Chapter 295: Meteorite Debris
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Lin Li still remained in shock as the number of questions in his mind only grew even after Norfeller told him everything he knew. Why did Giovanni study Necromagic? Why did he build the underground palace? Why were there so many things hidden in the altar, and why did it shoot out such powerful Divine Fire? Who was this damned Immortal King, and why did he find the issue revolving around him all the time?
Lin Li found himself out of breath as the questions weighed down on him like boulders. He found everything about the Immortal King terrifying as it resembled a trap someone had meticulously laid down for him.
“Damn it, who has so much time in the world to be after me? Be prepared to feel my wrath!!” Lin Li never thought he would be so vexed standing in the midst of so many Undead creatures that this would be the first thing he said.
Norfeller remained on one knee, not a single movement on his sculpted features and pale face. It was as though his new master’s outburst did not affect him at all.
“Damn it, really…” Lin Li quickly calmed down after his huge outburst, and no trace of irritation remained on his face when he lifted his head. “Alright, Norfeller, bring me to the altar… ”
“As you wish!” While Norfeller’s voice brimmed with compliance and respect, he could not hide the tiny bit of worry in his blood-red eyes. “However, Master, the strength hidden in the altar is way too strong, and I may not be able to protect you… ”
“Don’t worry about that.” Lin Li smiled as he said something even the high-ranking Vampire could not comprehend. “If my predictions are correct, I may meet an old friend in there…”
“…” Signs of doubt appeared on Norfeller’s pale face, but he did not question Lin Li further. With a wave of his hand, countless Undead creatures retreated like a receding tide. In a flash, all that was left in the great hall besides the heaps of gold coins were Lin Li and Norfeller.
“Please follow me, Master. ”
The black-caped Norfeller looked like a ghost with his light and fast steps as he walked ahead. Lin Li studied the vast underground palace as he casually followed behind him. Giovanni was a crafty fellow indeed; if not for Norfeller leading the way, Lin Li would never have guessed that the great hall covered in gold coins was only the entrance to the underground palace. The underground palace lay behind a trap door, and behind the door was a corridor filled with traps. Even Norfeller had to slow down as he had to pause and disarm a trap at every step. A quick count told Lin Li that they had to stop at least 80 times across the distance of less than 500 meters…
Lin Li broke out in cold sweat as they continued. He was thankful that Norfeller made a blood oath with him as he would surely not survive here alone. The traps laid down in this corridor could only be described as “despicable”—arrows hidden under tiles, poison smeared on the handrails, and others were only child’s play compared to what lay ahead. Lin Li loosed a long breath of relief after passing through the corridor, only to hear Norfeller warn him that a certain tile ahead would activate a Teleportation Portal upon contact. Lin Li could not help himself anymore as he gritted his teeth and cursed, “Asshole.”
Soon, however, Lin Li realized he was too quick to curse…
A spacious stone room lay ahead of the corridor. Lin Li saw rows of neatly arranged shelves as he peeked in through the door which was left ajar. Books of various kinds filled the shelves; they looked to be remnants of the Dark Ages from their appearance. Lin Li could not help feeling excited as he thought of Giovanni’s royal status; for all he knew, these could be precious works. Just as he wanted to ask Norfeller if there was anything on Osric in there, the high-ranking Vampire introduced respectfully, “Master, this is the underground dungeon. There are three Abyssal Demons here…”
“… ” Lin Li all but coughed out blood . Damn it, Giovanni must have had nothing better to do… Why would he turn a study into a dungeon and place Abyssal Demons here? He might as well have kept a demon highlord inside.
“Master, what’s wrong?” Norfeller asked concernedly after seeing the change in Lin Li’s expression.
“Nothing… Carry on!”
“Yes!”
The human and vampire moved on. After an hour in this underground palace filled with traps, Lin Li finally saw an exit. There was a winding staircase leading upwards outside the exit. Lin Li could clearly see flowing larvae at the end of the staircase, with sparks flying up occasionally, and an altar glowing blindingly…
“Master, we’re… we’re here…” Norfeller stood outside terrified as he unknowingly cowered. As an Undead creature, such pure Holy Light was like poison for him, and even a drop could destroy his body as well as his soul fire.
“Ok, you go rest somewhere. I’ll take a look. ” Lin Li knew what the Holy Light meant for Norfeller, and let him rest in the underground palace instead of making him lead the way any further. Instead, he carried on up the winding stairs by himself.
“Well, of course…” The familiar presence became stronger the nearer Lin Li got to it. At this point, Lin Li could clearly tell that it came from the altar.
