Chapter 933: Act 106 – The Nature Affinity Emblem V
As Brendel set off, he immediately felt several obscure black lines of law seep around him. These lines penetrated the time laws woven by the passing pointer, causing the silver time laws to begin to crumble, slowing down the hastening passage of time. The sensation these lines evoked was quite eerie; they expressed laws that, while obviously not as violent and impulsive as Modest and Marlaxias’s superior fire elemental law—the Golden Flame—carried a chilling sharpness, akin to a poisoned dagger wielded by an assassin.
Brendel immediately deduced that these were laws related to death, specifically Queen Gwendolyn’s laws. Death and the Golden Flame were two of the primary elements among black dragons; the latter was more common among dragonkind, while the former primarily stemmed from the bloodline of the Seven Extreme Dragon Kings, thus indirectly confirming Gwendolyn’s identity.
However, what surprised him was how much Gwendolyn’s element had grown. If Modest only unconsciously influenced the operation of the passing pointer’s time domain, then the Queen was actively intervening. Under the interference of these black lines of law, the effect of the passing pointer was nearly halved—within this area, Gwendolyn’s laws clearly held the advantage. Although she had not become the sole sovereign, she suppressed the other elements and laws from fully exerting their power.
This was already frightening enough.
The passing pointer was a legitimate sub-artifact; after all, artifacts and sub-artifacts were sacred items shaped by divine hands. Even if incomplete, they were not realms that ordinary people could touch.
Gwendolyn’s power had approached the peak of the sage domain and subtly hinted at a transition to a perfected form in the world. This realization sent chills down Brendel’s spine; this lady was definitely the most terrifying enemy he had encountered since arriving in this world. Even the resurrected Milos had not mastered such horrifying power—excluding her divine powers from the discussion, in the history of “Amber Sword,” even if the timeline were pushed back fifty years, players might not have encountered anyone at Gwendolyn’s level.
Damn, this was version jumping.
Brendel cursed inwardly.
Fortunately, the passing pointer still retained half of its effect—
Brendel sensed Modest and Gwendolyn take off behind him; without needing to think, he understood they were flying toward his location. He felt a tightening at his ankle, as black smoke suddenly erupted from the humus soil of the forest, forming countless arms made of smoke reaching for his ankles—dark bindings, black magic—Gwendolyn was indeed most adept at necromancy. Brendel knew that dragons were highly skilled in magic, not inferior in any way to Bud; it was just that they excelled in melee combat and firebreathing, which led people to overlook that dragons were also excellent wizards.
But Gwendolyn never expected that her newly formed black arms reaching for Brendel’s ankles would scream and dissipate before they could even get close.
“Don’t use magic on him; it won’t work!” Upon seeing this scene, Modest quickly reminded.
At Brendel’s current level of willpower, even Gwendolyn’s spells couldn’t harm him. In fact, what he truly feared, aside from magic containing divine power, were the ultra-ten-ring spells that occasionally appeared in legends; but those ten-ring spells took too long to cast and would never be usable in a situation like this. Modest had evidently already learned about Brendel’s prowess; during their previous encounters, she had tried to cast spells several times to drive him away, but without exception, they had all failed, hence her urgent warning to Gwendolyn now.
Gwendolyn was taken aback; she clearly thought victory was assured.
As Gwendolyn hesitated for a moment, Brendel had already dashed to the entrance leading to Jotungrund’s underground world. As he expected, the entrance was indeed a massive sinkhole, but unlike typical formations, the deep pit led to a natural cave sculpted downward almost vertically, a cave that was nearly straight down into darkness and felt as if this passage would directly lead to the depths of hell in the legends of Vaunte.
Romaine’s hand was being pulled by Brendel; upon seeing this scenery, she couldn’t help but swallow hard. “Are we going down?” she answered, surprisingly reluctant.
“Pretty much,” Brendel said as he took a leap into the gigantic pit—after all, Modest and Gwendolyn had not given him much time, and more critically, his experience was burning out quickly.
As he jumped, the sprite and QiYala, along with Xainne, all screamed in panic. Although rationality told them that Brendel was not jumping down to commit suicide, the sensation of plummeting rapidly into darkness was definitely overwhelming. They felt a rush of wind surrounding them as the surroundings gradually shifted from bright to dark and became increasingly indistinct, yet the speed of their descent was fast enough that the wind was nearly blowing their eyes shut.
QiYala’s voice had almost changed pitch due to the airflow rushing into her mouth, and she shouted into the wind, “What’s down there!”
