Chapter 1146 - Teamwork

Name:Defiance of the Fall Author:


"It looks like a captain's quarters," Emily commented as they observed the room. "God, this aura. Is this what you were talking about?"

Zac placed a collapsed piece of wall in the doorway to prevent it from automatically closing before stepping inside. The interiors weren't opulent, but it was at least 100 square meters with multiple rooms. Far more generous than the smaller domiciles Zac passed on his way. However, it looked like a hurricane had passed through the room, leaving it in utter disarray.

It wasn't the result of previous looting. Rather, the inner wall was covered in familiar cracks. A few sections had crumbled entirely, giving a glimpse of the outside. The apartment had only narrowly avoided the sword slash, leaving it flooded with Killing Intent.

"Yeah, it's from the sword scar," Zac confirmed. "I didn't expect to see so much of it here."

There was no clear reason why it hadn't fully dispersed in this particular room. Could the intent have sensed this was the room of a high-ranking officer, and refused to be dragged out by the hurricane? Or was the chasm's pull weakening the further up the tower they went? It left the room significantly more affected, though not to the point condensed streaks would form.

Zac tried prodding [Void Heart] to see if it could absorb the intent, but it remained lifeless. Being showered in Life-attuned energy hadn't done anything to repair its damage. Surrounding it with Void Energy or using it to activate [Surging Rebirth] didn't help either, leaving Zac helpless. It wasn't like he had any Void Healing Pills or Natural Treasures to repair his bloodline. Hopefully, it'd recover on its own.

He dropped the matter and turned his attention to the room. "Let's see what your helper sniffed out."

The living room had nothing of value, so they continued into an office. It had avoided being directly hit by the attack, yet they only found one treasure within—an ancient Spatial Ring. Whatever books, crystals, or reports placed on the stone desk had been destroyed by the intent already.

"What a shame," Emily sighed as she inspected the ring. "It looks like it's about to collapse. If there are restrictions placed on it..."

"Would be nice to have someone take a look at it, but it doesn't look like it'll last the journey," Zac muttered as he reached for the ring. "We'll just have to take a gamble."

"Wait! Don't do anything hasty," Emily urged and took out a jelly-like blob.

She pushed the ring inside before squeezing the blob into a cylinder that snugly fit in one of her pouches. Zac looked on with interest, realizing the cylinder released weak Spatial Ripples. The arrangement protected the brittle treasure from shocks while providing it with nurturing energy.

"This way, we can open it when we get back."

Zac had planned to deal with the ring the same way as the Technocrat's since he didn't get any particular feeling from it. He'd quickly scan it and attempt to extract whatever looked the most impressive. But this was much better.

"Good job," Zac smiled. "But wait for me to be present when you crack that thing open. I think it might be flooded with Killing Intent."

Emily nodded, and the two continued their search. There was nothing in the two bedrooms. The two finally reached a sealed door that the gerbil had marked. The door was closed, and its arrays had been fully corroded, rendering the token useless. Setting off a small incendiary created a small crack, but the door still wouldn't budge.

Zac was about to activate [Apex Jungle] but stopped and looked at his disciple. "Do you have something that can let us squeeze inside?"

"Of course," Emily grinned as she took out a pouch holding a large number of deep-blue fish scales with a soothing aura. Each had a simple rune engraved on top of it.

Zac followed Emily's instructions and placed it against his forehead. A chill spread through his body as flesh transformed into water. The element was unfamiliar, but Zac didn't face much difficulty controlling his temporary form, thanks to his powerful soul. The only issue was that he was woefully slow, barely moving at the pace of a mortal's sprint.

The scales would be useless in battle, but they were just as useful as [Abyssal Drive] for most forms of exploration.

"Good stuff," Zac commented after dispelling the scale. "What?"

Emily was looking at him with a face caught between laughter and sorrow. "They say never meet your heroes. Aren't you supposed to be Mr. Adventurer? But you don't even have any morphing items?"

"Honestly, I hadn't thought of this issue before. Before, I'd just swap over to my other form and activate my movement skill," Zac said a bit sheepishly.

[Apex Jungle] could fill the same role as [Abyssal Drive] to some degree, but it ultimately wasn't made to traverse tight spaces. For one, he couldn't use it to travel further than his domain's width. And he could only shrink the trees so much before the skill failed to activate. It also had a minimum size of roughly 100 meters in diameter, making it very conspicuous. Compared to Emily's pouch full of scales, it was woefully inadequate.

"Let's keep going. There's something even better on the next floor."

