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EPISODE 135 – TEMPLE OF LIFE (2)
30 minutes ago.
Right after they entered the temple.
The entrance to the forgotten Temple of Life was connected to cave hidden in an unfrequented place, just like the temple where Leisegang was sealed.
“<Light>.”
Cordelia created a small light and Jude slowly advanced as he searched his memories.
‘The Temple of Life.’
An open dungeon that could be conquered by any character.
But given its location, only the playable characters from the Sälen Kingdom like Cordelia, Jude, and Lucas could actually conquer it.
‘It’s impossible to explore it after a certain period of time.’
Usually, the best time to conquer it was between the 8 months to 1 year from the beginning of the Cordelia route.
Because by this time, the entire Sälen Kingdom had already become a battlefield after the barbarians’ invasion of the north and destruction of the royal capital.
‘But it’s different now.’
Only four months had passed since the beginning of the Cordelia route, and the barbarians’ invasion of the northern part of the kingdom would not happen now.
‘All that we can get from the Temple of Life is the Sphere of Life.’
A divine item that contained the power of Aerith, the goddess of life, and granted a strong regenerative ability to its user.
‘It’s on the 3rd floor of the basement…and there would be small mobs and temple guardians on the way.’
Since Jude and Cordelia were over level 70, there were no particularly difficult opponents for them in this place except for the low-ranking angel that guarded the Sphere of Life.
Well, it was that kind of place.
But.
“Screeeeeeeeech!”
With their wildly eerie shrieks, monsters that looked like giant bats attacked them without end.
“F*ck! So disgusting!”
The giant bats weren’t the size of a palm but were at least over a meter tall from head to toe.
It would actually be more correct to describe them as scary rather than disgusting.
Cordelia unknowingly swore and hurriedly caused an explosion in front of her.
“Why! Why is this happening! These monsters did not exist in the original!”
“Keeeeeeeea!”
Five or six bats were blown away by the explosion, but there were still many bats left. Dozens of them swarmed again as if to fill in the void created by the explosion.
“Black Dragon’s Ascent!”
Jude stretched out his hand and released the energy of the black dragon. A couple of bats were swept away by the black dragon, and the rest of the bats were greatly split left and right.
“Let’s jump!”
“<Fireball!>”
With Double Casting and Spell’s Echo!
Four balls of fire that were around a meter in diameter soared into the sky. Jude hugged Cordelia’s waist and lifted her up as he placed her over his shoulder because he realized what Cordelia was about to do next.
“Split! Explosion!”
As Cordelia swung the Moonlight and shouted, the balls of fire split into dozens of smaller balls and covered the ceiling.
When it exploded, all they could see was a blazing inferno.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
“Kiaaaaa!”
The bats screamed and fell to the floor while Jude exclaimed.
“Hey! Are you crazy?! The cave will collapse at this rate!”
“Run before it collapses then!”
Cordelia quickly shouted and gasped as she poured out all of her mana at once, but did not stop her movement.
She raised her left hand and activated Count Chase’s ring.
“<Shield!>”
The golden whirlwind created by Jude blew away the flames and smoke, and Cordelia’s shield protected them from the bats that fell from the ceiling.
From a closer look, the giant bats were even scarier and more disgusting.
“What happened? There wasn’t anything like this in the original!”
“We’re 4 months early!”
They arrived four months earlier than the time it could be explored in the original.
But monsters that were not seen in the original were now swarming inside the cave.
And what could be inferred from that was…
“Eh? Then someone had entered the Temple of Life in the original in those four months?”
“It’s possible?”
Jude arranged Cordelia’s position on his shoulder and shouted back, while Cordelia who was in a prone position and could see Jude’s back – to be exact, she could only see his back and buttocks, so she forcibly raised her upper body, looked behind her and shouted again.
Because she suddenly remembered something.
“The empty room on the 2nd floor!”
There should have been something on the second floor of the Temple of Life given the ambience and structure, but it was just an empty space with nothing!
Jude paused for a moment at Cordelia’s cry, before he immediately understood it.
“As I thought, you’re a rotten water too!”
Cordelia was a rotten water too, but it was less obvious because of Jude himself.
She wasn’t just some rotten water, as she was the 2nd place in the server rankings, making her one of the most rotten among the rotten waters!
“Hey! Are you trying to boast that you’re first place?”
“Anyway! You’re right, Cordelia! The empty room on the 2nd floor!”
