Vol3 Chapter 36 Truly Bizarre (Epilogue)

Amos pressed on into the darkness, tracing their path through the telltale signs—the shifted dust, the sporadic scratches on the walls, and the scattered remnants of a fight.

But there was another way.

Amos raised a hand toward his face.

The Veil Ring.

He usually kept it on. It hid the true nature of his eyes and, more importantly, dulled the overwhelming amount of information they could take in. It also kept his mana signature from being so obviously exposed. Taking it off here wasn’t the best idea Any monsters lurking in these ruins would sense him far more easily.

And considering the creature he had just fought...

That was hardly reassuring.

Amos's fingers paused.

If I keep it on, I might miss something.

He glanced down the corridor.

And if the A-rank team is still alive, finding them takes priority.

He removed the ring.

***

The ring slipped from his finger.

The change happened instantly. The world came into focus, and mana revealed itself.

Or rather—

It should have.

Amos waited.

Nothing.

His eyes narrowed as he glanced down the corridor.

Still nothing.

No natural mana, no ambient flow, no lingering traces, no trails.

Nothing.

Then slowly extended his perception farther.

Still nothing.

“...What?”

He turned his head.

The corridor behind him was just as empty.

Amos's brow furrowed.

That shouldn't be possible.

He had expected the same overwhelming flood of information he'd experienced before—the countless traces left by living things, the remnants of spells, the fading footprints of mana.

Instead, there was only emptiness.

He looked at his hand.

The ring was off.

So why couldn't he see anything?

Amos remained crouched for several seconds.

“...Did I lose them?”

He stretched his perception again.

Nothing.

He moved forward.

Nothing.

Another corridor.

Nothing.

Another intersection.

Nothing.

The ruin remained completely dead to his senses.

His expression gradually became frustrated.

“So that's it?”

He glanced back at the path he’d taken. The signs were still clear enough—the scratches, the cracked stone, the scattered dust. But the mana trail he’d thought would appear once he removed the ring was nowhere to be found.

Amos stood.

He had no idea how far the A-rank team had gone, or if the traces he’d sensed earlier still lingered. No clue whether he could catch up to them. He stared into the darkness, debating his next move. After a moment, he let out a sigh.

“...This is pointless.”

The A-rank team were seasoned adventurers. If they’d made it this far, blindly chasing them through an S-rank ruin wouldn’t do any good. There was something more important—the Blue Wolfs. He had to regroup with them. Amos slid the Veil Ring back onto his finger, and the overwhelming sensation vanished instantly. His eyes returned to normal.

He adjusted his helmet.

“Guess I'll find them later.”

He turned around. There was no telling how far the A-rank team had gone, no way to know if the trail he’d been tracking would lead anywhere, or if he could even catch up. He lingered, staring into the darkness for a moment longer, then let out a sigh.

“...This is pointless.”

The A-rank team were experienced adventurers. If they had already gotten this far, chasing blindly after them through an S-rank ruin wasn't going to help.

And there was another priority.

The Blue Wolfs.

He needed to regroup with them.

Amos slipped the Veil Ring back onto his finger.

The overwhelming sensation faded in an instant. His eyes went back to normal, and he casually adjusted his coat.

“Guess I'll find them later.”

He turned around and began walking back.

***

It took Amos a while to track down the Blue Wolves again. By the time he caught up, the six women had already made significant headway through another part of the ruin. Irene was the first to spot him.

“You're alive.”

Amos raised an eyebrow.

“That sounds almost disappointed.”

“Not disappointed.”

Irene looked him over.

“Surprised.”

“Thanks.”

“You're welcome.”

The others quickly gathered around him, asking what had happened and whether he had found anything useful.

Amos kept it simple: a strange monster, a fight, some samples, and a trail from another group of adventurers he eventually lost. He definitely left out the part about failing to find the A-rank team.

Instead, he looked deeper into the ruin.

“So, where are we going?”

Irene smiled faintly.

“Forward.”

***

For the next several days, Amos explored the ruin together with the Blue Wolfs.

