Chapter 93: Ruins of the Kingdom

It took two weeks to reach the ruins. But they’d been far from uneventful. Sen and his companions had stopped to hunt monsters, to train, to help people who asked, and to see the sights from time to time. After a long school year, and the many adversities it had brought with it, the time was a welcome vacation. 

They even found time to take a short detour to collect the spell tome whose location Sen had gotten as a class quest reward. He was content with the new spell, but hadn’t quite found the time to test it out yet. 

Eventually, they reached their destination.

Sen and Milim were sitting on the driver’s bench as the two horses that always answered when he pressed the summoning circle pulled them along. If not for the powerful stabilizing spells, he wasn’t sure how the carriage would’ve handled such speeds. Both the horses he summoned were in a league of their own. He’d even found that by activating the studious modifier he’d received as a bonus class reward while summoning them, they could learn from their experiences. They gained experience now, and it appeared as if each day pulling the carriage strengthened them and made them more adept at traveling the roads and wilderness of the Isle of Magic. The others insisted on naming them, but Sen avoided that for now. He still had to name his hell summon, and any time the topic came up, he was inundated with suggestions from the others. 

That was a scenario best left avoided for now. 

As they stared at the horizon, he saw it. Up ahead, the stone foundations of what had once been a grand castle with unscalable walls, covered in bright magical banners with the crest of King Ragmár’s family upon them. Now the surrounding land looked dry and barren, as if a desert was slowly moving in and hoping to take root. Large purple lizards lounged around, and their heads swiveled at the approaching carriage. They were almost the size of Sen’s horses, but the mana summons didn’t react. He had a feeling they were more than confident enough in their abilities to defend themselves. Still, that would be a waste of energy when he could handle it. He stood up and decided now was a good time to test his new spell. “Melt Maxima.” He aimed the blast at the foremost lizard, which had started running wildly in their direction. One moment it sprinted directly for them, the next it liquified in the air and a purple puddle splashed onto the ground. 

Sen nodded his approval. “Effective.”

Milim wrinkled her nose. “That’s…really gross.” 

The other lizards turned and ran at the sight of one of their kind exploding into a pile of goo. 

The others emerged from the cabin. Ilm swung around to the front, scooting in beside Milim. Samara leaned over the back of the bench, and Mori stood staring ahead. 

The large stone ruins grew closer and closer. The castle walls hadn’t fallen completely, but they’d clearly been ravaged by time and magic. Sen brought the carriage close to the moat that surrounded the castle as they approached from the side. The deep pit was still full of water, though it appeared gray now, and Sen sensed mana presences from deep within the water. Mana beasts had moved in. He turned his attention to the walls themselves. Unprompted, a loose brick fell and plunged into the murky water below. Thick vines had grown to cover the walls and spread all around. Some of the larger ones may be the only thing keeping entire sections of the wall in place. 

“I did some research on the last expedition here, and…well, they didn’t mention vines or that gray water. But of course they’d been under assault the moment they approached the castle. So it seems our experiences differ in more ways than one,” Mori said.

Sen frowned at that. The expedition hadn’t been all that long ago, a few years at most. But these vines? They looked as if they’d been here far longer. If they hadn’t occurred naturally, powerful magic might be at play. “The lizards?”

Mori shook his head. “No mention of them. They faced chimera ghouls. Numerous researchers and the adventurers protecting them were lost.”

Their carriage rounded the moat and arrived at the front of the castle ruins. The bridge was lowered, but looked…precarious at best. The stone railing hadn’t held over the years, and the bridge itself was covered with claw marks where beasts had come and gone. There were certainly all the signs of chimera ghouls. So why weren’t they attacking? They were extremely territorial creatures. If they were still active, there wasn’t any chance those lizards would still be lingering around here. 

But what could possibly have driven them out? 

Sen cast a quick spell to reinforce the bridge, and for the first time, his summoned horses showed hesitation. But they’d learned from experience that Sen was capable of protecting them, so when they turned as one to look, and he nodded, they trotted forward. The sound of the carriage wheels rolling along the bridge echoed throughout the canyon-like moat below. The murky water churned. 

Sen checked the wards he’d placed on everyone one last time and then turned his attention ahead. The castle gates had been torn off their hinges. One half had fallen backward, crushing buildings within the castle walls. The other hung at an odd angle to the side; a huge vine wrapped around it, and rows of ivy clung to every square inch of stone. 

He had an odd feeling about this. “Everyone, stay on your guard,” he said. 

Samara’s hand was already on the hilt of her sword. The others scanned the surroundings. The carriage rolled past the remnants of buildings that were once businesses and houses within the capital of the Kingdom of Magic. Now they were the ruined memories of all Sen and Ragmár had built over a thousand years ago. It pained him to take it all in. 

