Record of a Thousand Lives

Freezing coldair greeted theadventurersas they entered the ruin.Sally started to shiver, stuttering, “I-It’sc-cold…!”A spirit was greatly affected by the environment they were in, andaruin filled withfreezing coldair was not an ideal place for a Salamander to be in.

“Stay close to Shaneth,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.

Sally wobbled toward Shaneth’s legs and clung to them.After ranking upinto anIgnusWarrior,Shanethwould lose no body heat even if she stood still and did nothing.Shesmiled and said, “It’s cold, so staycloseto me. Okay, Sally?”

“Okay! Mama is warm, so I like mama. If I’m near mama,I can use fire too!” Sally saidenthusiasticallyas she chargedherself up usingShaneth’s warmth.

They soon arrivedat the depthsof the ruin. A group of IceSkeletonsstarted to rise up from theground that had been frozen by the coldair, and they numbered around 800.

‘The normal way to fight them would beto shoot fire arrows and fire magic from the back, but I guess we have to use a different method this time,’Kang Yoon-Soo thought to himself.He shouted a command,“Sally and Shaneth, prevent the Ice Skeletons from approaching.”

Shaneth immediately dug her scythe into the ground andcalled out, “Pyrokinesis!”Several walls of flame shot up from the frozen ground.

Sally, whowas behindShaneth, stretchedout both of her hands andcried, “Wrath of the Flames!”

The walls of flamenow had multiple layers, and as the intensely burning fire met with the frozen ice, steam rushed outall over the place. The Ice Skeletons seemed to be left at a loss by the sudden event that they hadneverbefore experienced.

Once the charge of the Ice Skeletonshadbeen stopped, Kang Yoon-Soo raised his sword high into the air and said, “We’ll take this opportunity and ambush them while they’re confused. It’s more effective to target and shatter the spot inbetween their scapulae[1]rather than aim to pierce their skull.”

As soon as Kang Yoon-Soo’s command was given, the Martial Blood ClanandKang Yoon-Soo’s undead legionchargedata frightening speed toward the Ice Skeletons.

“Uwaaah!”

“Clack! Clack!”

Kang Yoon-Soo was,of course, standing on theforefrontand leading the charge. He was able to surpass everyone and everythingonthe battlefield thanks to the elixirs he had consumed beforehand. The bones of the Ice Skeletons shattered whenever he swung his sword.Hesmashed an Ice Skeleton with the Staff of Lightningin his other hand and muttered, “ReleaseLightning.”

Numerous Ice Skeletons exploded as soon as the staffin Kang Yoon-Soo’s handfiredoff a lightning bolt, and the Martial Blood Clan members capitalized on the opportunity to charge fiercelyat theskeletons. Whenever a war cryrang outacross thebattlefield, the sound of weapons and icy bonesclashing reverberated across it too.

Clang! Clang!

However, the Ice Skeletons refused to go down without a fight, and the monsters took a last stand as they bit down on thehumans’ arms.

“Ouch! M-my arm!”A clan member whohad been bittenby an Ice Skeleton on the arm shouted,his faceturningpale. The part bitten by the Ice Skeleton started to turn blue as frostbite set into it.

Kang Yoon-Soo calmly gave out another command.“Use the frost antidote potions you were provided as soon as you’re bitten by an Ice Skeleton. The sameappliesif you see one of your comrades get bitten by them. Spray the frost antidote onthe woundas soon as you can.”

Most of the Martial Blood Clan members had no issues fighting. However, they found it difficult to adjust to the slippery frozen floor, andslipped and fellfrom time to time.“Damn it! The floor is too slippery!” they exclaimed.Meanwhile, the Ice Skeletons did not misstheir chance to chargeat the humanswhoslipped and fell to the ground.

However,alaid-backvoice suddenly boomed from the back lines, “You mannerless bones! How can you go after those kids who barely know how to walk?” A group of wooden dolls charged toward the Ice Skeletons and blocked them from attacking the fallen clan members.

Henrick did not fight at the front, but rather, he stayed in the backlines and commanded twenty-four wooden dolls through his mana threads.

After a while, the last Ice Skeleton was struck down by a member of the Martial Blood Clan.

“We won!”the Martial Blood Clan members shouted joyfully.“Wedidn’t have any fatalitiesat all!”

Kang Yoon-Soo’s levelhad increasedby six, but he had a look of dissatisfaction on his face.‘It’s still not enough. I have to grow faster,”hethought to himself.

He hadmemorized the raid strategyforthe Winterkill Ruin through his repeated regressions. He was confident that he could reach the heart of the ruin even though he had brought along a lower-leveled team this time around.

