Chapter 214: Up the tower
Her expression became sour but she didn’t speak again. Instead, she went forward to the coffin in the corner and lifted it. "The portal is about to be gone, the doorway will close soon."
Vacuse turned toward the portal and it had shrunk to a quarter of its actual size. "Let’s get out of here."
With that, he walked toward the portal and disappeared within.
When Vacuse appeared again, he was back at the hallway with the door of mouth that was half open. The pile of corpses was still on one side and the workers on the other, giving him a weary look as if he might suddenly start attacking them.
He ignored them and instead faced the door.
Before long Lady Slave also appeared, with the coffin somehow strapped to her back.
Lady Slave looked at Vacuse. "What are we going to do next?"
She was thinking of a way to talk him out of his insane plans. The reason they had not even gotten into any trouble was because the Lord of Eboncrypt was not there, and the Magus that remained had total assurance that nothing could open the door to the vault.
All of that would change once they returned to the surface. Although she had a little plan for distraction, she certainly did not plan to fight that dream monster.
But things had gone horribly wrong. Who would have thought that the red-eyed slave was actually strong and not powerless? If not for her mentor’s secret technique, she would have been killed without doubt.
The same technique had put her in her current problem where she had to think of a way to kill a dream monster, all the while keeping herself alive and fighting the other Magus, and also making sure red eyes did not die as well.
Really, she was not happy at all. "Do you really still want to try and kill that thing?"
Vacuse only gave her an impatient nod. "I’m still going to kill it. But before that, tell me where the stuff taken from new slaves ends up. I’m looking for a ring."
She gave him a curious look. "If it’s something unique then it will most likely end up in the hands of the head supervisor. You should check with him."
"And where can I find the head supervisor?"
"He’s the one in charge of the dream pods."
Vacuse nodded. With his ring back, his fighting prowess would increase by several folds. And with that in mind, he went to the body of the first Magus he killed, the older man, and began to strip him of clothes.
After that, he took off the ragged clothes he wore, appearing completely naked and uncaring about it. He then wore his new set of clothes, excluding the cloak, and even though it was a little too big, it was far better than the rag he previously wore.
While he was doing that, Lady Slave went to the workers and told them to prepare for the other part of her plan in causing distraction, and thus she sent them on their way.
"We should go as well. Let’s head to the dream pod room. We should be able to find the supervisor there so it will be an easy thing to kill two men with one arrow.
"The plan I can come up with to kill the dream monster is to first cut it off from the dreams, reducing its powers significantly, and then we can focus on killing the monster itself."
Vacuse watched her. He raised his brows. "But?"
"But the monster would still be comparable to a Magus of the fourth circle, albeit a weaker one. And you on the other hand have the power of the second circle, although a stronger one."
"How do you know that? About my... circle."
"I don’t know the strange power you are using, but it is not mana and it is not magic. It comes from the blood and from the world. Also, there is some kind of strange creature in you."
Vacuse was silent for a while, looking at her, and in the end he only said, "You talk too much. I only asked how you knew."
She scowled, then bent down and began to wear one of the woman Magus’s clothes as well. "Your blood. The blood holds a lot of secrets that can be pried open by those who can read it."
"And you can read it."
She shrugged. "I can, but that’s beside the point. You can’t beat the monster even if it is cut off from its source of power."
"We’ll see." Everything relied on whether he got his ring or not. "Let’s go."
The return trip up the stairs was faster than when they came down. With their powers released, they moved faster than before, practically hurling upward.
And just like before, they met no guards.
This time, they continued to move up even after they had reached the surface.
And as she explained, the higher they traveled, the tighter the security. In fact, most Magus were not allowed at the upper level of the tower because it housed the higher-level libraries, laboratories, and workshops.
But Lady Slave had already prepared for that.
And although her initial preparation was not made for her to travel up the tower but to aid in her escape, it just needed a little adjustment.
For the moment, they stopped at the floor where the ordinary Magus were allowed and entered a room to wait. Contrary to what Vacuse expected, the sight of someone carrying a coffin on their back did not raise any eyebrows.
In fact, if she walked like that in any city or town, big or small, in the entire continent of Cold Barren, no one would look at her twice because it was a normal sight in a place dominated by necromancers.
Most people even walked their undead down the streets.
"How long are we going to wait?" Now that he had gotten his powers back, Vacuse wanted his Dragon ring so everything could become balanced.
She shifted. "It shouldn’t be long now."