Chapter 2560 Arrival at the Ruins <TOC> Chapter 2562 Wizard Eye Ghost
Translator: SumTLMan
Daus was being chastised by the Black Count when Vai silently lifted all the soil underground.
However, the passage of the underground waterway did not reveal itself; walls of earth still surrounded them.
“It seems it has been blocked for too long, completely sealed off,” Kael remarked.
“No worries, as long as Vai is here, continue chewing… ahem, continue excavating the soil, we will eventually unearth a path,” said Daus, just having climbed up from the ground, his body coated with dust.
Vai, however, didn’t heed his old friend’s words and instead turned to look at Angel, wanting to hear Angel’s opinion first.
Angel did not speak immediately but stood still, waiting for something.
After a while, a dusky blue flower emerged from Angel’s shadow. As the breeze blew, the flower swayed gently, and with each sway, it conveyed messages that only Angel could decipher.
The others did not know what the flower was, but seeing Angel focused intently on the flower, seemingly engaged in a kind of mental communication, they dared not interrupt.
After a moment, Angel told Vai: “No need to keep digging, the underground waterway here has completely Collapsed.”
Earlier, Eremy had been sent by Angel to investigate the underground, and the surrounding hundreds of meters of the waterway were blocked, making it unnecessary to rely on excavation to find a path.
“Alright,” Vai nodded, withdrawing his extended magical power.
But Daus was puzzled: “Even if the underground waterway has collapsed, it doesn’t matter, right? There must be parts that haven’t collapsed. We should dig towards those areas first.”
At this, the Black Count sneered, as if mocking Daus.
Angel calmly explained: “Do you know why this place is called the Garden Labyrinth?”
Daus scratched his head; he hadn’t really looked into this.
“Many years ago, when the ruins here were not too dilapidated, the ground was covered with beautifully broken statues, white marble fountains inlaid with gold, and incredibly vibrant gemstone flowers, so this floor was called ‘the Garden.'”
“But the underground waterway here was an immense three-dimensional labyrinth, not only multileveled but also with countless pathways, complex enough that exploring every place would take months.”
“It’s because of the starkly different styles of the surface and the underground that this place came to be known as the Garden Labyrinth. This name has persisted until today, and now, though the garden no longer exists, the labyrinth has collapsed…”
Angel sighed, the ravages of time corroding everything, wondering if their destination would also have become dilapidated over time?
Having heard Angel’s explanation, Daus finally understood. Since the underground waterway was a vast and intricate maze that even wizards found headache-inducing, even if they managed to clear a section with earth energy, it would be of no use.
At this moment, the stone slab on Vai’s body spoke: “Hey kid, is the target location really inside the maze?”
Ignoring the Black Count’s deliberately posed nickname, Angel nodded: “Yes.”
The Black Count paused briefly: “No wonder it has remained undiscovered for so many years. The vastness of the underground labyrinth is such that hardly anyone has completely navigated through it, and even if one does, discovering the corresponding door is utterly pointless.”
The “doors” of the underground labyrinth are numerous, containing rooms of various sizes, which essentially makes the labyrinth a sort of underground city in its own right.
Thus, even if some “doors” cannot be opened, the wizards who have grown weary from exploring the maze would likely be too fatigued to think of ways to open them.
The Black Count still thought the target location was an inconspicuous “door,” but in reality, it was a wall, which added to the confusion. Explorers, encountering the wall, would initially think they had taken a wrong turn and go back, not realizing that a “secret” was hidden behind that very wall.
Daus complained: “What were the original builders of the Garden Labyrinth thinking, turning a sewer system into a labyrinth? What should we do now?”
Daus, casting an inquiring glance at Angel.
Angel replied: “I don’t know why it was made into a labyrinth, but I do know that many official institutions from the past, like prisons, exist within the maze.”
Angel had a profound impression of the Hanging Prison Stairs of Nightfall City. He was currently locating the entrance to the underground sewers, which were all positioned based on the Hanging Prison Stairs because of the labyrinth’s complexity; the only landmarks Angel could find were these stairs.
Pausing, Angel continued: “Since the underground sewers here are blocked, let’s find another.”
Angel looked around and finally fixed his gaze southeast towards the bell tower; he remembered there was an open space there, once home to a fountain, which also housed a sewer entrance and was not far from the Hanging Prison Stairs.
