Chapter 326: Subterranean Diplomacy
He controls this town by himself? How is that possible? He is not even on the power Ladder, Mr. Trang said with some suspicion after hearing the inscriber''s promation.
Wealth trumps over power, the inscriber said. Anyone who tries to cause trouble will get sted by his various treasures or arrays. I doubt even the Super Brother-Man would dare to cause a ruckus in the Underworld Nexus.
Zac slowly nodded, remembering Ogras words. With enough wealth it was possible topletely ensconce yourself within your sphere of influence, buyingyers afteryers of defensive and offensive structures. Of course, while it was entirely possible to smash your enemies with piles of money it was also true that wealth couldn''t trump over supreme power.
So hes not part of any force? Mr. Trang asked curiously. Seems like he would be better off joining this Union.
He has his ownpany, Dragonwing Enterprises, and many underlings here in the city. I work for Dragonwing Enterprises for example, the inscriber exined drawing a re from the guard.
They only recruit locally though, the Ishiate hurriedly added. So how about it? Shall we head to the Union? Or if fighting is more your style, I actually have some friends working for the Council as well.
Zac didnt immediately answer but instead went over what they had learned. He knew they might only have scratched the surface, but it still felt like they had a good enough understanding of the underworld to get to work.
The splintered forces had generally clumped together intorger groups, but it seemed there were no individuals strong enough to be sole leaders. Instead, councils were formed where power was shared. The only exception was this Smaug character who seemed solely to control this town by virtue of wealth rather than strength.
Now that they knew who the yers were and what kind of ce they had arrived at there was no longer any need for subterfuge. Zac never meant for them to keep their anonymity forever, as there was no point in doing so. They needed to speak with Smaug, and the quickest way to do this was to exin who they were. Mr. Trang seemed to be of the same idea, as he shot a nce at Zac who made a small signal with his hand.
I am afraid that we do not n to join any force, Mr. Trang said with a smile at the Ishiate, before turning toward the inscriber. We would like to meet your boss.
Both the ishiate and the inscriber looked a bit startled at the quick change in demeanor before the beastman let out a guffaw.
Are you crazy? Do you think just anyone can just walk in here and act as they please? the guardughed derisively. "I am being nice enough to help you out, but you better smarten up before something bad happens."
But the inscribers eyes thinned as he nced at Zacs party, and he seemed to take the situation seriously even though all of their auras werepletely restrained.
Who are you? he asked.
Wee from the surface, and we represent the Super Brother-Man, Mr. Trang said, hiding nothing. The forces of the surface world all tried to reach this ce the moment the hunt ended, but currently it is only the Super Brother-Man who possess the capabilities needed to reach this ce.
Oh, the Super Brother-Man, is it? the Ishiateughed even harder. I forgot to introduce myself, I am Starlights long-lost brother, and this inscriber here is the cousin of Thea Marshall.
Thats enough Terre- the inscriber said, but his words got caught in his throat as an aura as heavy as a mountain spread out, suffused with killing intent.
The whole cavernous room started shaking and the two men both were unable to move. The Ishiate had fallen down on his belly and was crawling toward the door with horror in his eyes. The inscriber was not much better off as he had fallen back into the pile of empty tokens, his face white as a sheet.
It wasnt Zac, but rather the snake who peeked out of Veranas sleeve that was emitting the dense aura, proving that it was another E-Grade beast under hermand. In fact, the aura it emitted was even stronger than those of Grub and Lulu, making Zac wonder if Verana held back during their fight.
The Super Brother-Man has closed multiple incursions in the past week, but there is far more to do. He sent his right-hand man and a general to close the incursions down here, and help the people stuck here, Joanna exined when the snake finally crawled back inside Veranas sleeve and restrained its aura.
Are you truly from the surface? the inscriber said, clearly starting to believe their words. Then why have only you arrived and no one else? We have waited for so long for assistance. And do you have any proof youre with the Super Brother-Man?
It is simple. Most of the people on the surface believe that our new world consists of one huge continent, but that isnt true. There is, in fact, a second continent, but it is separated by a vast ocean. The Super Brother-Man is the only one with a fleet powerful enough to cross the ocean and survive the leviathans of the sea, Sap Trang exined.
Shortly after we set up our outpost we noticed this ce appearing now and then on the teleportation panel, Joanna added. And as for proof? The force of the Super-Brother-man is Port Atwood, which you should know after the hunt.
The next moment both her alignment from her status screen appeared, and her current position on thedder.
Atwood Valkyrie a ranker! the inscriber said with shock. Are you his right-hand man? Or General?
No, I am not strong enough for that yet, Joanna said, looking a bit pained before gesturing at Zac and Verana. Its those two.
The implication was clear, and the inscriber immediately understood what she was getting at. Not even low rankers were strong enough to be generals under the Super Brother-Man.
So, can you take us to Smaug now? Mr. Trang asked.
Well Its not that simple, the inscriber said with a grimace before turning to the Ishiate who was still on the ground. Terrek, you can leave. I will take it from here.
The Ishiate had been frozen by the door, both afraid to speak up and leave. When he heard the inscribers words it was as though he was granted a pardon, and after giving Zacs party a deep bow he scrambled out of the door.
Why cant we meet him? Joanna pressured, her eyes thinning.
