As Charles began investigating who had triggered the curse on the Serpent Empire's Empress, nurous crises were also closing in on both him and the Serpent Empire.
Under Everett's orders, the young Beast Masters from the Ancient Academy began entering the vast Atacama Desert. While the abilities of these Beast Masters varied, so of them were still capable of posing a considerable threat to Charles.
More importantly, the sheer number of Beast Masters was overwhelming. Although their mystical beasts were not particularly strong on an individual level, when they ca together, they still had the potential to unleash powerful energy. Naturally, the most talented among these Beast Masters could harness and amplify this energy.
If Charles were to encounter a siege from them, there was a high likelihood that he would suffer substantial losses.
Everett himself continued his search for Charles's whereabouts. Although he feared Isolde, this did not an he had abandoned his efforts to suppress Charles. He had already uncovered so clues. Before long, he would discover that Charles had reached the Serpent Empire in the Atacama Desert. At that point, he might strike directly once again.
Additionally, William was also searching for Charles's path. He possessed a variety of unique spells and mystical beasts, making it difficult for Charles to adequately prepare defenses against him. The threat William posed to Charles was far greater than that of Everett.
The above threats were rely those faced by Charles.
The Serpent Empire was confronted with far greater dangers.
For the Serpent Empire, the most significant threat was, of course, the Stellar Empire. Although the internal factions of the Stellar Empire were complicated, they seed to have united recently. The Stellar Empire had already begun reinforcing its forces in the Atacama Desert.
General Sost's urgent return to the front lines was due to the growing pressure on the Serpent Empire's defenses. Even before the reinforcents from the Stellar Empire had fully arrived, the Serpent Empire was already under trendous pressure. Once the full force of Stellar Empire's reinforcents arrived, the defensive lines the Serpent Empire was holding could quickly collapse.
On the other hand, the Stellar Empire was continuously recruiting Serpent tribes to betray the Serpent Empire. They provided massive resources to the Serpent tribes that allied with them, which caused many of these tribes to waver in their loyalty. For these Serpent tribes, acquiring more resources was far more important than loyalty to the Serpent Empress.
In the depths of the Atacama Desert, other intelligent races, such as Sandworms and Desert Goblins, were also plotting attacks against the Serpent Empire.
Although the Serpent Empire continued to lose land under the attacks of the Stellar Empire, the territory it still controlled was still quite vast.
Other intelligent races, clearly seeing this as an opportunity, were also expanding their own territories.
While external threats were exceptionally powerful, the Serpent Empire also faced many internal conflicts.
High Priest Aldany had beco exceedingly bold. He displayed clear hostility toward Charles and showed little regard for the orders given by Aria. In fact, it could even be said that his opposition to Charles was an effort to further weaken the Serpent Empress's authority.
Once Aria's prestige fell to a certain level, Aldany was highly likely to incite a rebellion.
Other high priests feared Aldany's power, and even Kent, the high priest with the regent's position, had to make certain concessions to Aldany.
With the curse on Aria being triggered once again, as the Empress, she was no longer able to issue any commands. This further strengthened Aldany's position.
Even though he kept to the shadows, he was still able to command the Serpent Empire through his own orders.
Kent, already wary of Aldany's power, was very cautious about confronting him. This was why he had not fully aligned himself against Charles.
The nurous threats piling up created an overwhelming sense of pressure for all the Serpent inhabitants in the Serpent's Eye Lake Oasis. Every Serpent was deeply worried about the potential disasters that could unfold in the near future.
As Aria's most trusted guard, Zara, like the others, was also incredibly concerned. Therefore, while searching for clues with Charles, she would occasionally fall into a trance-like state.
"Can you hear ? What's wrong with you?" Charles's concerned voice ca from ahead.
Zara snapped out of her daze and looked in the direction of the voice. She then saw Charles's worried expression.
"It's nothing. I just spaced out for a mont," Zara explained.
Charles continued to assess her, clearly not believing her explanation, but he didn't press further.
"You need to focus. You should know better than I do how dangerous this place is. Spacing out here is no different from choosing to commit suicide," Charles reminded her.
