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It had been an incredibly difficult battle. After nearly half an hour of desperate fighting, the two of them finally found an opening.
Saruman trapped the monster with a brilliantly timed spell, and Kag seized the chance. With every ounce of strength he had left, he drove his battle-axe deep into the creature's chest.
The monster let out a piercing scream, but hidden within that cry was a hint of relief.
After all, the Alanir who had once been the Star-Speaker had probably been no different from Saruman or Kag, an idealist, a wizard with a true wizard's heart.
Most likely, it was only after entering these ruins that he had gradually been corrupted by the twisted existence lurking here until he became the thing he was now, his longing for knowledge warped into something monstrous.
And Saruman himself was already beginning to walk that same path. His obsessive determination to uncover every secret was itself the result of this place's influence.
It was impossible to say, if Saruman had remained trapped here a little longer, whether he would have become the next Star-Speaker, another servant of the sleeping evil lurking within these ruins.
Saruman himself knew the answer all too well. Watching Alanir fall, he couldn't help but empathize. The man's fate felt like a warning directed at his own future. They had to leave. They had to escape. Otherwise, Saruman didn't dare imagine what he himself would become.
"...Thank you... all of you..." Alanir spoke with his final breath. "...At last... I'm free... Though... I'll never find true eternal peace..."
As he collapsed, Saruman saw clarity return to Alanir's eyes for one fleeting instant. They were the eyes of a living soul again, filled with pain, filled with regret.
To be honest, neither Saruman nor Alanir realized it. When that kind of corruption reaches into the soul itself, death is not always the end. Sometimes, it is merely the beginning of an even deeper suffering.
Once something like that clings to you, it becomes like a parasite attached to the bones; no amount of regret can ever remove it.
"...He's free now," Saruman spoke quietly, his emotions in turmoil. He truly believed that, after death, Alanir's soul had finally been released to journey into the Illusionary Realm.
But was that really the truth? In this era, no one knew.
---
Outside the layer formed by the memory spell, time itself seemed to stand still. The Blind Wizard and the black-robed wizard had remained there all along, yet as the memory unfolded, it felt as though they existed on an entirely separate layer of reality.
The Blind Wizard stood at its edge, his empty eye sockets facing an invisible distance. His thin fingers trembled faintly, as though they had brushed against a truth too terrible to put into words.
He let out a quiet sigh that sounded like wind passing through ancient ruins, carrying the weight of a thousand years.
The black-robed wizard stood beside him, his hood hanging low to hide his face within shadow. Hearing the old wizard's sigh, he released one of his own, so faint it was almost inaudible.
It was the sigh of someone who knew fate could no longer be changed, the sigh of someone who had completely abandoned the illusion that death brought freedom.
Within the memory, Alanir had once believed death was the soul's return to the stars. Saruman had believed it was the final release from the burdens of mortal life. Like everyone else, they imagined the end as a place of peace.
But how could reality ever be that simple? A thousand years later, both Saruman and the black-robed wizard knew the truth. For any life corrupted by those indescribable beings, death was not the end. It was merely a deeper prison.
The Blind Wizard could no longer see the world, yet he understood that truth more clearly than anyone. His sigh wasn't one of grief; it was one of compassion, compassion for every soul that still believed death would bring peace.
The black-robed wizard said nothing. He didn't need to. His sigh had already said everything. Both of them knew how the story truly ended.
Death was not release; it was simply another form of existence, one in which you became part of the monster itself, unable to return to the world of the living, unable to truly die.
---
The memory continued.
As Alanir vanished, his wand crumbled into dust as well. It, too, had been corrupted, and with its master destroyed, the artifact itself finally fell apart. There were no spoils of victory, and there was no joy in winning.
"Move! We have to get out of this damned place!"
After defeating Alanir, Saruman and Kag were completely exhausted. Saruman's magical power was nearly depleted, Kag's right arm had been badly injured, and his battle-axe had become little more than a broken piece of scrap metal.
They supported one another as they continued through the corridor, desperately searching for a way out.
