Reincarnated as a Genius Prodigy of a Prestigious Family - Chapter 191
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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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Reincarnated as a Legendary Talent Genius of a Noble Family Episode 191
129. Mountain Range Ruins (1)
We gradually approach our destination.
Everyone was feeling it.
This strange and subtle aura of the place called the ‘Mountain Range Ruins’.
Even without being someone with sensitive sensing ability like Dane, everyone could tell.
‘It’s sticky.’
Delward suddenly had that thought.
If he had come alone, would it have even been possible to get this far?
If it were him, he probably would have used a skilled herb gatherer from the village at the foot of the mountain as a guide.
With luck, he could have made it this far, but he didn’t particularly think that would have happened.
Because without the map that Dane brought, the environment was harsh enough that falling behind at any moment wouldn’t be strange.
‘That fellow is amazing.’
Delward clicked his tongue in admiration once again.
Dane, who still showed no signs of fatigue as he led the way and guided his friends.
It wasn’t just that he had ridiculously good stamina.
His judgment was excellent, and his quick thinking was good too.
It’s not like he moved without a plan either – he instantly considered every situation in his head and formulated plans.
At this rate, there’s no competition.
Even himself, who had wandered outside and been exposed to the most danger, was reacting like this.
‘What kind of education do they give at Sogress County.’
It wouldn’t make sense for him to have learned all that by himself.
“Leila, what do you learn at the Academy these days?”
“Huh? I’m dying from exhaustion and you’re suddenly asking what? Whew.”
“No, just. I was wondering if you also do training like climbing mountains like this.”
“Whew. Do you think that would happen?”
As expected.
It’s not from Academy education.
Then surely, whether from his father’s side or mother’s side, they must have put him through harsh training.
There’s no other way to explain it otherwise.
A small misunderstanding began to bloom in Delward’s mind.
“We’re almost there.”
Amid this, everyone gradually heightened their tension.
Mountain Range Ruins.
The place where the material called ‘Tears of Roxina’ that they absolutely had to obtain was located.
“We know the entrance location, so getting inside would be the biggest problem, right?”
“Probably so, right? How do we find a way?”
“First we search the surroundings and look carefully. We have to get in somehow. If that doesn’t work, we’ll even break it down.”
His friends were having various conversations, and Dane was thinking.
‘Why was that ranger injured.’
The ranger that he and Ernest had discovered.
The fellow who had fainted from excessive blood loss with long lacerations.
He should have treated him, made sure he wouldn’t die, then left and forgotten about it, but it bothered him.
‘It’s not like I could wake him up and ask.’
In the end, it meant he had to deduce why that happened…
Indeed, who did that.
Alteon’s mountain rangers?
Or, monsters?
Or if not that…
Some third something?
Dane isn’t the type to worry about things that haven’t happened.
However, he plans thoroughly for things that ‘seem likely to happen’.
Should I call it a kind of premonition.
‘Could it be something related to the ruins?’
Certainly, the place where that ranger was discovered wasn’t far from the ruins.
The orders in the ranger’s possession were also orders to investigate the ruins.
And the party was heading toward that place.
What could it be indeed.
Perhaps, simply exploring the ruins and finding what they needed before leaving might not be all there is to it.
Because trouble always erupted.
“Wait.”
It was then that Dane raised his hand.
Another stop signal this time.
I thought maybe he heard some breathing sound again, but this time it wasn’t that.
The smell of death was carried on the wind.
In other words-
“The smell of corpses. Quite a lot.”
“C-corpse smell?”
“Everyone be quiet.”
Dane had seen countless corpses in his previous life, and had smelled that odor enough to rot his nose.
How harsh are summer battlefields.
If corpses aren’t collected in time, maggots breed and they rot, giving off an indescribable smell.
Based on experience…
These were corpses at least a day old.
“Let’s go.”
Dane’s steps quickened a bit more, and the party followed behind him.
‘Smell? I don’t smell anything at all.’
Delward had also smelled corpse odor several times due to his extensive outdoor experience.
But the only smell was the sour body odor rising from being soaked in sweat.