Brendel looked down and saw stars sparkling in the darkness below; it felt as though he were looking up at a starry sky, but here, the stars appeared beneath his feet, creating a very unusual sensation. He knew these were luminescent plants in the darkness—moss, ferns, or some glowing fungus. Once they delved underground, such plants weren’t rare. In Jotungrund, there were even entire glowing forests.
But the glowing plants below were certainly not forests; even calling them shrubs would be a disservice, as it was still not Jotungrund.
“A giant beehive.”
Brendel only said three words to QiYala, his voice trailing off into an odd whimper as the wind carried it away.
At that moment, the overhead darkened slightly. Two dragons had appeared at the entrance of the tunnel, and Brendel felt the lines of law from Modest and Gwendolyn tightly wrap around him. At least from this short distance, these two dragons could never lose track of him. However, he glanced at the passing pointer, which had already been activated for nearly half a minute. Coupled with earlier wastefulness, in such a brief period, he had nearly lost enough experience to revert the Frost Soil Guardian profession back to its original state.
Suddenly, something flashed past in front of him.
Brendel looked up and realized they had just crossed a narrow pass—this very spot. This narrow crack indeed still existed. Brendel knew of its significance because the “Hand of Marcilian” had killed an Aspiring Dragon here using the terrain to their advantage. That guild was quite a renowned player organization led by Cruz, having risen to fame through this battle, exploiting clever tactics and terrain to defeat what should not have been defeated at that level, establishing their foundation through the loot acquired from that battle while most players were still below level thirty.
Compared to that unlucky Aspiring Dragon, Modest and Gwendolyn were much larger.
They could never pass through that crack.
Of course, Brendel wasn’t naive enough to think he could trap two dragons with merely a crack. The Aspiring Dragon they had dealt with previously wasn’t particularly intelligent, and they had repeatedly failed before luring it into a trap. With the wisdom of dragons, if they were genuinely trapped by a crack, it would be utterly laughable. What Brendel hoped for was simply this: within the giant beehive, Modest and Gwendolyn could no longer operate in their dragon forms.
The giant beehive connected Jotungrund’s underground with the surface world and was the only passage. The sky here was not as vast as the surface world; even comparing it to the expansive underground caverns of Jotungrund, it was quite cramped. These were narrow, maze-like, hive-structured caves, somewhat reminiscent of Brendel’s original world’s karst underground cave formations. However, unlike aquifer formations, the giant beehive had formed from the continuous magical winds from the underground world. These hot winds arose from the scorching hell and appeared to be whimsical underground breezes; however, in truth, they represented the magical sea’s erosion into the world of Vaunte from the west.
The terrain formed by this erosion could never accommodate giants the size of hills to move freely within.
In human form, a dragon’s power was considerably suppressed. Although their combat ability was not heavily affected, both their mobility and perception of the surrounding environment significantly decreased. It was akin to how a person turning into another animal would often take a long time to adapt. In fact, unless they were required to enter the human world, adult dragons seldom preferred to become human; only juvenile dragons, traversing the mortal realm, would frequently appear in human form—mostly out of self-preservation.
Brendel looked up and indeed saw the black light swirling around Modest and Gwendolyn. One transformed into a human female clad in a black gown with long, sleek black hair down to her waist—her eyes were beautiful and golden, reminiscent of a Minren. As for Queen Gwendolyn’s human form, it was quite bizarre. She also became a woman with black hair but had her hair styled up, adorned with a beautiful purple crystal embedded in her forehead. If it weren’t for the differing colors, it was almost identical to the heart of calamity that Echis wore on Kehua’s forehead.
Had Brendel not possessed an acute perception, he probably wouldn’t have noticed this crystal from such a distance. He soon realized that this was the true form of her horn after transforming into a dragon.
Moreover, Brendel knew that in history, there was another person who possessed such a purple crystal.
That was a famous witch.
The sorceress’s assistant, Elufei.
Were these two individuals the same person? Or was the witch’s assistant actually a dragon? Brendel immediately shook his head. Queen Gwendolyn was a typical dragon born in the last era before the Great Sacred War. Her age was only slightly older than Alorze; during the Sacred War era, she, like Alorze, should have been a juvenile dragon and could absolutely not have been the witch’s assistant. This thought merely flitted across his mind when the silver lines of law intertwined around him, suddenly slowing their descent.
This was one of the fundamental abilities possessed by powerful beings after they awakened their elemental affinity.
Flight.