The altar was not far ahead. It was situated on top of the flowing larvae. A glowing path lined with fragmented moonstones lay in front of the altar, and from a distance, the altar was bathed in a Holy Light. Lin Li stood quietly with his palms drenched in sweat as he clearly knew what the Holy Light meant even though Norfeller and Giovanni did not.
Standing there, he could even clearly hear a voice in his head.
“Long time no see…”
“Yeah, long time no see…” Lin Li walked on the moonstone path with a smile on his face.
The blinding lights and flowing larvae ceased to exist in his mind, and all that was left was the Holy Light as well as the voice coming from the depths of his soul.
Three steps, two steps, one…
Lin Li thought he heard a loud “bang” the moment he touched the altar, though he was not sure. All he remembered was that in a split second, countless sounds rang in his ear and countless lights flashed before his eyes. While it was gone in a flash, it felt like years to Lin Li, and when he finally opened his eyes again, there was a smear of light on his palm…
Then, everything quieted down again.
The boiling larvae stopped flowing, and the blinding lights dimmed. The world lost all color in that short time as though something had sucked everything from it. Everything disappeared into the smear of light on Lin Li’s palm.
Perhaps only Lin Li knew what happened in that short amount of time.
Light escaped even as he slowly clasped his hands together, and Lin Li could clearly see that he was holding a bolt shining as brightly as the sun in his hands. Blinding Holy Light spilled from the bolt, pure and strong like the first ray of sunlight when the sun rose in the east…
Lin Li could not help breaking into a smile as he held the bolt in his hand, for he knew that hardly any Undead creature stood a chance against him now—not even Sendros from the Legendary Realm or the two Undead Lords from the Shadowglen. They were no match for the meteorite debris no matter how powerful they were.
That was right, the bolt Lin Li held was one of the seven pieces of meteorite debris. A certain legend said that it could slice through the deepest dark and destroy the worst of evils. It was the symbol of purity and holiness, “Holy Light!”
A legend in the Endless World said that God combined earth, water, fire, wind, light, and darkness together and forged seven bolts with seven elemental alignments. With the milky way as the string to the bow made of the crescent moon, God forged the Stars of Fury that could destroy heaven and earth. In the legend, God could destroy the stars in the sky with just one hit using the Stars of Fury.
If that happened to the stars, what about Undead creatures?
Lin Li suddenly understood Giovanni’s sudden death as he held the Holy Light in his hands. Honestly, this asshole had terrible luck. After putting in so much effort to build himself an underground palace and turning himself into a Lich to live out his days as an immortal, he unexpectedly found Holy Light the day he moved into his underground palace. To top it off, this guy did not know what was good for him, and tried to investigate the Holy Light himself…
The light held the most powerful and pure Divine Power; it was so strong that the power of the Pope of the Ledin Kingdom, who prided himself on being the most pious man of Anril, probably did not come close to the power of this bolt. Even the most powerful evil highlord would tremble at a blow from this Holy Light, much less a newly turned Lich!
“Serves this guy right…” Lin Li turned to the stairs without looking back after gloating. The altar dimmed behind him, and the flowing larvae writhed as though losing all its life force. He knew that this was because he took away the Holy Light which served as their life source.
The amount of fear in Norfeller’s gaze subtly increased as Lin Li returned to the underground palace.
He could clearly sense that this young mage held enough power to destroy him a flash.
“Master, are you alright? ” Norfeller sounded terrified.
“I’m well…” Lin Li nodded, casting a last glance at the altar behind him. “Never been better! ”
“Congratulations, Master! ”
“Alright, Norfeller, I have been gone long enough. We must hurry back, for I dare not imagine what will happen to the underground palace if we don’t… ”
“Huh?” Norfeller was visibly confused.
Soon, however, he realized what it was all about…
The clinking sounds of digging could be heard just as they returned to the great hall filled with gold coins, an angry bellowing occasionally piercing through the noise.
“Damn it, all you good for nothing fools, why are you taking so long to dig through this rotten mausoleum, even rats can do it faster!”
“President Gerian, calm down, we will save Mage Felic for sure…”
“God, Ysera, call the mages and blow up this place! I don’t believe a thousand mages wouldn’t do the trick!”
Norfeller gulped as he pictured a thousand mages blowing down the doors of the mausoleum.
“He’s true to his word, open the door quickly…”
“Yes.”
Norfeller hurriedly uttered a spell before the tightly shut door gave way with a clicking sound; then, familiar faces appeared before Lin Li.
“President Gerian, what if we hurt Felic by getting so many mages at once…” Ysera barely finished before he paused seeing the Felic they were trying to save standing there smiling, not a hair out of place—totally not what you would expect from a person who had just escaped countless Undead creatures.
