Chapter 159 - A New Threat
"Haiz… I knew you would ask about that eventually." Overseer Dylan let out a sigh, before continuing. "As you should know exactly what earth crystal means to Awakeners, a majority of which are earth-users, you should also know how great of a temptation it is to my own men. I had to store it somewhere safe, away from my own men."
"And use it for yourself, right?" Hudson mocked, before stating sternly, "I have to remind you that all these resources belong to the royal family. As a captain of the palace guards, not only did you not report such amazing discovery immediately to the Queen, you are also keeping the resources to yourself. Stealing the royal family's resources is equivalent to treason. What do you have to say for yourself?"
Dylan was caught off guard by Hudson's cynical remark and was dumbfounded for a moment, before he erupted in anger. "Captain Hudson! Exactly what do you mean by those words!? One can eat whatever they want, but they cannot say whatever they want! Don't you know a tongue may weigh little, but it can crush a man!? My loyalty to the crown is unquestionable!"
"Is it? So why haven't you reported such a world-breaking discovery to her Majesty?" Hudson repeated derisively. "Is it something you can't explain? Like your cultivation for example?"
Dylan's heart rose and fell in anger at the accusation, on the verge of exploding. The pressure of a two-star Awakener pulsated from his body in sync with his emotions. In the end, it deflated like a balloon, before he asked with a self-depreciating smile, "You think I used the earth crystals to increase my cultivation?"
"Isn't that the case?" Hudson responded with narrowed eyes.
As captains of the palace guards, they were both one-star Awakeners, just a level stronger than the average palace guards. Although loyalty was of tantamount importance, it was not the deciding factor in becoming a captain of the palace guards. Strength had always been the deciding factor, whether in determining one's status or surviving the world at large.
Anyone able to advance beyond the 9th step Awakener Realm had the right to challenge the captain for the new position. As Hudson had suspected, Dylan had ascended a level and was now stronger than him.
'Perhaps he wanted to secure his position.' He thought. With the present clues and evidence pointing in such a direction, one cannot blame him for thinking like that.
"Haven't you realized that the underground is the domain of earth-users? Previously, this place was overrun with crawlers, we could only come down to train in killing crawlers, but never really had the chance to cultivate. You might not sense how great this place is right now with so many elements present, but once you start cultivating, you will know right away. I did not use any earth crystal to advance my cultivation." Dylan justified himself.
Hudson felt doubtful after hearing these words. Was he trying to make me lower my guard by closing my eyes in meditation so he can kill to silence me since I found out? He's eyes narrowed on Dylan's honest expression and felt greater doubts.
"Heed my orders, If the Overseer makes any sudden moments, you may attack with the intention to kill!" Hudson retreated a few distance and ordered his men.
Dylan's expression became ugly listening to his words. This person was too weary of him, taking his good intention for malice. He started to think whether he should just slap the person for disrespecting him, now that he was stronger and entitled to greater respect. In the end, he shrugged his shoulders silently in response.
Under the protection of his own troops, Hudson finally seated himself on the floor in a meditative position with his eyes closed and began to cultivate.
The underground world seemed to have suddenly came alive as boundless amounts of earth energy began rushing to his location from all direction. Hudson was shocked and immediately ended his short cultivation, but an incredulous feeling continued to linger inside him.
It was like being embraced and protected by Mother Earth. He had the feeling that so long as he could fully connect with the earth, he would be invincible. He looked at Dylan with an apologetic expression and said, "You were speaking the truth."
"No shit."
"Ahem… anyway… You still haven't explained why you haven't reported such amazing discovery to her Majesty."
"About this… actually I'm a bit embarrassed to say. I wasn't the first person to discover the special traits of the crystals. My subordinates did, and as you can see, my squad is lacking in numbers."
"What you are saying is…"
"Yeah… I executed some of them. They kept it to themselves after discovering its purpose and began challenging me after making their breakthroughs, one after another. It was my negligence for not discovering the cause of their breakthroughs sooner." Dylan awkwardly explained.
He only had 40 guards left of his original 50. As captains, he had the right to kill first and report later. However, he was too ashamed to report to the Queen for his inadequate ability in managing his subordinates.
Since he could make a breakthrough to two-stars, it wasn't strange for him to think that his subordinates could reach one-star after cultivating a bit. However, that wasn't the case. They discovered the earth crystals and lost themselves to greed. The earth crystals didn't just increase their cultivation, but also their understanding of the earth laws. It was a miraculous treasure for cultivation.
It would have only been a matter of time, before a Transcendent Earth-user arises from the palace guards, if they were left to cultivate with earth crystal without restraint. Who wouldn't be tempted by the prospect of becoming a Transcendent?
It was an existence even the royal family must show respect to. Anyone with the slightest ambition would never be settled with serving under another person forever, not when such an opportunity presented itself to them.
But as Hudson stated previously, the resources belong to the royal family. It was treason for the palace guards to secretly use these resources without the Queen's approval and was punishable by death. Thus, he decisively killed them for their undisciplined and dishonorable actions.
"I see, but no matter what, you should've immediately report to her Majesty as your duty compels you." Hudson stated unsympathetically.
"The resources were scheduled to be collected and sent to the Lancasters for processing in a few more days. I was planning to send the crystals to her Majesty and make my report at that time." Dylan replied wryly.
He did not mention that when he was cultivating for a long period, it had collapsed one of the underground pillars, weakening the foundation holding up the Capital. It scared the shit out of him.
He was not afraid of being crushed to death, but he would have been a sinner if he sank the Capital.
…
Meanwhile, somewhere deep in the underground, a group of black figures could be seen stationed by an artificially constructed earthen wall with pitched tents and torches brightening up the place. It was the location of the entrance to the second floor that they had sealed.
"Leader, the Underground 1st floor map has been completed." A Shadowguard presented the maps to Kasif respectfully.
"Not bad. To complete such a task in under a week is quite fast." Kasif praised. If this was the past, he would have simply nodded in acknowledgement of his subordinate's efforts before giving out the next task. Perhaps he had changed a bit.
Kasif accepted the maps after closing an ancient book on insects before the Cataclysm and specifically opened on a page about ants.
Looking at the map, Kasif sighed in amazement. The 1st Underground Floor had far too many tunnels and caves interlinked. It was impossible to count and record everything down to the minute detail on paper. The map he was reading was very simple, but it outlined all the main connected areas of the first floor. That in itself was an impressive feat considering the sheer size of the first floor.
Before it was sealed, they had entered briefly to investigate and found that the entrance to the second floor was a very large spiral path. They didn't encounter any creatures, before the leader, Kasif ordered them to retreat and seal the place. The underground world was like a large dungeon.
Boom!
Suddenly the earthen wall was struck by a strong force from the opposite side, causing cracks to appear on it and shook the hearts of all Shadowguards present.
"Fortify the wall!" Kasif roared. His order quickly jolted the shadowguards into action immediately. Everyone immediately used their abilities to strengthen the wall. They all displayed the strength of one-star, while Kasif's strength was at six-stars.
They do not know what lied on the other side, but what they did know was, it was much more terrifying than the crawlers, physically speaking. Like the time Kasif tried to use his [Earth Pulse] to investigate the rift previously, it couldn't get a read due to a lot of vibrational interference. He could only infer from experience that there were many creatures on the other side of the earthen wall and that they had many legs.
A shadowguard broke into cold sweat and fell on his rear in relief when the earthen wall was not attacked for a second time.
"Haih.... This isn't good for the heart."