[Lord of Abundance] Chapter 42 — The Core of the Ruins

 

Chapter 42 — The Core of the Ruins

The roots of the Mother Tree had actually spread all the way here?

Kun couldn’t help but feel shaken.

This was the Forest of Eternal Darkness. The charred remains of the Mother Tree—the “Great Black Mountain”—lay at the center of the Forbidden Scorched Lands. Between the two stood the entire Fengrao Territory. At the very least, they were separated by seven to eight hundred kilometers.

It was impossible to imagine just how far the Mother Tree’s roots had once extended. Had the entire Eternal Great Forest—what was now the northern region of the Kingdom of Dansu—once been covered by it?

As an Abundance Mage who had cultivated countless precious magical herbs, Kun understood better than most that for any plant, the part above ground was merely a fraction of the whole.

Lush branches, thriving leaves, fruit hanging in abundance—those were only appearances. What truly mattered was how deeply the roots reached and how sturdy they were. Even if everything above ground was destroyed, as long as the roots remained, the plant could grow again one day.

To a plant, roots were as important as a heart was to an animal.

He picked up a fragment of scorched root from the ground and infused it with the vibrant life-filled mana unique to Abundance Mages.

A moment later, Kun slowly opened his eyes, disappointment written all over his face.

“Even my mana can’t awaken even the slightest trace of vitality within these roots.”

“This isn’t just simple withering from being burned. It’s more like a powerful curse destroyed everything completely—life, soul, even hereditary fragments. I’ve never seen a death this absolute before.”

A completely dead Mother Tree.

Two concepts that should never coexist.

Yet Kun had witnessed it with his own eyes upon a fragment of the most life-filled plant on the Eternal Dawn Continent. The sheer contradiction struck his soul with overwhelming force.

Just what kind of existence could destroy the Ancient Elven Empire overnight at the height of its glory?

What kind of terrifying power could burn the Mother Tree to ashes, leaving not even a shred of life behind?

In a daze, Kun seemed to witness the sea of flames that had engulfed the entire northern region.

A colossal lifeform that towered into the clouds wailed amidst the inferno, unwilling to perish, only to be snapped in half by another horrifying existence and cast into the endless blaze.

From that day onward, the heartland of the Ancient Elven Empire became the Forbidden Scorched Lands—a place where nothing could survive. Only the innocent souls who had died in the catastrophe remained, transformed into skeletal wraiths wandering the ashlands for eternity, never finding rest.

Sadly, countless people across the continent tirelessly sought the magical treasures left behind by the ancient elves, yet very few cared about uncovering the truth behind their destruction.

For one thing, the human kingdoms had little interest in it. Compared to researching the history of a long-dead foreign race buried thousands of years in the past, the nobles cared far more about what they would wear today and whether the banquet dishes suited their tastes.

Secondly, the elves themselves—those who might actually know the truth—treated the topic as the greatest taboo imaginable.

Across the continent, there were three universally acknowledged ways to anger an elf.

First: give an elf a child’s doodle and claim it’s their portrait.

Second: enter an elf’s room without changing your shoes, scatter a handful of beans across the floor, and run away.

Third: discuss the ancient elves in front of them, then tell them the World Tree in their forest is fake—a counterfeit of unknown origin.

The first two might still leave room for reconciliation.

But the third?

Not only would you never become friends with them, you’d probably end up blacklisted by the entire elven race and permanently banned from entering the Elven Forest.

Because to the modern elves of the Eternal Dawn Continent, the ancient elves represented a history of humiliation and enslavement.

Bringing up the ancient elves in front of them was basically the same as pointing at their faces and shouting, “Your ancestors were pigs.”

In fact, it was even worse.

Because to the ancient elves, modern elves had once merely been slaves.

Back then, they weren’t even called elves—they were known as half-elves.

Compare humanity’s treatment of demi-humans on the Eternal Dawn Continent, then compare Blue Star’s treatment of gorillas and bananas…

It wasn’t hard to imagine how miserable those early elves had lived.

Kun even suspected that the modern elves had played a significant—and deeply shameful—role in the downfall of the Ancient Elven Empire.

Otherwise, how could such a powerful empire have collapsed so quickly and so completely?

Destruction from within was always the most concealed—and the most thorough.

