Quicksand Castle
“I have already check the maps and the symbols thoroughly. The copies he gave were real. It is exactly the same as in his memory….”
“That’s good!” Leylin glanced at Dominic who was lying dead on the ground whose sea of consciousness was still sealed.
“What do we do with him?”
“Throw the body out. He only co-operated because of the promise to spare his life.” Robin spoke indifferently, as if talking about garbage.
Every word and action of a rank 3 Magus carried with it a terrifying energy. Hence, the pacts they made, even if mere verbal agreements, would be like binding.
Of course, to Robin and Leylin, Dominic was no threat, therefore whether he was killed or spared made little difference to the bigger picture.
“Alright then!” Kesha summoned a yellow sand puppet which lifted Dominic from the ground and ran off to a distance.
“Hmm! Now, let’s take a look at the arrangements in the Quicksand Castle!”
After occupying the original camp, Leylin and company chose one of the rooms and assembled together. They spread out a map on a big round table.
This was what the coward Dominic had handed over. It had been retrieved from memory and tested for authenticity, so it was credible.
The structure of the huge castle was laid bare on this yellow parchment, surrounded by plain white barring a few outer areas that were marked with clearer symbols.
Amongst those were many areas marked as rank 3 danger zones.
This clearly showed that only rank 3 Magi with their capabilities could explore this place. Average rank 1 or rank 2 Magi would only be courting their own deaths if they attempted to advance there.
Leylin and the other Magi looked on with intense attention, memorising the map completely.
“Based on the accumulated information from ancient times, not only are there plenty of illusions and traps here, the routes and defenses constantly change with the passage of time, rendering any work of mapping the traps useless. Currently, there are three routes that are safe for travel!”
Robin pointed on the map and explained, ”They are the main door, the first window sill, and the rooftop which contained the flaw of the defensive spell formation, which one will you choose?”
After reaching this point, the team was basically going to split.
Leylin, just like the rest of them, had his own agenda in mind and hoped not to travel with the rest. This way, he would be able to protect his secrets.
“I intend to start from the rooftop which had the weakest entry point!” Kesha took the lead and decided,”The three Warlocks from my clan shall follow me!”
“I will take the main door then! Although the rooftop might contained good natural resources, the main door is much safer!” Robin chuckled.
Noah and the rest of the three Warlocks said nothing. It seemed like they followed Robin willingly.
“So I’ll…” Leylin parted his lips and was about to reply.
“Leylin, why don’t you join me?” Kesha invited, ”I know you are looking for Lamia Hair. If we find it, you’ll get priority!”
Lamia Hair was very precious, so for Kesha to make such a comment showed the great extent of her goodwill for him.
“Join you?” Leylin lowered his head in thoughts. Of course there were benefits, especially in the face of enemy troops and when facing multiple traps. In turn, though, it would create many troubles for him.
He still had some strategies up his sleeves that he had not divulged as yet because the time was not right.
“Sorry,” He smiled apologetically
“It’s nothing,” Kesha smiled, as if she didn’t care too.
“Alright! Let’s move out after we have decided on our routes. I do not wish to be chased out again!” Robin exclaimed and immediately left the room with Noah and the other three.
In this excursion, both Leylin and Kesha had not suffered much loss. However, Robin had lost two of his rank 3 subordinates, something which left him in regret. He felt a sense of urgency to search for more resources to make up for his losses.
Kesha and Leylin nodded their heads in agreement and quickly left the place.
The entire camp was left in a deathly silence. Remaining behind was the blood that had seeped into the ground and the wreckage, remnants of the violence that had taken place.
*Shoo!*
A few hours after Leylin and company had entered the depths of the ancient castle, a few rays of dazzling brilliance shone over from the horizon.
They faded out to reveal the figures of the Magi of the various tribes. In the arms of one of the women was the unconscious Dominic.
“This whole camp is completely abandoned, Coulomb and Akamu are most likely dead…” Seeing the ruins on the camp, many of the high ranking Magi had to constrain their rage.
“Coulomb is fine, he prepared a clone seed long ago. The regeneration itself will take place in our clan!” An old Green-skinned Barbarian announced, “If not for the fact that this cloning process causes huge exhaustion of his spiritual force, it would have been difficult to defeat him!”
“Not true!” Another Barbarian Bear Shaman who had a dull expression remarked.
Within this camp, out of the three Hydro Phase Magi, one was in a coma and the other still had a clone seed. Only the Hydro Phase Barbarian Bear Shaman was truly dead.
The Barbarian Bear clan specialised in physical strength. As for the spells and such, they drew support and strength from the totem, so naturally they did not have many methods of keeping their lives safe. They were also rather rigid in thoughts, unwilling to bend over and surrender like the humans.
