Chapter 266: Underground Maze

Just as Yang Ling was about to make his way quickly past the bloody battlefield and enter the cave as soon as possible, the Horned Bee Beasts scouting the path ahead suddenly relayed a strange image.

Other than the people who were convulsing on a pile of corpses with their final breaths, no one would choose to stay outside the cave. What’s weird was that there was a black robed man toiling around near the entrance of the cave. A dozen people wearing capes were moving around nearby, sometimes dragging along the corpses of a few warhorses or Magical Beasts over to the black robed man!

Could this be a troop team that’s cleaning up the scene, hoping to profit from the dead people?

In his confusion, Yang Ling instructed the Horned Bee Beasts to slowly approach the strange black robed man, then led the group in hiding nearby. Soon, he discovered things that were even weirder.

The people in cloaks had rigid movements, as if robots prodding around the piles of corpses, searching for dead Magical Beasts while disregarding the crystal coins that were scattered on the ground. The black robed man near the entrance of the cave was examining the corpses of the Magical Beasts that the other people had dragged back. He dug out the Essence Crystals of the Magical Beasts that had severed limbs and tossed them to the side and kept the Magical Beasts that were in good condition into his Space Ring.

Oh, could this be a Necromancer like the Undead Wizard from the Angus family?

Yang Ling had a thought as he recalled the long-haired black robed man he had encountered a few days ago. The people in cloaks seemed more and more like a bunch of zombies, while the black robed man near the entrance of the cave was looking increasingly similar to an Undead Wizard.

“Hmph, to think that the other party has taken action this quickly. But this does save me the effort of searching for the Magical Beast Essence Crystals all over the place!”

After instructing his Horned Bee Beasts to circle around the area and ascertaining that there were no ambushes, Yang Ling signaled for the elven archers to take action. In that instant, following a wave of arrows slicing through the air, the black robed man who had been caught off guard was reduced to a porcupine along with the many zombies.

“Orlando, take off the other party’s Space Ring. Later on, you will be responsible for collecting the Magical Beast Essence Crystals and corpses of the Magical Beasts along the way!”

“Yes, Sir!”

Under Yang Ling’s orders, Orlando charged forward quickly together with a few barbarians, taking off all of the treasures on the black robed man. The pitiful black robed man might experience tearless grief if he knew about this in the nether realm. Not only did the Magical Beast corpses and Magical Beast Essence Crystals that he had spent much effort in obtaining get snatched away, he even lost his Space Ring and his life.

After killing the careless black robed man, Yang Ling ordered the group to rest where they were and kept the warhorses in the space of the Wizard’s Pagoda. He then instructed fifty Bullmen who were adept in close combat to pave a way, carefully entering the mysterious cave.

Just like the Volcano Valley, large pools of blood could be seen everywhere in the cave, with occasional sightings of corpses. Other than the human corpses, there were also several corpses of Gargoyles. Just like he predicted, most of the Gargoyle’s Essence Crystals had been dug out.

Even though there were no Essence Crystals, Yang Ling still ordered Orlando to collect the corpses of the Magical Beasts they came across along the way into the Space Ring. The corpses of low-level Magical Beasts that had no Essence Crystal might be worthless in the eyes of an average person, but these were treasures that Yang Ling could not get too many off. The hide of the Magical Beasts could be made into decent coats after it was processed, while the body could be used to feed the Magical Beasts he was rearing in the Beast Taming Ground…

After making their way past the territory guarded by the Gargoyles, the group entered the sphere of influence of the Demon Harpies. There were now more forked paths!

Similar to the Gargoyles, the Demon Harpies were also mid to low-level Magical Beasts. The two Magical Beasts had similar speeds when they were flying, but the Demon Harpies were better in the sense that their attacks came with numbing effects. They would frequently attack in large hordes.

An average person would feel their hair stand instantly and turn numb if they are struck by their sharp claws, as if electrocuted by lightning. Their targets would usually be caught off guard.

Slowly, the ground became covered with corpses that seemed to be troops. However, there were also a substantial number of Demon Harpy corpses strewn around them. Close examination would reveal that the time of their deaths was vastly different. The wounds of the troops would still be bleeding, while those of the Demon Harpies have dried up and withered.

It looks like most of the Demon Harpies had been done in by the major factions that were the first to enter the cave, like the Church and Dark Association, while the troops had unluckily died to the attacks of the remaining Demon Harpies. If not for the many large factions paving the way, the troops might have suffered even heavier casualties!

After making their way past a pitch-black tunnel, the group soon arrived at a small plaza. There were two nearly identical split paths to their front, left and right, each of the paths littered with several messy footprints.

“Sir, what do we do, where do we head toward?”

“Why not we split into six teams and take a direction each!”

“Hmph, fool, splitting up is definitely asking for death!”

…

Faced with the six nearly identical paths, the group slipped into discussion. Some were at a loss for what to do, some suggested splitting up, while others vehemently opposed to the idea…

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While the group was arguing over what to do, the hunter Viola remained silent, moving nearer to the various tunnels to observe them carefully, “Sir, if I am not wrong, this Cross Symbol should have been left behind by the army of the Church; This Blood-colored Rose should have been left behind by the Dark Association…”

Viola was very experienced. Under his guidance, the group soon noticed the differences between the paths.

