Volume 8, Chapter 32 – An Unknowable Place and an Unexpected Creature

“First, the entrance to the barrier.”

Using ‘Blink’ to appear in the cave at the core of the sealing barrier, Yisi couldn’t help but hold her breath. Because the sealing barrier was buried deep underground and the entrance to the cave was blocked by two heavy stone doors, the air inside could not circulate with the outside. The air was filled with a suffocating, damp smell mixed with a strong scent of mildew.

“Ugh… is there any magic that can connect the air here with the outside?”

Although the magic in ‘Ragnarøk’ was diverse, it was still just a game. No matter how hard the developers tried to replicate the various senses of the real world, it couldn’t compare to reality. For example, life magic like that on the continent of Alexia didn’t exist in ‘Ragnarøk’ at all. Furthermore, unless under special circumstances, like being attacked by a slime monster, a player’s clothes would never get dirty. Since clothes wouldn’t get dirty, there was naturally no need for life magic. So even though Yisi had a strength of over four hundred levels, among her countless skills, there were no small spells like ‘Drying’ or ‘Cleaning.’ And of course, a spell that could ventilate a room, like what she needed now, was also not among them.

“I guess I’ll have to punch a hole in the mountain first, then use an airflow spell as a fan to move the air out… It’s troublesome, but it’s better than holding my breath.”

With the [Omniscient Map] to guide her, avoiding the intricate magic formations within the mountain and creating a ventilation shaft was not a difficult task for her.

After spending nearly half an hour creating a ventilation shaft in the cave, Yisi, smelling the fresh air from outside, couldn’t help but show a look of satisfaction.

“When I was approaching the surface just now, I seemed to hear some soldiers saying words like ‘a demon has descended’.”

I have a feeling they’re talking about me blowing away the dark clouds with the storm just now. But those soldiers probably didn’t see me. Even if I ignore them, there shouldn’t be a problem.

Well then, it’s time to shift my focus to the thing hiding behind this seal.

Perhaps because the seal, blessed by the gods, was too powerful, or perhaps because the monster inside called the World Dragon was close to her own level, when she looked at the place that should have been inside the sealing barrier, a gray area with nothing displayed appeared on the [Omniscient Map]. There were no complex magic formations, nor any living creatures. If one didn’t zoom in on the map, at first glance it looked like an ordinary empty space.

“How is that possible…”

Her brows furrowed slightly. Yisi, who had been feeling relaxed just a moment ago, now became cautious.

Although the [Omniscient Map] was the most basic exploration skill in ‘Ragnarøk,’ designed by the developers to prevent new players from getting lost after entering the game, because the map’s exploration level increased with the player’s level, it was beloved by the vast majority of players who were tight on skill points and couldn’t spare the extra effort to cultivate other skill trees.

For example, a character of the Bearman race was naturally not good at using magic to explore their surroundings. Compared to allocating skill points to detection-type magic, it was much more effective to learn skills that increased their own defense and magic resistance. Conversely, if they were to forcibly cultivate detection-type skills, unless they were one of those lucky players who had a fortuitous encounter in the game and received a special quest, even if this Bearman player invested a hundred skill points in detection-type magic, the effect would be equivalent to a few dozen skill points for an Elf. This was a case of specializing in one’s own field, as was the case in ‘Ragnarøk.’

“Even if the [Omniscient Map]’s detection authority is low, at my current level, besides the two demon lords of unknown strength and that god whose very existence is uncertain, there shouldn’t be any creature that can block my detection. Could it be that the World Dragon inside is a class that specializes in anti-magic detection?”

If it were a class that specialized in the anti-magic detection skill tree, even if the World Dragon were only level two hundred, the magic veil it deployed would be enough to evade her detection. After all, the [Omniscient Map] was just the most basic detection magic and had a congenital defect in terms of priority.

“No, if it were a true anti-magic detection veil, what would be presented on the map should be a disguised illusion. A gray area with nothing in it like this, one would know there’s something wrong with just a little zoom. Unless it’s treating the person who cast the detection magic as an idiot.”

Becoming vigilant, Yisi changed her way of thinking.

