“Okay, I was just about to let this one go, but this junk suddenly appears.”

The guardian seemed to be very dissatisfied, so he moved his foot and kicked the Meteorite that he had disabled –

Wow.

“Aaaaah! Little toe!!!”

“…”

Everyone in the group will have cold eyes as they see the guardian kicking and injuring themselves at will.

Something… Isn’t it lighter compared to the guardians that have appeared so far?

While thinking that.

“Meteorite is scrap metal…?”

Meanwhile, Kshat looks at the remains of the automata lying at the guardian’s feet with a somewhat confused expression.

The oil that flowed from the whole body soaked the ground, and the fire had already gone out and cooled down.

However, it must have been one of the most powerful decisive battle weapons among the weapons Kshat himself saw during his time in the Returner’s Coffin.

“Off… It’s scrap metal. It was developed around the same time as us…”

And the guardian responded by jumping around on one foot in pain.

“It was created with reference to the Golden Comet’s kinetic abilities, but it was nowhere near the original… In the end, it was concluded that the most useful weapon at the time was the ‘Holy Sword’, and the project was frozen.”

When she talks as if recalling something from thousands of years ago, Artis picks up one of the scrap metals as if he is interested.

It was another arm that remained on the guy’s shoulder, but the joint was finally broken by the blows of Schrödinger and the Guardian, and it was easily separated from the main body.

An arm that appears to be empty, Artis will take a look inside.

“Hey human, you better be careful. Even though the core, the power source, has been destroyed, the weapons inside still remain.”

The guardian looked at it and warned, but Artis half-heartedly replied, ‘Hehe-‘.

“Is the switch… This?”

As he looked at the outside of his arm, he saw something that looked like a button, so he pressed it without hesitation.

“Ah!? Wait!”

Seeing that, Kshat rarely raises his voice in embarrassment.

“Huh?”

While Artis was confused, his wrist became separated from his arm, and Shoo! It flew away making a sound.

“Wow…!”

That fist will pass by Aine and Kshat who were standing behind, and end up stuck on the cliff in the distance.

Thud! Artis speaks while breaking into a cold sweat as he sees the incredible power of being fixed in place while making a sound.

“Well, what is it? It’s just a fist being fired. Kshat is making a fuss too—”

Kiiiiing-!

“What do you mean?”

Suddenly, Attis dropped his arm and covered his ears at the sound that seemed to pierce his ears.

Of course, it was the same for everyone else there, and after a while.

Boom!!

There was a strong vibration and a loud explosion, and a large explosion occurred on the cliff where his hand had been stuck a moment ago.

“─…”

Artis must have made a dumbfounded expression as he watched the debris fall down from the cliff, creating a large crater.

“This guy has a powerful explosion device in his hand. It can’t be used in close combat because he himself gets caught up in the explosion, but assuming self-destruction, it’s probably powerful enough to get all of us involved…”

Kshat would place his hand on his forehead and sigh as if his head hurt.

“… Attis.”

“I’m sorry… I heard it was an item from the primordial world, so I got a little interested…”

Artis himself dropped his shoulders as if he had no idea that the stopped weapon would cause such a large explosion.

“The curiosity of scholars tends to get ordinary people involved. In either a good or a bad way.”

When Quartz spoke to her in a condescending manner, Artis’ shoulders sank even further.

“Ugh…”

“Anyway. First aid to the injured has been completed, and they have been loaded onto the cart. If we can pass through like this, let’s pass without delay. For some reason, the odor seems to have weakened.”

“Now that I think about it…”

At Quartz’s words, Kshat, who had been paying attention to Meteor Light, also ‘sniffed’ her nose in agreement.

When the guardian feels that the unbearable odor has disappeared, he tilts his head for a moment and says ‘Ah?’.

“It’s probably because of this scrap metal. Some of the ingredients mixed in my liberation gas are flammable. That’s because the flames emitted by the meteorite burned the liberation gas nearby.”

At the guardian’s words, the group looked at each other for a moment.

“… Then, doesn’t this mean that if you carry a torch or something like that when you go back here, you can weaken the gas component?”

When Melusine said that, the Guardian kept quiet for a moment.

“Oh, it’s dangerous, I shouldn’t have said what I just said.”

‘Is this guy really a guardian?’

As she still showed her unreliable side, the eyes of her companions turned to look at her with suspicion.

“Forget it, everyone! I’ll turn off the gas properly! That’s right! Fire is prohibited on this mountain! What are you going to do if a forest fire breaks out!?”

“This is something that Laila will be sad about.”

“I’m sleeping, so I’ll be fine.”

After Aine and Dryene exchanged jokes, everyone nodded in agreement.

