I Got A Title: Lord Of The Time!-Chapter 72: It was a map!

"Aran, go!" Royal shouted to Aran, and he, raising his dagger, made several slashes at the Distorted creature that looked like a mantis!

"Aaarrr!" the mantis roared and was about to use its ability, when Lin suddenly appeared in front of it and slashed its eyes!

"Royal, do it!"

Royal raised his golden two-handed sword and swiftly made a diagonal slash at the mantis!

Whoosh!

The sword passed through the mantis with ease, as if through tofu, and instantly killed it!

Aran laughed and turned to Royal, saying:

"Ha-ha-ha. That was a decent fight..."

Royal nodded and noticed Lin’s intense gaze on the mantis’s head, like a wild animal eyeing food. He smiled slightly and with quick hand movements, made several slashes that shredded the mantis’s head into several pieces!

But there was no Low Soul Shard inside.

Lin shook his head and, ignoring the mantis’s corpse, walked deeper into the forest, as if everything that had just happened didn’t concern him at all.

"There’s no point wasting more time here. We need to find at least something before night falls."

Royal nodded, slowly sheathed his golden sword, and followed Lin forward. He also saw no reason to stay when there was nothing left to scavenge.

Since his two companions had gone into the forest, Aran had no choice but to follow them.

"And how long are we planning to keep going forward?" he asked.

Royal, walking ahead, thought for a moment and replied:

"I think we don’t have far left. After all, we’ve already covered a significant distance — enough to confidently head either right or left next."

"Unless we run into something weird," added Lin.

Aran shrugged and looked up at the sky, sighing.

"Oh, these strange things in the Dead Lands... I think, if we manage to return to Earth safely, the information about the Magic World will expand significantly."

"Especially about that strange Distorted creature..."

Lin and Royal frowned when Aran mentioned that Distorted creature that nearly killed them.

"There are so many secrets hidden in the world..." Royal sighed.

...

Closer to the evening, the group arrived at a rather large cliff, from the top of which a large river flowed down as a waterfall.

The fresh air, mixed with fine water droplets, hit Lin and the others in the face. They decided to spend the night there.

"This place doesn’t seem bad," Aran smiled and looked at the large waterfall with interest.

Royal bent down and touched the water in the large lake. Then, after sniffing it, he said:

"Freshwater. Nothing strange in it."

"Then..." Aran instantly stripped down to his underwear and dove into the lake with great speed!

Splash!

Water droplets flew in all directions, and small waves formed in the lake, quickly spreading out and then fading.

Instead of joyfully swimming, Aran pulled out a dagger and said:

"I’ll try to catch some fish," then he dived into the water and disappeared from Lin and Royal’s sight.

Royal sighed and stepped aside to build a new fire, which they would use for cooking food and staying warm. Nights in the Magic World were quite cold, especially lately.

Meanwhile, Lin didn’t follow Aran’s example to bathe in the water, nor did he prepare the fire like Royal. Instead, he walked to the edge of the lake near the waterfall and began to meditate with his sword, trying to Contact it.

"Lately, I haven’t had any opportunity to do this..."

He slowly closed his eyes and sat in a lotus position, placing the katana on his legs, ready to begin meditation.

Soon, he began.

Somewhere in the depths of the lake, Aran was swimming and curiously observing the aquatic life. Suddenly, he noticed a fairly large hole in the stone wall, completely dark like pitch.

"An underwater cave?" the question immediately popped into his mind.

He made a serious expression and slowly swam toward the underwater cave. Along the way, various fish and aquatic creatures got in his way, but his dagger quickly "resolved" those issues.

When he reached the underwater cave and looked inside, he saw a human skeleton, which held a strange piece of paper in its right hand.

"Interesting..." swimming up slowly to the skeleton, Aran quickly inspected it and, seeing nothing strange, decided to bring it ashore so he could figure out — who it was, and what that paper in its right hand was about — together with the others.

Taking the skeleton, Aran quickly swam upward and after some time, emerged from the lake with the human skeleton in his arms.

Naturally, Royal immediately noticed it and frowned.

"Looks like your catch was rather unusual..."

Aran laughed and moved the skeleton’s right hand forward so Royal could see the strange piece of paper it held.

"Now this is interesting... You know, Aran, for once I’m glad you’re with us," he smiled brightly and approached with arms spread, as if about to hug him.

But when he got close, instead of hugging Aran, he hugged the skeleton — especially its right arm.

"..."

"Alright, just open it already," he said to Aran.

"What about Lin?" Aran looked at Lin, who was meditating.

Royal rolled his eyes and quickly shouted to Lin:

"Lin!! Aran found a strange skeleton inside the lake!!"

But Lin didn’t respond.

"It’s holding a piece of paper in its right hand, and we’re about to open it!!"

Lin instantly opened his eyes and looked toward the two people.

Royal smirked and waited for Lin to arrive. When Lin came, he saw the skeleton with a strange folded piece of paper in its right hand.

"And it was at the bottom of that lake?" he asked Aran.

He nodded and lifted his head proudly, saying:

"Of course, if not for my sharp eye, it would’ve remained there — and who knows how many years would’ve passed before it was discovered again."

"I’ll open it," Royal was about to open the paper, but Aran’s hand appeared, and then his voice was heard:

"I found it. So I should be the one to open it!"

He forcefully snatched the paper from Royal’s hands and began to open it.

Skillfully unfolding it, he looked at the paper without showing it to anyone and was shocked!

His eyes instantly widened, causing Lin and Royal to look at him in surprise, silently waiting for Aran to read the contents and hand it over.

"T-this... I can’t describe it in words, you need to see it for yourselves..." he extended the paper and handed it to Lin and Royal.

When both looked at the paper, they realized there were no writings — only a map!

It was a map!

"Well, I really can’t describe it in words," Aran shrugged.

"..."

"..."

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