Chapter 132: Otherworldly Creation

Lead-gray clouds churned and billowed in the firmament, but they did not accumulate any terrifying thunder; they only made the air beneath the leaden clouds slightly damp.

Whew—

It was a tiny, imperceptible sound.

Refracting the water's light, rounded and translucent under the polishing of invisible air currents and gale winds, a wisp of crystal was captured by gravity and fell from the gray clouds.

It did not possess a color itself; its overly pure interior made it only reflect the scenery around it.

From the gray-black gloom of the horizon to the lush green of the tree canopy, it swept past withered branches and spider webs, flashed past tender leaves and moss, and finally turned into a shattered water flower in the mist, splashing and disappearing into the air.

"It's raining?"

The Orc Volga touched his somewhat damp, bald head and subconsciously looked up.

What came into view, however, was only a layer of lush, thick, emerald tree canopy, and the gray, dark cloud tops leaking slightly through the gaps in the branches and leaves.

"Hey, idiot!"

"We're almost at the destination, focus!"

At the end of the team, the tall, blonde Elf looked at the Orc who had stopped because of a little rainwater, and reminded him.

"Volga, not an idiot!"

As if touching some sensitive point, the green-skinned Orc, who had always never argued or gotten angry with teammates, suddenly turned around and said to the Elf word by word.

"Chieftain said, Volga, smart!"

He pointed to his own head with his finger, his expression incomparably serious.

Knowing that if he continued to tangle, the other party would probably use its Common language, which was not as proficient as a rural child's, mixed with countless Orc dialects that even the mages in the team couldn't understand, and take several small stories from its tribal life before starting its adventurer career as examples to prove that its IQ was several points higher than that of an ordinary human.

Now was not the time to tease the other party either.

The Elf forced a stiff smile on his face and perfunctorily said:

"Yes, yes, smart, you're the smartest."

Unexpectedly, hearing him say this, the Orc Volga shook his head again, his gaze looking at the other two in the team.

"Cornell, Mage, smartest."

"Warrior, heavy armor, reliable."

"Long ears, thin sword, soft, stupid."

He counted on his fingers, as if seriously thinking about the IQ ranking in the team.

"Volga, ranked second... third."

The Elf's mouth couldn't help but twitch, and even his originally light footsteps stumbled for a moment.

"Fine, fine, fine, everything you say is right."

Forcibly suppressing the desire to refute in his heart, not wanting to waste time with the Orc anymore, he chose to obey the other party and surrendered directly.

Now, it had been about five days since they entered the Mist Forest from the River Valley Town Adventurer Association.

All four were advanced professionals, and there were almost no dangerous existences in the outer forest that could threaten them.

The speed was very fast.

Now they had already arrived at the area near the core inside the Mist Forest and were about to reach their destination for this trip.

Without a doubt, the environment deep in the forest was much harsher than the outskirts.

Even though there hadn't been any losses to the extent of causing the squad to lose members, it had left obvious traces on them.

The human warrior, who was at the very front of the team, silent and resolute, had several more scratches on the surface of his heavy steel armor;

the wound on the Orc Volga's left arm was still scabbed with blood, and even his exquisite clothing, which he carefully protected and had always been spotless and clean as new, had two light green stains that couldn't be wiped off—from the "Overgrown Monster" that was hiding in the bushes yesterday and discovered by a warning spell.

In the entire squad, the one who looked the most relaxed was only the Mage Cornell.

Regarding this, the Elf had no complaints at all, and in his heart, he was even vaguely fortunate.

After all, he had been in the adventurer line for so many years.

He clearly knew that if there came a time when even the core spellcaster under everyone's protection looked disheveled,

it would mean that their squad was on the verge of collapse.

"Silence."

The wooden staff tapped the ground lightly, slightly distorting the translucent light shield that enveloped the entire squad.

Cornell's gaze leaped over the heavy-armored warrior who had stopped at some point, and looked forward.

In the middle of that suddenly open forest land was a pitch-black cave entrance.

He took out a brass compass from his bosom, his expression focused.

The appearance of the compass looked as if it was no different from those cheap goods in the general store in town.

Mottled and dim brass compass, blurry glass cover covered in fingerprints, scales that were not very precise...

Only the slender magnetic needle in the center of the compass, which pointed the direction,

presented a strange translucent state, as if composed of some kind of condensed light.

As it swayed slightly with movement, it dragged a few wisps of illusory light.

Holding the compass in his left hand, he lifted it lightly.

