Chapter 54: The Warrior and the Prison
Su Xiao stood before the iron-barred cell door, gazing at the skeletal remains emitting a white fluorescent glow within. The skeleton was remarkably intact, its hand bones holding up a metal cup resembling a goblet, around which a ring of white gems was embedded.
"What is this?"
The Priest also stopped before the iron bars, looking at the skeleton inside the cell.
"Not sure."
Through the Azure Steel Shadow branch ability, Proud Song, Su Xiao formed a pale blue crystal spike in his hand and tossed it into the cell.
Hiss, hiss~
The crystal spike was rapidly "corroded," eventually dissipating midair. Seeing this, Su Xiao narrowed his eyes, pulled open the cell door, then retrieved a metal rod from his storage space and tossed it inside.
The metal rod, still flying through the air, was quickly "eroded." At this, Su Xiao turned and walked away, with Baha following closely, leaving only the Priest behind.
The Priest deliberated for a moment but ultimately did not enter the cell to investigate. The "Torture Dungeon" was fraught with dangers; seemingly insignificant things could be lethal. He had already used a large amount of recovery items after being injured by the Sun Warrior earlier and could no longer afford to take risks.
The Priest also moved away, leaving the skeleton emitting its faint white light motionless.
In reality, there was no danger in this cell. The crystal spike had been dissolved by Su Xiao himself, and the metal rod he tossed in afterward was a composite, high-intensity oxidizing metal.
This metal, upon contact with oxygen, underwent a strong oxidation reaction. It was an alchemical product Su Xiao had created to detect whether the air contained oxygen or toxic substances.
If it came to theological knowledge, Su Xiao was far inferior to the Priest. But when it came to alchemy, the Priest suffered from a lack of education.
Su Xiao's reason for doing this was to prevent the Priest from learning about the "Soul Skeleton." He felt that the "Soul Skeletons" within the sanctuary might be one of his potential sources of profit—and a very important one at that.
Such a secret must never be revealed to the Priest. The Priest was an enemy, a fact that had never changed from the start. The temporary cooperation was only because the Sanctuary of Chilia was too dangerous.
Su Xiao wasn't in a hurry to activate this "Soul Skeleton." The terrain of the Torture Dungeon shouldn't be too complex; to pass through, he would have to fight his way through.
Once he had advanced to a certain point, he could settle things with the Priest once and for all. Returning to activate the "Soul Skeleton" then would be a better choice.
Su Xiao walked down the narrow corridor. Behind the iron bars on either side were withered, blackened corpses.
Just then, Su Xiao noticed that one bottle of [Sun Potion (Perfect)] in the team storage space had disappeared. Bubu Wang had taken it and consumed it.
This told Su Xiao that Bubu Wang's location wasn't far from his own. Bubu had completed his tracking and was on his way back; he might rendezvous with them soon.
After advancing about a hundred meters, an iron-barred gate appeared ahead, with a turn beyond it.
Clang.
A short blade slashed through, cutting the chains binding the gate into several pieces, which clattered to the ground.
With a creak, Su Xiao pushed open the rusted iron gate and looked around the corner to the right. Still, no enemies were in sight.
Passing the corner, Su Xiao walked about a dozen meters before a particularly spacious cell appeared on his left.
This cell wasn't sealed with iron bars but with thigh-thick iron pillars, completely enclosing it without even a door.
A pair of dark-golden eyes opened in the darkness. Seeing these eyes, Su Xiao knew that inside was a Sun Warrior—a very powerful one, far stronger than the Sun Warrior he had encountered earlier, seemingly on a completely different level.
"Guduye yesska (Unknown Language)."
The Sun Warrior inside sat in the darkness. Beside him was a greatsword thrust into the ground, its blade bearing the emblem of the Ganglu Dynasty.
Su Xiao met the gaze of the Sun Warrior in the cell. After a moment, the Sun Warrior closed his eyes and sank back into the darkness.
"Wiqi, basuoqi... (Unknown Language)."
The Sun Warrior said something else, but it was completely unintelligible.
"He's telling us to be careful. There are very strong enemies ahead."
The Priest suddenly spoke up. He seemed to understand some of the local language, clearly trying to continue the cooperation. His implication was that he knew some of the language, but as payment for his translation, Su Xiao would have to provide Sun Potions.
The Sun Warrior in the cell had high negotiation value. This was the first Sun Warrior who hadn't attacked Su Xiao and the others on sight. Though imprisoned, he still had his weapon.
