chsdbacks Page 450
Page 450
He reached out and rummaged through the box, finding a few things that looked like lanterns.
[Stone Crystal Lantern: A lantern using a special stone crystal as its wick, which emits a stable light after being charged, without fluctuations due to movement.]
"This is a good thing! Although it doesn't look exactly like a lantern from the human world, at least it has a handle..."
Latis immediately tried to charge the lantern with magic. After a moment, the lantern slowly lit up, emitting a faint yellow-green light. Although it was not as bright as the light Jennifer had condensed, it was perfectly adequate.
He shook the lantern and found that the light was indeed unaffected. It seemed that this was a high-quality light source for underground exploration, just like a pillow sent to someone who was sleepy.
Latis immediately charged all the lanterns and distributed them to his teammates. After they studied them for a moment, they all hung the lanterns securely on their waists. He nodded and continued to rummage through the contents of the box.
Unfortunately, apart from some furs, digging tools, and a total of two or three kilograms of gold and silver ore, there was nothing of value left.
Latis chuckled as he put the items back into the box. For Leafa and Snyder, two commoner girls, gold and silver ore were indeed treasures, which explained their excitement earlier. However, there was no need to take these things with him for now. If the girls wanted them, he could simply give them some reward when they returned.
However, judging from the overall situation, this box was probably a supply left by some miners. And judging from the fact that the outside passage was occupied by the fly monsters, those miners either had abandoned this supply point or were already dead.
Just as Latis was about to close the box and leave, his gaze suddenly stopped. He noticed a book in the corner of the box, quickly reached out and took out the slightly decayed woodblock book, wiped off the clumps of dust, and glanced at the name on the cover.
"Hunter's Log".
Latis stroked his chin. Judging from the title, the book probably contained some kind of record, which might actually be useful to them at this moment.
He opened the journal, looked at the first page, and suddenly froze on the spot.
The first page clearly stated:
A mysterious insect-like container creature, extremely dangerous, approach with caution!
Above this line of text, the log's owner had sketched a black, octopus-like creature with tentacles in charcoal. And the creature's head was a bony skull exactly like Zote's! Even the black, hollow eyes and mouth were remarkably similar!
Latis felt a sudden itch on his scalp and couldn't help but glance at Zote standing in the doorway. Resisting the urge to scratch his head, he muttered to himself:
Extremely dangerous? Zote?
……
……
"A lost road? I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. There is a disgusting, dilapidated road here, but nobody cares about its name!"
Zot crossed its arms, its broad jaw swaying from side to side with an air of disdain. It glanced at Latis and said loudly:
"My journey is to the arena to win the championship and claim the glory of being the greatest knight! Heh, that's a piece of cake for me, and now, I'm almost there—just a short distance from this damned... yes, lost path!"
"Uh...you're going to compete?"
Latis immediately gave me the look of an old man using a cell phone on the subway. Suppressing his urge to complain, he took a deep breath and calmly asked:
"Zote, how many people have you fought?"
"Human, are you underestimating the great Zot?"
Zuo Te immediately brandished the wooden spikes at his waist and shouted noisily:
"I have fought against the sky and against the earth! Beneath my sword, even light must yield, and even darkness must submit! When I speak, even the wind and thunder fall silent!"
"Specifically, what about the combat target?" Latis stared with dead fish eyes, he was increasingly figuring out the true nature of the creature in front of him.
"I know, you scum!"
Zote angrily shoved the wooden splinter back into his waistband and shouted:
"The fear that the Great Zot instilled in the creatures of the subterranean was undeniably tangible! I once wielded my 'Life Terminator,' hacking my way from the deepest lair down to the shallowest depths, for three days and three nights straight, my blade flashing, blood flowing like a river! And I didn't even blink!"
"Don't your eyes get dry after not blinking for so long?" Latis interrupted Zote's boasting with curiosity.
"..." Zote was silent for a moment, muttered twice, and said, "So what if I do it, so what if I don't? Does it have anything to do with what I'm saying?"
Latis laughed heartily, seemingly unconcerned, and said:
"I'm just curious."
"No, were I talking about whether my eyes are dry or not?"
Zote asked, bewildered:
"I said I kill without blinking, and you ask me if my eyes are dry?"
"Alright, alright, please continue." Latis gestured for him to continue.
"..."
Zote scratched his head, glanced at Latis, and sighed:
"Forget it, you shallow humans can't even imagine Lord Zote's strength."
It spat on the ground, turned and walked towards the other side of the passage, muttering curses as it went:
"The great Zot is about to embark on a new journey, a path destined to be lonely. I need no weak companions. You? Heh, you only need to kneel in the shadows and look up at the glory upon me, and that will be the greatest honor bestowed upon you..."
Zote's figure gradually disappeared into the darkness. Leafa, holding the lantern at her waist, stepped forward and asked Latis curiously:
"Master, shouldn't we take any measures against that Zuo Te? Master is already sharpening his sword on the side."
"Let's observe further. Anyway, there's only one road ahead we can take now. The passage behind is just a resting place."
Latis stroked his chin, quite certain that he would meet Zote again and save him once more, then see if Zote would still be so stubborn.
"Speaking of which, Latis, do you really think that Zote is related to the vessel?" Jennifer, carrying her sharpened sword, walked up to Latis and asked.
