Record of a Thousand Lives

The wilderness inthe southern part of the Sylphia Continenthad no particularname, and not many merchants or adventurerstraversed the area. To think a ruin existed there…Even Shaneth,whohad lived in Kerlin her whole life,had never heard of such a thing.

“Aren’t ruins usually foundinfertile places thathave beentaken 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, andmentions of themcould be found in numerous ancient texts. Theypossessed two distinct characteristics.

Firstly, they were inhabited by an overwhelming amount of monsters. Hundreds and hundreds of monsters could be found inhabiting a ruin, butthey would be trapped inside and unable to leave due to the ruin’s magical energy. Monsterswould not feel the need to eat or drink when theywere in the ruins, but they tended to be very aggressiveafterbeingtrappedtheir whole lives, and wouldattack any intruders with the intent to tear them limbfromlimb.

Secondly, they had astounding rewards. A ruinwas considered conquered once someone reached the treasures at its heart. The treasuresfound inruinswere usually rare items that couldnot be bought anywhere else, but they wereusually 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 thenumerousbundles of thorns that grew in thebarrenground. The bundles of thorns were so tightly packed thatit wasall but guaranteed thatone would be unable to cross this place unscathed.

“How are we going to pass through this?”sheaskedworriedly.

The greatsword used by Kang Yoon-Soohadoriginally 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. Ayoung 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?” Sallyasked.

“What do you want?” Kang Yoon-Soorepliedemotionlessly.

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

Kang Yoon-Soo hugged her as requested.

“Kyaaaah!”Sally screamed in delight.

Shaneth thoughtitwas a surprising sight. The Kang Yoon-Soo she thought she knew was not someone who would do this at all.Perhaps he was not socold 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 ofherhands toward the fields. Thespirit’s flameswere hot and radiant, and the dry and arid desert atmosphere made the flames grow even stronger. They burneddown the field of thorns in an instant, and Sally looked at Kang Yoon-Soo with sparkling eyes as if she werecraving for his praise.

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

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

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

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

Sallypuffedher cheeks up as if to show that she was sulking,then walked towardShaneth and wrapped her arms aroundher 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 theburned-downfield as if she couldn’t believe what had just happened.He called her over, saying,“Hurry up.”

Theburned-down thornsslowly started to grow backagain. Their regenerative abilitywas amazing, and the road wasalready starting to be covered by themagain. Shaneth let out a shriek and quickly followed after Kang Yoon-Soo.

Shik! Shik!

The thorns wereregenerating at a ratethat was impossible for normal plants. Theystarted to quicklycoverthe area again, and any delays would trap thepairin 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 thathad seemingly appeared outof nowhere. How Kang Yoon-Soo knew about thewhole thing was noteven surprising anymore.“This way,” he called out to Shaneth.

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

Shik!

“Th…That was close…” Shaneth said as she tried to catch her breath, but Kang Yoon-Soo had already started to walk deeperintothe cave. Shelet out a sigh and followed behind him. The man Shanethhad seenduring the trials of the Spartoiwas the same asthe man in front of her;hewas void of any emotions, as if he werean empty puppet. Then she suddenly rememberedHermia’s words.

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

“Who the hell is this guy…” Shanethmuttered toherself.

***

After they traveled some distance throughthe 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 theyhad beenin justbefore;it had lush greenvegetation with dewforming on the leaves, and large treestoweredabove them.

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

“It’s a place created by magic,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied afterpicking up a stone and throwing it into thedistance.

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 nothingvisible in front of her..

“There are limitations tospace-relatedmagic. It will dispel if the weakest point is attacked,” Kang Yoon-Soo explained. The area they were in,that seemed likea lush, overgrownforest, was actuallyan illusioncreated by magic.

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

Pukeok!

The dagger landedin a precise spot on the tree trunk, and the tree started to crumblein an instant, taking the area with it. The surroundings reverted back towilderness,revealinga large structure in front of them. It had a large wallwitha few broken sectionsandstrange markings on it—it was a ruin.

The YultikaRuinhad the lowest difficultyofthe ruins foundonthe continent, and the rewards wereonly on par with that difficulty. However, one could not underestimateit,as it stillhad 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 seemedas ifthe ruin was boastingofits majesty to them.

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

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

“Butare thereother 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 waswhy sheno longer feltbothered by his words,nor didshe furtherinquire 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 didnotlet 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 goingin,” he answered, then quickly entered theruin.

Shaneth was very worriedabout enteringthe ruin, but she gripped her scythe and followed behindhim. 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-level and had no class concerned her, but she was certain that he had a plan.

Thepairentered the ruin.Its interior was notdark at all, dueto theglow stonesembeddedin the pillars.While Shaneth was admiring the structure, however, asudden cryemergedfrom within the ruin.

“Roooooooaaarr!”

It was a roar thatcould give one goosebumps all over—theroar of a predator. A largewolf-likecreaturecharged towardthem from within the ruin. The creature was covered in silver fur, its eyes were eerily red, and it hadspine-chillingly large fangs.

It was a werewolf, part of a speciesknown to be aggressive and very difficult to deal with. Werewolves were known to go around in packs, but theycould alsocommunicate with each othermore effectively thanordinary wolves.The average werewolfwas around Level 70,making itmuch 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 werewolveshiddenin every corner of the ruin started to show themselves. The whole area gave off a silver glow from the werewolvesthatfilled it, andin an instant, more than 700 of the monsters surrounded the duo.

Sniff!Sniff!

“Grrrrrrrr…!”The werewolves started to growlwhile prowlingaround them.

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

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 thenlifted both of his arms andloudly shouted,“Keung!Grrwaaang!Grrr… Keung! Keung! Kreung!”

Itseemed to be nonsensical gibberish, as hewas just barking like a dog…

But suddenly, the werewolves started to tense up andbarkedin response.

“Keung?Keungkeung!Grrrrreung!”

“Grrrrrrr…? Keung!Keung!”

“Kyeung…Kyeung…!”

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

Tothinkthat 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 towardKang Yoon-Soo.

“Yeah,” he answered.

At that moment, Shaneth wasno longer sure what expression she should have. Eventually, she asked,“What did youtell themtomake themso docile all of a sudden…?”

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

“Can you really do that?”Shanethasked in surprise.

“Nope,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.

…

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