Chapter 402: The Gorge

Chapter 402: The Gorge

“It was as Esteemed Grandmother expected!” Mike said as soon as he returned to the strange cave they were hiding in, This place was under the sea, next to the main island. It seemed to be a secret base of some sort. “They are gathering the heirs for some kind of assessment...” he added, looking down from the control room at the kids who were training martial arts down below under the supervision of many elders. This was his grandmother’s secret base!

“Oh... Perfect, I was worried they would take their fucking time...” Ann said, looking at Mike. She wanted all the traitors to show themselves to grab them in one move! “Was the rest of the heirs settled?” she asked.

“Yes... But they were not pleased... Did you have to lock them up like that?” Mike asked.

“One of them was the poisoner, and he must be working for Marcos... If not for him, I would have not hurried down there!” she said. “I can’t trust them now... Beside You and Alice that is...” she sighed.

“I understand...” Micheal said, squeezing his fist. “When can we check the Jaded room?” he asked, he was worried about his brother.

“Don’t worry about Victor... that kid is more resourceful than you can imagine!” she said, with a strange twinkle in her eyes. “Follow me...” she said, leaving the control room.Finnd new chapters at novelhall.com

Mike frowned and quickly followed as she guided him through the intricate tunnels, and after walking for half an hour.

Mike didn’t dare to talk, and Ann was not in the mood for a chat.

In the end, they seemed to reach their destination when Ann stood in front of a huge door and took a deep breath.

“This is the center of the main island... Right under the Main hall.... Normally, only the patriarch can come here...” she said, seemingly hesitating for a moment. “Mind your manners!” she said as she pushed the door open then walked in followed by Mike into the dark hall.

She bowed... Mike quickly imitated her.

“Ann greats the protectors...” she said, bowing down.

“You may raise...” an old voice said, making Mike rise up and slowly make out the details in the darkness.

In the center of the hall, there was a large crystal that stretched all the way into the ceiling, and inside of it, Mike could make out a black heart that was slowly beating!

Around the crystal, on black jade beds, four extremely old men were sitting in a lotus position. It was as if the Crystal was a bonfire and they were sitting around it to get warm on a cold day.

“Protectors...I will need your help... Marcos...” Ann said toward the men.

“We already saw what happened...”

“We see everything...”

“But, Marcos is the Patriarch...”

Three of the men said, making Ann’s face change. Without the protectors, she would be in a very shitty situation

“But that bastard dared to collide with outsiders... So he lost his right...” the last old man said, making Ann sigh in relief as all of them looked at her. The atmosphere was no longer cold.

“Lass... Ever since you were a brat, you liked to use others...” one man said, sighing.

“I learned from the best...” she answered.

“Haven’t you been creating some kind of army with unique bloodlines?” the other asked. “Why not use them?”

“They are not ready, Their level is just too low, and I don’t want bloodshed in the family...” she said, telling the truth.

“Indeed... Well said!” another protector sighed, in his breath, Mike could feel the aura of a ferocious beast. “But if you need us to appear, you would have to deploy the barrier, or the world would attack us!”

“Don’t worry, I already contacted Theodore, and he is taking care of it!” she said. “We need it anyway in case they try to escape...”

“Good...” the last one finally spoke. “Hopefully, you will not let them trick you again...” he said.

“Ahh... I don’t know how they did it... Marcos seemed to have somehow cured the SSS-ranked Poison I used on him to keep him in check, and that bastard must have found some loophole in the contract I made him sign... I just didn’t expect him to have the balls...” she explained. “And for the last few years, I couldn’t really directly oversee anything due to my poisoning... You know that the only one I truly trust was Ariana...”

“Regardless... You were the one who made him Patriarch, to begin with, if he didn’t collide with outsiders, we wouldn’t have helped you! Let this be a lesson for you...” he said.

“This young one knows.... “ Ann bowed, “May I know who he collided with?”

“A brat who thinks he is too smart... He is way above your league, don’t care about him...” one old man said. “He can’t enter this world anyway, so we just have to take care of his minions...”

“Ahh...” Ann didn’t like not getting the answers she wanted, but those old foggys were not cooperating.

“Is this one Theodore's son?” one protector suddenly asked, pointing to Mike with his bony hand.

“Yes... I think he is the best candidate for the patriarch's seat...” Ann said.

“Oh... Indeed. That strange high-grade bloodline that runs through Theodore, runs in him too... ” one old man said, as he raised his head and took a whiff of Mike’s smell.

“Bruce would not like that...” another old man said. It was as if he was teasing Ann.

“Bill, Bruce’s kid is too aggressive and calculating... He is not suitable to be a patriarch...” Ann quickly said.

“You too are very aggressive and calculating...” the first old man interrupted.

“Ah... And look where I ended up!” She confessed, “Every age has its needs!” she added.

“Indeed... We will test Bill when the time comes...” the last protector said. “And we will test you too...” he told Mike who kept his silence. He didn’t care for all of this at the moment, he was just really worried about Victor, wanting to hurry to the Jaded room to check on his life jade!

...

“So... You sold the girls in the end?” the guard asked as the old master left the town alone just before dawn.

“They were too naughty for a man my age... And I found a good master for them, “ Victor replied, “Thanks for the hospitality!” he added, throwing a piece of silver to the man.

“Our pleasure... Going to the demon lands?”

“That’s the plan... Maybe find some artifact to pay for my retirement, and I also need to get my level up,” he said. He checked things in town, many people who came here had only one goal and that was to cross into the demon lands to kill demons and level up.

Some chose to do missions for the temple or go after bounties, but as an old man, Victor knew that it was not reasonable to act like a youth, so he made up a reason.

