Chapter 639: To Eat (1/2)

Carl rushed into the cave with glee, not forgetting to flip off that god-damn demoness who had stolen two caves right in front of him over the last hours by using her earth-attuned movement skills to get ahead. It felt like his legs were about to buckle under him up here at the tenth layer, and all his organs hurt like he was getting constantly punched. But the lower layers were just too cramped.

He’d be lucky to get one cave every two to three hours at the seventh layer, and few of them held any life-changing opportunities. Up here there were just around a hundred people to compete with, which wasn’t too bad considering how wide each layer was. Still, there were a few who had the same idea as himself; run right at the edge of the ninth layer, while scanning for opportunities in the tenth.

That way you would avoid the terrifying increase in pressure from passing the halfway point most of the time, while still enjoying the benefits that came from the upper half of the mountain. The items from there were clearly better, and Carl had made more money over the past ten hours compared to the past six months.

Not only that, he had gotten his hands on some rare treasures, which couldn’t really be measured in Nexus Coins. They would allow him to trade for similarly rare items he needed for his cultivation.

He was extremely lucky to have broken through mid-battle against those deranged lizard people, pushing his Seed of Lightness to High stage. It seemed that this particular seed was extra effective at combatting this pressure as well, since Logan had similar attributes and a High Seed, but he was still unable to properly hunt any higher than the 8th layer.

Carl quickly activated [Energy Trace], and breathed out when there was nothing that could match his own energy signature in the cave. Of course, that didn’t mean it was safe, but his odds were pretty good since there was a distinct medicinal smell coming from within. It was doubtful any of those killer machines were hiding inside.

A high base salary, clear advancement opportunities, and access to unique encounters. That was how he was suckered into the employ of the world’s scariest boss and conscripted to enter this hellhole. But he had to admit; Void Beasts, werewolves, and collapsing space islands could definitely be classified as ‘unique encounters’. Carl bet Zachary Atwood loved every moment of it.

A shame he had to drag the rest of them into the madness though.

Carl had somehow made it all this way in one piece, and he breathed out in relief when he saw a small tree with six delectable-looking fruits standing in the cave. This was definitely good news; the fewer of something, the better it probably was. A singular tree with just a handful of fruits? Jackpot.

Another win for the good guys.

A massive and sudden explosion coming from somewhere above threw Carl off his feet, and he immediately got a bad feeling. What trouble had his crazy boss attracted this time? He knew he would soon be called to arms for some insane battle he had neither the desire nor qualifications to participate in, but at least he could die with six delicious-looking fruits in his belly.

Carl scrambled back to his feet and rushed toward the tree, but a primordial scream of exasperation erupted from his chest when he saw his final reward being somehow drained and turned into sand in front of his very eyes. What the hell was going on?!

Was it that white-haired succubus who kept appearing around him? Had she done this somehow? Did those demons have a complaint department? He doubted it. It would probably be some trial-by-combat thing where he would swiftly and publicly get his ass handed to him.

But no, this had the mark of his boss all over him. First an explosion then this?

“Are you planning on hiding in here?” a teasing voice drifted into the cave from the outside, making Carl’s hair stand on end. “Want me to call the insect enforcers for a motivational speech?”

“Shit,” Carl muttered and started running out, donning the practiced determined expression of a career hero. “Where are the enemies?!”

“It’s the Lord,” the demoness said, but it wasn’t like her explanation was necessary.

“Of course it is,” Carl muttered, his practiced warrior-face quickly becoming strained.

It looked like the end of the world one layer above their current location. A massive crater hundreds of meters across had appeared out of nowhere, like a terrifying giant had taken a bite out of the Memorysteel.

But of course, there was no mythological creature who had decided he needed more iron in his diet before moving on. It was something much more terrifying; it was their boss who was up to something again.

He hovered in the sky, arms and legs spread wide like some sort of lunatic possessed by a creature of the night. He was even emitting an extremely eerie deep humming sound, but that might be the thing behind his back. A huge vortex slowly rotated like a halo, and it somehow looked even darker than the Void outside the mountain.

It was like everything could be sucked inside, and Carl even felt his mind shudder as he looked into it, like his soul was about to be ripped out of his body. Streams of Memorysteel were dragged from the mountain, entering the terrifying vortex that seemed completely insatiable. Even the energy in the atmosphere was being drained, and Carl had already seen what Lord Atwood did to his poor treasure tree.

Who knew how many treasures had been turned into trash by this point?

But at least it didn’t look like their boss was going to gobble them up as well. That shifty sidekick of his stood much closer to the boss and he was fine, as was the golden-haired giant. The boss did swallow quite a few of those drones his sister owned, but he seemed mostly focused on draining the Memorysteel and its hidden riches.

“Looks like he’s trying to eat the mountain,” the demoness commented when it looked like they were safe and didn’t need to ready themselves for battle.

“Of course he is.”

The meteor hurtled through the vast cosmos once more, taking Zac and the mysterious predecessor on their journey. Zac didn’t know whether this scene was taking place before or after the previous two visions, but it was clear that it wasn’t directly connected in time with them.

The part of space looked completely different as Zac looked around, and there were no suns or stars no matter where he looked. Instead, there were endless rivers of lightning streaking across the darkness like elemental dragons. Zac's first instinct was that they were the tribulation lightning or something wrought by the system, but he quickly discarded that thought. While these lightning rivers were vast beyond comprehension, they didn't have any sense of a will like the purple Tribulation Lightning did.

They were just pure energy.

Some of them just looked like thin streaks, but going by the shockingly large beam right next to them they were most likely just extremely far away. There were massive continents with their own atmospheres far in the distance, using the endlessly wide lightning river as a source of warmth and energy. As for the ancestor, he seemed to be studying it for inspiration.