Chapter 377: Talons
Chapter 377: Talons
For a fraction of a second, Liam wished he hadn’t learned to understand the world so much.
Grace’s annoyance highlighted a detail Liam hadn’t immediately seen. The two women were foundation experts, so their rank 2 items made them appealing marks to their former allies, but there was something else to their kowtows.
Eugene had been the one to grant those foundation experts their privileged status, clearly in exchange for sexual favors. Now that he was gone, the two women had set their eyes on Liam.
In and of itself, that wasn’t really a problem. Liam would have disregarded the matter as he had always done in the past if it weren’t for its second-order effect.
The two women weren’t exceptional beauties, but they were far from ugly. Still, Liam couldn’t feel the slightest interest or attraction toward them, which didn’t apply to Grace, as if shouting how special she was to him.
With how furious Liam was, he didn’t even consider his internal conflict. Melissa left the equation entirely. Liam’s hatred seethed when recalling how someone so precious to him had been willing to treat herself.
The trio could only comply. They had no choice, but not all hope was lost. If they proved themselves useful, the invaders might see their value and take them under their protective wing.
Sadly, that didn’t really apply to the two foundation experts. Realistically, they could only offer one thing, and the girlfriend seemed more inclined to behead them than to consider the matter.
Instead, the rooting expert got on his best behavior, wearing a tense smile while leading the group back inside the hill, describing any notable location.
"This is the Resonating Crystal," The middle-aged man announced before a head-sized, transparent, triangular mineral lifted by a wooden tripod. "Once set, this rank 2 item can beat any rank 2 perception-oriented technique."
"This is the general warehouse," The rooting expert declared after entering an underground hall. "It’s where the Brigade kept its supplies."
"Trades weren’t the Brigade’s forte," The middle-aged man exclaimed once reaching a narrow room filled with sheets and scrolls, "But we kept records of everything as best as we could."
Grace and Liam never once stopped to inspect those areas. They didn’t even nod. They just stored everything without as much as a review, planning to handle that part later.
As expected, the Brigade’s conditions weren’t great. Except for the Resonating Crystal, it barely looked like a gathering of cultivators.
Chances were that whatever defensive measure the hill’s slopes had was now gone, too, looted during the scattering. Both Liam and Grace knew greed very well. It was actually a miracle no one had gone back inside mid-battle to plunder before the pair could.
Nevertheless, there was a reason for that, which became evident at the end of the tour.
The tunnel that led to the deepest part of that underground maze broadened into a half-circular chamber cut off by a rocky wall. The area had no lanterns, but a yellow glow illuminated it.
A dim, murky mass blocked what seemed to be a passage at the wall’s center. The substance reeked Qi on par with the axe, revealing its nature as a magical item despite being one of the oddest ones Liam had ever seen.
The mass looked both solid and mushy. Liam couldn’t know for sure without touching it, but his superhuman perception flagged it as an unnaturally dense slime.
Getting closer to the mass revealed an additional detail. Its murkiness tried to hide it, but its glow had a specific source. The slime merely hindered the light coming from a central, fist-sized shape floating among it.
"This is the path to Brigade’s vault," The rooting expert explained, "And the spring. Bos-. Battle-Axe had this seal commissioned from an inscription master."
Magical items could have dangerous effects, but Liam had a rank 3 weapon on his side. He glanced at the fan, and the latter immediately shot at the mass.
The fan cut through the mass’ surface, but soon released high-pitched whines. It tried to dig deeper, and even succeeded, but only by a few centimeters.
Meanwhile, Liam heard the fan’s struggle and complaints in his mind. Its blades fell prey to the dense slime, hindering its movements, even preventing it from unfolding and folding freely.
"The seal is specific against blades," The rooting expert hurriedly added, gasping. "It also sends shocks to its surroundings."
The warning more than sufficed to explain the challenge.
The yellow mass didn’t block the blades. It made their job harder, wasting precious time. Cutting it one piece at a time would work, but it would also take hours or days, even with the fan.
Instead, trying to blow the mass open would cause a cave-in, burying that entire place.
Of course, that obstruction wasn’t absolute. It was only a rank 2 item after all, but it did vouch for Eugene’s wits. With the harpoons, the Resonating Crystal, and that seal, he had done a decent job with the hill’s defenses, at least by lone cultivators’ standards.
"How do we open it?" Grace asked among the fan’s whining.
The middle-aged man lowered his head, fear seeping into the words he didn’t want to speak. "Only Battle-Axe knew."
Even in death, those defenses were serving their purpose. The news of the Brigade’s fall might spread to any force eyeing the spring, so Liam and Grace couldn’t waste time slowly digging through.
Grace’s glare at the yellow mass intensified. She didn’t want to give up on what promised to be the hill’s main loot, her greed aiding her review of everything she owned to find a way out of that predicament.
Still, the process came to an abrupt stop when Grace saw Liam grab the struggling fan, forcefully pulling it out of the dense slime and releasing it.
The fan flew whining to Grace, and she drew her handkerchief to welcome it in her hands, even wearing a small smile as she started polishing it. Liam hadn’t said anything, but his body language had been enough for Grace to put her entire trust in him.
Liam summoned his pipe and started smoking, the dark fumes he blew out prompting the women and rooting expert to take a wary step back. He raised his left hand in the meantime, closing his eyes to concentrate.
Black Qi slowly escaped Liam’s hand. Initially, his energy dispersed in the environment, but a gradual change unfolded as he puffed from the pipe.
Green hues slowly merged with the area’s dim illumination. Liam’s fingers seemed to grow as his Qi solidified around them, wrapping them inside what eventually became long, curved talons.