The group followed the tunnel carved out by the earth dragon for nearly half an hour.

Eventually, the roots had become so densely intertwined that no boundaries remained between them. They fused into a single mass, and the group felt as though they were walking through the interior of an enormous wooden wall.

Kun had gained an entirely new understanding of the word “root system.”

“Stay alert. The smell of blood is getting stronger.”

After taking a deep sniff of the murky air, Kun glanced in surprise at Dawn’s back not far ahead.

As expected of the warrior path, which specialized in strengthening the body. Even though Dawn was only a third-tier Great Warrior, his physical senses far surpassed those of a Legendary Mage like Kun.

Every one of these warriors had noses sharper than hunting dogs.

Blood smell?

Kun could smell nothing except wood shavings and moss.

“We’ve reached the end.”

Finally stepping out of the root barrier, Kun unconsciously relaxed.

To the others, that “wooden wall” had merely been cramped.

But to an Abundance Mage like him, walking through it felt like a devout believer treading across the corpse of their own god. Every step had been suffocating torment.

Beyond the wooden wall lay a field of bones.

It felt as though they had returned to the Bone Plains above the ruins, except that, unlike the mountain-like piles of beast skeletons left behind by the Blood Horror Demonic Wolves, every skeleton here was humanoid.

Most wore magnificent armor.

Scattered among them were giant stone spheres, making the place resemble a mass graveyard filled with countless unmarked tombs.

“Clang!”

Led by Dawn, the guards immediately drew their swords and surrounded the enormous mound of flesh that had suddenly appeared before them.

Its shape resembled an armadillo enlarged hundreds of times over.

Its head was small, its body curled tightly into a ball. Its back was covered in sharp stone-like protrusions that gleamed with metallic luster.

Those were purified magic ores that the Ore-Eating Earth Dragon had swallowed and later expelled.

One of the warriors cautiously approached the dragon’s head and poked it several times with his sword.

The earth dragon didn’t react at all.

“Captain, I think this big guy’s dead?”

Dawn snapped irritably,

“I’m not blind. Go examine the fatal wounds and figure out what killed it.”

The Ore-Eating Earth Dragon’s body was covered in wounds of all sizes. A massive pool of blood stained the ground nearby.

Wounds inflicted by Blood Horror Demonic Wolves could not heal naturally. Victims would continue bleeding until they collapsed from exhaustion. That was one of the main reasons the creatures were infamous across the continent.

But besides the wolf-inflicted wounds, the guards also discovered numerous cuts left by swords, spears, axes, and other weapons.

Those injuries clearly weren’t caused by magical beasts.

There were even blunt-force impact marks, and nearly half the dragon’s magical ore armor had shattered because of them.

“Could these wounds have been left behind by the Ice Fang Mercenary Group? Something feels off.”

Dawn frowned in confusion.

Could a bunch of second-rate mercenaries like them really inflict meaningful damage on a creature like this?

He knew firsthand how terrifying this earth dragon was.

Even his full-strength strike had felt like scratching an itch. In fact, his sword hadn’t even managed to crack the magical ore armor on its back.

Kun spoke in a low voice.

“No need to guess. The undead did this.”

From the moment he stepped inside, he had sensed an enormous undead aura.

Though he couldn’t smell blood, he was equally sensitive to undead energy—the absolute opposite of life force.

To him, it was like a blazing torch in the darkness.

Impossible to ignore.

“Undead? Where?”

Dawn immediately grew vigilant.

The other warriors exchanged nervous glances and tightened their grips on their weapons, terrified of being ambushed by ghosts again.

Kun pointed at the bones covering the ground with his chin.

“You don’t see them? They’re right beneath your feet.”

“My Lord… you mean these skeletons are all undead?”

One warrior hurriedly stepped backward, repeatedly glancing over his shoulder as though afraid the skeletons would suddenly rise and stab him in the back.

“What are you scared of? Nothing in this world is truly immortal. Undead are merely negative-energy creatures that are difficult to kill through conventional means.”

“Besides, can’t you see these skeletal undead have already died at the hands of that earth dragon? When an undead dies a second time, that’s true annihilation. There’s absolutely no chance of revival.”

Silently, Kun added another sentence to his heart.

