Chapter 275: The Frost Plateau (2)

“Mmph...!! Mmph...!!!”

Anthem Howard was doubled over, retching violently, seemingly oblivious to the fierce blizzard that raged across the plateau.

“You alright?” Karyl asked.

“...Yeah, I’m just glad I didn’t eat anything before we left. Otherwise, this would’ve been a really unpleasant sight.” Anthem managed a weak smile, his voice still shaky.

Karyl chuckled at his response.

It’s been a while,

he thought.

Karyl gazed out over the vast, desolate expanse of the Frost Plateau. There wasn’t a soul in sight, just the unforgiving landscape stretching out before him.

In the distance, two towering pillars jutted into the sky, crossed like an inverted crescent moon. They resembled the sharp fangs of a wolf.

The Bastion of the Wolf Fang.

This place, once the domain of Roarvrok—the White Spirit Wolf, one of the three legendary beasts venerated in ancient times—held profound meaning for Karyl. Although he had never come across the elusive beast in his previous life, this location was special for an entirely different reason.

I shed a lot of blood here

, he reflected.

This plateau had once been painted crimson with the blood of the Tarak and the other monsters he had slain. The three Oracles were the trials the Ten of the Oracle had to endure, and the last of the relics lay dormant in this very place.

The revelation that the final trial would take place on the Frost Plateau had left everyone speechless, much like Anthem. After all, these lands had remained undisturbed by humans for countless years.

However, their shock stemmed from a different reason than Anthem’s.

“I’ll lead the way.”

After the Oracle was delivered and the light faded, the group standing at the altar turned their gaze to a woman. It was none other than Kay Rothschild, the puppeteer who had volunteered to guide them to the relic.

“It’s the first time I’ve heard your voice since we met. We were starting to think you might be mute,”

Milliana remarked, surprised.

“Heh...”

“Why the sudden change? This doesn’t seem like you.”

“Yeah. Offering to be our guide is quite unexpected.”

Laughter filled the room as everyone looked at Kay with curiosity. But despite the playful atmosphere, Kay simply pulled the hood of her black cloak further over her face. She knew they weren’t mocking her, but rather trying to ease the tension they all felt regarding the final Oracle.

“You do know the way to the Frost Plateau, right? It’s not even marked on the map,”

Karyl’s voice cut through the mirth, bringing a tense silence to the hall.

True to her cold nature, Kay Rothschild made no response. Instead, as the Ten arrived and were greeted by the chilling winds, only Karyl heard her mutter something to herself.

“I’ve come back...”

Whooosh...

Karyl trudged through the snowstorm, her words echoing in his mind.

You had come back... Now I understand what you meant

, he mused.

You knew this uncharted land because it was where your family once dwelled.

The Rothschild family—Olivurn had once mentioned that during the Magical Era, it was a house of considerable influence, but that was the extent of his knowledge.

The Ten of the Oracle had never really been concerned with each other’s pasts. Karyl, too, hadn’t given much thought to Kay as she murmured by herself. But now, things were different.

In my past life, we scoured the entire Frost Plateau to find the last relic of the three Oracles.

Thanks to Kay’s guidance, they had successfully located the ruins, but now there was no sign of any mansion or homestead.

That leaves only one possibility.

It was something Karyl hadn’t considered back then, but now a new possibility occurred to him—the ruins where they had found the relic could very well be the ancestral home of the Rothschild family.

Karyl became even more certain of that when he confirmed the location written on the letter of introduction Calypson had given him.

“Wow...” Anthem Howard broke the long silence.

They had been walking for some time now, traversing what seemed like a barren wasteland, with Karyl leading the way across the plateau as though he knew it like the back of his hand. Despite the bitter cold and relentless blizzard, Anthem trudged on, determined to keep up.

“This is truly incredible...” Anthem murmured, his gaze fixed on the landscape as it was bathed in the first light of dawn. In this part of the continent, the sun rose last, yet its rays painted a scene more breathtaking than anywhere else.

“It is, isn’t it?” Karyl responded, his tone almost indifferent as he pointed to something in the otherwise desolate landscape—a lone, weathered stone, seemingly out of place in the frozen expanse of land.

“...What?” Anthem looked puzzled. There was no sign of any ruins, no remnants of the mansion.

“Take a look,” Karyl said, nodding toward the stone.

After hesitating for a moment, Anthem braved the biting wind and approached the old stone.

“...”

The stone was covered with inscriptions, and beneath the text, there was an unfamiliar diagram. To Anthem’s surprise, he felt an immediate pull as he laid eyes on it. He moved through the snow as though entranced, drawn toward the stone with a sense of purpose.

“What is this...?”

Karyl, who had anticipated Anthem’s reaction, watched with his arms crossed, a faint smile playing on his lips.

