They had decided to take a two-hour break, considering the poor state everyone had been in.
Against Reoloy's wishes, the two girls insisted they leave the chamber as soon as they woke up. He didn't fully understand why, but assumed it had something to do with the avant-garde portraits. He could admit they were odd, but to provoke that kind of reaction—especially after everything they had just endured—felt like a bit of an overreaction to him.
Regardless, they had taken their rest in the court he had originally intended to use for clearing the monster horde.
And now, they were about to make their way into the last stretch.
In front of them stood massive brown doors adorned with gold. He recognised this section clearly—this was the only path to the central room, even in RON.
Normally, they would've arrived here descending the staircase behind them to their right, but clearly, things had taken a hectic turn.
"There are no more monsters beyond here... I hope," Reoloy said, giving a final briefing. "Fortunately, the traps aren't much trouble either, but stay on your guard."
The door had no handle, and unlike last time, where he simply laid a hand against the ruins' entrance, he knocked instead.
A loud bell chimed three times.
Then the door slammed open instantly.
The trio walked through, Laurencia pulling out a lighter relic to illuminate the pitch-black corridor.
She and Lohan moved with tense caution, every muscle primed to react at the slightest sign of danger.
Reoloy was much more at ease.
They were sufficiently stocked up on healing potions, both from him and Laurencia. She had a crate in her storage, while he had managed to grab a few before leaving Cardana.
They weren't anything too crazy, but they were the only reason both girls were practically healed.
Sadly, they did nothing for his exhaustion and Lohan's ki recovery.
But the girl still had a seemingly endless pool of the energy in her reserves, so really only he was down on his luck.
Additionally, the enemy he had been most worried about somehow appeared earlier and got distracted enough that he was able to one-shot it.
'Though why did it skulk out from its position at the central room's doors...?'
Something at the back of his mind gnawed at him—like he was forgetting something—but he pushed it aside.
Reoloy couldn't help but get excited. He had been fighting for this so long, and soon his real adventure would begin. The open world of Regalia of the North awaited him—and this time, it was real.
No constraints or rules to limit the possibilities.
'That's right,' he thought, a smile creeping onto his lips that unsettled his companions. 'After claiming Luvarne, I can start the power transition process. That means I'll finally have powers—real, undeniable powers!'
He almost did a skip and a hop, but caught himself and cleared his throat to clear the air.
"You really wanted this thing, huh?" Laurencia said dryly. "I get it—it's a Supreme Grade and a Regalia at that—but I don't really care. I just want my end of the deal."
Reoloy could tell from her expression that she was looking for clarity on where the profit would come from.
"You said it yourself. It's a Supreme Grade."
"You're going to sell it?"
"Hell no."
Laurencia frowned, but didn't mean it as Lohan caught signs of her trying to hold it in place against a smile.
"The thing has a storage," Reoloy explained. "Everything that's ever been put in there over the last few centuries is still untouched. Which means—"
The merchant froze mid-step.
"Unimaginable treasure..."
"You can buy as many boats as you want afterwards," he added with a smirk.
It was Laurencia's turn to compose herself as her steps became that much more energetic. It even looked like she had become more impatient than the actual trial taker.
"I'm glad you guys' matters are settled, but…" Lohan said, eyes drifting toward arrow and flame traps being preemptively triggered and deflected as they advanced. "What is all this?"
"Evil shadow entity living in this mirror," Reoloy replied, holding the relic up in front of her face.
"…Okay?"
Laurencia snapped. "How in the world…?"
Then she remembered who it was they were talking to here.
'Of course he tamed it.'
The rest of the walk through the narrow passage passed peacefully, just as Reoloy had said.
They emerged from the pitch-black corridor into a large dome-shaped chamber made entirely of reinforced stone. There were no visible light sources, yet the room was as bright as daylight.
"These markings are insane," Laurencia said, scanning the countless lines and gashes carved all over.
"This is where that old golem you fought was supposed to be."
The brunette's blood ran cold just at the thought of the monster.
"What's actually crazy," Reoloy muttered, crouching to inspect traces of burns, "is that others actually managed to make it this far before us."
Lohan and Laurencia exchanged a look.
"There are people way stronger than us out there... that's really not that far-fetched."
Reoloy straightened slowly, glancing back at them with unfocused eyes.
"I guess so."
He led them toward a modest wooden door—humble compared to the regal blue-gold and black-gold doors on either side. It was one of three paths, aside from the corridor they had come from.
"Right through here is the central room."
The two girls looked from the ornate doors to the simple one in front of them, then back again—ultimately choosing to follow him in silence.
