Chapter 384: The tunnels

“This place is very desolate, ha?” Victor asked as he leisurely passed through the wide empty tunnels with Zoe who wanted to pull back her hand from his grasp a few times, but each time she managed to pull back, he would find a sneaky way to grab it again!

“Usually you would be seeing all kinds of carts and workers transporting ores all through these tunnels, but due to the recent attacks, we issued a lockdown order, all miners shall stay in their villages temporarily, and all required mining quotas had been suspended,” Alto explained as he tried hard not to mind the romantic drama unfolding between his two companions. Not his business…

“Oh… How is this exactly managed?” Victor asked as he inspected the walls and noted that they were gradually moving deeper underground. He never went down to this place in the past.

“The mines are composed of three main large channels, with 3 to 5 side channels at the end of each. At the end of each of those 13 channels, a mining village was created as a central hub and a resting place for the miners… although most of those guys are family criminals they needed a place to sleep and live while they were not working!”

“So my brother is at one of those villages?” Victor asked.

“Ah…. Not exactly…” Alto hesitated.

“What do you mean?”

“The villages might get overpopulated at times, so we relegated some of the people there to minor outposts… Your brother is at the most desolate one,” Alto said slowly, strangely enough, Victor didn’t seem offended, making Zoe who was listening frown. She had met that guy Luke once when she first awakened, he seemed like a decent kid… Still, she had a feeling that Victor, who appeared completely stoic, was very glad.

“How long until we reach the nearest village?” Zoe asked.

“Ah… three hours, and to the place where young master Luke is at, we will need 6 more…”

“What?” Zoe was shocked. “This place is that big?”

“Ah… Yes…” Alto sighed. “Don’t worry, we will take a rest on the way there!”

“That’s not the problem!” Zoe sighed, “How many people work here?” she asked.

“About 70,000… I am not sure...” Alto said.

“WHAT?” Zoe was shocked. “Where did you get all those people?”

“Some of them are family members and servants who committed grave mistakes, others are slaves who the family gets from….” Alto didn’t explain further.

“The family has many enemies, and those enemies have families!” Victor said. “When killing someone we need to pull the roots to avoid future problems…”

“But that’s cruel!” Zoe, who understood what he meant, said. “What about the children?”

“Those of the first generation will be forced to work here for life, after that they are given a chance to work their way out and even redeem themselves and their parents once they are old enough…” Alto said. “Though many never leave this place…” he sighed.

“...” Zoe frowned, she didn’t like this.

Victor said nothing. This was the reality of their family… No, all the other powers. They all have dark cruel secrets that they inherited from their ancestors. Systems that they needed to keep their power.

They needed many servants and agents and although they got replacements from the outside every once in a while, the best way was to raise them by themselves.

He sighed.

The next few minutes were silent.

“Oh, by the way… Are those miners' girls pretty?” Victor asked all of a sudden, making Zoe who was feeling a little down, quickly pinch his hand. PERVERT!

“All the pretty ones got selected young to work for the maids department…” Alto told the truth, “The ones left here are not bad though… Even the ugliest girls would look pretty in a certain light! And the illumination condition around here is not ideal…” he added. Speaking of experience.

“True…” Victor nodded, totally ignoring Zoe’s pinches as he looked up at and observed the magical gems that illuminated this place.

At first, he thought they were an artifact especially created for that purpose, but as they walked further inside, he began to notice many of those Gems naturally growing out of the walls.

; ;

TRI-LUMA GEM, F

(FRAGILE)

VITALITY ENERGY CONVERSION (WEAK)

He had never heard of these things before, but they seemed interesting, being able to work around Sacred Iron.

“Those light-emitting gems… Doesn’t the family mine them?” Victor asked after a few minutes of silence, changing the gloomy atmosphere.

“Ahh… We tried, but they are very hard to mine as they collapse very quickly and they don’t work outside… The family took some samples back in the day, but nothing really came out of it, so no one cares about them nowadays… The Villages below were created alongside veins containing them, so it is not only reasonably bright there, but those things seem to keep the miners healthy!”

Victor frowned… Could those GEMs be the reason why this palace was unearthed? This place is just too strange… All ruins are in a way though. Now, he really needed to know what the hell was going on!

“Oh, by the way, what about those golems? In what areas did they appear?” Victor finally asked after carefully taking a few samples from one of the gems and putting it in his ring. He would ask Lily and Hana about it later.

“Mostly in the lower tunnels, sometimes they crawl up, but we have sentries to take care of them,” Alto said.

“When did this all start?” Victor asked.

“Well… It was about three weeks ago, right before the red moon.” Alto pondered, “I was out on vacation and when I returned it was all hell…”

“What started it?” Victor asked making Alto who escaped answering this on purpose pause.

“I don’t know for sure…” he said faintly.

“What do you suspect?” Victor asked.

“I dare not…” Alto hesitated.