Once the direction was confirmed, the group immediately set out.
They did not use any vehicles, but moved swiftly across the ruins, shadows streaking across the sky.
Soon, they arrived near the open space, which was described as ‘near’ because it was filled with swaying, vivid blood-red flowers blooming atop thorns, emitting a faint red mist.
From a distance, the area was completely enveloped by the red mist.
“Is this blood thorn? It’s actually blooming, and so profusely?” Daus viewed the scene with astonishment.
Blood thorn refers to a carnivorous vine-like magical plant that typically feeds on blood and rarely blooms unless there is an excess of energy.
Seeing such a multitude of blood-red flowers was a first for Daus.
“It’s likely that many have perished at its hands. Probably, the ground below is littered with skeletons,” Daus sighed.
The Black Count rarely chimed in: “In recent millennia, more and more ordinary people have come to explore this place. But no matter what, this was once a city beyond the ordinary. Any extraordinary entity here would first affect these ordinary individuals. It’s quite normal for such a high-grade blood thorn to grow here.”
Looking at the distant red mist, Vai asked softly: “Should we still go over there to explore?”
“Why not explore, these blood thorns aren’t hard to deal with.” Daus rubbed his hands together, clearly eager for action.
However, Angel countered: “No need to explore further; the vine growth beneath the blood thorns is likely to cause the collapse of the underground sewers, much like the previous entrance we encountered.”
Daus questioned: “If the sewers collapse so easily, can we really enter them and find our destination?”
Angel explained: “The sewers form a three-dimensional labyrinth. The shallowest levels are ordinary constructions, vulnerable to the ravages of time. But deeper down, it belongs to an extraordinary region. There, collapses would be rare.”
“So, why don’t we just dig straight down to our destination?” Vai suggested.
Upon Vai’s remark, everyone suddenly fell silent.
Vai, puzzled and turning his head in innocence, didn’t realize what he had said wrong.
“You were thought to be ignorant before, but now I realize you’re genuinely foolish. If we could simply dig down to our target, why would we need a key?” the Black Count retorted: “And there’s no need for you to speak further; thoughtless words only serve to make others laugh.”
The Black Count was visibly annoyed; after all, Vai was his descendant, and such foolish remarks were an embarrassment to the Noah family.
Angel looked at Vai, his tone less harsh than the Black Count’s: “Although this place has been abandoned for countless years, before its abandonment, it must have stood as a proud extraordinary city, and it would not be inferior to Somiya.”
“While the surface of the underground labyrinth hosts many residents’ homes, the deeper areas contain official institutions and are likely heavily guarded. The magic formations that have been operating until now are also numerous, including traps, mechanical creatures, and even artificially bred magical creatures. Thus, if we really want to enter the intended area, we can’t simply break through to the deeper passages; we need to find a way to access them.”
And that way was to locate a surface passage that hadn’t collapsed and was still navigable.
This was a test for Angel as well. When he first entered Nightfall City in the Nightmare Plane, he had appeared directly in the underground labyrinth, turning around to find the passage leading to the Demon Eater Flower King, ending at that very wall.
Recreating that route now was nearly impossible. The only option was to position using the Hanging Prison Stairs, and work backwards to locate that wall.
“We can’t explore here, so where to next?” Daus asked.
Angel closed his eyes, recalling the bird’s eye view map and Sanders’ descriptions of the general layout of Nightfall City. After a moment, he hesitantly opened his eyes and slowly pointed north: “There’s the Garden there with an entrance to the sewers. However…”
“What is it?” Daus pressed.
“The Garden, after all these years, has certainly turned to ruins. It lacks distinctive buildings nearby to mark its location, so we’ll likely need to explore to pinpoint it.”
What Angel meant by exploring was to utilize mental power to search underground, but in practice, it turned out that Vai could use his earth sensing to conduct a far more extensive search than what could be achieved through mental power alone.
Not to mention Vai’s capabilities, even Daus could send sandworms to burrow underground for rapid exploration.
This is the advantage of having a team.
Angel had mostly been traveling alone previously, but this time he found the journey rather relaxing. There was no need to deploy Eremy; he just needed to follow Vai and move forward.
