Chapter 981: Going Up All The Way
Garl did not use any special attacking means, and simply opened his mouth to suck everything in. In the blink of an eye, the Abyssal Demons were devoured. Only the few Abyssal Demons that were the furthest away from Garl were lucky enough to leave the devouring range of Garl. The other demons all fell into Garl’s mouth.
After devouring the Abyssal Demons, Garl did not return to the team immediately. Instead, under Lin Li’s command, he moved his bloated body and switched to another direction before opening his mouth and devouring the compact magic spells and formidable Abyssal Demons like he did before.
Looking at the Abyssal Demons on the battlefield that were wiped out by Garl in an instant, Archbishop Martin and the others were glad yet regretful. They were glad that they were on the same side with Garl. Since he had exhibited such a terrifying combat power, he would definitely be of much help during the following operations. The regret was that the way he used to destroy the enemy was indeed wasteful. After all, the Legendary demons had Legendary magical crystals in their bodies.
In Anril, Legendary magical crystals had always been invaluable and hard to obtain even at high prices. Each Legendary magical crystal would be enough to be treated as a heirloom of a family or a force. Although the Brilliance Shrine and the Rotterdam Kingdom were wealthy top forces which had many Legendary magical crystals, the Legendary magical crystals meant just as much to them.
Whenever Garl devoured a Legendary-level Abyssal Demon, it was equivalent to devouring a Legendary magical crystal. Although Archbishop Martin and the others knew clearly that it was someone else’s battle spoil that had nothing to do with them, they still felt the pinch when the Legendary magical crystals disappeared before them.
In the previous battle at the floor below, the Abyssal Demons were either devoured or turned into ashes by the mana tides because of the Lord Devourer. Hence, the expedition did not gain anything in the end. They initially thought that they would be able to obtain some magical crystals on this floor to at least make up for the previous losses, but it now seemed that their plans were about to be foiled again.
Besides, since Garl’s devouring applied to all targets, everything within his devouring range would be sucked into his mouth, be it the Abyssal Demons that were alive or the corpses of the demons that were killed by the Rotterdam Kingdom. The outcome would be that nothing was left behind after peace was restored on the battlefield.
Garl, who had devoured a large number of Legendary-level demons, didn’t care about the looks that others were casting at him. He immediately used the power that he had devoured on transforming the host’s body. His body continued to expand and his mouth also continued to crack open towards both his shoulders, while the crystalline scales on the body that originally looked as fragile as gla.s.s also began to glisten like jewels.
Although Archbishop Martin and the others felt that it was quite a shame, there was nothing that they were displeased with. Actually, in their opinion, it would be an extremely lucky thing if they could survive and leave this place. Completing the expedition would then become secondary, and any other thoughts would be extra.
At the same time, the people of the expedition were filled with even more fear when they looked at the swollen body of Garl. They initially thought that Garl would need a very long time of acc.u.mulation in order to regain his strength after losing the body of the Lord Devourer. However, it was proven that even if Garl did not have that kind of power, he was still a very terrifying existence.
A moment later, Garl had already finished transforming his host’s body, and was wriggling back to the team. He deferentially said to Lin Li, “Respected Master, I, your servant, have done what you commanded.”
However, Lin Li didn’t have much of a reaction to Garl’s att.i.tude. He simply nodded coldly, and said to the rest of the expedition, “Continue going forward.”
Although Lin Li didn’t know much about Garl’s character, he had Connoris, who was the master of conspiracy and deception, by his side. Hence, he had already been reminded, and knew that Garl was the kind who would get all c.o.c.ky and arrogant once he was given some compliments. Although Garl was being restrained by the Soul Contract, and Lin Li did not have to worry about Garl doing anything to harm his interests, he still did not treat him nicely.
However, Garl was not displeased with Lin Li’s att.i.tude at all. Instead, he felt that that was the att.i.tude that a master should have. He began to show off to Angelano. “So, shorty, this is the difference between us. Do you now know why your race was annihilated? You can dream on if you think that you can create a n.o.ble civilization with a few pieces of lousy metal.”
This time, Garl dropped all pretense because he knew from Lin Li’s att.i.tude that the latter had already seen through his tricks. Since pretending to be innocent was no longer effective, there was no point in making things hard for himself. Hence, as soon as Garl returned, he began bickering with Angelano.
“Atrocious. You shameless parasites, you only know how to hide in other people’s bodies and steal from them without any creativity at all. You are the ones who should be annihilated,” Angelano cursed at the ma.s.sive Garl while waving his arms.
“So? All you do is hide inside a steel sh.e.l.l. What’s the difference between you and us?” Garl retorted in disdain while twisting his body and following the team.
Under the lead of Lin Li, the expedition continued to move forward, cracking various magic traps along the way and slaying all sorts of Abyssal Demons that swarmed towards them. Angelano and Garl did not stop arguing. However, they kept it verbal, and neither of them initiated a tussle.
Due to the fact that Angelano and Garl were arguing in ancient language, the rest of the expedition did not know what they were actually arguing about, and it just sounded like gibberish. Of course, they could tell from their tones that they were going against each other.
Lin Li could not be bothered to intervene. As long as they didn’t touch the bottom line, he would let them make whatever noise they wanted. Anyway, they were just rivals that would eventually meet. Even if they did not argue, they would find other ways to fight, and it would be better to just have a verbal argument.
The most dangerous thing about this floor of the Well of the Sun was not those Abyssal Demons, but the countless traps that were hidden deep inside. Compared to the traps inside, the power of the Gate of Sunfall was only moderately high.