“SPEAK!” Victor stopped and scolded in a strange voice, that not only startled Zoe but made her feel as if this command came from some very ancient and dangerous being. Her body shook a little but this was not compared to Alto who fell to his legs shaking.

“It… It was one of the elders,” Alto said, shaking, then relaxed as the feeling of oppression withdrew. He was really scared though, this feeling was something he only felt when he faced the supreme elders before. No… This one was scarier. He had underestimated this heir thinking that he was just another one of those family brats who were sent here as punishment. He should have known better, elite heirs were never easy.

“Explain… I don’t like going around in circles,” Victor calmly said as he watched the man scramble to his feet and take the chance to grab Zoe’s hand, she was obviously startled a bit earlier. But Victor did this on purpose so that she would not be defeated if someone used this cheap trick on her in the future.

“Ah…” Alto shook.”It was High Elder Tolin with a few others, since two months ago they began digging in the lower tunnels like crazy…. They were searching for artifacts, promising any miners who found one their freedom! Due to this excessive digging, the supports were not probably installed and an accident happened…”

“Oh… continue…” Victor nodded. This was after he destroyed the awakening artifact.

“A part of the tunnels collapsed, and as we hurried to dig the survivors those golems appeared…” Alto hid nothing.

“I see…” Victor said. “Were you here when a similar accident happened in the past?”

“... Yes…” Alto sighed and said. He knew that it would come to this.

“Tell me about it in detail!” Victor asked as he resumed walking. Not forgetting to drag Zoe’s hand behind him.

“Well, I believe the patriarch should have already informed you… It was about 25 years ago, Lady Ariana was looking to expand the mine after a new lode of Obsidian was found, and a hidden wall was struck down, revealing a new web of tunnels… those golems began to show up from there. Back then I worked in the exploration unit…” Alto clarified.

“The golems came from those tunnels?” Victor asked.

“Yes… They just came running at us materializing out of the obsidian walls!” Alto sighed. “I remember that I was enthralled back then, thinking that if I killed one I might level up and shed this stupid semiplayer status… Too bad it was just a pipe dream, those golems needed an army to kill and they didn’t drop any experience!” Alto explained.

“Too bad… Go on…” Victor said stoically. Zoe who was ‘unknowingly’ holding his hand felt him stiff a little though.

Monsters not dropping any experience meant one of three things, they either belonged to this world, were magical puppets, or were only a part of something way bigger… It might also be a combination of those things. Those things were hopefully just some old puppets, or else things really got troublesome… He needed to find one quickly and appraise it.

“Those golems were not easy to fight, you have to find their core and strike it hard to make them collapse, it is usually hidden in a random position in their body with only a small portion of it exposed!”

“So… What happened after you defeated them?” Victor asked impatiently, he already knew how to defeat a golem.

“I didn’t defeat any, it was Lady Ariana and Miss Rosette who shined there, striking those guys with strange bolts of light, making them collapse in seconds!” Alto remencneed.

“ROSETTE?” Victor paused. He heard that name before… His father told him about her a while back, she was his first wife or something.

“Yes… What a fine miss, too bad she disappeared with lady Ariana…”

“How did that happen?” Victor asked.

“Ah… Let me finish the story first, if I may…” Alto said, making Victor gesture to him to continue.

“Well, after the Golems in the tunnels were cleared we discovered that the web of tunnels was larger than we expected and went deeper and deeper underground, nearing dangerously near the island’s volcano’s magma chamber. We retreated in order to reorganize and prepare a more…”

“A Volcano?” Zoe interrupted.

“Ah, yes… This island is situated over a volcano, in fact, those tunnels we are walking through right now were formed around its conduit. Don’t worry, this place has never exploded as far as I know, as it has some side channel into the ocean…” Alto explained.

“Oh…”

“Now, where was I…”

“After you retreated…” Victor said as he noticed that the tunnels began to warp down a little and the concentration of Black obsidian was increasing.

“Ah , yes… Then it began, those golems began to appear everywhere in the lower tunnels, some of them even reached the lowest Village… They usually materialize out of the walls so it was very hard to guard against them… It was a mess!” Alto sighed. “Later we found out that what created those golems was a thing we called GOLEM SPIRITS… They are like ghosts, no attacks work against them, physical or magical… They go through the walls unimpeded, then they materialize as a core forming a golem around them!”

“How did you fight them?”

“Like what happened now, we stopped all mining, we posted guards around the areas with high concentrations of Black obsidian and we sent an expedition to the deeps…” Alto said. “Although I was not a part of that team, I heard what happened… They said down there after searching for two months they found a large dungeon gate right over a lack of Magma. That gate seemed to pulse exploding every few hours, throwing out a few Golem spirits!”

“Did it allow humans to enter?” Victor asked.

“Yes…They sent a campaign to conquer it, but the guys in it never returned… Half of them were dead within a week, the others seemed to be alive but we had no way of contacting them…” Alto said. “You know… When the gate pulsed, it drew in everyone in its vicinity, players or not… I was planning to go try my luck like many others, luckily I didn’t… All the weak semi-players who tried it died, only those powerful players managed to survive!” he sighed.