Milim grabbed his arm and squeezed it gently, offering a small show of support. He folded his lips and nodded toward her. 

“Uh, boss, is that one of those chimera things?” Samara asked.

Sen’s head snapped forward, but his alarm faded as soon as he saw it. The chimera ghoul corpse only intensified his sense of worry. He dismounted, motioning for the others to wait behind. Milim followed him anyway. She held her staff in hand, and he felt her preemptively channeling mana into it just in case. When he reached the dead beast, he knelt and observed it with his mana. Chimera ghouls were hybrid beasts that your average adventurer would advise you to turn tail and run from. They were facultative bipeds, which meant they often walked on four limbs while hunting or chasing prey, but at other times would stand on two. The creatures possessed semi-intelligence as well. They constructed elaborate nests, not unlike human buildings. Their legs were bent and furred like a satyr’s, their upper bodies like that of a person’s, and their faces human-like with chimera features. They sometimes had beaks and the ears of birds. But their other features were mostly human. They had large wings that stretched far on their backs, and you could tell how long it had been since they last had eaten based on how rotten their skin was. Right after a meal their skin was lively, but as time passed it decayed. 

[Lord Class, level 502,] Tutor informed him. 

Something had killed a lord-class chimera ghoul? Sen looked up and noticed more bodies inside one of the buildings through an open door. He hurried over to it and peeked inside. Dozens of chimera ghoul corpses of all ages and twice as many destroyed eggs. Someone or something had wiped out the whole nest. 

He waited for Tutor to analyze the levels of the fallen. When his interface spoke again, the news was grim.

 [We should leave.] 

Sen left and pulled the door shut behind him. He glanced at Milim, and then back towards the carriage. They couldn’t go back. He was closer than ever to Ragmár’s message. If he left now, he’d never return. He turned and stepped around the huge Chimera Ghoul and made his way toward the large stone steps leading up to the castle. Without turning back, he knew his friends would follow. 

The stone doors of the castle were pulled shut, and Sen wondered at that. But he pressed his hand and his mana pulsed through the door. The two finely carved chunks of stone grated open, and he entered the familiar halls of the castle. 

His senses exploded when he sensed the natural magic contained within. Shadow magic. The most corrupting of all natural magics. The substance on which demons thrived and the most horrid of beasts were formed from. He didn’t need Mori to tell him that this hadn’t been around during the last expedition either. Facing the chimera ghouls was dangerous enough, but most would flee at the first sign of shadow magic lurking within their destination.

It was even more evident to him now; something had moved into the castle since the last expedition. Something strong and corrupt. Something he’d likely have to face if he wanted to hear Ragmár’s secret message. 

They made their way through the castle, ready for a fight to break out at any moment. Samara wielded her shade flame blade, Milim carried her staff, Mori and Ilm readied spells. Sen swept his senses over every room they passed. But it wasn’t until they reached the sealed doors of the throne room that he realized the creature waiting for them lurked within. Pockets of shadow magic grew denser and more prevalent the closer they moved towards it. Sen looked at his companions, and when they nodded to communicate their readiness, he blasted the door open. 

His eyes darted around the room. The same one he’d appeared in the first time he’d been whisked away to the future. The stained-glass windows had shattered long ago, though some colorful shards remained in the windows and on the ground around them. Sets of knight armor that had once lined the walls were missing, likely plundered over the years by people in search of wealth. Only the throne remained more or less as it was, and that was likely only due to the power it symbolized. Great expense would have gone into ensuring it would endure through tragedies. After all, a king’s power needed to be perceived to be effective. 

And what was a king on a broken throne? 

But it was the area behind the throne that got Sen’s attention. He knew there should be doors that led to the king’s chambers there. But instead, a wall of shadow obscured the rear half of the room. Though he couldn’t pierce that wall with his eyes, just as he had sensed presences in the murky waters that surrounded the castle, he sensed a presence here as well. Something strong. 

The ground shook, and a hoof stepped out of the shadow. The legs looked bent like those of a chimera ghoul, but they were so covered in shadow he couldn’t quite make out the details. Had one of the ghouls been corrupted and attacked the others?

It was possible. 

Samara took a step forward, ready to engage as soon as the creature made its move.

As the main portion of the creature’s body stepped out, it brought shadow with it. A dense cloud of shadow hovered around the center of its body, obscuring most of the traits of its core. But massive antlers stuck out from the cloud, wrapped in a shroud of shadow. 

Sen tilted his head at that. “So it’s not a chimera ghoul. What then?” he wondered. 

It didn’t matter. Ragmár’s message waited for him in the chamber behind his shadow-clad opponent. If it wouldn’t let them pass, they’d simply go through it.

After all, he was the God of Magic, and this was his domain.