CH 461

Translator: The Light

Edits by Lord Immortal Ed

At the Aldridge Empire’s seaside resort, Oldrango City’s coastal region, near the center of Phoenix Island, the Christopher Dragon Ruins arena where the final match of the “Light of Dawn” event was being held. This was not a man-made ruin. Instead, it already existed when the Manasvir Empire came to develop the Phoenix Artificial Island. The host of the project, Empress Manya Felan, did not really change much of it when she confirmed it could be used back then.

According to the rules, the contestants were not supposed to be able to visit and survey the site before the competition, but due to Bella’s unique identity as both a contestant and the real organizer behind the scenes of the tournament, the Manasvir Empire’s Royal Secret Guards in charge of guarding the Christopher Dragon Ruins naturally gave their Princess Manasviel (Bella) “the slip” so that Bella could enter Christopher Dragon Ruins early.

Right now, all the students had already gathered at the other arenas to watch the tournament. Practically no one noticed that Bella and the others had left early to enter the finals arena. The Twelve Academy Exchange Tournament ushered in the final showdown today for each profession’s solo matches, so the students of each academy had already gone to spectate the various event finals.

Bella did not bring many of her girls with her, only the ones in the martial professions. They were limited to her closest Renegades, Swordsman Princess Kriss, her little sister Dragon Knight Lisha, and Assassin Noreya. For last night’s “Night of the Witches'” finals, Bella’s Olsylvia Academy might have clinched victory, but due to the accident arising in the final “Original Sin Pentagram”, the four Demon Kings assisting in the battle all suffered varying degrees of internal injuries.

Bella left most of her trusted ladies to look after the safety of the four Demon Kings, so not many were able to accompany her. Legend had it that gigantic dragon bones had been unearthed during an exploration here at Christopher Dragon Ruins. According to the members of the Octavia Empire’s Dragon Knights, who were invited to inspect the remains, these, in fact, belonged to the Dragon Race. That was how the Christopher Ruins got to be called the Christopher Dragon Ruins.

However, due to Bella’s special identity, she received a good bit of secret information from the Manasvir Empire’s Empress Manya Felan that was not officially disclosed. Since some of the detailed information was too sensitive in nature, the Manasvir Empire and the Octavia Empire unanimously decided to conceal it from the public after they came to investigate.

The dragon remains found in Christopher Dragon Ruins back then were all from sub-dragon races, not pure dragons. They were the dinosaur-shaped Demonic Beings that Bella had previously seen. From the remains, they speculated that these sub-dragons had strength surpassing the current Dragon Race. These Demonic Beings that were about the same as the dinosaurs back on Earth were likely to be the standard Dragon Race of this dimension.

This had already shaken the legitimacy of the current Dragon Race. Therefore, the Dragon Race asked the two human empires to write that the remains found here were from the Dragon Race so that outsiders would not know these sub-dragons actually existed. This wasn’t really some sort of top-secret; the main terrifying part came at the back.

According to the top-secret information from the Manasvir Empire, spirits of sub-dragon type Demonic Beings had often appeared in Christopher Dragon Ruins after it had been developed for some time. They would attack the humans who boarded the island for various reasons. In the end, the Radiant Church’s Pope was called in so that the Red Priests could suppress the spirits.

Now, under the midday sun, Christopher Dragon Ruins had a peaceful appearance. The remains that were originally buried deep underground had already been dug up and taken away. What was left here were the ruins of a super ancient civilization. The megalithic buildings had gone through the baptism of wind and rain through the ages and yet showed no traces of wear.

The civilizations behind these buildings did not seem to be human. Based on the humans living on this Other World human continent, the Human Race history only dated to the past few tens of thousands of years. Since this was an Other World, the humans were basically all created by either the Creator or the God of Creation. They did not have evolution like they did on Earth. Thus, the history of the Human Race in this world was far shorter than their counterparts on Earth.

“Big Sister Bella, I can smell dragons here. It seems to be the bad type!”

“Did you find something, Little Sister Lisha?”

“Yeah, a dragon appeared here some time ago. Some of its smell is still left here!”

Bella didn’t care about the history of Christopher Dragon Ruins. After all, she was not an archaeologist; her primary objective in coming here was to survey the terrain of the arena in advance. Kriss, Noreya, and her little sister, Dragon Knight Lisha, had mainly come to accompany Bella for fun. To tell the truth, they also didn’t care much about the history of these ruins.

Lisha was soon able to find traces of the scent of dragons, that more an evil kind. As the Demonic Dragon Emperor, Lisha had a keen sense of smell when it came to the Dragon Race and noticed the problem in just a short while. The dragon ruins should already have been suppressed, so dragons aside, there weren’t even any Demonic Beasts. Most Demonic Beasts were scared of the Dragon Race’s smell, so even after a long time had passed, they still wouldn’t dare to step foot in former dragon territory.