The passing pointer continued to rotate slowly, but Brendel did not intend to exhaust the last bit of experience of the Frost Soil Guardian and completely ruin the profession. He decisively flew a distance into the giant beehive before shutting off the passing pointer. At that moment, the peculiar terrain full of holes beneath the beehive finally came into view, and as time acceleration ceased, the speeds of Modest and Gwendolyn soared behind him, barely moments later racing past the narrow pass, and their gazes swept downwards, instantly spotting Brendel’s location.
Brendel glanced back at the two giant dragons, one of which dove straight into the giant beehive, where, according to legend, lay one of the most fearsome mazes throughout all of Vaunte. Countless overconfident adventurers lost their direction within, becoming eternally lost—among them were well-known strong beings. And not to mention the natives—even players had perished in there from getting lost, despite having maps provided by the system.
Of course, the fully three-dimensional maps did tend to induce a sense of dizziness.
In summary, once you entered the giant beehive, regardless of whether you were a dragon or a human, the probability of getting lost was quite high. The passage from Jotungrund’s underground to the surface world was generally fixed to a few routes, which had been discovered through the sacrifice of many lives, while most people dared not casually forge new pathways, as it was simply a gamble with their lives.
But now, Brendel’s goal was to get lost quickly within.
Naturally, he also had to lead these two giant dragon ladies astray.
If he got lost, he could set a coordinate point for a Bud portal right there, then have Charles summon him back and let the druids open the portal to bring QiYala and the others back. Once the two dragon ladies were lost, it might be quite difficult for them to find their way out quickly, which was his true aim. After all, even if he returned to the main force now, Modest and Gwendolyn could find him back in the blink of an eye, rendering all prior efforts futile.
The only question was whether Gwendolyn and Modest would give him this opportunity.
As soon as Brendel entered the giant beehive, he immediately sensed the range of his perception constricting tightly—it was firstly a psychological response to the confined space and secondly an overall diminished sense of awareness after losing the broader view. However, he remained calm, understanding that this limitation would be even more unbearable for Modest and Gwendolyn. Dragons were renowned for their vision—a characteristic shared by most flying creatures accustomed to using their sight to hunt enemies. While the lines of law could also be used to sense foes, in the underground, the perception range of the law lines diminished considerably after penetrating through rock layers.
In conditions where both parties had become blind, the situation would certainly favor the one hiding.
Though there were exceptions.
At this moment, despite Brendel diving with QiYala and the others into the unique underground tunnels, he always felt the aura of Gwendolyn’s laws surrounding him like a pestilence, and her presence was evidently growing nearer. This indicated that he hadn’t truly escaped the range of her surveillance—had it not been for this complex underground terrain, he might have already been caught up.
That was the real problem—Brendel had anticipated the Extreme Dragon King’s remarkable capacity for foresight, but he had not expected that even her descendants excelled in this field to such an extent, which was indeed a miscalculation.
It was clear now that escape was impossible.
He could only think of another way to buy time.
For Brendel, this was not particularly challenging, as he had chosen this escape route and would never only arrange one back path. As a seasoned player, this was basic knowledge. Sensing Gwendolyn’s presence almost within reach, he quickly signaled to QiYala and the others. There was a fork ahead, and he decisively pulled out a cloak from the dimensional pocket, draping it over everyone.
Upon seeing the cloak, the sprite couldn’t help but exclaim in surprise: “A sprite’s cloak!”
But she quickly realized everyone was glaring at her in shock and anger, and recalled that now was not the time to speak, promptly murmuring, “I—it was a mistake.”
QiYala shot her a disapproving glare, but words spoken were words heard, and Brendel curiously whispered, “You have a cloak similar to this one?”
The sprite nodded vigorously.
Brendel couldn’t help but take a deep look at the little girl. His cloak was the Cloak of the King of Giants; indeed, this was not the only cloak in the world of Vaunte that could completely conceal one’s aura.
In fact, there was another cloak, a gift from the Dragon King Bahamut to mortals—the Dragon King’s Cloak.
If he remembered correctly, that cloak was in Erlandta.
His gaze suddenly fell upon a small brooch on the sprite’s chest.
“What are you looking at?” QiYala noticed Brendel’s expression and curiously whispered.
Gwendolyn and Modest were not yet close; Brendel hesitated and replied, “Have you heard of the Nature Affinity Emblem?”
“Of course, the Seal of the Earth, the token of the great sage Erlandta; how could I not have heard of it?” QiYala suddenly closed her mouth, staring in shock at the brooch on the sprite’s chest. “No way…”
