NOVEL NEXT Chapter 1174: Silent Explosions
"Gege!"
The mimic stood by the attic's wooden railings, offering moral support as Adam carefully crawled across the wooden beams.
Adam suddenly froze in his movements. He then slowly turned around and glared at the stupid mimic through his dark, hollow eyes.
He brought a finger to his lips and silently mouthed the words:
"Shut the hell up!"
The mimic grew visibly upset. It turned around and shuffled to the wall, where it sulked in depression. "Gege…"
Adam suddenly had the urge to cast a Fireball at the idiot. He turned back around and continued to crawl across the beam. A leather bag was fastened securely to his back, carrying a medicinal liquid he had recently concocted.
It wasn't so much medicinal as it was irritating. Still, what he intended to do with it was crucial to his plan for marauding the vault.
Soon, he positioned himself at the very center of the main beam that ran above the vast hall. This beam ran directly above the pathway in the middle where the steel golem patrolled back and forth.
Adam unfastened the leather bag from his shoulders, then brought his hand down, letting it dangle from his fingers. He extended his Sphere of Resonance as he patiently waited for the golem to move into position.
He had to calculate the golem's pace with precision before dropping the bag. If he missed, he would have to risk his life all over again to get the ingredients from the nearby forest and concoct the solution again, thereby wasting precious time.
The Laughing God continued to whisper, and Adam continued to listen.
He inhaled deeply, then exhaled, steadying himself. Slowly but surely, he drowned out the ravings of the Faceless Mask, honing all his focus on the single objective before him.
The crazed whispers gradually lessened, leaving only the steel golem and the leather bag before his mind's eye. Adam's lips gradually curled into a crooked smirk, and then…
He dropped the bag.
SPLAT!
The leather bag accurately fell on the golem's head, bursting open and spilling a reddish liquid that splattered across its upper body. The golem froze in its footsteps, the crimson glow in its eyes turning darker.
It slowly raised its hands, studying the sticky liquid coating them. Then, it tilted its head as if trying to discern whether the substance was harmful. A few moments later, it raised its head and glanced at the main wooden beam above.
However, no one was there…
The golem lowered its head, observed the red liquid on its hands, then resumed its patrol through the hall. Having judged the substance harmless, it ignored it and continued to follow its master's directive.
In truth, the red liquid posed no danger to the golem. It was neither a poison that could corrode through its steel body, nor was it an adhesive solution that would slow down its movements.
Its sole purpose was far simpler… to attract!
***
Adam climbed out through the hole in the ceiling, then stood atop the domed roof and glanced at the sprawling ruined city below that unfolded before him. The light of the twin moons filtered through the dark clouds, casting a pale glow on his dark and hideous visage.
"Gege?" The mimic had taken the form of a rucksack bag strapped across his shoulders.
The mouth of the bag bristled with razor-sharp teeth, and a thick tongue occasionally slithered from within. Gege had transformed itself into this convenient storage bag. After all, carrying a chest and fleeing from what was about to unfold would have been far too difficult for Adam.
"Now, for step two of the plan," Adam said with a wide grin. "It's time for some good ol' explosions."
He reached towards the mimic's mouth and said, "Hand it over. Careful now… if it breaks inside you, you'll go feral. Even I wouldn't be able to save you then."
"Gege…" The mimic shuddered, likely cursing inside his head and wondering why, if the items were so dangerous, the ugly madman insisted on storing them inside it in the first place.
The mimic coiled its tongue around a crudely shaped metal can that Adam had fashioned from spare materials in the attic. Ugly as it looked, the container held something far more insidious.
As he grabbed the can, his lips curled into a wide grin. "If I can't take on the golem myself, then I'll just compel every beast in the city to do it for me. Let's see how powerful you really are."
Just as he was about to vault off the domed building and head deeper into the city, Adam suddenly froze. A thoughtful look appeared on his burned face, and he murmured, "I feel like I'm forgetting something…"
"Gege?" The mimic tilted in confusion, as clueless as ever.
Adam stood motionless for a long time before suddenly shuddering. "Goodness arcana, I forgot the most crucial thing!"
Adam hastily took off the rucksack from his back and set it on the roof. Without delay, he shoved his hand inside the mimic's mouth, much to its dismay, and pulled out two crystal vials containing grey liquid.
A drop of cold sweat trickled down his forehead as he murmured:
"Gege… I almost forgot about the antidote. Haha, we would have been no different from those beasts if we didn't consume this potion."
He suddenly felt the urge to burst into laughter, but at the last moment, he viciously bit his tongue. A coppery taste spread across his mouth, and the pain sobered him up slightly.
Then, without hesitation, he downed one vial himself, then poured the contents of the other into the mimic's mouth. After all that was done, Adam was finally ready.
"Alright, now we can go." He strapped the bag to his back, then jumped off the roof, silently heading deeper into the city.
***
About half an hour later, dozens of dazzling explosions erupted across the Ivory City!
However, these were not blasts of fire. They were silent eruptions of gas. In but a few minutes, the entire city was engulfed in an ominous red haze. The gas clung to every nook and cranny of the city, burrowing into every living being that called the ruined city home.
And then…
The furious howls of countless magical beasts tore through the silence of the night. One after another, they emerged from their lairs, their eyes blazing with madness.
They all turned towards the lone figure of a human clad in a dark, tattered cloak. Then, they charged towards him with hunger and malice.
Adam sprinted through the streets of Ivory City, staff in hand, fleeing from the rampaging beasts.
His destination… the domed building.
However, he had severely underestimated the true effect his concoction would have on the beasts. The ingredients found on this continent turned out to be more potent than he had expected. The red gas didn't just drive the beasts into a berserk frenzy, it also seemed to amplify their feral strength.
And before he realized it…
He was swallowed by a raging tide of beasts!