Chapter 321: Sand Castle (Part 2)

Immediately after, a white vapor rose from the great hammer!

Li Miao didn’t recognize this Combat Skill. Brother Mangzi must have gotten it from the two-race battlefield or some previous instance.

But, knowing Brother Mangzi’s habits, it was probably a charged Combat Skill that increased Attack Power.

Seeing this, Black Mountain Little Demon shook his head. “It’s not that easy to bre—”

His words were cut short.

With a BANG, Brother Mangzi shot toward the surrounding wall like a golden cannonball.

THUD—

With a tremendous crash, the wall was directly smashed into rubble by the immense force, sending dust and sand billowing everywhere.

“Holy shit?” “Huh?” “That actually worked?”

Everyone’s jaws dropped in utter disbelief.

They had thought Brother Mangzi was going to make a fool of himself again, but they never expected him to unleash his might and smash the wall to pieces.

Li Miao and Shore were also dumbstruck, exchanging glances.

‘We really underestimated Brother Mangzi.’

The most sophisticated walls often require only the most primitive methods to get past…

“Hurry up and get in! The wall will repair itself in a bit,” Brother Mangzi urged instinctively.

“Don’t worry, Brother Mangzi. This instance is different. Things don’t repair themselves here.”

The group found it a little funny.

It seemed Brother Mangzi did this sort of thing often when he ran instances…

After breaking through the obstacle of the main gate and the high wall, the group successfully entered the Sand Castle grounds and saw the main building in the center—the castle made of sand.

But the castle’s main doors were still shut tight.

“Should I continue?”

Brother Mangzi looked at the group, seemingly addicted to destroying buildings.

But before Faraway and the others could respond, a trembling voice suddenly echoed from a balcony at the top of the Sand Castle.

A member of the Sea Star Race, dressed in tattered noble attire and with a pained expression, stared down at the group with hateful eyes.

Clearly, he was the Golden Sand Venerable Lord.

“Outsiders… more outsiders…”

“What do you want?! Why, why have you come to disturb me!”

“The great Painful Controller would never deign to… ah… deceive.”

The Golden Sand Venerable Lord seemed to be suppressing some unspeakable agony. The muscles of his body trembled with every word he spoke, and when he became agitated, he cried out in pain uncontrollably.

Yet the hatred and loathing in his eyes did not diminish in the slightest.

“Just a little more time… just give me a little more time… and I can bring my beloved, my children, back to my arms…”

“Then… we can go and find a new home… and never have to suffer this pain again…”

“We don’t need you to meddle in our affairs!!!”

The Golden Sand Venerable Lord’s eyes grew rapturous, as if he were already lost in his own fantasy. But it wasn’t hard to see that something was wrong with his mental state.

Well then.

The players had been pondering the loopholes in Sand Reef’s previous words.

But now, after hearing what the Golden Sand Venerable Lord had to say, it wasn’t hard to realize that his refusal to leave this place was indeed intentional.

For the sake of his wife and children.

Sand Reef was likely influenced by him as well.

The players exchanged glances, conferred in low voices, and made a decision.

“You’re the Golden Sand Venerable Lord, right?” Li Miao walked up to the Sand Castle’s entrance, took a deep breath, and shouted, “Do you know where the Broken Core is?”

“If you can hand over the Broken Core, perhaps we can leave each other in peace and not interfere with your plans.”

Li Miao was naturally speaking for the players.

Their only purpose here was the Broken Core; everything else was secondary.

They weren’t about to make the plight of the Sea Star Race their main objective just because they’d witnessed their misery. Helping them find release was, at best, something they might do on the side.

“The Broken… Core?”

The Golden Sand Venerable Lord paused, as if he’d remembered something. He grabbed his own arm tightly, enduring wave after wave of pain.

He suddenly slammed his head hard against the balcony until he was bleeding profusely, forcibly making himself a bit more lucid.

But contrary to his intentions, faced with the players’ demand, he roared in fury.

“There is no… there is no Broken Core!”

“Get lost!!!”

“Or I will kill every last one of you! I will use your bodies and your pain to trade with the great Painful Controller!”

The Golden Sand Venerable Lord shrieked madly as a black torrent erupted from his chest and rushed toward Li Miao.

Li Miao’s pupils contracted. He dodged instinctively, narrowly avoiding the attack.

But the Golden Sand Venerable Lord had already vanished from the balcony.

‘This NPC is insane.’

That thought immediately popped into the players’ heads.

Luo Ge retracted his gaze.

