novellk Chapter 1495: Confrontation and Doubt
Chapter 1495: Confrontation and Doubt
When the familiar feeling of weightlessness flashed by and Lei Xiao's vision became clear again, he found that he had passed through the portal and arrived in an extremely spacious and humid underground space.
"Guiding Light!"
Lei Xiao noticed further as Xiaojie in elf form released a row of lighting magic light balls.
This place is exactly the same as Old Nick described. The space is extremely vast. Even though Xiaojie's row of magic light balls flew out in a fan shape for hundreds of meters in an instant, they still could not completely illuminate the surrounding area. The space above the head is indeed extremely exaggerated, at least four or five hundred meters high.
“Is it really located deep underground?”
Lei Xiao narrowed his eyes slightly, listening to the sound of the gurgling underground river not far away, while looking into the depths of space.
Under the illumination of the magic light ball, a huge ancient city was just showing its tip. The ancient mottled stone walls were faintly reflecting the light of the light ball, and the outlines of buildings were everywhere with light and shadow interweaving.
"Xuanji, have you detected the aura of Eclipse?"
Lei Xiao collected his thoughts and immediately asked another stone elf in the form of an elf on his body.
"Replying to the master, there is no discovery for the time being."
Xuanji closed her eyes for a moment, shook her head and said, "There is no life here either. It is obvious that no one has been here for a long time."
After hearing Xuan Ji's words, Lei Xiao nodded slightly.
The other party was right. Although Old Nick and his companions had visited here before, they were soon swallowed up by the sudden "eclipse", and only Old Nick escaped from here.
Compared with such a huge space, the vitality brought by Old Nick and his group has long disappeared.
While Lei Xiao was observing, Jasmine, Carol, Old Nick and other accompanying people, as well as the main powerful men, were also following closely. More magic light balls flew out, and soon the surrounding area was brightly lit.
Even so, hundreds of meters away, it was still pitch black everywhere and the end of the space could not be seen at all.
"Take care of them."
Lei Xiao nodded to the group of sixth-level warriors, and they immediately protected Carol and others in the middle of the team.
The reason why Lei Xiao brought them here was, firstly, to let Carol and others who were guarding here further understand the current situation, and secondly, to let Old Nick lead the way and confirm the location where the "Eclipse" appeared.
After hundreds of strong men lined up, Lei Xiao took a step forward.
The group had just walked a hundred meters when they saw Old Nick's face turn pale. He pointed to an underground river not far away and said tremblingly, "Your Majesty, that's where the Eclipses appeared!"
"Thank you for your hard work, old man."
Lei Xiao patted the other person's shoulder gently, trying to ease his nervousness, and then walked over with the other strong men.
When he got closer, Lei Xiao looked around. The water here was flowing slowly and clear, which was exactly the source of the flowing water sound he heard at the beginning.
"My Lord, this place is indeed filled with energy fluctuations of earth-attributed magical veins."
Chris folded her wings, and after sensing for a moment, she nodded to Lei Xiao and said, "The nearest magic vein is probably a few hundred meters below the river."
As a great earth mage who excels in city-building, this wood elf chieftain is obviously extremely sensitive to energy fluctuations of corresponding attributes.
"My Lord, I feel it too."
Fanny, who was also an earth-attribute great mage, touched her chest and saluted, echoing, "Also, there are still some traces of an earth-attribute magic vein eruption here, which happened about a year ago."
"That's when Old Nick and the others came here, and everything fell into place."
Lei Xiao nodded slightly and asked again: "Then can we determine when the next outbreak will occur?"
"My Lord, at least from the current situation, there are no signs of an outbreak, but most magical veins are extremely unstable, so I cannot make an accurate judgment."
Chrissy responded by shaking her head helplessly, while Fanny had the same look on her face, obviously sharing the same opinion as the former.
"I see. At least it hasn't erupted again yet."
