Chapter 115

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Chapter 115: Underground Sewer

That was a very big stone slab, about as wide as one person and as tall as two people. Most of the carvings on top had been worn away. Wizards crowded around it excitedly, followed closely by apprentices, blocking up all the gaps next to the stone slab.

"It’s probably a forgotten tombstone left here," the guide said, not daring to push through the enthusiastic wizards, just standing on the side and guessing, "Since we are so close to the Split Tower, it might have been moved from there, but somehow left here and eventually buried under the soil."

He sounded very convincing, with a professional tour guide tone, just like the host of the "Inside Aryan" TV show.

"Why does it look like a manhole cover?" one guard muttered.

"No way," a local soldier argued back, "There’s no underground drainage system around here, it’s solid ground below."

The previous guard was just making a comparison. Following the coordinates provided by the Hall of True Knowledge, Tasha determined a general area to explore. Within the area was all flat ground, the only direction to explore was underground. They dug three feet deep, about two to three meters, before uncovering the stone slab. When the slab was unearthed, some nearby areas had already dug even deeper, but there was only more soil below, revealing no secret underground passages.

A group of wizards tried to prop the stone slab up to get a better look, but they failed.

Many soldiers tried lifting the stone slab directly with their hands, or tying ropes around one end and using a carriage to lift it up, but no matter how hard they tried, the slab remained on the ground as if weighed down by a thousand pounds. When tiny fragments peeled off the stone slab, the density of the fragments was just like that of regular rocks. Some suspected the stone slab might be stuck to the ground, but removing the soil underneath the stone slab was easy.

They dug along the edges, emptying out four-fifths of the supporting points below without any obstacles along the way, only finding soil and rubble. When there was only a small support point left in the middle, the remaining soil pillar collapsed under the weight of the stone slab, causing a section of the slab to drop down. It fell without being hindered by anything, still perfectly parallel to the horizon.

"I understand!" Alchemist Gloria suddenly exclaimed, "Who has the Black Magic inheritance?"

"Who else do you think would have it here?" Dark Robed Wizard Miranda said irritably.

"I mean, ancient Black Magic." Gloria said apologetically, "The kind of ancient Black Magic closely related to the Abyss."

The so-called ancient Black Magic dates back even further than the time of the War of Heaven and Earth. Way back during the signing of the Aryan Declaration, most wizards were already using improved versions of magic, quite similar to the spells used today. Going back even further, hundreds of years ago when wizards were still being looked at suspiciously by other Professionals, during a time when magic was closely tied to the Abyss, Black Magic could then be called "ancient."

Among all the wizards in Aryan, the one who knows the most about this is Abyss Researcher Mr. Webster. But he is already very old, almost a legendary human elder. Tasha would feel nervous every time she saw him come out of his study, and everyone tried their best to stop him from joining the expedition that required long journeys, which he regretted deeply.

"I don’t have a formal inheritance of ancient Black Magic." Miranda hesitated for a moment, "But I have some understanding of it, at least I can read ancient magic runes."

"That should work, these things here seem to be modern wizard creations, not arranged entirely according to the ancient wizard’s way of thinking." Gloria pointed to the reliefs, tracing a strange path with her finger, "Try reciting the ancient magic rune phonetics in this order and see."

Tasha heard a strange pronunciation.

It wasn’t any language she had learned, somewhat similar to Abyssal language, but with fundamental differences. It felt like a person from the Wu-Yue language family listening to Japanese, occasionally catching familiar words and clumsily guessing some meaning.

For example, "open".

The stone slab opened.

Nothing was lifted from it, nothing suddenly fell, the smooth blank stone surface in the middle of the embossed pattern suddenly disappeared. It seemed to turn black all of a sudden, but as people looked closely, they realized it wasn’t a black hole, but a suddenly appeared passage.

This isn’t just a stone slab, it’s a door.

It’s so strange, there was nothing below just now, but now when you crawl on the ground to look into the gap, you can see the space between the stone slab and the soil. It’s like throwing an dismantled door frame somewhere, only to find a room appearing behind the frame.

"Great, it really works." Gloria breathed a sigh of relief, "This thing is still unfinished, otherwise we wouldn’t be able to activate it."

"Is this a hidden passage?" Tasha asked.

