The Extra Prince Sets Out To Conquer The World

Abasael unhesitatingly stepped on the stairs leading underground and passed the temple entrance.

Yard shrugged and asked Clio.

“What will you do? Will you follow us in? Or wait here?”

At Yard’s question, Clio answered without much hesitation.

“I will follow you in.”

It might be dangerous. But there was no guarantee that waiting here would be safe either.

Avalanches rarely ended with just one.

Just as there are aftershocks to earthquakes, avalanches also trigger chain reactions in other areas.

In the worst case, an avalanche in another place could affect this area again and even cause a landslide.

In that case, the inside of the temple that had endured without collapsing since the mythical era seemed safer.

Moreover, even if he waited here, he couldn’t carelessly move until the avalanche stabilized and the snow completely froze at night, stabilizing the ground.

“Yeah? Then let’s go in.”

Yard entered the temple without hesitation, and Clio followed behind him.

They went deeper inside, relying on the magic lantern Abasael was holding in the deep and dark path.

“El, there won’t be any traps along the way, right?”

At Yard’s question, Abasael answered while illuminating the wall with the lantern.

“Our lord said there wouldn’t be any particular traps. That makes sense because this temple was built in the mythical era, so whether physical traps or magical traps, they wouldn’t have endured that long.”

If there were primitive traps, they would remain, but it wouldn’t be very dangerous if they were cautious like walking on a stone bridge.

The walls were filled with pictographs close to murals.

“But if it’s a trap from the mythical era, we can’t be sure, right?”

Yard’s concern was also valid.

It was because in ancient ruins or lands where remnants of myths lingered heavily, traps or sentinels often existed as if time hadn’t passed.

Distorted spaces inevitably distorted time as well.

“Ah, that won’t be much of a problem either. It’s the same reason trees can’t grow on this mountain.”

At Abasael’s words, the two showed interest.

“What was I looking for in the temple?”

Abasael asked Yard as if he had become a teacher.

“Mistletoe, the parasitic plant that killed a god in the mythical era.”

Yard played along with Abasael’s lead.

“Right. What we’re looking for is inside here. But for such an extraordinary plant that can kill a god to survive without rotting, how much life force would it need?”

“Could it be… the reason not a single blade of grass grows on this huge mountain is because that mistletoe is devouring all the nutrients of this mountain?”

“That’s not the only reason, but it’s mostly correct. That’s why even if there are traps inside, most of them would have become useless, having been sucked dry by the mistletoe’s immense mana.”

Of course, they couldn’t be certain.

Yuan had also warned that traps could revive or pose a risk, so they had to be sufficiently cautious.

“Wait. Then won’t our life force also be drained if we stay here?”

At Yard’s point, Clio turned pale.

“Th-Then shouldn’t we get out right away?”

Abasael calmed the two down and continued descending the stairs.

“It would be a problem if we stayed here for about a year, but a few days is fine.”

Abasael, who had been continuously descending the stairs, stopped and examined the wall with the lantern.

“Why are you doing that?”

At Yard’s question, Abasael narrowed his brows and felt the wall.

“No, our lord said that after descending about 120 steps, if we search the right wall carefully, there’s a shortcut.”

To be precise, he said it might not open from here since it was a secret passage leading from the center of the temple to the entrance.

If they couldn’t find the shortcut, they would have to pass through a dark maze for three days.

Instead of traps, the maze served the role of a trap.

“Ah…! This won’t work.”

He found the entrance leading to the shortcut.

However, while it was possible to open it from inside the passage, it was impossible to open it from the outside.

If he could use magic, he would have tried somehow, but it was impossible with his current state.

“Then do we have to pass through the maze?”

At Yard’s worried question, Abasael took out a map from his bag.

“It’s fine. Our lord gave us a map of the maze and showed us the way.”

It was a map Yuan had copied exactly from the one in the setting collection appendix.

Even the locations of traps were meticulously marked.

At Abasael’s confident smile, Yard took out a memo pad, saying he would separately map the path they took, just in case.

It was made of parchment, so it wouldn’t easily deteriorate.

