WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: HidingTurtle
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◈ I Became the Ophidian of the Apocalypse ◈
Chapter 107: The Queen Appears
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To call the countless ancient ruins scattered across the continent simply “ancient ruins,” and to lump together the people who built and lived in them as “ancient people”...
was no different from grouping humans, dwarves, fairies, even orcs and Goblins together as “people.”
It wasn't entirely wrong, but it wasn't an accurate description either. Ancient ruins varied greatly in style depending on their era and region.
The gap between the present day and the Belepoque Era was far smaller than the gap between the Belepoque Era and the Oboe Era.
Ruins built during the Oboe Era would already have been considered ancient ruins in the Belepoque Era.
This chapter will focus on the Oboe Civilization, an especially ancient civilization.
The Oboe Civilization developed in the northeastern part of the continent, centered around what is now called the Mountain Range.
The climate back then must have been very different from today. The warm, fertile central plains of the present would have been filled with dangerous monsters, while the harsh Mountain Range would have served as a cradle of civilization.
Wyverns existed in the Mountain Range even then.
Records stated that, unlike now, they had fur and could speak human language. The Oboeans were larger and hairier than modern humans, so one could assume those traits helped them form close bonds with wyverns.
There were records from the Belepoque Era that examined the ruins of the Oboe Civilization.
Almost no trace of the Oboe Civilization remained today, but some ruins appeared to have still been preserved back then.
The Belepoque people described the Oboe Civilization as follows.
‘There were wyverns who married people.’
‘There were people who married wyverns.’
‘In ancient times, people and monsters were the same, so it was ordinary.’
Such astonishing records existed.
Still, a learned scholar would never blindly trust ancient records.
People and wyverns could not form such a union. That would have been true even thousands of years ago. There was an uncrossable difference between species.
Yet it was highly likely that wyverns and Oboeans had lived closely together.
It was likely a relationship bound by faith, something often observed between monsters and ancient peoples.
They offered food to the wyverns.
The wyverns protected the Oboeans from other terrifying monsters.
One could assume such a relationship had continued...
「From Sage Parvian's Study of Ancient Ruins」
* * *
“We were chased by wyverns. Those bastards are insane.”
That was what the adventurer named Jakob said.
“Thank goodness we found this place, at least.”
They had apparently been chased by wyverns. Their original party had numbered ten, but only five remained after the savage wyverns attacked them.
Then they found an underground ruin.
“If you keep going this way, you'll reach a large chamber. That's the center of the ruins. I don't know what it was for, but several paths seem to branch off from the central area.”
He didn't know what it was for?
A ruin called the Wyvern’s Altar sounded suspicious enough already.
I asked Pelerian.
‘Do you know anything?’
-I've heard the Oboeans lived around here and worshipped wyverns as gods.
If those ancient people built this ruin, what was its purpose?
An altar sounded like a religious facility.
“Did you finish the quest?”
Jericho cautiously asked Jakob.
“More or less. We got it.”
Jericho had said the adventurers came to an ancient ruin to find an artifact.
I hadn't exactly believed it.
“Then why were you still here? If there was a passage, you could've escaped!”
Jericho pointed it out, anger clear in his voice.
That made sense. They had nearly died several times for no reason after coming all this way.
Jakob snapped back.
“Fuck, I wanted to go back too!”
“Then why didn't you?”
“You'll understand if you go. Damn it, didn't I say we needed a mage? Someone who knows Ancient Language and can use invisibility magic.”
There was a mage who knew Ancient Language and a snake here, never mind the invisibility magic.
Still, I didn't bother telling them that I knew Ancient Language. They were suspicious.
Instead, I examined the murals.
Murals covered the walls of the passage. It wasn't easy to understand what they depicted, but one showed what looked like prisoners of war being led away.
People with their hands tied were dragged somewhere.
In the end, they were offered at the altar and devoured by wyverns.
The humans who brought the prisoners to the wyverns raised their hands high and praised them.
‘You can tell this place is suspicious just from that!’
I wasn't the only one who noticed.
“The mural's contents aren't ordinary.”
Pandan muttered.
“Well, even if it feels creepy, there's nothing we can do...”
Then again, the adventurers who entered this place hadn't done it for fun.
They had no choice if they wanted to survive.
Soon, I learned why they couldn't leave the ruins.
After walking for over an hour, we reached the end of the passage.
It was a round cavern. Complex patterns covered the floor, and several people sat within them.
“Oh, you're here!”
There was one unusual thing.
A cage-like prison stood in the center of the cavern.
The bars were packed so tightly that a hand could just barely fit between them.
