Bam——

A muffled sound echoed between the fist and the floor.

Ronald controlled his strength and the spell perfectly.

Without causing any structural damage to the floor, this punch swiftly and cleanly broke the spell covering it.

Then his palm moved aside.

A stone box that had previously been concealed by the spell was now neatly embedded in the floor, revealing itself to the three people present.

Ronald smiled with satisfaction, casually pulling the stone box out from the ground.

Beside him, Nicole curiously asked:

"Ronald, aren't you worried that with one punch, you'll destroy the spell and also damage the hidden object?"

"I saw a similar record in the Springs library," Ronald confidently replied, then continued explaining without looking back, "This is a spell used by an astrologer from the south. And unlike those with space extension properties, it has no other function besides excellent concealment. Once discovered, there's no problem as long as you control the strength of destruction properly."

"The Springs library, huh..."

Hearing about the Springs, Nicole nodded thoughtfully.

Next, Ronald casually crushed the hard lid of the stone box, revealing its contents to the three of them.

"Huh? A hand segment!"

Seeing the contents of the box, Nicole exclaimed first.

The investigator girl pointed at the stone box in Ronald's hand with a strange expression, her tone turning unnatural:

"Ronald, could this be the so-called holy relic?"

Just as Nicole had said.

Inside the stone box extracted from beneath the floor by Ronald was actually a segment of a hand. And although it was just a part of a broken body, the hand didn't appear to have the eerie pallor of a corpse, but instead had a lustrous and delicate appearance.

Coupled with the intelligence the three had gathered earlier from the caster at the clinic.

It was easy to associate that the hand in this stone box was the cause of the city's destruction, and also the target of the casters' contention—the holy relic.

"..."

Unfortunately, Ronald was not as excited as Nicole.

He looked rather somber.

The reason was simple—he recognized this hand.

About two months ago, when Ronald entered the Twin Creek City ruins, he had seen this object by the underground river near the permafrost layer.

"..."

"Sir, this is the part that escaped that day."

At this point, Costate also spoke up to confirm Ronald's thoughts.

The non-human maid had memory abilities far beyond common sense; upon seeing this segment of the hand, she made an immediate judgment without any hesitation.

"Not just its form, even the fingerprints are exactly the same."

"After that half body escaped in the underground river, it must have traveled along waterways around the Alan Mountains and eventually reached Waterfall City through the great waterfall."

Under Costate's explanation.

Ronald's expression had already turned extremely grim.

Recalling the information revealed by the caster, his mind was almost in a tangle due to the terrible situation.

"I also didn't expect that thing could make its way to Waterfall City."

"Heh——"

At this, Ronald let out a cold snort:

"No wonder... the so-called enhancing strength and prolonging life, isn't that exactly its function?"

Ronald grumbled these words under his breath.

Back at Twin Creek City, the true nature of this core creature had already been directly exposed by Costate.

No problem at all.

Prolonging life and enhancing strength are indeed its capabilities.

But the casters in Waterfall City, kept in the dark, don't realize that the 'enhancement' cost is to be invaded by this core creature until it reaches the central processing organ—the human brain.

The end result of using this thing to increase strength is to be completely controlled.

"Really, I can't understand what those guys are doing!"

Ronald cursed furiously once again.

He never imagined that the remains of the adventurer, who lost half a body and was taken over by a core creature, would be assumed a holy relic by the casters, who then planned to use it to enhance themselves.

To use it for enhancement?

That would just be suicide!

"Ronald, do you know this thing?"

Seeing Ronald's and Costate's strong reactions, Nicole couldn't help but ask after hearing a few words:

"A holy relic, huh? That should be something passed down from a very ancient time, and you recognize it? Are you some kind of old monster who's lived for many years?"

Upon Nicole's question.

Ronald subconsciously glanced at the unnaturally calm maid next to him.

After confirming that Costate wasn't moved by being called an 'old monster,' Ronald explained to Nicole with a complicated expression:

"Nicole, yes, Costate and I did encounter this thing before."

"We were following an adventurer named Dawn to visit the ruins in a permafrost area, and during our entry into the Twin Creek City ruins, we encountered this thing..."

Ronald provided detailed information about these summoned creatures to the investigator girl in front of him. Meanwhile, he also supplemented details on the creatures' covetousness towards the real world.

As Nicole gradually accepted this information.

Her expression towards the hand segment in the stone box became identical to Ronald's.

"But Ronald, are you saying that the guy who fell into the underground river had half a body?"

"And now all we have is a single hand!"

"The situation is likely quite dire," Ronald agreed with Nicole's grim expression, "Since we have a separated hand in front of us, other places may have more separated body parts, and under the unknown number of those parts, someone might have already used this so-called 'enhancement method' and started being invaded by the core creature."

"Sigh..."

At this point, Ronald couldn't help but sigh.

Core creatures—merely from the name, it indicates a form of life.

And the instinct of life is naturally survival and reproduction.

If these things complete parasitism among the casters in Waterfall City and start subsequent self-reproduction, who knows what exaggerated situations might unfold over time.

"We can't delay any longer..."

Ronald muttered quietly to himself.

Faced with such a dire situation, the magic fluctuation around him suddenly surged.

Expressing his intentions with such a clear action, Ronald then shouted to those around him:

"Hey, everyone get closer!"

"I have something very urgent that needs to be relayed to Lareyes!"

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