Chapter 377: Chapter 376: The vault

“WHO DID IT!” Caspian yelled as he looked around at the empty base. He was furious. "WHO DARES!" he screamed, making the entire dungeon shake.

He had just returned from attending the preliminary tournament where he acted as a judge in his pervert father's place! He was hungry for some snacks after a long day.
Reaching here, he discovered that not only his snacks were gone, but Even his Hell-Silver vault where he kept his demonic sword and armor was nowhere to be found!
That thing was supposed to be impregnable, but someone had the audacity to grab the entire thing that weighed several Tons!

“We saw nothing, Master… We just hid outside the cabin like you told us, and no one approached or opened the door!” One man said. He was one of the two who were tasked to guard this place

“It is not our fault! The alarm at the trap door didn’t trigger either! the…” the second said didn’t continue as he and his friend suddenly found themselves without heads.

“Useless scum!” Caspian snorted as he took a silver-colored talisman and put it on the floor right in front of the vault. Whoever took it must have stood right at this place.

The talisman burnt… Then nothing happened.

“Failed?” Caspian frowned. His tracking talisman never failed before. This meant that whoever was here was simply too powerful.

Caspian thought for a moment and then took a different talisman. This one was vastly different from the other one, it had all kinds of strange symbols all over it as if it was not something a human would make. It also looked very old.
Caspian placed it right under where the vault was then stepped back 3 feet.

This time there was a response as the talisman burnt in an ominous green fire, its smoke slowly reformed into three symbols. Two faint ones and a very visible last.

“Dark, Space, AND CORPSE!” Caspian frowned. “The Von Zwei?” he wondered.

…

 

“I can’t leave with you!” Lily said directly. She was sitting with Victor and his harem in the study having an emergency meeting.

“You have other plans?” Victor asked. He had just informed the girls of his departure with his father and was giving them their roles for the next period of time.

“Yes… My family will come to take me in a couple of months at most, and I need to get a few things ready before I become full under their supervision!” she explained. “If your family visit took too long, I will miss this chance!”

Victor frowned. Lily was keeping very vague on purpose. “Dungeon diving?” He asked.

“Yes… And some recruitment too,” she nodded after some hesitation.

“Can you take Elise and Monica with you?” he asked. He wanted the girls to bond a little and at the same time use the chance to level them up a little.

“No… It is too dangerous….” she replied directly.

“I see… Just be careful!” Victor said as he turned toward the twins. “Do you plan to stay here or go with your mother when she returns home?” he said. “She has already reserved a ticket for next week!”

“We will go with her… We will work with Alpha to save Mona from those bastards who were scamming her!” Mina said.

“Good, then take Theta and Ruby with you… I will give you a map to an unopened F-ranked dungeon near Ring Cloud City where you will be staying, take Mona and her stupid Justice Ring there and make them players after you finish!” he said. “I will keep in contact with you through our link, but you also have to be careful!”

“We understand!” they nodded as Theta looked at him.

“You want me to start the Players Guild there?” she asked.

“Yes… It was far enough from Vein City to not arouse any suspicion! Can you do it?” he asked.

“YES!” she nodded.

“Good… Make sure to recruit Mona and her friends to your cause!“ Victor said.
He couldn’t keep protecting the girls, they needed to get stronger by themselves. Although it would be dangerous, it was something they had to face sooner or later.
And it was not like he didn't give each of them a ton of defense talismans and a protection artifact.

“Can’t I go with you?” Lin asked.

“My father’s orders…” Victor said. “And you will be taking care of that Bianca girl… You are the only one available that I can use my power through at the moment!” he added. “Margret and Mira in addition to the assassin girls will be your support!” he said. Lin was strong enough to defeat any enemy, so the task of impersonating Crimson Pearl was left to her.

“I understand!” she said, pouting. She really wanted to use this chance to get closer to him without any of the girls’ there.

“Aria, I will leave the company in your hands… If there is anything you want, just contact me!” he finally told Aria. “Make sure that the movies go on as planned. And also make sure that Hilda doesn’t go too hard on the girls… “

“I understand…” she nodded.

“Monica… I will be leaving Lara in your care… Report to me if anything were to change with her, and consult El and Yin if you find anything strange…” he finally told Monica who nodded.

“Now… You girls can go, Margret, Elise, and Lily you stay…” he said, sighing.

The girls looked at each other, then sighed and left. They were feeling a little left out and jealous as Victor didn’t tell them everything. Still, they decided to just trust him. He had too many secrets, and many of them already regret knowing some of those!

“Is there anything else you want to tell us about?” Elise asked as she watched Victor remain in his seat. “You seemed really annoyed when you called us here earlier… is there anything wrong?” she asked.

