Chapter 414 - 14: Curiosity

After explaining his actions, the gray-eyed youth fell silent for a moment before slowly revealing a truer reason. "Besides, even if the world were to be destroyed in an instant, I would still be curious—curious about the truth behind it all. Just like right now, I’m still curious about what lies at the very bottom of the Maze."

"After all, according to the order sung in that ballad, the next to appear should be the ’Fire in the Earth’... Does this have anything to do with the fact that the Maze gets hotter the deeper you go? I can’t help but wonder."

As he said this, he even laughed, a simple and pure joy in the sound. "My father once told me that humanity’s most important virtue is curiosity... Whether it’s high in the sky or deep in the earth, humans want to explore, to venture into the unknown."

"Perhaps this is also why, even though the first few layers of the Maze are enough to provide for people’s needs, so many humans, even at the world’s end, still strive to explore its deeper levels."

At this moment, Su Zhou had already ascended to the 5th Layer of the Maze. He saw numerous adventurers exploring this layer, gathering information, scurrying about like ants in the vast Maze.

Unlike the surface Shelter City, which was filled with a heavy, gloomy air, here in the depths of the Underground Maze, Su Zhou saw a vibrant energy.

Although Duke Naisel’s exclusive expedition team had long ago cleared a path to deeper regions, the myriad details throughout the Maze were not something a single vanguard team could uncover. That was information that could only be pieced together, bit by bit, through the continuous searching of countless adventurers.

’Human curiosity, huh...?’ Su Zhou felt that this instinct, which couldn’t be suppressed even by the despair of the world’s end, was rather romantic. In any case, he quite liked it. ’At least it shows that this world, even though it seems like everyone is just waiting around to die, actually has some life left in it.’

’Thinking of it that way, I feel motivated enough to fight for these ordinary people who are struggling so hard to live, even if it’s not for my own purposes.’

With this thought, Su Zhou returned to the surface and flew toward Naisel City.

But as he flew back toward the city, Su Zhou faintly noticed something—the distant sky had grown gloomy and dark.

An oppressive aura of death drifted from the far distance.

’Could it be the Undead gathering?’

Although Su Zhou had been cultivating in the Underground Maze recently, that didn’t mean he was unaware that large numbers of Undead now roamed the surface of Tartadis. Some time ago, he had even made a special trip out into the wilderness to see for himself what was so special about these Undead.

The result was disappointing: they were no different from the Resentful Spirits and wandering souls on Earth. In short, they were merely the lingering resentments of the masses who had died in the apocalypse; it was just that such Undead were especially easy to form because the world itself was gradually decaying.

And just as Resentful Spirits instinctively attack humans, great numbers of Undead, once gathered, would naturally gravitate toward the Shelter Cities where humanity congregated, leading to sieges. The dense aura of death in the distance, therefore, made Su Zhou suspect it was the prelude to an Undead siege.

However, when Su Zhou arrived at the Duke’s Mansion, which was now mostly repaired, he was about to share this news with Elias and ask his opinion. But before he could, Su Zhou received an utterly shocking report instead.

"What? The Water God Believers massacred a city for a ritual sacrifice?!"

Even Su Zhou was stunned as he watched Elias—his expression far too solemn for his age—deliver the news. "The Mickelson Castle Shelter City was slaughtered to the last soul, used as a sacrifice to restore the Water God’s Divine Power... No wonder the aura of death was so heavy... But how could they do such a thing?!"

"This is the apocalypse, after all, isn’t it?"

The young Duke seemed to be forcing himself to stay calm, trying to make a dark joke, but it was clear from his whitened knuckles that he himself found nothing funny about it.

After a moment of silence, Elias sighed, but determination returned to his eyes. "I don’t know how effective the ritual was, but without a doubt, the Water God’s power has increased dramatically. And their next target is us... I originally thought that, at worst, I would be the only one to die. But now, it seems that’s not the case."

Su Zhou’s reaction, however, was far simpler.

"They’re dead."

A raging fire seemed to ignite in the depths of his violet-blue Dragon Pupils as the Evil-Devouring Demon Lord declared:

"—Nothing in heaven or on Earth can save them now."