I Alone Regress in a Hero Party That Was Annihilated - Chapter 8

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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#8. Dungeon (2)

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Featherback headed toward the back of the mansion, reflecting on memories of the past.

The ruler of the north, the renowned swordsmanship family Mörsolt.

Mörsolt was strong.

…More precisely, they had been strong.

Hundreds of years after the Founder defeated the Demon King alongside the Hero.

Mörsolt was called the ‘Iron Blood Sword Family of the North’ and stood at the pinnacle of all families.

With strong convictions and lofty spirit, they defeated countless enemies and gained fame as guardians of the Northern Wall, praised as mythical heroes.

But even during those glorious times, they never became arrogant.

Because they knew the Mythical Age had not yet ended.

Because they knew that dragons, demons, and giants could appear again at any time to commit massacres.

Their gaze was always directed toward the battlefields of the next generation.

Living as weak humans in a world where myths breathed and lived meant exactly that.

Featherback thought.

‘Peace is something that must be protected while standing on a blade’s edge.’

Raising his head, Featherback saw a large cave before his eyes.

The Secret Vault.

Long ago, the ancestors of Mörsolt, who guarded each night as if there would be no tomorrow, had made one arrangement.

They had gathered and compiled the ultimate swordsmanship, all secret techniques and secret arts passed down through the family in one place.

It was a secret place created to prepare for the greatest crisis that would someday befall the Mörsolt Family.

But no one currently knows that secret.

Because 100 years ago, a terrible accident occurred and all the central figures of the family, including the Family Head, disappeared overnight.

The tragedy of that day left an irreversible wound on the Mörsolt Family.

The orthodox bloodline that had been passed down through generations was completely severed.

The new Family Head who barely managed to continue the family lineage was from a branch family.

Due to the severing of the orthodox bloodline, he knew nothing about the secrets left by the ancestors.

The family heritage that had been passed down orally for hundreds of years disappeared like that.

Where the secret place was located, what was hidden there – no one could know anymore.

The whereabouts of that place, which would become the Mörsolt Family’s last hope, remained mysterious.

The new Family Head set out to find the ancestors’ legacy hidden somewhere, but could not discover any clues.

There seemed to be no way to find secrets in the land and ash heaps that appeared crushed under the weight of time.

Then, a miracle happened.

During the dark period when the Demon King appeared and massacred humanity.

At the end of profound misfortune, the Mörsolt Family’s Secret Vault was discovered by chance, truly by chance.

On the day the Northern Front was devastated, a unit retreating to escape the monsters discovered the Mörsolt Family’s secret arts in a collapsed cave.

‘And this is the result of that discovery.’

Featherback raised his head.

The Training Hall located on the cliff behind the Mörsolt Family Mansion.

This was a cave that had been excavated for training purposes, but due to the weak underground foundation, rockfall accidents occurred frequently, so it was now a closed area.

Step— Step— Step—

Featherback moved his steps into the cave without hesitation.

A single streak of blue light seeped through the cracks in the rocks, illuminating the path.

The sound of howling wind echoed deep into the cold and damp cave.

…Splash!

Each time he stepped on a water pool, an eerie and damp sound echoed loudly.

Featherback felt along the cave wall with his sword tip.

Scrape—scrape—scrape—

The stone wall had become rough from enduring long years of weathering.

Deep inside the gloomy cave, light seeped through a narrow gap hidden by rocks.

There, a single mural was painted that seemed out of place in the dreary cave.

A mural steeped in legend, said to have been painted in blood by the Founder Camus Mörsolt hundreds of years ago.

It was a painting of a warrior fighting the Demon King.

What it symbolized was clear.

Right here, in the heart of this cold volcano, the family’s secret was hidden.

Featherback nodded his head.

‘The place that Father and Elder Sister searched for so desperately during their lifetimes. To think it would be discovered so anticlimactically later on.’

The memories from before his regression were still vivid.

Featherback remembered not only the location of the secret vault but also the complete method of opening and conquering it.

Step— Step— Step—

The mural painted in blood gradually drew closer.

The figure of a human fighting the Demon King.

The vanguard of the Hero Party, the last Mörsolt before destruction.

Featherback drew his sword.

‘If you meet a god, kill the god. If you meet an ancestor, kill the ancestor.’

This was the ancestor’s teaching not to form attachments.

‘Kill the Ancestor.’

It carried the meaning of breaking free from the framework of old customs to find true freedom.

Featherback, along with the Demon King, slashed the throat of the Ancestor with his sword.

If modern nobles had seen this, they would have condemned him for insulting his ancestors… but breaking and going against such conventions is what allows one to grasp the Mörsolt Secret Techniques.

Soon.

The beheaded Demon King and Warrior began to cry.

Rumble rumble rumble rumble rumble…

The stone wall began to split vertically.

And then.

Crash! Rumble…

Stairs leading to the deep underground revealed themselves.

Mörsolt’s Secret Archive.

