Chapter 282: A surprising meeting with an old friend
There is no ‘absolute darkness’ anywhere on Earth. The faraway Abyss was different from the inside of the average person’s imagination; even a cave person who was born blind may sometimes need the warmth of a fire.
The underground city, abandoned for an unknown amount of time and for unknown reasons, had finally found its past magnificence under Zaganide.
From afar, the underground city wasn’t much different from the buildings on the surface in terms of style; but unlike large cities like the Capital of Elements and Holy Crown City, it looked like a giant ancient castle, with more than a dozen tall buildings at its centers, with the highest point being more than a hundred meters in height, providing an imposing view. More stunningly, Abyssal Mages managed to suck out the lava from the lava lake, crossing the entire castle like a rainbow. There were eight of such rainbows, flying atop the city from different angles. There were few lights in the castle, as the castle didn’t need lights; the eight rainbows were a substitution for the sun, sufficient for day to day life.
Han Jin made his way out from the deep corridor, with a Medusa next to him. Among the Abyssal races, Medusas occupied a medium hierarchy. Like elves, they were born as excellent archers, but they were far superior in aggregate battling capacities with highly toxic scales and the born ability to petrify! Of course, the possibility for the release of such an ability was negatively correlated to the level of the enemy; the possibility for the average Medusas to release the petrification spell against a top class sword saint or a grand magus was nearly zero.
Medusas were also usually irritable in terms of manners; however, the Medusa next to Han Jin was quite cute. They second the two caught sight of the magnificent underground city, that Medusa whispered in a timid voice, “Master, it’s right ahead…”
“I can see it.” Han Jin nodded.
“Then I…”
Han Jin then made his way to the shore and took a peak at the lava river below. He used his hand and cut the Medusa’s throat, causing it to feel great pain, its tears and snot flushed down from its face, the six arms to its sides attempted to cover its tongue. Han Jin then reached his hands to the rear of its neck, and a little while later, the Medusa fell into the river of lava; the beautiful fire promptly swallowed it after the beautiful fire briefly raged.
Han Jin then lifted his head and gazed afar quietly. He had arrived to find the reason that trapped Zaganide’s attention. If Zaganide had met a powerful Abyssal enemy, Han Jin would assist him in beating Zaganide; though it felt like driving a wolf away from the front gate while inviting a tiger from the back, it was still needed. There existed hate, deep like an ocean, between him and Zaganide, and there was no ground for negotiation; only a fight could resolve such.
If he could find a loophole, he had to cause as much trouble as he could in order to delay the time that Zaganide had to mobilize his troops, earning time for Jeddes. Strictly speaking, Han Jin was currently a terrorist hiding in the enemies’ homelands.
Han Jin had used a handkerchief to wipe his hand, since the body of the Medusa gave him a highly discomforting sense of humidity and stickiness. He then tossed the handkerchief into the lava lake; his body then shrunk down and vanished.
Soon after, Han Jin’s body suddenly appeared in a room in the underground city. At that moment, he observed all directions; it was quite a common house, with the curtains not pulled and a faint yellow light breaching in, lying on the ground softly. There were also clothes— men’s and women’s—- laying on the ground in a mess. A large wardrobe sat near the edges of the wall, with a tall mirror inlaid. On the other side, there were two chairs and a cloth stick near the room’s door, with mostly women’s clothes. Some other arrangements also existed in the room; in summary, the house looked quite feminine and was like a boudoir.
Further inside was the bedroom. Han Jin could clearly hear cries near the degree of hysterical, with occasional sounds of begging, while the crashes of the bed board grew louder, demonstrating the competency of the male in the room.
Han picked up the black robe on the ground and walked quietly to the front of the large wardrobe. It fitted well; otherwise he would have to find a new house.
Han Jin took off his own robe and placed it in the space ring, then put on the black robe. Regardless of the race of the owner of the robe, he was likely very clean: there were no weird smells around the robe; on the contrary, there was a mild, comforting fragrance. Maybe some form of perfume was used.
After dressing in the robe, Han Jin looked at himself for some time in the mirror, confirming that nothing was wrong, then slowly made his way out the door.
Unexpectedly, just as his feet landed on the courtyard, he crashed into a bull-headed demon, dashing in infuriatingly. Some confusion later, the bull-headed demon roared, “Kill him!!!”
Moments later, several more bull-headed demons dashed into the courtyard. Han Jin then promptly returned to his room as he cursed his luck. He didn’t fear the bull-headed demons, but he wished not to create a scene before understanding the situation.
