Chapter 63: The Sealed Gate

In another part of the forest, a young man was walking slowly between the trees.

If one looked closely, they would recognize him as a promising youth from a noble family—Nathan.

He had a joyful expression on his face as he whistled while walking through the forest.

"These youngsters are quite weak, not enough to satiate my hunger at all. But..." He licked his lips with a wicked grin. "They are quite tasty."

"You there! Stop!"

Suddenly, he heard a voice from behind him.

Stopping in his tracks, he turned around with a smile, only to see a group of youngsters approaching him.

"Oh, it’s Lord Nathan. Please pardon me." A young man bowed slightly before continuing. "Lord Nathan, we need your help."

Nathan raised an eyebrow. "Help? What for?"

"We found an old ruin in the forest, and we need help breaking the gate. So far, we’ve gathered quite a few groups, but we still haven’t been able to break through the barrier."

"Oh?" Nathan smiled.

’These youngsters have found my old home. Interesting. That gate should still be strong. With my current level of strength, I won’t be able to break it by myself. I might as well use these clowns to help me get my artifact back.’

"Sure, I’ll gladly help." He nodded with a friendly smile.

"May I ask where the rest of your party is?" the young man asked with an awkward expression.

"Hmm? I don’t know. We separated to look for beasts, and now I can’t get a hold of them." He shook his head, feigning a worried expression.

"You may not know this, but recently, a lot of parties have disappeared into thin air. It’s best to stay vigilant, Lord Nathan. Come with us. Maybe our friends managed to find your party and regroup at the ruins."

"Oh? That would be amazing. Please, lead the way." Nathan smiled.

"This way, Lord Nathan."

...

A short distance away.

"You still haven’t found it?" Lilith asked as she sat on a tree branch, looking down at the young man kneeling on the ground.

The man shook his head. "My apologies, Princess."

She shook her head with a sigh. "Sigh... I’m sure it’s somewhere close by. Continue looking. We must find it."

"Yes!"

Suddenly, she heard footsteps approaching.

"Who’s there?" She turned sharply in that direction.

"P-P-Princess Lilith, please pardon us. We came to ask for your help," a girl said as she slowly approached with her head lowered. She was followed by two other girls around her age.

Lilith crossed her arms. "Speak."

"Y-Yes!" The girl shivered slightly before gathering the courage to speak. "The First Prince found some ruins in the forest, but we can’t break the gate. We’re spreading out through the dungeon to look for other parties to help us. There might be something valuable inside."

Lilith’s eyes lit up as she jumped down from the tree. "The ruins, you said? Where?"

"N-Not far from here, Princess. I can take you there right now!" The girl took a step back in fright.

As soon as she had stumbled upon Princess Lilith, she regretted accepting the order to wander through the forest in search of other parties. Of all the people she could have met, she had to find the scariest person in the dungeon.

"Good, good." Lilith nodded repeatedly. "Quickly, lead the way!"

"Y-YES!"

...

A few minutes later, at a clearing in the forest.

"What in the world is this gate? How can it be so strong?" Kelvin said in disbelief as he continued attacking the gate in front of him with all his strength.

"Little brother, put some more strength into your attacks. I expected you to be stronger than this, considering how much time you spend training." Damien mocked from behind.

Kelvin stopped and turned towards him. "You only know how to talk! If you’re so strong yourself, why don’t you help out? You’re the only one standing on the side while all of us are attacking!"

At the moment, dozens of youngsters were hurling attacks at the gate of the ruins, but it wouldn’t budge even slightly. Meanwhile, Damien, the First Prince who had called them all there, stood behind them with his hands behind his back, merely observing.

"Are those complaints I’m hearing, little brother?" Damien smiled mockingly. "I was the one who found these ruins in the first place. I’m generous enough to allow you all to participate in this great endeavor, and you have complaints about it?"

Damien shook his head and grabbed his chest as if he were hurt. "It pains me to hear such words, little brother."

"You!" Kelvin’s eyes were bloodshot by now. He was contemplating charging at Damien and fighting him right there.

"Whenever I see you two, it’s always the same sight. Fighting like cats and dogs all the time. It’s annoying."

They suddenly heard a familiar voice from the side.

"!!!"

Both of them trembled slightly before looking towards the person approaching.

"E-Eldest Sister! It’s not like that. I was just telling him to help. Everyone is doing their best to attack the gate while he’s just mocking me from the side!" Kelvin hurried to explain.

"Tsk, tsk. You’re slandering me, little brother. I’m merely exhausted from the attacks and resting for a bit. I was the one attacking fiercely before you even arrived." Damien shook his head.

"Enough. Spare me your bantering. I don’t care about your grievances at all." Lilith shook her head as she stopped in front of them. "Now tell me, how long ago did you find these ruins? How long have you been attacking the gate?" she asked Damien.

"I found them hours ago. We’ve been attacking it the whole time. I sent people to look for other parties, and we continued our attacks as more people joined us, but the damn gate won’t budge at all." Damien shook his head.

Lilith nodded before looking at the gate. ’That’s it. I’m sure it must be inside. I think I know a way to open it, but how to do that... It will be tricky.’

"I think it’s useless. At this rate, we won’t be able to open the gate even if more people join us," Aelonen suddenly added as he sheathed his sword and approached the group. By this time, everyone had stopped attacking to rest for a moment.

