Chapter 494: Act 242 – Deck, Adversity Heaven
Have you ever seen soil and gravel cascading like a waterfall? Brendel was fortunate to experience this moment, surrounded by piles of earth with no room to stand, as if he were about to be buried in the depths of the mountain, devoid of any retreat, standing at the brink of despair. The monster had completely disappeared beneath the stone coffin, and he cursed under his breath, raising the Earth Sword to sweep upward—an arc-shaped sword aura cleaved through the soil and stone, charging towards the central stone platform. Although this sword aura couldn’t compare to the White Crow’s swordsmanship, which could unleash a blade for dozens of meters, it nonetheless reached within ten feet in an instant.
“Rise!” Brendel roared, channeling his magical energy through the Earth Sword from the lowest dimension.
A loud crash resonated as if a sword had torn open the ground, and a row of rock spikes surged upward from the loosened soil and stone in a straight line. These pillars propped up the ceiling and stopped the earth and stone sliding towards the center, clearing a safe path for Brendel.
The Earth Sword, known as the Harangeya, was reputed to be a staff of rock, with legends claiming that the wielder could command the earth. Of course, reality wasn’t so exaggerated, but underground, it was undoubtedly its domain.
The collapsing tomb chamber stabilized temporarily, but only for a moment, as fine cracks began to appear on the stone pillars. Brendel glanced back at the crystal wall shimmering with rainbow light, hesitating—this chaotic crystal wall couldn’t be breached in mere seconds. He quickly turned and charged toward the central stone platform.
Climbing onto the coffin, Brendel discovered that the enormous trapezoidal container had indeed opened, revealing a mysterious passage leading down into the underground. The absence of light cast the passage into darkness, with stair steps seemingly leading down to the legendary Jotungrund’s hellish abyss. In an instant, the sound of cracking followed from behind him; the stone pillars were collapsing, and Brendel couldn’t afford to hesitate. Gritting his teeth, he jumped into the coffin.
Outside, the tomb chamber completely caved in, the ceiling collapsing like a funnel, making close contact with the ground. A tremendous wind pressure carried sand and gravel into the chamber, forcing Brendel to squint. Then came a deafening roar, shaking the earth and mountains, followed by utter silence.
The flames were completely extinguished; the torches outside the tomb were smothered by sand and dirt, leaving Brendel in a pitch-black environment. He cautiously swept the Earth Sword in front of him to guard against any surprise attack from the monster, but found the area empty—the creature seemed to know it wasn’t his match and had fled far away.
Brendel couldn’t help but spit on the ground.
“This is why I hate dealing with intelligent monsters.” The perceptual abilities of the warrior in the golden realm were ten times that of ordinary people; even in total darkness, he accurately fished out a piece of luminous stone from his pocket. Raising the small stone, a faint glow illuminated a cramped space around him—
This was the underground of the underground.
The coffin above had been completely sealed off, with large amounts of soil and stone even pouring into the passage. He poked upward with his sword, but the stones piled up on each other tightly, showing no chance of being dug out. Brendel muttered a curse under his breath, “Damn, Charles, are you there?”
On the other end of his mind, there was no distance, but silence lingered for a moment. After a brief pause, the voice of the young mage attendant rang out, “Cough, cough… this damned place… I’m here, my lord. Are you okay? Where are you?”
A barrage of questions followed.
Brendel looked up at the cramped space, the artificially carved tunnel was both narrow and rough, like the shoddy workmanship of careless artisans. “I don’t know either; I should still be under that tomb chamber. What’s happening outside?”
“Not bad, just part of the tomb passage collapsed and blocked the way. Miss Xi is trying to find a way to dig open a path with the others.”
“What about the others?”
“Everyone is fine, no one is injured. Miss Romaine is doing well too; she’s roasting mushrooms.”
“Roasting mushrooms?” Brendel paused.
“Ahem… she found some tomb moss.”
“She can actually eat that stuff?” Brendel was a bit surprised, but relieved as well; the little woman was in high spirits, so it seemed there were no major issues. “Let her be…” With a sigh for the self-styled merchant girl, Brendel decided to adopt a lenient stance.
Charles didn’t mention that Miss Romaine was actually preparing the mushrooms for Brendel, but instead asked, “By the way, the spoils in the coffin are still with me; there are quite a few. My lord, perhaps you can find a way to summon me over; I might be of some help.”
Brendel chuckled; he could still hear the concern in his attendant’s tone, but replied grumpily, “It’s still afternoon; there are at least ten hours until the reset phase. If you’re feeling dizzy, take a rest. How far are you from the surface?”
“Hah, I think it should be close. My lord, you know, I’m always rather confident in my ability to escape.”
