Chapter 462 - Cristobal’s Collection
Vayu felt the air currents inside the dungeon and noticed that there is a shift in air direction. He followed this and managed to find a section of the wall that is porous. He immediately hacked the wall, and a hidden room is located on the other side of the porous wall.
"Everyone, I think I finally found our exit. There is a magic circle in this room. It is also filled with scary looking stuff." Vayu stated as he entered the room first to see if there are traps.
"We got to hurry then. We only have little time left before we are forcefully logged out of the game. The hour limit is almost up. Search what you can." Adrian stated as he also entered the room while the rest followed.
The inside of the room felt more like a lab than a study of a mage. Mages would usually have a separate room for their magical experiments and their library, but Cristobal has it in one location. The magic lab and study are not even separated by a barrier.
"Either that Cristobal guy is lunatic or very confident in his experiments. If a failure resulted into an explosion, then his study would also catch fire. There is not even a wall that could separate the two." Alder exclaimed as he just put everything he can in his inventory.
"If magical explosion then I think it already happened. Look at the section of the wall on that side. It is charred despite the wall being made of the flesh of a dead dark god. Whatever resulted in that explosion would have been powerful given that it did not regenerate." Adrian pointed out as he also just picked everything he can and put it in his inventory.
"He is more like a mad scientist rather than a warlock. Look at those giant domes pasted on the wall. It seems like it is an incubator of some sort. It pulsed weakly but the life inside of it is still barely alive." Peridot stated as she tore off one of the domes with ease.
The small creature inside of the dome dropped to the floor and immediately wrinkled before eventually dying. Vayu and Soleil knew what that creature is as it is a newborn elemental. They immediately started bursting the domes in order to free the elementals from their captivity.
"I think that Cristobal fellow did not do it in his own. I doubt just the High Elemental Sylphis could help him achieve this. There might still be a mastermind to the capture of these poor elementals. I mean even Lauma, who is an elemental queen, has been captured." Adrian stated as he joined in breaking the domes.
"Are you saying that an elemental king has betrayed its own kind? That would be impossible because elementals are products of nature." Vayu stated as he knew that the elementals were a tight knit group. They treated each other as family despite not having the same parents.
"Just because nature birthed the elementals does not mean that they would not become twisted. Whenever an entity achieves individuality then it could branch to a path where it no longer sees nature as an ally.
I mean, even the dragons are not benevolent. There have been cases of evil dragons that are sealed by heroes and demons. Even the demons have some who think differently thus became villains. Each intelligent race has a capacity to do great good but also great evil." Adrian rebutted as even the Daemos have demons that did not align with keeping the world in check. Although, those demons are no longer alive because they were hunted down by their own kind.
"We should check upon it then. It might lead to a quest. I am pretty sure that Lauma also knows as she would jump at the chance of joining us if it is meant to kill Cristobal. She did look like she is worried about something. At least with Cristobal gone, there will no longer be experiments on elementals." Vayu stated as he cut the last dome.
"Anyways, did anyone find something interesting? All we managed to find are books on hexes and sorcery. I feel like I would get cursed just by hanging in this place. It is filled with bad mojo." Levin Cloud stated as he suddenly felt cold.
"It is not because this place is filled with bad mojo, but it is a place where life was desecrated. The life energy here is basically twisted. A leshy like you is just sensitive to the twisted life energy. Even the death energy here is foul that Creepysoo is also having a difficult time walking." Adrian stated as he noticed that his nether gauge halted regenerating.
"Anyways, we have already cleaned this place up so we should go out of here. We might become abominations just staying inside a dead dark god\'s body. I want to experience the beauty of the main world again." Kabrakan stated as he walked towards the teleportation circle.
"Let me just remind you that a dark god that is alive is currently roaming the main world as we speak. The allied kingdoms imposed a gag order which is why the ordinary citizens are not aware of what is happening." Cersei stated as she stretched her body as she felt stiff.
"Not even gossip? How could they keep the mouths of others shut? I want to know their technique. It could be useful for my mother who yaps about how I do not help in the house." Kabrakan stated to lighten the atmosphere.
"What chores? You are basically a freeloader in your house which is why your mom nags at you." Peridot rebutted.
"There would not be rumors unless there are no people to tell the rumors. All the envoys and royalty of other kingdoms that were present in the imperial capital at the time were basically obliterated. Some may have escaped if their guards are like super strong, but I doubt they could freely speak about it." Mariposa stated in a serious tone.
"All this serious talk is already making me gloomy. Let me remind you guys that all the items we collected are epic tier or higher. We should focus on the positive and not on the negative." Creepysoo stated.
"I agree!" Soleil added which made everyone smile.
Since there are no longer anything valuable inside the lair, they decided to head outside. All of them stepped inside of the magic circle that transported them outside of the dungeon.
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When all of them got out of the dungeon, the Evergreen guild members started to get assaulted with numerous messages from their guild members. They received the news that the allied army has been decimated by the dark god in the fallen imperial capital. The next news became even much harder to stomach as they were warned of character deletion if they experience numerous deaths from the dark god.
"It seems we are urgently needed elsewhere. I am sorry that we need to go away early." Anastacia stated as she once again put up the items for roll. The others of the Evergreen guild have done so as well since they are pressed for time.
"It seems that something happened with the dark god that is not within your calculations." Levin Cloud stated as there is worry written on the faces of the Evergreen guild members.
"Yes. Apparently, if you get killed by the dark god a few times in a short span of time then you risk your character being deleted." Anastacia stated which shocked everyone.
"If that is the case then that would deter the players from using human wave tactics to wear down the dark god. Character deletion is not laughing matter especially for players that think this is using the game as their livelihood." Kabrakan stated as he himself is getting money from trading items inside the game.
"Did the system notification mention about the soul of the player getting damaged?" Adrian asked which stunned Anastacia as he is exactly on point.
"How did you know?" Anastacia asked as this should be the first time that Adrian heard of this information.
"I managed to know of the story of the War with the Dark Gods. Their attacks are said to tear even the souls of their victims which is why even the Goddess of Life was not able to revive those who fell in battle. We players have numerous chances but for the NPCs…they can only pray they could still reincarnate." Adrian stated as he started to think of hastening his plans.
Adrian thought that he could take his time with gathering information about Abelport but it seems that is not the case. Leaving the dark god to constantly gather its power to terraform the world is risky. He looked at the countdown timer and it said: 94 days left.
"Let us hurry and get out of here then." Adrian said as he used Dimensional Teleportation to rip the fabric of space for an entrance to the main world.
When all of them left, a huge eye suddenly opened on where they were previously. Adrian and the others did not notice that the remnant will of the dark god managed to escape with a small amount of energy. It managed to repossess it body, but it is still decaying.
"I will have my revenge, but I need to build my strength first!" A voice that came from the planet itself stated. It started to break down its own decaying body as nutrition for its slow revival.
"It might take a few years, but I will have my revenge." The voice stated as its area stated to shrink by a centimeter.