"Why do you think so?" Kelvin asked.

"Isn’t it obvious? No matter how we attack it, we haven’t made any progress." Aelonen shook his head. "I think there are two possibilities."

"What possibilities?"

Aelonen thought for a moment before continuing. "I think either we’re too weak to open it, or..."

"Or?"

"Or... perhaps there’s another way to open the gate."

Kelvin and Damien looked at him. "What do you mean?"

"I know about gates that won’t open through brute force if you don’t have enough strength. However, there are other ways to open them. Some open with secret words, while others might require strange conditions." Aelonen explained.

"As expected of an elven prince." Lilith nodded. "I agree. There must be another way to open this gate."

"So what should we do now?" Kelvin asked in confusion.

"We should run some tests," Lilith suggested.

"Or we should just wait for big brother Chris to come," Aelonen added.

They all turned towards him.

"I couldn’t help but notice that you’re mentioning this big brother Chris quite a lot. I don’t know this person. Could you please explain how his involvement would change anything?" Damien asked.

"Big brother Chris is very strong. If anyone can break this gate through brute force, it should be him. He’s also very smart. If there’s another way or a condition to open this gate, he should probably know about it." Aelonen explained.

He couldn’t tell anyone, but he knew that the Guardian, Aura, was with Chris. If anyone knew how to open the gate, the Guardian certainly would.

"Even though I’ve seen his strength from afar, I’m not sure I’d be confident that he could open this gate." Lilith suddenly said, making the others look at her.

"We know that his attacks can affect a large area, but that doesn’t mean his strength is that great." She continued analyzing the situation. "There are mages who can affect a large area with their attacks, but their attacks are still weak, making them weaker than some warriors who can only fight one-on-one."

She then looked at Aelonen. "And even if he really is that strong, he’s not here."

*Clap!* *Clap!* *Clap!* *Clap!*

At that moment, they heard a clapping sound from behind, and everyone turned towards it.

"How splendid! I must say, some of you are very smart. To figure out that there are conditions to opening the gate so quickly is impressive."

They all wore strange expressions as they looked at the person approaching.

"Nathan?" Damien asked with a strange expression. He knew the young man, but something about his behavior seemed strange.

"I guess that’s my name now." Nathan nodded.

Damien felt that something was wrong, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. "What you said earlier sounded like you already knew a way to open this dungeon?"

Nathan nodded. "Naturally, I know. To open this gate, the answer is quite simple. I just need you to..."

"Be careful. Something is wrong." Lilith suddenly warned them.

"To?" Damien asked Nathan.

"To die for me."

Saying that, Nathan pulled out a black dagger and attacked.

"Be careful!" Lilith grabbed Damien and threw him to the side, narrowly avoiding the wave of black energy that shot out of the dagger.

*WOOSH!*

The wave of energy continued flying until it struck three youngsters standing behind Damien, closer to the gate.

*SPLASH!*

Their blood splattered in all directions, and they fell to the ground instantly, showing no signs of life.

Their blood splashed onto the gate, staining its surface. A moment later, strange symbols began shining across it.

In the next instant, the blood on the gate disappeared as if it had been absorbed. Not only that, but the corpses beside it began withering at an alarming rate until they were nothing more than skeletons.

"Quite a fast reaction. Not bad, not bad." Nathan nodded as he looked at Lilith.

"So the condition for opening the gate is to let it absorb blood?" Lilith asked, her gaze sharp. She had somehow expected something like this already.

"Smart. But being smart is useless. You will all die here." Nathan said as he waved his dagger, sending more waves of black energy towards them.

They all dodged at the last second, but the waves struck the youngsters behind them.

*SPLASH!* *SPLASH!* *SPLASH!*

"KILL THIS MADMAN!"

"THAT WAS MY FRIEND, YOU BASTARD! DIE!"

"HOW DARE YOU!?"

Everyone was instantly enraged by the deaths of their friends and party members. They all pulled out their weapons, intending to attack the madman head-on.

"Wait! Don’t approach him!" Lilith suddenly yelled, making everyone stop in their tracks.

If it had been anyone else, they wouldn’t have listened because of their rage. But everyone instinctively feared Princess Lilith, making them follow her commands despite their anger.

"Keep your distance! Use ranged attacks!" She continued shouting orders.

They all instinctively listened.

Everyone capable of ranged attacks stepped forward and attacked.

Spells and arrows rained down on Nathan.

"You’re even smarter than I thought. But... it’s useless." Nathan smiled wickedly before taking a step forward.

*WOOSH!*

His figure blurred before disappearing from the spot.

’FAST!’

Everyone nearby had the same thought.

In the next moment, Nathan appeared beside two young men and slashed his dagger.

*SLASH!* *SLASH!*

Blood splashed as their bodies fell to the ground before beginning to wither.

Nathan took another step and disappeared again, only to reappear beside the next group.

This time, he appeared next to Kenna and Denna.

"WATCH OUT!" Kelvin yelled as he dashed forward to protect them.

*DING!*

His sword and Nathan’s dagger clashed, sending a burst of air around them.

"Strong... but stupid." Nathan smiled wickedly.

Black energy seeped out of his dagger, traveled across Kelvin’s sword, and entered his hand.

"AAAAGH!"