Chapter 243 The devil comes again, explore the ruins!
The next morning, Arthur stood before a repeatedly bowing and apologizing Wiz, hesitant to speak.
"Considering that the demon's words can't be fully trusted, I planned to ask you first today before setting off, but…"
"I'm sorry! I'm truly very sorry!"
Behind the inexplicably timid shop owner, a new shop assistant in a work apron was diligently dusting with a feather duster.
The masked shop assistant, noticing his gaze, turned around with an air of nonchalance, raising the corners of his mouth in a very friendly smile.
"Welcome, my nemesis! Does seeing my reappearance in the human world once again make you feel a hint of discouragement regarding your previous efforts…?"
Bang!
Arthur instantly darted past Wiz, who was blocking the door, and a powerful uppercut precisely shut the demon's chattering mouth, the immense force directly blasting half of him into the ceiling!
"Mr. Arthur, could you please not fight inside the shop?"
Wiz, belatedly, turned her head to look at the smoking hole in the ceiling, a troubled expression on her face.
"Actually, Vanir had long wanted to leave the Demon Lord's Army, so he severed his contract with the Demon Lord through death. Now he… should be harmless… probably?"
"Probably?"
Arthur shook his wrist, looking at the great demon embedded in the ceiling, cosplaying as a chandelier.
Wiz gave an awkward smile: "Well… although Vanir has a venomous tongue and likes to play nasty jokes, he's not bad at heart."
Vanir propped himself against the ceiling and effortlessly pulled himself out. He elegantly brushed the dust off his suit and bowed to Arthur.
"Exactly so, my nemesis. Look~"
He raised a hand and pointed to the forehead of his mask, where a Roman numeral "Ⅱ" was solemnly marked.
"You and that annoying water goddess did indeed take one of my lives. Now I am the second-generation Vanir!"
"That doesn't matter. I never expected to completely get rid of you anyway. Rather, your presence here actually makes things more convenient."
Arthur walked past the self-absorbed Vanir, went straight to the counter, sat down, and directly questioned him.
"Explain clearly, what else is hidden inside that ancient ruin you mentioned before you 'died'?"
Before he finished speaking, Arthur pulled out a piece of intelligence paper from his pocket and threw it at Vanir, who was still in his embarrassing pose.
It contained information about an ancient ruin, recorded by the guild, which had supposedly been thoroughly explored by adventurers, with no apparent issues.
"Calling it 'before death,' what an uninteresting nemesis."
Vanir casually caught the intelligence paper but didn't even glance at it, shaking his head with conviction.
"I don't know! Although I claim to have seen everything in the world, overly filthy things are not the scenery demons cherish. Besides—"
He turned his pair of blood-red eyes from beneath his mask towards Arthur, carefully reining in his abilities with an infinitely cautious expression, and let out a light chuckle.
"The newly arrived nemesis has an unknown origin and is pursuing matters unrelated to demons. No matter how I think about it, I don't find any amusement."
Arthur narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing the elegant Vanir, and after a moment of contemplation, took out a heavy pouch of eris from his pocket and placed it on the counter.
"Wiz, this is compensation for the ceiling. If the ancient ruin doesn't have what I'm looking for, you'd best kick this demon out."
"Ah? Yes, yes."
Wiz stepped aside, letting Arthur leave, while Vanir adjusted his mask and nonchalantly resumed cleaning.
…
Leaving Axel, Arthur sped along with the wind, quickly arriving above the ancient ruin described in the intelligence report.
Considering that this operation was highly likely to encounter puppets of the unknown entity, he persuaded everyone who wanted to accompany him to stay behind.
He even specifically picked a "good" quest for his enthusiastic, but idiotic, teammates—
Although Kazuma's expression before leaving was as tragic as if he were going to an execution ground.
At this moment, Arthur looked down from mid-air. The outer perimeter of the ruin was covered with collapsed pillars and dilapidated arched buildings.
In the center of the pockmarked building complex, an unweathered gateway stood, the only entrance to the interior of the ruin.
The entire area was desolate and silent. Not to mention monsters, even the hardiest weeds didn't bother to take root here.
"An ancient ruin long since emptied by novice adventurers. What could the unknown entity possibly infest here?"
Arthur released his senses, confirming there were no life fluctuations around, so he lowered his altitude, preparing to enter and investigate.
Rumble—!
A sudden rumble shook the earth!
On the supposedly silent ruin square, earth and stone cracked, and a steel-boned mechanical giant burst out of the ground!
It completely blocked the path to the interior of the ruin. Its tall and mighty body gleamed in the sunlight, casting a shadow that enveloped the entire square.
Arthur looked up at the Ruins Guardian, which said nothing but had fierce eyes, his gaze slightly darkening.
This mechanical giant, in both appearance and craftsmanship, bore a striking resemblance to the autonomous golems inside the mobile fortress destroyer.
"So, another good deed by that reincarnator?"
The Ruins Guardian, not understanding what he was lamenting, took a large stride forward, and the ground cracked beneath its feet!
Its immensely heavy fist was raised above its head, carrying a tearing roar through the air, and slammed down fiercely towards the tiny intruder before it!
"Here, I display the supreme valor of hunting lions and dragons, shattering heaven and earth!"
Arthur did not dodge, but defiantly raised his palm to meet the blow!
The moment fist and palm met, an ear-splitting metallic screech erupted!
He exerted force with his five fingers, actually crushing the Ruins Guardian's right arm armor into a ball of scrap metal!
Then, he pushed aside the Ruins Guardian, which was sparking and smoking, and casually weighed the imperishable, unknown metal in his palm.
"Huh? Much lighter than I expected?"
The fallen Ruins Guardian propped up its unbalanced giant body with one arm, kicked up a whirlwind with its feet, and stomped towards Arthur again, in a stance that suggested it wouldn't stop until its goal was achieved!
Arthur stomped his foot, his figure leaping into the air like a flash of lightning, then spun around and delivered a powerful whip kick, striking the Ruins Guardian's head with a heavy thud!
With a "crack," the sturdy faceplate shattered instantly!
The immensely heavy mechanical body flew backward through the air, crashing clumsily into a large number of arched buildings, finally lying askew in a pile of rubble, completely motionless.
Seeing this, Arthur did not relax his guard in the slightest.
Because according to the habits of that crazy reincarnator…
Beep! Beep!
As expected, a cold, emotionless mechanical prompt sounded, and the fierce light flickering in the Ruins Guardian's eyes suddenly intensified!
"Thousands of winds in the dome, heed the divine command, shred the cloud skeletons, come quickly!"
An invisible wind swept through the air, lifting the Ruins Guardian, which was glowing red, rapidly into the sky!
Amidst the gradually fading prompt, an earth-shattering explosion echoed through the heavens!
Violent gusts of wind descended from the sky, making Arthur's clothes flap wildly.
He withdrew his gaze from the high sky and turned to the bottomless entrance of the ancient ruin.
"I hope that reincarnator didn't install a self-destruct device inside the ruin as well… Hmm? Did I just jinx it?"