Book 4 Chapter 86 - Medusa’s Temple (2)

Game of Divine Thrones

Finding the entrance to Medusa’s Temple was an easy task.

Once they began heading beneath the abandoned monastery, a blue arrow appeared above Medusa’s Key and guided them.

‘I hope the exploration will end before sunrise.’

Woohyuk was only accompanied by Tinia, Silvia and Sieg. They were the only ones part of the exploration team.

The rest of the mercenaries were resting in the monastery.

It was unnecessary to bring them along, as they would only hold them back.

‘They would also ask for their share of the loot.’

It was a situation that occurred with every exploration.

Everyone would claim that they had the greatest contribution, and nobody could come to a compromise.

Woohyuk slew the huge venomous serpents that approached them as he recalled the events in his previous life.

Swish!

A dark blue liquid was splattered onto the pillars.

Their marching speed was considerably fast.

Their synergy was affecting their exploration speed as skilled individuals had gathered together.

“It’s a lot easier than I expected.”

“I thought so too. I was worried that it would be hard since it was called a hidden ruin.”

With a lot of leeway, they began having some small talk.

It was too boring to kill monsters without saying anything.

“Be careful of the dark corners. Some may jump out of nowhere.”

“Don’t worry. Venomous snakes can’t approach me.”

Silvia, who was chatting with her sister, took out the Basilisk’s Essence from her pocket.

It was an item that could prevent venomous snakes from approaching just by holding onto it.

It was one of the items Woohyuk had lent her before entering the ruins.

“No wonder they were all coming towards me.”

“As an enchanter, I have trouble with surprise attacks. But I’ll tie the snakes with my skills for you.”

Silvia cast her magic chains and tied the huge snakes around Tinia into one.

Then, Tinia swung Tabris and created her turquoise vortex, shredding all the snakes.

‘She’s a lot more sociable than in my previous life.’

Woohyuk thought to himself as he glanced at Silvia.

Her attitude was the same as before, but her expression was a lot brighter and she spoke a lot more.

It must’ve been because Tinia had survived during this expedition to the forest.

‘She’ll do fine in the Rhine Kingdom.’

Tinia and Silvia inherited titles and became nobles of the kingdom.

They didn’t have to worry about food or shelter anymore like they did during their lives as mercenaries.

The two sisters had a lot of potential and room for growth, so Woohyuk was planning on giving them preferential treatment.

‘Well, there’s still a long way to go until we return there.’

He had come to the Izuna Kingdom for more than just Medusa’s Bronze Mirror.

One of his objectives was finding records of the Ark of Knowledge.

The Ark of Knowledge is a mythical library where ancient and secret books are hidden away. During the last 40 years, nobody managed to find this library.

In the first place, its very existence is an uncertainty.

Woohyuk had coincidentally heard of it when he was conversing with archeologists from different clans.

‘I remember them saying that they had found out about it in the royal library of the Izuna Kingdom.’

In a secret area of the royal library, a nameless tome was hidden away.

A certain archeologist was cleaning the library when he stumbled upon this tome, recording information about the Ark of Knowledge.

‘This time, I’ll find it before him.’

The archeologist spent dozens of years trying to decode this ancient tome, to no avail.

In the end, the tome turned into a handful of ashes and vanished, locking the truth away for eternity.

As soon as he obtained Medusa’s Bronze Mirror, Woohyuk was planning on heading to the Izuna Kingdom’s capital city, Neferti.

“You look like you’ve got a lot on your mind.”

Sieg spoke as he watched Woohyuk’s anxious look.

He was already quite fond of Woohyuk, as he had saved Tinia and Silvia from the crazed Kriemhild who had lost her mind.

“Oh, there’s a lot of concerning affairs I need to deal with.”

“Is it because of Medusa? I’ll try to convince her myself.”

Medusa was one of the monsters the witch Kriemhild had befriended.

It originally used to live in the forest, but voluntarily decided to move to the ruins when Kriemhild appeared.

Therefore, as Kriemhild’s husband, Medusa could potentially listen to Sieg’s request.

“What if negotiations fail?”

