Chương 314: Chapter 309

Jacob is almost done discussing a broad plan with Sir Maximilian, without of course revealing everything. The less he knows, the better. I don't know what the Cultists can do with someone's soul. It seems like Sir Maximilian himself thinks he could get killed. If they could extract information out of his soul against his will after I revealed all of my plans, it would be a mess. Jacob knows that this is bordering on paranoia.

But there's something about the fact that a mother was ready to sacrifice her two children to unleash an apocalyptic beast upon the city that, well, justifies the paranoia in his mind. Karzun looks satisfied at the Dungeon Core. They're both standing on the cliff in front of the Core, with their palms upon the smooth surface of the giant marble of pure energy of Apocalypse. They have been gathering souls for thousands and thousands of years.

All the Nightmares that the Knights and Adventurers have killed with so much effort haven't even made a dent in their reserves. This is the kind of planning that has taken generations of Cultists, that has almost had them fully wiped out by Knights time and time again. And now, with all this labor, with all the effort that has gone into spreading their Lord's Primordial Dungeons across the world to harvest souls, their final plan is soon coming to fruition.

"When all the Knights and Adventurers enter the Dungeon," Kisanna says with an evil smile, "we will wait for them to go deep into the Intermediate Grounds. At that point, we shall have them all killed. Such a massacre will empower Lyra and the dominoes will fall. The mithril sickness will take out everybody who doesn't enter the Dungeon. And if they do, we'll slaughter them like the pigs they are." Karzun nods gleefully. It's a flawless plan.

The Knights and Adventurers have no choice but to venture in the Dungeon to clear it out. Even if the mithril sickness hasn't taken hold like the Cultists expected, the people out there will eventually run out of food and water unless they destroy the Primordial Dungeon. And so, thinking this, Kisanna smiles when she feels a faint pinging sensation.

"A group has arrived," she says with a smile.

"Soon, the rest of them will come and—""Wait," Karzun frowns.

"How are they already in the Intermediate Grounds?" Kisanna frowns herself and doubles her concentration efforts. It's not easy to 'feel' things through the Dungeon Core. It can only give them a rough sense of what's happening. They cannot see each other like they would with a scrying mirror. And the Primordial Magic inside the Dungeon is usually too turbulent to attempt to scry people.

"They probably have some teleportation Skill," Kisanna shrugs.

"But it's not important." Kisanna is genuinely convinced that they're about to unleash Apocalypse.

"They don't deserve this world. They don't deserve their life," she says. She has the eyes of a person who has seen things beyond the mortal world. They don't know.

"Kisanna," Karzun gets close to her and puts a hand on her shoulder.

"Fear not, we'll kill them all. This plague. We'll eradicate it. Mortalkind has overstayed its welcome." And the thing is, they are very, very close to it. To eliminating all life on this planet, that is. Well, at the very least, they're close to a damn good attempt.

"So, what is the plan?" Sir Maximilian asks Jacob as they stand in the cavern that hosts the massive underground lake and the portal to the Original Primordial Dungeon, Lyra.

"We'll be sending people through the Dark Door to take care of the underground ruins? You mentioned special teams. I think we should pool together the very best, Jacob, and hit them where they hurt. Let's rob Rafnov's Bounty." Sir Maximilian, however, sees that Jacob is staring intently at the portal, with several thoughts going through his mind and not being vocalized.

In the short span that he has spent by the Leader of Champions, he has not yet learned to discern anything of what goes behind the young man's eyes.

"That's one way to go about it," Jacob spells the words out slowly. Kisanna has prepared a dozen hordes in all the new ruins that the Knights are supposed to explore, ready to sweep all her enemies out at once. And even if they were cautious, she can't wait to take out even a couple of teams. The kind of terror that would generate in them would put them on the back foot, force them to make mistakes, poison the entire city! And once they're afraid, they'll make more mistakes.

They'll band together, pool their forces, believing that unity will make them stronger when— She gets a sudden ping from a ruin much farther away in the Intermediate Ground than the ones she had picked for the ambush.

"When the hell did they get there?" She frowns. She closes her eyes as she places both palms upon the Dungeon Core.

"Wait, it's that thing again!" There has been a mysterious force going around and clearing Intermediate Ground ruins before the teams can even get there. She doesn't know what it is. It's completely shrouded to her perception by some powerful Primordial Magic. But it doesn't matter. She ignores that force. She has tried steering the monsters, Nightmares and non-Nightmares, against it before. But it's just one soul, surprisingly. Rafnov's ghost, perhaps? Who knows.

What matters is that she finally feels Knights entering the Dungeon through a teleportation spell. She has tracked it to Jacob Cloud's group before. What's happening is just probably Jacob Cloud thinking he can shuttle them into the underground floor of the ruins, in Rafnov's Bounty. Cultists and Nightmares cannot harvest the resources there. They're akin to poison for them. But they can use them to lure idiots there. Yes. Go deep. Deeper even.