"More precisely, it’s a teleportation passage, and an unfinished one at that," Gloria said, "It’s not fully completed, so it’s not considered a magical item yet, just a pile of unfinished materials put together – which means it won’t fail under the deteriorating effects of the magic environment. We used magic on it to complete it officially."

"Could this lead to the White Tower Master’s tower?" Tasha asked.

"Impossible," Gloria shook her head, "The sub-space where the White Tower Master’s tower is located has a very regular spatial gate that stably connects the White Tower to the Primary Material Plane. The sub-space gate will disappear after the magic environment fades, just like how flour used to prevent sticking eventually blends into the pastry."

Gloria is a very knowledgeable and interesting wizard in daily life, her metaphors are easy to understand.

"Moreover, if this is the entrance to the White Tower, how would the White Tower Wizard use ancient black magic runes as activation keys?" Gloria added.

A more cruel and closer to the abyss ancient magic system, seen from the perspective of modern magic system, all spells of the former belong to Black Magic. Although the White Tower is ancient, it is advanced and open in terms of ancient magic, like an Academy of Athens in BC. The wizards from both the old and new schools have not so good opinions of each other, using the skills of one side, it is absolutely impossible to open the door of the other side.

"I’m a bit confused," Wild Wizard Rudolf shook his head, "Why would an unfinished passage related to ancient wizards appear near the White Tower?"

"Spoils," Miranda snorted, "The archmages of the White Tower don’t have time to research, they are busy chasing death."

Bruno, a descendant of the White Tower Wizard, smiled bitterly and did not argue.

In a way, Miranda is not entirely wrong.

Tasha could already guess what was going on.

The power of White Tower thrived from the time when the giant dragon left, until all the Legendary Wizards died. They waged wars all over the world, solving threats and bringing back treasures seized from enemies to their headquarters. Many treasures were hastily piled up in White Tower, some were sent to create the Source of Magic, some disappeared forever in a separate magical space as the magic environment declined, and some hard nuts to crack, like difficult fruits, were partially opened and hastily left nearby.

For example, the hidden location that this passage leads to right now.

The opponents of the wizards were extraordinary as well, the treasures they obtained from them were beyond ordinary people’s imagination. After the Anti-magic Movement, those non-magic users would never realize that, aside from the books and magical items they took away, there were such vast hidden riches buried underground.

The passage to an unknown location was opened, and the destination was related to an ancient wizard. The term "ancient wizard" was often inseparable from two adjectives, one is "dangerous," and the other is "extremely wealthy."

Wizards were dangerous because of their spells, after the decline of the magic environment for several hundred years, all magic traps and high-risk magical creatures had become obsolete over time.

Tasha discovered for the first time that the decline of the magic environment also had its benefits.

The wizards’ burning gaze turned to that entrance, they briefly conversed and quickly agreed on a plan. White Robed Wizard Bruno stepped forward, took out spell materials from his bag, and began to cast a spell.

A string of circular dried fruits that seemed to have no prototype rolled in Bruno’s palm, he chanted words, flipped his palm, and the fruits fell. The tiny dried fruits and some powders fell into the passage, and in mid-air, they began to grow rapidly.

This scene resembled a Druid casting a spell, but what happened next was full of wizardly colors. The withered fruits did not become plump, they remained wilted, but their numbers kept increasing, vine-like tendrils spread all the way into the underground space. The red fruits gradually lit up like light bulbs, illuminating the space below, the people above saw the bottom of the passage not too far away, and a long corridor extending ahead, unseen to its end.

The bottom of the passage had water. It really looked like a sewer.

"This is the ‘Liandrin Lantern Vine,’ a spell invented by my ancestor from the White Tower," Bruno explained. "The vine can not only light up but also detect the environment. Only the air suitable for human survival can make the Lantern Vine glow."

When White Tower decided to eliminate the threat, there were wizards in the tower who disagreed with this idea and successfully escaped, Liandrin was one of them. The Legendary Wizard fled with family, taking one-fifth of the White Tower library’s treasures. He then lived a relatively quiet life in anonymity, disappearing in the end, perhaps like an old dragon heading to the Dragon Graveyard, leaving his homeland and family, only leading to legends for his descendants.

He left behind many things, such as the tortoiseshell space bracelet containing White Tower books and some very useful spells. "Liandrin Lantern Vine" reappeared in recent years because the magical plant Ghost Lantern it requires had long been extinct, only reappearing in Aryan a few years ago.

