Chapter 460: Can I Trust You?

Exactly how the Lyon fleet had managed to escape that place, Ambrose had no idea. What he soon realized was that passing through via the seafloor wasn't going to be easy either.

Even if he were to submerge deep enough to avoid the terrifying lightning above, the seabed itself was riddled with countless whirlpools, and the bizarre currents had carved the ocean floor into a fractured, labyrinthine mess.

The choice came down to threading through a maze of submarine rock formations, or simply forcing a path straight through the whirlpools above and trusting that his body could withstand the currents.

This was clearly not a natural environment. It was either the work of some deity, or the product of some twisted, prank-loving legendary mage's use of Terraform.

Ambrose had already seen the famed golden desert and had grown somewhat inured to such things by now. In that bygone age when magic had flourished without restraint, abusing it had been the nature of the times. Floating cities had once gazed down on the mortal world below, mages convinced they had touched the very domain of the gods, until one day it all ended with a single thunderous collapse as an entire magical civilization was reduced to ash.

Ambrose glanced around, then turned to look behind him.

Beside him, Ariel hung suspended in the water, watching everything around her with open curiosity.

Enchanted with a water-breathing spell, she too could remain submerged indefinitely.

She had changed into form-fitting underwater armor for the occasion, which was lovely enough to put a mermaid to shame.

This was specialized combat gear forged by the Ragetide Kingdom specifically for underwater operations, crafted from the hide of a rare sea beast and reserved exclusively for high-ranking officers.

"You really didn't need to come along with me," Ambrose said to Ariel, gesturing with his fingers.

Communication underwater wasn't simple. Non-aquatic species couldn't produce stable sound underwater, and Ambrose was relying on a handful of supplementary spells to compensate.

Unfortunately, Ariel wasn't an undead, and couldn't make use of a soul-link to communicate. The two of them were left with this combination of hand signals and projected speech.

Not even Heki Stone had been willing to brave the depths with him, but Ariel had insisted on coming along regardless. It left Ambrose genuinely puzzled. Wouldn't it have been simpler to just wait safely on the ship?

Ariel opened her mouth, releasing only a stream of bubbles, and realized she couldn't produce a stable voice the way Ambrose could. She resorted to hand signals instead. "Honestly, I've been curious about this region ever since I was a child, and what might be hidden within it."

It was a lie. Ambrose didn't even need his powers of divination to sense as much.

He could only say to her: "Your Highness, if you're not willing to be honest with me, I'd recommend you turn back."

With her deception exposed, Ariel could only say, "I cannot allow you to take this risk alone. Our partnership concerns the future of the Ragetide Kingdom itself."

If it were within her power, Ariel genuinely would have dragged Ambrose straight back to the ship.

Even knowing full well that Ambrose was a lich, Ariel remained afraid that something dangerous might happen to him within this treacherous sea.

And if Ambrose perished, the Ragetide Kingdom would have no future.

The kingdom could afford to lose her, a single princess, but it could not afford to abandon Ambrose's alchemical factory project.

Even though Ambrose, as a lich, could theoretically resurrect even if he died, Ariel couldn't bring herself to gamble on that. What if this turned out to be some forgotten sanctum left behind by a god, containing something capable of killing a lich outright?

Despite knowing full well how irrational it was, Ariel had decided to come along regardless.

It wasn't as if she was throwing her own life away on a whim. She carried an artifact granted to her by Thanos himself, one that should be capable of preserving her life in a true emergency.

That insurance was why Ariel had chosen to accompany Ambrose into danger in the first place.

Ambrose, for his part, had no real way to refuse, and simply let her come along.

"I intend to make our way in through this submarine labyrinth. The whirlpools above are far too dangerous to navigate easily."

Ariel agreed with this approach. Getting caught in one of those whirlpools would send them tumbling helplessly through the erratic currents, with no way to control their movement at all, let alone make it further inward.

That said, the seafloor labyrinth was unlikely to be easy to push through either. There was no telling how many dangerous marine creatures had taken shelter within it over the years.

Ariel hefted the war hammer at her hip and said to Ambrose, "I'll go first. Follow behind me!"

"W-What?"

In his entire existence, Ambrose had rarely, if ever, enjoyed the privilege of someone else clearing his path for him.

Back when he'd still been an adventurer, Ambrose had been the diviner, typically the one walking out front, using his sense of premonition to detect danger before it struck. Later, once he stopped adventuring entirely, with no party left to rely on, he'd had no choice but to fend for himself.

That Ariel was now prepared to put herself between him and danger to clear his way was, he had to admit, genuinely touching.

Though there was no need for anything of the sort.

With a sweeping gesture, several dozen finger-sized Grunt Type Is streamed out of his extradimensional space, arranging themselves in formation ahead of the two of them.

"Your Highness, have you forgotten what I am? I'm a lich. When has a lich ever lacked for disposable cannon fodder to scout the way?"

Ariel's face flushed. She was so caught up in wanting to protect Ambrose's safety that she had completely overlooked exactly what he was. Sheepishly, she fell back to his side.

Ambrose directed the undead vanguard forward and began advancing into the eerie submarine labyrinth.

