These ominous words, along with all the broken bones strewn across the floor resulted in a very chilling atmosphere that might have scared lesser men.
Yet, Daneel and Elanev simply looked at each other and shrugged before walking forward to approach the tunnel, or whatever it was.
There were no embellishments all over the semi-circular cave that they were in, and apart from the hole in the ceiling through which they had just fallen through, there was no other place to go except forward.
Only… Before they could enter the dark depths in front of them, the sound of footsteps could be heard coming from farther inside.
Deciding to wait, they both simultaneously stopped, with Elanev folding his hands and putting on a menacing expression on his face while Daneel simply folded his behind his back and adopted a small smile, as if everything was under his control.
The result of that interaction with Eloise and Xuan was already visible in the way that he carried himself.
Typically, although he did put on the atmosphere of a King when it was needed, he wouldn"t do so in casual situations like these where he would actually be meeting those who were part of the Big Four.
Now, Daneel was most clear on the fact now that his character - the one that he had developed with so much pain and difficulty, was not one to ever be ignored and put aside.
Soon, the footsteps came nearer and nearer until three figures could be seen walking towards them from the tunnel.
With this, it also became clear that the footsteps were much louder than those that they had made, which meant that these three were either doing so on purpose, or that something was different about them when compared to the two of them.
A few moments later, it became clear that the latter was true.
These three were some of the most heavily set men that Daneel had ever seen since coming to this continent.
In his view, they even bypa.s.sed the largest bodybuilders who partic.i.p.ated in tournaments back on Earth.
Their rippling muscles were on full display in the light that was being emitted by the torches all around the cave, and each of them was at least 6 feet tall, which made for a very intimidating image, as if they were primordial monsters who could crush anything they wished under their feet.
Yet, the most peculiar thing was actually their garb.
They were wearing the skin of various beasts, with the one in the middle dressed in the skin of a bear, while the other two had garments made from some sort of leopards and tigers.
Also, they were crudely made, so they barely managed to cover the most important part, with the rest being mostly exposed.
Daneel was even reminded of cavemen as he saw this, as these three also exuded a certain kind of primitive aura that puzzled him.
As soon as they opened their mouth, he even fully expected them to growl instead of speak, but he felt like chuckling to himself when he heard them talking normally.
It was the one in the middle who spoke.
"The Chief welcomes King Daneel. Please follow us."
Saying so, he turned around along with the others and began to walk back in the direction they had just come from.
That was it?
Daneel had been expecting some sort of confrontation or test like the one that they had had to endure from that giant.
Of course, if that happened again, he was much more confident in his chances, as he was now equipped with the treasure trove that could be put to use to accomplish almost anything he wished.
Just from the top of his head, he could think about three or four formations that he could quickly deploy to make each and every attack of the giant useless, which should at least give him enough time to easily make an escape. Even if it was at the Hero level, it would definitely be ineffective in stopping him if he wished to do this.
Hearing Elanev make a sound beside him, Daneel realized that the weird thing was that he had been greeted and welcomed, but Elanev had been completely ignored.
Typically, that might not have been very apparent, but it was so in this case mainly because of the cavemen in front of Elanev who had humphed and looked in a different direction, instead of looking straight ahead and letting his eyes fall on Daneel"s elder brother.
It was definitely peculiar, and Elanev had also noticed this, as he had furrowed eyebrows while he seemed to be converging with the old man in his head.
However, it looked like the old man was no help in this situation, as Elanev simply shrugged once again after meeting his questioning eyes and began walking toward the tunnel.
Well, whatever it was, Daneel expected to find out in a little bit of time while he, too, followed.
Pitch black darkness greeted them, but neither of them was afraid, and they just kept walking forward while ignoring the reflected sounds that almost made them feel as if there were hundreds of people walking in this tunnel, instead of merely just five.
The loud sounds of footsteps of the three in front of them were unmistakable, and even though they faced a few forks along the way which were identified by a glowing signboard that was the only source of light that they saw on their way, that sound of footsteps was enough to let them go in the right direction.
An hour pa.s.sed, and usually, by this time, Elanev would have been bored.
However, that wasn"t the case because of the fact that from some of the roads that they didn"t take…they could hear all sorts of sounds that made them wonder just what the heck was going on on the other end.
Loud screams of pain. Unintelligible shouts of defiance. Bloodcurdling yells of agony.
If Daneel didn"t know better, he might have wondered whether they had stepped foot in h.e.l.l.
Right now, though, he actually had a pondering expression on his face.
The main reason behind this was that he had just detected that they had, at some point, entered a formation that completely restricted any communication to the outside.
In fact, without their knowledge, that formation had also scanned them. Even though it was obviously not advanced enough to be able to check the complexity of their minds, it was pretty effective in detecting them and the number of trinkets on their bodies, using the weak Energy that was given off by them even if they weren"t being used.
The formation was at the Hero level, and as Daneel felt that he had seen something similar before, he asked the system and found out it was actually exactly the same one that was also present in the Sect of Hedon.
It looked like the Big Four seemed to share at least a little bit of knowledge between themselves.
