Chapter 822: Chapter 820: Leveling the Mountain
With a swift sound, Richard’s ice cone precisely pierced through the spider’s body, pinning it dead to the roof of the cave—the spider, though aggressive, was very weak overall, not even considered among the weakest of Demonized Creatures, and could be killed by ordinary people, let alone Richard.
After successfully killing the spider, Richard turned his head to look at Waltz, seeing Waltz standing stiffly on the ground, motionless.
Richard lightly patted Waltz’s shoulder and softly asked, “Mr. Waltz, are you alright?”
“Good to hear. Let’s continue onward then.”
The brief conversation ended, and Richard took strides forward while Waltz followed behind, head lowered, eyes vacant, movements stiff, like a soulless corpse.
After walking for about ten meters, Waltz suddenly seemed to wake up from a dream, gasped and turned to look at where the green liquid from the spider had fallen, seeing the ground severely corroded, and exclaimed in panic, “I… I almost got killed just now?”
Richard couldn’t help but glance at Waltz, speaking calmly, “Mr. Waltz, you’re overthinking it. That spider was indeed different from normal spiders, possessing aggression, and the sprayed liquid was highly corrosive.
However, it sprays very little at a time, even if it sprayed on your face, it wouldn’t kill you, at most it might disfigure you.
If it sprays anywhere else, maybe your clothes could block it. If you had the courage to fight, you could have picked up a stone and smashed it, so… no need to worry too much.”
“Really…” Waltz said, still somewhat unsettled, clearly having never experienced anything in his previous decades of life.
His facial muscles twisted, expression constantly struggling, swinging between being a coward and a warrior, unsure whether to turn and run or to bravely press on.
After several seconds, Waltz clenched his teeth hard with determination. He looked around and found something, ran to the side, picked up a heavy cone-shaped stone and gripped it firmly, his gaze gradually becoming sharp.
Waltz took a deep breath, looked at Richard and said, “Master Wizard, I was indeed scared for a moment because I’ve never fought before. But… I’m not afraid now, let’s continue ahead. Next time, if we encounter any demon, I’ll definitely show them what I’m made of.”
Richard raised an eyebrow, praised Waltz, “I admire your courage, Mr. Waltz!”
“No, Master Wizard, this isn’t courage.” Waltz shook his head, seriously corrected, “It’s hatred! It’s hatred between me and the demon, I want revenge for my nephew, Hua Nuo!”
“Alright then.” Richard shrugged, not continuing the discussion on this matter with Waltz, and led him towards the depths of the mine.
Ten meters, twenty meters, thirty meters…
Fifty meters, one hundred meters, one hundred fifty meters…
The sound of footsteps echoed, then vanished as Richard and Waltz stopped, having reached the end of the mine.
Here on the ground, there were more than a dozen heavily decayed corpses that appeared to have been gnawed on, seemingly left behind as stored food by some creature that had killed them, only to be abandoned later for reasons unknown.
Aside from this, there seemed to be nothing—no entrance to the Abyss, no demon killing spree, not even the spider that sprayed acid liquid encountered earlier.
Waltz looked around and found it hard to accept, speaking up, “Is this it? We’ve reached the end? There’s nothing?”
Actually, there were some things, just that Waltz couldn’t see or feel them.
Richard could clearly sense that, at the end of the mine, high-intensity erosive energy dispersed through the air, and the surrounding minerals endlessly increased the intensity of this erosive energy, undoubtedly marking this as a radioactive mine.
His guess was confirmed.
This was the source of contamination, the origin of creating Demonized Beasts.
Because of the radioactivity here, some creatures mutated, and that’s why they attacked humans. However, since detected by the Truth Society, all were killed off. Of course, if left unchecked, new Demonized Beasts would emerge over time, like the acid-spraying spider they encountered earlier.
No need to explain what should be done next.
This radioactive mine, left as is, can only become a periodic source for creating killing machines. However, if fully developed and utilized, it could drive research progress if all goes well, becoming a source of powerful technological advancements.
Is there any difference between the two?
The biggest difference is that, if the latter desired, the power and efficiency of implementing slaughter would be thousands or tens of thousands of times greater than the former.
The former simply manufactures slaughter, while the latter would redefine what slaughter means, even redefine many terms, such as what constitutes strength, invincibility, and terror!
Richard looked around, took a deep breath, suppressing his excited emotions, and said to Waltz, “Mr. Waltz, let’s go outside and leave here first.”
“Leave now?” Waltz still couldn’t fully accept everything so far; after he finally gathered the courage to confront demons, reality told him there was nothing, almost like a joke.
Richard spoke to Waltz, “If we don’t leave, what are we staying here for? To spend the night? Do you find the smell of rotting corpses around pleasant?”
Listening to Richard’s words, Waltz turned to look at the pile of corpses beside him. His sense of smell had weakened due to heightened anxiety, but once Richard reminded him, his sense of smell quickly returned, and he immediately felt a sharp, nauseating stench flooding his nose, making him unable to resist the urge to vomit.
Waltz let out a dry retch, his complexion changed, and he no longer insisted, obediently following Richard out of the mine.
Richard and Waltz left the mine and appeared on the open ground outside the mining site.
Waltz looked at the entrance to the mine, his expression still somewhat complex, after a long pause he suddenly thought of something, turning to Richard to ask, “Master Wizard, you promised before, if I brought you here and everything went smoothly, you would help me overcome my current predicament, right?”
“Yes.” Richard nodded, not denying it.
“Then, is your promise still valid now?” Waltz asked, looking into Richard’s eyes.
“Of course, I always keep my promises.” Richard replied softly.
“Then how will you help me?” Waltz asked.
“It’s simple, I’m going to do one thing, which is to buy this mining site from you.” Richard replied.
“Buy it?” Waltz was shocked, then frowned, “Buy it for what?”
Richard glanced at Waltz, looked around the mining site, and softly said, “Mr. Waltz, you always felt guilty about your nephew Hua Nuo’s death, right? Hence, seeking revenge. Let me tell you what I’m going to do by buying this mining site. What I intend to do is help you avenge your nephew Hua Nuo. I’m planning to… level this entire mountain.”
“Completely… flattened!”