Chapter 33

Several days later, Ryan and his treasure-hunting party arrived beside the unremarkable-looking clearing.

The traces of their previous excavation had not completely disappeared, so they did not even need to search for the spot this time. Ryan did not have to do any of the hard labor, either. His subordinates, brought along for the treasure hunt, rushed forward without waiting for his orders, swinging their shovels at a furious pace. Before long, they had dug a deep pit into the ground.

When they finally uncovered the magic circle at the bottom of the pit, his subordinates could not help cheering.

Ryan, however, was in no hurry to celebrate. He told his men to step aside and had the mage inspect the damage to the magic circle.

"The damage isn't too bad." After examining it carefully, the mage gave his verdict. "It can be repaired. It'll just take some time."

They had plenty of time. They had prepared enough supplies to live in the wilderness for a month for this treasure hunt, and they had used up less than a quarter so far.

So the group settled down there, camping in the very spot where Gerald, Palin, and Ryan had set up camp during their previous treasure hunt.

Dreaming of wealth and a bright future, the exhausted treasure hunters fell asleep.

But they had no idea that, in the low sky not far above them, a gigantic floating jellyfish was watching them and laughing coldly.

Inside the treasure cave, Gerald and Palin were also laughing coldly.

"It looks like they think they've got us cornered," Gerald said. "They're underestimating us. Heh."

Those two chuckles of his were laden with meaning. Beyond the mockery, they carried a murderous intent.

Nien, once known as "Baldy," had been a ruthless man who, in a fit of anger, fought the private soldiers of a noble—and even killed their leader. He had been wanted for years, yet had managed to flee all the way to the Four Northwest Towns and hide safely in White Leaf Village. No one knew how many brushes with death he had survived along the way.

They wanted him dead? Then they had better be ready for him to cut them down first!

Palin said nothing. He merely smiled coldly as he gently stroked his beloved spellbook. Ever since returning from the dead, his spellcasting abilities had changed in ways he could not understand. Some spells had become completely unusable, others had been greatly weakened, while a few had inexplicably grown far more powerful than they had any right to be.

His spellbook contained only a handful of spells, and he had discovered just two with greatly enhanced power. One was Cold Ray. It had originally been a low-level cantrip, usually used for entertainment. In actual combat, it had been barely better than useless. But in his hands, it had become astonishingly powerful. He had tested it once: a single Cold Ray could freeze at least five or six feet of ground solid. If it hit someone, it would probably kill them on the spot.

The other enhanced spell was Frost Dagger. It could summon a short dagger made of ice, which dealt physical damage along with a little cold damage. Its power had been mediocre; perhaps he could get better results by simply gripping an ordinary dagger and stabbing harder. But after being strengthened, it summoned a one-handed longsword of ice, with an absurdly sharp blade and an impossibly sturdy body. Once, he had gripped the hilt with both hands and swung it hard against the rock wall beside him. The ice sword had emerged unscathed, while a chunk of the wall had been chopped off. The cut was perfectly smooth, and a layer of frost had formed over it. Gerald had reached out to touch it, only for his entire palm to freeze to the wall. It took quite a while for it to thaw.

Palin already had some idea of Gerald's resistance to magic. An ordinary person would have frozen stiff from even a brush with frost cold enough to freeze that big man. It was uncertain whether they would even survive.

Without realizing it, he had gained power far beyond what he had possessed in life. The young mage was taken aback, but it also gave him a much more vivid, firsthand understanding of the incredible might of His Majesty, the Void Mask.

This amiable, easygoing deity not only possessed the mysterious power to bring the dead back to life, restoring vitality to soulless bodies so they could speak and act just as they had in life, but could also grant his followers such wondrous abilities. It was simply unbelievable!

"Perhaps... His Majesty's divine portfolio centers on the domains of 'life' and 'cold'?" he guessed, and reported his thoughts to Sui Xiong.

Sui Xiong knew what was really going on. There was no way he could have a domain of "life"; his so-called method of "resurrection" looked nothing like a proper divine art. But the domain of "ice" was undoubtedly real. Perhaps Palin's newfound strength came from being influenced by that aspect of his power.

"If I want to become a true god, then pursuing the path of ice—turning the domain of ice into an ice portfolio—is probably the most reliable way..."

But claiming the ice portfolio would not be easy. More than one deity already held it. The powerful God of Water Element, for instance, possessed a portfolio in that sphere. And among the gods of the northern wastelands, more than one had mastered it.

Once he claimed that portfolio, he would inevitably have to deal with them. The powerful beings who had grown up on the frozen wastelands and eventually ascended to godhood were cold and cruel by nature. If Sui Xiong could not show enough strength to make them keep their distance, he would face a joint assault from a host of deities.