“That’s not really worth bragging about,” Brendel thought. “So get a move on and find a way to get out, contact the people outside.”
“Good plan—but wait, my lord, how am I supposed to get out quickly?” Charles immediately exclaimed.
“You’re a wizard. Do I have to teach you these things?”
“Wizards aren’t omnipotent. Especially for a poor rule researcher like me, my lord, you may not know, but behind the scenes, people in the Silver Alliance call us scholars—well, I mean, that title isn’t bad, but what about a poor thing like me that can’t even lift a chicken? I’m not one of those brawny elementalist types…”
This guy was acting so cute, which left Brendel speechless. He raised the luminous stone whose weak light stretched down the rough rock walls, revealing a spiraling space going downward. Tightening his grip on the sword, he prepared to check it out, but the voice in his mind rang clear again:
“Wait, my lord, did you discover something new over there—” Charles called out.
“Hmm?”
Brendel stopped: “How did you know?”
“I guessed. My lord, do you remember the last time I picked up that box? It was a trap—”
It was better not to mention that box; just bringing it up made Brendel angry. How could this guy still talk about it? He was about to explode when he heard his mage attendant hurriedly clarify, “My lord, wait! What I meant was that the box was empty.”
“An empty box tricked you, and you’ve brought shame to the wizard’s face.” Brendel replied, exasperated.
“Fine, that was an accident, but it’s not like that. That box was a traveling mage’s personal item; I recognized the markings on it. The equilateral triangle and the inscribed circle represent the stable iron law and internal measurement, and the flames outside are the black flames of Ekeronia. This box must be related to Chunximan.”
“You’re not trying to tell me this is his tomb, are you?” Brendel raised an eyebrow.
“Pretty much; I suspect there are other secrets beneath this tomb.”
“Even if there are, it’s just around level forty dungeons,” Brendel thought to himself but held back commenting. However, he also suspected that things related to the traveling mage might indeed lie beneath the tomb, and he had a faint sense of connection to it. Remembering this, he took out the cards he had in hand to look at under the glow.
Five cards.
The first card depicted a spellcaster shrouded in mist, forming a slender silhouette amidst the hazy clouds, but with four hands, long and powerful—three hands raised to weave a spell, while one pointed forward, with an army marching through the mist.
Ekeronia Weavers (Adversity Heaven X), 7 Dark; [Creature—Ekeronia Folk/Weaver, Level 25 Elite]; Effect: Tap, pay 5% life, gain Light 1. “Eye of Ero—”
A near-silver peak wizard, with an effect similar to a land card but with no upkeep cost, Brendel thought such a card was indeed welcome. Next, he drew the second card, which abstractly depicted a robed man, cradling his head in pain, appearing to suffer from a migraine. The card was named Anxiety, with an array of bizarre effects:
Anxiety (Adversity Heaven VII), 2 Energy; [Spell—Instant]; Effect: Copy a spell effect not exceeding a cost of 30; for each spell cast in this turn before it, duplicate that spell. “Time is like gravel, rushing swiftly by.”
Upon seeing this card, Brendel couldn’t help but audibly gasp. Although he didn’t fully grasp the detailed effects described on the card, it at least seemed to belong to that kind of “even if I can’t understand it, it feels powerful” category.
But what about this 2 Energy? He paused, suddenly recalling something, as green text scrolled across his retina, revealing a card in his vision—
Ekeronia’s Adversity Forge (Adversity Heaven III), 30 Dark; [Enchantment—Nest]; Effect: When ‘Forge’ enters, attach it to a land card. Tap, sacrifice any 2, sacrifice an Ekeronia Soldier to have ‘Forge’ gain two energy. “As travelers cross the vast plains, dark clouds shroud the northbound Ludesai Volcano, flames leaping high.”
“Damn it, it’s indeed a full set of cards,” Brendel muttered to himself, thinking about where he would find so many Ekeronia soldiers to sacrifice. Just as he pondered this, he drew his next card and, upon seeing it, he paused in surprise—it was yet another Ekeronia Weaver. Brendel’s expression changed slightly, and he hastily flipped out all the remaining cards; another Ekeronia Weaver appeared, followed by yet another.
He was stunned; the remaining cards were all identical Ekeronia Weavers. Even if it was a self-fulfilling prophecy, didn’t it go a bit too far?
This was the first time he obtained four identical cards in the same place, and it sparked a possibility in Brendel’s mind—perhaps the cards from this tomb truly formed a complete set? Just as this thought crossed his mind, faint sounds emanated from the passage below.
“Who’s there!” Brendel immediately raised his sword toward that direction as he saw something flash in the darkness ahead.
……(To be continued. If you enjoy this work, please visit Qidian (qidian.com) to cast your recommendation votes or monthly votes; your support is my greatest motivation.)