Reoloy took a sharp breath and pushed the entrance open.
He stepped inside with mild trepidation, scanning the space that carried the layout of an ancient library—but the contents of an advanced spaceship command room pulled straight from a sci-fi film.
Running a hand across some of the consoles, he let his mind drift to the times he had walked through this very place as an avatar behind a screen.
It was almost nostalgic.
Even if the last time he had done so was technically not even up to two months ago.
The quiet hum of dormant systems filled the chamber, as if the room itself was waiting for some form of command.
Laurencia moved more cautiously, her eyes sweeping the impossible fusion of ancient stone and dormant machinery.
"What is all this?"
It was then that they remembered that she hadn't been in the Cardanian village to experience the abnormally advanced standards.
'Plus, she wouldn't have encountered the state-of-the-art of Pandora's technology, and even that falls well behind this.'
Reoloy considered his answer for a moment, then turned, leaning against the railing of the stairs that led upward to his goal.
"The ancients were far more advanced," he said simply. "This is one of the results of that."
It looked like she was about to press for more questions, but he cut it short by beginning his ascent.
"This should only take a minute."
Lohan waved him off, her mind already fixated on a statue of a horse-like creature covered in scales.
"Sur—"
Reoloy stopped.
He turned, only to find the girl no longer where she had been standing.
"Hey?" he called, glancing to Laurencia, who shook her head—her posture stiffening. "Lohan?"
A sudden wave of mana crashed down over them, forcing both to their knees.
'No... this isn't... a release... of mana itself,' Reoloy struggled to think, let alone move. 'It's just the raw feeling of it...!'
He turned toward the merchant, attempting to crawl toward her, but in an instant, she was gone.
He blinked, failing to understand what had just happened, and then he felt a blow on his face, and his world buzzed.
The teen was sure he'd been sent flying, but he wasn't aware of whether he was still airborne or if he'd crashed already.
Forcing his mind to steady, he twisted upward from the corner he'd been placed in and caught sight of the back of the assailant who had been picking them off like easy prey.
His eyes widened.
"I keep coming for Luvarne even though its use cases are kind of limited," Owen muttered in the dark recesses of his room. "I don't have a choice because of my build, but still..."
The character on the screen got into the final room without resistance, a sight he'd gotten used to once all this had become second nature to him.
Passing a limp, decomposed corpse near the door, he accidentally misclicked and interacted with it despite not having wanted to and clicked his tongue.
"I know all this already," he said, irritated. "Blah, blah, blah. Guardian of great strength and the final creation of Luvarne... it doesn't matter, he's long dead from the relic being dormant."
Owen leaned forward, placing a hand on his cheek.
"Though I do wonder what he would've been like alive."
Before him stood a towering figure cloaked in abyssal black. Jagged armour wrapped around his body in sharp, predatory layers, each edge gleaming with an ominous metallic sheen as if forged from shattered night itself.
Violet lightning hissed around him in violent arcs, tearing through the air with enough pressure to probably make even seasoned warriors instinctively lower their gaze.
Then there was the helmet.
A crown of elongated black horns jutted upward from the mask, giving him the appearance of some vicious tyrant dragged straight out of a nightmare. Beneath the dark visor, faint blue light pulsed like the glow of a star collapsing in on itself—cold, merciless, and inhuman.
Despite his grandiose presence, his overall appearance—at least from the main majority of his outfit—seemed to indicate that he was some kind of servant.
A butler, even.
And the way he carried himself further solidified that impression.
He inspected the area methodically, confirming nothing was out of place before settling down opposite the door—waiting for whatever other challenger might come through some day.
Reoloy faintly turned his head, noticing Lohan and Laurencia similarly sprawled not far from him. For whatever reason, the final guardian was keeping them alive.
Though he wasn't sure that would remain the case if they resisted his plans.
He kept his breathing steady, trying to silence even his heartbeat so that this thing wouldn't come back to him.
But it was all for nothing as the being stood up, noticing that he was still awake.
"Hey..." Reoloy muttered, raising his hands. "Let's take this easy, why don't we?"
A fist flashed forward.
It buried itself into his stomach with merciless force, lifting him off his feet while an unseen force kept him pinned in place as though the space itself refused to let him retreat.
When he finally dropped, he coughed violently, vision flickering—only for a kick to snap his head sideways before he could recover.
He hit the ground again, rising faster this time, stumbling as he forced his claw relic into activation.
The guardian tilted its head, regarding the weapon with vague interest as Reoloy prepared to face off against his newest insurmountable wall.