And as soon as you think you're safe, not even this little teleportation spell of yours will save you. Jacob looks at the biggest problem after Sir Maximilian has relinquished control of the expedition to him. He hasn't really kept up with the politics of the different teams, but it appears that the one leading Team One isn't one of Sir Maximilian's men. Well, he had been, for a moment. Then, a person challenged the leader, beat her within an inch of her life, and snatched control from her hands.

Apparently, Garros has met the previous leader and had to heal her grievous injuries. Whoever went against her was the most ruthless of Knights. And… Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. It turns out, she isn't a Knight, Jacob thinks, looking forward.

"Helena Ashenvale, second-year Champion," Jacob gives her an iron smile.

"What's the problem now?" It was a student. A Champion. Accidentally, the only person with a Special Quest herself, somehow. It's once again that damn, golden-spectacled man's plan. Isn't it? He wants me to suffer! Helena Ashenvale is a fiery redhead, followed closely by Sir Lucas, who apparently became her right hand during this ordeal. She thrusts the pickaxe she had just been holding into Jacob's hands.

"I refuse." If Jacob could have had his way, at this point of the expedition, after convincing the damn Knight Commander to trust him, he would have simply killed this woman. Now, he truly understands why the Dark Champions are so happy and relaxed all the damn time! How easy is life when you can just stab the annoyances away?! Jacob has dealt with Helena Ashenvale for about five hours of his life. Already, he can feel his face growing wrinkled. Already, he is reconsidering his attraction to women.

"Lady Helena, you don't have to participate in the excavation. I've already told you, no one is forcing you to be here. The Dark Door is open and it leads back to Sir Maximilian's office. You can just go back and—""And you think I will leave everything in your hands?" The redhead says, walking up to Jacob, dwarfing him in size. They definitely fed this one some Cultist stuff when she was growing up. Jacob looks around for a second, using his senses to make sure they're all still safe for now.

The red stone of the place glows faintly as men and women run thunderous pickaxe swings against the stone. They have already arranged mining carts, shafts, and pits. Powder hangs in the air, glittering where the lanterns catch it. The men work in shifts, rotating through the carts and the pickaxes without speaking, the only sounds the dull rhythm of metal on rock and the occasional grunt from a Knight who has put a bit too much Skill into a swing. Ore goes into the carts as fast as the carts can be wheeled out.

Gems get bagged separately, in pouches a scout takes back through the Dark Door. Everything is going very smoothly. And, if all goes to plan…

"Are you listening to me?" Lady Ashenvale says with narrowed eyes.

"Nobody here knows you, Jacob Cloud. I've seen you in the tournament, unlike them. I've seen how pathetically weak the Generation of Legends is. You don't think you need me?" I swear to God, I'll kill this woman.

"Of course, I do," Jacob lies with a smile so bright it could have blinded someone.

"I'm just trying to cooperate, Lady Ashenvale. I know that your position as second-year Champion puts you above me when it comes to this Special Quest." Unfortunately, it also places Helena Ashenvale's orders above his. Does he have Sir Maximilian's authority now? Yes. But, being a student, and in the presence of a Champion, despite being a Champion himself, he is one step down in the chain of command compared to her. And the woman just loves it.

"This plan is useless. Mining? Here? What are we doing? If what you say is true, we should be killing as many Nightmares as possible. We should be leveling up, getting new Skills in this forsaken place. And you… want to mine?" To be fair, Jacob has not revealed his plan to either Sir Maximilian or this woman. One upside, though, is that there's one person who seems to hate Lady Ashenvale more than Jacob himself.

"Given the Headmaster's rules, would someone killing you in a challenge become a second-year Champion?" Jacob hears a warm voice behind him speak. If one had not heard the content of said speech, it might have sounded as sweet as honey and more friendly than the cutest puppy. Lady Ashenvale looks over Jacob's shoulder right into Baal's eyes. The Blood of the Devils has taken to hating this woman in record time. Something about her really ticks her off. Jacob and Baal have not been super friendly.

Baal's presence naturally threatens Jacob's leadership. Also, it appears that it was Baal who convinced Nimirea to come here to Ashenmere. And, seeing Nimirea so friendly now with the handsome Devil doesn't exactly constitute Jacob's favorite hobby. At the wise age of seventeen, Jacob has rightly concluded that killing Baal and eliminating him from Nimirea's surroundings would definitely make the Champions weaker. There is no but. Jacob has yet to find one other downside.

Plus, with Nimirea not being a Champion officially, he could still replace him with her. Two birds with one stone. Hopefully, the stone will be used to bash Baal's head in the next time he makes Nimirea laugh.

"I believe it's only the same-year students that can challenge their Champions," Jacob coughs.

"But if you two want a duel to the death. I must say, who am I to oppose such a wonderful exchange between great warriors? Blade sharpens blade or something like that." That said, Jacob turns on his heels, extracts Rafnov's pickaxe from his Interspatial Ring, and gets to hitting stone. He misses it. He really does. Plus, it does help tune out the two who are now trying to bother him.