“I will personally subdue Medusa. Her curse magic is ineffective against me.”

Sieg’s passive skill called Dragon Skin[1] could nullify all attacks from B-grade or lower weapons and Beginner and Intermediate magic spells.

It would allow him not to turn into a stone statue when trying to kill Medusa.

“Alright. I’ll leave it to you this time.”

“I will not disappoint you.”

“But where is Brynhild’s grave? It’s hard to locate it because of these ruins’ layout.”

Medusa’s Temple was like a complex maze.

There were countless diverging paths that were intertwined together. One wrong step would activate traps and show a completely new pathway.

It was impossible to find a hidden chamber in these ruins within a single night.

As Woohyuk cut down a snake lunging at him, Sieg answered.

“Medusa is guarding the entrance to Brynhild’s grave.”

“Does that mean that there are two secret chambers?”

“Yes. But we cannot enter the room where Brynhild’s grave is located using ordinary methods.”

A top-grade barrier spell was surrounding it, so without an exceptional magician’s help, they couldn’t remove it.

Woohyuk found the situation a bit problematic.

“An exceptional magician… Is there no other way?”

“I’m not sure. It might be possible if we use Tabris’ abilities.”

Brynhild had personally engraved the runes on Tabris’ blade.

Therefore, the valkyrie’s power was inside the sword.

The chances of success depended on how skillfully Tinia could wield Tabris.

“We’re almost there.”

“Yes, I can feel a dark energy emanating.”

Woohyuk and his team had somehow reached the middle of the labyrinth.

There were three bronze doors in the distance. Woohyuk pondered for a while as he observed them.

‘It’s a shame we won’t be able to clear the other 2 gates.’

Similarly to the Arachne’s Temple, there were three gates with a low, high and medium difficulty.

If Woohyuk’s team chose the ‘high difficulty’ door, they would be unable to access the remaining doors.

‘I shouldn’t be too greedy.’

If someone chose a gate, he would not be able to challenge the other ones.

Even if the doors remained open, he would get pushed out should he try to attempt it.

Therefore, he generally challenged ruins with a great number of people, but he didn’t have as much leeway this time.

To obtain all the rewards from Medusa’s room, he needed the cooperation of all his team members.

“We’re going for the door in the middle.”

“The hard one? Alright. The reward must be of high quality.”

Tinia whistled as she opened the bronze door in the center.

Once the team entered the room, a crouching dark silhouette shook and rose in a corner.

“Who dares to disturb my sleep?”

It was Medusa, waking up from her slumber.

“I’ve come to talk, Medusa.”

Sieg stepped forward and spoke up.

Seeing his appearance, Medusa wore a puzzled look as her blue eyes blinked several times.

“Sieg? Why are you here?”

“I come with terrible news.”

Sieg narrated the events that had happened to Medusa in detail.

Once his story had finished, Medusa scoffed.

“Nice job bringing Kriemhild’s murderers here. Just who’s side are you on?”

“I’m on no one’s side.”

Sieg simply wanted to be together with his descendants.

The conflict between gods, demons and humans mattered not to him.

He was a forgotten hero and had no worldly desires.

“Is that it? I see no reason for me to help you out.”

“Must we shed blood meaninglessly?”

“It’s not meaningless. All men are my enemies.”

The reason she had yet to attack Sieg was because he was Kriemhild’s husband.

However, now that Kriemhild was dead, she did not plan on treating him like an insider anymore.

Moreover, she did not enjoy the fact that he had joined the group of people who had killed Kriemhild.

“Is it because you got abandoned by Jerome that you despise all men?”

“Yes, I realized that men are all the same. You seduce women by whispering sweet words in their ears, use them to your satisfaction and throw them away once they are of no use to you anymore.”

Medusa was once a beautiful shamaness.

Her fate was to pray to the Sea God until her death and to receive oracles from him.

However, on a certain day, a handsome adventurer called Jerome came to the temple, and Medusa went through a trial of life.

The trial of deciding how far she’d go for love, as she had fallen for the adventurer.

