Chapter 265: Underground City
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
"This is..."
As the green light faded, a strange pattern suddenly appeared on the parchment.
Benjamin picked it up and examined it closely. From the crooked lines, he could tell that it was some sort of… map?
The shape of the mountains, the sign of the road and the cross at particular location. He took a few more good looks at it. Yeah, he was sure. This was not just a regular map, but a treasure map.
Benjamin was a little disappointed.
The benefit that came from finding a treasure map was significantly lower since treasure needed to be retrieved. Not to mention, he still had the treasure map of The Abandoned Valley of G.o.ds that was from the ancient times. That map was still useless at this point of time.
Still, he summoned the System and let him compare the topography on the treasure map.
"Hmm... This topography must be from a long time ago. There is no exact match of it now." After a.n.a.lyzing for a moment, the System spoke. "But, there is a location nearby that bears similarities to this topography. It may have under-went some slight changes overtime."
Benjamin was a little surprised. "Nearby?"
If it was close by, he would not mind going there to have a look.
"A few thousand meters to the south of the City of Rayleigh, there is a mountainous area. It looks similar to the topography on this map." The System explained. "The journey is rather short. If you want to go, you can return on the same day."
Even though it was a strange coincidence, but Benjamin relaxed after giving it some thought. The parchment came from the gangsters in the City of Rayleigh. Their treasure would not be located too far away.
What could possibly be there though? For some reason, Benjamin had a bad feeling.
He felt like the ‘treasure’ there might just be the private wealth of the boss of the gang. This could probably be why he cared so much about the parchment, right? Or might it be that there was hundreds of kilogram of explosives in there that could be used to self-ignite? The explosives were enough to blow up an octagonal building and all.
This was rather.... unsettling for a hidden treasure.
After some slight hesitation, Benjamin decided to go and take a look at it. Since it was so close, it would still be good if he could get a little money. If there was any trap, he could use Water Particle Detection to discover the trap early. The trap would be any danger to him then.
The map on the parchment lingered for a while before disappearing without a trace. But the System had already memorized it, so there would not be any problem.
Benjamin kept it properly then left the house. The few mages who went out to complete their mission of hunting Magic Beast had returned successfully. They were resting nearby. After thinking about it, Benjamin decided not to invite them. Instead, he set out alone.
Under the navigation of the System, Benjamin flew all the way out of City of Rayleigh. After more than an hour, he came to the mountainous area which the System talked about.
The place was desolate. The surroundings were empty and bare; even the rare bits of gra.s.s was yellowish without a hint of green. Benjamin flew in the air as he surveyed the area. He could not see any cats or dogs in this area, much less a human being.
He quickly found the location where the cross was labelled on the map.
It was a particularly dead looking mountain wall. The howling wind made the situation seem creepy here. Benjamin descended and looked around. He turned on his Water Particle Detection, but still could not find anything.
"Is this really the place? Did you remember incorrectly?" He could not help but ask.
"Of course this is correct. If you don’t have faith in me, you can take the map out and confirm it for yourself." The System snapped back.
Benjamin was helpless. He took the parchment out and prepared to drip some blood on it, so that it would show the map again. However, to his surprise, just as he took it out, the parchment shone a bright green light once again.
What was happening?
He held the parchment in his hands and immediately the green light shone brighter. It glittered in the grey hills as if it was a s.h.i.+mmering crown.
Benjamin was almost blinded by the light.
Through his squinted eyes, he vaguely saw that this green light seemed to extend towards the direction of the mountain wall.
Benjamin did not hesitate. He swung his hands and heavily slammed the parchment on the mountain wall. Immediately, he heard a loud rumbling noise as if he had just cracked the mountain wall.
Following the noise, the mountain wall too, shone an identical bright green light.
"s.h.i.+t..."
Benjamin was caught off guard and so he shut his eyes. When he finally opened his eyes, a greenish hole had suddenly appeared in the originally smooth mountain wall.
With the appearance of the hole, all the green light disappeared. The parchment that was in Benjamin’s hands had resumed its usual yellowish, normal appearance too.
He stared at the hole with a stunned expression.
What was this?
When the green light burst out, he felt an extremely strong wave of elemental disturbance. It was as if the elements had all gathered at one place and activated some sort of gear.
However, when he used the Water Particle Detection before, he did not feel anything strange from the mountain wall!
Could it be that... this hole had even deceived the Water Particles?
Without a doubt, this was the location of the treasure. This parchment was the treasure map; but at the same time, was also the key to the treasure itself. Without it, those who came hunting for the treasure would have found nothing.
But why? What was the reason for this?
Benjamin felt that he might be thinking himself into a dead end. Regardless of whether it was elemental or magical, there was no way he could figure out the solution right now.
He decided he should focus on the hole in front of him now instead.
After a moment of hesitation, he walked into it.
Even though he knew that the Water Particle spell might not be as reliable as before, but he still casted it regularly to scan everything that was in front of him. With every step he took, his surroundings darkened. Finally, it became so dark that he could not see his fingers if he stretched out his hand.
After walking for approximately ten minutes, another light emerged again.
It was initially very faint but the further he ventured, the brighter it became. It lit up his surroundings like a scene in a horror film. Before long, Benjamin reached the exit of the tunnel. However, he was stunned to see that there appeared to be an underground city right in front of him.
The terrain of the city was so large that it’s boundaries could not be seen in one glance. There were all sorts of weird buildings in front of Benjamin.
Ruptured pillars, deformed statues, and a group of white houses... Without taking note of the green light, Benjamin felt like he was looking at murals that depicted an older generation. The architectural style here was really dated. According to the data in the System’s memory, these buildings should have existed thousands of years ago.
Benjamin could not help but take a deep breath.
He... What the h.e.l.l did he find?
A city from a thousand years ago hidden underground for whatever reasons, or could it be? That this city was originally built underground?
Could there be anybody still staying here?
Suddenly fully alert, Benjamin kept his guard up and carefully walked towards the city. Soon, he was bathed in green light. Right now, he could not help but look around; he felt as if he had just walked into a different civilization.
The antique buildings with Ancient Greek style buildings presented a strange atmosphere as the light lit them up one by one. But, after walking for around five minutes, Benjamin still did not find any living things.
The whole underground city was dead silent just as if it were a cemetery.
He slowly realized what was going on with the green light here.
There were small rocks all over the ground. He picked up the rocks and found that they contained a strange energy. When the energy dispersed, it formed the green light. Benjamin felt that it is harmless to the human’s body, so he did not think too much about it.
Of course, he still kept a few of them for research purposes.
He tried to keep the rocks in his pockets but the green light shone through it. So, he had no other choice but to use a money bag to keep them so that the leather would completely block out the light.
After he kept the prospective research samples, Benjamin continued forward.
However, just as he reached the city center, he suddenly spotted a figure that resembled a human at the edge of his Water Detection spell.