Chapter 50

"Hey, Orson. What's going on? Are you okay? Pull yourself together."

When the flustered Al hurriedly approached and persistently spoke to Orson, Orson slowly opened his eyes, which had been closed.

"That's incredibly realistic. It feels like the real thing. Is it getting worse, the hallucinations...?"

Orson muttered this and looked at Al blankly. After being spoken to multiple times, Orson seemed to realize it was reality and opened his eyes wide in shock.

"You can't be serious? Is it really you, Al? Did you come to rescue me?"

Orson, looking deeply moved, slowly got up and extended his hand to Al. He was quite unsteady. Al took his hand. Orson felt quite warm, as if he had a fever. When asked what had happened, he showed a metal flask-like object in his right hand.

"Thanks to this magical device... It's a flask on the altar that can produce an endless supply of alcohol."

It seems that while Orson was mining the crystal called Alnite, he was hit by an earthquake. The ground suddenly collapsed, and he fell into the room where Al had come down on a rope. When golems attacked, he retreated while defending against their attacks and managed to escape to this room. That's where he found the flask.

"You spent a whole month just on alcohol?"

"A month? Has it really been that long? Yeah, it must be... I couldn't stand up to those golems at all, and there was no way out. I left my bag and flask at the entrance. I had no choice but to drink."

Orson smiled wryly and tried to stand up, but he only wobbled and couldn't get up. It's amazing he survived a month on just alcohol.

"Damn, I'm too drunk to do anything."

"First, some water... and can you eat this? Chew it slowly. Did you find anything else?"

Al handed Orson a water flask from his waist and some dried grapes from the backpack he had pulled over. Orson drank the water in gulps and let out a big breath. Then he threw a few dried grapes into his mouth and started to chew them slowly.

"Ah, they're good."

Orson muttered this and stared blankly at the ceiling. That's all he could manage. Al leaned Orson against the wall and started to investigate the surroundings. On the altar in front of the stone coffin, there was only a silver goblet that faintly glowed.

"Magic Perception"

He looked around again to see if anything reacted with a bluish-white light. The door that opened and closed and the alcohol-producing flask Orson had were the only things that reacted. He also asked Orson to show his belongings, which were still dazed, just in case. There were two faintly glowing items in the belt pouch. They seemed to be magical devices, but they had already lost their magic power. When asked, Orson said they were a light-emitting magical device and a fall-reduction magical device, both of which he originally had. The fall-reduction magical device allowed him to fall as slowly as a feather, which saved him during the earthquake.

"Enhanced Perception" - Visual Enhancement

Al thoroughly investigated every corner of the room, behind the altar, the ceiling, and the corridor before the stairs, thinking there might be a hidden door. But he found nothing.

"Damn. I thought there might be a way out somewhere, but there's nothing. No choice... Orson..."

Al looked at Orson's face, who was snoring softly, and shook his head.

"Even if it's Orson, it's still scary to talk. I'll try it once by myself before that..."

Al muttered this to himself and went outside the room. He confirmed that the door closed automatically again and moved to the top of the stairs.

"Concealment"

Al's figure vanished. Even though it was Orson, he still lacked the courage to reveal the secret of mastering this spell. After confirming that his hand had become transparent and disappeared, he slowly descended the stairs and reached just outside the room connected to the first crack. He peered inside. At the same time, a golem-like figure in the center of the room turned to face Al.

It turned to face me? Al felt a chill down his spine. Maybe the concealment spell wasn't working. He checked his palm, but it was still transparent. However, the golem pointed the staff in its right hand in Al's direction. Al quickly jumped back from where he was standing. A bluish-white light passed through where he had been and hit the wall, sparking. The golem had clearly cast a spell at Al. Al turned and ran back up the stairs as quickly as before. He dove to the floor just as a bluish-white light hit the ceiling and sparked.

Al had always thought of golems as guardians of ancient ruins, but it seemed the concealment spell didn't work on them. Al, who had managed to escape safely, collapsed on the floor and buried his face in his arms.

"If it doesn't work on golems, it's useless... The restrictions on forbidden spells are stricter than I thought... I can't ask anyone how to use them, so I have to figure it out myself. I don't even know if I'm using it correctly. Maybe I shouldn't have learned it."

He couldn't help but mutter this to himself.

...

After a while, Al raised his head from the cold stone floor. The shock was great, but there was nothing he could do. The priority was to escape.

Al wondered if there was anywhere he hadn't investigated. Then he realized he hadn't looked inside the coffin.

This place was clearly the tomb of an ancient king or hero. The room where Al and Orson entered through the crack caused by the earthquake was the room just before the one with the stone coffin, which was supposed to be protected by the golem. The other closed door was likely the official entrance. There might be burial goods in the stone coffin that could help with the escape. However, Al had heard of the legend that opening the coffin of an ancient king or hero could invoke a curse. But there was no other way to escape. He had to investigate.

Al approached the stone coffin and wished for luck from the goddess Ludo. The lid of the stone coffin was about 3.5 meters long, 1.5 meters wide, and about 30 centimeters thick. It was impossible to lift, but it seemed like a single piece without any grooves, so it could be moved. After enhancing his physical strength, he carefully pushed it.

With a scraping sound, the lid of the stone coffin moved. The coffin itself was thick, and after moving it about 30 centimeters, the inside became visible. Inside was the body of an elderly man who looked as if he were still alive. He had a peaceful smile on his face, and his clothing was similar to the toga seen in ancient dramas, though it was faded to a gray color. The embroidery in some places still had a dull golden hue.

After moving the lid and making the inside visible, Al, repeatedly invoking Ludo's name, moved the body and searched inside. Unfortunately, there was nothing of value. The only thing that reacted to the magic perception was a flat, round, blue crystal about 3 centimeters in diameter that the body was holding. It looked very similar to the pendant Al wore, though it was slightly larger.

Al took out his own pendant and compared them. The light inside the newly found crystal was faint, not as bright as the one Al currently had. To compare them further, Al took off his pendant and placed it next to the new one. Suddenly, the light inside the new crystal intensified. At the same time, a calm male voice, as if it were a divine revelation, echoed in Al's ears.

"Thank you... young man."

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