Still, there was no choice but to believe him.
Because it was Dane who had detected that ranger’s faint breathing earlier.
Sure enough.
“What in the world…”
“What is all this…”
“Ugh…”
In front of the Mountain Range Ruins.
A terrible scene was unfolding.
Corpses were scattered everywhere.
And all of them…
“The ones who wounded that Drenic Ranger… weren’t Alteonian Rangers.”
They were Alteon’s mountain rangers.
* * *
Let me summarize this simply.
We discovered a Drenic Ranger who had collapsed unconscious.
That ranger was on a mission to ‘investigate the Mountain Range Ruins’.
Thanks to that ranger, we copied the map and came here a bit more comfortably.
But-
When we arrived, it was like this.
Alteonian Rangers were dead in heaps.
Each one was quad-level, and veterans were evaluated as skilled enough to match penta-level knights.
A full 10 of such people were lying dead.
“If we mess this up, we’ll be left holding the bag.”
Delward, true to form, first thought from a political perspective.
On the other hand-
“Shouldn’t we go back?”
Priscilla first thought of the party’s safety.
Both were right.
Ten Rangers, each an incredible individual expert, had died.
And now we had witnessed that scene.
We could end up taking the blame.
And we could be killed by whoever killed these 10 Rangers.
But we couldn’t go back.
Because I didn’t know what would happen if we returned from here.
“Ernest.”
I had the rest of the party wait for a moment and examined the dead Rangers together with Ernest.
Seeing that they all had their weapons drawn, it didn’t seem like they died instantly without even being able to resist.
But….
That resistance apparently didn’t mean much.
“This….”
The long slashing wounds on the Rangers’ bodies.
They were identical to the wounds I’d seen on that Drenik Ranger earlier.
Wounds that could be said to have been torn away rather than cut. The blood that had flowed was already hardened.
I thought of candidates in my head. Beings that could win against 10 Rangers.
No-
“It’s not just one.”
There were several.
That’s what the footprints showed.
They weren’t around the Drenik Ranger earlier.
And the footprints led over there, inside the ruins.
I wondered what kind of creatures they were.
I investigated the surroundings a bit more.
“Ernest, how is it?”
“Nothing special yet… but to make wounds like this, wouldn’t they be monsters?”
“Probably.”
That would likely be the case.
If we focused only on the wounds.
But would there be a reason for general monsters to slaughter Rangers like this and enter inside the ruins?
For ordinary monsters?
It was then that I discovered something while continuing my deduction.
Fur.
Long, thin silver fur.
I quickly looked around at the Rangers’ corpses.
At least none of them had silver hair.
Of course, it could be my hair, but this was quite thick fur for hair.
And one possibility came to mind.
Those who transform into wolves when the moon rises.
They who suffer from a kind of ‘disease’ are a minority race and beings you’d hardly encounter in life.
Because they are targets of persecution.
Then these rough wounds could also be explained.
“Lycanthropes.”
Powerful combat ability.
The mighty claws and beast’s aggressiveness gained when transforming into wolves.
It was a possibility I didn’t really want to consider, but….
“It seems right.”
Everyone’s jaws dropped at my words.
“Lycan…thropes? Dane, really?”
“Ly, Lycanthropes… th, that thing from fairy tales?”
“Really? Those monsters that transform into wolves when the moon rises… no, people? Race?”
That was understandable.
There probably wasn’t anyone here who didn’t know about Lycanthropes.
Since they were a regular subject in childhood fairy tales, everyone would harbor vague fears about them.
Probably no one except me had actually seen them.
I had seen them.
To be precise, I had seen Lycanthrope soldiers.
A Lycanthrope unit organized by Drenik.
It was a unit created on the condition of disease treatment and integration into Empire citizenship….
They all died.
Not on the battlefield, but at Drenik’s hands.
Well, that wasn’t important.
What was important was the fact that their combat power was tremendous.
And unfortunately, there was a high probability they were here now.
“Difficulty upon difficulty.”
Delward sighed.
In normal circumstances, we should turn back here.
If it were normal circumstances.
