novelraw Chapter 828 - 827 - Swiss Cheese
Chapter 828 - 827 - Swiss Cheese
Lind did not stop long at the caverns. He affirmed all were ok and then left again. Hope and Lis were begging him to stay but he smiled and said he had business to take care of.
He could no longer put off a visit to the citadel and take a look at that opening to the Sacred Paths. They had not come yet but they had clearly been in contact with the dragons.
He would not be passive any longer.
He flew off to the west with a promise to return as soon as he could. Orion was still tied up but he doubted the demon would be any trouble anymore.
The ancient forests stretched on but he finally saw signs of small towns before he sensed the first barrier setup to detect intruders.
It was fairly simple and effective but he frowned as he looked at it. It was clearly older than a million years ago. It was likely rebuilt from the original owners of the citadel but whoever maintained it was doing a horrible job.
His Eyes easily found gaps opening and closing that an entire horde of beasts could slip through if they wished.
He pierced the first layer and moved on. It took several days of flight before the next wards came up that were far more densely packed than the first.
Still, it was clear that whoever made it was not doing well. The gaps were actually not from breaking down but clearly inept or improper construction.
He made sure to confirm there were no traps before shaking his head.
These defenses were pathetic.
The Starbreaker Empire had actually been far more impressive in comparison. The horrific cost was no doubt high to maintain them, but at least they worked.
All the way to the massive city at the heart of their lands, he found barely functional wards or traps. They all were just that side of stability and if he desired, he could unravel them all with just his strength.
His own defenses worked perfectly well to keep him hidden and unseen. The sprawling cityscape was divided up like most cultivation cities. There were spirals of smoke and the acrid chemical smell of alchemical laboratories. The sound of pounded steel in other areas showed where the refiners were. The massive fluctuation of Qi showed the formation masters.
He found it odd he could not feel any weavers but the gift was both rare and difficult to advance in the current circumstances. Elixir masters could be mixed in with pill makers but Forgers should have stood out.
Yet, he felt nothing like Forging going on anywhere. Why? Was it somehow impaired in the current environment?
The other difference he noted was the faint trace of complete Laws. They were limited but the effect over time could be felt. Compared to the ragged humans he had been used to seeing, the closer he got to the center, the healthier they looked at higher realms.
They still had issues and it was clear their lifespans were stunted from what he could tell as well.
It was only when he got close to the large spire at the heart of it all that he felt a drastic chance. The spire had a large base that eventually became a narrow point at its top. It was cracked and repaired in many places.
He narrowed his Eyes once more and frowned. He had expected far better defenses but the closest thing he could equate to what he saw was swiss cheese. It was full of holes not just in the wards but the very structure was a hodgepodge of varying quality of formations.
It was only at the very center structure that he found intact defenses. They were only at mid grade 6, however, so they were no obstruction to him at all.
"Why are they so weak?" Being so close to the opening of the Sacred Path should have afforded them some impressive abilities but it was almost comical how weak they were.
[Master, a dragon is nearby.] Haro's words were a surprise to him.
His own senses for dragons should be far beyond anyone else but he sensed nothing. It was only after stretching to his very limits he found something but it made him confused.
[I don't think that is a dragon exactly.] It felt odd. It was like there was a dragon but he could not find its body despite locating its aura. Was it a soul?
It did not feel like the other souls he had encountered in his journeys.
He flew slowly over towards it but then froze. It was a large open area and the concentration of Laws had skyrocketed. He had found the Sacred Path opening!
It was exposed to the air?!
He was about to go closer but his instincts suddenly screamed at him to not move at all!
"I see, that is how it is guarded." He was not sensing a soul freed from a body, but a projection either by formation or perhaps an artifact right at the mouth of the Sacred Path.
If he took one more step, it would no doubt activate.
[Have you ever seen something like that before?] Lind hoped Haro would know something about it but he felt the mental shrug.
He saw that unlike anywhere else, the defense of the Sacred Path was whole and strong. He could not even try to sneak through at all.
