Swordmeister of Rome

Lamran wanted to finish the tunnel quickly. As a result, Lamran ordered the Kukurans to make a tunnel just enough for a person to fit through, which Lamran and Lilia had to endure. After a while of traveling through the tunnel, they arrived at a wider cave.

It was a cave that had already been in existence.

"Ugh… Lamran, why did you make the tunnel so small? Are you going to carry me around if I injure my back?"

"Shhh… quiet, Lilia."

Their voices couldn't be heard from outside but Lamran became worried and asked Lilia to quiet down.

"Whew… so what do I need to do here?"

"We need to find a way."

They were at the cave as the mystery man had said, but it was only the first step. There was still a long way to go. The second step was to go through this cave.

Lamran wanted to dig a tunnel straight to the bottom of the pedesta0,l but the ground in this area was made with hard rocks that the Kukurans could not break. The mystery man then told him of the existence of the cave. It had formed naturally over time. Yet he still told Lamran that he needed to get help from his friend to get past the place.

"Lilia, I trust you on this."

"Okay… hehe. This is my specialty."

Lilia began moving up ahead.

"Ha… Lamran, you're dead if nothing comes out from here," Lilia frowned. Lamran looked at Lilia apologetically. The cave wasn't just complicated. There were a few inhabitants living here. In fact, they created this whole cave system.

<Lorun-Tach>

These giant crab-sized ants fed off the minerals and hated lights so they weren't widely known. Lamran and Lilia had come across these monsters before, so they immediately knew that the cave had these monsters.

They became very careful in advancing. These monsters were very vicious. They were weak, but they overwhelmed invaders with their large number. The queen controlled them, so Lamran had no power over them.

This was where Lilia's skill shined. Her ability as an Exer was being a <Pathfinder>. It was a common Exer skill.

It allowed the user to choose which way to go when thinking about the purpose. It told the user the best route to take for such purposes.

It was a common skill, but the level of power was different for each individual. The finest <Pathfinders> were recruited by countries and were well-respected. Lilia wasn't that powerful, but she was above average in terms of her skill and was a trusted companion of Lamran.

With her power, they were able to avoid the ants and they finally arrived beneath the pedestal. As the skill required such high concentration, Lilia was dead tired when she arrived.

"WHOA! Finally here!"

Lilia let out a sigh and slumped down on the ground.

Lamran became scared.

"H-HEY! We might draw the ants!"

Lilia looked comfortable.

"Don't worry. My instincts say this place is safe. The ants will not come here."

Lamran looked around. This place looked different from the cave they walked through. It was shaped like a large cube that was surely not a work of an ant.

There was something that repelled the ants from coming in here.

At the center of the room was a round pillar that pierced through the ceiling.

'This pillar…'

Lamran remembered the part of the pillar that was sticking out from the ground from the pedestal.

It was where people piled up Talic Stones for ceremonies, so he knew about it. However, unlike the top part, the bottom part here had weird lines engraved on it and there were blue lights flowing through the lines.

The bottom part that stuck out at the top was touching the ground at sea water level. The water was shaking along with the pillar and this shake coming from the pillar was surely connected to the seawater that went out to the ocean.

'What is this thing?'

It seemed like the room was about high as sea level since the sea water was not filling up the entire room. The hill where the pedestal stood was above forty feet from here. It was understandable why nobody knew of this room's existence.

Lamran realized that was not important. He had time to spare, but he wanted to do it quick.

As he thought his life would change forever, he was too excited to slow down.

After looking upon the pillar, he left Lilia at the back and walked toward it. After crossing a bridge that laid above the sea water, he was now at front of the pillar.

There was a small, nail-sized marble stuck on it. It was shining with blue light.

After watching it for a moment, Lamran pinched the end of his finger slightly with his sword.

This step required his fresh blood. It was why the mystery man needed him. He was ready to give him any price in exchange for what he would earn from this.

He then moved his bleeding finger to the marble without hesitation.

Then the pillar began to shake and the marble began shining even brighter.

Lamran could not hide his excitement.

It was time.

It was time to get his hands on the artifact.

It was time to reclaim what he deserved as a descendant of the great pioneer, Lagaope.

Sian and Stiel turned to the pedestal in the distance as they felt the tremor. Stiel asked, "Did you feel that?"

"Yeah. It looks like…"

"It's…"

Stiel tried to speak but Sian said it first.

"The fireworks are starting! Haha. So that black pillar had fireworks inside! How exciting."

"…"

Stiel ignored Sian and looked at the pillar, but she couldn't understand what the movement of Exar was about.

'I'll have to keep an eye on it.'

Stiel then began dragging Sian, who was overly excited at the fireworks, to the restaurant where they had made a reservation.

The light that filled the room subsided and Lilian looked toward the pillar in shock. There was now a huge door open at the pillar, large enough for a man to walk in.

Lamran was walking through the door as if he was being mind controlled.

'…What is that?'

Lilia became curious and decided to take a look inside the pillar. But the inside was empty. There was just another pillar within that came up from the ground to about the height of a human chest with something placed above it.

'…?'

It looked like a crude crown made out of bone.

'This doesn't feel good.'

Lilia became uncomfortable. It was a part of her <Pathfinder> skill. If she saw something that was above her level or something so petty that didn't need such consideration, she could not sense anything out of it.

That was why she held onto the dangerous woman back then. She was too dangerous for her to sense the danger of it.

Not sensing anything could only mean one or two things.

But Lilia couldn't stop Lamran, whom she liked very much. She just wished it wasn't a bad sign.

"Hmm?"

"What is it?" Liviath asked the man next to him while he trained.

He needed to train to find back his power to repay the debt. It wouldn't take long.

"Uh… nothing. I just left something back there. I came to take it back, but I forgot while I was resting."

"Hah, good for you. What did you forget? What is it?"

Liviath looked at the man with a disappointed look.

"Margaran. Liviath, you will become like me if you live long enough. Memory fails me, you know."

"You mean… that crown?"

"Yeah. How did you know?"

"You talked so much about it when we first met. You said you created a quick route by using it."

"Oh… did I? Yeah. But someone took it."

"Huh? So it wasn't much of a thing then."

Liviath turned back, losing interest. What happened now didn't really matter to him anyway.

The man was similar in that regard. But...

'It's not going to end up well if they use it.'

Then he decided to forget about it. The crown was important, but what he needed to do afterward was more important.