"Hu...man..." Irene barely understood the words that left the Greater Goblin's mouth.
It sounded like its throat was chock-full of phlegm that kept bursting with each syllable it growled. Saliva had even splashed out of its mouth when it did speak, fortifying such an image in Irene's head.
"Die!" This one word, however, sounded crystal clear.
Irene expected the Greater Goblin, whose physique was a more muscular version of the goblins she met before, to charge at her. What happened instead, made Athelei whistle.
"It is only appropriate that this happens when one invades the home of beast tamers."
Many the beasts around the duo suddenly fell to a stop. Their previously civil eyes now leered at Irene with bloodshot rage. Those who had not ceased their movements hurried away, as if they did not bother interfering. Whatever intruder dared enter their kingdom was a dead one.
Irene instantly burst with golden light, and Athelei sensed a great difference in how she exerted her power.
No longer did she have to expend energy to protect the corridors she walked through.
No longer did she fear the collapse of the ceiling above her head.
A huge golden wave was born from her measly body, rippling outwards and smashing into the many beasts around her. A tidal wave of liquid Tangible Will burst out, as solid armour condensed and wrapped her up in gold. The smashed beasts were all swept up and crushed. The Greater Goblin was barely holding onto its life.
Athelei watched as the Rank 3 Dictator actively used the three states of matter in her brazen battle style. When the Greater Goblin roared, the still-able beasts came charging in. Irene no longer expensively burst with energy as she had given herself enough time to prepare.
Spheres of golden Tangible Will condensed and was fired forth. Volley after volley exploded onto the bodies of the large beasts, crushing their insides without having to penetrate their thick skins. Shockwaves all layered upon each other, creating a bone grinder around the Dictator herself.
Athelei had to become a part of Irene's armour to save his particles from being flung into the distant darkness and out of his range of control.
"This is going to take forever," Irene grumbled.
Despite the explosions aplenty, she had yet to properly kill enough beasts to properly influence the state of the battle.
"Their [Defense] attributes all rank at around thirty to forty. About as hardy as the weakest Rank 2 Evolver." Athelei informed her of what she did not have time to Examine. "They also seem to bear a strong affinity for the earth element."
Irene narrowed her eyes, "This should be my cue to retreat, then. Have your questions been answered yet, Angel?"
"Hmmmm," Athelei hummed. "Not yet, but you can head out first. If I haven't found you in an hour, you can summon me."
"Alright." Irene summoned Athelei's wings and fled into the underground sky. But then a familiar sight appeared in her vision. She clicked her tongue in vengeful delight.
"Hello, old friend." She identified the worm that she had once chased after. The one that stole her food and led her into an underground ruin. The mark she left on the thief had yet to die.
"To think I would find you here of all places," She smiled as the rings on her fingers absorbed the surrounding [Mana].
BOOM!
A serrated lance of gold broke the sound barrier and crashed into the giant worm. Its body that was as long as a street and as large as a house shuddered, but only a nick appeared on its armoured body.
"That's a Bedrock Worm." Athelei's voice sounded in Irene's ears. A wisp of grey fog was still sitting on her shoulder. "It has a [Defense] of fifty."
Irene nodded as a volley of spears appeared around her body.
The explosive drums of battle would then be played.
As for Athelei, he was lurking as a near-invisible fog within the kingdom's walls. Whatever Irene was doing now was not his focus. He watched as several Greater Goblins were hurriedly making their way towards the sounds of battle. Beasts of different sizes were trailing after them, like chicks following the mother hen.
He drifted across the kingdom, using Inspect on everything he could see. The bookshelf inside his mental library now had three books on its ledges. Subterranean Culture, Subterranean Beasts, and Subterranean Monsters were the titles of those thick books.
Through hundreds of different questions, Athelei managed to form an image of the society present beneath the surface of the planet.
[Lioxus] was one of the many occupied camps here in the [First Kingdom].
It was a kingdom-city controlled by a Greater Goblin Shaman. Lioxus had a few neighbouring kingdom-cities, and all of them were similarly controlled by Greater Goblin Shamans. They formed a nation of sorts, as they waged war against the powerful Orc warriors.
