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Chapter 807 - Underwater Ruins
🕑 Added 2024-01-29 13:00:12 +0000 UTCThe Harmony Guardians had arrived at their destination. A room called 'Glimmering Graveyard' was one of the more unique places Hera ever stepped foot on. It was almost a direct competition with the Moon Base. The entire room was underwater, but not inside the water. The invisible wall created an air bubble, letting people essentially walk on the ocean floor. It was also eternally dark here, only some bioluminescent plants gave any light to the area, revealing an eerie sight.
The sky was pitch black, or the sea in this case. Showing that they should be hundreds of meters underwater. However, instead of what one would expect to find on the ocean floor, like coral, thermal vents, or just sand, they were surrounded by ruins. Remains of a civilization that either existed here or, at least, that was the impression the place gave. There was a decent chance that this place was just a MAZE creation, like the moon base. Or at least, that was the information they got from the Alliance. Broken walls, towers, and other structures littered the entire place, all looking decrepit and worn out, with some algae growing from the cracks. The vegetation still acted like they were underwater, growing tall and swaying softly in rhythm with the current of the water above. From their current position, which was in the outskirts of the room, they could see the remains of a palace or a temple. It was hard to tell from this distance in the low light only created by the luminous plants that were spread through most of the room. Some of the algae grew an odd egg-shaped object that glowed in a shade of pale green. Those 'stalks' of algae were almost like light poles, appearing every few meters on what once had been the roads.
Another issue they had to worry about was the monsters. The room was in the 14th layer, meaning that monsters here could go from level 42 all the way to 48. That was significantly stronger than anyone on the team, but at the same time, they should be able to fight those creatures. As much as people would avoid punching up when going against a monster, well-organized parties of five should be able to fight against beasts up to 10 levels above them. Hera's team, thanks to her legacy, could probably go beyond that, but it was still dangerous. Any fight against a higher-level enemy had the potential for a dangerous one-shot attack that could kill them, like what happened with the healer of the team who took the shift before them in the rampage. And in that case, the monster wasn't even stronger than the healer. Both were at the same level.
In the details of their mission, they also had some information about the creatures that could be found here. Large crabs, about the size of shopping carts, jellyfish that pretended to be vegetation and a weird, almost ghostly creature that could go through walls. Apparently, there were reports of more monsters, but they didn't have enough information about them. Either those beings would hide when someone got close, stopping them from getting information, or the light was playing tricks on them, which made the reports dubious at best.
After taking a gander at their surroundings, the team turned off all their tablets except one. Skyler's, since she was the one who had opened the previous file. She opened the next one, with the information about what they had to do there. Inside, there was a map of the current room, which Hera made sure to add to her [Treasure Map]. That way, they had access to it even without tablets, along with more information about the people who might be coming here.
The Alliance was able to find out the checkpoints used by the people from the lab/prison. But not their final destination. One of the checkpoints was around five rooms away, and it was supposed to be well-guarded. When looking into the path the humans had to take, the Alliance realized that the Glimmering Graveyard and another two rooms were the 'narrow path' those people would cross. All routes from the location of the now destroyed lab to the checkpoint had to cross one of those 3 rooms, one way or another. Part of the intel also made it clear that the human teams were already heading this way, meaning that either they had discovered a new room that led to their destination, or they would have to pass by this 'narrow path.'
This was, of course, a roundabout way to do this. With the knowledge of the checkpoint, it was possible for the Alliance to just attack it. What gave them pause when coming up with ways to deal with that human outpost was its location. Not because the room was special in any way but because the humans would be too deep into the Alliance territory. If they made a bold move, the guild could attempt to answer by attacking some of the less protected cities. If the fear was just a fight, the beastmen and the dwarves would likely already have pushed for it, but they were dealing with one of the labs. One of the places where heinous experiments were being conducted with almost every nonhuman species. Without more knowledge about what was actually going on in those labs, they were worried about attacking the outpost, letting the wrong person escape their attack, and in response, the guild used some sort of weapon or spell that could harm them on a large scale. If that happened close to the front lines, it was one thing. All of their best were already there, and they could handle whatever was thrown their way. But doing the same in cities that already had their guards and defenses downscaled could cause a catastrophe.