"There we go!" Kisanna cackles. She has slowly gathered five hundred Nightmares in the past hours, having them slowly pour into the same underground complex where all the Knights have gathered. They're far enough that the Knights won't notice them, and yet close enough that soon they'll be ambushed and hundreds of them will die. One thing that Kisanna doesn't understand is why the signatures of the Knights seem to be so stationary.

Why aren't they looking for all the treasures hidden in the rooms of Rafnov's Bounty? What are they doing, exactly? Why are they wasting their time? Are they camping, perhaps? She herself has never taken her children camping. She considers sacrificing them to a Primordial God a much less unpleasant activity for family bonding. As she gives the order to the Nightmares to swarm the place, waiting a few minutes for all the creatures to reach their objective… What? Where the hell did they go?

It appears that the Knights have just left. Kisanna closes her eyes and possesses one of the Nightmares, looking around. Her beautiful Dungeon has been completely turned upside down. There are half-broken mining carts full of dirt, open mining shafts, and scattered powder of rare minerals and gems. The Knights have stayed in about three rooms total, despite there being more than five hundred who came here and they… They fucking mined the place?!

Sir Maximilian sees the procession of dirty Knights and Adventurers staring daggers at him as they come out of the Dark Door that has been set up in the courtyard of the Ashenvale estate. They're taking carts upon carts of True Diamond ore and a few of Imperium ore. Despite not being a professional miner, Sir Maximilian can already tell that its purity is through the roof, though. Ok, but… how's that helping? Sir Maximilian wonders.

He sees Jacob come out last, walking with purpose toward the Blacksmiths of Ashenmere. Thalric, Lyssaena, and her brother Janson have gathered all of them here with the promise of—"This is preposterous!" Lady Helena Ashenvale thunders.

"I won't be having this! We are warriors of justice, not damn miners!" She starts stomping toward Jacob with many people agreeing with her.

"Yeah! What's the point of all this digging?"

"We came here to fight Nightmares, not to swing pickaxes like commoners!"

"If I wanted to mine, I'd have stayed in my father's quarries — for half the danger!"

"Lady Ashenvale's right. We're being made into a labor crew."

"Knights of the Academy, reduced to miners. They'll be laughing at us back home." But then, Jacob smiles and points at three people, "you, you, and you. You mined the most ore right?" They look almost offended by the question but still nod.

"Well, then, we have enough to get you all a full set of armor and weapons. And the gems can be encased in those for enchantments. How about you go with Master Blake here and get your stuff?"

"What's this nonsense?!" Lady Helena Ashenvale shouts.

"Do you think you can buy—""Wait, how pure is that True Diamond ore? I've never seen anything like that. It's a damn different color," one says.

"My dad is a famous Blacksmith on the other side of the ocean. Trust me, that's the best True Diamond ore I've ever seen in my entire life! We need to get our hands on a set made of it!"

"It's true! Feel the resonance of the damn Mana in it! It might very well be one hundred percent pure!" The same people who had been ready to support Lady Helena Ashenvale now shoulder her away and jump on the mining carts, taking out the raw lumps of ore and examining them. However, there are now more Knights and Adventurers who have been waiting here, feeling that mining has been beneath them, ready to eat their words.

"Wait, when are we going again?!" One shouts.

"I didn't know we would get armor! And weapons! I'm ready to mine, baby!"

"Yeah! Let's go! What are we doing here?! We're True Diamond Rankers! We can go for a week straight!"

"Indeed! Commander Cloud, let's go!" Sir Maximilian is about to correct the crowd—Jacob Cloud is not a commander. He's a student. He has temporary authority that was bestowed upon him by him, the actual commander. But the clamor of the crowd is deafening to the point that even if he wanted to point out the difference, he wouldn't be able to without spending a great deal of Mana in empowering his voice.

He expects Jacob to tell them that they can't go immediately, that only so many Dark Doors can be opened at once when—"Alright, we opened up a new set of ruins, who's coming with me?!" Jacob shouts over the crowd, indeed empowering his voice with Mana to be heard. The crowd goes crazy and people almost trample each other to go get pickaxes from the massive racks set up in the courtyard and stomp all over the beautiful flowers that had previously filled the garden of the Ashenvale estate.

Sir Maximilian looks at the most important flower of the Ashenvale estate being trampled—Lady Helena fumes at the behavior of all the Knights, especially the ones from Team One that she had personally led in battle. Yet, she has been thoroughly defeated by the greed in the hearts of the Knights—a new set of pure True Diamond ore and encased with the incredibly potent gems they have found is worth more than any flowers, no matter how pretty—or bloodthirsty. Lady Helena Ashenvale cannot believe her eyes.

Up until a moment ago, you shameless mass of pirates, you wanted nothing to do with mining! Considering it beneath you! And now you go crazy for a little bit of metal?! Don't you have any shame at all?!