Light flickered, and the magnetic needle pointed straight and firmly toward the cave in the open space ahead.

"We're here."

"Get ready."

Cornell looked up at the front and above, the gray, dark firmament pressing against the leaden clouds, revealed in his line of sight without the cover of lush branches and leaves.

His lips moved, as if reciting a short, vague incantation.

Immediately, the light shield spreading and extending around with the staff as the core rapidly contracted.

The range narrowed, but the warning capability increased significantly.

It even possessed a controllable light adjustment function.

It was just right for the lair environment they were about to enter.

They did not enter directly.

Except for Volga, the others in the team were veteran adventurers with rich adventure experience.

Even if the average strength of the team was good, there were basically no powerful monsters in this area that could threaten them.

Several people, including the blonde Elf, still rested slightly on the spot, replenished supplies, and adjusted themselves to the best state before maintaining the formation just now and cautiously walking into the cave under the lead of the human warrior.

They performed very professionally.

Of course, to a certain extent, it was precisely because of this serious attitude toward missions, plus other factors such as luck and talent, that they were able to climb up all the way and become advanced professionals now.

Those adventurers who were too reckless and lacked luck, or careless and lacked strength, had long since become fertilizer nourishing the earth under the screening of major magic gathering points.

There should be "Hobgoblins" in the lair; the entrance tunnel was spacious and clean, without the common feces and rotting corpses found in ordinary Goblin caves.

And the tunnel was filled with a large number of forks and small paths, and some simple traps were set up.

Overall, it was huge and complex.

Of course, this cave environment, which made low-level adventurers look on with fear, was not a difficulty at all for advanced professionals equipped with spellcasters.

The compass in the palm always pointed in the correct direction, and there was no possibility of going the wrong way; and those so-called traps... were not even enough to leave a scratch on the surface of the human warrior's armor.

The journey was smooth, without the slightest obstruction.

"So nostalgic..."

"How long has it been since we cleared out a Goblin cave together like this."

"I almost forgot what the screams of these green-skinned rats sounded like when they died."

The natural inheritance from deep in the dense forest allowed the blonde Elf to condense his voice into the breeze lingering around his body.

It only entered the ears of his teammates and did not spread outward at all.

"Since you obtained your professional level, I guess..."

"And wasn't it because you disliked the bounty for Goblins being too low, not even enough to cover supply expenses, that I stopped taking related missions."

There were also hidden communication methods that could not be detected by enemies.

Magic particles in the air surged and leaped, delivering Cornell's voice to the Elf's ear.

The long lifespan of several centuries for the race meant that Elves could not always clearly remember every single thing that happened in the course of their lives.

Clearly having forgotten what the Mage said, the blonde Elf showed an awkward smile on his face and forcibly changed the subject.

His emerald eyes looked toward the deep, bottomless tunnel ahead:

"However, will Goblins really build their lair so deep?"

"With those two short legs of theirs, it must take them dozens of minutes to go out once, right?"

Before Cornell could answer.

As soon as the words fell, sporadic firelight suddenly lit up in the distance of the pitch-black tunnel.

Sound ceased instantly.

His slender, long right hand brushed across his waist, and the thin sword wrapped in light, flowing wind was already drawn and held in the blonde Elf's hand.

Cornell temporarily put away the compass and reached his left hand into his small leather pouch.

A light grab.

He pinched out a cluster of fragmented dust as black as carbon and sprinkled it on the staff.

Hum—

The translucent warning light shield suddenly dimmed, carrying the squad members within it, actually appearing to merge with the shadows between the surrounding stone walls.

"Six minutes."

Cornell reminded.

Several people slowed their footsteps and approached slowly.

They were not in a hurry to fight, but first observed the situation on the field.

Thirty-six Goblins and two Bugbears.

Cornell couldn't help but frown.

It was not that the number of enemies exceeded their response range, but...

It was too simple.

Bugbears with a challenge level of only "one," plus some green-skinned cannon fodder.

Let alone these thirty-plus now, even if the number was raised to three digits, anyone in their squad could easily solve it.

And the Adventurer Association issuing a mission with a heavy bounty could not be just because of these small fries.

"Let's clear them out first."

There was no possibility of bypassing the enemies and continuing deeper; thinking this in his heart, Cornell sent a signal to attack to his teammates.

And then... it was a crushing victory.

Those thin, small Goblins, whose physical strength was not even as good as livestock on a ranch, faced advanced professionals who were already moving toward "Transcendence."