It looks like the Church and the Dark Association had chosen different paths and left their respective signs at the entrance of the paths in order to avoid another large-scale conflict before they arrived at the relic of the giant dragon. It gave their reinforcements sufficient information while at the same time warned the factions following behind them. Entering the path recklessly would cause them to face their merciless attacks.

“The Cross Symbol of the Church, the Blood-colored Rose of the Dark Association, the Angus family’s Eye of Dead Souls, the Blood Moon of the Wolf Troop Team… Oh, the Crystal Skull of the Beastmen and the Galaxy Sword of the Bellimore family!”

Goode’s expression became more and more grave as he looked at the various symbols at the tunnels. The group might not recognize all of the symbols at the tunnels, but Goode, who was once a noble from the Banto Empire and a ex-military minister of considerable status, was familiar with the insignia of several ancient families. Every insignia at the tunnel belonged to a powerful faction!

Under Goode’s explanation, the group quickly became clear of the factions represented by the insignias!

Amongst the many factions, the abilities of the Troop Team could be said to be the weakest. But under such a situation, they would naturally be able to obtain the support of the many troops. They definitely have the highest number of people, making their overall ability nothing to be scoffed at.

This was even more so for the Church and the Dark Association, as their influences ran deep beyond comprehension. The Angus family was a family of Undead Wizards rarely seen on the continent, able to command a large group of zombies, skeletons and dead Magical Beasts to do battle, their abilities immense. Over the millennia, even the Church could not do anything against them.

The Beastmen had the fiercest warriors in the continent, as well as the terrifying Beastman priests. If the elites have come out of their abodes, no one could imagine just how terrifying their battle capabilities would be.

The Bellimore family has always kept a low profile, and an average person would not have heard of their names. However, many people from large families with thousands of years of history knew of how powerful they were. Over the millennia, there had been five Domain Experts that wielded the sword in the continent. Amongst them, two of them came from the Bellimore family. The abilities of the Bellimore family was to be imagined!

Split up, or concentrate our firepower and barge into one tunnel?

Yang Ling was hesitant for the moment after understanding the abilities of the various factions. Splitting up his forces into the six different paths might allow them to collect the greatest number of Magical Beast corpses and obtain the most benefits within the shortest amount of time; However, their abilities would decrease greatly if they split up. The outcome would be disastrous if they were to suffer from an attack from the various factions.

It was alright for him, as he could retreat to safety at any time using the Wizard Pagoda’s Space, but the rest of the people might die here!

Where there’s life, there’s hope!

After repeated deliberations, Yang Ling quickly came to a decision, prepared to head toward the tunnel the Wolf Troop Team had taken. It was simple, most of the troops that had came here in hopes of profit would have taken this tunnel, and it was easy for him to take advantage of their misfortune. Furthermore, the Wolf Troop Team, who was the most powerful faction in the tunnel, would not see them as an enemy if there were no grave conflicts of interests.

But this was not the same for the other tunnels. Yang Ling believed that the factions like the Church or the Angus family would not tolerate his group picking up the loot far behind them. He also could not guarantee that the Dark Association would not suddenly fall out with him and take action.

With this many powerful factions eyeing the prize, the first to get the Divine Weapons might not be the ones who would have the last laugh!

Even though he did not fear the various powerful factions, Yang Ling was not willing to easily engage in a direct battle with them unless it was absolutely necessary. Inciting conflict between the factions and taking advantage of the chaos was better aligned to his interests.

Under his instructions, the heavily armored Bullmen took the lead and entered the pitch-black tunnel. The Ogres followed behind, while the Medusas and forest elves stayed at the center; Behind them were the Barbarians and Galapagos Tortoisemen.

The entrance to the tunnel was not large, but there was a hidden world within. An ordinary cave would get narrower the deeper inside they went, but this tunnel got wider as they moved. Soon, it was able to accommodate twenty Bullmen warriors walking in a row. At the same time, there would frequently be small split roads that appeared at both sides of the tunnel, so dark that it seemed like sinister, bottomless pits.

As a precaution, the Ox Chief led his personal guards in lighting up torches, moving to the very front of the formation. Originally, with that many troops paving the way for them, there should not be large groups of Magical Beasts roaming around the area. Unexpectedly, the group had not travelled too far when a wave of strange cries came from the surroundings.

Hiss…

Balls of green light suddenly appeared from within the darkness following the strange cries, increasing in number. The group tossed out a few torches to get a closer look, only to discover that those were not green light, but the eyeballs of a large number of giant pythons!

Most of the giant pythons were a dozen meters long, the shortest of them around eight meters. Their red tongues flickered at high speeds, their green eyes staring straight at the group. Their bodies were coiled, slowly slithering as they prepared to strike!

“Not good, Green Pythons, quick, get into formation!”

Just as the group was about to get a closer look, Yang Ling quickly understood the situation surrounding them through the Horned Bee Beasts he had sent to scout the area. He gave a loud order as the feeling of danger got more and more obvious.

For some reason, the radius of his senses had gotten increasingly smaller from the moment he had set foot in the cave, the images transmitted back to him by the Horned Bee Beasts also getting more and more blurry. The situation was similar to the back then at the Black Forest, the deeper into the cave he went, the more serious the problem became!