Chapter 376: The White Lion
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“I knew you guys would be back,” said the Labyrinth Watcher while staring at Gao Peng.
It stared at Gao Peng with a smile while bending its huge body forward. Its red face made its smile seem even more terrifying.
Gao Peng was accompanied by more familiars compared to the previous time. One of the Labyrinth Watchers only took a glance at them but didn’t say a word.
“These are my familiars. Would there be a problem if they were to come with me?” Gao Peng let Dumby ask the question.
“No problem at all.” The Labyrinth Watcher nodded slowly and then turned away to guide them along the way.
Gao Peng looked at the back of the Labyrinth Watcher and didn’t say anything. He had let Dumby say the word ‘familiar’ deliberately. If the Labyrinth Watcher had never seen a monster trainer or a familiar, then it would have shown a different reaction, but it seemed that the Labyrinth Watcher had already known the roles of a familiar and monster trainer. Therefore, this meant that the human beings here had also been monster trainers…
“This guy is really tall,” Xu Heti whispered to Gao Peng.
The Labyrinth Watcher was nearly 65 feet tall. It would be considered a giant monster even in the Earth Star that was full of mutant monsters and familiars.
As most monsters were long in size, it was rare to see monsters with such a height.
Gao Peng, who knew Stripey’s height, gave a perfunctory answer. “It could be taller.”
He pinched the beard beside the nose of the Treasure Sniffing Rodent gently while caressing it. “Have you memorized the route?”
“Yes!” The Treasure Sniffing Rodent nodded wildly while scrunching its nose, moving its eyes, and firmly memorizing the future route in its mind.
The maze was huge. Gao Peng had been walking for three hours but still hadn’t reached the destination.
The Treasure Sniffing Rodent gawked at the road underneath its feet. Its mind went blank.
“Road… Road… Forward, left, right… Who am I? Where am I? What am I doing?
“Oh! My master told me to memorize the route! Front left, back right, left and left front…”
The walls around the maze were still the same height, 65 feet high. There were some vines growing on the wall, some with fat brown fruits the size of a watermelon.
[Plant name]: Breadfruit
[Plant use]: Consumable, it’s rich in nutrients and water.
After gaining permission from the Labyrinth Watcher, Gao Peng plucked two breadfruits and threw them to Xu Heti. He peeled one for himself, just like he was eating a coconut. Along with the flesh inside, he drank the juice and pulp.
Xu Heti was a little worried that Gao Peng would eat fruits from an unknown source. The chairman wasn’t afraid of getting poisoned at all. How could he eat just anything?
“Ah? Minister Xu! Do you want to eat this?” Gao Peng replied vaguely, with the pulp still inside his mouth.
Xu Heti, who was used to drinking boiled water from his kettle at home, smiled awkwardly. “I’m not hungry.”
However, the Golden Dazzling Light Boxing Champion Kangaroo grabbed the breadfruit after hearing its owner saying that he wasn’t hungry. It firmly hugged the breadfruit with its left arm and broke it in half with its right fist.
Thunk! A hole was made in the breadfruit.
It held the fruit and drank in big gulps. The overflowing juice dripped from the edge of its lips.
“Are we there yet?” Xu Heti had rheumatic pain in his leg. He rubbed the sweat off of his forehead.
While he was speaking, the Labyrinth Watcher who was leading the way suddenly stopped after the next corner.
Goldie, who swayed behind the Labyrinth Watcher, had stopped too late to prevent its head from hitting the heel of the Labyrinth Watcher. It bounced and fell on the ground, shaking its head in confusion and waiting to see clearly what was in front of it. Goldie widened its eyes when it found that it had fallen after knocking into the big guy in front of it.
You were trying to touch me, Goldie! Goldie instantly became furious.
While it was thinking of kicking the guy, it was dragged along by Gao Peng. “Don’t make trouble. Be nice.”
Goldie stared at Gao Peng and sighed in confusion.
The gap between the two walls was in front of them. At first, he thought that there was another wall behind the gap. However, when Gao Peng walked over, he found that it was no longer a wall, but a rough stone temple.
The grand hall was ten feet high and propped up by several gray-white stone pillars. There was also a staircase leading to the grand hall. The s.p.a.ce between each step of the stone staircase was at least ten feet.
What was even more peculiar was that the entire stone hall was sealed with ice.
The thick ice covered the entire stone hall. Rough ice crystals had formed into several shapes, and the crimson red sky dyed the crystals a blood red.
The solemn, desolate, and dreadful feeling of the obsolete building spread.
“Our master is sealed in the hall,” said the Labyrinth Watcher.
“Are you hoping that I could wake up your master?” Gao Peng frowned. This ice couldn’t be ordinary ice. The temperature in the labyrinth wasn’t unbearable, although definitely under eighty degrees Fahrenheit. However, the ice had still remained frozen for so many years. They were certainly not ordinary ice crystals. They might cause unpredictable consequences if agitated.
“But I don’t know how to remove the seal. It can’t be as simple as burning it with fire.” Gao Peng looked at the Labyrinth Watcher.
Dumby relayed the message on his behalf.
The Labyrinth Watcher lowered his head and looked at Gao Peng, its dark eyes unfathomable. After a moment of silence, it spoke with a rusty voice. “Our master was not sealed by an enemy. He sealed himself. Before he went to sleep, he told us to bring monster trainers to the palace if they came here someday. It could be the only way to wake him up.”
“Goldie. I want you to come in with me.” Gao Peng brought Goldie inside after thinking.
The Labyrinth Watcher watched Gao Peng silently as he was bringing his familiar in. He went silent for a while and suddenly said, “Are you going to bring the rest of your familiars along?”
Gao Peng stopped and looked at the Labyrinth Watcher. “No. I’ll just bring one.”
…
After watching Gao Peng completely enter the palace, the Labyrinth Watcher turned his head and looked at Xu Heti and Dumby, then s.h.i.+fted his gaze back in silence.
…
The staircase of the stone temple was completely frozen. When Gao Peng stepped on it, he could only feel the force of frozen ice pa.s.s from his feet to his entire body.
Gao Peng’s feet felt like jelly, and he could feel that his bones were completely frozen.
Gao Peng felt unsuccessful. “What’s wrong with this ice? How could it be so cold?”
Although the damage dealt by the ice elements was transmitted to Goldie beside him, it made Goldie’s purple glowing body’s volume gradually expand.
However, the ice element couldn’t be dispelled. This was an additional effect of the low temperature. After a while, Gao Peng felt like his calves were cramping.
“Elemental barrier.”
A golden elemental barrier from Goldie emerged on Gao Peng’s body surface. The coldness of his surroundings was blocked by the barrier. Gao Peng became much more relaxed as he walked.
The stone temple wasn’t big, with only a few small rooms. The windows around the stone temple were frozen by thick ice crystals, which made the stone temple a little dim.
There was a huge corpse lying there in the middle of the hall. From the angle where Gao Peng was standing, he couldn’t see the true appearance of the body, but he could see blood red hair frozen in the ice.
There was a huge frozen armchair made of ice in the center of the grand hall. On the frozen armchair, there was a white lion the size of a palm crawling in silence with its eyes closed.