Record of a Thousand Lives

The wilderness in the southern part of the Sylphia Continent had no particular name, and not many merchants or adventurers traversed the area.
To think a ruin existed there… Even Shaneth, who had lived in Kerlin her whole life, had never heard of such a thing.

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“Aren’t ruins usually found in fertile places that have been taken over by monsters as their habitat? Adventurers would’ve already flocked over here if they heard there was a ruin in this wilderness,” said Shaneth.

Ruins had existed in this world since time immemorial, and mentions of them could be found in numerous ancient texts.
They possessed two distinct characteristics.

Firstly, they were inhabited by an overwhelming amount of monsters.
Hundreds and hundreds of monsters could be found inhabiting a ruin, but they would be trapped inside and unable to leave due to the ruin’s magical energy.
Monsters would not feel the need to eat or drink when they were in the ruins, but they tended to be very aggressive after being trapped their whole lives, and would attack any intruders with the intent to tear them limb from limb.

Secondly, they had astounding rewards.
A ruin was considered conquered once someone reached the treasures at its heart.
The treasures found in ruins were usually rare items that could not be bought anywhere else, but they were usually guarded by boss monsters.

“Ruins have nothing to do with the area they’re in,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.
“They’re only difficult to find,” he added.

What greeted them after a long journey was a field of thorns that made the wilderness look even more desolate.

“I never knew such a place existed in the wilderness,” Shaneth said in surprise as she looked at the numerous bundles of thorns that grew in the barren ground.
The bundles of thorns were so tightly packed that it was all but guaranteed that one would be unable to cross this place unscathed.

“How are we going to pass through this?” she asked worriedly.

The greatsword used by Kang Yoon-Soo had originally been a machete; it was a good weapon, but machetes were originally designed to hack and slash through jungles.
However, Kang Yoon-Soo looked away and stretched out his hand, saying, “Summon Salamander Sally.”

A spark formed in midair and started spinning until a small flame vortex formed.
A young girl popped out from within the vortex.

“Papaaa!” Sally exclaimed as she ran toward Kang Yoon-Soo and clung to his leg. “Papa! Papa! Why did you call me?” she added excitedly.

Kang Yoon-Soo pointed at the field of thorns and said, “Burn it.”

“What will you give me if I do that?” Sally asked.

“What do you want?” Kang Yoon-Soo replied emotionlessly.

“Hmm… A hug?” Sally answered after pondering for a minute.

Kang Yoon-Soo hugged her as requested.

“Kyaaaah!” Sally screamed in delight.

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Shaneth thought it was a surprising sight.
The Kang Yoon-Soo she thought she knew was not someone who would do this at all. Perhaps he was not so cold and emotionless after all?

Sally raised both of her arms toward the thorny field and shouted, “Wrath of the Flames!”

A vortex of flames started to shoot out of her hands toward the fields.
The spirit’s flames were hot and radiant, and the dry and arid desert atmosphere made the flames grow even stronger.
They burned down the field of thorns in an instant, and Sally looked at Kang Yoon-Soo with sparkling eyes as if she were craving for his praise.

“Papa, papa, Sally did a good job, right?” she asked enthusiastically.

“Yes.
Now go back,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied coldly.

“Hng… Praise me more…” Sally said tearfully.

“I don’t feel like it,” Kang Yoon-Soo said curtly.

Sally puffed her cheeks up as if to show that she was sulking, then walked toward Shaneth and wrapped her arms around her waist, saying, “Sally loves mama too! I’ll see you later, mama!”

“Alright, see you later, Sally,” Shaneth replied.

Kang Yoon-Soo started moving as soon as he sent Sally back to the spirit dimension, but Shaneth just stood there staring at the burned-down field as if she couldn’t believe what had just happened. He called her over, saying, “Hurry up.”

The burned-down thorns slowly started to grow back again.
Their regenerative ability was amazing, and the road was already starting to be covered by them again.
Shaneth let out a shriek and quickly followed after Kang Yoon-Soo.

Shik! Shik!

The thorns were regenerating at a rate that was impossible for normal plants.
They started to quickly cover the area again, and any delays would trap the pair in the field of thorns.

“We’ll get stuck in the thorns at this rate!” Shaneth shrieked, her voice filled with fear.

“That’s why I said to hurry up,” Kang Yoon-Soo said coldly.

The two of them ran until they were out of breath, until suddenly, Kang Yoon-Soo jumped into a hole that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere.
How Kang Yoon-Soo knew about the whole thing was not even surprising anymore. “This way,” he called out to Shaneth.

Shaneth ran for her life and leaped into the hole just before the thorns managed to wrap around her ankles.
The thorns grew over the hole and blocked it off as soon as she landed inside.

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Shik!

“Th… That was close…” Shaneth said as she tried to catch her breath, but Kang Yoon-Soo had already started to walk deeper into the cave.
She let out a sigh and followed behind him.
The man Shaneth had seen during the trials of the Spartoi was the same as the man in front of her; he was void of any emotions, as if he were an empty puppet.
Then she suddenly remembered Hermia’s words.

‘He acts as if he’s lived for a very long time… It feels different from us.’

“Who the hell is this guy…” Shaneth muttered to herself.