I dont know where he is. No one does, the inscriber hurriedly exined. We dont know what Smaug looks like or where he lives. Hes onlymunicating through thework he has set up here, and the few times he appeared he has been disguised.
So what now? Joanna asked with some displeasure.
I can take your party to the headquarters of Dragonwing Enterprises. I am only middle management so I cant contact the Lord, but someone there should be able to, the appraiser said and got up from his seat.
The group nodded since it seemed as good a n as any. They might have been able to force the man out by wreaking havoc on the town, but they hade to help people, not cause trouble. The appraiser, who introduced himself as Farid, led them out of the passageways into the town proper. A few scared faces peeked out through doors along the way, but hurriedly shied away when they passed.
The Underworld Nexus waspletely different from what Zac had expected. It was still a cave, but it was just massive, likely evenrger than Port Atwood. It was at least 100 meters to the roof, helping quite a bit with the ustrophobic feeling. There was even some wind getting generated by a massive waterfall that fell into ake where Zac clearly could spot arge number of fishing vessels.
The structures were simple but sturdy, mainly created from a mix of metal and stone. Many rooms didnt have roofs or walls though, instead opting for open architecture. Perhaps people felt enough closed-in as it was, and didnt want to box themselves in even further. Besides, it was not like there was going to be any bad weather down here.
The oddest thing was that the whole thing was brightly lit up as though it was the middle of the day on the surface. The whole cave was illuminated by a couple of massive crystals ced on top of sturdy metal towers.
We call them Day Crystals, and use them instead of sunlight, Farid exined when he saw the group''s looks. Smaug owns a mine where they extract them. These crystals are lit up 18 hours a day, with the first andst hour being at half power. We also sell smaller versions to add to your home because electricity is limited.
Zac nodded, quite impressed by how quickly these people had adapted to life underground. But even with these pretty optimal conditions for a subterranean town, it was impossible to forget they were stuck under miles of rock. The town sharply ended where it reached the wall, and a few barricaded gates led out into the wild.
As they walked it seemed to be more apparent that the exnation of the guard wasntpletely urate. It was true that the Union and the Underworld Council were the two most powerful forces along with Hive Arbak, the strongest Zhix hive in the underworld. In truth, their numbers only made up around 10 to 15% of the people in the Underworld Nexus rather than the 60%.
But their influence reached far and wide in the underworld, and it was obvious by how they could so overtly bribe the Underground Nexus guards to do their bidding. As Zac suspected guard did get amission for enlisting new towns into these forces, which was why he made them sound grander than they truly were.
But Farid exined how there was arge number of varying forces and independent warlords who controlled their respective sectors, making the underworld almost as chaotic as the surface. The towns were far more integrated between species though, mainly since the surface species were dropped off together at the same ce when the randomization of the took ce.
But there was also arge number of refugees as the things Zac heard about the fire incursion was all too real. Every day more refugees streamed through the teleporter, and by now there was no more room to house them in the Underworld Nexus. Luckily there was nock of crystals, meaning the refugees could be teleported away to reinforce other towns in the underworldwork.
So why has no one of youe to the surface? Joanna asked as they walked toward the Dragonwing headquarters. Youve had half a year to dig your way out.
We tried, Farid said with a sigh. We all tried the first months. But something is odd with the stone, most of it is incredibly hard. Unless youre at least level 30 you can forget about even cutting out a chip from the walls, and even the stronger people have trouble making way. Not even the Geomancers are any good. Perhaps when people start reaching E-rank they will be strong enough.
Just like there are mines with minerals and Crystals there are also mines with softer stone that can be extracted, the inscriber exined. Most settlements are made by the molemen though. The Underworld Nexus is almost unique in the fact that it ispletely made from scratch. The cave was found by Lord Smaug, and he founded the Nexus by the shore.
The group soon enough reached the Dragonwing Headquarters, a vastplex next to theke. As they passed through the gate Zac couldn''t help but notice there were multipleyers of arrays around the building. He wasn''t worried now that they had already been let through, but if he read the energy fluctuations right he guessed that even he would have trouble cracking this ce open.
After Farid exined their identities and the snake once again exhibited it''s might things proceeded quite quickly from there. The group was led to an open-air conference room while the manager sent an emergency transmission to their boss. The manager kept thempany as they waited, ensuring that Smaug never took longer than 20 minutes to respond to a message.
The minutes passed and refreshments were brought in as they waited. The manager was extremely curious about the state of the surface and was ted when he heard that the Super Brother-Man was going around closing one incursion after another. The fact that he had started eyeing the underworld wasn''t met with suspicion at all by the stocky middle-aged man, but rather delight. The fire golems had truly pushed people to their limits, and it looked like there wasn''t a single person who hadn''t lost someone to their attacks.
But Zac suddenly got a bad feeling as a gust made his ck cloak flutter. He immediately looked around and spotted an odd sphere beneath the table that he knew wasn''t there before. It didn''t emit any energy, but the feeling only got worse by the second, and Zac knew he could tarry any longer.
Behind me! he growled as a field of death expanded around him from <strong>[Fields of Despair]</strong>, while his defensiveyers were erected one by one.
Therge fractal shield was thest to materialize, and Zac ced it square between the rapidly erging ball and the group. The manager was held by his neck by a furious Joanna, but he was clearly not part of what was happening since he was screaming in fear, lookingpletely shocked by the change in atmosphere.
Suddenly it sounded like a piece of ss cracking, and then the world turned white.