Chapter 444 A Quest Like No Other
Chapter 444 A Quest Like No Other
The next day...
Rain on Occuna wasn't anything like on earth. The winds were less violent, but the icy-cold raindrops felt like miniature daggers, ready to skin a person alive.
To make things worse, the raindrops were known to move horizontally instead of vertically, making it more difficult to trace the path ahead. The way through the forest was muddied, forcing everyone to move at a snail's speed.
Thankfully, since Ashton and Anna both shared an affinity towards the fire, the coldness of the weather had little to no effect on them. As for the sharp raindrops, they had borrowed special armour from Qalea to protect themselves.
Ashton and Anna were the only ones who entered the forest to look for the artefact. He had a plethora of reasons for not allowing the rest to follow them.
The most important one was to fulfil Eula's request and add a new weapon to his arsenal. Since Eula was adamant about not letting anyone else know about the artefact, Ashton decided it would be best to travel in a pair.
Also, travelling in a large group under those weather conditions would have further slowed their speed, and time was something Ashton couldn't afford to lose.
As for the rest, Vimur and Laihud were watching the city in Ashton's absence. Their main job was to stop reinforcements from breaching the city until they returned with the artefact.
Gold Water mercenaries were also helping them, but Ashton knew it was only a front for them. It only took an hour before a handful of them left the city, and they have been on their trail ever since.
Ashton paid no heed to their presence because if he wanted, he could have erased his presence in a moment. If worse came to worse, there were other ways of handling them as well.
Killing them wasn't off the book either. After all, framing the beasts for attacking them wouldn't take much convincing to make everyone believe him.
Also, since Ashton had instructed them to stay in the city, they were neglecting his orders by following him, so their death was none of his concern and wouldn't cause any immediate problems for him.
That said, Ashton had ulterior motives for allowing them to follow him. Half a dozen rank C mercenaries were more exceptional meatshields. In a twisted way, the mercenaries could be thought of as alarms to notify them of an attack. Obviously, Anna knew all about it.
"Not to doubt you or anything, but how can you be so sure this is the place where the staff is hidden?" Anna questioned Ashton as they took refuge in a small cave to catch her breath.
"I'm not sure, but I feel this has to be the place. The archive clearly stated that whatever's in the cave is the reason the beasts act weirdly." Ashton mumbled while staring at Seraph's crystal in his hand.
--While Ashton went through the archive earlier, Astaroth shared some interesting information. Apparently, Seraph's crystal was something of a Precursor artefact itself, given to him by the Precursors themselves.
If it was true, then it was clear these artefacts were doing something to make these creatures go wild.
Ashton's deductions were based on the Gorillan cave where he found the crystal, as it was a likely example of the case. The creatures living in that forest back on earth were also behaving strangely until Ashton took control of the crystal. Just like the creatures of Occuna were behaving strangely.
However, at the end of the day, it was just a theory. A likely one, but a theory nonetheless. But it was the only hint Ashton could find about the Staff's existence in the archives.
"Well, there's nothing to lose at this point," Anna said as she stepped out of her rain protective armour, "But I can't say i'm not surprised at their sudden obedience. It almost feels like the humans were happy to send us off."
"Of course, they were." Ashton shrugged, "There's a reason why not much is known about the cave despite the humans living on the planet for centuries."
Within the archives, the black cave was referred to as the Cave of Death. The reason being no human being to went inside the cave ever returned, and out of the 99 expeditions sent to uncover the truth about the cave, all ended in disaster.
Moreover, since no technology seems to work within the cave, they couldn't even send a robot to do the work without sacrificing manpower. In the end, humans decided to give up on the cave altogether and focus on more important things.
That was the reason why Qalea and the council were so eager for them to leave. In their eyes, they were getting rid of Ashton for free, and in his absence, it would be easy to handle the rest of his faction.
Little did they know Ashton had left Sven and Dolos to protect his people while he was gone. If they foolishly attacked anyone they shouldn't have, his summons would ruin the entire city.
After a couple of minutes, they were ready to explore the cave. The inside of the cave resembled the boundary between day and night. Despite the outside being fairly lit, the insides were completely dark.
Other than the periodic sound of dripping water, the entire place was shrouded in eerie silence. It wasn't the first time either Anna or Ashton had encountered a place right out of a horror movie. But even then, it was quite an unnerving experience.
With a snap of his fingers, Ashton created a small ord of fire to light their way as their flashlights weren't working. Even the glowsticks they brought were proving to be useless against the endless darkness of the cave.
"It's quiet, too quiet even." Anna mentioned, "Didn't the humans mention howling sounds and whatnot? But this place is as quiet as the queen's funeral march."
Ashton had noticed something similar, but before he could reply, the entire cave was filled with a putrid smell. A smell both of them were oddly familiar with.
"Undead!" They simultaneously exclaimed and got ready to fight.
Flames began circling both their fists. Anna's hair turned red as if lava was flowing through them. Without wasting another moment, she hurled a fireball ahead of them, hoping to hit something. But what they saw next left both of them shocked.
Everything ahead of them, from the floor to the ceiling, was made up of rotten flesh. The yellowish-black mass in front would make even the strongest men empty their bowels right then and there.<.com>
"I guess now we know why it was so quiet inside the cave all of a sudden," Ashton mumbled, "as much as I don't want to say it, it seems the cave is a sentient being."
"What makes you say that?"
"Honestly, it's just a hunch."
"Of course, it is." Anna sighed, "You know, as much as I love you, I hate it when you voice your so-called hunches."
[I know that feeling.]
'What, you love me too?'
[...I agreed with the latter half of Anna's statement. I have no interest in you, of all people.]
'Apart from your bullshit, do you know anything about this?'
[Can't say I do. As far as I'm aware, even the Xyrans have no records of encountering anything like this.]
That wasn't what Ashton was expecting to receive as an answer. But seeing as he didn't have any other way, he decided to summon a bunch of skeletons and have them lead the way to see what would happen.
But it seemed it wasn't going to be so easy as a notification appeared as soon as Ashton tried using [Valhalla].
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A Domain of the dead already exists in the vicinity. Unless the field is deactivated or the caster is killed, the skill [Valhalla] can't be used.
Upon defeating the owner of the domain, the user can integrate [Valhalla] with the existing domain to establish control over the dungeon.
An emergency mission has been issued!
[Objective]: Clear the dungeon.
[Task]:
Phase one: Hunt down all undead beings inside the dungeon to weaken the boss.
Phase two: Once the creatures have been dealt with, the boss would reveal itself. Get rid of the boss.
(Undead creatures receive a 20% stat bonus inside the dungeon.)
[Progress]:
Phase one:
> Undead Critters killed: 0/400. (Killing each undead weakens the boss by 0.1%)
> Undead Wraiths killed: 0/20 (Killing each undead weakens the boss by 1%)
> Undead Generals killed: 0/4. (Killing each undead weakens the boss by 10%)
Phase two: Boss killed: 0/1.
[Reward]: Random increase in stats (Total points: 100), Grim Reaper's gauntlets, Special summoning skill scroll, Evolution of Necromancer class.
[Mission Commissioned by]: The System.
[Priority Level]: 1 (The host cannot ignore the mission. The dungeon's exit will remain sealed until and unless the mission is completed.)
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Anna received the same notification as well. Like any normal person in her shoes, she was a bit worried. However, Ashton's confident smile quelled her tension away.
"It's annoying that I can't summon friendlies here, but a 20% stat increase doesn't seem bad at all."