It was a fight for survival and power, as living in the darkness made one mutate and lose their sense of self. If one fell asleep there in the dark, they would no longer be the same upon their reawakening, and the more one slept, the more they grew into beings, wretched and distorted. Only under the yellow light of the torches could they continue to thrive.
It was a revelation he swiftly relayed to Irene.
The green-skinned monsters who called themselves The Enlightened were composed of three races. Two were the Greater Goblins and the Orcs, while the third race was composed of the Ogres. They all shared green skin, human-like intelligence, and disliked losing themselves to the darkness that lay beyond their kingdom-city walls.
Thus, they fought for their race's survival... but the balance between the three powers never seemed to shift much. They all had their own specialities, after all, defeating each other in an exaggerated game of rock-paper-scissors.
The Greater Goblins were specialists in numbers.
The Orcs were skilled warriors.
The Ogres crushed their foes with sheer strength.
Athelei assumed those three vague descriptions through the spoils of war being stored in one of Lioxus' warehouses. The different weapon choices, from an ogre's barbaric club to an Orcish Great Bow of grand and decisive portrayal, were what contributed to his assumptions.
The Greater Goblins had even stashed away and grown a few items related to taming here, from special salves to hypnotic plants. It was a surprisingly meticulous repository, very much unlike their lesser counterparts in the labyrinths above.
There were also special cloaks that helped its wearer retain their own sanities. Although the cloaked were ragged, dull, and exuded a fragile aura, it had helped Athelei paint a more vivid image of the situation.
[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]
Cloak of Tranquility
Durability: 1/25
- Ancient
- Defends against the Baneful Shroud for as long as it is worn. Allows one to sleep in the darkness.
[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]
Among the assortment of items, Athelei found two items of interest. One he could hand over to Irene, and the other for himself.
[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]
Ruby-Essence Apple
- Exceptionally beneficial for the attribute, [Defence].
- Contains genes of the Crystalline. When consumed, heightens the essence of human blood or if for the purpose of [Evolution], grants respective traits.
=o=o=o=o=
Enchanted Royal Lizard Scale Armour
Durability: 80/120
Defence: 37
Mana: 12/12
- [Passive Effect: Monster Predator] Influences any surrounding monster with fear. Effects vary.
[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]
The armour was decent here in the subterranean kingdoms, but Athelei knew what Irene wanted. Similar to all of the treasures that the two of them had unearthed, she was going to devour its unique essence.
Athelei was very interested in how Irene was actually capable of such a thing, but so far they had found no definite answers. Irene's uniqueness was a huge factor in why they could not figure things out. What was even weirder was that even if Irene devoured a treasure's essence, it could still function without any issues at all.
It was like Irene didn't take anything from it in the first place.
'It currently makes no logical sense, unless I delve into the world of concepts. But the world of concepts is very... unconventional. If I recall correctly, only a select few mutated finite universes had a concrete realisation of those...' Athelei quickly shook his head when his thoughts started branching off like that.
Using the 'common sense' of a Denizen of Infinity actually damaged him more than it helped depending on what thoughts he had. Even if he was an Endbringer now, just recalling too much of his still-present Denizen of Infinity memories gave him inexplicable and phantom-like pains. He could only bypass it a little bit by thinking of things 'in mortal capacity.'
The moment he allowed his curiosity to step off of what mortals could comprehend, that was when things start breaking.
After Athelei took those two interesting items into his possession, he felt Irene call out to him. It seemed like that one hour flew by in the blink of an eye and he reappeared beside the golden-haired lady once again.
He took one look at the tired Irene and couldn't help but playfully comment, "You weren't able to kill that Bedrock Worm, were you?"
Irene was gasping for breath, "My attacks just didn't and wouldn't work on it, that's all. Its body just absorbs every explosive ball I throw at it or dulls the sharpness of my blades. I went all out, but the most I could do was a few scratches here, a few erosions there."
Athelei chuckled at this as he recalled how every Nightwalker he wanted dead was dead. Those Bedrock Worms were to Irene like he was to the Nightwalkers.
"That's life for you. There will always be something out there that can exploit practically all your weak points."
A beautiful black and brown set of scale armour then appeared in Athelei's tiny hands.
"On the bright side, look what I found!"