Someone was locked inside.
“Hurry up and get me out!”
Jericho frowned.
“That is...”
“Our leader.”
“What? Then that's Umberto?”
The adventurers all looked shocked.
I needed someone to explain, so I quickly tapped Pandan.
Fortunately, he immediately understood what I wanted.
“Umberto Yuman is an S-rank adventurer.”
‘S-rank!’
There were supposedly only five S-rank adventurers in the kingdom.
Of course, being highly ranked as an adventurer didn't automatically mean someone was strong.
“Umberto is different. Despite being an adventurer, he defeated several knights alone with nothing but a rapier.”
Was beating several knights really that impressive?
Hmm. Knights were scary, sure, but I had even killed the captain of the Holy Knights.
“He is also an Aura Blade user.”
‘So he's a senior swordsman.’
I immediately understood Umberto's strength.
For someone so impressive, though, he didn't look to be in very good shape.
Why was he locked up?
“Damn it, isn't it funny seeing me like this? I messed with the ruins and got trapped. So hurry up and get me out.”
That was what happened.
This was why you shouldn't mess with ancient ruins carelessly.
Having conquered Pelerian's Dungeon several times, I knew how frightening mechanical traps could be.
“Ugh, that smell.”
Pandan covered his nose.
The foul smell was coming from none other than that S-rank senior.
It couldn't be helped. He seemed to have been trapped in there for days, and there was no way the cage had a toilet.
A pile of what was obviously his waste sat in one corner.
Umberto's face turned bright red.
“Get me out before I start throwing shit! Where's the mage?!”
Ugh. If he threw shit, I'd have to roast him with Beam immediately.
Someone needed to tell that poor adventurer an unfortunate fact.
“Um... Captain.”
Jakob explained that the Adventurers’ Association hadn't sent a mage.
Instead, they had sent several adventurers armed with net guns.
“H-How the fuck did that happen?”
“They never listen to us anyway, do they?”
“I, Umberto, made that request! An S-rank, one of only five in this kingdom, made that request!”
It didn't sound very cool when he said it himself.
“Why did only a bunch of losers show up?!”
“Calling us losers is a bit harsh.”
“Fuuuck!”
Umberto actually threw something.
I retreated as far as I could.
Splat!
Something brown landed with a splat where Pandan had been standing just moments ago.
There was no need to explain what it was.
I was furious.
Even Kibaemi trembled their leaves.
‘Should I kill him, Master?’
They seemed to be asking that.
That adventurer called Umberto had just earned a place on my kill list.
I didn't have the confidence to bite him to death, though. He was too dirty.
Jakob broke out in a cold sweat as he tried to calm Umberto.
“Captain, that's how things turned out, so please calm down for now...”
From what I heard, they had accidentally touched something inside the ruins.
Then iron bars had risen from the center and trapped Umberto.
They didn't know what the bars were made of, but they couldn't cut them or find a way to open them.
Umberto's Aura Blade could at least leave scratches, but a rapier wasn't suited to cutting bars.
His Mana had run out far sooner.
If the person trapped in the cage hadn't been Umberto...
If he hadn't been an S-rank adventurer and their leader, they would have likely given up and left long ago.
“Fuck, how long are we going to keep doing this...”
Jakob muttered.
He was tired too.
Honestly, it wasn't important whether Umberto was their leader or not.
If they could, they would have escaped this hellish Demonic Realm as soon as possible.
Hadn't they already completed their quest? They had already secured the item they came for.
“Captain, I promise you.”
Jakob stepped forward without fearing being hit by the filth.
“Hand that over to us.”
“What?”
Umberto tried to grab another handful of waste to throw.
Jakob spoke again without flinching.
“Everyone will be in trouble if we don't return with it. The Adventurers’ Association probably didn't know you were in this situation. That's why they didn't send a mage.”
“You bastard, are you saying you'll leave me behind?”
“If we at least show them the item, won't they send a mage? We'll threaten them, saying we won't hand it over unless they send someone to rescue you.”
“Jakob, you son of a bitch!”
Umberto screamed.
That was the situation.
They had already obtained the item they had been searching for in this Demonic Realm, and Umberto was holding it.
That was why the adventurers couldn't bring themselves to leave him behind.
Since his life was at stake, Umberto probably hadn't been willing to hand it over easily either.
‘But he doesn't look like he's carrying anything.’
The only things Umberto seemed to have were his sword and a small pouch at his waist.
The pouch could only hold things like jewelry at most.
Jakob tried to persuade Umberto, while Umberto raged like a madman.
During that time, I decided to inspect the cavern.
