Chapter 150: Core Matrix
By dawn, the skies had cleared. Silver mist clung to the trees as the convoy stirred.
Orders were given, tents collapsed, and the Radiant Knights packed to move.
Despite the lingering exhaustion from the previous battle, the expedition team marched forward.
Their next destination was the Agith Ruins.
The journey began smoothly. Although a few Rank-2 magical beasts emerged from the woods—a scaled lynx here, a tusked badger there—they were dispatched without issue. None dared challenge the full might of the expedition team.
But something shifted as the morning hours passed and the mist faded into daylight.
The air grew colder, the birds stopped singing, and the forest seemed to watch.
Raven felt watched, though he saw nothing.
Around midday, the first ambush came.
Dozens of kobolds burst from the brush—scrawny, sharp-toothed, and silent.
Kael burned them to ash with a single wave of his sword. The Radiant Knights barely needed to act.
But the next wave came sooner, a mix of goblins, orcs, and even two trolls, all from different directions.
"Scatter formation! Protect the rear!" Count Alden barked.
The Radiant Knights broke formation with practiced precision—but the monsters fought like they wanted to die.
An orc charged headlong into Nash's spear, impaling itself with a guttural grunt and swinging even as it died.
A goblin ran straight into a fireball, dagger raised—Delilah used her spirit power to restrict it before killing it.
"They're not even trying to survive," Veyra muttered as she sliced through three more.
It wasn't the strength of the monsters that disturbed them—it was their silence.
Not a single one screamed, nor did anyone cry out in pain.
Even the trolls, notorious for their rage, fought without a sound.
[Something is wrong with these monsters.] Zera's voice stirred in Raven's mind.
Raven, panting after skewering a hobgoblin, furrowed his brows.
'You mean… mind control?' He also noticed the oddness and felt something was off.
[Check the corpses.]
Without wasting time, Raven knelt beside a fallen goblin and flipped it over.
There, just below its scalp at the nape of the neck, something twitched.
'...What the hell?'
It was a thin, eerie black worm with countless microscopic eyes lining its body. Black thread-like veins extended from its body into the skull, pulsing faintly.
Zera confirmed grimly.
[A Mind Worm parasite. It hijacks weak minds and turns them into weapons.]
Raven nodded stiffly and moved to the next corpse. Then another. A hobgoblin. An orc. Even the troll.
Every one of them had a similar parasite—embedded in the nape, temples, or along the spinal cord.
Raven stood up with a grim look. "This doesn't look good."
[These are already half-dead when they rushed earlier.]
The convoy resumed moving, but Raven's mind was occupied with thoughts.
'How dangerous are these Mind Worms?' he asked.
[If only a Rank-2 Mind Worm controls them, this group will be fine. But if it's a Rank-3…]
Zera paused. Her voice darkened.
[Then half of this convoy will die before they even realize they're under attack.]
Raven furrowed.
'We have three Expert Wizards and five Expert Knights. That should be more than enough, right?'
[You don't understand, lad. A Rank-3 Mind Worm doesn't fight in the open. It attacks from within.]
'Within? What do you mean-?'
Before he could ask, the ground trembled.
"Prepare for battle!" Nash's voice boomed.
The forest exploded into motion.
Wizard Ariel extended his hands and cast a detection spell.
"A large horde from the east! Smaller groups approaching from the northeast and southeast! Another group closing in from behind!"
"They're trying to surround us—cut off our retreat," Count Alden growled, eyes narrowing.
The eastern front burst open.
A line of Orcs, each mounted on massive black wolves, charged forward with deafening speed. Their armor was crude but heavy, their weapons rusted but brutal. Their eyes were wide, unfocused, glazed over like broken dolls.
Raven sensed it immediately. 'They're infected too.'
"Rank-2 mutants," Kael muttered beside him. "Twenty… no, twenty-four of them."
His eyes drifted to the one at the center—a towering orc, three meters tall, wielding a massive hammer, black spikes growing from his spine.
Raven touched the monocle and inspected it.
It was a Rank-3 Mutant Orc Commander!
'Even a Rank-3 Orc was infected?'
