Capítulo 1569: Chapter 1569: The Unfriendly Mystic Black Cloak
The situation in the underground part of the base is terrible— it can be said that it’s completely turned into ruins.
This ancient base is different from the ruins we’ve seen elsewhere. Its above-ground part, though weathered and corroded by ti, is preserved better than the underground part. At least we can see most of the intact buildings above ground, and even though so facilities have partially collapsed, their original appearance is still discernible. The underground section, however, seems to have suffered from both geological shifts and forest expansion, leaving it in a state of utter disrepair.
The once broad and deep passages are now severely deford, with most walls and floors showing signs of twisting and cracking. The building materials, though resistant to corrosion, do not appear sturdy enough; we can even see thick plant roots creeping in through the cracked corridor walls.
But we can’t bla it for not being sturdy enough, as it’s not made from the Empire’s all-capable super extraordinary tal. The fact that this base can still stand after tens of thousands of years is actually a miracle; at least we can still make out its general outline.
The Sandora Ball emits a brilliant golden light, floating mid-air; at this mont, it has completely transford into a light bulb. However, as the Spirit Spark is not specifically for lighting, I drag out Alaya to help illuminate too. Therefore, the area surrounding us is as bright as day, and with Alaya’s holy power offering air purification and constant temperature effects, this once ominous, cramped, pitch-black underground passage is quite pleasant. The three of us continue advancing along a slightly descending path, all the while observing the surroundings and speculating about what kind of race might have built this relic. We’ve been walking for about ten minutes, yet there’s no sign of the tunnel coming to an end.
“This underground structure is probably as large as the one above ground, maybe even more expansive,” mumbled Sandora Ball, trying to make itself brighter. “It looks like a refuge, but there’s no sign of the isolation layer and buffer compartnts usually found in one, nor are there large-scale material warehouses… Why dig this underground part so large?”
“Perhaps it’s a racial habit?” I pulled on Alaya’s wings to light nearby walls. After inspecting the tallic broken stubble, I released the Angel Sister. “Sotis regular races just have all kinds of strange habits. Even emos can survive on Earth; mortals need more tolerance. Besides, the air here doesn’t seem completely still… there’s a faint circulation.”
Alaya fluffed her wings but soon drooped them again: “It’s not caused by flapping.”
“Tens of thousands of years of geological changes and plant growth could have blocked most ventilation shafts, and the underground part of the base is completely without power, aning no blowing equipnt,” Sandora, as a Light Ball, also seed to sense air movent. While speaking, she released smaller light particles from herself, which scattered along the opposite direction of the airflow (towards our direction), “The air is relatively fresh, not sothing that just flowed in since the base opened today, so there must be sothing farther ahead… perhaps unblocked ventilation shafts or other outlets.”
“Leon probably tried to look for other exits after realizing the main entrance was sealed. He must also have noticed the strange source of fresh air in the underground tunnels,” I speculated as the fresh air and the breeze coming towards us beca more apparent. “So he’s likely heading this way too. But how did he die halfway…? There’s fresh air here, and the explosions and radiation above haven’t reached here. There don’t seem to be recent monster sightings or collapses underground either, so how did he die?”
“God knows… huh?” Sandora had just started speaking when she made a puzzled hum and suddenly released a stronger spiritual detection power, piquing my curiosity: “What did you find?”
“I sensed a ‘Spiritual Wisdom’ on the fringes just now,” Sandora Ball said cheerfully, floating up and down as she spoke. “With complex thoughts and tense emotions, there’s actually soone living down here… Things are getting interesting. I’ve already set a spiritual imprint on the other party and can control the target anyti. However, they seem to be quickly heading sowhere, so let’s continue searching for Leon’s whereabouts first, and then we’ll see what kind of guy would stay in such an underground place. A troglodyte perhaps?”
I was stunned by Sandora’s revelation, never expecting to et another living person underground. This is clearly not one of the adventurers who set out with Celine. The ancient relics dozens of ters deep in this underground are becoming ever more fascinating.
A few minutes after continuing forward, we finally discovered the clues we were looking for: there was blood on the ground not far away.
A pool of dark blood, not fully coagulated yet, appeared on the cracked concrete (otherworldly version concrete) ground, and further ahead, several ters away, a chilling bloody handprint could be seen on the wall. Alaya stabilized her glow and pointed forward, leading us to discover a trail of intermittent blood stretching into the distance: this underground passage had finally reached its end, and about ten ters ahead was a T-junction, with the blood trail continuing to the bend ahead.
Instead of running directly along the blood trail, I noticed so traces around: there were many “fresh” deep cuts on the walls and floor, seemingly gouged by so heavy swords or blades, and around the bloodstains were smaller but deep elliptical marks, with obvious signs of lting around them, reminiscent of so kind of high-temperature shooting weapons.