“I can feel the power of the Crystal Phase. Based on Akamu’s ability, only with such strength could they have wiped them out in such short order!” The Barbarian Bear Shaman roared loudly.
“What do we do now?” The female Magus’ eyes met the Green-skinned Barbarian.
“Give chase! I can smell them, they have intentionally split up!” The Barbarian Bear Shaman’s eyes grew bloodshot, looking horrifying. ”Those who dare to murder those of my clan will pay dearly! I will act personally, and place their heads at our altar to suffer eternal damnation!”
It looked exceptionally furious indeed.
The female Magus shuddered in cold sweat. She had heard about such curses. It was said that the enemy’s head would be chopped off and placed on the altar and the power of the totem would inflict eternal torture.
Some rumours stated that the soul of the Magus would also be imprisoned inside the skull to suffer the eternal cruelty!
This was the Barbarian Bears’ most wicked punishment, and it looked like this time it was going to be put to use.
‘For these different tribes to survive in this Forgotten Land, they have to stay united, hence their troop cohesiveness is very high!’ The female Magus sighed. Comparatively, for the human alliance, which was made up mainly by the disloyal and traitorous, their alliance was very strong and solid but sadly there was no unity. Thus, their combined strength was less than those of the Barbarian Bears and Green-skinned Barbarians.
“Let’s split up three ways and move forward!” The Green-skinned Barbarian nodded his head in agreement.
These three powerful individuals had met and formed an alliance for the pocket dimension. Although there was some semblance of unity amongst them, the bond was rather weak. Not too long ago, even they had been at loggerheads for sole ownership of the plane.
Thus, to act independently was a wise choice.
“The Magus whose is pestered by the spirit of Akamu chose the main door. I can feel it! I’m going after him.” The Barbarian Bear Shaman hastened his steps and immediately moved forward.
“I will choose the rooftop!” The old Green-skinned Barbarian added. With a hunched back that looked like it might break anytime, he held out crutches made of solid gold and precious gems and flew upwards.
“You…”
The female Magus shook her head. She stomped her feet and headed towards the windowsill.
At this moment, Leylin was unaware that the enemy troops had caught up with them and were just outside the vicinity. He was looking around the room curiously.
It looked like a bedroom. The floor area was very small with only a bed, a table, a chair and a bookshelf, with nothing else present. The wooden planks inside the house had turned a brownish yellow. Cobwebs and piles of dust covered the corners.
On the whole, it seemed like a regular abandoned bedroom.
Leylin walked to the bookshelf and started reading the titles on the spines of the books.《57 Ways To Brew Apple Wine》, 《Ways To Capture Molten Bugs》,《The World – A General Discussion》…
There were many odd genres of books stacked neatly together, something that amazed Leylin. He held himself back and refused to touch any of them.
Such ancient Magus castles had already absorbed unquantifiable radiation from the previous residents over the years. There might have been a terrifyingly powerful Magus as well, or the Sun’s Child. The castle had probably undergone terrifying changes.
Leave alone the structure and essence, at this point it might even have manifested some bizarre phenomena. Some of those phenomena could not be explained even by the original owner, hence they could prove to be even more deadly.
Ancient Magi had been known to make good use of these as defense networks and build a large numbers of traps. Exploring Magi had previously had touched these items in the house and were drawn into a deep mysterious space, completely lost to the world.
Even well known Magi who had great status, too, met the same fate of death.
Many Magi were fearful of the terrifying outcome, therefore they would not act blindly without thinking.
“According to Dominic’s report, I have to wait for another three minutes before the door can be opened!”
Leylin stood outside the bedroom door. His eyes stared coldly at the brass handle and his expressionless face looked serious.
On the wall, a clock was slowing ticking away.
*Tick..Tock…Tick…Tock!* The needles were moving very slowly. It seemed like the world had moved for five seconds and the clock only one.
With so many odd and unexplainable environmental influences, many Magi made the mistake of telling the wrong time. If it weren’t for Leylin’s A.I. Chip, he might have fallen into the same trap.
“It is time!”
Leylin watched attentively at the A.I. Chip’s stopwatch. The moment the needle reached zero, he grabbed the handle immediately and opened the door.
*Boom!*
Distant echoes could be heard in the corridor. Leylin looked to the ground and saw that the bright red carpet lined on the floor was spotless without traces of dust. Beautiful chandeliers hung from the ceiling, emitting a yellow radiance.
Leylin turned his head around, the original room was nowhere to be seen, not even a single trace of it remaining. What was left was just a blank empty wall.
“This must be the illusionary corridor, and this also means that I have entered into the second level of the castle! “