Chapter 450: Chapter 449 - The Seal Beneath the Ruins!
John’s voice echoed loudly throughout the hidden sanctuary, bouncing against the ancient stone walls and broken pillars as every member of the Hero Research Club immediately turned toward the direction he was shouting from.
For once—
Even his usual dramatic tone carried something different.
Not excitement alone.
Shock.
Curiosity.
Disbelief.
"What did he find now...?" Eric muttered while already beginning to move toward him.
The rest quickly followed.
Luca stepped across the cracked stone pathways alongside Sylthara and Lilliane while dust stirred lightly beneath their footsteps, the faint remnants of ancient mana still drifting silently through the sanctuary around them.
The deeper part of the ruins where John stood felt different from the outer areas.
The air itself seemed heavier somehow.
Older.
Several collapsed pillars surrounded the chamber while fragments of shattered stone statues lay scattered across the ground like remnants of a forgotten battle. Vines had crept through cracks in the walls over countless centuries, partially covering ancient inscriptions that still faintly glowed beneath the dust.
And there—
At the far end of the chamber—
Something enormous had been hidden beneath layers of collapsed debris and vines.
A mural.
Everyone gradually slowed after seeing it.
Because unlike the smaller carvings and fragmented wall art scattered throughout the sanctuary—
This mural remained almost entirely intact.
A massive section of the ancient wall stretched before them, covered in intricate depictions carved directly into smooth white-gray stone. Faded golden lines still shimmered weakly within the grooves of the artwork, as though traces of mana continued preserving it even after centuries had passed.
For several seconds—
Nobody spoke.
Luca’s eyes widened slowly as he looked toward it.
Because the moment his gaze landed upon the mural—
Something inside his mind jolted violently.
The strange familiarity he had been feeling since entering the sanctuary suddenly intensified to an almost painful degree.
This...
His heartbeat slowed.
The mural depicted seven figures standing beneath a fractured sky overflowing with darkness, their silhouettes illuminated by ancient light while monstrous shadows stretched endlessly across the world below them.
The Seven Heroes.
There was no doubt.
Each figure carried distinct weapons and appearances, though time had eroded portions of the details away.
One held a massive spear engulfed in divine flames.
Another wielded twin blades beneath a moonlit sky.
A robed figure surrounded by spatial distortions stood near the center while another warrior seemed partially merged with dragon-like wings of light.
And behind all of them—
Towering over the mural itself—
Was something enormous.
Something horrifying.
A shadow so massive that even the mural struggled to fully depict it, its shape stretching upward beyond the limits of the wall itself like an abyss swallowing the heavens.
Darkness.
Corruption.
An existence surrounded by countless distorted eyes and twisting tendrils spreading across the skies.
The Devil Emperor.
Or something connected to it.
The atmosphere within the chamber changed completely beneath the presence of the mural alone.
Even the excited club members had fallen silent now.
"...This is incredible..." one senior whispered breathlessly.
Lilliane stared toward the mural with widened eyes while Sylthara’s expression became unusually serious, her silver gaze carefully tracing the ancient carvings one by one.
Meanwhile—
Luca could barely breathe properly for a moment.
Because something about this mural—
This exact composition—
Felt dangerously familiar.
Like a memory standing just beyond reach.
Fragments flashed within his mind.
Broken pieces.
Ancient lore entries.
Hidden game cinematics.
A secret area?
A locked archive?
Something he had once seen before—
Yet no matter how desperately his mind tried to grasp it, the answer continued slipping away before fully forming.
Why do I know this...?
A faint ache formed behind his eyes.
Luca stared harder toward the mural.
The twin-blade hero.
The broken sky.
The shadow.
The symbols surrounding the seven figures—
And then suddenly—
His breath hitched.
Because carved faintly beneath the mural itself—
Almost hidden by centuries of damage—
Was a symbol he absolutely recognized.
A circular crest surrounded by seven stars.
But unlike the others they had seen earlier—
This one had a crack running through its center.
Luca’s eyes narrowed sharply.
No...
His thoughts trembled.
I’ve definitely seen this somewhere before.
Around him, the others had already begun examining the mural more closely.
Several senior members carefully copied portions of the carvings into journals while Adrian silently observed the artwork with unusually focused eyes, his normally relaxed demeanor replaced by deep concentration.
John himself looked emotionally overwhelmed.
"T-this..." he muttered shakily while pressing both hands against his head dramatically. "This is beyond historical significance... this could rewrite entire sections of Hero Era research..."
Eric walked closer toward one side of the mural while squinting at several damaged inscriptions.
"Can anyone even read this?" he asked.
Sylthara slowly stepped forward after hearing that, her silver eyes carefully examining the faded symbols surrounding the seven heroes.
"...Some words are recognizable," she murmured softly.
Immediately, everyone looked toward her.
"What does it say?" Adrian asked calmly.
Sylthara remained silent for several moments while tracing part of the damaged inscription lightly with her fingers.
Then—
Her expression changed faintly.