According to Duke Wozwahl, the location of the Dragon’s Spine Mountains was once a plain with nothing on it. The reason it became a vast mountain range that ran through the continent was because the angels had divided the World Dragon’s body into several parts and buried them separately at the present location of the mountains. And because the magic power in the World Dragon’s body was so immense, the magic power that leaked out caused geological changes, which resulted in the formation of the present-day Dragon’s Spine Mountains.

If one considered it from this angle, it could basically be confirmed that the World Dragon had extremely immense magic power. It was probably because the World Dragon’s level was too high that she couldn’t observe it. Such a conclusion was very consistent with the gray area that couldn’t be displayed on the map.

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However, this argument was not without flaws. After all, if the reason she couldn’t observe it was because the World Dragon’s level was too close to her own, in other words, the World Dragon had a strength of nearly four hundred levels, then it was really hard to imagine how the angels had managed to subdue it with their own power.

In Laxy’s account, she was of a mid-tier level among the angels. To exaggerate a little, let’s set the top-tier angels at level 70. Assuming, based on Laxy’s number 10043, that there were ten thousand level-70 angels in the Land of the Gods, even if all ten thousand of them attacked together, it would be difficult to cause any damage to her, who was over level 400. Not to mention that she would have subdued them before they could even attack.

In other words, it was impossible for the World Dragon to have a strength close to her own. Otherwise, the angels would not have been able to deal with it at all.

“Mm… it can only be the effect of the barrier. Such a vast and complex magic formation creating a barrier in a small area that can block low-level detection magic is not too outrageous. Even if the past World Dragon had a high level, after being divided into several pieces, its strength would surely be greatly reduced.”

Of course, although she said so, Yisi had no intention of letting down her guard. She quietly applied a strengthening spell on herself and adjusted her breathing.

None of the characters she had ever cultivated specialized in detection magic. Now, besides going in to see for herself, there was no other option. To leave a potential source of trouble unattended was not in her character.

“I’ll use a teleportation spell to go in first. If I find anything strange, I’ll immediately blow up the cave.”

The thing sealed in the barrier was not human. Even killing it wouldn’t bring her the slightest bit of guilt, not to mention that it was the World Dragon, which could be classified as an evil entity.

It had been a long time since she had felt this sense of walking on a razor’s edge. Yisi’s palms grew slightly sweaty, but at the same time, she couldn’t help but feel a little excited.

“A teleportation spell needs a target location to succeed. Moving the light dot to the gray area like this… If I use ‘Advanced Teleportation,’ the failure rate should be very low.”

If it wasn’t successful, she would be randomly teleported to some place on the continent. But she knew the coordinates of the Royal Capital of the Hels Kingdom. Even if she were teleported to a corner of the continent, as long as she continuously used ‘Advanced Teleportation,’ it wouldn’t take long to return to the temple—no player in the game would dare to try this. If they were teleported to a boss room, they would be killed by the boss before they could even react. Not only would they lose levels after dying, but the items in their backpack would also be randomly lost.

First applying a spell to prevent others from detecting her strength, Yisi took a deep breath.

[Magic Sense Devour]

[Advanced Teleportation]

A floating sensation came from under her feet.

—The teleportation was successful.

What followed was a pitch-black space where one couldn’t see their hand in front of their face—it should have been pitch-black, but because Yisi was a pureblood and had excellent night vision, she couldn’t easily make a judgment.

However, Yisi was certain that the barrier had not stopped her, and she had not been teleported to some unknown corner of the continent.

“I managed it, for now…”

She couldn’t help but clench her hands. The real sensation that came back made Yisi sigh in relief.

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Then, a ‘hissing’ sound, as if someone were inhaling, came from beside her ear.

The relaxed string tensed again. An alarm bell rang in her heart. Yisi subconsciously swung a hand chop to the right, where the sound had come from. Although there was no magic attached, she had applied a magic blade to her hands long before she came in. It was almost impossible for the other party to block such a fast blow.

However, just as Yisi was about to hit the other party, the thing that had made the ‘hissing’ sound suddenly started to speak.

“Shh—! Be quiet. Don’t let that thing outside find out.”

A human?

Although the accent was heavy, Yisi could still faintly make out that the other party was speaking the language of the Hels Kingdom. She hurriedly stopped the hand chop that would have cut the other party in half and turned around.