He returned to the spire and began to examine it. He could see meeting rooms, quarters for servants, and generally how the simplistic design had been expanded to make luxury for the leaders and consign the weaker into basically closets.
What he realized was there were no external entrances at all. There were windows but too small for him to sneak in. It was the only strength in the defenses he examined.
He then flew down until he saw an entrance with 4 guards looking over the flow of the crowd moving in and out the massive arched doorways. He examined the defenses and sneered.
It was just as bad as the rest but added a conflicting formation that was clearly looking for possible Fiends but it was done so poorly it interfered with the basic detection arrays.
He did not even have to time his entrance and just floated in above the heads of the crowd. The formations tried to detect him but canceled each other out.
Once inside, he moved carefully through the wide halls until he ascended to the 5th level. He finally encountered real security but it had a massive hole in it.
There were secured doors but they were sealed by simple locking arrays that even a grade 3 formation master in his Sanctuary Empire could breeze through blindfolded.
He waited until someone authorized placed a token on a plinth before adjusting the timing to let him pass through with the person going in. No one even noticed the doors did not close right away.
[Just pathetic.] Lind sent the thought to Haro who could only agree. The Fiends had not been able to resist him but if he had not been their weakness, he would have extreme difficulty in even breaching that first wall.
It took him the better part of 2 days to get to the final tower entrance where he actually had to try and break a formation to get in. The door was older than any had seen thus far and likely was an original structure.
It was darkened and treated wood with dark metal fixtures to make the handle and a plate with an indentation in it. All of it seemed similar but he noticed a critical difference.
"There is a key artifact not shown in the door." Lind mumbled the words but he had no way to know what the artifact was. It could be a piece of jewelry, a storage treasure, or even just an identification token.
The plate likely needed such a token but it seemed slightly different as well. Unlike previous doors, it had a faint impression on the surface the others did not have.
A snake?
He smirked as his emerald Qi appeared and mimicked the shape until the door glowed and opened.
He waited to see if anything triggered but it seemed fine. It seemed he could advance yet he was missing the key artifact. He could not mimic something he had no reference for.
He pulled out the last formation plate from Annabelle. It may not work but he had to try it here if nowhere else. It was low grade 7 and happily the Laws were not ripped out when he activated it.
If he had been hard to find before, he practically stopped existing so far as any cultivator was concerned.
He took a step forward and nothing happened as the door closed behind him. The glow of Qi showed him the seal had reactivated safely with no other effect.
He slowly ascended until he reached a room with very restrained decorations but he finally found what he had been hunting for.
The essence of a dragon faintly came from a desk on his right. He did not immediately move to retrieve it as something warned him he was being watched.
More accurately, the room was ready to attack anyone unauthorized to be there.
He was about to try and find the formation eye when a voice caught him off guard.
"Well, all those defenses seem a waste of time. Not sure where you are exactly but I know you are here." A frail old woman slowly rose from the bed. She was so rail thin he had not even known she was there.
His aura was a possible trigger to any trap so he had not actively scanned the room too much, yet the white staff in her hands had what looked like a snake's head on top of it. Its eyes glowed brightly but he felt shocked to know it was high grade 7!
"Well, going to keep being rude?" Her white hair was snow white and framed her face almost like a cloud.
[Master, flex your aura.] Haro spoke up and Lind trusted him. His skin rippled with emerald scales as his draconic aura filled the room. The staff instantly went dark and the formations actually acknowledged him!
He suddenly felt a connection to most of the citadel just like that?!
The old woman looked pale but then coughed up blood! It was not random either as his eyes narrowed.
"You are at the end of your life, Senior. My apologies for my rude entrance. I am called Lind Frey. I believe you were looking for me?" He dismissed the formation plate and appeared next to her bed. He presented her with an elixir with shimmering golden sparks inside of it. "Drink that and we can talk."
He summoned a chair and waited. The confrontation with the citadel had begun.