Chapter 645 - All are One (Part 1) (1/2)
'The silver lining is that now we know who is worth protecting and who is just dead weight.' Solus said, making Lith worry about her mental condition.
She was perfectly fine, it was just that the closer she got to finally gaining her human body, the more protective toward Lith she became. Solus still valued all lives, but she was willing to make sacrifices to preserve her own happiness.
To her, a bunch of suicidal idiots wasn't worth the risk of a lifetime of solitude.
Many of the Professors swallowed loudly, thinking they had just signed their own death warrant. Gaakhu, instead, wasn't worried. Berion was just a single man that coincidentally was in charge.
There were many others in the army that would share her vision and help her to protect her status.
'It's pointless to worry about a minor failure. Bureaucrats only care about results. If I bring back something valuable, this blunder will be dismissed as an insignificant incident.' She thought.
The expedition team started to examine the array down to the smallest details, double-checking everything. Quylla was very annoyed by the prolonged wait. She was eager to see what was on the other side of the wall.
It took them half a day to complete their study and another half to make sure that their spell would destroy the formation in the safest way possible. The morning of the second day after Quylla's epiphany, the spell was finally cast.
Just as Professor Neshal had predicted, by tampering with the sixth hidden array formed by the overlapping of the other five, their finely balanced structure collapsed. Two arrays were destroyed, while the other three became purely ornamental.
The door unlocked, turning on its hinges as if it had been properly preserved for all that time. Moss and dirt fell from its crevices, throwing up a lot of dust.
”Oh shit!” Was the collective opinion of the expedition the moment they could see what was waiting for them. Kulah wasn't a city, a village, nor even a shelter. It was a collection of long rectangular buildings that all looked the same.
They had been built out of some unknown pale blue material that was neither rock nor metal. It emitted a bright luminescence that made the whole area around the buildings light up as clear as the day.
The roads connecting the buildings were covered by a layer of dust several centimeters thick. It proved that no creature, living or dead, had walked them during the last few decades.
Each facility had only one access point, consisting of wide double doors made of metal, and no windows. Each door was sealed by a yellow array visible to the n.a.k.e.d eye.
It was shaped like three concentric circles inscribed with unknown runes and fueled by both purple crystals and the mana geyser underlying Kulah.
With Life Vision, Lith could see that there were cable-like devices that ran across the whole compound, carrying the world energy to the various arrays, including those the expedition team had just deactivated.
”This is a f.u.c.k.i.n.g military base!” Morok said, taking the words right out of everyone's mouth.
”Lith, what do you see?” Phloria asked. Her question made no sense to the others, yet no one dared to move. Any country would react to intruders accessing a secret compound with extreme prejudice.
The Odi were likely to have left a lot of nasty surprises behind.
”The coast is clear, but we can't allow ourselves to relax. Everything, and I mean everything, is still perfectly functional.” He pointed at the arrays on the doors, which were supposed to have faded centuries ago.
Lith started to chant gibberish while preparing his spells, quickly followed by Morok and Phloria's soldiers. Once he was done with his preparations, he took a step forward.
The door and the stone wall started to flash with bright red color and emitted a high pitched noise. The surviving arrays activated one after another, but because of the damage they had sustained, they could only produce a series of sparks and sizzling sound before imploding with a thud.
Lith kept looking around, waiting for something to happen.
”Morok's log: add to my report how the old fossils would have been the death of us if we didn't destroy the arrays before entering.” He said, drawing several angry looks on himself.
Morok was about to reply when Lith's prudence finally paid off. Life Vision showed him a life force rushing through the several centimeters thick dust layer covering the floor, making it come to life.