"Neither Holnet nor I have finished cultivating our 'Perfect Vessel' divine spell. If it's a fragment of a vessel, dismantling it would definitely be enough."
"I only have a vague feeling about it." Latis shook his head helplessly and said, "Besides, the divine magic of the container is likely a divine magic developed by the previous generation of the Illuminati to contain the power of the Radiance. It's better not to use it now if possible."
"I'm just continuing my practice out of habit," Holnet explained. "I haven't used it in a long time."
"That makes sense."
Jennifer sheathed her sword, stuck out her tongue, and laughed:
"That annoying guy is finally gone, shall we get going? According to what he said, this road seems to be the road to getting lost? That arena sounds like a place with a lot of people, maybe the next monster parasitized by light that we're looking for is there!"
"possible."
Latis touched the Dream Nail at his waist, then suddenly his expression froze.
"Huh?" Jennifer looked at Latis's expression and became slightly serious. She asked, "What's wrong? Is there something you forgot?"
"I'm not sure, maybe I'm wrong..."
Latis took a deep breath and said with some doubt:
"The Dream Nail had been vibrating slightly earlier, and I thought it was telling me that we were indeed close to getting lost. I was so happy, but then I noticed that the vibration gradually faded away."
“Huh?” Jennifer raised an eyebrow and whispered, “Could it be…”
"Could that Zote be the next key figure?"
Latis stroked his chin and said uncertainly:
"But it didn't show any signs of its mind being robbed by the light; it seemed pretty normal... well, not really."
“This matter is also recorded in Lord Hines’s memoirs,” Jennifer said, raising her index finger.
"Lexmore, the mortal enemy of the former King of the Duchy of Hines, once nearly fell because he was too confident in using the Mind Deception spell on goblins. This is enough to prove that using mind-blinding magic on the mentally challenged is useless."
"No, that's the Will of Light! It can't possibly have any loopholes, can it?" Latis couldn't help but mutter, sighing.
"I don't know how it did it, but it just ran successfully, right... Even insects shouldn't have such a bug..."
He gathered up the various odds and ends, exchanged a glance with his teammates, nodded, and continued towards the passage ahead.
……
……
The passage ahead wasn't too narrow, and with everyone's lanterns illuminating it, the details of the road were easy to discern. The passage first turned right and then branched into two paths. After a brief exploration, Latis, who had inexplicably chopped at the wall a few times with his Dream Nail, confirmed that there were no hidden paths and continued along the main road with his teammates.
However, after defeating some scattered wandering monsters, they discovered some monster currency, which is transliterated as "lucky coins," as well as records about the arena. This seems to be a major event in the deep underground, because the deep underground does not have as much space as the shallow underground, so there are not many places where monsters can be called groups. The scattered wandering monsters tend to hone their individual strength.
In this environment, the arena came into being.
Latis put down the silk reeling report he had just seized, glanced at the monsters they had defeated, and fell into thought.
In the briefing, when describing the previous champions, it seemed to mention "gods who wield greatswords" and "fighters who seek the light," a description that sounds very much like Radiance and Moth Fighters.
In short, you can go to the arena to inquire about the two former champions; you might be able to find traces of Radiance directly.
Thinking of this, Latis nodded slightly, looked at the road that had come to an end, glanced up the ladder, and was about to climb up when he suddenly heard a familiar curse coming from above.
"Bug! Put me down! Otherwise, the great Zote will make his move!"
Chapter 437 Daydreaming
Latis leaned back in the corner of the room, calmly watching Zot entangled in spider silk in the air, and asked:
"Are you sure you don't need our help? If you ask us for help again later, we'll charge you."
"Shut up! I'm bravely fighting the Spider King one-on-one, how dare you weak humans interfere?!"
Zote struggled and cursed, but the increasingly tight spiderweb nearly rendered him speechless. He slumped down for a while, until the web slowly loosened, and then he strained his neck and cried out:
"The great Zot fought valiantly for the safety of those who came after him; this is the virtue of a knight! Come, storm! I will end your life!"
"..."
Latis glanced silently at the spider monster, which was calmly rubbing its legs against the end of its silk and showed no immediate intention to attack, and couldn't help but mutter under its breath:
"But this monster hasn't even launched an attack... It's making such a racket..."
"Master, the hunter's log says this spider monster is rated extremely dangerous. Its usual behavior is to wait until its prey has struggled and fainted before it begins to hunt. So it's estimated that the real battle won't begin for some time..."
Leafa closed the book in her hands, rubbed her ears which were sore from Zote's noise, hesitated for a moment, and then asked softly:
Are we just going to watch like this?
“We’ll definitely have to take action.” Latis couldn’t help but laugh at Zote’s curses, but seeing the stares of Snyder and the other girls, he coughed, tightened his expression, and said seriously:
"But we still need to change its mindset first. After all, even if we save it by doing this, it won't be grateful... But then again, is this guy really afraid of nothing...?"
“The great godfather of magic, Latis, once said, ‘If you’re not afraid of anything, you’re either a hero or an idiot.’” Jennifer shook her head and laughed, “If it comes to the last moment, I guess this Zote will also beg for mercy.”
"After all, the master is a very powerful hero."
Seeing the awkward expression on Latis's face, Snyder smiled and said, "Even if it's not good at reading people, it can definitely tell that you have an extraordinary temperament, sir."