Lei Xiao didn't hesitate any more and continued to lead his men towards the ancient ruins.
"My Lord, I have a question. Since there is no trace of 'Erosion' here, where did they go?"
The troll chieftain Hanershu, who had just been subdued by Lei Xiao using the [Amethyst of Contract], touched his chest and saluted, a hint of doubt appearing on his rough blue face.
"This is easy. Whenever the magic veins erupt, they can move freely between here and their lair without being affected by the eruption. This means that they may have returned before the eruption ends."
Jasmine's tone was relaxed, without any nervousness at all, and she responded nonchalantly.
Then, a hint of solemnity appeared in her tone as she continued, "Or, they have used some means to leave this cave without using the teleportation array and quietly blended in with the human race."
"This situation is not uncommon. From time to time, I find traces of 'Erosion' in my hometown, but they are quickly cleared. After all, the [God's Stone] is extremely effective against these strange creatures, and even if it parasitizes on someone, its appearance will usually change greatly, so it is still easy to distinguish."
After hearing what Jasmine said, the atmosphere in the team began to grow more serious.
Especially Old Nick, who had personally experienced the horror of "Eclipse", couldn't stop shaking all over, and there was no color left on his old face.
This undoubtedly means that that group of extremely terrifying things may appear anywhere in this land!
"I'm just saying maybe. Even in my hometown, only a few can be found every hundred years or so. Since the blank era, there have been only a few large-scale cases hidden in the dark, and they have all been wiped out."
Looking at Old Nick's pale face that was about to faint, Jasmine, who knew that she had spoken without restraint, coughed lightly and added, "Furthermore, according to the information I have learned, Eclipse is generally only interested in the first-class forces that stand at the top of the myriad races, so you can rest assured!"
However, although Jasmine tried to ease everyone's tension, she blurted out several larger-scale hidden things at the beginning, which further aggravated everyone's worries and made the situation worse.
After all, "Eclipse" appeared here not long ago, which means that the other party has become interested in this land.
"In any case, don't forget that Your Majesty has defeated many "Eclipses" before. As long as Your Majesty guards the human territory, we don't need to worry about anything!"
Carol's unwavering and confident voice sounded steady and powerful.
After hearing Carol's words, everyone's tension gradually eased and they all turned their eyes to Lei Xiao.
That’s right, as long as Your Majesty is still standing here, no one can shake the human race’s territory!
"Don't worry, the Crystal Blue City and Ice Stone City with the God's Stone deployed will appear anywhere. As long as the "Eclipse" appears, I will never sit idly by and wait for death."
Noticing the admiring looks from everyone, Lei Xiao first looked at Jasmine helplessly, and then added a sentence.
At this point, the tense atmosphere in the team was finally stabilized.
"Sir, so you knew about the existence of Eclipse from the beginning?"
Lei Xiao led everyone back to the ancient ruins and asked Jasmine, "Can you tell me more about it?"
"Good boy... Your Majesty, you are always trying to get information from me."
Jasmine curled her lips hidden in her hood, then shrugged and responded, "Well, this is not a secret among the top leaders of a first-rate force, so it's okay to tell you."
"That's right. As early as 2,900 years ago, along with the discovery of the [God Stone], my hometown had already learned a series of divine revelations, including the "Eclipse" and the method to deal with the "Eclipse", just as you know, but I am not the holder of the [God Stone], so I only know some basic information."
Jasmine responded and continued, "Not only my hometown, but other first-rate forces have also discovered all of this one after another. Therefore, this has always been a secret among first-rate forces. Only some high-ranking officials know about it. As for second-rate forces and even third-rate forces, they naturally don't know about it."
"After all, obtaining the [God's Stone] is not an easy task in itself. It is extremely time-consuming and labor-intensive. Compared with these, most forces are more concerned about how to survive in this land where the strong prey on the weak. Therefore, magic crystals, alchemy, forging and other technologies are the goals pursued by most forces."
