The business of Black Sail has grown too big; refined and impurity-free magic energy crystals are very expensive, with Purple Crystal fluctuating around eighty Golden Dragons, and Red Crystal hovering around two hundred Golden Dragons.
But the most commonly used are Blue Crystals, which are also not cheap, being the core of magic energy propulsion, costing between one hundred and twenty to one hundred and sixty silver coins.
The price depends on the various strategic plans of the Aran Energy Department and their implementation.
Under a broken wall in the ruins square, shielded by a stone roof from the sun, Mika embedded a Blue Crystal into his rifle. He had no problem firing, as he used to shoot birds with a matchlock gun for fun on Fuma Keqing; he had also shot people before.
There are no animal protection laws in the East Sea, not even human protection laws. Who the hell cares about birds? Shoot them all, be it knife-beaked terns or albatrosses.
So Mika was just waiting there. He didn’t know how big the underground palace was; he just hoped they would return before nightfall.
Having been unconscious in the sandstorm and though resting overnight, he had been on the move all day and was extremely exhausted.
The scorching sun had made the stones warm, Mika’s eyelids were drooping, he was drowsy and the heat waves distorted the light, making everything hazy.
Mika struggled to stay awake, but his consciousness was gradually becoming unclear.
Damn it, he had robbed so many of Lord’s watches during the train heist, but found them uncomfortable to wear and wasn’t in the habit of wearing one. He should have taken one.
Now, he didn’t even know how long those people had been down there.
An hour must have passed; Mika was bored to death. Suddenly, an overwhelming drowsiness hit him.
But it seemed his body’s instinctive danger response jolted his consciousness back to life for a brief moment.
Did I fall asleep or not?
Mika looked around with his eyes; nothing was blurry. Thankfully, even if he had slept, it wasn’t long, and his eye pressure wasn’t high, with no sense of pain.
He lifted his rifle and walked to the stone steps at the entrance of the underground palace. It still echoed with that hollow sound of air being sucked in. Hope nothing had happened to that group, they still hadn’t come back.
Fuck it, Mika glanced back at the magical props like the windbreak tents needed to traverse the sandstorm; all the equipment was there.
If they didn’t return by nightfall, and they died inside, should he take the stuff and leave?
There were too many magical beasts in the Boneyard; he couldn’t make it out alone without them.
"Fuck your mom! Fuck your mom!"
Since the secret port in Londen City, Mika rarely found himself in such a predicament. It wasn’t so much the life-threatening danger, just the unbearable tension of waiting.
"Mika! Come down quickly! The Princess is in trouble!"
Magnus’s voice suddenly echoed from below the underground palace, maybe because the place was too vast, the sound had a distant, ethereal quality.
That voice, it’s that mutilated guy; he’s here too? How coincidental is this?
Combining all these factors, Mika’s scalp tightened. Damn it, let’s do this. Worst that could happen is death; I’ll just miss out on my dividends.
Mika didn’t hesitate, sprinting down the stone steps.
To his surprise, the downward passageway was not dark; it had luminous fluorite. But the intense lighting suggested it might be sunstone instead, which was quite dazzling.
The entire passage glowed brightly, shimmering.
He took the final step down and entered the underground palace, his magic-guided rifle poised and alert.
The underground palace wasn’t very big, smaller than the ruins square above. But it had many stone pillars supporting its structure, obstructing visibility and making the place seem crowded. The stone pillars and the surrounding ancient stone walls were also embedded with many sunstones.
It was even brighter than above; Mika was feeling a bit overheated.
He walked softly, slowly advancing deeper into the underground palace. At its end was an arched stone door, the light inside it was somewhat dim.
Did the Honorable-level Adventure Group go in there?
Mika had no choice but to grit his teeth and move forward. The underground palace was strewn with many corpses, but strangely, they were all mummies with a layer of dark brown skin stuck to their bones. The black holes where their eyes once were seemed like the gaze of the Abyss.
No gold or silver treasures, damn it, everyone who came to explore for the past three hundred years died here, right?
Speaking of which, where on earth is that mutilated guy? You were supposed to be badass!
Mika approached the ancient arched stone door, finding four mummies at its entrance.
Mika had used all his swear words for the past three months today. These four mummies were unrecognizable, but their clothing was different from the others, relatively intact.
They were from the Honorable-level Adventure Group, including the magician who could use Earth Magic. His jaw was agape, his death shock frozen on his face.
Only the captain and that Heroic Level reinforcement weren’t there; they must be behind the arched stone door.
Mika couldn’t stand the psychological pressure; the hollow sound of the airflow came from that archway, getting louder as he approached.
Su Yizhana’s voice called from inside.
"Fuck your Dark Demon Scripture, fuck your Dragon Lord!"
Mika didn’t hesitate, charging into the archway, a fog-like barrier sensation pulling on him as he entered.
As soon as he stepped through.
It was a natural stone cavern less than three hundred square meters, some beams of sunlight spilling through cracks in the ceiling.
At the end of the cavern was a magnificent and exquisite wall carving, depicting various monsters and buildings that seemed to tell a historical story.
Beneath the carving, on a grand platform, was a peculiar tree-like stand holding a strange book with a sinister cover adorned with intricate mechanisms and black gems.
Is that the Dark Demon Scripture?
But there was no sign of the mutilated guy or the Princess.
Only the fresh corpse of the Heroic-level reinforcement, the captain who had just had his heart torn out, and a...
Calling her a Demon wasn’t quite right; she bore a striking resemblance to a human, except for layers of crimson horns growing from her head, a whip-like blood-red tail from her tailbone ending in a pointed barb, dark gray skin, blood-red eyes, and peculiar two-wing tattoos on her lower abdomen.
She was eating the captain’s heart, blood flowing out from her sharp-toothed mouth.
She was, in various senses, overwhelmingly imposing.
Mika aimed the rifle at her, cold sweat soaking his back, and beads of sweat dotted his forehead.
The laughter of Magnus and Su Yizhana overlapped in Mika’s ears, seemingly amused at his plight.
Mika fired instantly, aiming well, hitting right in the head.
But the Demon merely turned into a ghostly mist, appearing on the other side in a flash.
Now, she was truly enraged.
Mika immediately discarded the rifle, his heart rate soared to one hundred forty, nearly bursting from his chest. He was about to die! Chapters first released on novel{f}ire.net
Nothing would work now! Only He Transmutes Freedom Method could save him! Liszt! Grant me strength!
"I am an officer appointed by Dagon Agares in the Western Continent, met through a sentinel named Haywood, don’t kill me!"
Mika retreated wildly, but it felt like there was an invisible barrier by the stone pillars and archway. He collapsed there.
Now, it was only "Sir, this way."