The adventurers took a break, recovering from the woundsthey had received from the battle with the healing potions theyhad beenprovided.

“We’ll now proceed to the next floor. No one shouldget ahead ofme,” Kang Yoon-Soo warned them as hetook point.The groupwalked for quite a bit before they found a staircase that led to the lower level.

“It seems the ruin goes underground. The heart of the ruin thatcontains the treasuremust beon thelowest floor,” Jiang Ren-Wei explained.

As soon as theybegan climbingdown to the lower floor,theysaw some barely-visible writing on a large frozen boulder.

Shaneth furrowed her brow and said, “There’s something written on it… but I can’t see it at all. It seemsto havebeen written quite some time ago.”

“Hmm…Move over for a second,” Henrick said as he took out his sculpting knife and gently carved out the frozen surface of the boulder. As theiceon the boulder started to break down, the words written on its surfacebecamevisible.

[I am the adventurer Rekimond;thereisnot a placeon the continent I havenot been to. I have wandered around the continent since I was young, immersed in wanderlust. I havebeen to the magic tower where the colossus resides, and also to the lair of the crazed dragon.

But to think that I, the great adventurer, wouldend my life trapped in this ruin! I greatly regret touching that nameplateenchanted with hallucination magic! I am overcome by regret that I cannot die peacefully.

I started my last adventure by exploring this ruin, my body slowly becomingfrozen. I found the secrets of this ruin just before the ember of my life died out. Who knew the secret to immortality was hidden away in this ruin?!]

The writing on the boulder ended there,leaving the group with looks of surprise.

“The secret to immortality? What does that mean?”

“Do you think it’s related to the treasure at the heart of this ruin?”

It was at that moment that the wrist devices on the Travelers rang, displayinga message.

[HiddenQuest of the Adventurer Rekimond]

The Travelers of the Martial Blood Clan had their eyes wide open in shock as they checked their wrist devices;the Continentalscould also see the quest message in front of their eyes through their innate ability toreadsystem messages.

[Ancient Adventurer]

Explore the ruin by followingRekimond’s Mana Golem. Look for the five boulders where Rekimond left behind the records of his exploration. You may enter the secret chamber once you have collected all of his records.

Reward: A meeting with Rekimond the Immortal

“It’s a hidden quest!”

It was only possible for a veteran adventurer to hide quests somewhere, and such hidden quests usually had a chance to give out rare and precious rewards. However,it was notguaranteed that suchhidden quests would guideadventurers ontothe right path.

Jiang Ren-Wei looked around the basement of the ruininquisitivelyandasked, “Rekimond’s Mana Golem? Where is that thing?”

The large boulder the writinghad beeninscribed on started to move as soon as Jiang Ren-Wei was finished speaking. The frost covering the boulder fell off as arms and legs made out of stone appearedfrom it.Suddenly, a large blue boulder covered in mana had revealed itself.

“It’s a golem!” Shanethexclaimed, surprised.

It was a golempoweredby a mana stone. The Mana Golem stared down at the humans with its single eyeball, located quite a distance above them.It said ina rough and deep voice, “I shallfollow the commands of the Great Adventurer, RekimondAurel,and guide you.”

The Mana Golem did not attack themandjust stood in place. The clan members were scared to approach it at first, but they soon gathered the courage togo closeraftersensingthat it was not hostile toward them.

“Oh!”

“To thinksuch a large golem is going to be our ally!”

“It’s amazing. It seems to be larger and much stronger than the golems made by thealchemists.”

Sally excitedlyjumped up and sat on thegolem’s shoulder, exclaiming,“Wow! This rock is really big!”

The Mana Golemremained silent before slowly taking steps forward. Kang Yoon-Soo overtook the golem, walking aheadof it.

The golem said, sounding upset, “You. Do notwalk in front of me.”

“I don’t want to,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“You, why do you refuse to walk behind me?” the Mana Golem asked.

“You’re slow,” Kang Yoon-Soo responded.

“You, I donotlike you,” the golem said.

While stillsitting on the shoulder of the Mana Golem,Sallysuddenly said in a consoling tone, “Don’t worry, rocky! Papa is always like that!”

“You, why are you on my shoulder? Get down,” the golem ordered Sally.

“Hing. Sally likes it here! The view is nice too!” Sallyexclaimed, refusing to move.

“You too, I donot like you,” the golem said.

Henrick could not help but snicker at the sight, remarking, “What afunbunch.”

