Chapter 50: The Fourth Study: Joint Cemetery (6)

Situation concluded.

We arrived at the central tower of the Ruins.

After a fierce battle, we defeated Hungmul Arop Marley, the Death Knight, and Ahommari.

Now, our magic power was almost depleted.

The Hunter Association President and the Saintess didn’t look much better, their faces strained with exhaustion.

We hid on the rooftop of a building in the Ruins.

The President’s Crow and Ming Ming kept watch, scanning the surroundings for danger.

Glancing sideways, I noticed the President was also staring off into the distance.

It seemed he was worried about the group of Hunters we’d left behind to guard the area near the Gate.

“Are you alright?”

The Saintess looked down at me with concern, and I slowly nodded.

Worry is unnecessary.

Today is not the day I die.

“We did it.”

The Saintess fought incredibly well.

She had little combat experience, but she stayed calm and followed along without hesitation.

‘There were a few times she almost fell, but I saved her with Telekinesis.’

Could there be a reason she was able to fight so calmly?

Maybe it was one of the System’s granted traits.

Ming Ming quietly munched on an Energy Bar next to me.

“We almost died this time.”

“Yeah.”

We really almost died.

The Plan was thorough, but we were lucky.

In the end, we killed all the High-Rank Beasts and made it to the center of the Ruins.

“How much did your Level go up?”

“I’m at Level 12 now.”

That’s high. If we keep using this method—luring top-tier Monsters into traps and slaughtering them—it’s only natural for our Levels to rise quickly.

Of course, that was the whole point of the Plan.

The Saintess gazed down at the Ruins visible below the building.

The streets of the Ruins were empty.

Except for the traces of the Monsters we’d killed, nothing remained.

“What should we do next?”

“We should explore the Ruins.”

With the troublemakers gone, it was time to explore the Ruins, which were practically a treasure Warehouse now.

There might be magical Artifacts.

Or perhaps new Monsters or enemies.

That’s when it happened.

The President frowned and urgently spoke.

“Wait, there’s something moving inside the building.”

“Let’s get moving.”

We stood on the roof of the large central building in the Ruins.

Its structure was reminiscent of a cathedral or church, but I couldn’t confirm what it was without checking the interior.

I immediately descended to a spot with a window and raised my Magic Engineering Rifle.

Bang—!

The window shattered cleanly.

“We’re going in.”

I used my levitation skill to land inside the building.

The President and Saintess followed, and I stepped forward with my gun at the ready.

Near the entrance, a Barrier had been erected, and several robed figures stared at us in disbelief.

Maybe they had tried to barricade and hide inside the central building just in case, but it was already too late.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The robed figures fell to the bullets of the Magic Engineering Railgun.

Dark red blood splattered in all directions.

The President fired off Soulfire, and a Sunlight Sphere appeared atop the Saintess’ Staff, showering the place with beams of light.

These were weapons made to fight tanks and massive Monsters. If they hit a human-like target up close, they exploded like this.

“Not bad.”

Honestly, I felt proud.

Thanks to our hard fighting today, I could now attack any enemy like a machine the moment I saw them.

I checked the bodies left behind.

[You have defeated the Necromancer Corps Commander.]

[Exploration Points +40.]

[Enlightenment Progress: 70/400 to Level 4.]

There was one body.

Its gray skin and unnatural proportions set it apart from humans. It appeared to be a Night Elf.

It seemed easy to defeat, but in reality, it wasn’t.

Even after two shots from the Magic Engineering Railgun, it didn’t die properly; I had to shoot a third time. It was an incredibly tough specimen.

“If we kill this, will the skeletons outside collapse too?”

That thought briefly crossed my mind, but somehow, it didn’t seem likely.

“Huh…? That’s not a human, is it?”

“No.”

I picked up one of the Night Elf’s Staffs and handed it to the President.

He carefully took the Staff, his expression cautious.

At a glance, it was a high-grade item.

[High-Rank Necromancer’s Staff]

[Rank: S]

[The Staff of the one who commanded the Undead Legion. You’ll have a hard time finding a Staff more powerful than this.]

[Greatly enhances the power of summoning and control-type magic.]

Other items it was wearing were likely similar.

I’d thought it would die in a single shot, but since it took three Bullets, it must be a top-tier defensive tool.

We finished checking the body.

And from its pocket, we found something resembling a Compass.

This was… something I’d never seen before.

Neither before the regression, nor after.

[Beast-Chasing Compass]

[Rank: S]

[If there’s a High-Rank Beast nearby, it glows and the Compass needle points toward the Monster’s location.]

While magical Artifacts could be found fairly often here and there, it was rare to find one with such a specific function.

“Fascinating.”

You couldn’t just make something like this easily; it was a welcome find.

I put the Beast-Chasing Compass in my pocket for now.

Today’s battle had yielded good results.

We’d slain many Monsters and recovered plenty of Artifacts.

There was a serious engagement in the city, but…

Perhaps even that incident would serve as a wake-up call for people.

Maybe now they’d take the crisis seriously.

Everything seemed to be going well.

With a satisfied smile, I reached over and gave Ming Ming a pat.

***

As expected, this place was a Holy Place, a sanctuary for worship.

I didn’t know exactly which god or how the Night Elves worshipped, but it was related to the worship of death.