Su Xiao didn't respond and chose to move on. There was no trust between him and the Priest. Even a slight deviation in meaning when translating the sanctuary's language could have serious consequences.
The Priest didn't insist. He glanced at the Sun Warrior in the cell and then followed along.
Su Xiao passed cell after cell, most containing withered, blackened corpses. After advancing for over ten minutes, the corridor widened considerably, likely due to extensive damage to the cells on both sides. Rubble and broken iron bars were scattered everywhere.
Firelight appeared ahead. Su Xiao ducked behind a half-collapsed stone wall and peered toward the flames.
It was a bonfire made from several withered corpses. Around it sat a dozen figures.
These people had vacant stares and cloudy pupils. Their gray-black clothes were decayed and clung to their bodies. Their shriveled skin was dull, showing a grayish-white hue.
The Apostle's Eye floated beside Su Xiao. For the first time since entering the Sanctuary of Chilia, he managed to detect enemy information. These were the dungeon's jailers, seemingly half-dead, but the Sun Force within them kept them alive.
Just as Su Xiao had scanned a third of the jailer's data, one of them by the bonfire, over a dozen meters away, suddenly turned its head and grabbed a large cleaver beside it. The weapon looked like a magnified and elongated kitchen knife, about a meter long and twenty centimeters wide, covered in dried bloodstains and bits of flesh.
The disturbance of one jailer alerted the other twelve, who immediately stood up. They wielded heavy hooked blades or large single-edged axes.
"Roar."
The jailers let out hoarse roars, revealing their dry, yellow, flat teeth. They charged at full speed, their bodies swaying left and right as if about to fall at any moment, but they were incredibly fast.
'Blade Path: Azure Demon.'
A blue-green blade aura slashed out. The seven jailers at the front leaped or dove to the side, successfully dodging the Azure Demon's strike.
Baha's bird eyes widened at the sight. The "trash mobs" in this sanctuary were absurdly strong.
The Azure Demon passed through the six jailers at the rear, cutting them in two. They fell to the ground and stopped moving.
[You have killed Torture Dungeon Jailer.]
[You have gained 7 Soul Coins.]
Killing six jailers yielded a total of 43 Soul Coins. These jailers weren't hard to kill, but there was a prerequisite: never let them get close. Being surrounded by one to three was manageable, but five or more would be very bad.
Su Xiao leaped backward, arriving in front of a relatively intact cell. He pulled open the door, entered, and slammed it shut with a bang.
As soon as the door closed, the seven jailers stopped fixating on Su Xiao and turned their attention to the Priest.
A massive mouth full of sharp teeth appeared behind one jailer, swallowing it whole with a crunching sound.
Bang. A long-handled hammer was thrown, hurtling straight toward the Priest's head. Black tentacles emerged from the Priest's body, wrapping around the incoming hammer.
The moment the black tentacles touched the hammer, the Priest's expression changed slightly. He pressed one hand to his chest. Almost simultaneously, six jailers pounced on him.
Large cleavers, single-edged axes, and heavy hooked blades rained down, slashing at the ancient god tentacles, sending black blood splattering everywhere. Some tentacles were even severed. These jailers were like a pack of mad dogs.
The Priest's health plummeted sharply. He pushed his hand forward, and with a boom, the six jailers were sent flying. Three of them shattered midair.
Clang, clang.
Crossing blade auras slashed through, and the remaining three jailers, still in midair, were cut to pieces by Su Xiao. Limbs and blood hit the ground, the blood's high temperature sizzling against the floor.
The jailers were easy to kill, with below-average survivability. But never let them swarm you. The Sun Force within them was extremely violent, purely lethal in nature.
Moreover, these creatures had a special move. When they fully released the Sun Force within them, their entire bodies would ignite with flames, and they would hurl themselves at the enemy, dealing up to 5900 points of flame explosion damage.
And that wasn't all. Once hit by their explosion, you would suffer a Flame Vulnerability effect, significantly reducing your resistance to fire for the next few minutes.
As the battle ended, Su Xiao felt something lightly bump his leg. Bubu Wang, who had been blending into the environment, appeared in his line of sight.
Thump, thump, thump~
Bubu Wang's hind legs trembled, looking terrified. Judging by his panicked little eyes, he had likely encountered ghost-type enemies in the central area of the sanctuary.
"Woof."
Bubu Wang barked and pointed his dog paw at the Priest, indicating that they needed to shake off the Priest as soon as possible. Continuing to act with him was too dangerous.
PS: (Continuing with four chapters today. The next three will follow shortly.)