After reading the Poneglyph before him, Werther picked it up. Its front was covered in writing, while its back bore a vast expanse of strange patterns.
And those patterns were the key to entering the forbidden grounds.
Werther did not even need to think about it. Of course he had to take a look. If he did not go, he would regret it for the rest of his life.
But when he looked at Rabbit beside him, Werther found himself in a difficult position. He was not afraid of danger, but he did not want to drag Rabbit into it as well.
After Werther conveyed his intentions, Rabbit looked angry for the first time, hopping about in frustration.
After one final exchange in sign language, Werther understood that there was no way Rabbit would wait for him on the ship or the island. Rabbit's meaning was simple: I want to go too.
It seemed that after spending some time with Werther, Rabbit had already come to see him as a friend—his only friend, even.
Werther could only bring Rabbit along helplessly. Seeing how eager Rabbit was, Werther felt that if he chose not to go now, Rabbit would probably be even more anxious than he was. It seemed Rabbit was quite fond of adventure too.
Werther and Rabbit arrived before the volcano and searched for a while before finally finding the location indicated by the Poneglyph.
Werther did not immediately activate the mechanism, because he desperately needed rest. The Poneglyph was simply too heavy. Even Werther, whose strength had already surpassed that of ordinary humans, was exhausted by it.
Werther finally understood why the Poneglyph could remain undamaged for so long. With that density, few ordinary materials in the world could compare to it.
After resting for a while, Werther inserted the Poneglyph into the groove before him. Yet after some time passed, there was no reaction at all.
Werther was a little dumbfounded. This was not how the script was supposed to go. He pulled out the Poneglyph and examined it, then suddenly realized, Damn, could I have put it in backward? He turned it around and inserted it into the groove again.
The moment the Poneglyph went in, Werther suddenly felt the ground beneath his feet tremble. Delight rose in his heart. It seemed there was hope. He wondered what the forbidden grounds looked like and waited for a stone door, hidden passage, or some similar entrance to appear before him.
But after waiting for a while, Werther saw no such entrance. Instead, the trembling beneath his feet grew increasingly violent, and a very bad premonition suddenly came over him.
He looked at Rabbit. Rabbit looked back at Werther, then gave him a dazed little smile, revealing two large front teeth.
Just as Werther prayed that it would not be what he thought, Murphy's Law struck.
Massive cracks suddenly appeared within dozens of meters beneath Werther's feet. Then the ground gave way, and Werther fell into the huge hole that had just opened below him. The instant he fell, he grabbed Rabbit, keeping them from being separated.
After falling for several seconds, Werther felt that something was very wrong. Below them was complete darkness, and he had no idea how deep the hole was. He tentatively activated his Electromagnetic Force and found that it actually responded. The walls of this pit had to be made of iron, or at least contain a great deal of metal.
He pulled himself directly onto the wall. Werther and Rabbit's descent gradually slowed until they came to a stop.
Clinging to the wall, Werther asked Rabbit what he thought. Rabbit was very direct, pointing downward and grinning with his large front teeth. Rabbit looked delighted, but to Werther, he simply looked adorably foolish.
Werther reduced the magnetic pull and began descending slowly. Several minutes later, he finally reached the bottom.
There was no treasure or anything else at the bottom, only sharp metal spikes covering the ground. Each one was a meter long.
Werther's face darkened. He silently thought, Could this be a trap? But then he reconsidered. Who would go to such lengths to set up a trap on this scale just to harm someone they had never even met?
Then he thought of another possibility, though it was rather embarrassing. His grasp of ancient writing was simply too poor. He might have misunderstood some words and activated some mechanism.
And that was indeed the case. Werther had translated "holy grounds" as "forbidden grounds."
Furthermore, the proper orientation of the Poneglyph, as well as the mechanism that needed to be activated after it was inserted, had all been passed down orally by the ancient nation. Anyone who was not a descendant of that ancient nation would have no way of knowing. Two consecutive mistakes would trigger the defensive mechanism.
Werther, who had fallen into the trap, was not too disappointed, because he felt that the trap could not be far from the forbidden grounds.
He immediately drew his twin swords and activated Lightning Mode, destroying the iron walls around him and digging tunnels in an attempt to find the right direction.
On his first attempt, Werther hacked away for a long time. Though he really did dig quite far, the direction was probably wrong, because the iron around him had turned into soil.
He decisively abandoned that direction and began trying others.
Werther cleared the path in front while Rabbit helped clear away the iron and soil he cut down behind him. One man and one rabbit began an intense tunneling project inside the trap.
Werther had lost track of which attempt it was. Just as he was preparing to give up, he suddenly discovered that the metal layer ahead had become difficult to cut through. Rather than discouraging him, this information excited Werther, because he knew he had found the right direction.
After resting several times, Werther finally cut through the metal layer ahead.
Through the gaps in the metal layer, Werther saw red light shining in. Until now, they had only been able to rely on Werther's lightning for illumination, making the red glow before him especially striking.
Gathering all his strength, he sent the metal layer ahead flying with a single slash.
What appeared before Werther was an enormous space filled with densely packed steel pipes. Occasionally, he could even see huge machines.
As he stepped into the vast space, Werther knew that this had to be the forbidden grounds described by the Poneglyph.
Werther took the lead, with Rabbit following behind him. If anything happened, Werther could at least block it and keep Rabbit from facing too much danger.
After exploring the enormous space for a while, they found nothing particularly remarkable. However, they discovered a spacious passage leading who knew where, so they walked straight into it.
Since they were already here, how could they simply turn back? At the very least, they had to explore the entire place. If they truly found nothing, then he could only blame his bad luck.
After walking through the spacious passage for a while, they unexpectedly came upon two doors.
Werther looked at the doors and studied them carefully for some time. They did not appear to be made of iron, but rather a very unusual alloy he had never seen before.
Looking up, Werther saw that each alloy door had a symbol above it. Above the first door was a plant, with a book below it bearing a cross symbol. Above the other door was a fist crossed with a sword.
This was easy enough to understand. The first door probably led to medical arts or prescriptions, while Werther guessed that the second door contained something related to strength.
There was no need to think about it. Of course he would enter the second door.
Werther began studying how to enter it. Looking around, he discovered a passage written in ancient script on the wall. He continued his headache-inducing translation and, after a long while, finally deciphered the following words.
Humans are always greedy.
A healthy body or supreme martial power? Sometimes, you can only choose one.
After opening the door, you will obtain one of them.
My descendants, do not seek to possess everything. This is my final gift.
Without a second thought, Werther pushed open the second door. It slowly opened, while a rumbling sound came from inside the first door. It appeared that the passage within had already collapsed.
Ignoring the rumbling, Werther walked through the second door—the one marked with a crossed fist and sword.
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