“I’ll continue guiding the way.”

Abasael took the lead and confidently headed into the dark maze.

*****

“Aah! I thought I was going to die!”

Febrie exhaled roughly and brushed off the snow piled on her entire body.

After running away from the avalanche pouring down like a tsunami while carrying her lover on her back, she was completely covered in snow like a snowman.

“Brrr, it’s cold.”

Rouerfel also shivered and brushed off the snow from his whole body. In a short time, they had almost traversed the mountain.

While running away from the chain reaction of avalanches, the two found themselves back where they originally were.

“Did we make almost a full circle?”

“Seems like it.”

Febrie made a windbreak with the surrounding snow and said,

“This avalanche doesn’t seem like an ordinary one.”

“Then?”

“It’s a far-fetched guess, but could it be that the geologist did something to cause the avalanche?”

At Febrie’s speculation, Rouerfel tilted his head.

“That ordinary person without mana?”

“That’s why I said it’s a far-fetched guess. But if my guess is correct, aren’t you curious about what he did?”

“Of course I’m curious! Let’s go right away!”

Febrie stopped Rouerfel, who wanted to immediately chase after Abasael.

“Wait. It’s dangerous right now. We don’t know where crevasses are hidden in the snow. Let’s move when the snow covering everywhere freezes at night.”

In the current situation, even a guide would have difficulty moving easily.

****

In the pitch-dark maze, Abasael walked without hesitation, looking at the map.

Then he stopped and forcefully struck the floor with his hiking stick.

Clang-!

Rumble…! Kwajik!

Part of the floor collapsed and fell into a seemingly bottomless pit.

“Falling into this would kill us.”

“Indeed.”

Yard and Clio swallowed dry saliva and followed Abasael’s lead, stepping on the uncollapsed floor and crossing the pit.

Then after walking a long way again, this time he struck the wall.

Tap! Tap! Tap!

Click! Rumble…!

After continuous striking, a sound like a winding spring was heard, and the ceiling collapsed.

Kwakwakwang-!

“Ugh, dust!”

Yard settled the dust with a simple wind magic.

The party climbed over the heavy fallen rocks and advanced.

“Wow, the map of the maze interior was real.”

At this point, they had no choice but to believe it. Even if they didn’t know the way, at least the information about traps was real.

“Ahem! Believe in our lord.”

At Yard’s admiration, Abasael boasted and continued leading the way.

*****

“Was this what that geologist was looking for?”

Standing in front of the huge temple entrance, Rouerfel was excited.

“Look! It must be the forgotten temple!”

“No, there’s no guarantee it’s that. If it’s a relic from the mythical era, immense mana should be felt from the entrance, but nothing is felt at all.”

Febrie tried to calm her lover down, but she also couldn’t hide her excitement.

They both equally loved exploration.

“Something must be blocking the mana from flowing out! Let’s go down quickly!”

Rouerfel joyfully held Febrie’s hand like a child and headed to the temple entrance.

“Calm down. We don’t know what traps there might be, so I’ll take the lead for now.”

Febrie created a light orb with magic and descended the stairs leading inside.

Quickly reaching the end of the stairs, they arrived at a huge maze in the darkness.

At the three-way intersection, Febrie examined the floor and discovered differently colored soil powder.

It was very little, but it seemed to have fallen from the crevices of shoes.

“Soil with a bit of moisture in a dry ruin. They must have gone this way.”

Febrie followed the subtle traces Abasael left. Their steps were very cautious.

“This is the end.”

They reached the end of the maze that kept digging underground.

Abasael illuminated the huge door, which seemed to be over a dozen meters tall, with the lantern.

“It was faster than I thought.”

It seemed like it would take three full days to break through, but it only took about a day.

“That’s how accurate the map was. If we had moved while interpreting the murals in the maze, it would have taken at least a week.”

And that’s if Abasael hadn’t lost his magic.

If he had tried to recklessly break through the maze with this pathetic body, he would have fallen into a trap and died at the entrance of the maze.

“How do we open this door?”