“But it would be hard to go back, right?”
“Of course.”
I looked at Leila.
As if telling her not to worry.
The rest of the guys were trembling but looking at me, trying hard to feel reassured.
“Since Dane is here….”
“We’ll get to meet Lycanthropes too, teachers….”
“But if they’re Lycanthropes, aren’t they opponents my divine power works on? Isn’t this a good opportunity?”
Well, we also had Priscilla who was a priest, so there wasn’t much to worry about.
So we had to go in without hesitation.
“What if the Rangers catch us? They’ll come searching this way.”
“We’ll have to tear the scroll. Even if we push ourselves a bit.”
We also had a way to escape.
Anyway, no one here had seen us. That unconscious Ranger from earlier had only seen our silhouettes.
So we just had to escape before getting caught.
“Let’s think positively. The guys who went first already opened the ruins entrance, right?”
“Now that you mention it, that’s true.”
According to what Edward told us, he knew the location and entrance of the ruins but couldn’t find a way to enter.
But thanks to the guys who went first, we saved ourselves some trouble.
“I wonder if this will work.”
I drew my Arcanium sword.
A silver sword would be best, but I couldn’t get one right away.
Of course, this alone was sufficient.
A sword that cuts through anything when infused with mana.
Lycanthrope fur might be a bit tough, but this was a sword that had even cut through the ‘Tree of Death’.
There are plenty of ways to escape, so there’s no need to worry further.
“Let’s go.”
We finally moved.
Into the ruins with their gaping black maw.
* * *
“Next.”
“Damn it, three of our comrades are already dead! This is a cursed ruin! I can’t go any further!”
“Next.”
“I said I can’t go!”
“Then there is no future for your race. Didn’t I tell you? If you complete this task well, I’ll help you get to the outside world.”
“….”
Gagon, the leader of the Lycanthropes, was left speechless.
Going to the outside world.
That’s the dream of the Lycanthropes, who are considered targets of oppression, ominous diseases, and cursed beings.
That man before them appeared one day and said he would lift that curse if they helped him.
Gagon accepted his proposal.
His request to help break through the ruins.
But….
Three were already dead.
“There isn’t much left now.”
Three Lycanthropes with their powerful regeneration had been helplessly defeated.
Defeated by the terrible traps of these ruins.
Spear tips jutting out from all directions pierced their entire bodies, and they endured a baptism of arrows with their whole bodies.
The fellow who just died had his neck severed by an axe blade that suddenly flew from the ceiling.
Now only four Lycanthropes remained, including Gagon.
Was this really worth it?
Such doubts arose, but-
“Are you going to turn back now?”
“…Damn it.”
They couldn’t turn back.
They had already stepped foot inside and lost three precious comrades.
If this man’s words were true, they had made a noble sacrifice.
The dream of the Lycanthropes. To establish themselves as proud members of the Empire.
“If you don’t keep your promise, I’ll tear you limb from limb.”
“I will definitely keep my promise. To you Lycanthropes, and to you, Dwarf, as well.”
It wasn’t just the Lycanthropes.
There was also a dwarf.
“Damn it. What bullshit are you spouting. A promise? You kidnapped me while I was peacefully carving stone!”
“I’ll release you too when we reach the end of the ruins.”
“Stop talking nonsense and release me right now!”
The dwarf who was ranting and raving seemed to have been dragged here by chance.
He had been shouting the whole way here, so the man put him to sleep, but now that he’s awake, he’s acting like this again.
So eventually the dwarf fell asleep again and went limp.
“What did you bring the dwarf for?”
“You’ll see.”
The man said this while lightly lifting the dwarf and floating him in the air.
Then he nodded his head.
“Lead the way.”
“…Damn it.”
How many would die before they arrived?
Gagon sighed and took trembling steps forward with his comrades.
Meanwhile.
‘Our secret society cannot crumble like this.’
The man looked at the backs of the leading Lycanthropes and made a resolution.
Definitely, definitely.
He would obtain Roxinna’s Tears.
‘With that alone, we can regain our power.’
Not knowing that a certain party had just entered the ruins.
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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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