The sight that greeted her was a faint green soul-body, less than a meter long, circling in the dark hall.

What left Yisi at a loss for words was that, apart from its larger size and its beak and webbed feet also being a ghostly green, this soul-body was almost identical to the domestic goose she knew, even its feathers were lifelike.

What is this? A small monster that accidentally got into the sealing barrier? But I just heard human speech. If it were a small monster, it shouldn’t be able to form the language unique to intelligent creatures.

To avoid communication barriers, Yisi quietly took out the translation pendant she had gotten from the Church from her storage, quietly distanced herself from the other party, and, while using ‘Eye of God’ to appraise its strength, tried to gather information through conversation.

“Who are you?”

“Come here, quick! Don’t be too far from me. If that thing outside finds out, we’re both done for!”

This time, Yisi was certain. The thing that was speaking was indeed the domestic goose in front of her, which was less than a meter long. It even beckoned to her in a very human-like way, gesturing for her to come closer. Although it was an animal, its eyes held the intelligence of a human, filled with fear and dread.

“You answer my question first.”

“Alright, alright. But you have to listen to me after I answer. Although I swore that I would be a beast of burden for anyone who could get me out, we shouldn’t be reckless at a time like this. I don’t want to lose my life here.” Covering its beak with its white wing and coughing twice, the goose said in a cautious tone, as if afraid of being discovered, “Although I don’t know how you got in, I don’t feel any magic from you. You should be like the three people before who wanted to let me out, an ordinary person from the distant land who builds cities.”

The reason it couldn’t sense magic from her was because she had applied ‘Magic Sense Devour’ before coming in, an anti-detection spell that could negate magical detection. But saying it out loud might make the other party change its attitude and see her as an enemy. Yisi remained silent.

Seeing that Yisi didn’t refute, the goose continued to explain—at a speed that made it seem as if it had eaten a hot potato.

“Listen to me, don’t be afraid. As long as that god… no, that thing outside, as long as that thing outside doesn’t discover that the barrier has been broken, she probably won’t come in. After she leaves, we can get out.”

“Who is that ‘thing outside’ you’re talking about?”

“I’ve already said this much, and you still don’t know?!” The goose’s tone couldn’t help but rise several pitches, but there was no blame in its voice. Instead, it explained very patiently (in Yisi’s view, it was almost happy, because this goose was exuding an atmosphere of joy, as if it had finally found a kindred spirit), “You should have felt it when you came in. That terrifying magic fluctuation outside. Even though I’m trapped here in the dark, I can still sense it through the ley lines. That restlessness that seems to want to tear the heavens and the earth apart, all the elements are at her command. It’s almost like a god… anyway, after sensing that magic power, I haven’t dared to look outside. I don’t want to know what’s happening outside now. You probably came in here to escape, right?”

“Mmm…”

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If she wasn’t mistaken, the description of ‘seems to want to tear the heavens and the earth apart’ should be referring to the [Instantaneous Tempest]. And ‘that thing’ was definitely referring to her.

From the way this stupid goose was trembling all over, it was probably very afraid of her. If she were to tell it that she was the person outside, it might be so scared that it would collapse on the spot. Since the stupid goose understood language, it could be considered an intelligent creature. She didn’t really want to scare it. That would feel like showing off.

At the same time, the ‘Eye of God’ also showed the identity of this stupid goose.

[Remnant Soul of the World Dragon]

Its level was less than fifty, its skill bar was empty, and its magic power was so low that it was inferior to even the level-14 Tiffany. If she were to punch it, this wisp of a remnant soul would even dissipate on the spot. It was as fragile as a baby.

Mmm… I don’t see the legendary majesty at all.

Yisi couldn’t help but complain in her heart in Mary’s innocent tone.

“Hey, did you hear me? After that terrifying thing outside leaves, we’ll get out of here quickly.”

“Mm-hmm, I heard you,” with the sense of crisis gone, Yisi’s heart suddenly filled with many mischievous ideas. She went along with the World Dragon’s words—or perhaps it was more appropriate to call it the World Goose, “Can’t you use your magic to check again? She might have already left.”