The reason why it was empty.
“Because someone had already taken it!”
Cordelia exclaimed, and Jude agreed with her.
And the gamer brains of the two activated after a long time.
“Someone strong enough to change the ecosystem of the cave!”
“The stuff that such a strong person took!”
“They didn’t even stop by the third floor!”
“Their purpose was the second floor from the very beginning, and they knew what was there!”
“Black Dragon’s Ascent!”
“Don’t shout the skill name! <Fire Wall!>”
Jude released a black dragon with his right hand, and the dragon smashed the giant spider-looking monster in front of him. On the other hand, the wall of flames created by Cordelia had blocked the monsters that were trying to attack them from behind.
“You shouted it too!”
“It’s a spell! It’s necessary!”
“Anyway!”
“Hey! Don’t change the topic!”
The bats swarmed above them again.
The cave felt really big in the game, and it was indeed a really big cave in reality.
“I’m jumping! Clench your teeth!”
“Yes!”
As soon as Cordelia closed her mouth, Jude jumped high above the ground. Because there was a dark body of water in front of them.
“Hiiissssss!”
A snake-like monster rose from the river in the cave, and it was so dark that they couldn’t tell how deep the river was.
“<Magic Missile!>”
“Kiaaak!”
Cordelia shuddered as she threw the white magic missile into the mouth of the snake-like monster, and Jude held Cordelia’s waist more tightly as he kicked the air. He created a black gale and jumped over the river that was nearly 10 meters wide.
“There are too many monsters!”
“We’re almost there! It’s the second floor!”
At Jude’s yell, Cordelia forcibly raised her upper body and twisted it a bit to be able to look at Jude’s front. She could then see the white stairs that led down.
“Cordelia!”
“<Fire Wall!>”
Since it was narrow, Cordelia created a flame barrier to block the way to the stairs, and Jude quickly went down the stairs.
“<Light!>”
She cast the <Light> magic again.
The white light drove away the darkness, and Jude panted as he put down Cordelia from his shoulder onto the floor.
“There’s too many of them.”
Jude and Cordelia’s levels were so high now that they wouldn’t earn that much experience points with these trivial mobs, but if the monsters numbered this high, it seemed like their levels would rise by one if they defeated everything.
‘We’ll sweep them later.’
They had to achieve their purpose first.
But it was then.
Cordelia panted beside Jude and suddenly tapped him on the shoulder.
“Jude, Jude.”
“Yes? Why?”
“Isn’t the ceiling here…originally white?”
“Huh?”
The ceiling of the Temple of Life.
Jude reflexively looked up at the ceiling and saw a ceiling that was covered in green and not white.
Why?
Why is the ceiling green when it was originally white?
Moreover, why does it seem to be moving like jelly?
“F*ck.”
Jude said and Cordelia agreed. So she said it too.
“F*ck.”
“Run!”
The ceiling shook at that moment as if responding to Jude’s cry.
The green mass split into dozens and hundreds of pieces and began to fall down from the ceiling to the ground.
“Acid Sh-! Slime!”
Cordelia bit her tongue once when Jude carried her over his shoulder again, but she managed to finish her words properly.
Acid Slime.
As it name implied, it was a slime whose acid melted everything that it touched.
“<Shield!>”
Splaaaash-!
A fist-sized green mass fell on top of the shield that Cordelia quickly spread open. It came from the slime’s body, and as soon as it touched the floor, it penetrated the ground with a sizzling sound.
“Black Wind’s Advent!”
Jude created a black gale as he ran on the ground, and Cordelia made Jude’s body fly in the air with <Fly> magic.
Because more than half of the ground was already covered with slime.
“Let’s run!”
There were too many of it that it would be hard to fight them one by one.
Jude manipulated the wind to push himself in the air, and Cordelia looked around. There was a possibility that other monsters might come out other than the slime.
“Someone defeated all these? Did an army come?”
Jude frowned at Cordelia’s question.
Because there were too many monsters that it would be hard to fight all of them alone.
An army as Cordelia said.
If not, someone who could create an army.
‘Summoner?’
If that person was the famous summoner of Legend of Heroes 2…
Clang! Clang! Clang!
A sharp metallic sound interrupted Jude’s thoughts.
Because sharp blades rose from both walls like a trap.
“It’s a Living Sword!”
