Going down the stairs that seemed endless, the group found themselves in front of a glowing blue circle with intricate drawings. The moment they stepped on it, their vision was covered by a bright light and they ended up in a wide corridor that was lighted by glowing orbs embedded in the top corners of the grey walls. The surfaces of the walls, ceiling and floor were smooth and were made of solid rock with cracks here and there showing its age and traces of battles.

“Teleportation?” [Ryner]

“Yes, you can only reach different levels of the ruin with a teleportation circle. A lot of people have tried to study it in hope of recreating it, but the magic is too advanced for them. But, if they do succeed, travelling between different cities will become much easier!” [Elena]

Elena explained to Ryner in a bright voice, but he wasn’t really listening and was instead looking at the magic circle behind them.

“(That… It kind of looks familiar…?)” [Ryner]

As they moved forward in this ancient ruin, he was getting an indescribable feeling.

“(The hell is this place?)” [Ryner]

While he was contemplating if his instincts were warning him of danger or something else, Knight Commander Cain who was walking at the front with his knights as well as Ryan and Jayce suddenly shouted out in a stern voice.

“Get ready! We’ll soon reach the welcoming room!” [Cain]

Everyone prepared themselves for battle as they tightly held their weapons in their hands.

“Don’t worry everyone! Those stupid lizards can’t win against us! This will be easy!” [Ryan]

Ryan encouraged the group as he pulled his holy sword out, letting it glow softly in a white light. The heroes and the knights got fired up, but they weren’t really scared of dying in the first place. He was right after all. This wasn’t the first time they explored the ruin. They’ve made it through the welcoming room plenty of times and every single one of them was much stronger than these lizards.

“Say, what’s the welcoming room?” [Ryner]

Ryner who was clueless asked the reliable-looking Aria that was walking in front of him with Elena by her side. She glanced at him from the corner of her eye for a second before answering him without looking back since she was mentally preparing herself for battle.

“It’s where a bunch of Spiked Lizards are grouped up to welcome you with a barrage of spikes. It’s like a bunch of gunners shooting you with machine guns. There are boulders in that room, we’re gonna run to one of them. So, stick close to me and take cover.” [Aria]

“Ryner, Maya, please get ready to run. As soon as you set foot in the welcoming room, they’ll attack you with everything they have. Ryner, since you can’t use magic, please make sure to keep your head low as you run.” [Elena]

Tens meters ahead of them, the corridor ended and a large open room could be seen. Furthermore, there were numerous holes in the ground and walls near the entrance, most likely from these spikes. They were strong enough to stab through the solid rock. Stopping a few meters away, everyone got ready to dash and waited for Ryan’s signal who stood at the forefront with his shining white sword raised above his head.

“CHAAARGE!!!” [Ryan]

The heroes and knights used body strengthening and rushed at high speed toward the open field before dispersing in every direction to have room to swing their weapons.

“What are you doing Ryner, Maya?! Hurry! Elena, come quick!” [Aria]

Urged by a shouting Aria, Ryner and Maya who were casually standing around also made haste to one of the boulders, but before they got there, slim yellow spikes that were fifty centimeters long started flying at them like arrows which forced them to duck as they run. Maya moved to Ryner’s side so that she could intercept any attack before it reached her master while Aria and Elena were running in front of them with their weapons raised. Making it to a boulder, they hid behind it and used it as a shield to block the flying spikes. They were in a large rectangular field that was dotted with three meters tall, round boulders everywhere. The place, which was three hundred meters wide and five hundred meters long, was lighted by many glowing orbs embedded on the ceiling that was twenty meters high.

“Ryner, stay here with Elena! We’ll handle this!” [Aria]

“Be careful!” [Elena]

Nodding to her best friend’s words, the black-haired girl left behind the instructor, the slave and the healer and rushed towards the enemies along with everyone else. Other high schoolers were also hiding behind cover and shooting magic like fireballs to provide support from a long distance. Taking a quick peak, Ryner saw the heroes running in the barrage of spikes while dodging them, blocking them with their weapons or taking them head on and coming out without a scratch. Truly they were S ranks for a reason. Their targets, that were five hundred meters in front of them, were dozens of four-legged yellow lizards that were one meter tall and resembled komodo dragons. Their mouths were wide open like a snake trying to gobble up a bigger prey and countless spikes filled their jaws as they were rapidly shot out like bullets from a machine gun. Once one was shot, another took it place as the number of spikes they had seemed infinite.