“… Can I ask you one thing?”

At that time.

Kshat opened her mouth and looked at the guardian, as if she could not bear it any longer.

“What is it, a shark?”

“… This is Kshat.”

When the guardian calls him ‘tribe’ rather than ‘you’, Kshat politely tells him his name.

“You guardians – why do you allow returnees to operate within this mountain?”

At her words, the expedition team, including Artis, all turn their gaze towards the guardian.

A situation where everyone was ‘thinking’, but no one ‘mentioned’ it.

“Returners move their base periodically, but ultimately remain active in the Four Dragon Mountains. And they carry out inhumane experiments on these mountains and influence the ecosystem as if they were the owners of the mountains. They are repeating actions that are causing harm.”

I know that they make protecting the ruins their first principle.

But even putting that aside, the returnees are murmuring within these mountains-

Even considering the three guardians I had met so far as examples, it was difficult to understand.

The guardian of Inryongsan Mountain had a kind and thoughtful personality. They showed a neutral attitude towards humans and tried to send them back politely.

‘Justice’.

If I had to describe her personality in one word, I could say it like this.

If she meets returnees, how will she act?

Even if we thought about it a little, it was a natural conclusion that her justice could not mesh with their ideology.

And the guardian of Cheonryong Mountain.

In contrast to the guardian of Inryongsan, she was a being who tried to control everything in the name of mercy and maternal love.

There would be no exceptions, and they would definitely take the same measures regarding returnees.

And before my eyes, she is a guardian who resembles Schrödinger.

Although she had a funny appearance, she had powerful fists that could pierce Meteorite’s armor with a single blow, and overwhelming physical durability.

She showed with her whole body that her guardians would not hurt her unless ‘her conditions’ were met, and if her returnees could somehow do it ─

Already, she would have defeated her and brought her Leviathan into her hands.

“What kind of relationship do you have with the returnees?”

And Kshat asks.

“…”

And the guardian paused for a moment and closed her mouth—

“Not really, nothing to do with it. There are just three commands given to us.”

First. Any intruder who tries to invade the ruins will not be forgiven and will be excluded.

Second. It is prohibited to leave the area near the entrance of the ruins.

Up to this point, the companions also know the story.

“Third. We tolerate the existence of scholars based on this mountain.”

“Ha!?”

Attis raised her voice as if she couldn’t believe what she said.

“What do you mean!?”

“Don’t get excited. That’s what I said. Those guys you call ‘returners’. If those guys come into this mountain and settle down… If they don’t want to go into the ruins, I order them not to touch them as much as possible. I received it.”

“Why!? For what purpose?!”

When Artis fails to lower her voice and tries to ask questions repeatedly, the Schrödinger-like guardian sighs.

“I don’t know. Ask the guys who created us about that. We don’t know what they were thinking when they received that command.”

“…!”

The more I thought about it, the more incomprehensible it was.

This is the reason why guardians were created to prevent people from entering the ruins, but they forgive scholars who would be in the way more than anyone else for being on this mountain.

Have the producers become senile?

Or is there really something, a purpose?”

“… Pfft!”

Just thinking about it made her head hurt, and Attis placed her hand on her forehead.

“But what we also tolerate is ‘staying in the mountains and conducting their own research.’ Since the first order takes priority, we can legally eliminate them when they come close to the entrance of the ruins. This has actually happened a few times. .”

As the guardian said that, he slowly turned his head and pointed behind himself.

“My next – At Mt. Chukryong, they continued to hunt animals to obtain experiment materials, but the mountain’s guardian has been interfering with that for decades.”

“… Do the returnees know that fact?”

When Kshat asks again, the guardian looks ‘hmm’ and looks a little worried.

“Well…? If you know, you know, and even if you don’t know, wouldn’t you have noticed to some extent?”

“…”

In response to her light-hearted attitude, Kshat nods her head and walks away, replying ‘I understand,’ but ─

“Why! It’s not fair! She isn’t excluded just because she was in a position…!!”

Artis still can’t calm down and raises her voice.

“The other guys…! They were eliminated just because they were outsiders…!”

“… Attis.”

Quartz quietly called Artis’ name.

At the sound of Quartz’s voice, Artis came to her senses for a moment and clenched her fists.

And as if swallowing her resentment, she takes a deep breath and exhales.

“… I’m sorry. You guys were too excited about something you didn’t know why.”

“Well, I understand that you feel it’s unfair, but…”

She must be scratching her head when she says that.

“But I can tell you this much.”

The guardian’s voice became quite serious.

“The guys who created us could see the ‘future.’ So, their choices and arrangements all have ‘meaning.'”

When the eyes of her companions turned to her, she spoke while placing her hand on her chest.

