Chapter Thirteen: The Mysterious Guest

With a casual gesture, the flame spell rose slowly in the stone chamber. Aside from this, Komer didn’t learn anything about this mage. Yet Komer didn’t care about such things—so long as he could stay in the Caucasus, everything else was unimportant.

Newman stood right in the center of the stone chamber’s wall. His thin frame cast a somewhat hunched shadow on the mottled floor, adding to the desolate atmosphere of the chamber. But at that moment, Newman was filled with excitement. A power imprint was being placed on his palm, and he had already positioned his hand at the precisely calculated spot. A violent tremor spread beneath everyone’s feet, as if a severe earthquake had struck. The chamber seemed to shake slightly. Komer paled slightly—if this guy miscalculated, it would be a great injustice for them all to become sacrifices.

Fortunately, the chamber only experienced a strong tremor. Apart from some dust falling, nothing else unusual happened. Everyone’s gaze turned to the stone wall, where a crack gradually widened and eventually split open, revealing a huge dark passage. A powerful magical aura rushed toward them; even Komer, who was at the back, could feel its force that devoured magic. Almost simultaneously, three “Light Ball Flame Cannons” were launched into the air. Just as darkness was about to engulf them all, they exploded abruptly. Along with the explosive power of the Light Ball Flame Cannons, the three mages also chanted spells at full capacity, unleashing light-based magic. Without exception, their spells appeared before everyone. Komer, standing at the back, wasn’t to be outdone—he cast “Holy Light Illumination,” lighting up the entire chamber like day. The invading darkness finally retreated under the force of this powerful light magic. It was like a battle between darkness and light—darkness ultimately vanished, and light covered the entire chamber until the stone wall opened.

Everyone slowly adjusted their pupils to cope with the sudden contrast between darkness and light. Newman, with his red eyes and clasped hands, stood at the front and said in a almost dreamlike voice, “We have arrived, great Father God!”

A vast entrance appeared before everyone. It was clear that space expansion magic had been used here; otherwise, despite the stone chamber being quite large, it wouldn’t have been possible to create such a huge secret passage entrance. Yet, the power of space expansion magic had sustained itself since the castle’s construction—this was simply incredible. Everyone began to wonder what secrets lay hidden behind this magnificent architectural wonder. The strange fates of past lords, the ominous Eye of Darkness in its location, the ghosts whose whereabouts remain unknown to this day, and the dwarf construction family—the Melanda clan, along with their eerie spatial darkness restriction magic mechanisms—all seemed to indicate that this castle was by no means as simple as it appeared. Uncovering the true mysteries hidden within it would likely be far more difficult than anyone had initially imagined.

But having come this far, no one could possibly turn back. Strong curiosity is both the driving force behind exploring the world and an exhilarating stimulant that spurs people to face difficulties bravely. Suppressing their eager desires, the seven of them entered one after another, with none willing to stay behind in the stone chamber as a guardian—not even Komer, who was somewhat worried. Without him, the master, in case treasures were indeed discovered, those guys might not even leave him a trace.

The moment they stepped into the passage, almost everyone could sense the gloomy aura emanating from the depths below—this was the manifestation of the Eye of Darkness’s magic. Once you stepped into the underground areas not covered by the light absorbed by the flame stones, you could clearly feel the cold nature of this place. The passage began as a gentle slope stretching dozens of meters long, its floor paved with hard stone slabs. The sides were at least five meters wide, and the height gradually increased from just over two meters at the entrance to over four meters further in. Magic sensing techniques were used to probe inside, but there was no response—apparently, the designer had placed an extremely powerful restriction at the first threshold, giving them confidence about the passages ahead.

Komer gently touched the walls and the floor of the passage. The stone remained quite dry, not as damp as expected. It seemed this underground structure had fairly good ventilation, though it was unclear where its ventilation outlets might be.

After walking down the dozens-of-meter-long slope, they finally reached its end. A stone wall blocked the way ahead, with stone stairs on either side leading into deep darkness. Everyone’s gaze fell on Rebrí and Mihajović, who were leading the way. Should they go left or right? Separate or together?

“Newman, based on your judgment, what’s the deal with this fork in the road?” Newman was completely awestruck by the sheer scale of this underground structure. After passing through those dozens of meters of corridor, he guessed they must be at least five meters below the surface, and now there were two more stone staircases leading downward. He wasn’t sure which path was the correct one. The Miranda family’s designs were always unique, with little repetition. Newman himself only had a basic understanding of mechanisms and wasn’t an expert in architectural layouts.

Shrugging his shoulders to indicate he couldn’t give a definite answer, Newman’s confused gaze wandered between the two stone staircases. “We could try going right,” said a voice with a strong nasal accent. It was undoubtedly the newly arrived mage.

“Oh, Mage Lomei, could you explain why?” Mihajic asked, raising his eyebrows in surprise. He held great respect for this mysterious mage introduced by a friend.

“I’ve been to the Prometheus Maze. Although the Miranda family’s designs are ever-changing, they still follow the dwarf tradition of giving priority to the right. I infer that both paths at this fork will ultimately lead to the same destination, though the experiences along the way might differ. The mechanisms on the right are likely magical in nature, while those on the left are probably more physical in nature. Dwarves revere magic, so they use magical barriers to welcome distinguished guests where they believe it’s appropriate.” His tone was calm and unemotional, yet highly convincing. The fact that he had once entered the Prometheus Maze was enough to earn everyone’s attention—surviving it was practically a miracle. Newman’s gaze toward him now held even more respect and admiration. Perhaps he planned to seek this mysterious man’s advice on the maze’s mechanisms after this adventure.

