The Unrecorded Extra



The staircases felt endless. At this rate, I would be left with no stamina when I reached the surface.

'I don't want that.'

I did not want to feel helpless once I arrived back at the ruin's surface. There would be a lot of villains waiting for me up there.

Knowing that fact because of my Pathfinding skill, I slowed my pace, which almost looked like a leisurely walk.

Taking deep breaths, I tried to regulate my breathing and conserve my energy as much as possible, this also considering that I was holding Lumi like a princess.

"She's so heavy!"

I was glad she fell asleep and was unconscious right now so she couldn't hear what I just said about her being heavy. If she was to hear it, I did not want to imagine what would happen to me.

Humming while climbing the stairs, I took my time to reach the surface.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, I reached the top of the staircase.

I was back in the area with a broken pillar and a monument.

And to my surprise, I didn't find any villains up there. Even after scanning the area, I found no signs of life around.

"Where are they?"

Though I was glad there were not here, I still felt uncertain about this.

At that moment, I had realized how dependent I was on my Clairvoyance. I felt like if I didn't check my surroundings with the Clairvoyance skill, something undetected by a normal vision that lurked in the area would jump at me.

I closed my eyes for a moment just to make sure.

Using my Clairvoyance to scan for anything undetected by normal vision, flashing images projected in my mind.

The reason why there weren't any villains around here was that they were busy fighting the Octagram students and the four heroes.

'Looks like it's only those five who managed to slip away from the fight.'

Feeling relieved, I approached the monument. Carefully examined the engraved words on its hard and cold surface.

I couldn't read those unknown alphabets, but I didn't need to know how to read them as I already knew what did the engraved words meaning.

Narrowing my eyes, I began to read it out loud.

"Behold!" I began, already feeling cringe. 

"The Frostheart, a monument to the great civilization that once flourished in our world of eternal snow…"

The first paragraph basically told about how the people of that world were hardy and resilient. They adapted to the harsh and unyielding environment that surrounded them. And despite the challenges they faced, they built a magnificent civilization, with cities of ice and crystal that shimmered in the pale light of their world.

"Yet, we knew that our world was not meant to endure forever. Our seers and sages had long foretold of a great cataclysm that would bring about the end of all things. And so, we built the Frostheart, a sacred place of remembrance and warning to all who might come after us."

I frowned upon reciting the second paragraph from my memory, especially when it mentioned the great cataclysm that would bring the world to its end.

That somehow does ring a bell.

A familiar, the same meaning as the third catastrophe of this world.

'Let's finish it first…'

Then, I recalled and recited the last paragraph.

"At the very heart of our world, where the cataclysm was predicted to strike first, we built the sanctuary…"

It told that the D-Point Ruin– No, the Frostheart sanctuary was fortified with magic and the hardest material in that world, designed to withstand the greatest of natural disasters and threats from the outside world…

As I finished reciting the last paragraph, the stone monument emanated a bright blue light on its outline and the words were disappearing, replaced by a new paragraph in familiar alphabetics.

I blinked in surprise before I read them.

"... This has now become nothing after the invasion of those brutal and barbaric kinds."

Then, as I said the last line, the blue light engulfed the monument.

"What the fvck?!"

I stepped back, far enough from the monument that suddenly had a whirlwind around it.

Then as the engulfed monument turned into a blue light sphere, it shot the light to the sky, piercing the cave's roof. The light sphere looked like a beacon, emanating a ray of light piercing the sky and beyond.

I closed my eyes as the brightness of the sphere intensified, illuminating everything around me. I felt a strange energy coursing through my body, as if I was being pulled toward the sphere.

Crack–!

As the ray of light subsided, the sphere exploded into a dazzling display of colors, scattering fragments of light in all directions.

"Wow…"

I watched in awe as the fragments slowly descended toward the ground, each one illuminating the dark cave with a soft glow.

As the last fragments settled onto the ground, they disappeared altogether and the ruin started to crumble. It was not the same as when I first turned on the mechanical switch led to the hidden chamber, this was way bigger than that time.

Ding—!

[Your Mental stat has been increased from <F-> to <F>]

I congratulated myself inwardly as I heard the notification.

"It's time to leave this place!"

But, I couldn't be standing here when the ruin was about to collapse and disappear from Earth.

Lifting Lumi a bit, I hold her tightly in my arms, making sure so that she wouldn't fall.

Turning around, I took a long, deep breath.

Then…

"EVERYONE! GET OUT OF THIS PLACE!!!"

I shouted, my voice was amplified by mana so that it rang out of this vast ruin cave, hoping that all of my clubmates would hear it. I couldn't care less about the villains and the heroes, as long as my clubmates could safely get out.

Before I ran, I looked back at the hidden chamber's entrance.

"I hope you could make it out from this place, Lux."

With a sigh, I started running.