As people leveled up, their lives increased, this was a known fact, so many old men who feared death more than demons tended to try their luck beyond the gorge!

“We all do when we grow older...” the guard nodded. “If you got anything good, make sure to return before the auction in five days... It would be a waste to have to wait for three months to sell your loot.”

“Can’t the shops take it?”

“The money is in the Auction!” the old guard simply said.

“I see... thanks man...”

“Take care, and be careful on the road. If I were you, I would stick to the right side of the road... When it is this late, some boys go out to play and might mistake you for a demon!”

“Noted!” Victor said, throwing another Silver to the guard before leaving.

He wanted to leave earlier, but the girls in the cauldron seemed to have gone berserk after making them see what he really looked like when he activated all his bloodlines. He had to knock them out after 10 rounds or they would have really died of exhaustion without realizing it!.

He only tried his charm on Lily before, and she was the one who told him not to reveal it to the rest of his harem. She was right... He did try looking at himself in the mirror, it was a mistake. He almost turned gay for real if he didn’t remember that the handsome man who was looking back at him was himself... His charm was really too fatal!

He sighed, checking on the cauldron one last time by sending his consciousness into it.

The cauldron as a whole was divided into 12 compartments.

6 upper ones that were suitable to be lived in and 6 lower ones that were meant to store materials.

; ; EVERLASTING TUNGSTEN ; ; ; ; SAND AMBUSH, F ; ; ASSIMILATING SILICA, 72%

Victor slowly activated his levitation skill, making sure everything was working he slowly approached the edge of the gorge and looked down... It was bottomless...

Putting on a couple of defensive talismans, he slightly activated his bloodline, making two pairs of draconic wings spring on his back. He slowly spread them and then jumped.

Although he could use his levitation skill to go down, from experience he preferred to use his wings as he was not sure if there was some artifact that interfered with skills down below.

Slowly he began to be destined, the gorge around him becoming darker and darker, forcing him to transform his eyes also... Now he could see, barely.

Strangely enough, nothing changed after he declined for more than 300 feet.

This place was deeper than he expected and it had a strange feature, as the deeper he got, the clearer the air got... It was as if the sand was not falling here...

Looking around, he realized why. The cliffs... It was as if they were mirrors, but they were made of glass as they were absorbing the sand, and integrating it with them.

Victor was beginning to consider leaving for now, and delaying the exploration when he felt a change.

All of a sudden his health bar began to decline...

He quickly moved his wings and flew up for 10 feet or so, and the health decline stopped.

“What is going on?” he asked as he appraised everything around him... He could see nothing... nothing at all, just the normal cliffs.

Thinking for a moment, Victor activated his Akashic scholar skill and asked.

“Why did my health decline?”

; ; 10 ORDER POINTS REQUIRED

<YES> <NO>

He quickly paid.

; ; DEATH ENERGY

Oh... The answer was helpful... Like hell!

Wait...

Victor frowned as he looked down, and strangely enough, he became able to see it... a black viscous smoke-like matter that filled the entire gorge below him.

Did using the Acashic record skill enhance his appraisal? Or was it the opposite? His realizing the existence of the energy allowed him to see and appraise it?

He had no idea...

The question was now what to do?

He took a healing pill, activated a few more protection talismans, and decided to try to descend once more.

As he descended his health bar began to decline...

The more he descended the faster it emptied.

He was able to get 30 more feet, but had to go right up again... The more he went down the more concentrated this Death energy became.

Strange... What was this? He had never really read about anything like this...

Could it be that there is no way down?

Victor was a little reluctant... The fact that this place was protected by this energy, meant that the bottom was full of treasures!

“How to overcome Death energy?” Victor finally asked the Akashic Record. It was his last question this month, but he was really tempted.

; ; 9999999999999 ORDER POINTS REQUIRED

<YES> <NO>

Victor pressed Yes...

; ;

ERROR

INQUIRY FAILED!

“Go fuck yourself!” Victor cursed. He was really considering that he should have used the underflow bug on the order points instead of on the Authority... Damn, it... he felt poor, he could only work hard and slowly accumulate order points using his physical strength and labor...

He paused...

Earlier, his CHAOS DRAGON body was able to withstand the pull of space... What if it could also overcome death energy?

Deciding to confirm this, Victor first used his disguise to hide any energy that might leak, then he activated his bloodline, making his hair turn white, his eyes turn gold, two long horns grow from his forehead and his wings expand three times as a dragon tail sprung from his back.

He felt powerful!

Taking a deep breath, slowly, he began to descend...

Foot after foot...

He slowly smiled... He was right!

His Health bar was not decreasing, but his Stamina and Mana were tough.... It was very slow as if his body was resisting the Death energy’s erosion.

Victor quickly took a stamina pill and a mana pill... They were enough...

“GOOD!” Victor said as he quickened his descent.

He descended then descended even more...

Slowly, he was getting impatient and began to speed up, keeping his eye on his health bar.

Then he descended.

Down and down he went...

It was really deep.

Really, really deep...

Was there no end to this?

He was seriously getting bored.

If only he could call Margret... He would have really enjoyed some 'chat'!

Damn!

He tried looking through the eyes of his blood slaves...

There was nothing interesting... Just the usual.

Tom, that pervert, was really making him angry.

Damn it...

Just when Victor was really considering it was no longer worth it, he spotted something... The bottom! It was way way deeper than he ever expected, as it was more than 20,000 feet.

He slowed down, intending to touch down, then he abruptly stopped one foot above ground, moving his wings to stabilize himself... What was below his feet was not soil, but corpses... Mountains after mountains of what appeared to be fresh corpses that had just died!