Those vicious gods would descend on him like starving wolves scenting blood, tearing him to pieces and devouring him!

Palin had warned him about this risk, too. Newborn gods whose power was insufficient had been defeated, devoured, and stripped of all their divine power before meeting their final end. It had happened more than once; even a young mage with limited knowledge like him knew several examples.

Although Sui Xiong had considerable faith in his own strength, there was no need to take a risk he could avoid.

"My advice is that you could join a good-aligned pantheon, Your Majesty. Such pantheons have more rules, and their members can't act entirely as they please, but the gods look out for one another. That can be a great help to a newborn deity," Palin advised.

Unfortunately, Palin was only a young, low-level mage, and his knowledge was too limited. He racked his brains but could not think of a good-aligned pantheon that would suit Sui Xiong.

In any case, his advice had given Sui Xiong a great deal to think about, helping him gain a clearer understanding of his future and where he wanted to go. If nothing unexpected happened, once this matter was settled, he planned to head south and visit the truly prosperous regions of the continent. There, he could meet the churches of the good gods and see for himself which deities he got along with and could befriend.

But before that, he would have to properly punish Ryan, the treacherous scoundrel!

As for the thieves who had come treasure hunting with Ryan, he would not take their lives. But he would make sure they suffered a little, so they would learn their lesson and stop committing misdeeds, settling down to live decent lives.

For that purpose, he had even developed a spell specifically for them. It would certainly leave them with memories they would never forget!

Time passed as both sides awaited what was to come. Several days later, the mage Ryan had pinned his hopes on finally repaired the teleportation circle and fully deciphered it, removing its bloodline restriction so that anyone could pass through freely.

"This is a rather old-fashioned type of magic circle. It was popular more than five hundred years ago, but it's obsolete now," he said, sounding somewhat pleased with himself. "This kind of magical structure has been abandoned because it's easy to crack. I wonder who designed this circle in the first place. Judging by the technique, that senior mage was quite skilled—perhaps even more so than I am. But time is the most powerful weapon. For mages who rely on knowledge rather than brute force, outdated knowledge is what really makes them outdated!"

As he spoke, he took out a gem containing a large amount of magical energy and activated the magic circle.

Pale green light flowed out like rippling water, enveloping the group they had chosen in advance to be the first to enter the treasure cave. It transported them inside.

Waiting for them was the hypnotic magic circle Palin had already set up and activated.

Blue-green light flashed. Before the thieves could even see their surroundings clearly, they grew dizzy and drowsy. The only one who was lucky enough to resist the circle's hypnotic power was sent off to sleep by Palin, who stood behind the others and swung his staff at him.

Whether the man would wake up with a headache was anyone's guess.

When the vanguard failed to return, the thieves grew deeply uneasy. So the mage cast a divination spell, hoping to determine whether the first group was still alive.

"They're all alive," the mage said after casting the spell. "And in fairly good health... It looks like there's no particular danger over there. Perhaps something went wrong with the trap."

So they sent a second vanguard through.

Their fate was much the same as the first group's—if anything, they fared even worse. Eager to try out the "physical hypnosis" again, Palin raised his staff, but not one of these enemies managed to resist the spell's hypnotic power. He was very disappointed.

With two groups in a row vanishing without a trace, and the spell reporting only that they were "safe," the thieves grew increasingly uneasy. Seeing this, Ryan and the mage realized there was no way to force the now-timid thieves to take any more risks. They simply cast several protective spells on themselves, then activated the teleportation circle and went to see what was going on in the treasure cave.

The pale green light faded, and the two men appeared inside the cave. The hypnotic circle's power immediately closed in around them, trying to send them into a deep sleep. But Palin's meager spell could do little against the defensive magic they had prepared in advance, and it had no effect on them at all.

Seeing Gerald and Palin standing there unharmed, positioned to attack from either side, Ryan's face changed dramatically. He instinctively put on a smile, hoping to confuse them with words and buy the mage some time.

But Palin gave him no such chance. He leaped up and brought his wooden staff crashing down toward Ryan's head.

With a bang, a pale magical shield appeared and blocked the blow.

Gerald did not attack. He did not even take the axe off his back. He simply sneered at Ryan.

He knew Sui Xiong's power far better than Palin did, and as a warrior, his devotion to the faith far surpassed that of the mage. In his eyes, deciding what to do with these people was His Majesty the Void Mask's business. All he had to do was wait for His Majesty to hand down his judgment, then carry it out.

"When you plotted against us, did you ever imagine things would turn out like this?" His taunting voice echoed through the cave. "What should I call you? Ryan? Or... the head of the Thieves Guild in Glimmerstone Town?"

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