That was actually related to what he was most excited to find out on his trip. Right now, he knew that he was probably at the limit of what he could do in the Central Continent, except for developing what he already had.
As for going on even more journeys of conquest, he knew that this was impossible as he would be defying the core rule that the Central Continent was supposed to follow.
So… The only avenue left for him was the Big Four, but the problem was that even though he had unlocked the third seal, it did not contain any, or at least too much information about the Big Four, as there had been many changes among them in the millennia that had pa.s.sed since the time of the Empire.
Even though the Secret Archives of the G.o.ddess"s Sanctum had been quite thorough, they only detailed the major events in Angaria, with the most information being about what happened to their own Sect.
Even if others of the Big Four were mentioned, it was done so vaguely, making Daneel feel as if the objective behind this was that information regarding these very important organizations of Angaria would not be given up to the enemy if just one of them was breached.
He had to admit that this was smart, but it made things difficult for him, as it meant that he would have to go to the rest of them in order to find out about them, and get a complete picture regarding these age-old organizations.
Two hours later, they finally stopped working, and judging by the distance that they had covered over this time, Daneel realized that they were barely a few hundred meters away from the coast of the Endless Sea.
Only… Even Elanev found out about this, because sea breeze hit their faces just as they began to approach an exit that was very distinctive because of the open sky that could be seen through it.
As soon as all of them finally exited the labyrinth, Daneel and Elanev could not help but pause and suck in deep breaths as they witnessed one of the most fantastic sights of their life.
They seemed to have walked out of the tunnel that was on a mountain, and in front of them was an arching bridge that connected this mountain to another that was almost the same size, while the Endless Sea could be seen below them.
Clearly, Daneel had been wrong in his estimate.
Or… The map that he had been using all this time was the one that was wrong, and this was so on purpose.
On the right, the horizon was covered by dark clouds that were always present above the Endless Sea in which waves that reached at least 30 m in the air could be seen. Even the sound was deafening, and it was almost as if hundreds of blows were being rained down on them continuously, every second, with only the sound reaching them instead of their might.
Below them, the Endless Sea continued onwards to the sh.o.r.e, which was empty.
This made it obvious that this was a peculiar spot on the continent which curved inwards, allowing for these two mountains to be separated in this way.
Finally, looking forward once again, Daneel laid his eyes on the reason behind him feeling so shocked before.
The bridge they were on went straight to the top of the steep mountain in front of them, that looked like it was standing in defiance against the Endless Sea. The Endless Sea"s waves could be seen lapping against its base, which resulted in a very strange sight.
Of course, its most distinctive feature was that at its top was something that Daneel could only use the word "Fort" to describe.
It was four-sided, with four cylindrical towers that each had ma.s.sive cannons of some sort mounted on top of them.
Even from here, Daneel could tell that this fortress was humongous and that its walls were at least 40 m tall.
They were made of some sort of dark rock that almost seem to swallow away all the light that fell on it, giving the structure a gloomy atmosphere.
In the middle of these four walls, though, was the main shocker- it was an edifice that went straight into the sky, and stood at least 80 m tall.
It was obvious that it was a tower of some sort, but from where Daneel stood, it was almost like a sword that yearned to pierce the Heavens.
The three men leading them had also paused on noticing that those that they were responsible for had stopped here, just like many did whenever they first lay their eyes on the glory of their sect.
With pride, the man in the middle once again spoke in a gruff voice.
"Welcome to the Fortress of Unyielding Might. We stand against all those who dare to try and invade this continent. We are the bastion that will continue to survive even if the entire continent falls. We are the hope of Angaria if all else fails, and we are the guardians of the sword that the Emperor, himself, used during his conquests. Feast your eyes, for this is something that very few are lucky enough to see."
Daneel had to take a few moments to recover, but after he did, he decided to do something that would throw those in front of him off, instead of letting them expect his every move.
After all, a reputation of being unpredictable was always good as others would feel wary of him, and he wanted to establish that right away.
Calming himself completely, he smiled as if he was speaking casually and said something that made the man dressed in the bearskin growl and lunge forward to attack.
"All that sounds great. But first, tell me what you"re planning to do with all the blood harvested in the mountain we just crossed. I can tell that you"re taking it from all the Fighters who are being subjected to extreme torture with the promise of growing stronger, but what I don"t get is why you need so much. You aren"t V-, err, I mean, blood-drinking monsters, are you?"
…
Meanwhile, in the Kingdom of Axelor.
The kind minister, who was typically seen with a gentle smile or a deep frown on his face while standing beside the King, was currently wiping the blood that had splattered on his face from the spurting neck that he had just relieved from its duty.
As the headless body in front of him collapsed to the ground, sadness appeared in his eyes, but it instantly vanished and was replaced by determination.
Calming his trembling hands, he held up the sword that had just committed this act and turned around to face the thousands of people who had just gathered here.
"The Royal Family is dead. Long live Axelor!"
As the people cheered in response, the Minister grit his teeth and prepared himself to give the speech that would soon rock the entire Central Continent.