These creatures were on the ground, on top of boulders or sticking to the walls as they acted like merciless turrets. Normal people, no matter how strong they were, would have been turned to shreds already. If he didn’t take cover, Ryner who didn’t have life force or mana to reinforce his body would have become a bloody beehive. But, instead of the fear of death, another emotion swelled up in him as his eyes opened wide when he saw the so-called guardians of the ruin.

“(The hell? This feels nostalgic.)” [Ryner]

The scene with the heroes rushing forward as spikes bounced off them and boulders were sent flying by their charge was strangely familiar to him. The way how they quickly reached their opponents and easily took them down was also strangely familiar. It was as if he saw this before, but instead of humans, it was monsters that were trying to break through to the next room.

Ryan’s holy sword released a dazzling blade of light that measured ten meters long and pulverized his enemies. Jayce smashed the lizards’ hard scales with his armored fists like they were paper. Aria nimbly ran around and cut apart the creatures with her sword at high speed. These three were taking out the most monsters among the heroes while the knights were staying back and watching over them because they wanted them to gain as much experience as possible.

In less than a minute, the thirty S rank heroes obliterated their foes and cleared the room. Sighing with relief, Elena stood up and urged the master and slave to follow her as she happily ran towards her friends along with the other high schoolers who didn’t participate in the charge.

“Good work everyone!” [Elena]

“Yeah.” [Aria]

“No problem.” [Jayce]

“Thanks. I’m glad you’re alright, Elena.” [Ryan]

After the heroes did a few rounds of congratulating each other as the knights evaluated their prowess, Ryan turned to Ryner who was slowly making his way to them with Maya behind him.

“What you saw were just the weakest monsters in the ruin. As we go deeper, they’ll be stronger. Should you really be trying to explore the ruin with no magic to help you?” [Ryan]

He said in a provocative tone of voice, a part of him was worried about the sleepy-looking man who would have died in an instant in that barrage. At the same time, he was feeling competitive and was happy to show his superiority during the fight. It wasn’t training, it was a real life and death situation and he easily handled it while Ryner hid the whole time. Everyone looked at the only one in the group that couldn’t use magic and waited to hear his response. Just like Ryan, some of them were also happy to confirm that they were much stronger than him in a real fight, like the three idiots, while others worried about him and thought that it was better for him to leave, like Elena and Aria. They thought that it was a good thing that they insisted in coming with him, otherwise he would have died. Ignoring the various stares, Ryner went to one of the dead lizards before crouching down and examining the headless body. He dipped his finger in the pool of red blood and licked it with the tip of his tongue, surprising everyone watching him.

“Just to warn you Ryner, but these things can’t be eaten because they’ll either make you sick or outright kill you. Also, their corpses will suddenly melt and evaporate in an hour, so it’s useless to harvest their bodies for materials.” [Cain]

Seeing him interested in the carcass, Cain stepped forward and warned him while Ryan was slightly frowning after being ignored. Ryner didn’t get away from the dead monster nor did he answer him. The moment he tasted the blood, his sleepy eyes actually opened wide and his expression changed to shock. When he heard Cain’s explanation, his doubts were confirmed and he hurriedly made his face go back to the usual lazy look as he stood up and calmly dusted off his pants.

“(Of course you can’t eat them. This is synthetic blood, synthetic meat.)” [Ryner]

His mind was in turmoil as he started to realize what Alice meant, why she sent him here.

“(These things… Are freaking War Puppets.)” [Ryner]

He needed to make sure of his outrageous idea. As such, he needed to know more about the Artifacts that were found in the ruins. If his hunch was correct, then he knew where they came from.