“Battle traces, seems like it was attacked by firearms,” Alaya comnted, rare for her, with insight that was quite reliable. She crouched, gently touched the bloodstains and marks, using a special thod to trace back what happened here, “Rage and terror mixed together, this was a sudden ambush, but the victim recognized the attacker and was furious due to their identity.”
As Alaya spoke, she rose, her fingers stained with a bit of blood ignited by the Holy Light. Leon’s blood quietly burned into a small cluster of golden-red flas, anwhile, the bloodstains on the ground began emitting the sa mysterious glow. Amidst the sacred fla, fleeting phantoms erged: a tall, muscular man like a wild ox wielding a giant sword, seemingly in battle with soone, but his opponent was shrouded in darkness, unable to reveal their true body due to being outside the Holy Light’s retrospective range. Leon and the attacker’s battle did not last long, as the enemy not only had powerful lee strength but also wielded formidable ranged weapons. After the two distanced themselves, Leon was soon hit by a burst of white light, falling to the ground in pain, while the attacker left triumphantly.
The Holy Light continued to burn, casting bizarre spatial mories. Leon’s phantom rested briefly on the ground, then struggled to get up and leaned against the wall, walking forward. We imdiately followed, turning left at the T-junction ahead, winding through a couple of turns until the phantom faded with the extinguishing Holy Light, finding Leon’s body collapsed under a nearby corner of the wall, lifeless.
As I approached, I muttered, “He really endured for quite a while, I guess he wanted to catch up with his enemy? But it made him die faster; he should’ve lasted until we arrived.”
Alaya seed a bit regretful, “The range of the Holy Light retrospective is sowhat small, couldn’t see who the culprit was, but it’s probably the person Sandora just sensed?”
“Perhaps,” I responded ambiguously, anyway, Sandora’s marks cannot be detected or erased by mortals, not worried the opponent would escape, it’s best to check the state of a muscle demon now. I moved Leon’s body, quickly discovering the fatal wound was a large hole on the chest and abdon junction, a blazing beam-like weapon had pierced him, but the high temperature caused the wound to constrict and create a temporary numbing effect, allowing him to endure and pursue this far, “Let’s get him to the spaceship, his soul likely hasn’t dissipated, brain activity is present, not completely dead, resurrection shouldn’t be an issue.”
“Both of them could wake up simultaneously, saving us from explaining to each one,” Sandora said, opening a Teleportation Gate to the Imperial Admiral, “Alaya, you take him to the spaceship, Ah Jun and I will investigate who is hiding in these ancient relics, that person is still running outside and nearly leaving the ruins.”
The Angel Sister left with Leon’s body, while Sandora and I quickly pursued in the direction indicated by the Spiritual Imprint.
The Soul Taker (actually, most sowhat experienced Mind Assault Soldiers also can) power is decidedly the most mysterious and terrifying ability: intangible, formless, irresistible. For most mortal creatures, they can’t even comprehend how they died. The Soul Taker can leave a Spiritual Imprint without even contacting the target, rely aware of their existence, which is a process that is entirely irresistible.
The suspicious target detected by Sandora, located in the underground relics, displayed frantic and tense behavior (as sensed by Sandora), likely making them the suspect in Leon’s killing. In such a mystifying place, ruthlessly killing an adventurer viewed as a “Heroic Profession” by mainstream society drew considerable interest from and Sandora. What heightened our interest further was… this underground relic seed to have been excavated long ago! We’ve already moved beyond the original structure of the relic, now walking in a completely new tunnel.
The wall we just passed showed violent signs of destruction; originally, it was an alloy wall at the end of the underground passage, but it seed forcibly lted into a large hole by so kind of high-temperature welding gun, connecting the relic’s underground passage network with external tunnels. We are now moving through a place resembling a mine shaft, supported by tal and wooden fras, with thick earth and stone walls, releasing spiritual power to confirm our location. I was surprised to find we were already deep in the forest, far from the “Ancient Tower” base location.
“Oh, it seems like it’s soone with a keen Sixth Sense; the target has stopped.” Sandora’s tone rose as she lightly floated forward, indicating a corner a hundred ters ahead.
I imdiately picked up Sandora and sprinted forward, feeling like I was carrying a large mining lamp (which is basically how I used her). The hundred-ter distance was covered in an instant. Turning around the mine path junction made of wooden beams and thick tal pylons, a short, stocky black silhouette appeared in front of . Just as Sandora said, the figure had no intention of dodging: he already knew he was being tracked, and in this narrow mine path, there was no place for him to ambush or shake off the tracker.
Well, it’s normal for us to be discovered. After all, neither Sandora nor I hid our presence.
I quickly sized up the short guy in front of . He was dressed in a black robe that completely covered his head and face, making it impossible to tell his gender or race. However, based on his physique, I hoped this was a man. If a girl had this build, it would be a tragedy for both the audience and the person involved. The other party was also calmly observing us after our encounter… especially focusing on Sandora. I guessed it was because this planet hadn’t seen such a strange illuminating tool before.
