Chapter 149: Inside The Ruins

"What do you see?" Emilia asked curiously.

"There is something inside the ruins. Something powerful— like a core. We need to go check it and make sure it's not something related to the cursed skeletal titan we defeated just now," Sophia answered.

Emilia puckered her lips and muttered, "Do we really have to? We already defeated the titan so let's go back to the ship."

"You don't understand how the curse works, Emilia." Sophia sighed and asserted, "If that powerful core or whatever it is, is truly the cause or related to the cursed titan, then it's going to follow us and haunt us until we get rid of it entirely. So it's better to be sure than regret later."

"Fine~ Let's go and have a look," Emilia groaned. "But let's make it quick. I am truly dying to see Nero."

"How will you see him if he isn't back yet?" Sophia remarked.

"I know, right?!" Emilia groaned louder.

Asteria puffed her cheeks and muttered, "Even though he said he would be back in a minute."

Sophia raised her brows and said with a chuckle: "You seriously didn't believe him when he said he would be back in a minute, didn't you?"

"I did," Asteria nodded.

"I did too," Emilia quipped.

"Heh!" Sophia scoffed and shook her head in mixed feelings: "Idiots."

Emilia pushed Sophia to the side, saying, "What's so funny?"

"It's laughable seeing how naive you too are," Sophia shrugged and continued, "I was like this before too, but you two will get used to it."

"Wasn't Nero stronger before than he is now? Because he doesn't have his cores and weapons?" Emilia asked with a curious yet serious look on her face.

Sophia quietly shook her head and said, "He was indeed strong before, but after getting unsealed, his powers have increased tenfold."

After a brief pause, she continued, "It's almost as if his powers were cultivating on their own all these years— for eons."

Sophia, Emilia, and Asteria went further into the ruins and stumbled upon another giant skeleton.

Emilia and Asteria instantly took a defensive stance. 

However, Sophia calmed them down and said, "This is just a skeleton."

The skeleton was about the same size as the titan they fought earlier, but this titan was sitting on a big throne in a resting manner.

The bones of the skeleton were broken, and the fungus was all over them. Plants had grown at some places, and fishes were living in it.

Sophia swan closer to the throne and wiped her hand on the nameplate.

'Atlas' Sophia read.

Emilia tapped on Sophia's shoulder and nudged her head: "Is this the powerful 'something' you were referring to?"

Sophia shook her head and pointed her finger further into the ruins.

"It seems the cursed titan from before was a guardian protecting the ruins of the temple," Sophia asserted.

"But we didn't do anything to provoke it, so why did it attack us out of nowhere?" Asteria questioned.

"I don't know what triggered it, but I think it happened because of Emilia."

"Hey! How come it's my fault?!" Emilia exclaimed.

"You fell into the sea, and you reek of Zeus' elixir inside out."

"Well, you are the one who pushed me down in the first place. So it's your fault!"

"And do I truly stink?" She asked.

"No," Asteria shook her head and uttered, "I think Sophia meant your body is filled with Zeus' power."

"So it triggered because it sensed a strong power in the sea?" Emilia asked the obvious.

"Zeus is here…" Sophia muttered.

Emilia and Asteria glanced around, thinking Nero was in the sea.

"By here, I don't mean in the sea. But I can sense his presence from far away, although it's very faint. Most likely, he was somewhere else prior to this."

Sophia's guess was on the spot. Nero had indeed come back to Thor's island after his Tribulation ate his realm.

"Let's go back to the ship then!" Emilia insisted.

"He is not on the ship yet. We can go and take a look at… whatever is in ruins.

Sophia, Asteria, and Emilia rushed into the ruins in a hurry and stopped in front of an enormous door.

"Why is there a door in the middle of the sea?"

Sophia placed her hand on the door and uttered, "It's inside. Whatever I saw is on the other side of the door."

"Then punch it and break it."

"I am not physically as powerful as Zeus. And even if I saw, I doubt this door can be broken with a punch."

"This… is a seal?" Emilia asked.

"Yeah." Sophia furrowed her brows and asserted, "Now my interest has piqued. Whatever is on the other side of the door, is surely something powerful and valuable if the titans could go as far as to assign a guardian and then die protecting it."

"But how do we break the seal?" Asteria question.

"Maybe there is some switch around here?" Emilia placed her hand on the door and brushed her hand around it.

"Ouch!" Emilia scratched her hand with a sharp thorn on the surface of the door.

"This is not some ordinary door. It's a seal, and a seal can't be opened by pressing switches—"

RUMBLE~!

The door shook and slowly opened.

Emilia glanced at Sophia with a smug look on her face and said, "You were saying something?"

Sophia smiled wryly and passed through the open door without saying anything.

'What's wrong with her?' Emilia wondered and followed Sophia.

After passing through various doors and skeletons of the titans, they reached a chamber.

"It's inside." Sophia walked into the chamber and fell on her knees.

Emilia shook Sophia and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Why… why is…. here?" she muttered.

"What?"

Sophia pointed her finger at the shiny object that was hovering in the middle of the chamber and said, "That's… trident. Zeus' weapon."

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