Chapter 263 Three Sides
Step. Step. Step.
Zayne moved quickly through the forest like a shadow, heading for the Knights and the Crusader. After a while, he got very close to them, hiding behind a tree, but no one noticed him.
'This amulet is really doing its job... I can sense how powerful this Crusader's aura is, so he obviously would have noticed me under different circumstances.' Zayne pondered with a slight frown.
For the next few minutes, the knights moved cautiously, as to their right was a ledge that could easily fall off if they didn't watch their movements.
To the left was a steep wall, very high, it would take a long time to climb it, so the knights just followed a thin path, pressing themselves against the wall.
Sometimes the knights would look down and gulp, even though there was a lake below, because of the height the water would be stronger than steel, and no one could survive such a fall. Perhaps only their leader could not worry about their safety.
"Mr. Eger, are you sure we shouldn't ask for support?" One of the Fate Knights asked, following Crusader.
Eger nodded, "We don't have time for that. We knew that someone might use Chaos Crystal soon, whoever did this has been preparing it for some time now. Moreover, we have enough firepower to handle any opponents."
Fate Knight grumbled, "What if Apostle comes here? Will we be able to handle it in that case?"
Eger nodded, "Sure. It'll be difficult, but we'll do it. We're on Empire territory, and no one can stop us."
Knight walked forward while Zayne followed behind them. He also had to move carefully to avoid falling.
Crackle.
Suddenly, with Zayne's next step, a piece of ground fell away, falling into a deep chasm.
Eger and Fate Knights immediately turned around. They were looking directly at Zayne, but even they couldn't notice that there was a stranger in their midst.
"Be careful. Don't move so vigorously, this path is the last obstacle before we reach the stone hills." Eger said seriously, and Knight nodded in response.
Zayne sighed slightly, 'Damn... That was close, but that amulet is actually capable of real magic. I wasn't even noticed by Crusader, it's amazing.''
They continued to move forward until they reached the stone hills, this was where the Chaos Hearth appeared, and it was special.
"Holy shit... I've never seen anything like this..." Fate Knight muttered in a daze looking at the massive crypt whose entrance was located in one of the hills.
"Yeah, now I'm pretty sure someone summoned this type of Chaos Hearth on purpose. Damn, it looks like those who did it are already inside and have some sort of purpose." Eger pondered, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
The entrance to the crypt was a huge obsidian gate that was covered wide across with creepy teeth and an intimidating stare.
Ordinary Knights couldn't understand why they got goosebumps, but Fate Knights, Eger, and Zayne did.
There was a powerful aura emanating from the crypt that was frightening, any beast that came here would immediately run away as their instincts would make them do so.
A single amber eye hovered above the crypt, while the other two were near the other hills.
Eger nodded, "Given that this Chaos Hearth is so large, it's no wonder there are multiple entrances. Well, let's move on."
Step. Step. Step.
Eger walked confidently to the gate and placed his palm against it.
At the same moment, the entire door was covered with sharp spikes that pierced Eger's palm. However, Eger didn't try to move away, he seemed to have expected this to happen or even known it would happen.
Streams of his blood ran down the door, and then the gate shone brightly, slowly opening and letting out a dark mist.
Eger raised a hand, forcing the knights to stop, then he waved forward and said, "Fine, we can move on. Given that there are several entrances here, the most important one is in the center since that is also the end of this Chaos Hearth."
Zayne looked around. There were no other than Knight and Fate Knights around, but somehow he felt that wasn't the case at all.
'Hmm... The ones who summoned this Chaos Hearth are inside, but it seems there's some other power here besides the Fate Knights. Well, hopefully, I'll soon realize what my challenge is.' Zayne pondered for a moment before following the Knights.
There were many passages inside the crypt, as it was almost like a maze. Sometimes, the Fate Knights encountered monsters, which were warriors in purple armor with various weapons.
However, none of the monsters were able to give Fate Knights any serious trouble. There were too many of them, and Eger could easily kill monsters of this level without difficulty, he didn't even need to use his sword to do so.
"Mhm... Is it supposed to be like this?" Fate Knight muttered with a confused expression, "I mean, this is definitely a Tier Three Chaos Hearth, but the monsters here are in Terror Grade, and in low Terror Grade."
Eger smirked, "Hah, what did you expect? That even the most ordinary monster would be in Arisen Grade? In that case, it would be an impassable Chaos Hearth. Chaos simply doesn't have that much strength to make something so terrifying and destructive!"
Crackle. Crackle. Crackle.
Suddenly, they heard some kind of banging, so they all immediately rushed in that direction. A few passages later, they stopped at the sight of a massive warrior at the end of the passageway.
This one was much taller than the monsters they had encountered before. This warrior had dark purple armor, a massive hammer, and a huge turret shield in his hand.
"Oh, the highest of the Terror Grade. Stand back, I'll deal with this bastard." Eger smirked, stepping forward.
Although the opponent was much stronger than the monsters before, Eger did not draw his sword. There was simply no need for him to do so.
The monster noticed him, and its eyes flashed brightly with red light. Dark smoke began to emanate from under the monster's helmet, then the monster moved forward with its massive strides.
Every time the warrior's foot touched the ground, the passageway shook slightly, showing how much crushing power its attack could wield.
Eger smiled slyly, "Not bad, but you're a creature of darkness, so you're no match for me!"
Eger threw out his hand with a wide open palm. His fingertips shone brightly as well as his palm from which a light ray was launched. This simple attack was powerful enough to leave a wide hole in the monster's chest that emitted smoke like a fire.
Step. Step. Step.
However, the monster did not stop. It continued to walk menacingly towards Eger.
"Oh, so that wasn't enough for you?" Eger tilted his head with a carefree grin, "Well, I can go on indefinitely!"
Whoooooooooooooosh.
Within seconds, Eger made several more such attacks, filling the monster's body with wide holes. After four attacks, the warrior ran out of strength and simply fell in front of Eger, with a rumble from the heavy armor.
"Fine, let's move on. If monsters like this start appearing along the way, we'll reach the center soon." Eger waved his hand, stepping over the dead warrior's arm.
"Yes!" The knights responded vigorously, following their leader.
Zayne walked forward and cast a light glance at the monster.
'I don't know if I'll have to fight monsters or Fate Knights or whatever, but I have to be ready for anything.' Zayne internally muttered with a slight frown.
After a while, they passed most of the Chaos Hearth on this side. There were a few powerful warriors in their path, but Eger handled them all without even drawing his sword.
Only before the massive gate did they encounter an opponent on Arisen Grade, and then Eger had to use his weapon.
"Get lost!" Eger exclaimed, cutting off the head of a warrior in black armor who was fighting with two sharp axes.
Eger's leg and arm were bleeding since the monster had managed to hit him, but he quickly drank a potion, and his wounds began to recover at a greater rate.
"Hah, let's see what we came all this way for!" Eger exclaimed with an excited expression before opening the gate.
Ahead of them was an empty passage with something shining brightly in the distance.
Eger grinned, but then his face turned serious, and he quickly ran forward. The knights immediately followed him as well as Zayne.
"Did something happen? Zayne was puzzled, approaching the end of the passage.
They found themselves in the center of the Chaos Hearth, which was a multi-level location.
There were several platforms with glowing red crystals on the walls, with passageways beneath them. There were three passageways in total, and one of them was currently occupied by knights.
At the bottom, there was a wide platform composed entirely of scarlet crystal, there was only one object there, a black, low spire at the north end of the arena, fused to the wall.
In the spire was some object behind a transparent blue crystal, next to which stood two men.
When Zayne took a few steps forward and looked down at the two persons, his eyes went wide with a slight tremor.