But with both of them wounded, and one of their companions mutating before their eyes, their situation couldn't have been much worse. Every step felt unbearably heavy. The air in the corridor itself seemed frozen, and the suffocating pressure only grew stronger.
Using his uninjured left hand to steady himself against the wall, Kag staggered forward, leaving bloody footprints across the stone floor.
"My right arm... it doesn't feel right. Those black markings are spreading."
"We have to be careful," Saruman spoke between ragged breaths. He had already realized something. "Alanir can't be the only powerful being in this place. I can feel it. There are more terrifying existences watching us from the darkness."
This wasn't a random guess; it was the conclusion Saruman had reached after piecing everything together. Someone, or something, outside these ruins had deliberately spread rumors about a hidden treasure here, and they certainly weren't the first people to be lured in.
Before coming here, Saruman had researched countless adventurers who had disappeared after entering these ruins. At first, he had assumed they had simply failed. Now, he realized the truth: every one of them had probably become trapped here, gradually transforming into those grotesque monsters.
His intuition proved correct almost immediately. No sooner had he spoken than the air in the corridor suddenly turned dry and scorching hot. The glowing moss covering the walls withered away, and in its place, fine grains of sand seeped out of thin air.
The sand swirled through the corridor, crackling softly as it danced. The temperature rose so rapidly that breathing became difficult, filling the air with the dry heat of a desert.
"...Sandstorm Magic," Saruman's face paled. "Very few people in all of Africa can use magic like this. Could it be... him?"
He had already thought of someone, a famous wizard who had vanished without a trace.
A figure slowly emerged from the swirling sandstorm. He wore ancient desert robes, a golden crown rested upon his head, and in his hand was a staff set with a brilliant sun gem.
Parts of his body had already turned to sand, his skin taking on the texture of drifting grains. Even so, his distinctive appearance was unmistakable.
It was none other than Saladin, the Sandstorm Wizard, the Legendary Wizard who had united the desert tribes a century ago.
"The Sandstorm Wizard... Saladin!" Kag exclaimed in disbelief. "The Legendary Wizard who united all the desert tribes a hundred years ago! The history books say he disappeared during a mysterious ritual. Why is he here?"
"...Could that ritual have been some kind of teleportation ritual?" The discovery left Kag stunned.
"Maybe..." Saruman's expression darkened, "...it's the same as what happened to Alanir." His eyes were filled with concern.
"Intruders..." Golden flames burned within Saladin's eyes. His voice rumbled like a desert sandstorm, every word carrying the harsh scrape of shifting sand. "...will all become part of the sea of sand..."
Like Alanir before him, this wizard had also become a servant of the ancient evil. Without hesitation, he swung his staff, and countless grains of sand gathered into razor-sharp blades. They shot toward the two men like a torrential storm.
The blades weren't merely sharp; they carried blistering heat capable of warping the air itself. Even worse, each blade automatically adjusted its path, relentlessly pursuing its target as though it were alive.
"Damn it! Another one at the half-Legendary level!" Saruman forced his exhausted magical power into motion once again. Gripping his wand with both hands, he cast two defensive spells in succession.
"Water Barrier! Ice Shield!"
Two water-based defensive spells sprang up before them, colliding violently with the sand blades. Steam exploded into the corridor as water and burning sand clashed.
"Stay!"
But Saladin's assault was far from over. He swung his staff again, and the sand covering the ground suddenly came alive, forming an enormous whirlpool of quicksand. Its terrifying pull tried to drag the two men into the abyss below.
"Watch your footing! Don't let it catch you!" Kag shouted. Dragging his injured leg behind him, he leaped backward while grabbing loose stones with his left hand, searching desperately for stable footing.
Saruman quickly cast a Levitation Spell, only to discover that the rules of gravity themselves had already been altered.
Saladin let out a hoarse laugh, the sun gem atop his staff blazing with dazzling light. "Within my domain... everything obeys the laws of the desert."
There was no question that he had once been an extraordinary wizard. Countless hands rose from the flowing sand; some resembled skeletal arms, while others looked like the claws of savage beasts. All of them reached toward the two men, trying to drag them into the abyss.
