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Chapter 190 Astionas tribe

Enjoy your reading!

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"So, is there a map here that I\'ve heard about? I suspect all of this might be a trick, though I\'d like to think positively," said Veronica, sitting on a rock, tilting her head to the side as she peered down into the temple\'s descent. She squinted and remarked, "What a curious structure. There are so many traps here that any careless move could instantly destroy the entire temple and its underground floors. How interesting!"

"I don\'t even know how to react to this information. Judging by this, isn\'t it too bad for us if these guys enter the dungeon?" said Adam, squatting down and picking up a sharp stone about the size of his thumb. He looked at the group of ten people who were preparing to enter. He smiled, "Well, we just need to politely escort them out."

Tossing the stone into the air, Adam used the ability of his subclass, "Borrowing," taking one of Amarantha\'s abilities called "Item Enhancement." The stone immediately became covered in a golden glow. The stone was positioned between the index and middle fingers of his right hand, and he sent it flying with a graceful motion.

A few minutes later...

BOOOOM!

"AAAAAAH!"

He stood up from his position and clapped his knees to dust off. Looking at where the stone had landed, he found that two people had been killed, and the rest were injured but still alive. However, this fact soon changed as small stone fragments floated rapidly into the air and pierced their hearts, instantly killing them.

"Done. Now, we need to discuss how we can get in there. Honestly, I have no ideas, and I have no experience in exploring such structures," Adam began the conversation, ignoring the unpleasant smell of blood.

"M-m-m... we can remove the traps in a few minutes, but we need to be extremely careful. Can you handle that, Sierra?" Veronica replied, asking Sierra, who raised an eyebrow.

"Why are you looking at me as if I\'m a carefree fool?"

Adam chose not to comment on the fact that she had just described herself almost perfectly.

Having brought a regular knight\'s sword with some enchantments for reinforcement and increased damage, Adam, along with Veronica and Sierra, began descending the stairs. Veronica had previously set up a barrier around the area, ensuring that no one could enter while they were inside, which was useful given that these traps could regenerate.

Click. Click. Rustle. Rustle.

Veronica took care of most of the trap removal work while Adam and Sierra provided moral support. They descended deeper and deeper, but the problem was that they couldn\'t seem to reach the end. And they had been walking for over twenty minutes!

"It reminds me of the long corridors in your castle, Veronica. It\'s long there too," commented Adam, exhausted from the silence.

Veronica raised an eyebrow and turned to him with a surprised expression.

"What do you mean? The corridors in my castle are short compared to some crazy bitch. Aren\'t they?" She replied with genuine surprise, wrinkling her nose in annoyance. "Besides, the longer a guest has to walk to the audience hall, the better for me. That way, they get nervous."

"That\'s it. I thought those long corridors were just for show, but it seems they\'re for intimidation, as expected of you, Veronica," praised Adam.

"..."

Veronica thought it would be better not to mention that the corridors were long simply to make the castle look more impressive. In other words, it was for the sake of grandeur, as Adam had correctly pointed out. However, to maintain her reputation, she chose to remain silent.

Sierra sighed and complained, wrapping her arm around Adam\'s shoulder and putting all her weight on him. "Hey, my beloved son-in-law, please, carry your tired mother-in-law to the end, okay? I\'m damn tired!"

"Oh, come on! I\'m sure my beloved mother-in-law could walk another hundred kilometers without getting tired. Isn\'t that right?"

However, her tricks didn\'t work well on him, and she received a rejection.

***

Thanks to the analysis of the area using magical powers, Veronica managed to create a rough map of this dungeon. There were only three underground floors here, but the problem was the golems, which were equipped with anti-magic coverings. In other words, these golems had to be defeated purely with physical strength. Just when Adam thought it would be challenging...

BOOOOM!

Veronica proved that there was nothing stronger in this world than a slap in the face. The poor four-meter golem shattered into pieces as if it were an icicle crashing to the ground. Sierra clapped her hands, and Adam thought this would be amusing.

"Stop dawdling, you two! We need to keep going; this isn\'t even the first floor!" Veronica said irritably, kicking a colossal two-meter-thick door.

Scrrr...

To their surprise, the door opened, though it took three kicks from Veronica, which raised some suspicions. Adam began to suspect that this dungeon wasn\'t as straightforward as it might seem. For some reason, he felt discomfort, and it was quite annoying.