“Bella, someone had been here a few days ago. It should be one of our peers. The Royal Secret Guards outside probably didn’t notice them.”

Not only Dragon Knight Lisha, but even Assassin Noreya could also sense the abnormalities of these ruins. She lowered herself, took out a special potion, and poured some of it onto the ground. Strings of mysterious footprints quickly emerged on the originally empty ground. These were the footsteps left behind by a lurking assassin and were very difficult to find for the average person. Only an existence like Noreya that surpassed ordinary assassins could see them.

While thinking, Bella followed the direction of the footsteps. She wanted to see where the owner of these footsteps went. The Royal Secret Guards had a tight defense, but since they didn’t have mages with specific detection magic, they were unable to detect sneaking assassins. Besides, it was an unexpected situation for someone to infiltrate this place. What Bella wanted to know now was the identity of this infiltrator.

Other than the megaliths in Christopher Dragon Ruins, there was nothing valuable here. It wouldn’t make sense for someone to infiltrate this place just for the sake of it. Bella and the girls followed the footsteps and finally found the destination of the infiltrator. It was a deep cave. No signs of excavation by human hands could be seen on the opening, though. It looked like an ordinary cave.

Bella took out the sample map of Christopher Ruins given to her by Empress Manya Felan to make a comparison, and to her surprise, the cave was not marked on the map. In other words, the cave was not here several tens of thousands of years ago. It appeared sometime after this map was drawn. Bella and the girls stood at the entrance of this mysterious cave, each with an unnatural expression on their faces.

The cave was unfathomably deep. Even during the day, the sunlight could not penetrate the darkness. Something seemed to be isolating the sunlight, so much so that even the outermost entrance was impenetrable by light. Bella stood at the entrance, feeling the cold winds from inside. She then observed the soil on the outside. It didn’t seem like the cave appeared from collapsing inward, but rather like something had rushed out of the cave. This cave was left behind by whatever it was that drilled out of the ground.

Looking at the footsteps that disappeared at this place, Bella hesitated for a moment. You could tell at a glance that something was off with this cave. What was the infiltrator doing in there? Even though the cave was questionable, it was also that this place could be the Cursed Land’s true entrance. There was a good chance the person who went inside was trying to open the gates to that Cursed Land.

“I’m going down to take a look. If any of you are scared of the dark, just wait outside. I’ve already sent out the message. The Royal Secret Guards will come to provide backup later.”

“I have no problem with it. I’ll follow you!”

“Bella, I found the footprints first, so there’s no reason for me to give up the adventure here. This is a matter of my principles as an assassin. I have to see through this to the end.”

“Big Sister Bella, since you’re not afraid, I’m not afraid either. Let’s go!”

The other three Renegades didn’t even think about Bella’s suggestion before they refused. Bella couldn’t really say no either, so she accepted their help and went down to explore the mysterious underground cave with them. The Manasvir Empire’s Royal Secret Guards came to support them shortly afterward, helping Bella block up the entrance so that other outsiders won’t have the opportunity to enter.

The mysterious cave had a ladder-shaped ramp that led underground. It felt like they were heading straight into hell as they walked down the slope. There was a really stuffy atmosphere in the cave with the cold wind constantly blowing past, which often gave them the shivers.

While walking, Bella admired the ones who had the courage to enter with her. It was obvious that a mysterious cave like this wasn’t going to be anything good, so anyone who dared go straight in was a hero. Since Bella and the girls were no longer considered pure humans, they had strong night vision and did not need to light any torches. They walked onwards into the dark cave. Bella led the group while Lisha brought up the rear with Swordsman Kriss and Assassin Noreya between them. This arrangement ensured that knights protected both the group’s front and back, keeping the more vulnerable professions safe.

Not long after they began walking, Bella encountered a Demonic Beast. The cold winds in the cave brought along a light scent of blood. On the ceiling not far ahead of Bella were a pair of glimmering red eyes, appearing particularly conspicuous in the dark environment.

It was a colony of bats, and these bats were much more terrifying than their counterparts on Earth. Just their size alone was of a different class. No matter how big the bats on Earth became, they never surpassed a regular bird’s size. On the other hand, the bats here were the size of an eagle at the smallest. There were bats of half a meter, a whole meter, and even larger. There were even bats that were two meters tall.

The two-meter tall bats were already almost at the same height as humans, and intense curse energy emanated from their bodies. From their attributes, Bella quickly judged that they were the Demonic Beings from the Cursed Land, also the reason for such strong curse energy. This place should be the entrance to the Cursed Land that she learned of last time.

