I don't want to be a heroic spirit

That happened before Ash joined their brave team.

During their journey, she and Xinmeier passed by a destroyed village.

There were many monsters lurking in that village, and even a giant dragon suddenly appeared. They were caught off guard by the dragon and got separated while escaping.

Frielian and Hetaer fled into the basement of a burned-out house.

"We got separated from Xinmeier and Aize."

"It seems so."

Fulilian and Haita, who had exhausted a lot of energy due to their escape, sat down without paying any attention to the dust on the ground.

"Flillian, can you use your magic to detect the location of Xinmeier and the others?"

"No... The outside is completely covered by the magic of the dragon. I can't sense the magic of Xinmeier and the others or the magic of those monsters."

Fulilian adjusted her breathing and said, "If we are more precise, we will expose our position and attract the dragon."

Although they are monsters, the dragons in this world have intelligence that is no less than that of humans. When they cannot defeat the enemy, they will even pretend to be seriously injured to make the enemy relax and then run away decisively.

"Doesn't that mean that our current situation is very dangerous?"

"You just realized this?"

Fleuryne quietly raised her head and glanced at Hatta's face.

"You don't seem worried at all."

"Because I believe Xinmeier and Aize will come to rescue us soon."

Upon hearing this, Fulilian frowned.

"That's too stupid, isn't it? In this situation, the best thing to do is to quickly escape from the town, and then find a way to lure the dragon away and come back to rescue us, right?"

"Hahaha, indeed, what you said should be the safest approach at the moment."

Haita smiled, not denying Fulilian's words at all.

"But, before we entered this town, didn't Xinmeier say this... 'As long as I'm here, nothing will happen.'"

Haita lowered his head, still smiling, as if lost in memories.

"He's kept every promise he made...it's been like this since we were in the village."

"So, when he said he would become a hero and defeat the Demon King, I believed him and embarked on this journey with him."

"And this time, he said it would be okay, so I'll believe him."

Flillian stared into Haita's face, but could see nothing.

In Fulilian's view, Haita's trust in Xinmeier was unreasonable, irrational and incomprehensible.

But Haita obviously had no intention of continuing.

I felt inexplicably anxious, and my thoughts were a mess.

This impatience was difficult to relieve until there was a noise outside.

There were the cries of humans, the roars of dragons, and the sounds of battle.

The pressure of the giant dragon descended, and even though they were in the basement, Fulilian and Haita could still feel the dragon's might that seemed to make the earth tremble.

"It seems that Xinmeier and Aize have already started their attack. They are really hot-blooded guys... Unlike me, a weak monk with little fighting power."

As he stood up, Haita laughed at himself a few times, and after taking a few steps towards the exit, he turned his head and looked at Fulilian.

"Let's go, let's join the battle."

"……Um."

Fulilian responded as if the sound came from her nose.

Walking out of the basement, Fulilian and Haita immediately saw the eye-catching white long hair swinging wildly under the roar of the dragon, and above the dragon's head, Aize was holding a huge axe and chopping down fiercely.

Fulilian and Haita looked at each other, said nothing more, and quickly joined the battlefield.

He fulfilled all of Xinmei's promises... Whether it was the giant dragon at that time or the demon king he encountered at the end of the journey, Xinmei defeated them all.

His thoughts gradually returned, his pupils slowly focused, and Xin Meir's figure disappeared like a broken bubble, replaced by Jian's figure clearly reflected in his eyes.

The memories come to an abrupt end, quietly receding like the clouds on the sea, leaving behind dreamlike remembrances and exposing the reality reflected on the sea surface.

"Yeah……"

With her head turned away, Fulilian's expression could not be seen, and one could only see the corners of her mouth with an unfathomable smile.

"Since you said so, I will believe you."

Then, Fulilian injected magic power into the magic circle under her feet.

The mechanism from the distant past was activated. Both Xuttark and Philen looked solemn. Only by holding the weapons tightly in their hands could they feel a little bit at ease.

Then, right before their eyes… the ground opened up.

No, it’s not “crack”, it’s “open”.

A huge "door" suddenly appeared on the ground. There were many complicated patterns around the door, and stairs extended downwards, and it was unknown how deep it was.

"This looks like a relic."

438

Chapter 438: It is common sense to max out the exploration level before going to the next map.

"Pfft!"

Along with the sound of swords piercing flesh, a pitch-black monster screamed in pain and fell to the ground. On its forehead was a gorgeous knight's sword with a snow-white blade and a hilt made of lapis lazuli.

"Okay, another one taken care of."

As if taking a stroll, Ash walked over leisurely, drew out the knight's sword, and then the monster turned into a ball of ashes.

Putting the sword back into the staff, Jian continued to move forward alone until a wall blocked her way.

"This is also a dead end..."

This is the ruins that Jian and his team discovered.

Sinmel once said, "Now that the ruins that have not yet been fully explored are right before our eyes, there is no reason not to go in and take a look."

The unexplored ruins and the magic tools and magic books that were likely to appear inside also made Fulilian very concerned, so she decided to go down and explore.