Cordelia’s words were not wrong. The soaring blades flew towards Jude who broke through the slime zone as he began to run at a terrifying speed on the ground.
“What are you planning to do?”
“We’ll go first to the empty room on the second floor!”
It was a dead end, but the entrance was not so wide, so it was a good place to fight against multiple enemies. In addition, there would have been one more there that he was expecting.
“We’re almost there!”
“Hurry! There are even Living Armors now!”
The Living Armors appeared and made rattling sounds as they united with the Living Swords by grabbing them before closely following Jude and Cordelia.
They seemed to number thirty by Jude’s rough estimate.
‘What kind of temple is this!’
There were too many monsters despite it being a temple.
The Living Armors that were quickly following them were not of the Guardian type, but armors that were stained with the demon’s power.
The place was more of a lair of demons rather than a temple.
But that was why Jude saw the possibility.
“As expected!”
The empty room on the second floor.
Jude clenched his fist as soon as he got inside, and Cordelia saw what was over Jude’s shoulder after he put her down.
In the original, they only saw the remains of a pure white golem!
“Kuoooo!”
A pure white golem that was 4 meters tall raised its body. It seemed to have reacted to Jude and Cordelia.
“It’s the guardian of the temple!”
The Church of Life’s emblem that was engraved on its chest made it clear to them.
And Cordelia also understood what Jude was planning.
Let’s use this.
Let’s have the golem deal with the monsters!
‘You know what to do, right?’
‘I know!’
Immediately after they exchanged glances.
Cordelia turned and looked at their back while Jude looked in front.
The two who faced the Living Armors and the golem shouted at the same time.
““Now!””
A perfect timing.
Cordelia turned around and threw herself, while Jude also threw himself. They rolled between the legs of the large golem and run away.
And the result that happened was…
The Living Armors and the Guardian Golem came face to face with each other.
“Kuooo!”
As they had expected, a battle occurred between the Guardian Golem and the Living Armors.
Jude and Cordelia quickly stepped back and caught their breath.
“Haa, haa…”
“Huu, huu…”
A short time had only passed, but both of them were sweating a lot because they were running under serious stress.
Cordelia wiped the sweat on her forehead as she watched the Living Armors and the Guardian Golem battling it out.
“Who do you think will win?”
“The Guardian Golem?”
When Jude said that, Cordelia nodded and pulled out the detonating cord from her waist pocket.
And around 5 minutes later.
The Guardian Golem’s giant fist smashed around ten Living Armors, and the remaining ones stepped back and began to flee.
As Jude had expected, it was a victory for the Guardian Golem.
“Kuooooo!”
The Guardian Golem roared in its victory before it turned around. There was still an enemy that it needed to take care of in its domain – because Jude and Cordelia were still in the room.
And that was why Cordelia used her telekinetic power.
Chachachag!
Something flew towards the Guardian Golem’s chest as soon as it turned around.
The Guardian Golem lowered its head to look at its chest and saw the detonating cord forming into the shape of a star.
A pentagram.
And a big circle around the stars.
“Kuo?”
The Guardian Golem raised its head and Cordelia snapped her fingers.
Baaaang!
A really beautiful star-shaped explosion.
Moreover, its power was extraordinary.
It was the result of not only adding Cordelia’s explosion magic to the firepower of the detonating cord, but also from the star shape which somehow formed a kind of magic circle that amplified the power of the explosion magic once more.
“Kueoeoeo…”
The Guardian Golem had its core broken so it collapsed, and Cordelia turned to Jude and flashed a V-sign with her fingers.
“Ta-da!”
It looked like a simple attack, but it was an attack combining the detonating cord, explosion magic, and a magic circle!
Jude grasped the power and difficulty of her attack at once, and replied with sincerity.
“Sure enough, it’s a Star Explosion indeed!”
“No, it’s not? That’s not its name, okay?”
But Cordelia seemed to secretly like it as the smile on her face did not disappear.
“Anyway, let’s go again.”
The monsters would come back since the Guardian was now gone.
But Cordelia clicked her tongue and threw the detonating cord in her waist into the air again.
Chak! Chak! Chak!
The detonating cord that was controlled by her telekinesis were then attached to the ceiling near the entrance, and Jude understood what Cordelia was trying to do.
Boooom!
Detonating cords were originally used at construction sites in order to cut rocks and other things into a desired shape.
Cordelia skillfully broke the ceiling and blocked the entrance with the rocks that fell from the explosion.