Fortunately, having the experience of exploring this place once, Lin Li could safely say that he knew every inch of this place like the back of his hand. Otherwise, even with his Guru-level attainments, he would definitely incur some losses. After all, they were exploring with a large group this time. If there was any danger, the people from the Brilliance Shrine and the Rotterdam might not be able to escape even if Lin Li could do so alone.
Archbishop Martin and the others watched as Lin Li commanded his subordinates to crack the hidden traps one after another. They couldn’t help but break out in a cold sweat. Although they did not research magic traps much, they could still tell from some factors that were similar to mana fluctuations that the explosion of each magic trap would be powerful enough to kill the entire expedition.
The treasure of the Immortal King really wasn’t that easy to obtain! Having come this far, Archbishop Martin had to admit that even if they mobilized all the power of the Brilliance Shrine, including Pope Rosario, it would still be impossible to get this far. They felt lucky to have met Lin Li, but in fact, Archbishop Martin and the others were already used to being this lucky. The only thing they told themselves to do was to follow Lin Li.
During the process of breaking the magic traps, every member of the expedition, be it from the Brilliance Shrine or the Rotterdam Kingdom, had already gradually accepted Lin Li as their supreme leader, and they would subconsciously execute every order of Lin Li’s before remembering that their leader was Archbishop Martin or Master Donald.
Archbishop Martin and the others didn’t say a word about this situation other than smiling bitterly to themselves. After all, their hopes of leaving this place were pinned on Lin Li. Only a fool would offend him because of such a trivial matter at this juncture. Besides, in such a dangerous situation, it was necessary to have a single commander. If they were to be selfish and only look out for themselves, they would end up dying.
In fact, not to mention the members of the two forces, even Archbishop Martin and Donald could almost be considered obedient to Lin Li at this moment. Of course, it wasn’t humiliating for them. After all, Lin Li was a Sanctuary powerhouse, an existence that was on a whole other level that was superior to them.
The only one who was a little reluctant about this was probably Prince Kanber of the Rotterdam Kingdom. Although he was only at the peak of the Legendary-realm, he felt a sense of superiority as the successor of the Rotterdam Kingdom. Besides, it wasn’t impossible for him to enter the Sanctuary-realm in the future. Therefore, Kanber did not have much respect for Lin Li, the Sanctuary powerhouse who was rather mysterious and unheard of. He merely suppressed his emotions a little under the persuasion and request of Donald.
Of course, Lin Li could not be bothered to hold it against him, precisely because Kanber could still be suppressed. After all, he still needed to use the people of the Rotterdam Kingdom as cannon fodder.
With the experience that he had gained before, Lin Li could easily deal with the magic traps that had ingenious designs. They rarely posed an obstacle to the advancement of the expedition. Hence, they advanced through the second floor of the Well of the Sun much more quickly than before.
It probably only took a few hours for them to pa.s.s through the palace and reach the spiral staircase that led upwards to the next floor.
When they saw the spiral staircase, Archbishop Martin and the others almost couldn’t believe their eyes. It was practically the smoothest journey that they had ever since they entered the Sky Castle. They actually did not even suffer any losses.
Of course, in addition to having Lin Li crack the magic traps and magic gears, Garl’s partic.i.p.ation also played a considerable role. Some of the Abyssal Demons that surged towards them were sucked into Garl’s body before they could even cast a single magic spell. After Garl acquired a new host’s body, the expedition did not engage in many battles, and thus did not suffer any losses.
In this situation, the team naturally didn’t need to rest. Under Lin Li’s orders, the expedition adjusted their formation, stepped onto the spiral staircase, and continued to advance to the next floor rapidly. Of course, in the process, Garl and Angelano argued incessantly. The members of the expedition had already gotten used to it.
However, while constantly arguing with Angelano, Garl was also shocked by Lin Li’s performance. In the past thousands of years, the magic traps and magic gears had devoured countless Abyssal Demons, many of which were also peak Legendary powerhouses. Hence, Garl was far more aware of the terrors of the magic traps and gears in the Well of the Sun compared to the others in the expedition.
In Garl’s opinion, Lin Li’s performance was simply magical. He did not need any cannon fodder to carefully explore the path in advance. He did not need any clues, either. Instead, it seemed that he was very certain that the magic gears and magic traps were right where they were, and it seemed that he could break all of them. It was as if he was more familiar with this place than he was with his home.
Garl even felt as if all the magic gears and magic traps had been laid by Lin Li. Otherwise, how could he have disarmed them so accurately?
Actually, even Lin Li himself was a little surprised with how smoothly things were going. It was fine for the same Well of the Sun to appear there. It was also reasonable for the same Abyssal Demons to appear there. However, how could all those magic traps and magic gears be exactly the same?
Lin Li had even discovered some changes that he had made after studying those magic traps during his exploration of the Well of the Sun in the Endless World. At that time, Lin Li explored it alone, and apart from the countless magic traps and gears, he also had to face a large number of Abyssal Demons. Thus, with his mastery of the magic traps and gears, he modified several of them to help him deal with the Abyssal Demons.
The discovery made Lin Li feel like someone had copied the answers to an examination script wholesale, including the name. That had nothing to do with coincidence. Thinking of this, Lin Li couldn’t help but recall the last time he had entered the Sky Castle, during which he even entered the Endless Labyrinth that he had designed. Even the way he left was exactly the same. Lin Li found that to be bizarre and terrifying. How could such phenomena be explained by coincidence?
Although Lin Li had also received a lot of benefits in this world because of these events, such as getting the control crystal of the Sky Castle previously and subduing Garl plus successfully breaking the magic traps and gears on the second floor now, Lin Li was not in the slightest bit elated, because he had no idea what was the secret hidden behind it.