This spell was very effective. The results showed that the air below had enough oxygen, no poisonous gas, and did not require those who entered to wear magical bubbles. This meant more people could enter, wizards could free up their hands, and prepare more spells.

The apprentice of the Undead Sorcerer took out skeletons from the cart. Under the spell of Undead Sorcerer Dolores, these bones seemed to be pulled by an invisible thread, repaired, and stitched together into small bodies. These were modified Craftsmen Dwarf skeletons. The short Skeleton Soldiers looked much braver and stronger than they did in their lives, agile and powerful, resembling the legendary fierce pure-blood dwarves. A small group of Skeleton Soldiers held bone knives, lined up in front, their height just right for the front passage.

The underground sewer was quite narrow, less than two meters high. All the giant skeletons prepared by the guards of the Undead Sorcerer were useless. Some particularly tall guards had to wait outside, while the other guards followed behind the small skeletons, protecting the wizards in front.

The small skeletons jumped down first and walked in the water without any problems. The water here was deep enough to immerse an adult’s ankles, without any smell, and did not look too murky when scooped up, just like the common state of underground rivers. However, for safety, Wild Wizard Rudolf still used the Range Water Splitting Technique.

The underground river split in the middle, revealing shallow mud underneath. Something swiftly swam away or burrowed into the mud after the water left, unclear but enough to make one shiver.

The soldiers decided to let the person with a long weapon go ahead, poking the muddy ground to avoid stepping on anything bad.

They jumped down the tunnel one by one.

The underground waterway was relatively low, but surprisingly wide. Two horse carts could move side by side without considering height. This width made it easy to line up, with the small Skeleton Soldier leading the way, followed closely by the guards surrounding and protecting the wizard in the middle.

The teleportation portal was in an unknown location on Aryan’s side. The surroundings felt cold, with the temperature lower than the surface area of the season – possibly due to being deep underground. The long underground passage had no visible end, and Bruno, the caster of Lantern Vine, couldn’t say where the vines ultimately led. He only confirmed there was a path ahead and that wherever there was a path, ordinary humans could breathe.

After walking for more than ten minutes, the daylight from the entrance had completely disappeared, along with the sounds from outside. It was very quiet here, with only the sound of their footsteps in the mud echoing. The walls were not natural caves but artificial, making the scenery monotonous. Time seemed to stretch on in this place, and after another ten minutes, Tasha was starting to feel bored.

The first attacker made a grand entrance at that moment.

The Range Water Splitting Technique couldn’t split the sea like Moses but created a circular area of dry ground with a radius of four meters. They had grown numb to the various creatures wriggling out as they advanced through the dry zone. There had to be some connection between this water area and the outside world, explaining the hodgepodge of small creatures. As the circle moved forward, the group encountered a large creature for the first time.

It might have been a two-meter-long crocodile.

Tasha used "might" because she wasn’t sure if the creature was actually a crocodile. Its skin was tough, but not scaly; it was wrinkled and light yellow, looking like it had not seen much sun. The crocodile-like creature had a mouth that took up a third of its body length and no eyes.

It was hidden very well, like a piece of old wood. Even the sharpest-eyed old soldier would have a hard time finding it from a meter or two away in the dim light. But it wasn’t soldiers who first spotted it, but the servants of the Undead Sorcerer. With their eyes burning with soul fire, they couldn’t see objects clearly in bright colors, but they could easily sense the presence of the living.

Up front, the little dwarves all rushed towards the "crocodile" without planning it. Their small bone knives were cute in size but not cute at all when swung. Three bone blades were cut down in unison, making the giant beast lurking in the water splash violently. It was only then that the living people noticed that there was something big nearby, and the guards quickly drew their weapons.

"Stand still, don’t move!" Dolores shouted.

The guards quickly stood still, looking around vigilantly, thinking that there might be other threats. Tasha understood the Undead Sorcerer’s command very well. She didn’t shout because she had discovered something, but she was confident that the dwarf skeletons could handle the situation on their own, without needing anyone else to intervene.

And indeed that was the case.

The "crocodile" opened its large mouth, with sharp teeth in its jaws, and snapped forward. The Skeleton Soldier who charged ahead was crushed in one bite, the sound of bones breaking echoed as the monster shook its head, scattering the broken bones on the ground, clearly showing what would happen if the "crocodile" was approached within a meter or two. But more Skeleton Soldiers charged forward, not just one, two more had already reached the "crocodile," one striking at the head, the other at the tail.

