Chapter 293: Act 60 – The King of the Underground (Eleven) (Second Update)
“Lord?” Xi asked softly and somewhat suspiciously as she looked at Kuran, who was murmuring to himself.
Brendel shook his head, indicating for her to remain patient. He thought that this door must have suddenly appeared later and perhaps had some connection to those monsters.
Sure enough, moments later Kuran suddenly stopped and whispered, “There are words on the door!”
Everyone leaned closer and indeed saw strange patterns carved onto the dark iron door. To be precise, they appeared to be writing. When Brendel spotted the trapezoidal characters, he immediately said:
“This is Dwarven script.”
“Dwarven script?” The Elder frowned and turned around. “How could there be Dwarven script here? Duke Toniger only has hill Dwarves, and they do not live underground.”
“But what about the Grey Dwarves and Iron Dwarves?” Medisa asked.
The Grey Dwarves and Iron Dwarves are creatures that inhabit the underground world; the former are close relatives of the Mountain Dwarves, while the latter are said to be descendants of the Rune Dwarves.
However, Brendel shook his head, explaining that both the Grey Dwarves and Iron Dwarves used Jotungrund cuneiform, not the trapezoidal writing of the surface Dwarves.
In fact, the trapezoidal script is the authentic Dwarven writing, while cuneiform was invented by the Dark Elves.
“Then who could it be?” the Silver Elf Princess asked.
Brendel recalled the matter of the Silver Heritage and suspected this could be a remnant of the vanished Silver Clan. Among the Dwarves, there are three major bloodlines: Storm Dwarves, Rune Dwarves, and Fire Dwarves.
Aside from the Fire Dwarves who live in the Fire Element World, this relic might be connected to one of the first two.
However, before he could speak, Xi poked the giant door with her Thunder Spear, and a faint ‘ding’ resonated in the darkness. She looked at the door, which was as smooth as a mirror, revealing its incredible hardness.
She frowned and asked, “Lord, what does it say?”
“I don’t know,” Brendel replied, shaking his head.
“Kid, didn’t you say this is Dwarven script?” Kuran raised an eyebrow, somewhat irritated. “How can you not know?”
“I only recognize the appearance of Dwarven characters,” Brendel thought; it wasn’t like in Amber where the system could translate everything automatically. Here, he could only stare at these things.
But he walked over and placed his hand on the door. “However, I suspect this is a barrier.”
“A barrier? Is it a spell? An illusion?” The Elder raised his silver-gray brows. “Are there others underground?” He glanced at Brendel suspiciously. “Is it just you?”
Brendel shook his head. “This barrier is not a spell; a wizard’s magic merely uses the rules of the world. However, in ancient times, barriers were set up with the participation of divine beings. These barriers themselves represent a kind of law—”
Kuran hadn’t quite understood, but Medisa’s eyes widened. “Ancient relics, Lord, are you saying that behind this is a sacred place?”
“Not a sacred place; it’s probably a sanctuary.” Brendel assessed the large door; the entrance to a sacred place couldn’t possibly be so small. It resembled the valley of the Fairy Kingdom, which could accommodate two massive statues—
But if this was merely a sanctuary for storing the Silver Heritage, that made sense.
The young man pressed his hand against the cold iron door, closing his eyes as if sensing the weight of history behind it over thousands of years while he asked, “Medisa, what is the Ancient Heritage of the Silver Elves?”
The Silver Elf Princess paused slightly before shaking her head. “I don’t know; I’ve never been to the sacred place. Since the start of the Saints’ War, the Silver Elves have been away from the sacred place for ten generations. It is said that we can no longer find the way back to the sacred place—”
But Brendel shook his head. “It’s likely not that way. The Silver Elves should have retreated back to the sacred place by now. What is your sacred place called?”
“Sanctuary of Silver.”
Brendel nodded, but Xi, standing beside him, looked puzzled and asked, “Lord, isn’t this the time to discuss this? Shouldn’t we find a way to open this door first?”
“I’m working on it,” Brendel replied.
“Ha?”
“For the ancient barrier, a door is a symbol, representing an entrance,” Brendel answered. “The meaning of the entrance lies in entering. If you simply want to cross to the other side of the mine tunnel, you can’t open this door no matter what.”
“Enter? Where do we enter?” The red-haired girl was baffled.
“You’ll know soon enough.”
Brendel closed his eyes, focusing on the thought of ‘enter’. Suddenly, everyone felt a darkness enveloping them. But before panic could set in, the light shone brightly again—
To be exact, it became even brighter.
It was as if they had returned to the surface; bright, blinding light streamed in from outside, making every pair of eyes accustomed to the darkness squint slightly. Everything around them was snow-white, and their eyes stung a little.
Xi and the miner instinctively turned around, but only the stronger Kuran and Medisa could steady themselves and look around; they both gasped.