After hearing what Jasmine said, Chris, Fanny, Broy and other clan leaders all nodded in agreement.
The other party was right. Whether it was magic crystals, or alchemy and forging technology, as long as they could be mass-produced, they would be able to enhance the overall strength and foundation of the force. This was much more useful than the [God's Stone].
"Since you have known all this a long time ago, why haven't you obtained the truth of this world yet?"
Lei Xiao frowned slightly and asked again.
"The truth of the world? Oh, I see. You are talking about the truth of the blank age, right? Those old fogies in my hometown did call it that."
Jasmine hesitated for a moment, and then responded, "But those stubborn old men don't seem to be interested in these things. They care more about how to obtain more magic crystals or forge a few magic weapons."
"Not interested? Don't they want to know the truth about the Blank Age?"
Lei Xiao's brows furrowed further and he asked.
"Maybe you are interested. I don't know, but what I do know is that most of the Ten Thousand Races that were so prosperous back then were destroyed in the blank era, leaving only a few survivors who are barely surviving and have inexplicably forgotten everything. In this case, what can we, the orphans of the Ten Thousand Races, do if we know about it? What can we change?"
Jasmine shrugged and continued, “Besides, the vast majority of the [God Stones] are in the hands of each peak power. Although there are many conflicts between the peak powers, it is difficult for them to do anything to each other. Since they can’t do anything to each other, how can they obtain more [God Stones]?”
"This is indeed a vicious circle. Every force has a lot of [God Stones] in their hands, but they can't obtain the [God Stones] of other forces?"
Hearing this, Lei Xiao nodded thoughtfully.
That way, everything does make sense.
After suddenly becoming enlightened, Lei Xiao asked again: "Then why don't you choose win-win cooperation?"
"Your Majesty, you are joking. I am a forest elf... well, my hometown is the one that truly stands at the top of all races. How could I lower my status and ask for cooperation from others? Wouldn't that make those hairy monsters and birdmen look down on me? Not to mention those other guys who think they are orthodox."
Jasmine put her hands on her hips and raised her head. "Speaking of which, even if they take the initiative to cooperate, we are still worried about some conspiracy. How can we let them succeed?"
"It seems that the dwarves, winged people, and other elves think the same way."
Lei Xiao smiled helplessly, then thought of something and asked, "One last question. So, you already knew that the source of the catastrophe was the Eclipse?"
"This is surprising to me. I didn't expect you to have figured this out. This is something that even most second-rate forces don't know."
Jasmine's voice revealed a hint of surprise, and she nodded and said, "Yes, when the prophecy appeared, we who have fought against Eclipse many times had already guessed it. Although the other first-class forces didn't say it, I'm afraid they knew it a long time ago."
"Even though you knew that a disaster that would sweep away everything was about to happen, you still didn't choose to cooperate with each other?"
Lei Xiao's brows were twisted into a knot and he asked again.
"Anyway, I haven't seen any signs of cooperation, but I can be sure that we have been taking measures to deal with the catastrophe. However, these are core secrets, and those old stubborn people will not tell me easily."
Jasmine shrugged and responded, "But you don't have to guess. Unless other first-class forces are willing to respect us, we will never share any information, let alone cooperate."
As Jasmine finished her words, the group was already very close to the unknown ancient city. Under the reflection of the magic light ball, Lei Xiao could even clearly see the wall carvings engraved on the broken walls in the front.
"Strange, this is not the remains of us dwarves."
After observing for a moment, Broy couldn't help but show a hint of doubt on his face.
Whether from the architectural style or the wall carvings, it is obviously very different from the style of ancient dwarves.
"It does seem so, but if that's the case, why was the teleportation array at the door designed by you?"
Jasmine frowned slightly, obviously realizing this.
After saying that, Jasmine sensed something again. Her fair face was filled with sternness. She quickly said to Lei Xiao, "Wait, the situation has changed!" (End of this chapter)