Chapter 311
“There was a basement here?”
Russell returned to the tower after being contacted by Sungyoon . He placed a hand on his forehead as he spoke .
“After building a massive tower, the builder kept everything important underground . Moreover, the entrance to the basement was well-hidden . The architect of this tower was a bit perverse in his thinking . ”
“We don't know if anything important is down there, right?”
“Just be quiet for once! You're tempting fate!”
Russell berated Bruce .
“Something has to be here . Otherwise, we would've come here for nothing . ”
“We found the Mage city . That’s something . ”
“Since we have the Mage Gem, we would've eventually found this place . It's no significant achievement . ”
Russell hadn’t shown it, but he had been very restless about their current situation . Therefore, his words were rougher than usual .
“Anyway, you're a big help to me through it all . ”
Russell patted Sungyoon’s shoulder .
Plu-El stood off to the side, and she spoke up in a proud manner .
“He was chosen by the Royal Gem . Of course, an accomplishment of that magnitude is a given . ”
“Mmm . That’s how it is supposed to be for the owner of the Royal Gem . ”
Plu-El’s reaction was a given since Sungyoon was her son-in-law . However, surprisingly, Aruwen had also taken Sungyoon’s side .
Of course, he was praising the amazing ‘owner of the Royal Gem’ more than the Connector Sungyoon . Aruwen had completely given up on the Royal Gem, but his pride in the Gem manifested in odd ways .
Sungyoon felt embarrassed as he nodded at Russell .
“Still, I have to point out that there really might be nothing down there . ”
Bruce gave a reasonable take, but Russell glared at him . His glare was so fierce that Bruce shut his mouth . Russell immediately went down the basement, with the others following him .
“Were they in a hurry when making this place?”
Grace took careful steps . If she weren’t careful, she could roll down the staircase .
“I… Hnggh! I think so . ”
Due to the large gap between the stairs, Tim had to jump down a fair distance . The staircase going to the top of the tower was neat and well-made, but the one heading underground was very rough .
The steps were uneven and improperly carved . Moreover, the distance between adjacent steps drastically differed .
“I’m not even sure if we can call these stairs . ”
When they arrived at a step that had a one-meter drop, Bruce grumbled as he jumped down .
“Shit! This step has a one-meter fall, and the next steps are only fifteen centimeters wide!”
Bruce felt like he were walking on a ledge that was barely standing on a cliff, and he stuck close to the wall .
The stairs were a mess, and of course, the walls and ceiling weren't any different .
“Watch your head!”
Sungyoon warned them .
The ceiling was low, and a part of it was jutting out . Even a short person might bang their head on it .
Kahng!
The sound of steel hitting something rang out . A rock was sticking out of the wall, and one of the Connectors had bumped into it with his armor .
The Connector looked annoyed, so he struck the rock .
Like the tower, the staircase leading downward was also shaped like a helix . The only difference was an opening straight down the middle of the staircase .
“We are finally here!”
Bruce, who was in the front, yelled . He couldn't hide the happiness in his voice, but that happiness only lasted for a moment .
“… What the hell is this?”
Bruce’s voice lost strength when he saw the tunnels stretching out in all directions . When everyone else reached the bottom, they were also struck dumb by the sight of numerous tunnels .
“We reached this far, yet another labyrinth greets us . ”
Russell let out a sigh .
At that moment, Sungyoon walked up next to Bruce .
“Hmm? What is it? Do you feel something?”
Bruce's eyes shone in anticipation .
“Something is over there . ”
“Really? We should go that way?”
Of course, Bruce and the others looked toward the tunnel Sungyoon pointed at .
“What's there to hesitate? Let’s go . ”
They didn't have to do that useless crap of searching everything, so Bruce felt joy at this fact . He quickly moved toward the tunnel Sungyoon pointed out .
After walking for a while, the group arrived at several forks in the tunnel, but Sungyoon always pointed out a direction .
His Royal Gem and his heart gave him clear signals on where to go .
“This way . ”
Sungyoon once again chose a tunnel at a fork .
“What does it feel like? Is it a feeling of urgency or some weighty feeling?”
Bruce kept his guard up as he asked the question .
The others were also curious about this topic, so they were all ears .
“I’m not sure . It's hard to describe with words . All I can say is that… something is calling me?”
“Calling you?”
“Yes . It feels as if something is calling me to go in a certain direction . ”
“We’ll answer that call . We’ll go wherever you point out if we can find something useful . ”
All the Connectors had different thoughts and feelings about the subject as they walked through the tunnel . The only mutual feeling was that they wanted this to be the end of the Great Labyrinth mission .
After they walked for a while, the narrow tunnel widened once again .
“… We are here . This is out of the ordinary . ”
Standing at the end of the tunnel, Bruce spoke .
The room ahead of him was shaped like a sphere, with the bottom and top being curved . Unlike the hasty work of the stairs and tunnels, the surface of the wall was smooth . If one took a wrong step, one would slip downward .
“Look, stairs . ”
Fortunately, they didn’t need to slide down to the bottom as the curved walls had stairs on them . The group used the stairs to descend to the bottom .