The short, pudgy figure hadn’t revealed whether he was friend or foe yet. I raised my hand to see if I could communicate: “Uh… hello.”
“You’ve been following ,” the other party suddenly spoke. His gaze didn’t stay long on Sandora but ultimately focused entirely on . His voice sounded like an elderly person with a bit of a throat ailnt, hoarse and deep, “Who are you?”
He used “you” instead of “you all,” which was really a sad story for Sandora. Without a reminder, who would think this golden orb was a pretty girl?
“I was going to ask you,” though I knew the other party was suspicious, I pretended to be a passerby unaware of the truth, “I’m a passing adventurer—ca with a group. The others are up there.”
I deliberately ntioned the word “adventure” to see how this “cri suspect” would react upon hearing it. To my surprise, his reaction was even more decisive than I had expected. He seized the mont my voice fell (a mont of relaxation for most people), suddenly leaped backward a great distance, and quickly drew a bizarre short gun from beneath his black robe!
“Pop, pop, pop,” three weird muffled sounds, unlike the sound of ordinary firearms, followed by three blazing white lights shooting from the gun barrel toward my chest. At the sa ti, he shouted angrily, “Die! You foolishly stubborn fool! You and your Church Court… huh?”
His angry shout abruptly stopped because he watched two of the three blazing beams, enough to lt through steel, vanish into thin air, and the last one got swallowed by the “strange golden orb.”
“It seems your attack isn’t very effective.” I shrugged at him.
The suspicious man in the cloak once again demonstrated his decisiveness: he only hesitated for a mont before realizing he was faced with sothing inexplicable. He then threw his weapon forcefully at my face and turned to flee!
Without looking, I directly stored the strange weapon into my Personal Space (perhaps the spaceship’s main computer could figure sothing out from it). However, as I lifted my foot to give chase, Sandora suddenly stopped : “Don’t chase yet!”
I looked at the Sandora Ball, puzzled, while she, in a tone that gave one the creeps with its “joyful” sentint, said, “I’m already lurking in his Spirit World. Let’s see where this guy will run to next. It’s much more effective than capturing and torturing him for interrogation. By the way, want to see a Soul Taker’s hunting thod? I’ll share the Spiritual Realm with you.”
I was startled, then nodded quickly, and suddenly felt myself imrsed in another “perspective,” one that belonged to a… Predator.
The Soul Taker, a deadly executioner that roams between reality and illusion (though this term feels a bit inelegant for Sandora, it fits quite well), the mind and thoughts are the true battleground for a Soul Taker. Many creatures can have powerful bodies and armant, but the vast majority cannot arm their minds— for a Soul Taker, the so-called “strong will” and “bravery” have quite limited effect because the “will” you use to arm your brain also becos the Soul Taker’s weapon, the courage born from your inner self cannot withstand the betrayal of your own mind.
In front of a Soul Taker, your mind will willingly lower its defenses without you even realizing and warmly welco Hell.
The fleeing man in black clothes desperately distanced himself from that junction in a strange terror, and though it seed the enemy wasn’t chasing, the feeling of relentless pursuit and the dreadful heart palpitations of being targeted by a Predator lingered. This baseless psychological effect only drove him to flee harder, the farther, the better, and… eting up with the “others” as soon as possible.
He was a strong individual and had undergone rigorous training. Living in dangerous predicants for years also endowed him with excellent escape skills. So it didn’t take long before he ran quite far along the crisscross underground mine paths, seemingly shaking off so kind of “thing.”
He looked back in horror, seeing nothing, and the previous feeling seed to really just be psychological.
He tightened his hood, cursing softly to increase his sense of security, then twisted and turned to the mine’s end. Here was a vertical shaft leading to the surface: after running for a long ti, he was completely away from the previous relics.
Climbing out from the shaft’s exit sowhat embarrassingly, it was still a forested area outside but definitely far from the area adventurers could search. “I must collapse those underground mines soon… no, I’ve already been discovered, better to relocate quickly.” Muttering, the man in black took light, nimble steps, running in a direction completely unmatched with his physique.
After running for a long ti, regular people… even elves familiar with the forest would likely lose their way in such places for a long ti, but the man in black wasn’t confused by the identical tree walls; he quickly reached his destination: a rocky terrace by a small stream within the forest, tens of ters high, covered in moss, looking normal.
However, the man in black felt so engraved pebbles on one side of the terrace, twisted these stones forcefully, and a patch of “moss” on the stone wall suddenly flashed and disappeared, revealing a tallic door shimring in silver.
He walked toward this door.
Bringing with him the seed of the plague. (To be continued. If you like this work, please go to Qidian to vote for recomndations and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read on m.qidian.)
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