The bone knives cut through the tough skin, initially seeming ineffective like stabbing armor with a kitchen knife, but the attackers followed up quickly with more strikes, one after another. The dwarf skeletons swarmed like a hive of bees, making a clattering sound, and rushed onto the "crocodile."

Tasha’s Graveyard Skeleton Soldiers were slow and low-level soldiers, but the skeletons controlled and transformed by the Undead Sorcerer were more agile and stronger, like special forces – although even the advanced undead soldiers couldn’t be too powerful. In this battle, there was nothing particularly noteworthy, just many ants overpowering an elephant. The Skeleton Soldiers took turns swinging their bone knives, sacrificing several soldiers to turn that "crocodile" into minced meat.

The failed bloody debut of the blind sewer crocodile turned into a grand opening show for the dwarf skeletons.

The guards, seeing this strange sight for the first time, gasped in surprise. They looked uncomfortable, with a hint of horror on their faces, possibly shocked by the sight of their "allies looking more like villains." The Undead Sorcerer and her apprentices came out from the separated crowd, approached the bloody "crocodile" corpse, crouched down, and started dismantling the bones.

"Do we have to do this at a time like this…" a soldier muttered, but quieted down immediately when one of the apprentices holding a bloody organ from the crocodile glanced at him.

The black-robed wizard and the Wild Wizard also gathered some spellcasting materials. Shortly after, they set off again with a few extra eerie new skeletons.

It felt a bit like going on a dungeon raid with the wizard, Tasha thought. In this world, enemies don’t drop equipment, but going on an adventure with a wizard, especially the Undead Sorcerer, and being able to immediately turn the spoils of war into combat power after defeating enemies, felt quite good.

The journey was very smooth all the way.

The Skeleton Soldier at the forefront cleared the way. Although they couldn’t yet form a sea of skeletons, Dolores and a few necromancy apprentices who could control one or two skeletons had already formed an advanced team. In the underground waterways without magic traps and magical constructs, the scariest enemies were oddly-looking creatures. Along the way, they encountered a blind alligator (dropped several bones, a heart, and half-intact skin) and some cat-sized rats (dropped several bones and a few eyeballs). When the latter appeared alone, they met the same fate as the alligator. If they appeared in groups, the wizard was prepared with a range attack using fireballs.

After the fireballs lit up the underground waterway twice, no more big rats came to bother them.

The guards started to walk more relaxed, if their professional skills weren’t good, they would probably complain that they had nothing to do. When they descended, still carrying thoughts of possibly engaging in a tough battle, the fighting was all taken care of by the skeletons, leaving the soldiers troubled instead by the low ceiling down there that made them bleed, not by any big monsters, but by bugs.

There are leeches here.

A worm that looked like a leech hid on top of their heads, with a dark green body and yellow stripes on its abdomen. The suction cups didn’t hurt when they bit, they just made the blood flow endlessly. The ceiling was too low, with moss growing in many places, occasionally brushing against tall people’s heads. The feeling of dampness from leaking and moss was similar to the leech, making it hard to tell them apart. They waited for the opportunity to drop between the soldiers’ helmets and collars, often going unnoticed. By the time they were noticed, these fat bloodsuckers had already feasted.

The soldiers were the unluckiest. The Skeleton Soldier didn’t have blood or flesh, so they were the ones at the forefront, like ready-made blood packs. As the soldiers marched ahead, they swept away many leeches like a mine sweeper, making it less likely for the wizards behind – especially since the wizards were mostly not tall enough to hit the ceiling, and their robes with hoods provided some cover.

Tasha led the way, positioned between the soldiers and wizards. On one side, she could protect others, and on the other side, she wouldn’t fall into deadly traps like the ace. Before coming down, Tasha had considered many possibilities and made various preparations, but so far, she found that nothing was going easy.

The Skeleton Soldier handled all the fighting, while the wizards and apprentices remained alert throughout, watching for any potential threats. The guards had at least dealt with some big rats that had crossed the lines before, but now they were busy eyeing each other, searching everywhere and fighting off the pesky leeches. Meanwhile, Tasha walked among them all undisturbed by rats or leeches.

A dark green worm lay quietly on a nearby head. Tasha reached out towards it, but before she could touch it, the worm wriggled quickly and ran away.