218 Decaying Realm of Blood
Arthur and Rolf took the lead, with lots of members from the Doom Order following closely behind. Signy, Helga and Finn were also there, adding up to 20 people in total.
They all returned to the first hall, where one could choose from three sides.
“We already explored both right and left. There is nothing but day-to-day rooms.” Rolf said.
He came with the hopes of easily getting the treasures, but it was not as easy as it seemed. The door needed a sacrifice, and one coming from a powerful mage. Rolf wanted to use someone from the Doom Order, but that would make them anger, and if all of them worked together, Rolf would die.
So, the only thing he could do was be patient and look for someone else, and now that someone else was Sven.
They passed through the first door, which looked exactly like all the others, but when they stepped inside the room, the atmosphere turned cold.
There was even snow inside that place, and some of the weaker mages found it hard to endure the weather. Even Arthur, who was strong, felt some discomfort, meaning that the frosty aura of that place was not ordinary.
“This is the door?” Arthur said.
Rolf was just beside him, and said, “yes, this is it. Before you ask how we got to know about the sacrifice, take this.”
Arthur indeed was going to ask that, as there was nothing showing a sacrifice in that room. What Rolf gave him was a type of stone tablet. It had some strange symbols in it, and Arthur knew it was written in the language the giants used.
On that tablet, it showed how to open the door, and the reason the giants could not open it. The sacrifice had to be human, and it had to be killed by another human, or else it would not work.
Another interesting fact was that the giants were trapped on that island as long as they were alive. That explained why the giant Arthur found was strange. It was already dead.
Speaking of that beast invasion, Arthur asked Rolf if he knew something about it, but he stated that the Doom Order had nothing to do with it, and they were only there to get the bloodline treasure.
Arthur was hoping to find his friends and learn the reason behind the invasion when meeting with the Doom Order, but it seemed his plan had got to waste. At least he knew his friends were going to the central continent, and that was his next destiny as well.
“Let me kill him.” Rolf said.
He was not afraid now if the rest of the members tried to work together and attack him. With Arthur by his side, there was no way those people would succeed.
Also, most of the members disliked Sven, saying that he mistreated everyone, and even harassed some women from the Doom Order.
Basically, a scumbag. Arthur was not the same as he was. Killing people was no problem for him, especially if it was someone that had done bad things.
Rolf put Sven in front of the door and cut his throat with a dagger. A bloodstream erupted from Sven’s neck, and all the blood magically flew towards the huge stone door, filling the strange patterns it had.
The entire door changed to a reddish color, and thundering sounds echoed throughout the entire room. After a few seconds passed, the door opened, revealing what was behind it.
A dead land, with withered grass and trees. Everything looked devastated, and the river made of blood coursing throughout it made everything even more bizarre.
“What is this place?”
It even had a sky of its own, reminding Arthur of that place where he went when touching the tree of the elves.
Arthur had a better sight than most, so he could see far away. He saw a volcano, or at least it looked like it, but the strangest part was that it was not erupting lava, but snow!
“George, have you ever seen something like this?”
“Yes, and no. Brat, I believe this is a dimensional space created by another mage. For one to do that, it needs to have the power of at least a rank 4 official mage.”
“What? Mages can create worlds?”
“This place is not as big as a world, but depending on what level the mage was, it can get pretty close. It has its own laws, and other creatures can live here as well. Usually mages created these spaces to act as their home, increasing their power when fighting inside this dimensional space. Also, mages usually stored their treasures here.”
“So this is a dangerous place that can be filled with riches? Should I take the risk?”
“Well, you are already here, so why not? Your life as a mage is only starting, and you will face more places like this one in the future if you truly want to achieve the top.”
Achieve the top. That was something Arthur will do. The reason for it? Well, first he wanted to live forever, just like the powerful mages from legends.
He also wanted to learn more about how and why he was teleported to that world, and if someone else had the same fate as him.
Maybe returning to his world and bring along his powers? That would make his life way easier.
Anyway, these were just wild thoughts, and the thing he needed to concentrate now was how to thrive inside that dimensional space and find the tree they were looking for.
“Rolf, that icy volcano seemed to be the main part of this place. Maybe that is where some treasures are located?”
“What? Where?”
Rolf used some enhancing spells and finally saw the place Arthur was talking about. He was almost sure the tree they were looking for was inside that volcano, and presumably deep in it.
“It will not be easy.”
“I know, but we have to do this.”
Everyone that was below the fifth circle was shitting their pants off. They were almost sure they would die, and most of them looked behind just to see the door locked, meaning it was impossible for them to flee.
All they could do was hope for the best, even though that was likely a pipe dream.
What they needed to do was reach that volcano, but it felt like a distant goal, and after walking for only one minute, strange beasts jumped from the river of blood, attacking them.
Some of the weaker members died in the first clash, diminishing the number of people.
Arthur guessed that most of them would die before they could reach the volcano, but that was not his problem.