"Oh?" Emily perked up and quickly stowed the whole tank.

Back in the corridor, the two only managed to walk thirty meters before the gerbil squeaked again.

"What is it, Bandit? Another one already?" Emily exclaimed before turning to Zac. "This might take too long."

Zac hesitated, glancing upward. It was calm right now, but that only filled Zac with foreboding. They couldn't spend hours checking every room they passed on the off-chance they held a teleporter.

Besides, his token wouldn't be able to handle it, even if this particular room wasn't sealed. He needed to keep some in reserve in case they ran into the energy sentinels again.

"Let's limit ourselves to two per floor," Zac said. "Unless we find something that sticks out."

"Good," Emily said, and the two turned into streaks of water squeaking through the narrow gap.

The second room's layout was identical to the previous but vastly differed in decoration. There were at least fifty pots in the living room, each covered in engravings. In addition, six glowing spheres were hanging from the ceiling, their light long since faded. Its occupant had turned the whole room into a greenhouse, though not even fossils of the plants remained.

Zac swept the room with his senses, failing to find so much as a shred of life in any of the seeds. They still made a killing by collecting a set of tomes and a World Ring left inside the cultivation chamber. Like the ancient spatial ring, it was in a very bad state, but the room wasn't flooded with Kill Energy. It was actually possible ancient herbs still lived inside, having received ample nourishment from the gathering array. Like the Spatial Ring, it entered Emily's cylinder.

On the next floor, they entered another unguarded chamber, this one a large room designed for body refinement. There were a dozen spherical depressions in the ground covered in engravings. None of the arrays were running, yet the gravity inside was between five and twenty times the normal. They were gravity wells, likely able to support shocking amplification levels without leakage.

There was no way to take the wells with them, but they did find a sealed chest full of refined Gravity Crystals. They were dark brown, covered in engravings, and showcased their attunement in a mind-bending way. Zac almost pulled a muscle taking one out of the box, yet it floated in the air when he tried to put it back.

Like Soul Crystals, Gravity Crystals had no stable supply in Zecia, though they had a small chance to form naturally in spaces with very high gravitational forces. Zac knew they were scarce because Ilvere had a standing order with Calrin. Over the past decade, Calrin had only managed to source a few hundred, none as high quality as the thousands stacked before him.

Zac also snatched a group of dummies standing in a corner before leaving. They had to be made from very durable metals to be used in a gravity-attuned body tempering facility. A few minutes later, they reached the source of fate's pull, though one didn't need extraordinary Luck or perception to see this room was special.

The gate was twice the height of normal doors, and the hallway had been expanded to a small square. A tablet was hanging to the gate's left, though its markings had become indecipherable. The large, bold runes atop the gate were still more than legible. They emitted intense Faith Energy and streaks of lightning.

The name was equally imposing—Tribulation Throne.

"Look! Someone has tried to break inside," Emily whispered, pointing at a scar close to the doorframe.

Zac inched closer, realizing Emily was right. It was a deep scar created by a spatial tear, but someone had tried to expand it with fire. Zac could sense the Dao of Fire within, and they had actually made some progress. Alas, their attempt had run into a wall—literally. There was a sheet of an unknown alloy hidden within the stone wall, something Zac hadn't seen in any other rooms. Like the runes, it flickered with lightning, and Zac had a good idea what happened to the driller.

Two foot-shaped scorch marks closer to the wall confirmed his hunch. Zac doubted the previous treasure hunters had been reduced to ashes, though. More likely, they'd realized they couldn't get through and moved on.

Zac scanned the surroundings again, but there were no signs of people lying in wait. Neither could Zac find any booby traps or observation arrays. Still, standing in the open left him feeling exposed. They needed to go for it or move on. Zac leaned toward the former. These gates were the most impressive he'd seen since entering, and it reeked of providence.

"It's worth checking out," Emily whispered, echoing his thoughts. "A tribulation hall might be outfitted with a teleporter. Some would have one foot in the grave after getting tormented by lightning and in urgent need of medical assistance."

Zac rolled his eyes, knowing Emily was just inventing justifications to open the door. However, what she said wasn't without reason. Zac nervously looked at the crackling runes as he presented his token. The doors opened with a deep creak, and Zac was pushed back a few steps by the immense Lightning-attuned energies trapped within.

It far surpassed the cultivation chambers, and just touching it left Zac's skin numb. It was familiar yet undeniably different from the Dao of Lightning Cultivators practiced. Had the Limitless Empire managed to trap Tribulation Lighting? Or did they know how to generate it?

There was only one way to find out.