“With all the commands given to us, without fail.”

As if there were no doubts about the mission, she spoke to her group with clearly open eyes.

001

“Thaaaaat!?!”

In the cart that was shaking, someone got up with a rustling sound.

When she traced her neck with her hand, recalling how she was choking, fortunately for her, the mechanical hand that had been strangling her had disappeared.

“Ha…”

She sighs as if she is relieved, but the fact that she was defeated by such a machine due to her lack of magic weighs heavily on her shoulders.

‘It won’t work… This place is not kind to everyone, including me, the wizard.’

If her magical power had been fully recovered, she wouldn’t have been in such tatters.

Previous magical power consumption, terrain disadvantage, and fatigue accumulated from the expedition.

Lack of concentration may have played a role, but the defeat was as heavy as defeat.

Nevertheless, the fact that she is alive means that she was saved by her companion who came after her and was placed on this cart.

“Lila, you’re awake.”

And then, this child walked quietly towards Laila.

She was handing Lila her water bottle.

“Sorry. Where are you now?”

“It’s still Naryongsan Mountain, but we’ve already passed the fork and are heading towards the canyon we were planning to go through. We expect to arrive soon.”

“… It’s fast. Thank you.”

As Laila said that, she rehydrated herself with the water that Aine gave her, and after timing it, she got off the moving cart.

“Are you okay?”

“I wasn’t hurt that much physically. Sasha was the one who was hurt. … Are all the other kids okay?”

“Yes. Sasha had a penetrating wound on her leg… But all treatment has been completed.”

During Aine’s speech, Lila’s eyebrows twitched at the mention of ‘penetrating wounds’, but looking back on her memories, she clearly saw such a scene herself.

I automatically sigh loudly.

If I was with Cleon… I couldn’t help but think that way.

She couldn’t help but feel like she wanted to stop relying solely on him –

“… No, Lila. Stop the negative repetitive thinking.”

As she said that, she shook her head to physically shake off the regret that had been covering her head.

“It’s just a matter of time. I can make up for it after this.”

“Yes. I think so too.”

When Aine responded to the words she put into her mouth to cheer herself up, Lila blushed slightly, half with shame and half with gratitude.

Then Lila suddenly realized something, and when she looked around-

“…”

For some reason, the atmosphere of the expedition was dark.

It is understandable that the disciples are quiet when they open their mouths to brighten the mood, but when we see that even Schrödinger is asleep from exhaustion.

Even more than that, there was a heavy atmosphere centered around someone.

Of course, that someone-

“What… Why is Artis like that?”

It was Attis who was walking in the center, not at the head of the line.

Quartz was walking in front of her on behalf of her and Lila.

When Lila asked a question, looking at her as if she was thinking about something, but also looking like she was lost, Aine also shook her head.

“While Laila was losing her mind, something like this happened…”

“This and that? What’s going on?”

“It’s a long story, but-“

It was the moment Aine was trying to explain while saying that.

“Stop.”

When Quartz’s command is fulfilled, all the carts will stop at the same time, and the gaze of the party members will look forward.

What appeared in front of them as they continued to walk downhill was a long canyon path surrounded by high cliffs.

“… I think this is the canyon.”

“Yes. I think so. Everyone, let’s stop because I have something to prepare for a moment. I want to wait until the other kids wake up and then go.”

That’s when Lila responded to Meluzin’s words and tried to look around her.

“Mutter…”

Artis was muttering something and continuing to move forward, as if he hadn’t heard Quartz’s order to stop.

“! Wait!”

Quartz also came back from the lead to help her prepare, so stopping her was momentarily delayed.

As Artis walks, she feels her body lurch forward.

“──!?”

Artis almost fell forward as she lost her balance, but it was because of Quartz’s hand that she managed to stop herself.

“You said stop…”

As Artis says that and breaks into a cold sweat, he glances at his feet.

… Surprisingly, there was a gap between the entrance of the canyon and the path of Naryongsan Mountain that a person could fall into.

And below that-

“… Ugh…!”

A swarm of baby wyverns were looking up at us.

Those that couldn’t fly yet were probably growing up by feeding on wild animals that fell into these gaps.

Quartz pulls Artis to stand upright.

“… Let’s get some rest. Lila’s up too.”

“Ah… Yes.”

Artis weakly responded to Quartz’s words and glanced down at the gap she almost fell into.

If there wasn’t Quartz – it would have been ripped off by those guys.

As the terrible sight passes through his head, Attis’ expression becomes even worse.

Covering her mouth with her hand, she returns with her slumped shoulders to the side of the cart where her companions are –

Her quartz watched her closely and could not let go of her power in her eyes.