Chapter 362: Chapter 362: The Key
The glow from the Juggernaut’s broken chest didn’t fade. Instead, it pulsed brighter, like a heartbeat trapped in steel. Noel crouched carefully, Revenant Fang still in hand, and picked the shard up. The moment his fingers closed around it, a cold weight pressed into his palm, and a familiar interface flickered across his vision.
[Item Identified]
Name: The Key
Type: Artifact – Relic
Grade: Unique
Description: Forged within Elarin’s sanctuaries, The Key was not gifted or inherited. It was created for command. Those who bear it are recognized as rightful masters of the sanctuary’s guardians.
A faint shiver ran through him as the shard resonated with his mana, linking itself to him.
All around, the ambient hum of machinery shifted. The faint glow in the eyes of broken automatons dimmed completely, and those still kneeling in the shadows powered down, motionless once more.
Selene stiffened, her wand still raised. Her eyes flicked between Noel and the silent constructs. "What just happened? Did... you do this?"
Noel turned the shard in his hand, its glow reflecting in his eyes. He forced his voice steady, casual. "Looks like a key. Whatever this is, it tells them not to attack."
Selene’s lips pressed into a thin line, cold but thoughtful. "A relic to command an army... It makes sense. No one could control a sanctuary of this scale otherwise."
Noel stayed silent, though his thoughts churned. A key, huh? More like a leash. Whoever built this wanted absolute obedience.
The shard vibrated once more, harder this time, and Noel’s vision flickered with another prompt.
[New Mission: Investigate the Sanctuary of Elarin.]
[Time Limit: — ]
[Reward: ???]
Noel’s jaw tightened. Of course.
’Yeah, yeah... I know. I’m working on it,’ he thought bitterly. ’You think I came this far for the fun of it? Damn parasite never lets me breathe.’
A faint noise escaped his throat, halfway between a sigh and a laugh.
Selene’s sharp eyes caught it instantly. "What is it?"
He shook his head quickly, slipping the glowing shard into his belt pouch. "Nothing. Just... realizing this place isn’t going to let us walk out empty-handed."
Her gaze lingered, suspicious but not pressing. After a beat, she nodded. "You’re right. The scale, the defenses, the relics... It’s strange, really strange..."
Noel hummed quietly in agreement, though his thoughts were sharper. ’Used... or protected. Whatever they didn’t want the world to find, it’s down here. And now I’m the poor bastard digging it up.’
Selene adjusted her grip on her wand, her tone cool. "Then we keep moving. If the guardians are disabled, we should use the chance to search thoroughly before anything resets."
Noel cast one last glance at the silent constructs around them, their bodies frozen in eternal kneeling postures. A graveyard of steel, waiting for someone to command them again.
"Yeah," he muttered, forcing a smirk. "Let’s make the most of it."
With the shard secured, the tension in the air shifted. What had once felt like a gauntlet of death traps now seemed... silent. Empty. As Noel and Selene advanced, the constructs lining the halls remained motionless, heads bowed as if in eternal prayer. None so much as twitched.
Selene’s steps echoed faintly as her eyes roamed the chamber walls. "They aren’t attacking. The relic really does command them."
Noel brushed his fingers against Revenant Fang’s hilt, cautious despite the calm. "For now. Doesn’t mean we should relax. Someone made them this way, and that someone wasn’t stupid."
The corridors stretched endlessly, each revealing more of the sanctuary’s vastness. They passed through libraries where collapsed shelves were stacked with brittle tomes, the ink faded into illegibility. In another hall, long rows of statues depicted figures bowing to a central throne, the artistry immaculate despite centuries of dust.
Selene lingered on the carvings, her tone flat but edged with thought. "This wasn’t just a temple. It was a city underground... or close to one."
Noel’s eyes narrowed. ’A city of worship, ruled by one man and his key. Elarin didn’t just invent mana, was he a genius? I mean sure it has to be that.’
Further in, they crossed a chamber that looked like a place of worship: an altar of obsidian cracked down the middle, broken offerings scattered across the floor. The silence was suffocating, as if even sound feared to disturb what remained here.
Selene finally broke it. "This place isn’t abandoned. It was left. There’s a difference."
Noel felt it too—the faint hum in the walls, the sense of something dormant, waiting. "Then let’s find what they didn’t want us to see."
The corridors wound deeper, the air heavier with each step. Then, without warning, the stone gave way to something different. The chamber they entered wasn’t like the others.
Noel stopped first, his eyes narrowing.
Unlike the pristine halls and orderly statues, this room was chaos dressed in luxury. Rich carpets lay torn across the floor, their embroidery dulled by dust. Golden candleholders lay toppled, wax hardened into cracked trails. A massive bed with silken sheets dominated one side—its frame carved with intricate runes—but the mattress was ripped open, stuffing spilling out like entrails.
Shelves lined the walls, filled not with ancient tomes or relics, but personal items: jewelry scattered, glass vials smashed, and garments left half-folded as if someone had abandoned them in a hurry.
Selene stepped inside carefully, her gaze scanning every detail. "This wasn’t decay. Someone lived here. Someone important. And they left in a rush."
Noel moved further in, brushing dust off a cracked desk. The wood was finely polished once, but deep scratches marred its surface—deliberate, almost violent. He traced a groove with his fingertip, the faint hum of residual mana pricking at his senses.
’There’s something here. Not just broken furniture. Not just a room left behind. Something hidden.’
He exhaled slowly, the smirk on his lips thin and grim. "A sanctuary full of soldiers, relics, and wards... and then this. "
Selene’s eyes lingered on the ruined bed, then on the scattered jewelry. Her tone was cool but thoughtful. "If this belonged to Elarin himself... then the answers we’re looking for might be buried here."