Chapter 546: Exploration (3)
"Where did those monsters come from?" Angele went straight to the point. He knew that the two that talked to him were probably in charge of the inn. The reason why they tested Angele's power and explained everything to him patiently was that they wanted to become friends with Angele.
"From the dimension fissure to the Chaos Realm, the ancient wizards opened it," the man with a beard explained. "Those monsters came from the Chaos Realm or some other realms. I don't really know, but the only thing we need to do is kill them. The bastards that are not from the underground world call this place Root of the World."
"Huh?" Angele narrowed his eyes. "I've heard of this term... In the ancient times, wizards tried to find a closed space that was in the underground world. It was mentioned that the three strongest wizard lords had lived in the area. Do you know that there are monsters from other realms on the ground now? They're here for the resources."
"Other realms? Are you talking about the sealed forms or just raiders? Just let them do whatever they want, they can't stay in this world forever. I don't care." The man with a beard was not concerned. "The strongest wizards of the wizard world lived in the fifth level of the underground world. The wizards on the ground are weak. The creatures from other realms are strong but the furthest they can get to will be the second level of the underground world. They'll have to return to their own realms after the realms move away from each other. I know someone that is familiar with the invasions."
Angele felt a bit speechless, he never spent too much on studying the underground world and he did not know that the real wizard world was actually under the ground.
The man noticed the change of expression on Angele's face and pursed his lips into a smile.
"Root of the World refers to the space under the world tree; there are four levels in this space. The size of each level is similar to the size of the gem sea... You know gem sea, right? The sea between the central continent and the west coast. The empire was being destroyed when I was at the gem sea, it was a big event. I wonder what happened after that."
"Can you be more specific? I have no idea how big the gem sea is..." A bitter smile appeared on Angele's face. He noticed that the red beard was a living history book. He knew a lot of information that was considered as secrets to the outside world but he was not trying to hide any of it from Angele.
"It has the same size as the Sky Area, do you know Sky Area?" Femora interrupted, he sounded a bit impatient.
Angele was confused, he shook his head. It felt like he barely knew any valuable information when compared to the red beard and Femora.
"Well..." The red beard put his hand on the forehead. "What do you know then? You're a strong wizard but you're not knowledgeable at all. Femora, help me explain it to him!"
Femora nodded. "Alright, I'll make it easier for you. This area has the size of 20 central continents. You know central continent, right?"
Angele remained silent.
Femora did not say anything else.
"Come on, say something!" The red beard sighed.
"You probably never paid any attention to the underground world. There were so many wars and empires in the history but the only things you can find on the ground are some small ruins. Don't you think it's a bit strange? Where are the big ruins? Dimension fissures are very unstable when compared to the actual realm.
"Have you ever thought of the ruins of the ancient wars? There are so many strong ancient wizards in different areas, they could do whatever they wanted to and ruled the empires. Where are all those ruins?" The red beard kept asking questions.
Angele thought the ruins that popped up from time to time were all what the ancient wizards had but he realized that he might be wrong. "You're right..."
"Understand now?"
"Understood."
The red beard sighed with relief. "Good then. I was worried that you were too dumb to understand everything. What's your next plan then?"
"Actually, I have a question. Do you know what the area was used for before the tornado appeared?" Angele questioned politely, he wanted to show his respect.
The red beard rubbed his chin. "It was just a remote area that was weak and poor. I've only been there once and all I met were mortals. There was barely any wizard there."
Angele nodded. "What about the tornado? What's inside it?"
A lobster man approached them before the red beard opened his mouth.
"I've only been there once," he repeated the sentence the red beard said. "He says this sentence every time you ask him about a location. His nickname is Beard the Living Map."
The red beard rolled his eyes and he threw a green wine bottle into the lobster man's mouth.
"Inside the tornado, there is the dimension fissure and the monsters. Alright, young one, I've told you a lot of things. Why don't you become a member of Doomsday Inn? I'll pay you one Golden Beast every ten years."
"I'll pass. I need to take of my family and my friends first." Angele stood up and smiled. He turned around and started walking to the exit.