"You don't even know what you're doing! The corruption has twisted your mind!" Saruman fired one Reductor Curse after another, his wand tracing brilliant arcs through the air.
However, the moment the Sand Hands were shattered, they reformed again. They were endless. Saruman tried to awaken what remained of Saladin's will, but it achieved nothing.
"I'm perfectly fine! I've never been better than I am now! Even Legendary wizards are nothing before me! You can't possibly understand the power I've mastered!"
Like Alanir before him, Saladin had been obsessed with magic and strength. Now his mind had been completely consumed by corrupted knowledge. There was no waking him; he had fallen too far.
Of course, his claims of possessing power equal to, or even surpassing, a Legendary wizard were pure delusion. It was nothing more than the arrogance of a madman lost in his own illusions.
If he truly had surpassed the Legendary realm, Saruman wouldn't have stood even the slightest chance. After all, to a Legendary wizard, anyone below that realm was little more than an ant.
The Legendary realm was no longer truly human; the gap between a Legendary and an ordinary wizard was as vast as the heavens and the earth, an impossible gulf. Ian himself was proof of that. To him, killing ordinary wizards was as effortless as crushing insects.
That was why Saladin clearly wasn't truly Legendary. Whether he had even become stronger after his corruption was questionable; if anything, he might actually have grown weaker. Even so, against a young wizard like Saruman, he remained overwhelmingly dangerous.
"This won't work!" Saruman gritted his teeth as sweat ran down his forehead. "His magical power is too overwhelming! We have to break his domain!"
Saladin had already reached the level of a magical domain. Perhaps he had already been standing on the threshold of the Legendary realm before entering these ruins, so it was no wonder Saruman was struggling. Even so, he carefully observed every one of Saladin's spells, and then he noticed something.
Saladin never moved from a particular spot. The sand beneath his feet was denser than anywhere else, forming a unique magical array. Suddenly, inspiration struck.
"I've got it! Kag! Attack the pile of sand beneath his feet! That's the core of his domain! He's still not a true Legendary!"
"Got it!" Kag understood immediately. Despite the grievous injury to his right arm, he picked up a massive boulder with his left and hurled it with all his strength toward the sand beneath Saladin's feet.
At the same time, Saruman drove his wand into the ground, casting the spell he excelled at above all others. "Origin of All Things! Law Reconstruction!"
Brilliant seven-colored light erupted from the wand. The light wound itself around the Sandstorm Domain like living threads, unraveling the magical structure piece by piece.
Both attacks struck simultaneously: the boulder scattered the central mound of sand, while Saruman's analytical magic began dismantling the framework supporting the domain.
Saladin roared in fury, and the surrounding sandstorm immediately became unstable.
"Now!" Saruman seized the opportunity. He bit his finger once more and used his blood to draw another ancient rune across his wand, then unleashed his final trump card. "In the name of the Water God... I summon... Rain of Purification!"
Many forms of ancient magic invoked the names of ancient gods, and even the greatest wizards studied such spells. As Saruman completed the incantation, dark clouds suddenly formed above the corridor, and cool rain poured down from the ceiling.
Against Sandstorm Magic, water was its greatest weakness. Under the cleansing rain, the Sandstorm Domain rapidly collapsed.
Saladin's body began dissolving, grains of sand pouring away from him in endless streams. "You... you can't do this!"
But Saladin had already ceased to be human. Having remained in these ruins far longer than Alanir, his corruption ran even deeper; it could even be said that nothing human remained. Perhaps his mortal body had long since perished, and only an elemental shell continued to exist. That very existence became his greatest weakness.
The corruption bestowed by the indescribable being was never a blessing. It offered him no protection against such a flaw. After all, corruption was, at its core, nothing more than the digestive fluid of those incomprehensible beings.
Its purpose was simply to make the prey feel pleasure... to marinate it... until it became a more suitable meal.
That, at least, was Ian's own theory regarding the corruption of the Great Old Ones. Neither the young Saruman nor the elderly Saruman had ever seen the truth so clearly. That kind of insight required a level of understanding few wizards could ever hope to reach.
Unfortunately, Ian wasn't here. He was still trapped within R'lyeh.
(End Of This Chapter)