"...It mentions a seal."
The atmosphere instantly tightened.
"A seal against what?" one senior asked quickly.
Sylthara’s gaze slowly lifted toward the enormous shadow depicted behind the heroes.
"...I think," she said quietly, "against that."
A heavy silence lingered throughout the chamber after Sylthara’s words.
The members of the Hero Research Club stood scattered before the enormous mural while the faint golden glow within the ancient carvings reflected softly across their faces. Dust drifted lazily through the air disturbed by their movements, yet beneath that stillness, tension had already begun quietly building inside the sanctuary.
A seal.
Against that.
Against the monstrous darkness looming behind the Seven Heroes themselves.
Even John had become unusually quiet now.
The vice president slowly approached the mural with reverence unlike his usual chaotic behavior, his eyes moving carefully across every detail carved into the ancient stone.
"...This changes everything," he murmured softly.
Nearby, several senior members had already begun examining the surrounding walls and inscriptions more carefully, searching for additional clues hidden throughout the chamber.
"There are mana channels here," one senior observed while crouching beside part of the stone floor. "Very old ones."
"They connect directly into the mural itself," another added while tracing faint glowing lines running beneath layers of dust.
Adrian remained near the center of the chamber, his golden eyes silently analyzing the structure surrounding them. Unlike the others, who carried mostly excitement, his expression had become noticeably more cautious now.
Careful.
Thinking.
Luca noticed it immediately.
Adrian slowly approached one side of the mural before raising his hand slightly, spatial mana flickering faintly around his fingers as he examined the lingering magical structures hidden beneath the surface.
"...The seal formation is still partially active," he said quietly.
That alone caused several members to tense slightly.
"After all these centuries?" Eric muttered in disbelief.
Adrian nodded slowly.
"Barely," he clarified. "But enough that traces still remain."
His eyes narrowed faintly afterward.
"Which means this place wasn’t abandoned naturally."
The atmosphere grew heavier.
Meanwhile, Luca remained standing several steps away from the mural itself, his crimson eyes continuously moving across every symbol and carving with growing unease.
Because the feeling inside him had only intensified further.
The mural.
The seal.
The cracked seven-star crest.
Something about all of this had existed somewhere within his memories before.
Not fully.
Not clearly.
But close.
So incredibly close that it almost hurt.
Think...
Fragments continued surfacing uselessly within his mind.
A hidden archive.
An optional ruin.
A side event tied to corrupted regions?
His thoughts raced desperately while the others continued examining the chamber around him.
At some point, one of the senior members approached the lower section of the mural where several strange circular markings had been embedded into the stone itself.
"...These symbols are different," the senior muttered curiously.
Luca’s eyes shifted toward him instantly.
The markings.
The moment he saw them—
Something clicked.
Not fully.
But enough.
His expression changed sharply.
"Wait—"
The warning left his mouth immediately.
But too late.
The senior had already pressed his hand against the symbol.
For one single second—
Nothing happened.
Then—
The world trembled.
A deep rumbling sound erupted throughout the sanctuary as the entire chamber violently shook beneath their feet. Ancient mana surged through the walls like awakened veins while the golden lines across the mural suddenly flickered erratically before darkening all at once.
Everyone’s expressions changed instantly.
"What did you do?!" Eric shouted.
"I-I didn’t even press hard!"
The air itself began distorting.
Then—
A wave of black corrupted mana exploded outward from the mural.
The temperature within the chamber plummeted instantly as darkness spread violently across the walls and floor like living smoke, swallowing the faint golden glow beneath overwhelming corruption.
Several members staggered backward immediately.
"T-this mana...!"
"It’s corrupted mana!"
"No—"
Sylthara’s silver eyes widened sharply as she looked toward the mural.
"...It’s much denser than ordinary corruption."
The ancient carvings across the wall began glowing dark crimson now while the shadow behind the Seven Heroes slowly pulsed as though something inside the mural itself had awakened.
The atmosphere became suffocating.
Heavy.
Violent.
Corrupted mana flooded through the sanctuary in endless waves, twisting through the chamber like living darkness while ancient sealing formations cracked visibly one after another across the walls.
Lilliane instinctively stepped backward beside Sylthara while several senior members immediately summoned weapons and mana defensively.
Even Adrian’s expression hardened completely now.
Spatial mana flickered sharply around his body.
And Luca—
Finally remembered.
His eyes widened violently.
"...No way..."
The memory struck him like lightning.
This place.
This mural.
This seal.
A hidden corrupted sanctuary from the game’s deepest optional lore.
One of the forgotten failed sealing sites connected to the Devil Emperor’s remnants.
And if he remembered correctly—
The thing sealed here was never fully dead.
The corrupted mana around them exploded harder.
Cracks spread across the mural itself.
Then Luca stepped forward sharply, twin sabers already appearing in his hands as his voice cut through the chaos.
"Everyone," he said coldly while staring ahead toward the breaking seal.
"Prepare for battle."
