Chapter 705 - Judgment Call (Part 1) (1/2)
Gaakhu dashed inside, using her magical protections to tank several small air blades and ice spikes. The room had several dimensional runes which she recognized. They were the names of ancient Odi cities, some of them were too far from Kulah to be affected by the poison tainting its surroundings.
Gaakhu struck at the dimensional rune associated with the modern city of Othre with her Royal Forgemaster wand. The Gate opened, revealing a stone tunnel devoid of danger.
Gaakhu jumped towards her freedom, only for a stone hand to hit her on the head and make her lose consciousness. She had been the constructs' priority from the beginning.
Only after their precious slave had been apprehended did the Odi order the Golems to collect the soldiers.
***
Lith and Morok went back to the elevator and even to the living quarters, finding no trace of their missing companions. After returning to the research labs, Lith put the list of Odi words the Professors had shared with the rest of the expedition members inside Soluspedia.
He hoped that it would help him to make heads or tails of at least a couple of signs. Unfortunately, they turned out to be useless. The Odi language was too complex and the words at his disposal were too few to allow Lith to figure out the meaning of the signs along the corridors.
When they finished exploring the lab, they found another door, probably leading to a lower floor.
”We should go down. The woman told me to search the bas.e.m.e.nt and this place doesn't fit the bill.” Lith said.
”Agreed, but I don't like the idea very much.” Morok shapeshifted from time to time to look for clues. His mystical senses had a greater range than Lith's and Solus's but they didn't provide much information about the nature of the threat they perceived.
”There's something big and really powerful down there and for some reason, it's visible to each of my four eyes.”
”Why is that bad?” Lith asked.
”I'm no Awakened, so I can't see world energy, life force, or any of that stuff. I can only spot elemental mana. What I can see, even from up here, is some kind of energy pillar as big as a hill that is composed of all the four elements at my disposal.”
Lith tried using Life Vision, but the pillar was too far away. He couldn't see past the arrays sealing the door in front of them. Solus's mana sense was blinded by the amount of magical equipment surrounding them instead.
Lith closed in on the door, activating Invigoration to study and neutralize its lock. He had to hold back a laugh when he recognized the Nightmare Safe. It was the same device the Odi had used to lock the secret doc.u.ments in the office of Kulah's commanding officer.
”We're lucky, it seems that at the time this kind of protection was considered to be the best magical seal available, while it's actually the easiest to crack if you know what you're doing.” Lith said while reading the array containing the password.
”Hey, that wasn't an array revealing spell. You're an Awakened!” Morok had seen his own father using such abilities so often that he immediately recognized Invigoration.
”Does that change anything?” Lith asked, opening the door while Morok took note of the password.
”No, but that's an amazing piece of news. Are you willing to Awaken me?” The Tyrant knew that with that kind of power, very few beings could pose a threat to his life. Alas, Golems would still be among them.
”Depends, are you willing to swear obedience to me for one hundred years?” Lith replied.
”Absolutely not!”
”Then you have your answer. If I have to put my life on the line for you, you have to be damn worth the risk. So far you're just a pain in my ass.” Lith opened the door, scanning his surroundings.
The coast was clear, but they had to move fast, to not give the constructs the time to pinpoint their position.
”What if I save your girlfriend?” Morok said while they were darting along the stairs.
”She's not my girlfriend, and a human doesn't live as long as we do.” It was Lith's biggest gripe with every one of his relationsh.i.p.s. Even with a crippled life force, he was likely to outlive most of his loved ones.
”It was worth a shot.” Morok grumbled.
Forcing someone to Awaken another person was a waste of time. All Lith had to do was either to let the Awakening fail or report Morok to the Council. Both events would lead the Tyrant to a premature death.
To make matters worse, Morok had seen his fellow Ranger fight and Lith was a force to be reckoned with. The idea of having a semi-immortal enemy of that caliber on his tail forever was simply appalling.