At Yard’s question, Abasael illuminated the crevice dug at the bottom of the door with the lantern.

Then he inserted the meaningless stone fragments obtained while traversing the maze in the correct order into the crevice.

In the pictographs of the mythical era, it meant ‘Eternal blessings upon him’.

As the crevice was filled, the huge door opened by itself.

“Wow~!”

Clio exclaimed at the sight unfolded before his eyes.

As the door opened, inside was a clear sky without a single cloud and a temple built on a hill covered with vegetation, greeting them.

They had continuously descended, so it should definitely be deep underground, but there was no stale smell or suffocating air like inside the maze.

“Is this a magical subspace? Or…”

“It’s a space made of divine power. Most of the things here would be designated as sacred relics if brought to the temple.”

At Abasael’s words, Yard swallowed dry saliva.

Clio didn’t understand what it meant, but being designated as a sacred relic meant being recognized as a treasure that was difficult to put a price on.

Abasael moved forward without hesitation.

Yard thought he would naturally enter the temple, but he headed to the side of the stairs leading into the temple.

Then he carefully dug out an unknown weed with his hand.

Holding the seemingly insignificant grass preciously, Abasael spoke in a choked voice,

“This is the mistletoe we were looking for.”

It was the plant that would save him from the past 10 years of hell.

“What? Not even inside the temple but in a place like this?”

“Rather, it would be strange if it were inside the temple. The plant that killed a god can’t be enshrined in the place where the god resides.”

Yard felt convinced by Abasael’s words but also had a strange feeling.

Abasael, holding the mistletoe, entered the temple.

Inside the temple, statues of all forms lined up like a parade along the path.

They were the forms of all things that had sworn not to kill him in the myths.

After passing through that long path, several branching paths appeared.

“Which way should we go?”

“The fifth path from the right.”

That’s where the altar located in the center of the temple was.

Following Abasael’s words, they arrived at the center of the temple, and a space filled with all sorts of gold and silver treasures centered around the altar appeared.

As Clio swallowed dry saliva and tried to touch a gold bar, Yard stopped him.

“This is too blatant of a trap. Is this the trap your Lord Yuan mentioned?”

At the question of the quick-witted Yard, Abasael nodded.

“It should be. According to our lord, if we touch the treasures here, the gargoyles lined up outside will immediately open their eyes and try to kill us.”

At Abasael’s words, Clio swallowed dry saliva.

Whoever that lord was, if he knew this temple well enough to make a map of the maze they had just passed through, it must be true.

No matter how much he loved money, he couldn’t love it more than his life.

Abasael smiled at Clio’s appearance and approached the central altar.

Then he took out an engraving pen and drew the magic circle that he had practiced dozens of times, drew hundreds of times in the air, and recalled thousands of times in his mind.

At that moment, the mana of the temple began to fluctuate.

“El, did you do that?”

“No! Damn it, someone touched the treasures inside the temple!”

From beyond that passage, the sound of something massive approaching could be heard.

All the gargoyles inside the temple were coming to eliminate the intruders.

Abasael hurriedly handed the mistletoe to Yard and stood in the center of the magic circle, shouting,

“Yard, I entrust you with the ritual!”

“You really won’t die even if I perform the ritual, right?”

“Believe in our lord.”

Yard stood in the place of the material connected to the magic circle and took out a bow from his bag, nocking the string. Then he blindfolded his eyes with a bandage.

“Those statues are rushing over here!”

Despite Clio’s shout, Yard took a deep breath and chanted a spell.

“O lowly grass, this is but a jest, merely a jest. Become the arrow that shall shoot down the sun’s son blessed by all things.”

Yard’s magic was a magic that created ordinary mana arrows that didn’t require a spell.

However, Yard’s spell and the mistletoe in his hand resonated, and the small mistletoe transformed into an arrow.

-Gyaaaaah!

Hundreds of statues rushed in.

“Aaah! The monsters are here!”

Yard nocked the arrow and drew the string. Then he released the string, aiming at Abasael’s heart.

The arrow, which accurately hit Abasael’s heart despite him not being able to see, shone like the radiant sun.