Han Jin then dashed to the front of the window and pushed it open. By this point, the sound leaking from the bedroom had turned into shouting, with loud growls appearing to be male organisms; apparently, the two mates were in an excellent state. Han Jin then picked up a vase and tossed it onto the door of the bedroom. The vase was immediately crushed, while a large hole was punched into the door; the sound inside stopped immediately.
Han Jin then jumped out of the window; he pointed using his sword, and his body floated upwards, landing on the eaves. He then sat down and observed the activities nearby.
Moments later, a naked male jumped out of the window and attempted to run away. But within a few steps, a giant axe appeared and sliced into his back, nearly splitting him into halves; the male promptly fell down in the alley.
Loud roars from the bull-headed demons then echoed from the room, “You dare betray me! You dare to betray me! There’s another human, where?”
“I don’t know… I don’t know…” the female’s voice was filled with terror and panic, but was suddenly terminated with a dull noise.
‘Is that demon allowed to kill the civilians?’ Han Jin said quietly to himself. When he caught a glimpse of the bull-headed demon jumping out of the window to pick up his axe, he moved his body to the side and descended onto the street.
The street of the underground city was quite clean. Apparently, Zaganide spent a lot of effort on such. Around five or six hundred meters away, the center of the castle approached, and the number of ‘people’ in the area increased.
From the Medusa, Han Jin learned that many humans, willing to abdicate the light and descend into the abyss, resided in the underground city, but their reasoning was beyond Han Jin’s knowledge.
The stores on the street were laid out sparsely, with most of them being bars. Alcohol proved to be a theory applicable anywhere; there seemed to be no race that hated wine, and would usually differentiate in the preferred taste.
After a long walk, Han Jin could only see a few stores filled with weapons and clothes, with almost everything else being bars. This form of development seemed to be quite distorted; but the territories Zaganide seized through were quite distorted in their own right. Zaganide couldn’t receive true love from his subordinates, and couldn’t truly trust anybody.
Farther ahead was the castle center, where a giant magical shield made it impossible to see through clearly. Many bull-headed demons guarded the end of the street, and walking further was somewhat inappropriate; Han Jin scanned the scene ahead where a weapon store stood.
Inside, a few dwarves were busy working. Seeing the scene inside, Han Jin frowned. Upon arriving in this world, he saw a sloppy dwarf, and therefore had many displeasing opinions on them. Though Sunier later explained to him the advantages of the dwarves, i.e. they were hard working, Han Jin’s hate against the dwarves remained. It turned out, first impressions were very important…
The dwarves continued working and left Han Jin alone, as if he was not even their —- entirely devoid of proper etiquette for customer service.
Han Jin felt quite bored. He really wanted to call up a dwarf, point at his nose, and tell him that the customers were their Bright God! But after a second thought, he decided to give up; the dwarfs didn’t necessarily believe in the Bright God.
“How much for this sword?” Han Jin liberally pointed at a sword on the wall.
One of the dwarves jumped up on the table, picked the sword up, and tossed it to Han Jin, “Two gold coins.”
Han Jin didn’t bother bargaining. He tossed out two gold coins, threw them onto the table, then placed the sword in the space ring. Seeing Han Jin’s alacrity and his space ring, the dwarf finally said lazily, “What else do you want?”
If they greeted customers in such a way, it was hard to imagine how hard it would be to obtain useful information from them. Han Jin instantly shook his head and left the weapon store; meanwhile, a group of “people” walked into the bar next door, chatting and laughing. Suddenly, Han Jin’s eyesight briefly froze, then turned elsewhere, as if nothing happened.
He saw Eva! The sister of Manteco, the person who beat Hallister and fled!
Han Jin hesitated for a short moment, and made his way into an alley, walking out a moment later, but with his face plastered with an entirely different look. Then, he pulled his cloak in front of his forehead, and slowly walked into the bar.
Suddenly, a weird gust of air brushed into his face. Han Jin didn’t hate bars, nor would he stop Moxinke, Cessacioun, or anybody else from having fun in a bar. As the Old Saint once said, “Food and sex are two big needs for life”. However, the atmosphere in the bar was just too obscene; dozens of nearly naked female bartenders shuttled around, like a moving forest of flesh. How could Eva, a grand magician, come to such a place? Han Jin was quite confused, as he didn’t find Eva anywhere in the bar. He then sat at an empty table and began forging a plan.