-No matter how I look at it, this is a creepy ruin. Why would there be iron bars? They must have been meant to imprison something.
Pelerian was right.
My keen rational mind warned me that this cavern was anything but ordinary.
‘If the cage is in the middle, it means it was something people came to watch.’
-Oh? Not bad.
In the world where I used to live, there were places called zoos.
Animals were confined in cages while people gathered around to watch them.
The cage planted in the middle of the room reminded me exactly of a zoo.
Did this world have zoos too?
It seemed possible. There might even be monster zoos.
Even if they hadn't been made by some lunatic like Dashnan.
-Go over to that wall.
Following Pelerian's words, I went to the cavern wall.
Mysterious patterns covered it.
They didn't look man-made. They resembled naturally formed wave patterns, though I had no idea how they could have appeared.
-These weren't carved deliberately.
‘Then what are they?’
-Traces left behind.
Hmm.
What could leave wave patterns on a wall...?
Ah!
Something far more dramatic than I expected must have happened here.
“Fuck it. Everyone, get together!”
Someone shouted behind me.
It seemed Umberto and the adventurers had failed to reach an agreement.
“Let's grab this bastard and take the item!”
That was Jakob's idea.
The adventurers would work together to subdue Umberto and steal the item.
“Fine! Let's see you try.”
He looked like a beggar, but he was still an S-rank adventurer.
He swiftly drew his rapier and thrust it through the bars. Jakob clutched his hand and screamed as a hole opened in the back of it in an instant.
“Bring arrows and crossbows!”
“Argh!”
The adventurers staying here must have wanted to retreat long ago.
Their brawl began in front of the stinking cage.
I approached Pandan.
‘Pandan.’
“Yes, Mr. Snake.”
Of all these barbaric adventurers, I liked Pandan well enough.
He was also a fellow disciple of the Perran School Dagger Arts.
So I decided to give Pandan a chance to keep living.
‘What is the item you're looking for? Tell me honestly.’
“Hmm...”
Pandan thought for a moment before speaking.
“This is a secret.”
‘Yeah.’
“It's a wyvern egg.”
He told me more readily than I expected.
Good.
Then I'd let him live.
‘Since you told me honestly, I'll give you some advice. You need to ru...’
I was about to tell him to run.
But it seemed I wrote too slowly.
Clank!
At that moment, every passage connected to the cavern closed.
Iron bars dropped over every exit.
“Stooop!”
Umberto shouted at the same time.
Several arrows had already pierced his body.
Was he finally about to surrender?
“If you lay so much as a finger on me, it’s over!”
He opened his pouch wide and pulled something out.
Something much larger than the pouch itself emerged from it.
It had to be a Subspace pouch.
What he took out was a huge egg, black like a dark pearl.
“I'll smash it right now. Got it?!”
“Captain! Calm down!”
“Calm down, my ass!”
The adventurers had really stolen a wyvern egg.
-Oh dear. This is bad.
Pelerian let out a hollow laugh.
Stealing a wyvern egg. Their courage was impressive, at least.
-It depends on whose egg they stole, but...
Pelerian chuckled.
-Wyverns never let egg thieves go. They chase them to the ends of the world.
So that was why the wyverns had been making such a fuss.
There had been quite a few of them flying around, but there was only one egg?
-It may be the flock or family of the mother wyvern whose egg was stolen...
Grrrrr-
“W-What is that?!”
Even Umberto, who had been raging, seemed to realize what was happening.
The entire cavern was rising.
The wave patterns on the walls were traces left behind as the cavern moved up and down.
“Uh, the ceiling!”
So that was how the ceiling opened.
The adventurers panicked and scrambled around.
“What is this?!”
What do you mean, what is it?
This was the Wyvern’s Altar.
It looked like the altar had activated because enough prey had gathered to be offered.
It was a dark dawn just before daybreak.
White clouds drifted through the sky, and tall stone pillars seemed to pierce them.
Wyverns clung to those pillars, resting.
They saw the humans who had suddenly appeared and began to howl.
“Gwoook, gwoooo!”
“Gwooooooo!”
It sounded as though they were alerting someone.
They found the thieves.
They found the thieves!
As if that was what they were saying.
Then a huge black wyvern slowly descended from the clouds.
“Ah... we're dead. We're all dead.”
Jakob collapsed to his knees.
His reaction told me everything.
-That's the one. The owner of the egg.
Whose egg had the adventurers stolen?
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【Oblivion Wyvern Queen Seleta Lv. ???】
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A wyvern queen had appeared.
A Named Monster, and a very powerful one.
Footnotes:
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