Later, Medusa stole a scroll that was hidden within the temple and gave it to Jerome. That led to the wrath of the Sea God.

A bloated face as if she had drowned.

An extended, forked tongue.

A slithering and squirming lower body like that of a snake.

Her beautiful appearance had turned hideous. Jerome soon abandoned her and she was chased out of the temple. She then began living in the forest where few humans were present.

This sequence of events had given birth to her hatred against men.

“Not all men are like Jerome. Don’t get led astray by a misconceptual generalization.”

“Silence! I don’t want to hear those words from someone like you. If you want the treasures, just come at me. Don’t try to sway me with those absurd statements!”

Medusa raised her staff and gargantuan venomous snakes were summoned around her and began slithering towards the humans.

“I leave Tinia and Silvia in your care. I’ll defeat Medusa with my own hands.”

Sieg said so as he brandished his longsword. Immediately, a fiery aura began swirling around the blade.

Woohyuk was greatly interested with this scene.

‘Is he about to use Infinite Attacks?”

A skill that allowed him to do a wide-range attack by shooting out his aura.

Facing his overwhelming strength, the serpents fell powerlessly.

“Tinia, Silvia, prepare for battle.”

Soon, Sieg clashed weapons with Medusa and Woohyuk began to worry about the safety of the two sisters.

He currently was at his limit.

Although he couldn’t wield Verserios again in the same manner as he did during his fight against the Witch of Envy, he could still deal with a few big snakes.

Slit!

Grandia glimmered as it cut down the approaching monsters one by one.

Tinia and Silvia had obviously also begun to participate in the battle.

They all played an important role and showed off each of their skills.

Soon enough, when the battle was nearing its end,

“I’ve succeeded!”

Sieg shouted as he held Medusa’s decapitated head in his hand.

Woohyuk nodded towards him and began to summon Medusa as an undead.

[Undead Medusa]

- Class: Undead Magician (Humanoid)

- Abilities: Leadership (500), Bronze Scales (Decreases all damage by 30%), Medusa’s Curse (Casts petrification magic on those who gaze upon her evil eye), Queen of the Venomous Serpents (Can summon up to 100 large venomous serpents every hour), Poison Mist (Casts poison magic within an area of 15m of radius), Enchant Poison (Can endow poison attributes to equipment)

- Stats:

Strength 147

Vitality 172

Dexterity 194

Intelligence 285

Spirit 278

‘She seems more or less usable.’

Unlike the Arachne, he didn’t capture her but made her into an undead.

It was bothersome to have subjects that would often disobey orders.

Thankfully, her overall stats and abilities were quite good.

Especially Medusa’s Curse, Queen of the Venomous Serpents, Poison Mist. They would be useful on the battlefield during wars.

After going through Medusa’s status window, Woohyuk headed to the first hidden chamber.

Upon a shabby altar lay two items.

[Medusa’s Bronze MIrror]

Type: Consumable

Effects: Crafting material. Can reflect curse spells of opponents with a lower spirit stat than the user.

[Perfect Antidote]

Type: Consumable

Effects: Single use item. Can cure someone from any kind of poison(Only on living beings).

‘Satisfactory.’

The value of the antidote was immense as there were no restrictions on the types of poison.

There were many poisons in the world for which antidotes hadn’t been found yet.

After pocketing the items, Woohyuk headed towards the entrance to the second hidden chamber.

“Go on.”

“Alright.”

Tinia nodded and activated the runes engraved on Tabris. She then proceeded to swing Tabris onto the orange barrier that sealed the room.

Skreeeek!

Sparks flew and cracks began to form on the barrier.

Tinia continued to press forward, when suddenly…

Shatter!

The barrier broke with the sound of a window shattering.

“Good work.”

“Yeah, thanks…”

Woohyuk stroked her head and Tinia lowered her beet-red face, seemingly embarrassed by this unexpected praise.

“Will you enter first?”

“Of course.”

He wanted to personally verify what was inside the valkyrie Brynhild’s grave.

With a worried look, Sieg stepped back as Woohyuk marched forward.

1. Was called Dragon Armor in the previous chapter.

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