Fake Professor, Misunderstood As Strong - Chapter 228

Chapter 228: Entering the Forbidden Area… Part-3.
Elven Capital, Outskirts.

On a barren hill.

“Oh! So, this is the national armory of the Elven Empire! It looks quite magnificent!”

Looking at the giant fortress standing on the hill, giving off a sense of power and mystery, the group was quite surprised.

Ignoring the surprised shouts of the group, Jareth glanced at the main door of the fortress, and sure enough, the protective barrier was broken and the door was completely wide open.

“To think someone walked into your national armory from the front door and you guys didn’t even notice it up until now… This is the most ridiculous situation I have ever seen before…”

Jareth couldn’t help but feel that elves are real weirdos; they know that extremely powerful weapons of mass destruction are stored in this place, yet there’s no one standing here to even keep watch or guard this place.

This is like they are literally asking others to come and steal the weapons and use them in their own capital city to destroy their homes.

“They say that the mana barrier here is extremely strong, so we don’t need to guard the place, but it seems at some point a flaw appeared in the barriers here and the place became defenceless…”

Jareth just shook his head and walked inside without hesitation; there was no point in arguing with the elves; they wouldn’t change their thought process from his words anyway.

Mark and the other two followed right behind Jareth and Sylvia along with the three-peak grade-3 mages that Sylvia brought with herself.

These are the only strongest people she has under her command right now; she could have brought others too, but they were all too weak, and Jareth had specifically asked her to only bring strong people.

There’s no point in having weak people in the team, as they will only become a burden on them and will drag the team altogether.

“As I thought… everything’s stolen…”

Jareth walked inside and found that everything was broken inside the fortress; there was a gigantic hall inside the enhanced door protecting the giant armory, and everything inside was completely in a mess.

Broken and decayed old weapons were scattered all over the ground like garbage; thousands of broken artifacts and hundreds of former high-grade weapons lay broke and in disrepair.

“The metal has rusted to the point that all these weapons are nothing but garbage at this point; even Fisur didn’t bother stealing them…”

Jareth glanced at the several broken and rotten cabinets around and used mana detection to sense the mana traces, and sure enough, there was not a single usable weapon left.

“The grade-1 weapons and artifacts have all been stolen; there’s not a single thing of value in this place anymore…”

“Well, I guess you guys didn’t use them before anyway, so it might not affect you much anyway…”

Jareth shook his head and stopped worrying about the weapons and artifacts.

Elves are a peace-loving race; they avoid battles and violence like a plague. For them, these weapons and artifacts hold no meaning at all.

‘If it were in the human empire… people would cherish even these broken weapons as family heirlooms…’

The human race has many flaws, and there are indeed many bad people there, but there are also good people mixed up in the crowd.

Even if these weapons have all but rusted away and are now unusable, they hold several thousand years’ worth of history!

These were the very same weapons the heroes of the past used to carve out this nation from nothing.

These weapons were once held by proud warriors and were the symbol of great pride; if they were in the human empire, people would have cherished them as heirlooms and told folk tales about them.

‘I guess treasure only holds meaning if there’s someone to appreciate it… Otherwise, it’s just some random glowing metal that’s of no use by itself…’

[Basic Magic: Float!]

Jareth cast the basic magic float to float a bit higher and avoid stepping on the broken weapons fallen on the ground. He spread out his mana detection to detect the path underground and moved deeper into the armory.

Sylvia and the others also followed behind him.

“I-is that the famous sword ‘Jamaina’!? It’s been reduced to such state…”

Sylvia’s surprised voice attracted everyone’s attention; everyone glanced at a broken and rusted sword plunged in the wall at her words of exclamation.

Seeing the confused look on everyone’s face, Sylvia explained,

“Jamaina of the molten depths—that is the full name of this sword! There’s no doubt about it! This is the sword of great hero Zion Reid!”

“It is said that this sword was capable of slicing even the toughest things in the world like a knife slicing through butter!”