There was no possibility of any resistance.

The thin sword swung lightly, a sharp air current brushed past, and a dozen Goblins fell to the ground.

As for those two Bugbears...

To them, there was no difference from ordinary Goblins.

They were twisted off their heads by the Orc, one in each hand.

In a dozen seconds, Cornell only stood on the sidelines and added two "Magic Missiles," and the human warrior didn't even move his body, protecting him by his side, and the battle was already over.

"Strange, the road was walked for five days... and this is it?"

Cleaning the residual blood stains on the sword with gauze, the blonde Elf clearly also discovered the same suspicious point.

"Big guy, hard!"

"However, to Volga, simple."

The Orc casually wiped the blood on its hands onto the stone wall to the side and spoke at the right time.

It seemed that through the feeling of tearing apart the other party's flesh, it judged that the two Bugbears' strength was slightly stronger than their peers.

But when really asked how much stronger they were specifically, only a few Orc slang words popped out of its mouth, and it couldn't say.

"However, I remember that Bugbears basically won't live in groups after they become adults and leave the tribe."

"Unless... there is some kind of more powerful leader who integrates their communities together."

The blonde Elf's gaze swept over the two Bugbear corpses on the ground and analyzed.

"Indeed, otherwise the Adventurer Association couldn't have offered such a high bounty." Cornell took out the compass from his bosom again. "The mission hasn't ended yet, don't relax your vigilance."

Sure enough, the magnetic needle on the compass dial didn't change in the slightest, still pointing in a certain direction without moving.

The gaze followed and looked over.

What the magnetic needle pointed to was none other than a tunnel entrance located inside the lair, leading to the deeper parts.

The battle with the Goblins had already exposed them.

So they no longer covered up the commotion.

The squad members quickened their pace and continued to move toward the depths of the cave.

And then, as the road under their feet became increasingly flat and spacious, torches were gradually inserted into the stone walls on both sides to light up the passage.

They finally arrived at the final destination of this trip.

That huge cave that was as open as a square, yet incomparably quiet.

Like a beehive, the surrounding stone walls were covered with cave entrances of various sizes, and one could vaguely see the black shadows and outlines moving within them.

But it was also as if there existed some kind of invisible wall, making those black shadows stay honestly inside, not daring to poke out half a step.

Making the only thing exposed in the line of sight of the few people in the entire cave was only a hunched figure wearing a black robe, and...

"What the hell is that!?"

Seeming to have seen some kind of incredible thing, his pupils shrank, and the blonde Elf couldn't help but speak out.

That was located in the very center of the lair, on some altar chiseled from unknown pale rock.

It was suffused with a rich and pungent blood light.

—An oval-shaped phantom.

Two days' time,

the Red-maned Hobgoblin that left the Mist Forest and went to human villages to seek blood sacrifice.

Finally, it had supplemented the last bit of progress for the sacrifice.

Making the divine gift from the distant God Kingdom outside the material plane, the Goblin main god "Maglubiyet," finally descend into the world.

Hum—

That was a low-frequency hum like the dense collision of energy in a mentor's laboratory.

Made entirely of pure silver-white metal without the slightest flaw, that incomparably pure and strange material—it was definitely not simple Adamantine or Mithril.

The surface was etched with strange branch-like runes, carefully arranged, and fluorescent blue light flowed in the grooves of the lines, flickering regularly like breathing.

That wonderful arc, as if it were a god's tear, the craft aesthetics that fused "profanity" and "precision"...

It was something Cornell had never seen in his decades of Mage career before.

At the moment of seeing this oval iron ball, a certain absurd yet real conjecture even arose in his heart.

It was a product from another world.

"Hum hum."

The iron ball floated in mid-air amidst the humming sound, rotating leisurely.

As if possessing some kind of invisible energy like a vortex, it made the small gravel on the ground and the viscous blood in the altar lose the control of gravity.

Surrounding the iron ball, they formed a spiral vortex, revolving slowly and stably.

Energy ripples that ordinary people could not perceive surged through the air.

"Tap!"

The end of the staff slammed onto the ground, and the five fingers gripping the staff shaft bulged with veins because of too much force.

Gritting his teeth tightly, sweat seeped from his forehead.

As if bearing some kind of invisible heavy pressure, Cornell hunched his body, his expression painful and struggling.

For some reason, as the iron ball floated and rotated, the energy ripples brushed across his cheeks.

He only felt that his physical body had suddenly become countless times heavier!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 133 =====