[The mind worm must have sent this orc to gauge the strength of this convey.] Zera muttered.
Nash and the other Expert Knights clashed with the mounted orcs, blades gleaming with aura. Flames, ice, and wind exploded across the field. The black wolves snarled and lunged—some breathing fire, others emitting frost.
In less than a minute, a dozen mutant orcs lay dead.
But it wasn't over.
The left flank broke next.
Hundreds of goblins rushed in, led by hobgoblins and a goblin shaman weaving crude spells. The goblin's magic was chaotic but dangerous—exploding roots, mind-numbing fog, corrosive slime.
"Right flank—kobolds incoming!" a knight shouted. "And... wolves?!"
Raven's head turned sharply.
From the right, a band of kobolds with crystal spears and howling wolves burst through the brush. They weren't as strong, but the sheer number made it overwhelming.
The battlefield turned chaotic.
Even as they fought off wave after wave, the enemy's silence never broke.
After fifteen brutal minutes, the monsters finally fell.
The soldiers, soaked in blood, panted like they'd been fighting for hours.
Nobody even had the strength to speak.
Raven slumped against a broken tree trunk, spear dripping crimson. Around him, knights dragged wounded comrades from the front lines.
[This is just the beginning.] Zera said in his mind.
The convoy moved again after a brief rest.
They pressed on, deeper into the forest where sunlight barely reached the ground.
And then there was a deep silence.
No rustle of leaves, chirp of crickets, or hum of insects.
Just the sound of boots crunching dried leaves and the quiet breath of tension building.
"...Why is it so quiet?" Delilah whispered, her voice barely carrying in the eerie hush.
No one answered as the same question was echoing in everyone's mind.
It wasn't long before the path opened, revealing the edge of a clearing, overgrown with vines and half-buried in roots. What stood beyond it wasn't a forest, but a ruin.
Old, crumbling buildings peeked through the greenery—walls cracked, rooftops caved in, moss eating at once-grand columns.
"We've reached the Agith Ruins," Wizard Ariel said, almost reverently.
"When the Thornvale family came here a few years ago, they only managed to explore the outer perimeter before being attacked by strange worm-like beasts and forced to retreat."
He gestured to the surroundings.
"From what we gathered, they didn't even explore ten percent of this place."
The deeper the convoy moved into the ruins, the more surreal it became. Some buildings had entirely collapsed, swallowed by trees and shifting earth. Others stood surprisingly tall, though roofs had fallen in, and vines gripped the stones like iron chains.
But strangely, no monsters or magical beasts appeared.
Kael glanced toward the trees warily. "It's too quiet. Be alert all the time."
They pressed on, cautiously.
Then, a dome-shaped building sat nestled in the heart of the ruins. Unlike the others, this one was entirely intact. Its metal surface shimmered faintly beneath the dust and age, and no crack marred its massive form.
"What is this?" Veyra muttered.
"That thing shouldn't still be standing," Nash muttered as he stepped beside her, eyes narrowing. "Not after a thousand years."
They took a few steps closer.
The air around them seemed to change—
The wind faded to silence.
And the heavy heat of the day? It vanished, replaced by an eerie, unnatural chill that crept over their skin.
"It looks like an invisible barrier," Wizard Ryder muttered, narrowing his eyes. "This structure is being protected—likely by a spatial or elemental ward."
Count Alden raised his hand, signaling them to halt.
Ryder stepped forward and ran his fingers across the massive metal gate. Strange inscriptions shimmered faintly beneath layers of grime. But something else caught his attention.
It was the footprints etched in the dust below.
"Hmm," Ryder muttered. "These tracks are recent." He paused, then turned back to the others.
"Judging by the pattern, this must've been the Thornvale team's route."
With a push, the gate creaked open, revealing a dark interior. As light poured in behind them, the convoy saw a vast, circular hall stretching into the shadows.
And within it, everyone saw strange metal cubes lined the walls—some transparent, some frosted, others glowing faintly with internal runes. Inside them floated things no one recognized—preserved organs, plants with shifting leaves, and glass tubes holding mummified humanoid creatures unlike anything they'd ever seen.