Thefirstbasement level of the Winterkill Ruin wasvast. The groupencountered new kinds of monsters wherever Kang Yoon-Soo and the Mana Golem guided them.

Hundreds of IceLandwormspierced through the frozen ground, charging towardthe group in an attempt to swallow them.The adventurers raisedtheir weapons as they prepared for battle, except one.Irisjust smiledat the sceneandsaid, “Thoseappear tohavehearts,unlike the skeletons. I thinktheywill be tasty.”

“…Please tell us about your appetite later on!” Shaneth shouted as she swung her Death Scythemightily.

The IceLandwormsattacked with their teeth just like the normalLandworms, but they alsohad the tendency to dive down into the ground and suddenly pop up again at random intervals. The Mana Golem stomped through the battlefieldand pulled out IceLandwormswith its gigantic hands; they exploded whenever it squeezed them tightlyin its hand.

Kwachik!

“Enemy.I will kill,” the Mana Golem declaredina commanding voice.Itexuded an immense presenceonthe battlefield.It was largerand stronger than a normal golem, as its bodyhadoriginally been a large boulderimbuedwith mana.

“It’s a reliefthat a stronggolem like that is an ally,” Jiang Ren-Wei sighed with relief.

“It will turn into an enemy later on, so be careful,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.

“What?” Jiang Ren-Wei said in surprise, staringat Kang Yoon-Soo, but Kang Yoon-Soo had already walked away from him.

The exploration of the ruin proceeded smoothly thanks to the Mana Golem massacring all of the monsters that showed up, and they also found all of the records left behind by Rekimond.A strange story formed as they collected all of the records and readthemas one.

[I found out after alonginvestigation that the secret to immortality layat the heart of the ruin. An Ice Giant liveson thelowest floor of the ruin;I shone a torchin its eyes and snuckinto the heart of the ruin. There I found the secret to immortality,which wasthe biggest treasure this ruinheld! The excitement in my body still has not subsided;I kept that treasureinthe heart of the ruin. I shall become an immortal after I leave this record.]

The floorvibratedintensely as what theadventurershad originally thought was a wall suddenly cracked open. The Mana Golem stomped its way toward the opening, and the rest of the party followed behind it.The place they entered was a gigantic room, containing an altar made of ice.No one knew what the altar was for, butit was talland majestic. Theclan members commented among themselves.

“What is this place?”

“Look! Someone’s at the top of the altar!”

A middle-aged man in shabby clothes was standingatopthe altar; helooked like someone who had traveled for quite a while, as his backwasburdenedbya huge backpack.Theman said inahigh-pitchedvoice, “Amazing!Youare the first adventurersto makeitto this point.”

“Who are you?”a clan member asked.

“My name is Rekimond Aurel. I lost my way in this ruin just like you guys around 300 years ago,” Rekimond said.The clan members looked shocked,as Rekimond looked unbelievably young for someonewho hadlived for more than 300 years.

Rekimond, on the other hand, spoke with a gentle look on his face.“I am certain that you, who managed to find my records and make it to this place, are certainly capable adventurers. I am glad to have capable juniors like you. Iam sure that all of you found the hidden quest I left behind? Come up here, those of you who wish to receive their reward.”

The first one to climbatopthe altar was Kang Yoon-Soo.Hewas the representative of the raid, and no one had any qualmsabout him being thefirst one to receive the rewards for clearing the quest.Heslowly climbed up the altarandstood in front of Rekimond.

Rekimond smiled as he extended his hand toward Kang Yoon-Soo and said, “An exciting tale will be spread to the worldthanks to brave adventurers like you! Shall we shake hands?”

Kang Yoon-Soo stared at Rekimond, buthe did not extend his hand in response. Instead, his handmovedto the sword on his waist.

“What are you doing?” Rekimond asked.

“I was quite surprised when I first met you. Who would have guessed that the reward for clearing your quest was to be a sacrifice on this altar?” Kang Yoon-Sooremarked.

“Ido notunderstand. What are you talking about?” Rekimond asked once again, furrowinghis brow.

Kang Yoon-Soo gripped the Sword of the Holy Cross on his waistandsaid, “I’ve tried countless different ways to deal with you, and I foundyou were the easiest to deal with if Iattackedyou while you werepretending to be a human.”

It was at themoment that Rekimond was about to say something that…

Sukeok!

Kang Yoon-Soo stabbed him in the heart with the Sword of the Holy Cross.

1. The scapula is more commonly known as the shoulder blade, but in this instance,Kang Yoon-Soo is telling them to aim for theskeletons’claviclesinstead.👈