“Hahaha, I knew you would be alright, and I was right…” Gerian pounced on him before Lin Li could speak. Despite his boasting, the middle-aged fatty could not help but blurt out, “How was it? Are you really fine?”
“I’m fine…”
“That’s great, that’s—” Gerian froze before he could finish his words as he saw the pale-faced young man standing behind Felic.
Norfeller had yet to reveal his inhuman form when the two escaped the mausoleum, so Gerian did not know that this pale-faced young man was a level-18 high-ranking Vampire. This did not affect Gerian’s judgement as he felt his heart jump at the powerful death aura the moment he set eyes on Norfeller.
“Fe… Felic, this is?”
“He’s Norfeller, my new bodyguard…”
The vague explanation made Gerian and Ysera look at each other and roll their eyes as they thought that nobody could lie through their teeth so obviously like Lin Li. A bodyguard? We went in with you, since when did you have a bodyguard we don’t know of?
Of course, they could not say this.
Not only could they not speak of it, they had to smile and eagerly turn to this creepy guy emitting a strong death aura. “Norfeller, I see, it’s a pleasure to meet you…”
Lin Li was no longer concerned over the two humans meeting the high-ranking Vampire. He was more caught up with gold coins in the great hall and how was he going to take care of that. There was really too many of them, and it would take days even with all the men Jarrosus had on his hand.
“Right, Norfeller…” Lin Li decided to turn to Norfeller after some thought.
“What orders do you have, Master?”
“The Undead creatures you command, can they walk out of the mausoleum?”
“They can.” Norfeller gave a resolute nod. “As long as there is no sunlight, they can head anywhere.”
“That’s great, I have a small task for them…” Lin Li lowered his head, and whispered something into Norfeller’s ear.
“Yes, Master! ”
Norfeller turned back to the mausoleum, leaving Gerian and Ysera who both sported a blank look behind.
“He’s gone, what are you staring at?”
“Damn it, you rascal, tell me honestly, is he an Undead creature?”
“What Undead creature, I don’t know what you’re saying…”
“Don’t you dare deny it, he was oozing such strong death aura… with his red eyes, he must be a Death Knight or a Vampire! Do you take me for a fool?”
“All right, all right, you can take him for an Undead creature, but he’s an obedient one…” Lin Li placated Gerian vaguely before turning to the innocent workers with a smile. “Thank you all for your help, you must be tired, so go home and rest. I’ll treat you all one day when we’re back in Jarrosus, my heartfelt thanks to you all!”
The workers were taken by surprised at his words, and the weak-hearted ones even felt their legs turning into jelly as they walked out of the mine. They looked at each other in disbelief as they couldn’t believe the man who praised them with a smile was Mage Felic of the Emerald Tower. Goodness, I must write this down for my kids when we get back…
Lin Li did not know how emotional the workers were, but he knew Gerian was.
“Quick, tell me what was in that mausoleum and what you have got up your sleeve! Why did you chase away the workers, how am I going to bring the gold coins back without them?”
“Don’t worry about the gold coins, I’ve found a solution. Just get everyone home and get someone to collect the coins at the entrance of the mine at noon. As for what happened in the mausoleum, that’s a long story… you saw Norfeller earlier, right? Well, he’s one hell of a guy…” Lin Li ushered Gerian out of the underground palace as he slowly gave an account of what had happened inside. Of course, because of various reasons, most of it were half-truths. The meteorite debris, for example, remained a secret as this concerned Lin Li’s origins, and Lin Li was still plagued with questions that he had yet to find the answers to…
Nothing happened after they returned to the Demon Fall Valley, and a quiet morning passed just like that. Only when afternoon rolled around did Norfeller appear in Lin Li’s tent like a ghost. After hearing his update about the transportation, Lin Li went to Gerian to tell him to get people to move the gold coins to Jarrosus.
He had to admit that Gerian was very generous this time.
He promised the various leaders a 20 percent cut at first, but nobody took it to heart as they knew how shrewd Gerian was. It was a blessing as long as he did not turn to them for help; how could they expect to gain anything from him?
In the end, he fulfilled his promise after the gold coins were hauled over, and gave the happy 16 leaders their cut straightaway at the Demon Fall Valley.
During this moment of happiness, however, some people noticed something was off.
Every single one of these gold coins was drenched in a thick death aura, and greenish liquid could be seen on the coins’ surface. As they thought about how Mage Felic had sent everyone away while mysteriously sending these gold coins up to the mine’s entrance, they realized that even a fool would know what happened.
As they came to this realization, almost every leader trembled at the thought…
Damn it, this monster…
No wonder he was so powerful at such a young age and could kill without batting an eye—it turned out he secretly dealt with Undead creatures, and could even command them. With such a monster living in the Emerald Tower, who would dare go against them?