They kept moving deeper, and then deeper still. Each day revealed another part of the ancient structure—collapsed halls, vast underground chambers, dusty old storage rooms, forgotten ritual spaces, and corridors where strange carvings covered the walls. Every so often, they came across monsters.

Sometimes they found nothing.

When monsters appeared, the Blue Wolfs fought together with the coordination of a team that had spent years fighting side by side.

Amos quickly fell into their rhythm, covering openings as they covered his. Irene called out positions, and Ranger’s arrows flew in from angles he hadn’t even seen. The others dealt with any creatures that slipped through. It was almost comfortable—almost. But as the days went by, Amos began to notice something strange.The monsters became fewer.

At first, he assumed they were simply clearing the ruin.

That made sense.

Every area they explored took away another hiding spot for monsters, yet the decline persisted. It wasn’t just that they were finding fewer of them—the creatures themselves seemed weaker. The deeper they ventured, the less powerful the monsters became. Eventually, they passed through entire sections without seeing a single one. One evening, Amos stood in the middle of a vast corridor as Irene glanced around.

“It's getting quiet.”

Ranger glanced at the surrounding walls.

“Maybe we've already killed most of them.”

“Maybe.”

Amos wasn't convinced.

Something felt different.

The ruin itself seemed quieter.

The faint magical vibrations that had permeated the deeper sections before were diminishing.

The ancient structures weren't shutting down exactly.

They simply felt empty.

As if something that had been keeping the ruin alive was slowly running out.

***

The next day, the silence grew heavier.

The Blue Wolfs moved ahead, following a broad corridor that slowly widened into a chamber unlike anything they’d seen before.

Amos halted at the threshold.

"...Huh."

The walls were covered, but not with the usual markings they’d seen in the ruin. These were something else entirely—large figures carved straight into the stone, lined up in a sequence that ran from one end of the chamber to the other. Amos stepped in for a closer look.

"Hieroglyphs."

The mage came up beside him.

"You can read them?"

"Nope."

Amos examined the carvings.

"Not exactly."

The images were far more vivid than ordinary writing, portraying a thriving civilization. People stood together as buildings rose from the ground, massive structures took shape, and fields stretched into the distance. Markets bustled with activity, machines whirred, and the people appeared to flourish.

Amos slowly followed the sequence.

Then the images shifted. Buildings lay in ruins, people were running in panic, and flames spread across parts of the city. Bodies were scattered on the ground as the civilization crumbled. A civilization ending monsters.

"...War?"

The mage leaned closer.

"Looks like it."

Amos continued along the wall.

The next part was strange. The survivors weren’t leaving—they were heading underground. The carvings showed massive chambers being built beneath the ruined cities, with machines filling the vast halls. People were placed in odd structures; some looked like they were sleeping, while others were surrounded by intricate symbols and strange mechanisms.

Amos frowned.

"What were they doing?"

Nobody answered.

He moved farther ahead. The next sequence revealed the underground facility expanding—more machines, more chambers, more people. And then—just one figure. Amos froze. The carving showed a lone person, and in the next image, there were two.

Amos's eyes narrowed.

"...What?"

He leaned closer.

The details were faded, but the meaning was clear. One person. Then two. The next image revealed several identical figures. Then more. Again and again. Amos kept staring at the wall.

"They were making copies."

Irene looked toward him.

"Copies of people?"

"Looks like it."

The mage studied the carvings.

"Could be symbolic."

"Maybe."

Amos didn't sound convinced.

He kept tracing the sequence until he reached the final section, which was badly damaged. Most of the stone was gone, leaving only scattered fragments. Still, the carving that remained showed an underground facility shrouded in darkness. The people were gone, but the machines were still there. And at the very end, in the center of it all, stood a single structure—something that looked like a massive core. Amos stared at it.

"Power source?"

The mage shrugged.

"Possibly."

Amos reached out, letting his fingers brush lightly over the stone—at least in the physical sense—before pulling his hand back.

"So, they built this place to survive."

Irene looked around the chamber.

"That's what it looks like."