Zara nodded but said nothing more.
She, of course, knew that losing focus here was akin to death.
The area they were currently in was the underground dark river passage beneath the Serpent's Eye Lake Oasis.
Hidden in the dark river were nurous terrifying monsters, as well as dangerous mystical beasts that seed to have appeared from nowhere.
The water level in the underground river could change at any mont, and the fluctuations were far more extre than those of the rivers on the surface.
Sotis, the underground dark river would flood the entire passage. The water in the underground river carried a curse, so anyone who fell into it would be corrupted by its power.
When the curse on Aria first erupted, the high priests of the Serpent Empire suspected that it was related to the underground dark river.
After a long period of investigation, they eventually confird that the curse on the Empress was caused by the Blood of the Demigod.
The reason the two of them were here was because Charles said he had found a clue.
This clue pointed toward the underground dark river.
Although Zara knew how dangerous this place was, she still chose to trust Charles.
After entering the underground dark river, Charles took the lead.
Although he had never been here before, he felt it was safer for him to walk ahead.
This was because the clue he had found was actually a hidden hint. If Charles didn't walk ahead, he might miss other hidden clues.
Zara, though very worried about Charles, still followed his instructions and stayed close behind him.
At this position, she could keep an eye on what was ahead of Charles, and if necessary, provide a safety alert. Additionally, she would be protected by Charles, minimizing the risk of encountering danger.
It was because they were close enough that Charles was able to notice her lapses in attention.
The two of them continued for several hundred ters until a fork appeared before them.
"We can only take the right path," Zara imdiately said.
Charles frowned and looked at Zara. "Why? Is there sothing dangerous about the left path?"
"According to High Priest Arda's records in Underground River Exploration Records, the left passage leads directly to a massive underground lake.
This underground lake is filled with a very powerful curse. The curse is so potent that even the passage leading to the lake has been eroded by it.
After entering this area, High Priest Arda stayed for only a short ti before quickly leaving. However, this did not spare him from the curse's corruption.
When High Priest Arda returned to the surface, he died from the eruption of the curse's power four days later. This led to all the information about the powerful cursed underground lake being recorded in the final chapter of Underground River Exploration Records.
But because High Priest Arda's health deteriorated at an alarming rate before his death, the information he left behind was not very comprehensive."
Zara often visited the library to read the literature during her ti as a guard.
Underground River Exploration Records was one of the greatest geographical works in the history of the Serpent People.
Every Serpent who prided themselves on being knowledgeable and fond of reading would read this book.
Moreover, this book had provided a great deal of assistance to the Serpent people.
It was based on the records in this book that the Serpent Empire was able to locate a very strong defensive line in the desert. This line was the one General Sost was currently guarding.
After hearing Zara's explanation, Charles's expression darkened even further.
When he reached the fork in the road, he received a new hidden hint.
The hint was very simple: the next clue lay at the end of the left passage.
If what Zara said was true, that would an he had to prepare himself for the potential corruption of the powerful curse that resided there.
Charles kept frowning, deep in thought.
He weighed the pros and cons. If the curse within the underground lake was too powerful, he would need to make adequate preparations before entering.
But that would drastically slow down his progress.
anwhile, the traitors of the Serpent Empire, hidden in the shadows, could very well take advantage of this delay to make their next move.
Zara, watching Charles furrow his brow, quietly asked, "What's wrong? Did I say sothing wrong? Or do we have to enter the left passage?"
Charles looked up and quickly asked, "Did you morize everything in that book? Is your description exactly the sa as what's recorded in it?"
Zara hesitated for a mont and shook her head.
"I only rembered the general idea. The thickness of the book is quite impressive, and even the last chapter about the underground lake isn't sothing you can easily morize."
"Alright then! Let's go back to the library imdiately and take a closer look at this book. It should be of great help for our next move."
After saying this, Charles grabbed Zara and turned to head back to the surface.
Although the pressure Charles was facing was imnse, he still felt it was important to proceed with caution.
No matter what, he had to read Underground River Exploration Records thoroughly before making any further decisions.
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