Unless someone inherited Archmage Tom’s complete legacy and knew how to forge Death Relics.

“So that’s how it is. Damn things scared me for nothing.”

One of the warriors kicked a skull like a ball, sending it flying far away as he vented his frustration on the pitiful remains that could no longer move.

Dawn’s brows immediately furrowed.

No matter the reason, desecrating the dignity of a warrior—even a dead one—was something he deeply despised.

But Kun, the lord, said nothing.

And Dawn himself was no longer the captain of the guard. He no longer had the authority to reprimand them.

Kun noticed everything, yet his expression remained calm.

He merely sighed inwardly.

Another member of his guard would probably disappear soon enough.

He wasn’t a warrior and had none of their martial principles.

A skull was just a skull.

Who cared whether it belonged to a warrior or even a dragon?

If it could be used as magical research material, he wouldn’t hesitate to collect every skeleton here for experimentation.

How could desecrating a dead thing that felt nothing possibly compare to desecrating truth itself?

Kun didn’t care.

But someone else would.

Old Tate.

Even though the man wasn’t here, Kun knew that once they returned to the Fengrao Territory, Old Tate would investigate every detail of this expedition thoroughly.

Including that careless kick.

Maybe nothing happened this time.

But next time, such behavior could very well bring disaster upon the entire group.

The duty of a guard was protection.

If personal recklessness endangered the team—or the person they were sworn to protect—that was severe dereliction of duty.

Old Tate tolerated no flaws.

Especially flaws that might endanger Kun.

“My Lord, come take a look! I think I figured out how this earth dragon died!”

The earth dragon had curled itself into a ball.

At first, Kun assumed it was simply its posture after death.

But when he saw the dark-gold dragon egg hidden protectively at its center—and the horrifying hole piercing straight through its heart—he finally understood.

The dragon hadn’t curled up naturally.

It had been defending something.

And clearly, it had failed.

Not only had it died, but even the dragon egg had been caught in the attack.

Egg fluid had spilled all over the ground.

All life within it had long since vanished.

“What a terrifying strike.”

Dawn’s expression turned extremely grim.

Only he among them had personally fought this earth dragon.

He understood exactly how terrifying its defenses were.

Yet such a creature had been killed in a single blow, unable to resist, forced to await death helplessly.

Dawn couldn’t even imagine what kind of existence could accomplish something like that.

Sure enough…

The world was far larger than he had imagined.

Even the royal capital merely gathered some of a kingdom’s elites.

If one became arrogant simply because they earned a bit of fame there, then their path as a warrior would end sooner or later.

After witnessing the overwhelming might of the fourth-tier ancient dragon, Kun—the Legendary Mage who could casually kill high-tier magical beasts—and now this earth dragon corpse…

Dawn felt no fear.

Instead, his faith in the warrior’s path burned even stronger.

His fighting spirit surged higher than ever before.

Never had he longed so desperately for the day he would truly step into the Heroic Realm.

Only by reaching that supreme domain would he earn the right to challenge such beings fairly.

As he was now, he stood outside the gates, lacking even the qualifications to glimpse the scenery within.

Kun stared at the Ore-Eating Earth Dragon’s corpse, unable to understand one thing.

It had already reclaimed its egg.

So why hadn’t it escaped?

Why had it instead ventured deeper into the core of the ruins and died here?

Perhaps it had gotten lost.

That wasn’t impossible.

But surely it could distinguish between dirt and an enormous wooden wall?

Yet it had burrowed all the way here regardless.

Something in this place had attracted the earth dragon strongly enough for it to disregard its own injuries—even its life.

Realizing this, Kun’s eyes suddenly lit up.

He looked in the direction the dragon had been heading.

There had to be another secret hidden deeper inside.

Perhaps it was the true treasure of these ruins.

After all, the ancient elves had gone to extraordinary lengths to construct such a massive underground complex—far too enormous for elves themselves to practically use.

They had even used the Mother Tree’s roots as part of the ruins’ defensive system.

The scale of it all was beyond imagination.

“Let’s go. We’re heading that way.”

Kun could hardly wait to uncover the secrets hidden within the ruins.

To a mage, there was no treasure more valuable than knowledge.

And secrets were often another name for knowledge—

especially the kind no one else knew.

The kind with immense research value.