"I see..." Riezel, not sharing her anger, nodded calmly before asking a question. "So, when did that happen?"
However, the answer he got was completely unexpected.
"No idea." Maya's reply was quick and firm.
"What?" Riezel froze.
"I'm saying, I don't know." Maya said firmly. "I only wake up when the Guardians activate, and they only activate when someone approaches the city, so other than that, I'm always asleep. I have no idea how much time has passed in between."
Upon hearing this, Riezel finally understood why this priestess had looked so confused when he mentioned the term 'ancient magic civilization'.
If Maya had only woken up when someone approached this city and spent the rest of the time asleep, then there was no way she could have known about the ancient magic civilization.
Because she didn't know that 11,000 years had passed in the outside world.
Because she didn't know that the era she lived in was long gone.
From her perspective, it might have just felt like she had taken a nap, only waking up twice in between—once when those outsiders who deceived her arrived and once now.
She had no idea what time it was now, how many years had passed while she slept, or even how long ago she had been tricked, since the only thing she knew was that her mission was to protect this city.
Riezel instantly thought of this.
Of course, this was just his guess, as whether what Maya said was true or not still needed to be verified.
"What about the magic dolls?" Riezel decided to ask Maya anyway. "Was the temple storing the technology to create magic dolls?"
"...I don't know about that either."
Maya shook her head, appearing clueless.
"From what you just said, those so-called magic dolls were made using living people as materials, right? There's no way such an evil magic technology could exist in the temple!"
"However, back when people still lived in this city, the priests who served God like I did had fought against evil magicians who abused magic and researched magic technology that violated human ethics more than once."
"And whenever the priests succeeded in defeating those evil magicians, they would usually send the spoils they obtained to the temple's forbidden room."
In other words, the magic technology used to create magic dolls was likely one of the spoils the priests sent to the temple's forbidden room at that time, and those who deceived Maya might have broken into that forbidden room and taken this forbidden magic technology from within.
'So, does that mean the technology to create those eerie and chilling holy relics was also taken from the temple's forbidden room?'
As Riezel thought this, it was most likely true.
Whether it was the technology for making magic dolls or the one for making those eerie holy relics, neither of them looked like something that should see the light of day, so it was only natural that such forbidden technology would be sealed away by priests who worshiped a god.
As the guardian of this city, Maya might have known everything about it, but as a devout god follower, she would have definitely avoided the forbidden room, where anything evil and forbidden was sealed away.
Given that, it made sense that Maya wouldn't know exactly what kind of evil things were locked away in the forbidden room.
At this point, Riezel had cleared up most of his doubts about the masterminds behind all this.
Now, the only thing he was still unsure of was their identities, and unfortunately, that was something Maya wouldn't be able to help with.
It couldn't be helped.
Maya had been here for so long that she didn't even know the outside world had changed dynasties, so how could she possibly know who those masterminds were?
"Can you tell me what they looked like?"
In the end, this was all Riezel could ask.
"You mean their appearance?" Maya asked back, looking troubled.
How was she supposed to describe that?
Ultimately, after struggling with the question for a while, she finally explained.
"I only know that there were five men and two women. Among the men, two were elderly, around fifty or sixty years old. Two were middle-aged, in their thirties or forties. And the last one was a young man in his twenties."
"As for the women, one was a beautiful woman in her thirties, and the other was a pretty girl around twenty years old."
"What was strange was their names... I mean, they didn't seem like real names but more like strange codenames..."
Hearing this, Riezel couldn't help but focus and urged Maya to continue.
Taking a deep breath, Maya then told Riezel the names of the seven people she knew.
"The one who talked to me the most was the beautiful woman in her thirties. She called herself 'Fire Princess'."
"The pretty girl around twenty didn't talk much. She always had a cold, distant feel and always stuck close to Fire Princess. She went by 'Ice Maiden'."
"The two elderly men were always curious about this city. One of them, in particular, who went by the name 'Giant Soldier', had a crazed look in his eyes whenever he looked around. As for the other old man, he was known as 'Heavenly Hunt'."
"As for the two middle-aged men, they sometimes disappeared all of a sudden, but most of the time, they stuck close to the two old men. As for their names... I think one was called 'Tyrant', and the other was 'Bashe'."
"And lastly, the young man in his twenties was known as 'Giga'... He was always grinning and seemed kind of frivolous and acted all playful."
Maya also told Riezel that among these seven, the one called 'Heavenly Hunt' seemed to be the leader. It was something she could vaguely tell since everyone always revolved around him, treating him with the utmost respect.
