章節 306: Solved!

"Oi, useless elf, are you sure that's what it says?" Itto asks, scratching the back of his head. 'We better not mess this up. My senses are telling me this puzzle, whatever it is, is dangerous.' His eyes glow a light yet dark purple, the wall, the floor, the entire area around this wall, foggy with unknown magic.

"Huh? Are you questioning an elf if he knows elven literature?" The prince smirks, nodding his head left and right, rubbing his eyebrows as he walks up to Itto. "Hmhmhmhm, I know you're stupid, but seriously, is your brain smooth?"

BOOM!

The ground shakes, sending cracks blasting through the area, chunks of rocks shattering throughout the place, the only undamaged spot being the wall.

"Guild Master, please move your weapon," Itto grunts with a grin, staring at the prince hiding behind Cora. Her long black sword blocks his sword with ease.

"Itto, knock it off. As much as we may hate him, he's royalty," she sighs, swinging her sword downward.

"Pffffhmhmhmhm, I dare you to hurt me~" The prince smirks maliciously, flipping Itto off, making sure to stay behind Cora at all times.

"This is strange..." Bein mumbles, ignoring Itto and the prince. 'I've never thought I'd see something like this.'

"Yeah, this is interesting..." The guild master smirks, looking at Kael. 'This is the first time I've seen someone decipher puzzles faster than Rotû. His academy document is official, I was skeptical, wondering if he cheated in the national critical thinking examination given his perfect score... the proof is right in front of me.'

[National critical thinking examination: An exam scholars, mages, and rune masters must take. In the academy, every student must take this examination. It is an essential test. It's not uncommon to pass, however, most people pass with 70-80. The chances of passing with a perfect score are 1/200,000]

"Have you noticed the way the sigils are set up on the wall?" Kael mumbles, scratching his head. 'This is fucking confusing. If I knew the language of the spirits, this would be a lot easier.'

"Yeah, the sigils may look like they're placed in random spots, but these lines connected to them are clearly passages. We have to set up a diagram... but for what?" Rotû sighs. 'What a pain. I wish I could use brute force.'

"It's a spell. These sigils are written in the Thundering Liaos runic language, but this runic language in particular can be translated into the language of the spirits," Kael mumbles, pulling out a holographic screen. "Oi, useless prince, I don't know the language of the spirits, so you'll translate these sigils into the spirit language and then retranslate them into Elvish."

"Pfffhahahaha, why don't you just translate the sigils into common tongue? Come on, don't tell me you're that stupid?" he smirks with a malicious grin.

"That's not possible. Some words in common tongue differ from Elvish. The Elvish language was created based off the spirit language, so there shouldn't be any mistakes," Kael mumbles, passing over the holographic screen. 'Shit... he's right,' the prince reluctantly gives in.

"Wow... this kid..." Cora exhales in disbelief. 'He's a natural-born leader, huh?' She looks around, watching as the others hide their laughter. 'He's taking control without even realizing it.'

"Hey, guild master." Bein mumbles, taking a seat.

Sitting next to him, Cora steals Bein's bottle of alcohol. "What is it?"

"Can I recruit him? I'd like an assistant that can help me deal with the others." He smirks, turning his eye to see Cora realize the bottle she stole is empty. Taking a sip of his actual bottle, he turns to Rotû and Kael. "They get along well. It's rare for Rotû to work with anyone."

"Hahahaha, right? I want to know more about this kid." She grins, rubbing her chin. 'When's the last time I've seen potential like this? Hmm... the last kid I saw with potential is that soft mother's daughter.'

"While you were eating in the forest with that little problem," he mumbles, pointing at Leena as he reaches into his pouch, "I gathered information on that kid. He has a complicated background. There's not much regarding his past. According to my informant, his false identification almost got him." He scrolls through his screen.

"Huh? It almost got that man? Hmmm..." She groans, rubbing her chin with her eyes closed.

"Don't worry. From what he found, this kid isn't a spy. He only made a false identity to get into the academy. Talking about the academy... he's incredible. First, the strictest professor passed his entrance exam despite his lack of skill. He gained the trust of Isadora, Biana, Isabella, Aira, Raelle, Elith, and Caspain. These are children of royal, noble, and high-end market families. There's more. Despite being in the Elvish capital for less than half a year, he already has a popular reputation with Elvish nobility and royalty. Do you know how hard it is for a human to gain respect from those racists? This kid is a walking nightmare; his future is bound to be big," Bein says, exhausted.

"Hahahahaha, that makes me want him even more," Cora's eyes twinkle with greed.

"Ugh... it's not just letters, there's a bunch of numbers involved," the prince exhales, sliding the screen over. "There are no words involved, but there's a lot of numbers and shapes."

"No, that's impossible. You must be too stupid to understand, hmhmhmm," Rotû grins, pushing the prince aside. 'Now let me decipher this before the kid does. If I don't, I'll be laughed at for months,' he cries internally.

'Okay, the sigils are set up in a circular structure. There is one pathway connected to each writing line, and the rest of the pathways are sigils connected to each other. The elvish poem isn't important. I need to connect all other sigils to each other before him,' Rotû sweats, turning to see Kael next to him, looking at the translation. 'I'm sure he already knows this. I need to beat him!' Rotû yells internally, full of resolve, using all his brain cells.

"Alright, everyone, place your bets!" Itto yells with a grin, slamming his hand on a rock table he made. 'They've been staring at the screen for over an hour now. How could I miss this opportunity?' he thinks mischievously. "Come on, people, choose your side—the sly pea or the kid!" He yells, pointing at them as they focus.