The rock formations that made up the maze had been worn smooth by countless years of the currents and had been polished to a glassy finish, but remained unyielding underneath.

Ambrose attempted to hit one with a spell. It could only leave a mark on the surface, not break through directly.

As the two of them pressed deeper into the labyrinth, Ambrose had expected to run into all manner of danger. To his surprise, the disposable undead scouts encountered no attacks whatsoever.

The labyrinth was not without life. Its inhabitants were simply afraid of Ambrose and Ariel.

The creatures of the deep kept their distance throughout, occasionally registering on a Grunt Type I's senses for just a moment before vanishing again. They moved far too quickly to be caught.

Puzzled, Ambrose asked Ariel, "Didn't you say this place was supposed to be extremely dangerous?"

Ariel shook her head, equally at a loss. "I'm not entirely sure myself. This is my first time entering the Sea of Storms. Perhaps... they can sense our strength?"

It wasn't entirely implausible that two legendary-tier beings might frighten off the local marine life.

But something about it still struck Ambrose as off. Marine creatures, as a rule, weren't especially intelligent—and the harsher the environment, the more powerful and aggressive its inhabitants tended to be. That was simply how nature worked.

Creatures like that, confronted with an invader they had never encountered before, ought to lunge in for a taste before doing anything else, not flee on sight.

"Your Highness, I think something is wrong here. Let's pause for a moment."

Ambrose came to a stop. He commanded the disposable undead to continue forward alone and advance deeper into the labyrinth.

As the distance between them grew, the scouts were finally attacked.

Out of the darkness, two massive tentacles lashed out, snatching up a pair of Grunt Type Is in an instant before retreating back into the shadows.

A low growl rumbled out from the darkness. The creature responsible seemed to have swallowed the two undead whole, and was now suffering the effects of their poison.

A series of heavy thumps followed. Whatever the creature was, it was clearly massive—the toxin was enough to cause it discomfort, but was evidently not close to lethal.

Ambrose tracked its movements carefully from a safe distance. Only once the depths had settled back into stillness did he turn to Ariel. "It seems the problem lies with the two of us specifically."

Ariel looked at him, puzzled. "What problem?"

"My undead are drawing attacks from the sea beasts. We aren't. There's something about the two of us specifically that these creatures fear, and it's certainly not a matter of them simply sensing how dangerous we are."

Though both of them were legends, Ambrose had been carefully suppressing his dark magic the entire time, and Ariel had been equally cautious to betray no trace of her presence. There was no way these sea beasts could have known, from that distance, that the two of them weren't worth crossing.

So it had to be something specific they were each carrying, something the beasts genuinely feared.

"I don't know what you mean by that, exactly, but isn't that a good thing? Why would you call it a problem?"

Ariel was starting to feel she couldn't quite keep pace with Ambrose's thinking. And there was something oddly familiar about this whole situation. Hadn't she encountered something like this before, somewhere?

Ambrose explained, "We've never been here before, and these creatures have never seen us before. So what exactly are they afraid of? If we can pin that down, we might come to understand a great deal more about this region. I have a feeling this expedition is going to yield something extraordinary."

Ambrose's confidence only deepened his nagging sense of déjà vu, but Ariel knew this wasn't the moment to dwell on it. She simply asked, somewhat humbly, "So how do we find out? Throw away everything we're carrying, one item at a time, and see what happens?"

Ambrose shook his head. "No need for anything that complicated. Whatever's having an effect on creatures this fearsome can't be something ordinary. Your Highness, that warhammer of yours is an artifact granted by Thanos himself, isn't it? My guess is that's exactly what's keeping these beasts at bay. Testing it would be simple enough: we'll split up. I'll go deeper into the labyrinth alone, and we'll see whether the creatures attack me."

"Absolutely not!" Ariel refused outright.

"We already have a talisman protecting us, even if we don't know exactly what it is, so why take an unnecessary risk?"

Ariel didn't understand his reasoning. All she wanted was to keep Ambrose safe.

But Ambrose held firm. "Your Highness, you've fought on real battlefields. Would you ever go up against an enemy carrying a weapon whose properties you didn't fully understand, even knowing that weapon was powerful? Right now, we can scare these beasts off. But what happens if we go deeper and run into something stronger, something that isn't so easily frightened?

"If it chooses to attack, we can hardly afford to walk in not even knowing what it is that's been keeping it at bay. If we genuinely hold a card that can counter it, and we can't even play that card when it matters most, wouldn't that be far too dangerous to risk?"

Ambrose's reasoning seemed sound enough. Ariel didn't know how to counter it, but she still held her ground. "You are absolutely not taking that risk. Pull back out of the labyrinth. Let me be the one to test it instead."

Ambrose was at a loss for words. He thought that Ariel had matured, but it turned out that she was still every bit as stubborn as before.

He sighed. "This must be the first time I've ever seen anyone volunteer to take a risk on a lich's behalf. If you don't trust me, then take this."

Ambrose held out a small silver-white box and offered it to Ariel.

She took it, puzzled. "What is this?"

Ambrose answered with unusual gravity. "This is a lich's phylactery. If my body is ever destroyed, I will be reborn here. I am entrusting you with my very life. Your Highness, can I trust you?"

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