"This doesn't seem like a normal building," Ariel whispered. "It seems more like a research facility."
The group spread out carefully, eyes drawn to the towering arc-like device in the dome's center.
And then, they soon saw the signs of battle.
Broken shields, scorched floor, and sword fragments embedded in walls. Armor bearing the Thornvale insignia, snapped and bloodstained.
Kael crouched beside a shattered blade. "They fought inside this building… They seem to have defeated the monster and left with the corpse."
"They also emptied all the valuable materials inside," Veyra added while looking at the storage boxes.
Count Alden's gaze swept the hall, and after a pause, he spoke with a grave tone.
"Survey the structure. Secure all corners. If it's clear, we camp here for the night."
"Understood," Nash said, signaling his team.
Radiant Knights and scouts fanned out, checking halls, passageways, and lower chambers. Ryder and Ariel began inspecting the arc device, but couldn't even understand what it was.
'Do you have any idea about it?' Raven asked as he observed the arc device.
[It looks more like an Interdimensional Portal.] Zera muttered.
'What does that mean?' Raven asked.
[You can travel to different realms using this. They must have used this device to explore other dimensions.] Zera said solemnly.
'Can it still be used?' Raven asked, intrigued by the technology of the Agith era.
[I don't think this device can be useful after thousands of years. But if you can find its blueprint, you can recreate the device independently.] Zera spoke.
"You want that?" Jovie arrived beside him and asked.
"You know of its function?" Raven raised his eyebrows.
Jovie smiled.
"If I can't even tell its function, I don't have the qualification to be reborn again." She then looked at Wizard Ariel and Ryder and shook her head.
"They are clueless, too."
At that moment, Ariel and Ryder gave up probing the device and walked away to check other small equipment.
Meanwhile, Raven quietly walked towards the arc device and studied it.
[Open the small box on the left side of the arc.] Zera suddenly spoke.
Raven moved towards the left side and opened the iron box. Though it was locked, it came off after a slight pull.
A few Radiant knights and even Wizard Ariel and Ryder got puzzled by his action; none said anything. In their eyes, the large arc was nothing more than junk made of iron.
[See the thing in black? That's the Core Matrix used to activate the engine.]
As he crouched beside the arc device, Zera's voice echoed in Raven's mind.
[The Core Matrix—sometimes called a Core Chip—is the soul of the Interdimensional Portal arc. It's not just a power stabilizer; it stores coordinates, star maps, and the records of every explored realm. Without it, the arc is nothing more than a hollow shell. You'll find it connected by a thin silver binding wire—cut it precisely. One mistake, and the entire data stream disappears.]
Raven's gloved fingers moved carefully, guided by Zera's instructions. The thin silver thread shimmered with a faint pulse, as if the device resisted the separation. He took a glass-edged scalpel from his inventory, sliced the wire in a single smooth motion, and lifted the tiny black cube—the Core Matrix.
Jovie, who had been observing from the side, noticed.
Her lips parted briefly as if to speak… but she closed them again. She turned away, pretending not to notice his action.
Raven stayed near the orc's body for nearly three hours. While others dismissed it as a pile of old era junk, Raven opened multiple hatches, examining the arc's interior.
To others' eyes, he looked like an obsessed scavenger lost in madness. Some were even confused by Raven's, aka Leah's, behavior. After all, 'she' was nothing more than a maid in the Count's house. Alas, nobody thought too much about it.
On the other hand, Raven was memorizing everything with his [Eidetic Memory] skill.
The external shell—its design, angles, and engravings.
The engine core—a swirling crystalline heart still glowed faintly, hinting at its fuel source.
The runes etched into the inner walls—complex language constructs powered by unknown essence.
He touched and scratched parts, even the metal composition, to identify their density and sound.
When he stepped away, his gloves were smudged with metallic dust.
Zera whispered one final thing.
[If you ever want to build one, Raven… the Core Matrix is only the beginning. You'll need a Rune Engine, a power stabilizer, and a dimensional frame sturdy enough to survive space-time fluctuation. The knowledge to build it doesn't exist in your world yet—but you might recreate it if you absorbed more of Runeth's memories.]