“I think most of us here are skilled in magic. Maybe choosing the right path will help us open the door to our destination.” After giving this explanation, the mysterious mage, who had never revealed his face, seemed unwilling to say more. He looked away, seemingly waiting for everyone to make a decision.

“Well, what the mage Lomei said makes some sense. Although we have the help of Knights Sorenborg and Vladkov, magic is still our strength after all. Perhaps it’s better to choose the right path. Of course, once we reach our destination and have some free time, we can definitely try the left path as well—maybe it will bring us a surprise.” Rebrí was the first to agree, and Mihajić also expressed support. Komer and Newman remained silent, just like the two Dark Knights. With three in favor and one abstaining, the exploration group decided to turn right. Rebrí led the way, followed by Mihajić, with the two Dark Knights one on each side closely behind. The mysterious mage known as Lomei followed closely behind Vladkov, while Newman trailed behind Sorenborg. Komer walked at the back, intentionally keeping some distance from the others. He had a premonition that the stone staircase path on the right wasn’t as easy as Mage Lomei had said—it was the same with the left path, but this was merely intuition with no basis. Komer could only be cautious on his own. One after another, light balls were created, illuminating the stone staircase path. With their light, Komer could clearly see the carved marks on the stone walls, resembling cuts from knives and axes. Strange symbols and letters were arranged in a specific order, but Komer couldn’t decipher their meaning at all. “This is the Breymorden script, which has been lost for hundreds of years. It’s said to be the writing used by the most powerful and intelligent ape tribes among the orcs. It disappeared after those ape tribes were wiped out. I never expected to see it here.” Newman’s voice trembled slightly in the cold air, as if he were thinking of something special.

The Ape Clan was originally the foremost of the seven orc clans and had been the rulers of the orcs for over five hundred years. Their appearance was little different from that of humans, and their intelligence was no less than that of humans, yet their physical strength far surpassed that of humans. The Bimon Kingdom under their leadership once conquered the entire central and northern parts of the Azure Continent; most of the lands now belonging to the Northern Alliance were once part of the Bimon Kingdom, leaving humans and other races squeezed into the south. Just as the Bimons were advancing triumphantly, Taishan Mangchi, the greatest king of the Ape Clan at the time, was mysteriously assassinated within his army. Soon after, almost all Ape Clan soldiers contracted a strange disease, and within days, nearly all of them died. The Bimon alliance immediately fell into chaos, and the allied forces of other races took the opportunity to counterattack. The Bimon alliance was quickly defeated and never recovered, forced to retreat to their stronghold—the northern wastelands. After this disaster, the six other clans, who had long been suppressed by the Ape Clan, launched a joint attack. With all the able-bodied men led away by Taishan, the remaining elders, women, and children were swiftly wiped out by the six clans, and the Ape Clan disappeared from among the seven orc clans. From then on, the restless orcs could only cause trouble to human kingdoms but no longer had the ability to pose a threat of destruction to other races like Taishan had.

As Newman finished speaking, the psychic detection in Komer’s mind immediately issued an alarm—large numbers of undead creatures appeared within the detection range. Almost simultaneously, the other companions also noticed something unusual.

A thick aura of death quickly filled the entire passage. Somehow, a mechanism was triggered, causing the stone walls to shake. Countless cracks appeared in the walls, and one after another, zombies covered in white hair slowly emerged from the fissures.

“My father god! It’s a swarm of giant ape zombies!” Newman could no longer control his emotions. His eyes seemed about to burst, his pupils shrank sharply, and he quickly drew the staff he rarely used from his bosom, drawing circles rapidly. A shrill voice rang out in the passage, “Hurry! Stop them! They carry a unique zombie poison unique to giant apes. Those infected are beyond saving—even white magic can’t cure them!”

As soon as Komer noticed the anomaly, he activated the Light Shield—a high-tier radiant magic spell known for its durability and strong defensive capabilities, which was traditionally the best protection against such undead creatures. Yet this was merely a defensive spell; to completely deal with these giant ape corpses that had cut off everyone’s escape route, it was likely beyond the reach of mere radiant magic.

Rebri and Mihajic also activated their magical shields immediately. The mysterious mage Lomi, on the other hand, remained calm. Her slender fingers swiftly drew a circle in the air, and the incantations she murmured were too faint, due to distance and the chaos in the area, for Komer, who was trying to observe her closely, to detect the spell she had cast.

But soon Komer realized her tactic. Almost all the white-haired zombies that had emerged from the cracks in the stone walls, which had been gradually speeding up, suddenly slowed down, struggling as if burdened by weight. Their grimacing expressions made it clear they were under the spell’s control. Nearly all the zombies were affected by this spell, and their low growls echoed through the passage.

“Gravity spell?!” Komer glanced at her in surprise. He found this mage, enveloped in a mysterious aura, even more enigmatic. A gravity spell was a typical spatial magic that manipulated spatial forces to restrict movement, similar to dark binding spells. However, because of its pure and sustained power, it could not be broken with magic; one could only break free through physical force, making it fundamentally different from spells like dark binding.