Chapter 56

After the centries left, they made their way towards the ruined camp of the cave lizards.

Seth was used to the rocky surface of the dungeon and took the lead as they walked through the tunnels. Despite coming here after a while, he recalled the pathways well.

On their way, they didn't notice any humans or monsters. Seth guessed that the king centry and his minions had scared everyone away.

He imagined the faces of a group of adventurers coming across the king centry and going pale before running away. The corners of his mouth crooked up as he imagined Wyatt getting such a report.

“Noah, you were able to overpower the king centry so easily. Then, why don't you simply kill it and conquer this dungeon?” Rebecca suddenly asked, breaking the silence. She blinked her eyes at Noah. “Won't you be able to level up then?”

“I think so,” he said, smiling.

“Then, why don't you conquer the dungeon?”

Seth perked up his ears to listen to the conversation. He wondered the same thing.

If there are other people as strong as Noah in the world, then why can't they simply conquer these dungeons all around the world? It made perfect sense to do so.

“There’s a simple reason as to why,” he said, scratching his head. “If I do that, then the dungeon economy of the city would fall. I won't want that in my conscience and even the Adventurers Guild would oppose it.”

“Dungeon economy?” Seth asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes, basically Sacria City is dependent on adventurers and they come here because of the Tunnels of Grithza. It's a perfect beginner level dungeon for them to start out in and there's a lot of money to be made. If someone like me ended up conquering it and then, all that would stop. It's simple economics.”

Hearing that, Seth deliberated whether adventurers are stopped from conquering certain dungeons to build cities around it.

It certainly seemed like that.

Before he could ask any further, Seth stopped in his tracks and noticed the tunnel opening up.

They were at the ruined camp of the cave lizards.

Walking up front, Seth was the first to enter. A musky scent lurked in the air and he felt strange.

The whole chamber looked destitute and abandoned. Dried blood was all around crushed rocks and layers of dust, but he couldn't see any bodies. Either other monsters have eaten them up or someone has taken them away. Probably the former.

He didn't see any monsters around. He expected a few lizards or even the cave monkeys to be here, but it was empty.

The chamber now had craters in the ground where the abyssal horror and king centry had fought.

When he thought about that, memories filled his head. The crimson that filled everywhere he looked, the tendrils breaking through the fabric of reality and the face of the abyssal horror, an eldritch creature that had given him nightmares till now.

Faces of countless dead bodies, both of the lizards and the humans whirled around in his head. Seth shuddered before he felt a hand on his shoulder.

Looking back, he saw Noah nodding at him. He seemed to have guessed that he had fallen into his trauma.

“Are you okay?” He asked.

“Yes, we are here,” he said, pulling himself back from the memories. Giving a look at the ruined encampment again, he asked. “So, how are you going to open a portal to the abyss?”

He hoped in his mind that another abyssal horror won't pop out of it. The idea of opening up a portal was strange for him, but Noah had his trust.

The man was known to be competent and with no other way to curb the corruption, they had to follow through it.

“Give me a moment.”

Noah said and walked up to one of the craters. His footsteps echoed in the chamber as both Rebecca and Seth followed behind him.

Right next to the crater, he pointed at the surface.

“Here, this is flat enough for me to draw up a ritual circle. With the residual energy in the air, it should be enough to open a small portal.”

“How small are we talking about?” Rebecca asked, looking around for any monsters that might still be around.

“As small as my palm. Bigger than that, it would give an excuse to those creatures to come to our world,” he said, then pointed at a sharp stone. “Pass me that, Seth.”

Seth walked up to it and picked it up. The stone was long enough and the tip was sharp. He could almost use it as a weapon if it came to be.

“Here.”

“Okay, give me half an hour. The ritual circle is complex for these things.”

Noah kneeled and started drawing up lines on the ground with the stone, stopping once in a while to check for mistakes and continuing. His lines were straight and smoother than what Seth had been expecting.

It seemed like the Archmage Knight was using a skill going by his experienced hands.

“Noah, how do you even know how to make a ritual circle? I thought it's a skill only cultists and other such classes might have.”

Seth asked, looking at him working. All this time, he felt a strange energy in the air, making him shudder a bit yet it wasn't entirely uncomfortable and he soon got used to it.

“Oh, it's because of the bastards in Seven Seals,” he replied, looking over a pattern he had drawn in a circle before continuing again. “They kept experimenting and doing their ritualistic processions all around the world and half the time, I had no idea what was going on. So, I dabbled into abyssal arts. I found a retired cultist, not the evil kind. The guy used to work for a church of an unknown god. He taught me everything about it and a few rituals.”

He sighed after recounting that and stood up. Dusting his hands on his robes, he smiled back at Seth.