It was the moment when the family’s secret, lost for a hundred years, finally revealed itself.

“…”

Featherback caught the scent of dry blood wafting up from underground.

The legacy left behind by the heroes who protected the Northern Region lies sleeping within.

‘It’s been a while.’

Of course, Featherback before his regression had memories of conquering this place.

Featherback moved forward without hesitation.

Now he would claim everything the Ancestors had left behind.

* * *

Dust had accumulated so thickly on the stairs that it reached up to his ankles.

How deep had he descended?

The types of soil composing the geological strata had changed several times over.

…Thud!

Featherback stepped onto the bottom of the underground.

As he held up his torch, the ruins buried in the underground revealed their true form.

Crests carved in relief on the pillars, magic circles engraved on the floor, various murals painted on the ceiling.

They had been conversing among themselves in a very ancient language, but now held their breath at the appearance of an unfamiliar intruder.

‘This place too, it’s been a while.’

Featherback stroked his chin once.

Everything visible bore the vivid breath of the Mythical Age from long, long ago.

It was truly a magnificent and overwhelming sight.

‘Today, everything in this place becomes mine.’

Featherback plunged into the abyss beyond the ruins without a moment’s hesitation.

Before his regression, he had suffered considerable damage while conquering this place.

He had fallen into traps and narrowly escaped death countless times, and had nearly become a living corpse after being mauled by the native monsters that inhabited this place.

Sure enough.

…Bang!

A crossbow bolt flew straight toward the center of Featherback’s face as he advanced without hesitation.

Whoosh―

Featherback tilted his head to the side and dodged the arrow.

It drew a thin line of blood across Featherback’s pale, chubby cheek before flying past and embedding itself in the wall.

‘Has it begun?’

Featherback raised his sword and shield.

Thwip-thwip-thwip-thwip-thwip-thwip-thwip-thwip-bang!

Soon after, countless arrows struck Featherback’s sword and shield.

Despite hundreds of years having passed, the arrows showed not a speck of rust.

‘At first they aimed for the legs, right?’

Featherback lowered his stance and used his sword and shield to defend only his lower body.

Then he passed by a large stalactite, proceeded down the narrow path between the walls, and turned the corner.

‘From now on it’s the head and heart….’

Thwip-thwip-thwip-thwip-thwip-thwip-thwip-thwip-bang!

From here on, the arrows no longer aimed for the lower body but only targeted the upper body.

Featherback lowered his stance even more than before, and with just that, he easily broke through the trap.

‘Are they trying to kill all the descendants who finally managed to find this place? The arrows are too vicious.’

Even if it was to prevent grave robbing, this was going too far.

It seemed the ancestors of Mörsolt had quite unusual personalities.

However, Featherback skillfully handled all these traps with familiarity.

‘If I had a body that would die from this level of Arrow Barrage, I wouldn’t have survived past the 5th year of the Demon Realm War, no, not even the 3rd year.’

The Pitch Black Arrows shot by the Dark Elves of the Demon King’s army not only curved and bent in midair, but were accurate enough to pierce through the eye holes of helmets.

Having experienced such things, Featherback found the traps before him no different from children’s games, so he was breaking through them all too easily.

Eventually.

“…!”

A spacious clearing appeared before Featherback’s eyes.

The ruins in this place were completely covered with mushrooms, moss, vines, and roots.

Spores from either the moss or mushrooms floated through the air, casting an eerie light.

“The next trial, I see.”

Featherback switched his sword to a reverse grip.

He knows what will appear before him soon.

Slash—!

Featherback swung his sword.

The caps of the glowing mushrooms fell with soft thuds, and what had been hiding beyond them flowed down to the floor.

…Thud!

It was a giant centipede.

A skull-like bright yellow head with a black lustrous body, and countless legs that glittered like gold.

But by far the most impressive thing was their ‘size’.

Writhe— Writhe— Writhe— Writhe—

It had the thickness and length of four or five adult men lined up end to end.

Yet its movements made no sound or sign.

If its head hadn’t been split open, it would have continued crawling stealthily toward Featherback, and soon would have drawn out its powerful poison fangs to plunge them into its prey’s body.

“…It’s been a while since I’ve seen these centipedes too.”

Featherback shrugged his shoulders.

These centipedes weren’t originally native species that lived here, but foreign species that adapted to the Vigo environment.

The Mörsolt Ancestors had released natural guardians here during the process of creating the dungeon—ones that could coexist without interfering with the treasure.

These giant centipedes had formed their own ecosystem within the dungeon interior over a long period of time, and their colony had now taken on the nature of a massive ‘gateway’ rather than just a trap.

Soon.

Clatter-clatter-clatter-clatter-clatter-clatter-clatter-clatter-clatter-clatter-clatter…

Spine-chilling sounds came from beyond the abyss before his eyes.

The actual residents who had occupied this space for the past several hundred years were revealing themselves.

Toward them, Featherback resolutely drew his sword.

“Get out.”

It was the homeowner’s lawful eviction order.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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