In a way, it was an obvious story.

The Saintess summoned a Sunlight Sphere and illuminated the surroundings.

As expected, bones stood out.

The Night Elf Stone Temple was filled with symbols relating to death, resurrection, and skeletons.

The Saintess looked around and frowned.

“Yuck, this feels unpleasant. Dr. Kang, what do you think?”

“Fascinating.”

I could sense the Saintess shooting me a subtle look at my answer, but I ignored it and searched the interior.

Then—

“Everyone, take a look at this.”

The President tapped the floor with the Staff, then called us over as if he’d discovered something.

I moved over to where the President was standing.

I could see the flow of magic ahead.

Up close, there was a hidden Warehouse in the floor.

The President had just used magic to find the Warehouse.

“Well, it makes sense for something like this to be here.”

If this was a place of worship, it would be natural to have a storage room for relics or Artifacts.

The Sanctuary door was made of steel and tightly sealed.

When the President moved the Staff, the blue script covering the Sanctuary door disappeared, but the door still didn’t open.

“It’s tough, looks like we can’t get in.”

“Step back.”

I raised my gun, and the President and Saintess retreated.

The Magical Barrier was already gone, so the Lock seemed to be the only problem.

Bang—!

A simple problem solved by brute force.

It was easy.

With a loud crash, the Sanctuary’s lock was melted and destroyed.

I strode up and opened the door without hesitation.

The Vault was more impressive than I’d expected.

On white marble shelves, countless Artifacts were gathered.

There were enough Hunter Weapons for dozens of Hunters.

There were also more than a few Magic Stones.

“Whoa… Dr. Kang! President! There’s so much in here!”

“There’s plenty we can use. We’ll take it all, right?”

“Yes.”

I checked over the Artifacts assembled at the scene.

Come to think of it, there was something similar in the Goblin Gate…

“Is there any benefit to gathering magic items in one place?”

I’d never really thought about it, but even Giant Ants collected and stacked up Hunter Weapons.

Simply gathering Artifacts in one place seemed to have some kind of magical property.

Maybe being exposed to magic often let you handle it more skillfully, something like that.

I asked the President, who was rummaging through items beside me.

“Is there some kind of symbolic or magical significance to building a Warehouse to collect Artifacts in one place? The Goblin Gate and Giant Ants did something similar.”

The President knew a lot more about magic than I did.

He tilted his head thoughtfully.

“I’m not sure. Maybe it acts as a kind of signal. For example, it could reinforce a Magic Circle, lend strength to a certain being, or form a Barrier. I haven’t been a mage for long, so I don’t know.”

“Lending strength to a person?”

The President nodded as if he’d organized his thoughts.

“Think of it this way. There are lots of Artifacts that lend power to people, right? Even if you’re not holding them, if you can connect them symbolically or magically as ‘mine’ or ‘ours’…”

“Makes sense.”

Was there anything here I could personally take?

The Beast-Chasing Compass I’d found earlier seemed really useful, so it’d be nice to find something similar.

The thing that caught my eye the most…

Was a book.

I couldn’t read Foreign Language, but the same characters as on the Compass were engraved on the cover.

I’d never found a book in any other Gate, so it was an impressive discovery in itself.

“Let’s take this.”

Who knows?

Maybe Dr. Kang or other linguists at the Research Institute could decipher its contents.

***

And so, a truckload of Artifacts for us to research and analyze arrived at the Research Institute.

This was the Weapon Storage of the Supernatural Science Research Institute.

Dr. Kang was inspecting the Artifacts I’d brought back.

I silently watched Dr. Kang at work for a while.

“You must be tired.”

“I’m alright. This is fascinating.”

I watched Dr. Kang.

A good idea had struck me earlier.

“I’ve come up with a new method for the Magic Engineering Railgun. I’d like your input, Dr. Kang.”

“What is it?”

Dr. Kang nodded as if he’d expected it.

I pondered how to explain it clearly.

The Magic Engineering Railgun was a magical item, but also an extremely sophisticated mechanical device.

There was room for engineering improvement.

“It’s the Reverse Flow Double Pipe Concept. Of course, magic power is an abstract medium, but in our case, the flow of magic can be visualized as the flow of Transmission Fluid.”

“So?”

“It’s similar to maintaining a Concentration Gradient in Transmission Fluid… Like this. If you induce exchange of Transmission Fluid in a coil running in the opposite direction, a Concentration Gradient is formed, right?”

Explaining it out loud, it was a simple concept.

I gestured energetically to illustrate.

It meant the Transmission Fluid pipe passing over the coil was looped once.

“Ah, I get it. That should solve both the heat exchange issue and the problem of the magic circuit being expressed with liquid Transmission Fluid in the Magic Engineering Railgun…”

Only now did I feel satisfied and nodded.

It’s similar to how the kidney maintains a Concentration Gradient, or how an Air Conditioner keeps a temperature gradient.

The heat generated by the Railgun must be dissipated outward so it doesn’t damage the surroundings, but at the same time, the flow of magic—like the Bullet—must also move from the chamber toward the muzzle, outward.

Anyway… We can discuss the technical details later. Right now, analyzing the recovered Samples was more important.

Especially, whether the Compass we discovered this time was based on some logic or simply on magic, that was the first thing to check.