The overall shape was a sphere, but the bottom part had a flat circular surface . When the group reached the bottom, everyone bent their heads back to look up .
“Was Sung Hyunwoo telling the truth? Is this what he was referring to?”
Bruce tapped at the large pillar in front of him . It was a large, thick pillar that extended all the way to the ceiling . Four people could join hands and could barely encircle it . Moreover, indecipherable symbols had been etched into the pillar .
The most eye-catching part about the pillar was the large crystal at its center . It looked as if the pillar existed to encircle this crystal .
“Can you read those words?”
Sungyoon asked Plu-El . The descendants of Planote had been staring at the letters engraved into the pillar as soon as they had arrived here .
“Yes . I can read it . These are the letters that we use even now . ”
“What does it say?”
“It's the history of what happened here after our ancestors chased Grenoid to the Moon . The people of the Mage city wrote the reason they made this device and the instructions on how to activate it . ”
“Does . . . does it spell out how we can defeat Grenoid?”
Russell’s voice contained both hope and uncertainty .
“I believe so . ”
The Connectors in the group cheered . They had finally acquired what they had desired the most, and all the worries in their eyes melted away . Tim raised his hands as he cheered, while Grace and Emily hugged each other .
Sungyoon let out a sigh of relief . It was a sight that pushed out all the worries in his heart .
“Please give us an explanation . ”
Russell urged Plu-El to speak .
“Wait a moment . The story and the explanation are all mixed up . It’ll take me some time to organize it . Can this be…”
Plu-El moved up so close that she was almost touching the pillar . She stared at the symbols .
“Look at this, Aruwen!”
“Yes . It's what you think it is . ”
Unlike Plu-El, Aruwen retreated a couple of steps to see more letters .
“This is amazing . ”
His voice was full of admiration .
It wasn’t just him and Plu-El, who had such expressions . All the descendants of Planote just stared at the pillar .
“Why are they acting that way?”
Bruce poked Sungyoon . After all, amongst the earthlings, Sungyoon was the closest to the descendants of Planote . However, even Sungyoon didn’t know everything about the descendants of Planote .
“I have no idea . ”
“It seems they are concentrating on their task, so let’s leave them alone for now . ”
Russell took preemptive action, so Bruce didn’t do anything unnecessary .
The descendants of Planote kept staring at the pillar for an hour . It appeared as though they were on a pilgrimage and trying to engrave each word into their minds . While they did this, the Connectors stood back to avoid getting in their way .
“I’m sorry . We were too preoccupied . ”
Plu-El apologized in an embarrassed voice . Her red cheeks showed that she was still excited .
“May I ask why you are so surprised?”
When Russell asked the question, Plu-El immediately started her explanation .
“As I’ve told you before, the descendants of Planote lost all the skills from our past civilization . We lost the skill to make Devices and Gems . We also forgot how to make magic circles by utilizing magical energy . We can't make magic circles, but we can identify them . ”
Plu-El once again looked at the pillar .
“These are the letters of our people . It explains why this place was made . However, that isn’t all . The words on the pillar also act as a magic circle . ”
Everyone turned to look at the letters engraved into the pillar .
“A magic circle generally uses ambient magical energy to create a desired phenomenon . Therefore, they are limited in what they can do, depending on their shapes . However, the words themselves are expressing a magic circle here . Normally, a magic circle is complex and has a geometrical design, but the people of the Mage city expressed a magic circle through letters . Moreover, they wrote it in a way that the words also tell a long story . The magic circle is stable despite it telling a story! The person who made that is a genius!”
Even Aruwen was very excited .
Plu-El continued .
“According to the words written on the pillar, the Mage city had also separated from Earth when Grenoid was sealed . However, Grenoid was putting up a great fight, and the seal was having a very hard time staying in place . So the Mage city didn’t merge with the Moon, and it stayed buried in fragments that circled the Moon . ”
“According to the story passed down through our people, there used to be a large mass of land that had remained neglected near the Moon . ”
Aruwen added to Plu-El's explanation .
“In the past, some researchers on Earth put forth a theory that there were two Moons, one small and one large, and they merged when they collided with each other . ”
Grace spoke in a quiet voice .
“That means this place isn’t the original Moon . ”
“Yes . ”
Plu-El agreed with Russell’s words .
“Like the descendants of Planote, I believe the Mage city had survivors . I’m sure they were the ones who came up with the plan to seal Grenoid using all the magical energy on Earth . They were the magicians . ”
They were the genius elites of the ancient civilization .
“They knew our ancestors were fighting to completely seal Grenoid, but they couldn’t give direct help . The physical distance was too large . Therefore, they started researching a method that would stop Grenoid's invasion . They researched to find a way to end it once and for all, and the result of that research is this pillar . ”
A faraway look appeared in Plu-El’s eyes as she gazed at the pillar . Her eyes fell on the extra-large words written atop the large crystal .
“Pluka Owen Haimdeluite . ”
“What does that mean?”
Plu-El laughed as she looked at Sungyoon, who had asked the question .
“In the language of earth, it translates to ‘seed of hope . ’”