"An underground shelter."

"For their civilization."

"Maybe."

Amos glanced back at the carvings, a nagging unease tugging at him. If that was all this place was, then why build something that could create people? And why depict one person splitting into many? He lingered on the final image, staring at it for several long seconds.

"...There's something missing."

Irene glanced at him.

"What?"

"The purpose."

Amos pointed toward the damaged section.

"The story stops here."

He looked across the wall.

"The civilization disappears, but the facility remains."

The mage nodded slowly.

"Perhaps whatever happened afterward wasn't recorded."

"Or..."

Amos's eyes moved toward the darkness beyond the chamber.

"...it hasn't happened yet."

Irene frowned.

"What do you mean?"

Amos shook his head.

"Nothing."

He stepped away from the wall.

It was probably nothing, just an ancient civilization telling its story. Still, as they left the chamber, Amos glanced back one last time. The image of one figure becoming two lingered in his mind. He couldn’t explain why, but something about it felt oddly familiar. Pushing the thought aside, he focused on the task at hand—there was still a ruin to clear.

***

A week into his search, Amos stumbled upon something intriguing. While exploring a collapsed chamber, he spotted a strange metallic structure hidden beneath layers of stone. Clearing the rubble, he uncovered a thick plate of dark silver metal. It was no ordinary steel, and Amos recognized it instantly.

He crouched.

“...What are you?”

He brushed his fingers over the surface, finding the metal unnaturally smooth. Even after countless years buried underground, it showed almost no signs of corrosion. More intriguingly, it reacted faintly to his mana—not by absorbing it, but by conducting it.

Amos's eyes lit up.

“Oh.”

He carefully chipped away the surrounding stone, revealing a plate linked to several ancient components beneath. Some were broken, while others still emitted a faint glow.

Amos studied them for several minutes.

“This is rare.”

There was also a shattered crystal that's seems to be important.

He had no idea what the machine’s original purpose was, but the metal and the shattered crystal itself was worth taking. 

“Sorry.”

He slipped it all inside.

“I'm taking this. Thank you.”

Irene, standing nearby, gave him a look.

“Recovery.”

“That's stealing.”

“Finders, keepers.”

She sighed.

Amos smiled innocently.

***

They continued deeper.

The ruin kept withering away. The monsters grew scarce until none remained at all. Amos started to suspect that whatever had been keeping the ruin alive was breaking down—though he had no idea why.

Then, second week in after they had begun their deeper exploration, they found them.

The remains—four bodies, or what was left of them—lay in a ruined chamber, their gear strewn haphazardly across the floor.

Irene immediately became serious.

“Adventurers.”

Amos said nothing.

He stepped forward.

One of the Blue Wolfs carefully examined the remains.

“No signs of recent death.”

“A month, at least,” another said.

Amos stared.

He crouched next to one of the bodies, his gaze lingering on the remains, then shifting to the equipment. He didn’t know these people, had never met them—at least, as far as he could remember.

“Poor guys,” Irene muttered.

Amos remained silent.

He peered deeper into the chamber. The ruin was still. Almost entirely silent. Somewhere below, the last traces of the energy that once powered the ancient structure seemed to fade away. A faint vibration rippled through the floor, then ceased. Amos rose to his feet.

“It feels like it's over.”

Irene looked at him.

“What?”

“The ruin.”

He looked around.

Amos's expression became thoughtful.

“Whatever was keeping this place active is probably has run out of power."

They didn't know what it meant.

But none of them could deny that the ruin felt different.

The journey went on a bit longer, but there was nothing left to discover. No more monsters, no active mechanisms, no new paths..

Eventually, the Blue Wolfs made the decision.

They had reached the end.

Whatever secrets this ancient ruin had once held, they had gone silent.

Amos looked back one last time.

He simply stood there.

Then he turned toward the Blue Wolfs.

“Let's go.”

I guess we didn't manage to rescue them in the end. What a shame.

And together, they began making their way out.

Behind them, deep beneath the ruins, the last faint light of the ancient machinery finally disappeared.