Since they were scouting the area, they did not walk briskly. Instead, they strolled leisurely, as if casually observing the scenery.
Throughout this process, Angel observed the surrounding landscape.
Despite the descriptors like “decayed” and “ruins” that might be affixed to the Garden Labyrinth, one could still glimpse its former splendor from certain details.
Kael also felt sentimental: “Such a magnificent extraordinary city, I truly wish to see its glory days with my own eyes.”
Angel shared Kael’s sentiment, but unlike Kael who merely felt wistful, Angel could actually see the flourishing state of Nightfall City by visiting the Nightmare Plane.
However, the surface of Nightfall City in the Nightmare Plane was not any safer than underground, it was equally perilous.
According to Sanders, there were legendary creatures lurking in several forbidden areas, like the one near the bell tower they had visited earlier, which housed a church imbued with a legendary aura. Sanders, when exploring, didn’t even dare to get too close.
Angel wasn’t sure if his identity would be of any use when facing those wild legendary creatures of the Nightmare Plane, especially after his last visit to Nightfall City where he encountered that woman with stitches all over her face.
Angel was hesitant to explore Nightfall City again, at least for now.
However, unlike Kael who could only lament, he had the hopes of viewing such sights in the future.
…
During their scouting, Vai had found several entrances to underground sewers, but they had all collapsed, leaving no way forward.
As for the entrance in the Garden that Angel had high hopes for, he didn’t know if Vai had explored it yet; it might have been ahead or already passed.
At any rate, they really couldn’t find any entrance now.
Vai felt somewhat defeated after several failed attempts to find an entrance, but Daus was in good spirits and comforted him: “We’ve been at this site for less than a day, and you’re expecting to find something already? It’s not that easy. Every adventure I’ve had took months, even years.”
“Besides, the Garden Labyrinth is so vast, and you’ve explored less than 1% of it. It’s too early to feel discouraged now.”
Vai sighed deeply: “That’s why I hate going out. If I were at home right now, I could easily make money through ‘divination’ without having to do this tough work.”
Daus responded: “And you call yourself an earth apprentice, daring to speak like a prophecy wizard.”
Vai coldly said: “Then don’t come to me next time.”
Daus quickly changed his tune: “A person who possesses both the power to manipulate the earth and the talent to sense death must definitely be a prodigy, right, Kael?”
Kael was reluctant to cooperate with Daus, but since Daus was a formal wizard, out of respect, he still forced a smile and nodded: “You’re right, lord.”
“Flattery is useless, I definitely won’t…”
Vai hadn’t finished speaking when an ‘X’-shaped energy beam descended from the sky, sealing his mouth.
“I told you not to talk nonsense, and yet you still speak. Do you not take me seriously?” Black Count spoke coldly.
Now, Vai dared not speak and couldn’t even if he wanted to; he just had to keep his head down and continue working.
As the day wore on with still no progress, night quietly fell. Suddenly, a roar filled with intense emotion came from not far away.
“It sounds like someone is calling out, a magical creature maybe?” Kael listened intently.
“No, it’s a human.” Angel, who was most sensitive to emotions, immediately recognized the source of the emotion and even identified the direction.
“Is it a wizard apprentice?”
“No.” Angel shook his head; although the call was emotionally charged, it lacked any trace of energy, it must be an ordinary person. And from the sharpness of the voice, it was either a boy going through puberty or a woman with a very deep voice.
“Shall we go check it out?” The phrase to ‘go check it out’ really meant to see if the person was in danger and whether they should offer help. It was typical of Kael, an academic-like white wizard, to suggest such a thing.
“Whatever we do, it depends on Vai.” Angel didn’t really care; after all, they would follow wherever Vai led.
Vai couldn’t speak at this point, so he could only nod or shake his head. However, before he could make a gesture, Daus spoke up: “Let’s go have a look.”
Angel glanced at him: “Spiritual perception?”
Daus shrugged: “Don’t know, just bored from a whole day of nothing, curious if there’s any exciting ‘activity’.”
Angel: “…”
Though Daus answered that way, Angel thought about it and then nodded, signaling Vai to go check it out.
Naturally, Vai didn’t dare resist, and changed direction, heading towards the source of the sound.
Chapter 2560 Arrival at the Ruins <TOC> Chapter 2562 Wizard Eye Ghost