CHAPTER 741: 583 TISTIS

"Boom..."

With a dull thud, the Magic Puppet whose brain had been destroyed fell to the ground, completely unconscious.

Reiger released his hand from the opponent’s head, ignoring the Magic Puppet that had crashed to the ground, his brows tightly furrowed.

"...Master?"

By this time, Liz had also arrived at Reiger’s side. Seeing his furrowed brow, she tentatively spoke up.

"It’s nothing."

Reiger pressed down the various thoughts in his heart and extended his hand to pat Liz’s head, calming her down.

However, in his mind, Reiger was already prepared for this journey to be anything but easy.

Although he didn’t know why Sgranot Bayard would be with that cold girl, nor whether she was one of those behind the Magic Puppet, their posture made it clear they were after this ruin.

This made Reiger inevitably think of the Ancient City inside the body of the subterranean beast Yarakulon.

That Ancient City had also been visited by the hidden manipulators behind these Magic Puppets; even Maya, the city’s Guardian, had been deceived by them, leading to the temple being ransacked, and many treasures as well as knowledge and techniques of ancient magic civilization had been stolen, causing Maya much distress for a long time.

"Could it be that this time, they are also after the treasures or the knowledge and technology of the ancient magic civilization within this ruin?"

That seemed to be the only possibility.

The Ancient Ruin had been unearthed a long time ago, but due to unknown dangers, it was deeply dreaded, whether by Sgranot, the Walker Kingdom, or the Leiblu Kingdom.

Even now, Reiger still hadn’t figured out why those people were so wary of this Ancient Ruin.

Was it just because it was dangerous?

Indeed, the monsters in the maze were peculiar, each possessing strength that their counterparts outside could not compare with. But that alone would not be enough to make two great nations and a Sword Saint retreat.

"There must be a greater danger slumbering within this ruin."

It was this danger that had prevented the Ancient Ruin from being fully explored. Only the desperate occasionally took something away from it, so most things here were probably still intact.

If the people behind the Magic Puppet had set their sights on the treasures of the Ancient Ruin, then it explained the great lengths they had gone to send people to explore it.

And now that Reiger was here, conflict with these people was unavoidable.

Or rather, even if they wanted to avoid it, Reiger would not allow it.

With that in mind, Reiger shifted his attention and looked at the murals surrounding them.

The murals here were of the same style as those inside the temple at the heart of the Ancient City within the body of the subterranean beast Yarakulon.

Only, they depicted clearly different stories.

The murals inside the temple of the Ancient City mainly showed how the heroic race received power from "the gods" and led humanity towards a flourishing history of prosperity.

But the murals here depicted wars, one after another.

Reiger saw the original image of the rubbings of the ruin’s mural that Yuri had given him back at the Franzel residence.

It was a scene where the queen holding the Sword of Moslo led the army of humans, confronting beast hordes with a giant black shadow reaching from earth to sky behind them.

Reiger, holding Liz’s hand, began to wander in front of these murals, reading the history recorded on them.

At first, under the leadership of the queen wielding the Sword of Moslo, after years of governance and resistance, humanity seemed to have gradually shed its weak status, turning the tables and suppressing the monsters that once ravaged the land.

One after another, human cities emerged from the ground, and the land gradually became human territory, covered in human tracks.

This was perhaps the most prosperous era of the ancient magic civilization’s development, as well as its final glory.

Then calamity arrived.

A giant black shadow, reaching from earth to sky, appeared and effortlessly destroyed the cities of humans.

Humans rose to resist but were as trivial as ants, trampled, crushed, and violated.

The monsters eagerly bowed down to the black shadow, gaining their own "King."

Thus, man and beast, king and king, the two camps finally unfurled a war across the continent that swept over the entire land.

This war resulted in heavy casualties for humanity.

This war led to city after city falling into ruin.

The number of monsters was reducing.

The number of humans was reducing.

Civilization on the ground was vanishing.

Life...

Nature...

Forests...

Mountains and rivers...

Everything gradually lost its presence in this war.

In the end, on the scarred land, all that remained was the queen holding the Sword of Moslo, covered in wounds.

And in front of her, the giant black shadow that pierced the sky was being bound by chains, roaring unwillingly as it sank into the sea.

"..."

Reiger was silent.

From the content of these murals, he felt a heavy pressure, a will of tragic heroism, and a sense of desolate loneliness.

