Chapter 428: All hole in one

Chapter 428: All hole in one

The secret exit wasnt all that hidden, it was just a hole in the ground in a room guarded by four Veik royal guards. And it was just that, a hole, not a relatively clean and straight tunnel like everywhere else in the hive, a simple hole that looked like it had always been there.

Everelle stood on the border of the hole.

There you go. Have a nice trip hun.

Sofia remodeled her bone tablet. Thats it?

Not what you expected? Come to my dungeon, then, its a lot more fun.

Can I know where it is?

Of course not. You should find it by yourself. Go now, before the king changes his mind.

Said Veik King had been following Sofia and Everelle from a distance, accompanied by a whole retinue of guards.

Alright.VIsit n0(v)eLb(i)n.com for the best novel reading experience

See you again soon.

Everelles necklace eye narrowed, and without warning, she shoved Sofia down the hole.

As Sofia fell, the Sunless voice whispered in her mind.

I will be waiting.

Sofia was only half surprised about getting pushed in, if she had to be honest, she had let it happen, either Everelle was surprisingly weak for her level, or she had been holding back a great deal.

Just as she let herself fall, Sofia changed her title back to the Cheater, and fired a bunch of identifying magic toward everyone. With so many requests for Mr. Scribe all at once, it would be a few seconds before anything showed up.

What a mysterious person. It only makes me more curious about the Sunless.

Where do they come from? Why do they work for the system?

The Identify results started coming in, starting from the royal guards, they were all between level 250 and 299.

[Veik Royal Guard - Lv. 264 - Imprint power : 200 - Effect : Veik Fortress Skill shard (1/3)] The royal guards charged with the protection of the Veik royal family. Their attack power is lacking but their defensive capabilities are second to none.

Not as strong as I feared, the imposing size is deceptive but the harvesters I bolted at the hive entrance were of a similar level. Pareth could probably hold one off while I charge a bolt if needed. It would have been nice to get the skill shards for Pareth but I guess it wasnt meant to be.

Hopefully the worms will have good imprints considering how many I have to kill.

Meanwhile, as Sofia dropped down the endless hole, she periodically used her dragon scale claws to scratch at the wall and slow her descent to a reasonable speed.

How deep is this? Ill soon get to the center of the moon at this rate.

[Hivelord - Lv. 386 - Imprint power : Keystone - Effect : Unknown]

Oh, that must be the King. Keystone? Thats new. Werent keystones a thing to build stone gates? I need to re-read my books on architecture.

That was extremely annoying. She could no longer just fall, or she would just hit the walls every few seconds, and sliding against the uneven rock walls felt about as good as trying to slide on stairs.

The slant became less and less steep, until Sofia could just walk upright within the hole. It had all happened very gradually and Sofia was completely lost as to where she actually was by now. Over the hours, she had tried several times to feel for other caverns or anything around the unending hole with the graveyard skeletons, but she never found anything. She was just lost deep underground, with only one way back and one way forward.

I have been at this for like six hours now

The flat path Sofia ran through eventually became a slope.

Seriously Its going up now Im going to lose my mind at this rate

Sofia gave up with the hole. She crafted herself a bone coffin of sorts, attached a bunch of bone chains to it and changed the last ring of every chain to become a hook. She summoned her troop of a hundred skeleton rats through Bookie, and secured them all to the hooks with bone dominus. The entire process took about five minutes, after which she simply wrapped herself in a blanket and laid down inside of the bone coffin before closing it back on herself, and making it a blessed construct instead of Pareth.

Now go, wake me up when were back to the outside world

When Sofia woke up, the coffin was no longer moving. And she couldnt feel the rats presence.

Did they run out of time before getting me out of the hole?

She spread her mana senses around, and what she felt left her perplexed. The environment was not whatever she had expected, in fact she was not near the exit of some hole, she was in what could only be called an actual room, with flat walls and doors.

Where in the fuck did the rats bring me?

Pareth couldn't have seen anything if he was inside with me while I slept Bookie, you have an explanation?

Bookie appeared in the coffin near Sofias head in his original book form, emitting his usual fog and a faint light. He opened by himself, presenting Sofia with a single page, the Sandworm skeleton.

Sandworm Worms?

So I didnt find the worms, the worms found me? Is that what youre hinting at? Why would they bring me to such a human-shaped place?

And most importantly Why did you not wake me up?

The book shivered and disappeared back to where it came from.

Are you alright? Hey!

The book reappeared within the coffin, trembling, when Sofia reached for him it instinctually floated back, knocking against the coffins walls.

Bookie? What is it? Are you scared of me?

Could it be Because I told him to wake me up when we reach the outside?

I see Im not mad, I wont scold you. It was my fault for giving you a dumb order.

These simple words seemed to placate the fearful book.

Seriously You can do like Pareth and act upon your own judgment next time. I really dont mind. In fact, I would prefer that.

Now, lets see what this place has to offer.