Hence, the current plan. The Harmony Guardians were to stay near the center of the Glimmering Graveyard; there were even a few suggestions of spots they could use to hide and wait. Keep an eye out for the humans, and if they were seen, Hera's team was to engage, kill the humans, and steal any materials that came from the laboratory. Then, they would need to run to a different location away from the current room and the Cinderspire Citadel. There were a few cities marked as options, but the result would be to send the experiments, data, or whatever they could salvage from the humans to the Alliance intelligence agency. Whether they were the ones to take the salvage to them or not was missing from the information, but it was likely that this would be decided when they reached their own checkpoints. In addition to the location of the doorways the humans would use, there was a brief description of them, along with their known capabilities. Since that was a lot for them to remember, Hera did something she didn't actually like. She ordered her court to remember that information. That was a cheat way to make sure no one would forget anything.
If they saw one of those people, they were supposed to ambush them. And if they were not able to, there was a backup plan, but it was risky. They were supposed to use a specific spell that had to be prepared days in advance to freeze everything inside a wide area for a few days, including themselves if needed. Then, the ones who were free had to run back to the closest city and call for backup. That was a last resource, a plan Z only to be used if everything else failed. The last part of this new file was a program. One that would essentially break the tablet. In order to fix it, they would have to reach one of the checkpoints for one of the people responsible for their tech to fix it using a specific spell drive. If that wasn't done, no one would be able to access the tablet or its contents. The idea was that if things went south and Hera's team perished, the humans wouldn't be able to get any information from their communication devices. Even the most skilled hacker or tech person would need weeks, if not months, to undo that without the spell drive, which would give the Alliance enough time to deal with the checkpoints.
Skyler groaned, but she ran the program to 'break' her tablet after Hera's court could remember everything in the file. The Empress didn't wait and also sent out the snakes from her bracelet, all of them a mix of silver and a metallic color appearing around her feet. She quickly opened her treasure map and drew the Pool of Styx spell circle over a large part of the room before telling them to move around the room and prepare the spell. In addition, she gave the mana creatures two more orders: first, to try to move while hidden and not be attacked by monsters. Second, to warn them if they see any humans or anything that could have been made by humans. Even if the monsters were higher level than the Empress, she should be able to get a buff to her team, thanks to her attributes. After all, even a level 48 monster shouldn't have all their attributes above 100, not to mention the humans that would also be affected. Lowering their attributes before attacking would be a massive boon for the Harmony Guardians.
After starting that, the team slowly moved towards the center of the room. It would be one of the best locations for them to hide since there were more ruins there than anywhere else, not to mention the few standing buildings that could give them a bird's eye view.
'He-he-Hera. Remember to stay close to the others. Th-th-the monsters here are ambush hunters,' Dusa said.
Hera just nodded, "Guys, let's move in a clump. The monsters here are supposed to focus on ambushes, and a large group might ward them off."
With that reminder, the team moved closer; Vash was walking beside Flint and Roan, with Neria, Hera, and Skyler right behind them. Nimbus, Lurize, Livy, Viper, and Crimson positioned themselves around the group with a final outer layer where the flying weapons that made Hera's court were. That made things a bit safer. On a couple of occasions, a monster emerged from the forest of algae, but it moved back as it noticed the large clump of people walking together.
After about two hours of slow and careful movement, they arrived close to the center of the room, where the largest structure of the ruins was located. Even at this distance, it was hard to tell if it was a temple or a palace. Once, large towers crumbled against the main body of the building, opening massive holes in its walls, while at the same time, the rubble became part of the new decoration. There were no carvings, pictures, stained glass, or anything to give any hints on the people who lived here. Then again, if this truly was a sunken city, it was likely that the water washed everything away, leaving behind only the granite and limestone.
Their hiding spot wasn't in the center. Instead, they would be a bit further along, closer to the doorway, on a tower in an area that was good for camping. This was close to the doorway the humans would take to leave the room. In addition, there was also a tower with a few floors still standing close by. It was one of the areas that the Alliance suggested to them to prepare for their ambush. The last part of the instructions was about the time frame. According to what the spies knew, if the humans were to arrive, they would do so in the next three days. Hera's team was supposed to stay here for 5, just in case they got late for some reason. After that, they would go to one of the closer cities for further instructions.
Going from a rampage where fights were constant to a mission that revolved around waiting for something to happen was going to be very weird, but it would be a welcome change for the group.