His senses had been tingling more and more strongly for the Broken Core, and it was even more pronounced now that he was in front of the Sand Castle. The Broken Core was clearly located within it…

It was indeed possible that the Golden Sand Venerable Lord didn’t know about the Broken Core.

But… no matter what, Luo Ge was determined to obtain the Broken Core!

With that thought, his expression became calm, and he directly updated the players’ quest.

[Special Quest Updated: Seize the Broken Core in the Sand Castle.]

Although the message wasn’t explicit.

But upon seeing it, the players understood almost without thinking: the Broken Core was in the Sand Castle.

“Faraway, what’s the plan?”

Everyone turned their eyes to Faraway.

“Split into teams. Communicate on channel.”

Faraway quickly assigned roles and then looked at Brother Mangzi.

“Charge.”

“Alright!” Brother Mangzi chuckled upon hearing this.

A moment later, the Sand Castle trembled violently as a large hole was smashed into its wall.

The group filed in, entering directly into the main hall.

Faced with the many branching paths in the Sand Castle’s great hall, the group didn’t hesitate. They split up as instructed by Faraway, with the main force naturally heading upward to find a trace of the Golden Sand Venerable Lord.

Luo Ge’s partner was, as usual, Li Miao.

Using the stairs, the two of them quickly reached the second floor of the Sand Castle.

But the scene on the second floor made even Luo Ge frown.

Rows of stone containers shaped like bathtubs held corpse after corpse. They were all different in appearance, but each was mutilated and had died a miserable death, emitting a thick, foul stench.

And on the wall hung a statue of a Sea Star with a pained expression, its heart and head nailed through.

It seemed the Golden Sand Venerable Lord was trying to make sacrifices to the so-called “Painful Controller,” but he probably didn’t know what the entity actually looked like.

Though it was gory, the two didn’t encounter any monsters after searching the rooms and corners. They only found some personal belongings covered in bloodstains and wipe marks.

These were clearly the belongings of the Golden Sand Venerable Lord’s wife and children.

He had wanted to wipe them clean, but the blood on his hands only made them filthier.

‘If we investigate carefully, we might be able to find the cause of death for his wife and children.’

But Luo Ge didn’t have time for that right now.

“Let’s go!”

Seeing no trace of the Golden Sand Venerable Lord, Luo Ge directly signaled for Li Miao to continue upward.

…

On the outskirts of the Sand Castle, Shore muttered something and his body dissolved into Starlight. When he reappeared, he was on the roof of a building on the castle’s periphery.

After a fruitless search, just as he was about to leave, he heard a faint tapping sound.

‘Where is that tapping coming from?’

Shore was a little surprised. After listening carefully, he confirmed the direction. It seemed to be coming from a small house on the outskirts of the Sand Castle.

He quickly reported this discovery to the others.

My Son Failed, But I’m On Shore: “@Faraway, there’s a tapping sound in a room on the outskirts of the Sand Castle. Should I go check it out?”

Poems and the Faraway Place: “You can. Go and come back quickly. Message if anything happens.”

After getting Faraway’s approval, Shore once again activated Mithros’ Replacement and headed toward the source of the sound.

…

The players rushed all the way, encountering no monsters to obstruct them, only some rather horrifying scenes.

They quickly reached the spiral staircase leading to the top floor of the Sand Castle but stopped halfway up.

The upper half of the staircase had been destroyed, leaving a large gap between them and the top floor. Remnants of black and red painful power lingered on what was left.

And the Golden Sand Venerable Lord was currently guarding the top of the stairs, staring at them fixedly, like a beast guarding its territory.

“You will! Never! Get up here!!!”

BOOM—

As he spoke, another torrent of pain erupted from his chest, attacking the group.

However, the farther it traveled, the weaker its power became. By the time it reached Li Miao at the front, the painful impact had already dissipated on its own.

The Golden Sand Venerable Lord hadn’t sent monsters to block their path, nor had he set up any grand Illusion Realms or traps. He was actually just using this somewhat comical method to stop them.

Somehow, the scene was inexplicably comedic.

“…”

The group was somewhat silent.

“Pfft!” Niuniu couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

“What are you laughing at?” Brother Mangzi frowned, looking at the completely destroyed staircase above. “How are we supposed to get up there in this situation? It’s not like we can fly.”

Fortunately, Faraway spoke up at this moment. He had no time to waste and directly started giving orders.

“Attack the surrounding walls. Make one side higher and one side lower. We’re bringing the top floor down.”

Hearing this, Brother Mangzi and the others had a sudden realization.

The Golden Sand Venerable Lord could destroy the stairs, so they would destroy the walls.

If he wouldn’t let them go up, then they would just make him come down, wouldn’t they?