***

After they traveled some distance through the tunnel, light began to shine in from above—it was the exit.
A large open area greeted them when they exited the tunnel.
The area looked quite different from the wilderness they had been in just before; it had lush green vegetation with dew forming on the leaves, and large trees towered above them.

“What… is this place…?” Shaneth asked as she looked around in amazement.

“It’s a place created by magic,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied after picking up a stone and throwing it into the distance.

Thud!

The stone Kang Yoon-Soo threw hit something invisible in midair and fell to the ground.
Shaneth couldn’t believe her eyes and went to investigate what had just happened.
She felt something hard like a wall blocking her, even though there was nothing visible in front of her..

“There are limitations to space-related magic.
It will dispel if the weakest point is attacked,” Kang Yoon-Soo explained.
The area they were in, that seemed like a lush, overgrown forest, was actually an illusion created by magic.

Kang Yoon-Soo took out a Black Iron Dagger and looked around the forest before throwing it toward a large tree.

Pukeok!

The dagger landed in a precise spot on the tree trunk, and the tree started to crumble in an instant, taking the area with it.
The surroundings reverted back to wilderness, revealing a large structure in front of them.
It had a large wall with a few broken sections and strange markings on it—it was a ruin.

The Yultika Ruin had the lowest difficulty of the ruins found on the continent, and the rewards were only on par with that difficulty.
However, one could not underestimate it, as it still had hundreds of monsters living in it.

The ruin in front of them had numerous stone pillars, and its wide interior appeared to stretch endlessly—it seemed as if the ruin was boasting of its majesty to them.

“The ruin was hidden with magic…?” Shaneth asked, stating the obvious.

“The illusion was there to make you think it was just a normal forest and catch you off guard,” Kang Yoon-Soo answered.

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“But are there other people who could manage to go through the field of thorns and reach this place…?” Shaneth asked.

“There are,” Kang Yoon-Soo answered curtly.
Shaneth was used to his attitude by now, which was why she no longer felt bothered by his words, nor did she further inquire about anything.

Shaneth had never seen such a large structure in her life, and she was awestruck by the large ruin in front of her.
However, she did not let her guard down even if the ruin seemed peaceful from the outside, because she knew for certain that hundreds of monsters inhabited all ruins.

“So what will we do now?” she asked Kang Yoon-Soo.

“We’re going in,” he answered, then quickly entered the ruin.

Shaneth was very worried about entering the ruin, but she gripped her scythe and followed behind him.
Kang Yoon-Soo was cold and emotionless, but she had to admit that he was well-rounded and skilled.
The fact that he was low-leveled and had no class concerned her, but she was certain that he had a plan.

The pair entered the ruin. Its interior was not dark at all, due to the glow stones embedded in the pillars. While Shaneth was admiring the structure, however, a sudden cry emerged from within the ruin.

“Roooooooaaarr!”

It was a roar that could give one goosebumps all over—the roar of a predator.
A large wolf-like creature charged toward them from within the ruin.
The creature was covered in silver fur, its eyes were eerily red, and it had spine-chillingly large fangs. 

It was a werewolf, part of a species known to be aggressive and very difficult to deal with.
Werewolves were known to go around in packs, but they could also communicate with each other more effectively than ordinary wolves. The average werewolf was around Level 70, making it much more dangerous than a landworm.

Shaneth gritted her teeth and gripped her scythe, but the roars she heard next made her fall into despair.

“Awoooooooo!”

“Awooooooooooo!”

“Awooooooooooooooo!”

As expected, the werewolf was not alone. Hundreds of werewolves hidden in every corner of the ruin started to show themselves.
The whole area gave off a silver glow from the werewolves that filled it, and in an instant, more than 700 of the monsters surrounded the duo.

Sniff! Sniff!

“Grrrrrrrr…!” The werewolves started to growl while prowling around them.

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“What should we do now?!” Shaneth asked Kang Yoon-Soo urgently.

The werewolves started to bare their fangs, as if they were ready to pounce at any moment.
It was a moment that could only be described as desperate.

However, Kang Yoon-Soo was not fazed at all and even confidently walked toward the pack of werewolves, surprising Shaneth with his leisurely pace.
He then lifted both of his arms and loudly shouted, “Keung! Grrwaaang! Grrr… Keung! Keung! Kreung!”

It seemed to be nonsensical gibberish, as he was just barking like a dog…

But suddenly, the werewolves started to tense up and barked in response.

“Keung? Keungkeung! Grrrrreung!”

“Grrrrrrr…? Keung! Keung!”

“Kyeung… Kyeung…!”

The werewolves suddenly withdrew their fangs and turned docile like a litter of puppies, making way for Kang Yoon-Soo.
In fact, some of the werewolves even started tearing up.

To think that monsters would obediently make way for a human! Shaneth was dumbfounded by the scene in front of her that no one would believe even if she told the story a hundred times.

“Did you perhaps… communicate with the monsters just now…?” Shaneth asked as she carefully walked toward Kang Yoon-Soo.

“Yeah,” he answered.

At that moment, Shaneth was no longer sure what expression she should have.
Eventually, she asked, “What did you tell them to make them so docile all of a sudden…?”

“That I’ll liberate them from the ruin,” he answered.

“Can you really do that?” Shaneth asked in surprise.

“Nope,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.

…

The two of them leisurely walked toward the heart of the ruin.