The surrounding noise suddenly surged.
It was a roar of cheers, like a tsunami, crashing into everyone’s ears. As they gradually adjusted to the blinding light and the deafening shouts around them, they looked up and finally saw everything.
They remembered being in the dark subterranean tunnel just moments before, blocked by a heavy iron door. But now, they found themselves in a brightly lit square.
Or perhaps worse.
Looking further, everyone realized that this was not a square at all, but a coliseum. They stood on an open space in the center, surrounded on all sides by towering walls and spectator stands.
The stands were packed with people, but Brendel could only make out their outlines against the strong light. However, he knew this was merely an illusion created by magic.
A pocket dimension.
This was the essence of the barrier.
From a complexity standpoint, this space was far less mysterious than the Fairy Realm, which existed in the cracks of space and time; it was merely a half-plane connected to the main material plane of the Vaunte world, a small subspace.
Yet in terms of sound and light effects, it was indeed dazzling.
He couldn’t help but think that it must have been that mischievous fellow who designed all this.
“What is this place, Lord?” Xi finally steadied herself and trembled as she asked. She was relatively okay; the miner had already fainted from fear.
Medisa and the Elder remained silent, though the former seemed calmer, while the latter had a vigilant expression, with his hand on his sword.
“Fateful Arena,” Brendel replied.
“Fateful Arena? What is that?”
Brendel looked up. “Do you see that sword?” With this question, everyone followed his gaze and indeed saw a long sword embedded in a stone monument at the center of the arena.
The dark long sword reflected a ghostly glow under the dazzling light, but its shape was quite peculiar. It looked like a long sword but was as wide as a palm, and the blade was much longer than an ordinary long sword—rather, it resembled a combination of a great sword and a long sword.
“What is that?” Kuran’s eyebrows twitched as he saw the sword. As an experienced swordsman, he recognized it as an excellent sword.
“The Sword of the Earth—Harangaya,” Medisa answered. “I recognize this sword; it’s the Silver Heritage of the Rune Dwarves.”
“Yes, this is the Sword of the Earth—Harangaya, a fantastical sword said to be connected to the earth, and when swung, it often causes quakes and landslides,” Brendel knew another name for this sword—players called it the Earthquake Sword, because the Sword of the Earth—Harangaya dealt earthquake damage equal to its own attack damage on hit.
The earthquake spell was an area spell, affecting a cone-shaped range directly in front, nearly the same as the direction and range of the sword wave. Although it consumed mana, it offered incredible value in return.
This was a divine artifact for magic swordsmen. Even Brendel couldn’t help but move his fingers at the sight of the sword; its allure for a swordsman was simply enormous.
Not to mention, this sword also had the ‘Leadership’ attribute—
All ‘Leadership’ attributes typically appeared on equipment with clear factions and characteristics, for example, the Sword of the Earth clearly indicated its connection to earth elements, and thus it could lead those elemental creatures.
Brendel finally understood how the stone leopards outside had come to be.
“Harangaya, Harangaya,” the Elder murmured. “Is it that Harangaya, the weapon of the giant Mikhail?”
Brendel nodded. Mikhail was the most favored son of the Earth Mother, the uncrowned king of the earth; the sword in mythology was his scepter, used to rule the earth.
Of course, this was just a legend, yet it moved Brendel slightly. He took a breath and said, “Those who come here have the opportunity to obtain that sword through challenge.” He turned to look at everyone seriously. “However, it is not without cost. If you fail the challenge, you will be turned to stone and left here forever.”
“This is the meaning of the Fateful Arena.”
In fact, Brendel felt a bit of a headache; the Fateful Arena was one of the more difficult ones among ancient relic missions.
While he was deep in thought, Kuran asked, “How difficult is the challenge?” The Elder looked at the sword, a little tempted; although he didn’t know where this place was, the experienced swordsman within him wouldn’t be as terrified and speechless as that miner.
“Very difficult.” Medisa replied. “Because it exists between fantasy and reality, there are no limits to the difficulty of the challenges here.”
The term “no limits” caused everyone’s expression to change. “Lord, what about us?” Xi asked.
The Silver Elf Princess shook her head again. “There’s no way to escape. Everyone must at least challenge once to earn the right to leave here.”
“Everyone?” The Elder caught onto that word sharply.
“Yes, unless you are below Iron rank, you can only challenge individually here. You cannot go together.”
Upon hearing this, Xi’s face turned pale. “Then… what if someone fails… what will happen?” She had no power now, and it was almost impossible for her to succeed in a challenge.
“They will be left here until this barrier fades away, turning into stone forever,” Brendel interjected. “But as long as someone is willing to undertake another challenge and succeeds, they can rescue their companions. Don’t worry, Xi.”
“Lord…” The red-haired girl’s expression turned complex as she gazed up at Brendel, realizing the implication in his words.