“Did lady Ariana was a part of that expedition?” Victor asked.

“No… This happened later, about six months or so, the family sent three expeditions and no one returned, so it was decided that the gate must be closed somehow to resume the mining operation, the golems were a real pain in the ass. If you excuse my words…”

“So they built a vault around it?” Victor asked.

“Yes… Since the old tunnel walls managed to stop the golems before, the family decided to build two layered steel and obsidian walls around it… It was easier said than done though… The Gate was above a lake of Magma as I told you before, They first had to dry a part of the magma below and to separate this from the chamber below… I am not sure what happened next, no one who was there survived, but from what we know, the moment they cut off the Magma chamber using a large obsidian rock, the gate expanded greatly then retracted, making the entire tunnel collapse on itself… Everyone who was there was thought to have been killed, but after a checking their life jades, the family began to try to dig them out, but no one was there, not even the gate that vanished! The family thinks that they were all sucked in before the collapse! They included Lady Ariana and her three disciples!” Alto sighed. "Now it is happening again... And no one knows where the damn gate is this time!"

Victor frowned… A gate expanding? Impossible! A dungeon gate was a product of this world, it followed its rules!

The only thing he could think of with similar property was moving dungeons… But those only move around and never expand.

Not unless… SHIT…. He knew what this was...

He just needed to see it with his own eyes to make sure.

…

Abe, who was sitting in a park, shook in shock after he flipped through the phone he ‘found’ for 2 hours straight!

He couldn’t believe it! At first, he tried to turn off the phone, but after he couldn’t find the power button he decided to try to crack its pin code.

By carefully analyzing the smudges on the smartphone’s screen he was sure that the PIN was none other than 0000. And he was right!

After that, he started to look around and what he found was beyond his wildest imagination! He knew who the phone’s dead owner was! It belonged to a man called John Johns… And he was known by his pen name, CRIMSON PEARL!

Searching through the phone's data, Abe not only found the guy's ID info and data but also the full manuscript for a few novels which were some of his favorites! It had all the unreleased chapters and a few new novels that were a work in progress!

Those things were priceless! He had just heard on the news that Crimson Pearl was the writer in the new Dragon Princess movie… The script was here!

DAMN!

This thing would sell for a fortune. But the problem was he only had a few hours to sell these, where was he going to find a buyer!

Suddenly the phone in his hand began ringing with a very lewd voice ringtone, straddling him and the old lady who was sitting on the bench beside him. She looked at him with disgust then stood up and walked away while muttering something about moral decay!

He didn’t care.

Should he answer it?

He was tempted to just turn it off, but the second he read the caller's name he hesitated…

THE MONEY BAGS was the name he read!

He decided to try his luck and answered the phone.

“Hi… Is this CRIMSON PEARL? “

He didn’t answer.

“We are from Horizons Media… We know that you don’t like to talk a lot and usually only communicate through text messages…But I couldn't help myself wanting to hear your voice in person…” the woman who sounded young said in a flattery voice. “We need to tell you that the money for the contract is ready… Are you available to come sign it now?”

“Ah… How much was it again?”

“$100,000,000… Isn’t that the amount we agreed on? Didn’t you want it in cash?”

“Ahh… Yes…” Abe said as his mind began to turn.

“Then I will be waiting for you at the headquarters of Horizons media… “

“I will be there in an hour or two…” Abe said then hung up. He was hesitating on what to do.

If he were to be discovered he would be in big trouble…

Thinking for a moment he opened up the messenger program and began to look through Crimson Pearl's conversations just to make sure.

He could see all the conversations he had and from them, he learned a few things…

Crimson Pearl was an orphan who had no one.

Crimson Pearl was so ashamed of his hobby of writing porn stories that no one knew his real identity, not even the companies he worked for… He only accepted payments in cash! and Horizons Media was the first time he was planning to go public after their CEO convinced him to write the movie script.

Crimson Pearl really believed in psychics and unnatural phenomena… He was a part of many groups that discussed such stupid things as future seeing and astral projections.

Crimson Pearl was really into granny porn…

…

The shaking caused Yulian to open his eyes and look around.

He was in the back of an old truck that traveled through a mountainous dirt road.

Lily was sitting next to him talking with some traditionally dressed old woman who was holding a chicken in her hand. She was pointing at Yulian and giggling.

Lily was humoring her politely.

He couldn’t understand what they talked about though, it was a foreign language that he had never heard before.

“Where are we?” he asked.

“Oh…You are awake!” Lily said then smiled, making him notice for the first time that she was not wearing her mask…HOLY SHIT… Can someone be this pretty?

Just when he was about to make a comment, he felt something hit the back of his neck and heard the chuckling of the old woman.

“Sleep more, my dear brother… We are almost there!” Was the last thing he heard before he passed away.