The red beard and Femora looked a bit sad after hearing those words.
"That's sad. I think he's scared and he'll just leave." The red beard sent the words to Femora through energy particles.
Femora shrugged but did not say anything.
Angele walked to the stone gate, he suddenly turned around and looked at the counter.
"Red beard!"
"Huh?" The red beard was confused.
"To be honest, I do want to become a member of the inn but it'll take a while before I come back." Angele smiled.
The red beard hesitated for a second and smiled. "For sure, I'll welcome you back no matter how long it's going to take."
"I'll be back in 1000 years." Angele finished speaking and the inn suddenly became silent.
The red beard's wine cup stopped moving and Femora just put his hand on the harp. The wine was dripping down the lobster man's chin.
All the creatures in the hall were surprised by what Angele just said. The flames were dancing on the candle stands and no one was talking. Their sights all fell upon the man that was standing by the exit.
It felt like the atmosphere was getting heavy.
Angele chuckled.
"I'll come back in 1000 years. Don't forget." He pushed the gate open and disappeared into a ball of flames.
The red beard breathed heavily and put down the cup with excitement in his eyes.
"No problem! I'll wait 1000 years!" he shouted and his voice echoed in the hall.
Femora had mixed emotions about this. He was shocked, surprised, and depressed at the same time. "A strong being that can live for 1000 more years... I won't be able to see that day I think."
"It sounded like he didn't care... I think he could at least live for ten thousand years..." The red beard was still excited.
"If he really is that strong, I don't mind waiting 1000 years for him."
"Beard, do you really believe what he said?" a man with a head on his chest asked.
"I trust my own eyes." The red beard pointed at his eyes.
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Angele left Doomsday Inn and stood in the sandstorm. He inhaled deeply and looked at the gray area outside the red barrier. He could no longer see the inn below.
"I didn't expect to find an inn at a place like this, and it was even filed up with strong creatures... Peace will return to this world in 1000 years and I'll come back here to study the truth of the world..."
Angele was being serious when he talked to the red beard. He would come back if the inn was still open 1000 years later.
He started flying in the strong wind that was mixed with gray sand. The only thing he could hear was the wind and he was not even sure if he was moving at full speed.
Angele flew for a while and he slowly stopped in the air after he was certain that he was far away from the inn.
"I'm just moving around the edge of the tornado based on the strength of the wind. The wind is pushing in a certain direction." Angele closed his eyes and checked the situation using the biochip.
Several seconds later, he opened his eyes and looked to the right.
"That's it! I can move through the edge of the tornado ahead."
A large hologram of the tornado slowly appeared in front of his eyes.
'Tornado Model created. 81% of the tornado simulated. 2% of the details included,' Zero's voice echoed in his ears.
"81%, huh? That's good enough..." The blue light dots slowly disappeared in front of Angele's eyes.
"I can't even detect the inn at this range. I think it should be fine."
Angele raised his hand and aimed at the entrance to the tornado. He released a lot of thick black smoke from his mouth and nose. The black smoke surrounded his body in the center.
More and more black smoke was released. The smoke expanded too all angles and it turned into the shape of an enormous scorpion quickly.
The smoke scorpion raised one of its claws and slashed in a certain direction.
A strong ray of smoke was released by the claw and quickly turned into a smoke pillar. There were pale human faces rotating around the pillar, singing something.
"In the name of fear!"
"In the name of fear!"
"Fear is the source of everything!"
"All hail Lord of Terror!"
Those souls were trapped in the smoke pillar and the energy waves they released were tearing through the sandstorm. The smoke pillar was so tall that it looked endless.
The smoke boiled in the pillar and slowly disappeared into the air several minutes later.
It was almost like the black smoke had never been here; only a dark tunnel was left behind.
The smoke scorpion nodded and its body started shrinking. The scorpion released some more black smoke and recreated its human form.
"This tunnel can only last for three days... I should go back now..." Angele muttered as he checked the communication rune. He could locate the caravan using the rune, however, the sandstorm was infused with energy and he could not communicate with others through it.
Angele checked the direction and disappeared into a ball of red flames. He started traveling through the sandstorm again.