When it comes to exploring ruins, Ash and Fulilian are professionals... After all, they have both explored many ruins with Xinmeier.

Because it was a relic that had not been explored yet, Ash and his friends gained a lot of good things shortly after entering, and Fulilian was not unexpectedly eaten by a treasure chest monster.

And then... because they encountered a trap in the ruins, when Jian reacted, the others had already separated.

"It's so tiring... Three children got lost and I, as a parent, have to find them one by one."

Sighing slightly, Jian continued walking along the long and narrow corridor.

When turning a corner, Jian's expression suddenly changed and he raised his staff to his side.

Almost at the same time, a figure raised his staff like Jian, and their vigilant gazes met in mid-air.

When they saw each other's faces clearly, they were both stunned.

"Phelan?"

"Lord Ash?"

She had waist-length dark purple hair and a round little face that showed almost no emotion.

It was Philen who had been separated earlier.

Ash put down his staff. "Are you alone? Where are Fulilian, Shuttark, and the others?"

"...I'm sorry, Master Ash, I don't know the location of Master Fulilian and Master Shuttark."

Philen lowered his head, his eyes dimming slightly.

"Yeah."

Jian tilted his head, his expression calm, "Then let's go find them. Don't worry, they can protect themselves."

Next, Zhi and Philen explored the ruins while searching for the lost team members. Although there was no news at all, Zhi didn't seem to worry about the safety of Fulilian and Shuttalk at all.

The ochre-colored walls are covered with traces of erosion by time, making people worry that the ruins may collapse due to excessive movement.

Because they were in the ruins, there was no way to accurately grasp the passage of time, so Ash and Philen didn't know how long they had spent in the ruins.

After passing through countless dead ends, the two came to an empty hall. A stone man over ten meters tall appeared in front of them, and behind the stone man was a huge door filled with an ancient atmosphere.

"According to my experience, behind that door is either a treasure house or a staircase leading to the next floor, and this stone man should be the guardian of this floor."

Humans generally feel uneasy or fearful of giant creatures. Some say this fear is ingrained in their ancestors' blood, as giant creatures tend to be higher up the food chain. However, Jian was remarkably calm when facing this stone man.

Although they lacked the front-line defender Hugh Tark, Ash and Philen still managed to defeat the stone man in the end.

Watching the huge stone man as hard as steel disintegrate bit by bit into countless tiny stones and even sand, Jian's expression remained calm.

Philen behind him suddenly said: "This is not a monster."

Without even turning his head, Jian responded, "This is a magical artifact, probably created specifically to guard this door."

As he spoke, Jian turned his gaze towards the huge door.

After the stone man was defeated, the door opened by itself, revealing a place extending downwards into the dark realm.

"It really is a staircase leading to the next floor..."

"Didn't I say that?"

"...Why does Master Zhao seem so proud?"

There was no end in sight for the stairs that extended downwards, and it seemed as if some beast was lurking in the darkness, awaiting the arrival of the next arrogant person.

Jian glanced at the hideous darkness, then withdrew his gaze with boredom and walked back.

"Aren't you going to go down?"

Philen tilted his head in confusion, "Perhaps Lady Fulilian and the others have already gone down?"

"Of course not. I haven't explored this level to 100%. There's still a large black area on the map that I haven't highlighted yet. How can I possibly go to the next map like this? I have obsessive-compulsive disorder too."

Ash turned around and smiled at Philen, "Don't worry, if Fulilian really came here, she would definitely do the same as me."

Feilan stared at Jian for a long time, but after seeing his back getting farther and farther away, she hurried to follow him.

Returning to the previous fork in the road, Jian chose another direction he had not taken before.

Move forward, defeat monsters, avoid traps...repeat.

"It seems like another dead end."

Looking at the mottled stone wall in front of him, Philen said this.

“…No, not this time.”

Under Philen's gaze, Ash slowly walked forward.

After searching for a while, Jian successfully triggered the switch, and the stone wall in front of him opened like a door under the drive of the mechanism.

A very small secret room and a slightly shabby treasure chest appeared in front of the two.

"See, I was right."

Ash said this to Philen in a boastful manner, and then ran towards the treasure chest with light steps.

Ash and Fulilian are surprisingly similar in their obsession with treasure chests.

But unlike Freelian, Ash can distinguish between treasure chest monsters and normal treasure chests.

Jian squatted in front of the treasure chest, rubbed his hands expectantly and then opened it. Behind him, Philen stared at Jian's defenseless back in a daze.

"Hey! Philen, look what I saw! It's a super precious magic book! If Freellian were here, she would definitely be overjoyed..."

Jian turned around and raised the magic book in her hand. A smile as innocent as a child appeared on her face, and pure joy in her eyes was like bright stars.

However, the moment she turned her head, a beam of magical light with extremely strong penetrating power engulfed half of her body.

Half of Ash's body, including his heart, completely disappeared, and the fragments of his white clothes danced in the air like bloody butterflies.

It can be said to be a fatal injury.