“Okay, it's done.”

Rebecca and Seth walked up to him and looked down at the ritualistic circle. It was a bit rough around the edges with patterns in the middle.

Seth briefly wondered if there was a drawing of a creature in the patterns.

“So, are you sure it's going to work?” Rebecca asked, looking alternatively between the circle and Noah.

“It's a bit crude, but it should work,” he said. “The problem with this specific ritual is that it is similar to other circles that are used to summon creatures, so I had to be careful to not mix it up. Anyway, let's start.”

He looked down at the circle before using the sharpened rock to cut its thumb. Blood dripped down from it as Noah winced.

I hope it works.

Seth frowned, feeling the strange energy again as he saw the blood pouring over the circle. Seconds passed and out of nowhere, the circle lit up in a crimson glow, same as before.

Noah smiled and waited as the crimson light brightened, probably absorbing the residual abyssal energy from the air. It wasn't as strong as when the lizards had used it, but it seemed to be going well.

Slowly, the ritual circle simmered and a small pillar of light shot out of it. It didn't reach the ceiling like before and was as big as Seth.

“This is it,” Rebecca muttered and Noah nodded.

“So, how are we going to dispose of the corruption from my body?”

Seth asked, staring at the crimson pillar of light. The last time it had appeared, it had acted volatile, but now, it seemed to be in control.

He just hoped that they would be able to do what they intended without any problems.

“That’s the interesting bit. It's not going to hurt, but I think you will feel a bit funny since the corruption has settled in your body,” Noah said. “I'm going to crack it open a bit now and then, we would be—”

He stopped talking as the ritual circle simmered again. The whole chamber shook suddenly as the pillar of crimson light lengthened, reaching up for the sky.

Seth exchanged a confused glance with Noah who looked as baffled as him.

“Noah, is that supposed to happen?” He asked.

“No, I, I don't think so. It shouldn't have gotten so big,” he said, shaking his head and looking at the ritualistic symbols. They seem to be getting brighter and more vivid as seconds pass by. “The ritual circle is going out of control. We need to stop it.”

Seth felt the mana density in the air becoming heavier and heavier as they talked. He attempted to destroy the symbols with his foot, but the pillar of light threw him back.

Due to its intensity and power, he couldn't get close to it.

Seth had a feeling that if he tried, the whole pillar would engulf him.

Noah conjured up a dark flame in his hand and aimed it at the symbols. The fireball struck the ground, burning the symbols, but it got swept away by the pillar of light.

It even shone like it had absorbed its power.

“Noah, you didn't make a mistake, right?” Rebecca asked besides him.

“No, I didn't.” He bit his lips, his face scrunching up in concern as he looked over at the pillar. Seconds passed by as he closed his eyes and when he opened it, he seemed to be shook. Glancing up at Seth, he said, “I think I know what is going on.”

“What?” Rebecca asked.

“The Abyssal One, it's messing up with the ritual circle. I can't think of anything else. It's pumping power in it to make it bigger and bigger.”

The chamber shook again as the pillar of light grew stronger. Cracks started appearing on it as Seth felt the ambient mana in the air becoming more and more violent. He had better control of mana and he could feel how it was behaving.

From everywhere, more and more abyssal energy filled the chamber as the pillar of light shimmered.

“Let me try to take control of it.”

Noah said and conjured up flames that he shot up towards the pillar. They clashed with it as explosions shook the ground. Despite their power, the pillar of light didn't seem to calm down.

More and more cracks appeared on them every second as Noah did his best to seal off the pillar.

The symbols didn't seem to move and even if he tried to destroy the pillar itself, it didn't seem to be affected. It just surged in power every second.

“I see something coming out from it.”

Rebecca shouted out and it was then Seth noticed tendrils coming out from the cracks. They reminded him of the abyssal horror, but the mana wasn't as strong.

More of them shot out as a loud boom struck everyone like breaking of glass and a creature popped out from the crack.

It reminded Seth of the abyssal horror with the large floating eye and the strange miasma hiding its body. It wasn't as tall, barely being 3 feet.

Tendrils floated around it and its pupils were red, looking at Seth.

Lesser Abyssal Horror - Level 25

Seth checked its name and level. Instantly, he frowned, but before he could do anything, more and more cracks appeared on the pillar of light.

More lesser abyssal horrors floated out from the abyss, looking over at Seth and the others. There were more than seven of them and the strongest of them was at Level 28 while the weakest was Level 24.

It was a formidable force and cracks were just increasing.

“What are we going to do now?” Rebecca asked.

Seth wondered the same thing as a tendril shot out towards him. He immediately channelled mana in his blade, preparing for yet another battle.