Chapter 348 We Found Your Grandfather!
In here, there was no sun, moon or stars.
Only darkness.
However, claiming that there was no sky in here and that there was only a pitch-black ceiling would be a little incorrect.
If there had been a bird flying in a straight line upwards, it would never reach the ‘ceiling’ even if it flew ten thousand years and rose dozens of thousand miles above the ground.
Still, if one had to say it, the height within this s.p.a.ce was not really significant even if it was endless.
And while there was no sun, moon or star in here, the s.p.a.ce in here (the ground, specifically) was not actually dark.
That was thanks to the ma.s.sive crystal formations that stood over the ground over several or even dozens of meters, each of which glowed dimly in milky-white or emerald radiance.
While the radiance of just one or two crystal pillars would be faint, but like the trees in a rainforest, the countless crystals here were radiating enough light to illuminate every inch of the ground.
When sufficiently elevated, one would see that the ground was actually square like a chessboard, and anyone walking over one edge would appear on the opposite edge, which was why there was no horizon here.
And at the center of the ground was a bottomless, deep crater, the outside of which was covered in a blue net composed of light.
Upon a closer look, innumerable black freakish being were attempting to escape from the crater at bottom of the net, but were firmly stopped by the net!
And beside the net were two figures.
One was a spiny old man who was so skinny that he looked no different from a skeleton covered in human skin from a single glance.
The other was a lanky male elf who did not really look special. “How are things now?” The old man asked then.
His voice was dry and hoa.r.s.e, even hurting to the ears.
Naturally, he was Eleena’s maternal grandfather: Tyler Meredith.
“The Clearance of the Faint Crystal Stratum has changed hands.” The lanky elf—the other automaton which the old man had found in this very elven ruin answered reverently. “According to the blood test, she should be your granddaughter.”
The old man smiled in satisfaction.
“Is that so… well, all I have to do now is continue suppressing these monsters coming from the Deep Wall Stratum.”
He heaved a breath. The elven stone over his chest was not very radiant now, and anyone could imagine that it would go out at any given moment. “I don’t know how long I would last either.”
***
The truth was that the old man’s lifeforce was almost depleted when he triggered the explosion on Crookes, and he would have died if the elven stone did not keep him alive.
And this place was naturally the Faint Crystal Stratum, the only stratum which he could control.
That said, he couldn’t actually control much of it either aside from several automatons, the Pyrocrystal Cannon, and some secondary weapons.
In fact, many automatons that had gone out of control wandered the Faint Crystal Stratum itself. The old man had attempted to wipe them out at first and use the entire stratum as his own warehouse, but he gave up on that after losing two good automatons in his attempts.
And with a single automaton left now, he naturally did not dare to keep goofing around and did the only thing he could: leading the automatons discreetly to the central area to hold back the things coming from the Deep Wall Stratum with the power of the elven stone.
“Master, I seem to hear the sounds of fighting.” The lanky automaton reported to the old man then.
“This is the Faint Crystal Stratum. Without my consent, not even supernatural individuals could enter-let alone ordinary beings.” The old man said, shaking his head.
“But hadn’t you handed the clearance to the young lady?” The automaton asked.
The old man did a double take, only remembering then that the was no longer the one who held clearance over the Faint Crystal Stratum.
Now, anyone could be allowed in to here as the clearance holder pleased.
“Oh no. I forgot to tell her that this place is too dangerous. She shouldn’t have entered so simply!” The old man looked very worried right then.
“The sounds are getting louder. They may be coming in this direction.” The automaton added then.
The old man shook his head again. “Impossible. It took me a hundred years to barely clear a safe trail… how could anyone fight their way here so quickly? And don’t forget about the automatons wandering in the crystal forests!”
Although the automaton beside the old man was human-shaped, the rampaging automatons would devour their own kind, turning into ma.s.sive spiderlike creatures!
Their bodies were as hard as they could move rapidly, able to fire powerful death rays from their single eyes that would detonate anything with devastation even with the slightest brush!
It was worth mentioning that it didn’t detect foes with its eyes, but by sensing vibrations
—the single eye on its head was just a decoration.
“And that’s not all. The maze of the crystal formations becomes more complicated the closer you come to the center.” The old man summed up then. “That is why most groups would never make it here.”
And soon enough, the old man himself could hear human voices nearby, followed by the death rays and ensuing explosions unleashed by the rampaging automatons.
After all, there were more rampaging automatons in the center reaches of the elven ruins.
It seemed that the people who came in for an adventure were not going to survive this wave.
But just as the old man showed a look of regret, he heard more shouts from the same direction.
And for some reason, he had the feeling that the shouting was an effort to hold in laughter instead of panic and terror.
“Where’s Marni?”
“He was vaporized by a beam!”“Mister Marni died so fast this time! And there’s even nothing left of him! This stratum is as good as cleared!”
“Don’t panic, those beam monsters move very slowly! Slip behind them and stab them in the neck… What, no neck? Then hit it in the a.s.s!”
“Oi, Mufasa! What the h.e.l.l are you doing!? Why are you just watching over there! Quick, unleash your Kengyoku power and deflect the beam!”
“You can’t deflect a beam with a sword, d.a.m.n it! Why not try it with your shield!?”
The noises died down another moment later.
Nonetheless, when the old man a.s.sumed that the intruders were wiped out, several figures appeared within sight.
The youth in the lead was holding a long, blazing stick that could have been a torch or a magic staff. The helm he was wearing was ablaze for some reason too, making it appear slightly funny.
His eyes brightened when he saw the old man and turned behind to shout. “Eleena, we found your grandfather!”