“Yes….” he said. “You know that my family had supposedly prepared a big wedding gift for us…” he said. The girls nodded.

“Well, Using my connections with the elder council, I wanted them to grant us an island. One of the many they control around the world…” he said.

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“You were planning to build a base?” Margret asked.

“Yes, the one here is too conspicuous and many spies are already all around it, limiting our capabilities!” he explained.

“So, did you get one?” Margret asked.

“I got this…” Victor said taking out an envelope from his ring then throwing it on the table in front of Margret who couldn’t help but rush and open it.
Inside there was a map, a property deed, and a few scenic photographs of a long sandy beach surrounding a volcanic island.

“HSSSSSSSSSSSS……..” Lily gasped. “THAT HELL HOLE BELONGED TO YOUR FAMILY?” she asked in shock.

“Apparently… Now it belongs to me!” Victor said with annoyance. He had no idea. His family really had uncountable properties all over the world. And Victor had a feeling it was the world’s will that led him to this place. It couldn’t have been just a coincidence…

“What is that place?” Elise asked. The island seemed just like a nice tropical retreat.

“In the reckoning, that entire part of the ocean will form into a giant vortex that will become a space gate straight into ‘HELL’, the demon's original world!” Victor said, making both Margret and Elise look at the map of the island. “It will be one of the invasion points, and even after humanity retrieved most of the land, that place remained very hard to guard against” he added. “They called the Water Gate! The World's Emperor had to build multiple bases nearby and station a gatekeeper Super Scions there all year round to keep the demons from getting in!”

“Isn’t this good? Can’t we just build a fortress there and use it to fend off the demons and get the gate for ourselves?” Margret asked.

“The gate will be 60 Miles wide… the island will be completely eradicated when the gate opens!” Lily comments, making Margret imagine a smaller gate retreat. “The island’s location is near the center of the Vortex, It might even be its very center…” Lily paused as she and Victor jumped up from their seats and looked at the map showing the island's location. They were focusing on the numbers on the margins, the longitude, and the latitude.

“Margret, you may have a point there…” Victor said as he looked at Lily.

“The gate there might not be a coincidence,” Elise said. “Do you know how gates are born?” she asked.

“While it is possible to open gates to other worlds, they are very fragile and usually collapse in minutes…” Victor said. “The imperial family back then believed that the four gates were the work of nature!” he added.

“The five gates…” Lily corrected him. “The Imperial family kept a secret fifth GOLD gate… That's the reason they built their capital in that stupid place!”

“Oh…” Victor, who had no idea, nodded. “Anyway, it could be that there is some artifact or ruin on that island… It might be what opened the gate…” he pondered.

“Then, what if it was someone, not something that is there?” Elise asked.

“Do you mean that giving me that island was not a coincidence?” Victor asked.

Elise nodded. “I am not sure… Did the other gates also connect to that Hell place?” she asked again.

“No, just the Fire gate and the Water Gate…” Lily replied, then paused, getting the little girl’s point.

“Demons?” Margret asked.

Victor didn’t reply, he paused thinking about something before he quickly took his phone and sent a letter. He got the reply straight away, and it made him frown.

“Whose idea was it?” Elise asked. “Who chose the island?”

“Ann,” Victor replied. Did his grandmother make some deal with the demons? Impossible. In his past life, she passed away before the reckoning and she didn’t have to resort to such means. Why would she give him, specifically him, that specific island to begin with? This didn’t make any sense. He was just a stupid brat to her, nothing important…

“Let’s wait until you return from your current mission before we go exploring!” Lily said. “Whether it was a coincidence, the world’s will, or a scheme, it will all be clear once we get there!”

“Let’s do that then…” Victor said. As he stood up.

“Is this over?” Margret asked as she began to stretch.

“No… I have one more thing!” Victor said as he took out a vault from his storage space and placed it on the ground with difficulty. It was super heavy. “I remember seeing this in your father’s office, do you know how to open it without activating the protection mechanism?” He asked Lily.

“Is this Caspian's?” She asked in shock. She knew how precious this Vault was. Even her cheap father decided to use it for himself to keep one of the shards after it was retrieved from the Heavenly sect's ruins.

“Yup… That demonic prince armor he hides in there will be perfect for the Nutcracker… It will make it extra Authentic!” he said with a devilish smile. “Even high-ranking demons will have to grovel at my feet when they see it!”

“You can’t equip that you know… Only real demons can!” Lily said as she began to examine the vault.

“Ah… I have my ways and I only need its aura… Don’t worry!” Victor lied.

…

Tom rubbed his hands as he looked at the huge vault in front of him. He was currently in his separate meditation room where no one would enter and disturb him.

He usually spends his time here, trying the system-supplied toys under the pretext of meditating.

“System… How to open this baby?” Tom asked with a depraved smile.

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