Chapter: 864
“Alright. Head downstairs.” Jay whispered, then added the remaining bones to his inventory and followed them down.
Reaching the bottom of the stairs again, Jay felt more comfortable with three skeletons around him, and so followed the root along. Each of them could see perfectly in the dark, and their vision covered all angles. Death-walker’s sentry added a fourth set of eyes as Jay equipped it too.
The party moved cautiously, yet quickly. Jay held one hand on the back of Red’s squire armor, completely trusting in his skeletons.
“They’re kind of like an extension of myself. In a way. I’m simply relying on my own powers.”
“One adventurer may use a spell to give themselves vision. I use a spell to give guidance.” He thought, “not that different to a normal adventurer… a normal person.”
Of course, the ‘spell’ Jay was referring to could also slaughter an entire village, cull forests and mercilessly torture his enemies.
“I could also use the host spell and see through their eyes, but it would consume too much mana.”
After walking for a few minutes, Jay’s eyes adjusted to the dark and some other lights revealed themselves in the room.
“More luminous jars?” He wondered, “there must be more staircases going up to the surface?”
*Burrrr~*
Suddenly, a deep creaking echoed throughout the room. A torrent of light flowed into the darkness as a grand door cracked open.
The door was as tall as a three-story building made of metal and stone.
(Move to a pillar and hide!) Jay commanded.
The light didn’t fill the room, but covered most of it, which caused Jay to feel exposed. He and the skeletons dashed to a nearby pillar and waited behind it, vigilantly watching.
Under the light of the grand door, he could clearly see numerous roots all meeting and leading somewhere near the side of the door. All the roots came from their own staircases, though there were some staircases with two sets of roots.
More sounds of marching rolled into the room as multiple knights appeared, leaving the grand doors carrying rusted swords and luminous jars.
“Where are they getting all these fucking jars from?” Jay wondered.
The knights made a long line as they orderly followed one root towards one of the other staircases, which Jay soon thought looked like a line of mana-ants.
“At least they’re not coming this way.” He crept around the pillar, staying out of their vision.
The giant door slowly closed again and darkness washed back through the room, leaving only the glowing line of knights.
Jay patiently waited for them to leave before turning to the skeletons.
“Looks like we’re the only ones here.” He whispered, “Explore the room, don’t touch the roots, remain hidden when the door opens, and bring back whatever you find.”
In the meantime, Jay walked further away from the root. Guiding himself by the light of his own luminous jar, he went to another pillar to hide behind; a precaution in case more knights came along the root he was closest to.
While waiting for the skeletons to search the room, he took a moment to think things through.
“I wonder how that door opens and closes, what kind of mechanism it uses. Surely it’s not simply pushed open..?” he scratched his chin; it was simply too big.