“But to think that it’s fallen into such a state…”

Sylvia is a sword user herself; she grew up admiring Zion Reid’s stories since childhood, and she knew that Zion’s famous sword was stored inside the national armory.

From the very first day she officially became a knight, Sylvia always wanted to have ‘Jamaina’ in her possession.

She wanted that sword for herself, but going into the national armory for no apparent reason was equal to committing a great sin!

Thus she never came here and never knew that the famous peak grade-1 sword Jamaina was reduced to such a state by now.

“Hmm, this one’s not the work of erosion… I can sense a faint amount of miasma from it’s blade even now… This sword was only recently damaged…”

Just when Sylvia was feeling depressed, Jareth’s voice rang out in her ears.

At some point he came over to have a look at the sword.

“Hoh, such fine usage of miasma… I guess this must have been Fisur’s handiwork… No wonder this place is so messed up right now… It’s almost as if someone fought here and messed up the place in battle…”

Jareth glanced at the cracks on the sword and spoke in an amused tone,

“This sword… It awakened a sense of ‘Self’… how interesting…”

Weapons of peak grade-1 and above level have a chance of awakening a sense of ‘Self’ under rare circumstances.

“Well, the user of the sword wasn’t an ordinary person after all; it’s only fitting for the weapon to be unique too…”

Jamaina awakened as a conscious weapon; it was a weapon that was only a step away from going beyond the shackles of grade 1 at that point.

But for some reason this weapon likely got separated from Zion and thus lost its power source; the consciousness faded, and the sword slept in this armory for several centuries!

“When Fisur infiltrated this place by pure chance, he caused the consciousness of the sword to awaken…”

“It is said that the weapons with a sense of self chose their masters according to their own will; if others try to take them, they fight back fiercely…”

“Fisur likely tried to steal the sword and ended up fighting it… still a weapon without a master is nothing after all; it got destroyed by Fisur in the end…”

Sylvia glanced at all the weapons scattered everywhere on the ground and spoke in an angry tone.

“I see… So by destroying the sword of our hero and throwing all these weapons on the ground, that man is basically insulting our ancestors and their sacrifices… This is unforgivable…”

Jareth shrugged his shoulders at those words of determination.

“Hoh… finally feeling motivated to fight? That’s a good thing, I guess… It will be less troublesome if you put your emotions aside when in battle. When fighting against miasma, your emotions are your greatest vulnerabilities…”

Sylvia nodded her head at Jareth’s words, and the rest of the group also got motivated.

“Let’s go; even a sword fought for its dignity… Don’t let a mere weapon outdone you; it’s a matter of dignity and pride now for you too…”

Jareth gave the elves another push with his words; now they will be able to fight properly and won’t get in his way.

As they say,

{Words spoken by mouth are sometimes one of the strongest weapons; they can be used to manipulate entire nations and civilizations alike!} (Source: Trust me bro…)

Jareth led the group deeper through the corridors, and the group went downstairs into the basement, where they finally saw a massive, gigantic hole in the ground.

“The ground below here must have collapsed, thus creating a hidden path directly to the forbidden area below the capital…”

“This is the flaw in the barrier we were looking for; Fisur and all the other members of the False Dome Cult also likely used this hole too…”

Jareth glanced at Mark and the other two and asked in a calm voice,

“This is the only moment to turn back; if you want to, you can turn back now… There’s no telling what will happen once we go to the forbidden area…”

“Places that are affected with miasma are bizarre, and anything can happen at any moment… If you are not careless, you will lose your life in an instant…”

The trio immediately shook their heads and refused to turn back.

“We have made it so far; we can’t just turn back now; only by going through hardships can you improve faster and become stronger!”

Mark and Azul both have the same goal of surpassing Jareth one day; if they don’t work hard and go through hardships, they will never be able to reach Jareth’s level.

As for Risa, she’s just tagging along because Mark is doing it.

For her, only Mark’s choice matters; she will follow him even if it is to the depths of hell or the pits of darkness.