“Are you trying to get me killed?!” The angry words had just left its mouth when the World Dragon, as if it had remembered something, quickly bowed its head in apology. “Ah, no, I’m sorry. I apologize for my rudeness just now. You are now the monarch I have pledged my allegiance to. I should not have used such an arrogant tone… I have always kept my promises.”

While breaking out in a non-existent cold sweat, the World Dragon secretly observed its surroundings. Its claim of keeping its promises was a complete lie. The reason it obeyed Yisi was only because it believed in fate. When it had promised fate that it would give its all if someone could let it out, fate had sent someone to open the door to freedom for it. So it feared that if it were to break its promise, fate would drag it back here again.

Yisi’s eyebrows couldn’t help but arch at a strange angle.

What a strange goose.

But to prevent this little guy from being scared to death by her—she couldn’t understand at all why this stupid goose thought she was as vicious as an evil god—Yisi decided to first make it believe that she was a kind person. When the time was right, she would then announce that she was the one who had driven away the dark clouds.

Yisi pretended to whisper.

“Then I’ll go out and take a look first. You stay here?”

“Er, don-don’t go! Don’t leave me here alone!”

“I’m just going out to take a look. It’s not like I’m not coming back forever.”

Yisi stopped with a wry smile. This guy had a man’s voice, but how could it be as afraid of the dark as a girl?

Seemingly also aware of its own loss of composure, the World Dragon first blushed, then stammered and mumbled as it confirmed with Yisi.

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“My lord… you will come back, right?”

“Of course.”

“R-right. Ah, that’s right. I am the World Dragon who can destroy the world. How could anyone be willing to abandon me? Hmph.”

Now it’s acting like a tsundere character.

If it were a beautiful girl, she might have thought this stupid goose was cute. But this was a domestic goose with a male voice. She had no interest at all.

Waving to the World Dragon and having it turn its back to her, Yisi once again used a teleportation spell to arrive outside the barrier.

“Although it’s not cute at all, it looks quite pitiful. Since its strength has weakened to the point where it can’t even beat Mary, it should be fine to take it out. If any problems arise, I’ll deal with it.”

Just as one would quickly rescue a drowning puppy or couldn’t help but bring a rain-soaked, shivering kitten in a corner to a warm place, she felt sympathy for this pitiful little animal.

“Come to think of it, I’ve always been a person who is overflowing with sympathy. It doesn’t matter if I save one more. I’ll observe it for a while, and after confirming there are no problems, I’ll put it with Shinku and Fran. It just so happens that they haven’t left, and Margaret is also in need of someone with detection abilities. Also, taking the World Dragon away will also prevent it from getting lonely and continuing to destroy the barrier—speaking of which, it would be bad if outsiders were to discover that the thing in the seal has disappeared. I’ll add something else to prevent nosy people from getting in.”

Pressing the tip of the Sword of Ruin against the wall where the core of the barrier was located, Yisi spent a little time outlining a layer of a repulsion barrier on the wall’s surface to prevent others from entering. Because it did not come into contact with the sealing magic formation inside the wall and existed independently, the two magic formations would not interfere with each other.

As for the function of the repulsion barrier, it was to refuse entry to others and block them outside the barrier. The manifestation was that as soon as someone tried to enter or destroy the magic formation, it would spew out an incomparably powerful stream of magic power, blowing away all obstructers in front of it. At the same time, thinking that the person who destroyed the barrier was definitely not a good person, Yisi deliberately increased the power of the magic stream to a level that would cause a violent impact but just barely not be fatal. As long as it was confirmed that the intruder had been blown away, the magic stream would stop on its own.

“Mmm… to avoid accidental injury, I’ll put up a stone tablet to warn people. [Stone Object Creation].”

As her words fell, a quaint stone tablet emerged from the ground. Nodding in satisfaction at its aged appearance, Yisi carved a line of words in the Ymir language on the tablet.

[All hope abandon, ye who enter here.]

“It’s not direct enough, and it’s not quite right to say that one can walk into the barrier like a door.”

Erasing the words with magic, Yisi tried another phrase.

[Those who touch it shall invite death.]

“Mm, that’s concise and clear. Now, let’s go back.”

She wondered if that stupid goose had cried out of fear of the dark.

Feeling a sense of wanting to both laugh and cry, Yisi once again entered the cave with a teleportation spell.