"Ughhh..." Leena groans, her head tilting from side to side. "How are they so smart? I don't understand a single thing," she mumbles before she glares with cold eyes. 'Which side is going to win? I need to make the right choice. My future depends on it.' Sweat drips down her head, her fingers twitch, and she grits her teeth. "I-I'll bet on the sly pea," she says with a hesitant tone, struggling to put her pouch filled with all her belongings on the table. 'Sorry, V, but he's older than you, so he should be smarter, right?'

"Let go!" Itto exhales, forcefully taking the pouch from her hands. "It was your choice to bet, girl. No backing down." He grins, looking at all the pouches full of money and resources. 'Hmhmhmhm, I'm going to be rich. They're all betting on Rotû winning, but I know that bastard. He's incapable of sweating unless he's stressed. While traveling in the dungeon with that kid, I've realized he's smarter than he looks. The only other one betting on the kid is Yula. Both the guild master and vice guild master decided not to participate.'

'Shit, that bastard is making it worse,' Rotû chews on his nails, reading through the data. 'If I fuck up here, I won't laughed at for months. I'll be laughed at for years! Shit, shit, I haven't found anything useful. The number of possible combinations is in the thousands,' he thinks as his heart beats faster and faster. 'I need to calm down. It's not like that kid is going to find out how to—'

"I got it." Kael sighs, making Rotû's mouth tremble. 'No, no, no, no, no. It's likely a mistake. He's a kid, so he's probably overconfident,' he thinks, twitching.

Kael walks closer to the wall. "There are ten of these sigils," he points at a particular one that has a dash in the center. "I was confused at first, but these sigils act as both letters and bases. To form the words, we connect nine other sigils to each base." He widens the holographic screen and draws on it. "Since they're all numbered with constant numbers, they have a numerical value."

Rotû's eyes are darkened by a shadow. 'He's... right. Having this alone is enough to solve this puzzle...' He slaps his face with his hands and walks up to the screen, doing the math. Right as he's about to lift his finger and write—

"I solved it already," Kael says, sliding over a screen. "There are 300 sigils. Connecting them together in groups of ten and then structuring them based on the shapes and definitions, it's a 30-word spell, but if we translate it to Elvish—"

"I got it..." Rotû mumbles with an emotionless tone. 'I lost...' is all he can think.

'Betrayers end'

Rotû writes it down. "How simplistic..." he mumbles, dead inside. He walks up to the wall and begins feeding mana, connecting the pathways.

"Oi, oi, Rotû, are you sure you got it?" the guild master asks nervously, getting up. 'He doesn't look confident...'

"Yes, the—"

"You hear that!? The boy lost!" they yell, laughing. "Hahaha, I'm going to live!" Leena yells with joy.

"...The boy figured it out..." he finishes his sentence.

"I trust you," Cora exhales deeply, laying back. 'He's the type to quadruple-check; there's no way he would mess up,' she thinks with a smirk. 'The kid keeps surprising me. I'll make sure he joins my guild at all costs.'

Leena blinks blankly, watching Rotû continue to solve the puzzle. 'Hmhmhm, how interesting~' she grins, walking up to Kael. "Wow, V, you're amazing! How are you so smart?" she asks with pure curiosity, grabbing his arm.

"I read. I read a lot," Kael responds, struggling to break free. 'It's more than just reading. I've messed around with dozens of runic languages. Thanks to my genius mind, I found Biana's notebook while cleaning her dorm. It's filled with crazy theories and methods of translation. Seriously, if she wasn't so lazy, she would be the most important character,' he thinks, turning back to see Leena looking at the wall.

With a grin, Leena turns to see everyone getting ready to head to the next floor. Fixing her sight on Kael, she smiles. "Hey V, wanna play a game?"

"A game?" 'What is she talking abo-' his eyes widen as she places her palm on the wall. Her eyes are warm, yet her actions speak louder. "Wait, Leena, don't touch—"

"Hmhmhm," she laughs lightly, looking around. "Wow, you react quite fast~" she smiles as seven swords are positioned all over her body, directly on her weak points.

"We were hoping this wouldn't happen," Bein mumbles coldly.

"Oh my~ So you knew about me. I feel flattered~" she smiles.

"What's going on..." Kael asks, confused. 'What is this basic-ass plot twist?'

"I would be stupid if I didn't know who you were, Ghost of the Slaughtered Village," Cora says coldly, pushing her long blade against Leena's neck. "You're the key to entering the dungeon. In a way, we can't enter the dungeon unless you acknowledge our strength. We were expecting you to betray us, but this is earlier than expected," she mumbles coldly.

"Hmhmhmhm~" Leena smiles eerily, her crimson hair glowing slightly. "Looks like you know me well, but it's too late~" The ground shakes, the cave roof falls, and the wall crackles with energy as the mana around freezes.

'I can't move!' Cora's eyes widen. 'How did she break my defense!?' she grunts, gritting her teeth.

"Stop fighting it darling~" Leena cups Cora's cheek. Walking past her, up to Kael, she rubs her chin, staring at his frozen body. "Geez, for the weakest one here, you seem the calmest." She blinks, looking at him for a second with her crimson eyes that tremble ever so slightly. "Hmhmhmhm~ this is your fault. They weren't supposed to solve the puzzle," she sighs. "So we're going to play a game~" she smiles eerily. Everything about her seems warm, yet her actions disprove that. "Now die, okay?" she waves as the ground completely breaks, and everyone falls deep into the abyss.