“Why is something like this here?” Anthem asked, his curiosity piqued.

“You think you can figure it out?”

“Hmm... Let me try.”

Anthem spread his palms, concentrating his mana. Then, a transparent, glass-like screen materialized in the air before him, projected from the bracelet on his wrist. As he manipulated the screen, it split into multiple layers, each one displaying a different aspect of the inscriptions.

“Hmm.”

Karyl watched with interest.

The floating hologram, a product of magitech, reminded him of the control panels in the cockpits of the principality’s fleets. Anthem began transcribing the combinations from the stone onto the transparent screens as though writing in a journal.

“The Celestian Array of the Eastern Land is a mystic technique that correlates celestial movements with numerical patterns. The 108 formations derived from these calculations culminate in a battle formation used exclusively by the Eastern Land’s leader, Simon Coden. It’s the Serpent Encampment Formation.”

“Hmm.”

Karyl nodded in acknowledgment, as he was familiar with the Serpent Encampment Formation. In his past life, after unifying the principality, the empire had attempted to conquer the Eastern Land and struggled against Simon Coden’s bizarre tactics.

In the end, they failed to conquer the island.

Even the elite Special Forces, who had successfully navigated the fierce currents of the Fonein, couldn’t overcome the waves of the Eastern Land. What could have turned into a prolonged conflict was instead halted when the Oracle was prophesied, leading to an armistice between the empire and the Eastern Land.

I always thought the strange waves around the island were just a natural phenomenon, but perhaps it was all a part of their mystic arts.

This time, however, things were different. No matter how high the waves rose, they couldn’t reach the skies. Unlike when he had served the empire, Karyl now had a unit of wyverns at his command.

“Nine at the top, one at the bottom, with three and seven to the sides, and in the center...”

Unaware of Karyl’s thoughts, Anthem was completely absorbed in his task, shifting the holographic screens in midair as though assembling a puzzle. He seemed oblivious to the biting cold that had been sapping his strength. Now, his mind was entirely focused on deciphering the ancient script.

Karyl, watching him, set about making camp, lighting a fire, and cooking some dried meat he had brought along.

They stood there for a long time, unsure how much time had passed. It could have been longer than the climb up the plateau itself. Only when the once brilliant sun had dipped below the horizon, leaving their base illuminated solely by the flickering fire, did Anthem break the silence.

“Aha...!”

Karyl, who had been chewing on a piece of dried meat, glanced over at him.

“This... This is incredible.”

“Is it?”

“I might be overstepping, but I think we need to redefine the word ‘genius.’ The person who created this was nothing short of a genius!”

Anthem’s voice trembled with admiration rather than frustration at the unsolved puzzle.

“Is that so?”

“Yes! It seems simple, but this formation contains hundreds—no, thousands of variations. It’s like... someone who has mastered not only the changes of heaven and earth but also the realms of magic and life itself created this.”

“If this were used in battle, what would happen?”

“It would be a game changer. The strategies we use now—rearranging the order of battle lines or splitting forces—would seem trivial by comparison. But...”

Anthem’s voice dropped, tinged with disappointment. Karyl, understanding his hesitation, nodded slightly.

“So, you can’t fully solve it, huh?”

Anthem looked around, his expression troubled.

“It’s not that I can’t solve it... Rather, no one could solve it as it is. The keystone is missing.”

“The keystone?”

“Yes. There’s a central element missing. I thought it resembled the Eastern Land’s Celestial Array, so I tried applying those principles, but this is different. This kind of formation... It’s entirely new to me. Who on earth created this?”

Anthem kept mumbling in frustration, but Karyl seemed unsurprised, nodding as if he had expected this outcome.

“I don’t know, but if you’re curious, we can go inside and ask.”

“...What?”

Anthem’s confusion was evident in his eyes, but Karyl offered no further explanation. Instead, he balled up his fist and, without warning, slammed it into the stone pillar.

Boom—!!

Crack—!!

𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

The stone pillar, which had stood as a protective barrier, was shattered completely by Karyl’s blow.

“...”

Anthem’s jaw dropped, staring back and forth between Karyl and the now-pulverized pillar.

Clank... Clank...

Suddenly, the ground beneath the shattered pillar began to rumble, revealing a massive underground entrance as it split open.

“Huh...”

Completely taken aback by the brute force Karyl had used to solve the problem, Anthem stared down at the exposed entrance. He realized this was the relic Karyl had mentioned, hidden within the earth.

“I couldn’t solve it, but I can still open the door. Step back.”

Karyl gestured for Anthem to step aside as he cracked his knuckles, preparing for whatever awaited them below.

“It won’t take long. We just need to take down a few enemies.”