“I’ll remember that… But this ruin sure is deadly. I guess it’s to be expected of the place that kept the holy sword.” [Ryner]

He suddenly changed the subject as he looked at Ryan, or more precisely, the white sword in his hand. He carefully scrutinized every detail of the holy weapon that had a red, diamond-shaped gem embedded in the guard and finally noticed an important detail.

“Say, are those words engraved in the blade?” [Ryner]

He asked while tilting his head and pointing at the sword. Feeling boastful, Ryan raised it to his face and showed off the blade with the strange engravings.

“According to the church, it’s some ancient language that existed before the dawn of men. Although they can’t be too sure without any proof, but from what they’ve found, they believe that this sword was made by the gods and sealed away because no one could control its power.” [Ryan]

“The problem with that theory is that it could be applied to every Artifact found in the ruins around the world.” [Aria]

After he explained his weapon’s supposed origins with pride, Aria added the doubts surrounding the church’s belief, causing Ryan to look at her with a “You didn’t need to say that” kind of stare.

“(Yeah, like I thought…)” [Ryner]

Without anyone knowing his thoughts, Ryner who looked calmed on the outside was panicking and sweating on the inside. He was scolding himself for missing such a vital clue the first time he saw the weapon.

“(White Wing Prototype… That’s my secret language!)” [Ryner]

He could clearly read what was inscribed on the blade because it was a language that he made up himself. The idea started as words that he created at random and associated a meaning to them for a special song that he wanted to sing for the big sister that adopted him. But, when the song lost its meaning, he then began to develop his own language so that no one would understand his writings because some of the notes he wrote during his research on various dangerous topics throughout his many lifetimes contained knowledge that shouldn’t be known to the world, even by accident.

“(You’ve got to be kidding me…)” [Ryner]

The Elea kingdom’s sacred hero sword was actually something that Ryner made. It was based off his own White Wing, the holy sword that he had used multiple times since coming to this world and that he picked up from another one. He had tried to recreate it, but only managed to build an inferior copy. Even so, it was still much stronger than his other magical weapons and granted powerful enchantments to the wielder.

“(Those lizards were War Puppets and I made that hero’s sword. This means…)” [Ryner]

“I just came to say hello and to take a look at this world. It sure has changed.” [Alice]

“You don’t know? Well, that’ll make things interesting... See you later, Ryner.” [Alice]

“You really don’t know, do you…? I actually feel better now.” [Alice]

“Huhu, that’s right, you can’t. You’ll forget things with age just like an old man.” [Alice]

Alice hinted that she came here before. But, that wasn’t the whole truth. Ryner had also came here before. She had said that he would forget things with age. She was right. He did forget about this place, but it couldn’t be helped. The last time he was here, this wasn’t a world that sustained life and it wasn’t governed by gods either. This place was just another battlefield. His homemade, personal battlefield.

It was a planet-size fortress that he built for a battle with Alice. The rules they had set up were that her War Puppets would attack in drove to try and conquer his base and he would use his own forces to take them out. It was like a dungeon master fighting against adventurers trying to invade the dungeon. He had also equipped his minions with weapons that he made which included the hero’s sword. After winning that fierce battle, he left this monstrous creation that was completely beat up after fulfilling its duty floating in that separate dimension along with many weapons that were lost including four of his Heaven’s Blades.

With all this evidence before him, he finally realized the truth behind the Artifacts.

“(The Artifacts are all weapons that I created to fight against Alice.)” [Ryner]

He finally realized the truth behind the guardians of the ruins.

“(The monsters living in the ruins are all War Puppets that I made to defend the ruins.)” [Ryner]

He finally realized the truth behind the ruins.

“(The ruins are actually all connected together to form the fortress that I built to fend off Alice’s forces.)” [Ryner]

He finally realized the truth behind the world.

“(This damn planet was actually created on top of MY fortress by some FREAKING LAZY GODS!!!)” [Ryner]

*Author note* Quick questions: should I integrate the time Maya spent training with Ryner in the story?Was how she fell for him realistic?

So with that said, was how Evelyn fell for Ryner realistic? I don't really... watch much... romance... and stuff...

And does anyone have a problem with having a fathercon in the story? I thought it was good comedy.