And Liz, who was being led by Reiger, was initially just following silently without a word. But as time passed, it seemed that the stories depicted on the murals had also captivated her.

By the end, a profound sadness surged in the little princess’s heart, blurring her eyes and causing tears to flow.

"Hum!"

Suddenly, the Sword of Moslo that Liz was clutching to her chest started to move.

"Clang!"

With a clear sound of unsheathing, the Sword of Moslo left its scabbard of its own accord, flying out.

"Moslo!"

Liz couldn’t help but forget her sorrow and exclaimed in alarm.

Reiger also snapped to attention and quickly looked in the direction where the Sword of Moslo had flown.

They saw the glittering Sword of Moslo flying towards a squarely shaped statue and, with a "clang," it stuck into the ground next to a stele in front of the statue.

Reiger and Liz exchanged a glance and hurriedly ran towards it, arriving in front of the stele.

There were characters on the stele.

However, Reiger didn’t recognize them at all.

"These are ancient texts."

Liz mentioned softly.

"Ancient texts..."

Reiger nodded as if suddenly understanding.

The so-called ancient texts, as the name implies, were used during the era of the ancient magic civilization.

Modern magic civilization scholars have always believed that the texts used by the ancient magic civilization contained power.

The simplest proof is the spells used when chanting modern magic.

In these spells, one can find many similarities to the ancient texts.

Therefore, people in the magic community have always believed that originally, all magic spell chants were in ancient texts, which over thousands of years evolved and underwent numerous modifications and corruptions to become the quasi-similar form we see today.

Some great magicians even believe that if they could decipher all ancient texts, they could grasp all the magic in the world, and for this, they study ancient texts fervently.

Regrettably, the task of deciphering ancient texts has never gone smoothly, even the historically profound Walker Kingdom has repeatedly hit walls in this research area. Conversely, it’s said that the Tistis Kingdom to the north possesses some of the heritage from the ancient magic civilization, and their understanding of ancient texts far surpasses any other country on the continent.

"Liz, can you read ancient texts?"

Reiger inquired Liz as a matter of chance.

"I, I can’t..."

Liz immediately lowered her head in embarrassment.

"Alright, if you can’t, you can’t; there are plenty who can’t read it, no need for embarrassment."

Reiger chuckled dismissively before turning his gaze back to the stele.

He naturally didn’t understand the ancient texts either.

But, he had magic.

In ’YGGDRASIL,’ there was a tool called Translation Glasses that could translate unknown texts under the power of magic.

Reiger possessed a magic power with the same effect as that tool.

"[Advanced Translation]."

As Reiger invoked this magic, a soft magic power glow began to appear in his eyes.

Under this soft magic power glow, when Reiger looked at the inscriptions on the stele again, they no longer seemed foreign.

They appeared to come to life, jumping into Reiger’s vision and wandering around in his mind, soon becoming texts that Reiger could understand.

In such a manner, Reiger successfully deciphered the content on the stele.

"’The war is over,’"

"’Under the orders of the last queen, we are about to set off on a journey to find a second homeland.’"

"’The years of glory have passed away.’"

"’The perpetual honor now eternally sleeps with the scarred earth.’"

"’Following the queen’s last wishes, we bury them here with the progeny of the King of Calamity.’"

"’May this world be without strife henceforth.’"

"’May peace prevail from now on.’"

"’Erected by the most loyal vassal of Reinnaier—The Tistis family.’"

When Reiger read aloud the content on the stele, not only he, but Liz as well, were astonished.

"Reinnaier?"

Wasn’t that Liz’s own family name?

Reiger looked towards Liz.

"The Tistis family? Vassals?"

Liz caught on to this part.

Tistis was not an unfamiliar name.

At the very least, this name made it hard not to think of the Tistis Kingdom in the north.

In this moment, Reiger and Liz thought so much that they looked at each other, speechless for a long time.

"Buzz!"

At this time, the Sword of Moslo embedded next to the stele started moving on its own again, flying towards the statue and sticking into a certain spot on the statue’s surface.

And in that instant, the statue moved.

"Rumble..."

Amidst the rumbling tremors, the statue slowly sank, revealing the wall behind it.

As the wall sank, much dust and debris fell, creating a resounding noise.

But with the descent of the wall, the scene behind it was revealed.

A spacious passage appeared before Reiger and Liz’s eyes, leading who knows where.