Since the Demonic Beings of the Cursed Land were rather mysterious, even the Savior’s system did not contain the information of their levels and so on. For a moment, it was difficult to determine the specific level of these bat-like Demonic Beings. However, she knew they were dangerous without a doubt. The pioneers who entered this mysterious cave had likely perished here.

Below the bats were a large pile of human skeletons, all drained of flesh and blood. There were signs of being chewed on many of the bones. These bats wouldn’t even let the bones go, so one could get a hint of their mercilessness. Before Bella and the girls could search for any survivors, the bat Demonic Beings launched their attack. They had already noticed Bella and the others and directly swarmed them, so they could suck them dry.

“You’ve picked a wrong opponent this time. Get lost.”

Bella used the power from her contract with Crystal Dragon Princess Purple Crystal on both her hands, transforming them into a pair of amethyst gloves. Leaping up, she punched an oncoming two-meter-tall Vampire Bat in the head. Before it could attack, its head was smashed through, and blood instantly splashed in all directions, almost spoiling Bella’s clothes.

Seeing their companion get killed, the group of Vampire Bats was all riled up by the gore. They desperately rushed over to get revenge for their friend. Unfortunately, their opponent this time wasn’t some prey they could just hunt down, but predators that were even more ferocious than them. Their revenge was destined to fail from the very beginning.

Lisha ran to the front to assist Bella. This girl might have seemed a little scared of the dark at first, but Lisha had temporarily forgotten her fear as soon as the fighting began. She swung her fists in excitement. Bella was fighting with the amethyst battle gloves and had a relatively moderate way of battle. However, Lisha’s fighting style was more on the wild side. She didn’t even use any weapons or equipment and went in straight with her bare fists.

The Vampire Bat that attacked Lisha thought she was an easy one to handle without any weapons, but who would’ve known that it was ramming straight into a “steel plate”. Lisha’s fighting style was even more savage than Bella’s, at least the visual impact of it was. Lisha had much greater strength and the two-meter-tall anthropomorphic Vampire Bat took a hit from Lisha right in the head.

The impact was accompanied by a crisp crack. Lisha employed the most straightforward way of fighting, severing the Vampire Bat’s head clean off with a single hand. The decapitated bat was spurting a lot of blood from its neck, shooting out violently enough to almost paint the ceiling red. Before the Vampire Bat on the other side could react to the sudden change, Lisha’s other hand swung right onto its wings, tearing one of them off.

With one of its wings removed, the Vampire Bat let out a pained wail. Before it could end its cry, Lisha came swinging with her other hand, tearing its other wing off. While the two peerless knights were fighting at the front, Swordsman Kriss and Assassin Noreya didn’t stay idle either. They actually killed the most enemies. Bella and Lisha had a shocking way of killing their enemies and acted more as a strong deterrent. Their actual killing efficacy wasn’t that high compared to Swordsman Kriss and Assassin Noreya in the rear.

Various swords were floating in the sky behind Kriss’s back. Without needing specific commands from her, they struck the surrounding Vampire Bats dead, all of them aiming straight for the head. A pile of “headless” bat corpses could be seen lying all around Princess Kriss. Who knew how many she had already downed. It didn’t take long before no Vampire Bats dared to come close to seek death.

Assassin Noreya relied on her superior speed, flashing about in the dark cave. The Vampire Bats could hardly even catch her trail. By the time they realized it, they were already slashed up. Noreya did not kill them with a simple backstab but instead split up their bodies cruelly. The Vampire Bats that died in her hands were basically severed at the waist, their bodies falling to the ground in two pieces.

The victor of this encounter in the mysterious cave’s tunnel was soon clear. After determining that Bella and her companions, who looked like normal girls, were in fact “bloodthirsty demons”, the bats quickly escaped, leaving behind the bodies of hundreds of their brethren. They all retreated miserably since if they continued the fight, they would have been wiped out here. They didn’t even have a chance of beating Bella and the girls, so they might as well run while they could.

After the bats dispersed, silence returned to the cave. Bella looked at the corpses around them and felt a little depressed. The Demonic Beasts of the Cursed Land were too shabby; they didn’t even have the cores that Demonic Beasts usually had. Bella and the girls had all worked up a sweat for nothing. Not even a single demonic core popped up after that—so much effort for nothing.

“Bella, look what this is. It seems to be the emblem of a country.”

“Huh? Isn’t this…”

The sharp-eyed Assassin Noreya discovered something in the pile of skeletons of the previous victims—an emblem used by a royal family. Bella gave it a quick glance. It seemed to be the emblem of the Bridges Kingdom that wanted to restore their nation from before.