“How is it?”
“It’s awesome.”
Jude clapped his hands and realized again that Cordelia was a combat genius.
‘I wouldn’t have even thought of using it that way.’
It was not an exaggeration to say that her understanding and skill in using weapons were superior to that of Jude himself.
‘She won 2nd place through battles alone.’
“What are you thinking?”
“My princess is so pretty.”
“What is this crazy b*stard saying?”
Cordelia hmphed, but the corners of her mouth were still slightly raised up.
“How cute.”
“You wanna die?”
“Anyway, we can take a rest now thanks to you.”
They had hurriedly ran so they had used up quite a bit of their mana and stamina. So he thought that they should go out after they had rested enough.
“Isn’t there something else we need to check?”
“There is something we have to check.”
The reason why there was an empty room in the second floor.
An item targeted by the person who entered the Temple of Life within the four months before it could be explored in the game.
Jude and Cordelia turned around and headed towards the altar that was guarded by the Guardian Golem.
“I can feel a divine power.”
Cordelia naturally turned into an angel and absorbed the divine power, while Jude stopped in front of the altar.
“Please.”
At Jude’s words, Cordelia nodded once and stepped forward. She then touched the box on the altar.
It was a fairly large box that was the size of an adult’s upper body, so she had no idea on what was inside.
“Open.”
When Cordelia said in declaration as she put her hand on the box, an immense divine power was released as if to devour Cordelia.
If Cordelia had not been an angel, her whole body would have been burned by the divine flames.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes, I’m okay.”
Cordelia unconsciously let out a bewildered voice, but she shook her head and concentrated.
Considering the situation, this was more like the real trap to protect the divine item rather than the Guardian Golem.
‘I’m glad I’m an angel.’
Thank you, Lena. Thank you, Jude.
Cordelia mentally thanked the two people who helped her with her ancestral regression, before she turned her gaze back into the box.
It was a tiara, a small crown that was worn over the head.
The beautifully shaped golden tiara had several jewels embedded in it.
“The Tiara of Life.”
An S-rank item that not only increased the rank of life attribute magic of the user by 1 rank, but it also unconditionally doubled the number of creatures that could be summoned with life-related summoning magic.
Moreover, that wasn’t the only effect. If one became the true owner of the Tiara of Life, they would be able to use the one of the highest ranking magic in the life attribute skill tree, <Bring to Life>.
“Wow…”
Cordelia fully admired it as she gulped several times.
Because it was the graduation item for wizards who used life attribute magic or for priests who used life attribute magic from the very beginning as their foundation.
“That item came from here.”
The item only came out in the second half of the game.
Cordelia admired it again before she tried to gently place the tiara above her head.
“H-how is it? Does it suit me?”
She asked somehow shyly, but Jude blinked his eyes and suddenly clenched his fist instead of answering.
“I got it.”
“Huh?”
“I got it.”
Who entered the Temple of Life within that four months.
Who took the Tiara of Life.
Jude was obviously lacking in evidence.
Only a few conditions were met.
But Jude was strongly convinced on who it was.
“A man who uses large-scale summoning.”
It was also a person who used summoning magic based on the life attribute.
Someone who yearned for the Tiara of Life because they had studied magic that could grant life for many years.
“They didn’t even stop by the third floor.”
They did not covet the Sphere of Life.
They were satisfied with the Tiara of Life.
The Tiara of Life was their only goal.
A person who valued it.
A person who did not appear in the game even though they had the Tiara of Life.
That person wasn’t just hiding.
That person died a few months after getting the Tiara of Life.
So the Tiara of Life was found somewhere else in the second half of the game.
And there was one more evidence here.
The remains of the Guardian Golem that were scattered in the empty room on the second floor.
It was destroyed by a powerful life attribute magic.
A smile spread over Jude’s face.
A natural smile that he made after solving a mystery.
“Jude?”
“I think I know that person.”
There was only one person he could think of when he put together all the clues they had.
“Necromancer Velkian.”
One of the five heroes.
A hero from Legend of Heroes 1 who disappeared and was not seen in Legend of Heroes 2.
‘I found it.’
How to make Velkian come out of hiding.
How to make him find Jude and Cordelia.
“Y-you’re smiling like a scammer again.”
Despite Cordelia’s comment, Jude’s smile deepened.
He looked at the Tiara of Life as if he was a fisherman who found the best bait.