Riezel silently memorized their information and codenames.
'Heavenly Hunt, Giant Soldier, Tyrant, Bashe, Giga, Fire Princess, and Ice Maiden... Were they behind everything that had been happening?'
A cold glint flashed in Riezel's eyes.
Regardless, the grudge was already formed, so if he got the chance, he definitely wouldn't let them off.
"Oh, right..."
Just then, Maya suddenly seemed to recall something and clapped her hands.
"I remember they kept mentioning a name over and over. I think it was 'Heretic Assassin' or something?"
Upon hearing this, Riezel froze on the spot.
"Heretic Assassin?"
Wasn't that the assassin organization that specialized in eliminating people with the potential to become Tactical-Class or Strategic-Class Magicians Yuri had told him about?
For a time, both Riezel and Yuri had suspected that it was this organization that had gravely injured the original Riezel, leaving him in a near-death state and forcing him to recover for a month in the Frenzel family's care.
However, later on, they found out that it had nothing to do with them since the true culprit was Jinas's so-called Mad Dog Prince, Sorren Jinas.
Because of that, Riezel hadn't thought about this organization in a long time, almost forgetting it completely.
And now, they were showing up again?
"Are you sure those people kept mentioning the name Heretic Assassin so often?" Riezel asked with a frown.
"Yes." Maya answered without hesitation. "Especially that woman, Fire Princess. Sometimes, while talking to me, she'd just blurt out the name."
At this, Riezel closed his eyes.
It seemed he had to start paying attention to this assassin organization again—one he had nearly forgotten.
"Well, I've told you everything I know." Maya brushed off the topic before narrowing her eyes. "So, what are you planning now? Still set on targeting this city?"
Even though she was willing to share some information with Riezel, there was probably more to it—maybe she wanted to test his attitude, to make him reconsider his interest in this city.
Riezel pushed down the thoughts swirling in his mind and spread his hands at Maya.
"Even if I back off, the people who came with me won't." Riezel shrugged casually. "Right now, they're trying to figure out how to break the temple's barrier. I don't think they'll just give up."
At the very least, Raven and the Mavros family definitely wouldn't—that much was obvious.
Maya, however, didn't seem to consider Raven and the others a threat.
"Hmph, they think they can break the temple's barrier? What a joke!" Maya scoffed.
"Oh?" Riezel raised an eyebrow before speaking leisurely. "You really trust your temple's barrier that much?"
"Do you even know what that barrier is?"
Maya sounded almost like she was showing off, her tone full of pride.
"It was constructed by the archbishop and three high priests together—layered, complex, and unbreakable. It completely suppresses magic, making it immune to any magical interference or influence. Besides, it also has physical durability strong enough to withstand a meteor strike without a scratch, and it automatically repairs itself. It's the highest-class barrier magic on the entire continent."
"In this world, there's probably only one magic that can surpass this barrier, and as far as I know, there's only one person—or rather, one existence—that can break it."
Maya spoke with absolute confidence, completely unfazed by the idea of the barrier being breached.
"When this city was still above ground, the temple's barrier was only broken once."
"Other than that, it has never been breached."
"And you people? There's no way you'll pull off what happened that one time."
"I can guarantee it."
Hearing Maya's words, Riezel remained silent and didn't argue since, at least for now, the temple's barrier truly remained unbroken.
Riezel shifted his gaze toward the massive temple standing tall at the city's center.
He noticed that the magical energy surrounding it had never wavered, and only faint rumbling sounds echoed from time to time.
It seemed Raven was desperately attacking the barrier, but so far, he hadn't succeeded.
As Riezel gazed at the temple, Maya spoke again.
"Listen, there's still time, so leave this city while you can." Maya said straightforwardly. "Otherwise, once I activate the grand magic hidden beneath this city, even if you want to run, you won't be able to."
Hearing this, Riezel turned his gaze toward the watchtower where the two had clashed earlier.
At the top of that watchtower was a magic circle, which Maya had planned to activate from the start to deal with the outsiders invading the city.
As Riezel recalled the magic circle, it was probably the activation switch for the grand magic hidden beneath the city that Maya had mentioned.
"Heh, getting scared?"
Maya spoke with a somewhat teasing tone, trying to tempt Riezel.
"If you're scared, then hurry up and—"
Before Maya could finish her sentence, however, her expression suddenly changed dramatically.
"No... No way!"
Maya suddenly cried out, completely caught off guard.