- In Marvel: I Start by Marrying Scarlett Witch [Complete]
- MWM Chapter 534
A year ago, before he had overthrown the old Empire, a massive Dwemer ruin was discovered in the snowy mountains of Skyrim, rumored to connect to the legendary Blackreach. Emperor Titus Mede II secretly dispatched an officer named Sulla to gather an expedition team and head to Skyrim to excavate the ruins, hoping to discover and study Dwemer manufacturing techniques.
The goal was to replicate the Dwemer’s mechanical constructs, creating an army of Dwarven machines that would give the Empire an advantage in future wars against the Aldmeri Dominion.
At first, the excavation progressed smoothly. But just as they had completed the walkway and opened the entrance to the ruins, a powerful storm swept across the snowy mountains.
Many workers in the expedition team perished in the storm. Only a few, carrying their supplies, managed to take refuge inside the ruins, continuing their exploration while waiting for the storm to pass.
During this time, they faced numerous attacks from Dwemer constructs, and in the end, only seven members survived.
These survivors included Captain Sulla, her bodyguard Umana, the mage Valie, guide Endrast, overseer Yag, and the last two remaining workers, the Khajiit brothers J’darr and J’zhar.
The Khajiit Leo had just killed was J’zhar.
This Khajiit had been a longtime skooma addict, and his brother J’darr joined the expedition hoping to help him quit the drug by controlling his intake.
He gave J’zhar small doses each day to gradually wean him off the addiction.
However, during the many months they were trapped in the ruins, their skooma supply ran out, and J’darr was severely injured in a sneak attack by a Dwarven mechanical spider. As the other team members mysteriously disappeared, J’zhar succumbed to withdrawal and went mad.
He killed his severely injured brother with his own hands and wandered the ruins, searching for the skooma he believed his brother had hidden.
Skooma is a sweet syrup made from sugarcane, processed into moon sugar, and then further refined into skooma, a substance banned in cities across the continent.
Skooma is highly addictive, causing hallucinations and impairing both mental and physical health when consumed excessively.
Shaking his head, Leo continued deeper into the ruins.
In this world, many ruins hold the promise of immense wealth for those bold enough to explore them, with the potential for instant riches. But without strength, explorers are likely to end up as another set of bones in these dangerous places.
As he casually dispatched the Dwarven mechanical spiders and spheres that leaped out of the pipes, Leo found the bodies of other missing expedition members and their journals scattered throughout the ruins.
From these journals, he learned that the missing members had been captured by the Falmer dwelling within the ruins.
Most Dwemer ruins are home to the Falmer—once the Snow Elves, who had been enslaved and betrayed by the Dwemer. Now, they have degenerated into mindless, grotesque creatures.
Most of the captured expedition members were skinned alive and eaten by the Falmer, while only the strongest, Sulla and her bodyguard Umana, managed to escape.
As Leo ventured deeper into the ruins, he encountered numerous Falmer attacks. However, these creatures posed no threat to him, and he swiftly eliminated them all.
Eventually, he found himself not only at the bottom of the snowy mountain but also at least 500 meters underground, where he finally reached the entrance to what Baldir referred to as Blackreach.
This was the place where one of the Elder Scrolls was hidden.
There, he also encountered the last two surviving members of the expedition, Sulla and Umana.
However, the two were fighting each other at the entrance to Blackreach.
“Sulla, let’s leave this place. Too many have died already!”
“No way! Below lies the legendary Blackreach. As long as we enter and find the Dwemer city and their technology, the Emperor will reward me handsomely.
Umana, don’t think I don’t know what you’re planning. You want to kill me when I turn my back and steal all the credit!”
“Sulla, you’ve gone mad. I don’t want to die here. I’m leaving.”
“Then I’ll kill you first. That way, I’ll be the only one who knows this secret.”
Watching their heated argument, Leo chuckled and coughed to get their attention:
“You know, your Empire has already fallen. Is there really a need for you two to keep fighting here?”
“Who are you? The Empire can’t have fallen!”
Startled by Leo’s voice, both of them stopped their fighting and turned to face him, shocked.
They had been in the ruins for only a year. Even if the Aldmeri Dominion had grown stronger, it seemed impossible for them to have overthrown the Empire in such a short time, especially after the signing of the White-Gold Concordat.
“I am the Dragonborn Emperor of the new Empire. Your Empire fell to me.”
Leo shrugged as he approached the mechanism to open the entrance to Blackreach. He pointed at the mechanism and said:
“Alohomora!”
The magical glow of the unlocking spell struck the mechanism, which trembled but remained locked.
This was the first time the unlocking spell had failed.
“The combination of technology and magic—it’s impressive.”
After scanning it with his spiritual sense, he immediately understood the issue.
No matter how complex a lock, the unlocking spell could open it, even modern high-tech locks, such as smart locks and fingerprint locks.
But there was one exception.
If a magical protection was placed on the lock, the unlocking spell would be rendered ineffective.
The Dwemer constructs were not ordinary machines; they were a fusion of technology and magic. Opening them required a specific key.
“Such arrogant lies! You must be one of those Stormcloak rebels. Let me kill you first!”
Sulla, not believing Leo’s words, ignored Umana and charged at him with her sword.
Leo flicked his finger, releasing a powerful burst of energy that knocked Sulla back, slamming her into a large Dwarven machine and causing her to cough up blood.
He then grabbed her and began reading her memories.
“So, I need to find a synchronization sphere to open this mechanism? What a hassle.”
After extracting Sulla’s memories, Leo snapped her neck and tossed her aside, shaking his head.
Sulla, an officer of the Empire and an expert in Dwemer technology, knew that opening the mechanism required a special synchronization sphere made by the Dwemer.
Without it, even with Sulla’s expertise, it would take at least a month to crack the mechanism.
That was far too slow for Leo, so he opted for a more direct approach.
“Light-speed punch!”
Raising his hand, he unleashed a barrage of punches at the Dwarven mechanism.
“Boom!”
With a loud crash, the entire mechanism vanished, leaving a massive crater before him. At the bottom of the crater lay the entrance to the dark, subterranean world.
(End of chapter)