LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 26 The Grave ( Part 2 )
The Grave ( Part 2 )
“ So the Naaman said that it is one Beast Lord that is responsible for all this ? Aiko doesn’t see any reason to believe the Naaman though,” the girl argued.
Jack saw her point , and also took note that even though she had awful grammar and an even more terrible sense of common decency, Aiko was actually a very intelligent person.
“I’m trying to be optimistic , if he is telling the truth and it’s only one , then the faster we will be able to beat the monsters on earth ,”
“So let Aiko get her head around this , Bossman’s plan is to destroy the bond of Stipulato that controls all the monsters ?”
“ Yeah , once they lose coordination , then the mages should be able to handle them,”
“Aiko is still worried about it. Won’t the monsters now be loose and running free? Isn’t that worse Bossman ?”
“I’m talking about turning the odds in our favour, not giving earth a silver bullet win. The plan will employ the tactics of divide and conquer ,”
“ Bossman , what about intelligent monsters? Remember the Soul Reaper , that is one creature Aiko wouldn’t want to see out of its leash ,”
She had a point in this. And when he thought more about the Soul Reaper specifically , Jack saw just how much chaos would ensue should such a monster run be left running around without a master. But the alternative wasn’t better either.
“Aiko , is there a way to change the master while the bond of Stipulatio is still active ? This way we don’t risk a global rampage ,”
“ Bossman you’re incredible ! Not only will it keep the creatures under control , this can also be used to call them back through the portals . We will have killed billions of chickens with one knife,” she totally agreed with him.
It kind of made Jack wish that Hamilton had been there. The man had always been calling out his plans as shit and it would be a welcome turn to see some compliments for a change.
“It’s a good idea , but you still haven’t told me whether it's possible ,”
“Aiko can assure Bossman that it is possible , but it will not be easy. One mistake and we will be dead. We will have to convince the Beast Lord responsible for all thia to agree to our terms by offering him a deal that’s better than what he has already been offered ,”
“In the first place , what kind of offer would convince someone to lend out enough firepower to collapse an entire world? I don’t even think it's possible to match such kind of a deal , let alone provide a better one,”
Aiko rolled her head for a minute , “ We can always beat him to a pulp if we don’t like him.”
Jack laughed , “ And how do I beat a person who has already shown he has enough forces under him to bring an entire planet down to its knees ?”
“Don’t say it like that Bossman , Aiko will also help in the fight,”
“By yelling in my head? Yeah , that will really come in handy. But , jokes aside Aiko, you’re right in one thing . We should worry about the finer details once we actually find him. So let’s get out of this place and do that ,” Jack looked around the tunnel. With the fire they had lit now dying out , most of what could be seen was courtesy of Aiko’s aura.
“Aiko checked the routes when Bossman was asleep , the left one leads to a dead end. The other one stretched out too long and Aiko got tired of exploring it,”
Taking one last look at Nevya’s grave , Jack led the way forward. He pitied her unfortunate end , a prodigy whose father had placed great hopes and expectations on , now buried in an underground tunnel never to see the light of day again.
As they walked , Jack summoned the blue screen.
[
System Information
Quest completed : Kill Ludicrous Ceaser
Rewards - Summoning Tickets x4 , Points x550 , Forked Viper Fangs x5 , Dread Ghost Bones x10
Durability : level 2 -> level 4
Strength : level 2 - > level 3
]
So far , all his past battles had earned him a total of 600 points and an extra topping of summoning tickets to roll for more talents. He took a moment to check the installation status of the five star talent from before , Singularity , and was disappointed to see that it was still in progress.
To dial down the anticipation , he disintegrated the four tickets and waited to see if any new talents came through.
[
System Information
New Artefacts unlocked
Omniscient Pot - a versatile pot that will cook any food so long as there is water and a fire.
Blue Oil - triples the rate of alchemy processes.
Installing Artefacts…
Artefacts installed .
New Talents unlocked
Bandwidth - speeds up installation of other talents in the System.
Patterns - allows the user to quickly adapt to an enemy’s physical attack patterns.
Installing Talents…
Talents installed.
]
Both talents were three stars , though their utility was not to be underestimated. With Bandwidth, he could now say goodbye to the slow installation speeds of Talents like Singularity and Constricted Furnace.
And Patterns on the other hand , well this was the sweeter one. On top of mastering an opponent’s attack patterns on the fly , the talent , just like Perception , worked passively without consuming any stamina. Once it was levelled up a few times , this talent would be a broken asset to have in his arsenal.
He didn’t have to wait long to find out how broken it could get with 600 idle points just waiting to be used.
[
System Information
Talent level up
Patterns - Stage 1 , level 1 -> Stage 1 , level 4. ( Maxed Out )
Remaining Points - 10
]
“ Well that one capped out pretty early ,” Jack was a little put off. Seeing that Singularity was still on the installing tab , he engaged the new talent Bandwidth to speed up the process. It worked like a charm and by the next minute the stubborn talent was bagged.
A few metres down the route , the two encountered a volcanic vent that was actively spurting out heated chunks of viscous magma. They had to be careful to not step on the red streams which had randomly spread out on the tunnel’s floor.
“ I wonder how this place hasn’t caved in already ,” Jack asked Aiko once they were safely across.
“ Aiko thinks this is an Almond stone mine , most of them are sturdy like this . If things are how Aiko left them , then there should be Beast folk mining out the rock around these parts ,” she answered him , taking off her black coat to relieve herself of the heat.
As she rolled her shirt sleeves , Jack noticed an eye-catching tattoo drawn on her arm that was fully opaque unlike the rest of her body.
“Wait , there are people working down here? Under such hazardous conditions?” Jack ignored the tattoo.
“ Beast folk are far tougher than humans. Aiko knows places like this are cake walks for them,”
As they kept going , they reached a point littered with skeletons , a heavy stench of rotten eggs floating in the air around. The further they walked past this point , the more skeletons they saw and the heavier the gas became.
“ Wait Aiko , these skeletons , is it just me or do they look human?”
“ Aiko does not see the bones for the weird parts that Beast folk have. They are definitely humanoid , and Aiko is sure they are not elves,”
“ If they are human, then doesn’t that mean they were forced to actually work here until they died ?”
“Aiko agrees with Bossman. They were probably slaves ,”
As they were taking their time examining the skeletons ,Jack started coughing irrationality , his throat and lungs getting a severe irritation. His eyes too got affected and became watery , reddening up.
“Sulphur dioxide , I should have guessed as much ,” he cursed , activating Rejuvenation and Flowing Paradise simultaneously to counter the gas’ effects. Aiko swiftly vanished into his soul , seemingly also affected by the toxic gas.