It was as if some energy was affecting him. It wasn\'t magical energy or demonic energy; it was something purer and brighter, similar to light magic but different. He had felt a similar sensation when he was around Casanova.

"My skin is warming, and it feels like I got a burn. Veronica, do you feel the same?" Adam asked, rolling up his sleeves and noticing small first-degree burn marks.

"No, but I sense something akin to light magic trying to break through my natural barrier, but it can\'t," she replied, pointing to small flashes near her right cheek. She looked over her shoulder at him and frowned upon seeing the burns. "Awful. Wait, I\'ll activate a barrier now..."

"No need," Adam interrupted her and frowned, nodding forward. "Take a look there. There are inscriptions on the walls. Some ancient language or something."

"Hmm?"

Veronica and Sierra turned to where Adam had pointed. The room they had entered was almost empty, except for a stone in front of the stairs with inscriptions in an unknown language. It seemed like a mix of ancient Egyptian with a hint of Latin.

Approaching the stone and carefully examining it for traps and other dangers, Veronica began to study the inscriptions. It appeared that she was unfamiliar with this language as well, judging by her slightly perplexed but also joyful expression.

Glow.

"What\'s that radiance? Ah, it\'s you, Dereris."

Adam raised an eyebrow as he saw Dereris flying in front of him. She had spent a long time in a deep slumber. She didn\'t respond to him and merely gazed at the stone. After a few minutes...

"It\'s the ancient language of the Astionas tribe, who were similar to a mix of elves and beastmen. They have become extinct, but in ancient times, they were known as true masters of magical engraving," Dereris informed, flying over to Adam and perching on his head. She looked at Veronica, who was gazing at her with a bright smile. "Calm down, girl. I\'ll answer your questions, but keep in mind that you only have three questions."

"Thank you."

Veronica sincerely expressed her gratitude, and her politeness surprised all three of them. Adam chose not to comment on it, though Sierra couldn\'t hold back a rather crude remark.

"Veronica, you can be polite instead of perpetually being an irritable, crazy nutcase? Oh my goodness!"

I think there\'s no need to mention that she got a beating.

***

With Dereris\'s help, they managed to translate the inscriptions, and there was a brief description of the Astionas tribe. In essence...

"On our land, we have found the power of magic, for which we thank the Almighty God, and in His honor, we build this temple. Praise the Great God!"

The translation was not the most accurate, as pointed out by Dereris. A precise translation was difficult to achieve because their language was extremely convoluted. Furthermore, there were some aspects that even Adam didn\'t understand. They used "the Great," although, in ancient times, strict documentation of god names was followed. In other words, you couldn\'t just call God "Great God." You had to say something like, "I express my worship to the God of Light and Justice," as even the Church of Light required. In simpler terms, you praise a god and always emphasize their power. Such strict laws had been adopted even in ancient times when there were many different religions, each worshiping various gods. So just saying "the Great God" would be incorrect.

"Is the translation correct at all, Dereris? Something doesn\'t sit right with me," mumbled Adam, looking at the fragment that, according to Dereris, roughly translated to "the Great God." There was an image of a horn around which the letter \'G\' was entwined.

"I\'ve already said I\'m not sure about it, alright? I didn\'t study this language in such depth because I had more important matters to attend to!" Dereris responded, with a snort. She examined the text and sighed, "I\'m sorry, but this is my limit. Perhaps this horn signifies something else, but for the Astionas tribe, at the very least, the horn image represented the word \'god,\' so all questions should be directed at them."

"Yeah..."

Adam was irritated and also intrigued, a reaction shared by Veronica, who took out her notebook and several magical stones, and scanned the inscriptions. While the text didn\'t seem particularly significant, it was crucial to record the writings of ancient tribes because they held significant research value.

Sierra wasn\'t particularly interested in the writings, and she simply sat on a foldable chair that Adam retrieved from his inventory, as he noticed her growing boredom. He also handed her a Rubik\'s Cube to keep herself occupied without being too bothersome.

Overall, the process took half an hour. Adam and Veronica transcribed the inscriptions in all forms and saved them for future reference, intending to delve deeper and comprehend the essence of the matter in the future. For some reason, he had a feeling that there was something more to this.

To be continued...