NOVEL NEXT Chapter 695
BOOM!
In a crisis where Don Nemuoja and the Golden Colossus are bursting with power, the Thesis Thief was taken aback by the indifferent attitude of the teaching assistants passing by.
“Are they not monitoring me? If it stays like this, I might just escape before Professor Weird comes after me.”
“It doesn’t matter. At the point where the original thesis is lost, you’re practically a ghost. You’re fated to die. Don’t even think about surviving against nature.”
“…!”
The Thesis Thief realized.
The reason Professor Weird hadn’t killed him from a distance so far might be due to worrying about the thesis getting damaged along with him.
Once the thesis was damaged, the original lost its value.
Professor Weird’s revenge could start at any moment.
The teaching assistants were running away, scared of getting involved with the Thesis Thief and possibly getting caught in the crossfire.
“Our luxurious [Graduates] are guarding ahead.”
“…Is that so?”
“Wait. Why are you naturally following us who are chasing Oknodie?”
“Do what the enemy hates. Wasn’t that one way of surviving in nature? If I’m attacked, you’ll also get involved.”
“What the hell is wrong with you! We are part of the Research Lab too! You used to be a teaching assistant. Don’t you feel sorry for us rolling under Professor Weird?”
Right now, the Thesis Thief is just as pitiful as they were when he was once exploited by Professor Weird.
He could understand their feelings and position perfectly.
“If you were in the same position as me, you would do anything to survive.”
“Ugh… I can’t argue back, frustratingly enough.”
The anger and sense of loss contained in the Thesis Thief’s words resonated with the teaching assistants, as they shared the same predicament.
Thus, an uncomfortable companionship began, moving together as pursuers and the pursued.
[Is this really what it feels like in the labyrinth’s 2nd area?]
[Golden Stack… Each time I cross a bridge, the gold coins spent double…]
[If I try to detour, the Golden Guard will arise, and depending on the strength of the enemy detected in the Golden River, stronger Golden Guards will be dispatched… and is that the ultimate one?]
The teaching assistants actively used their ability to gauge nature to instantly grasp the ongoing situation in the area.
Not knowing the battlefield would mean experiencing the harshness of nature due to Professor Weird, thus acquiring the [Battlefield Analysis] function was not an option, but a necessity.
[A path leading further inside from the inner sanctum.]
[A gigantic remote island located beyond ten bridges.]
[I can feel the path leading to the ‘Underground’.]
[Unearthly power and golden rivers are pouring out.]
[That must be the way to the Isolation of the Spirit’s Magical Territory [Zone 3].]
Even without spending a single gold coin up to this point, the maliciousness of the final course requiring 2046 gold coins seemed to indicate that the Golden City was harboring malicious intent to block passage to the next zone.
It was like a carnivorous plant ensuring that an insect that slipped inside can’t get out or a swamp engulfing invaders as it grows, feeling as though nature itself is hostile to humans and treats every intruder as mere prey!
SWISH!
As they hovered over with Flight Magic, the Golden Guards that this city had activated had already been triggered.
“Wait a minute. There are signs left by adventurers struggling. Quite recent too.”
“The direction of the signs is strange. They seem to have clung to the railing, resisting as if trying not to be pulled in from outside.”
A shiver ran down their spines.
Too much mana swirled around below a dark downhill path where visibility was obscured.
People, a number they couldn’t count, were being dragged beyond the ultimate obstacle that the Golden City Avalon had set to ensure no one passes through.
The Golden City, doing things it never did before.
That was definitely not a good sign.
It felt as though it was saying there was no longer the need to imprison intruders and let them die slowly.
[Nature Domain]
[Attribute Barrier of the Yin-Yang Plant]
[Mana Detection of the Wind Plant]
[Shooting Stances of the Mechanism Plant]
[Simultaneous Control of the Control Plant]
Rare-level seeds worth more than just a treasure endlessly flowed from the teaching assistants’ hands.
With the multi-control capabilities of the Control Plant, they established a solid defense system capable of responding to any kind of attack. This ambush detection and defense system was the most specialized formation that the 3rd-year members of the Plant Club couldn’t even dare to copy!
“…I can’t hear the Mind Link. The magic can’t even activate from a close distance, it’s all a mess.”
“Ugh. It’s hard to breathe. It feels like I’ve entered the depths of the sea, my ears are ringing.”
“The mana density is terrifying. It’s at the level of artificially mimicking the [Dragon’s Master Peak]’s ley lines… Why is such nonsense necessary without a [Practitioner]?”
As someone’s words were uttered, the 4th-year teaching assistants were simultaneously filled with an ominous premonition, engulfed in icy fear.
Something is there.
The power that the Golden City had hoarded for a long time, trapping intruders, robbing their functions, and even turning them into items, all converged underground.
The reason it was gathering was waiting right here before them.
HISS!
WHOOSH!
CRACK, CRACKLE!
Within the rising mana density, they suddenly saw the figures being dragged away and odd-looking tiny non-fair flight vehicles, along with a group of robed practitioners and a handsome man in a suit grinning as he passed by.
“What… is this phenomenon?”
“It’s a space-time distortion. Highly compressed mana is revealing remnants of the past that can’t escape.”
“Perhaps this space is a warning left for the [Forward Party] by the [Latecomers].”
“Shut up with your bad luck talk. Since Oknodie has entered, we have no choice but to go in to avoid the wrath of Professor Weird who will chase after us from behind.”
“…Let’s go.”
After all, if they fall back, only death waits for them.
They all tried to shake off the chill of terror and moved forward.
BLUB, BLURP!
WHOOSH!
They saw treasures becoming the power source of the [Golden River], melted in the refinery, mixed in special liquids, discharged, and poured upward.
Like the technological prowess of a city’s water supply system, the way the [Golden River] was supplied showed this river was surely the quintessence of ancient technology made with clear intent.
CLACK, CLACK!
AHHHH, save me, I don’t want to be dragged…
Faint screams and wails for help echoed from the treasure vault.
One teaching assistant who was listening intently suddenly jumped back in horror.
“Don’t go in there.”
“Why?”
“That’s where those turned into ego items are stored.”
“How long have they been there…?”
“A long time. Very long, without a promise of liberation.”
“…This magical territory was created over a thousand years ago?”
“Even a year in the Research Lab can destroy a person’s mind, but a thousand years of confinement…”
That dreadful statement made them check their own gold coins once again.
Or it might remind them of the end of their lives as Research Lab teaching assistants.
“There it is. I feel like we’re slowly reaching the center.”
Across the deep pit where the city’s major facilities were placed.
A dazzling golden structure shimmering before them emerged.
The entrance of the building had a door at the center of a massive golden wall, which was essentially a huge mural engraved with countless forms of life.
All the life forms in the mural seemed to be terrified or escaping from the center, exuding an unnaturally vivid vitality.
As if real people were trapped inside.
The mural offering a horror that transcended discomfort could perhaps not just be a simple mural.
“…Let’s go in.”
The very heart of the Golden Area.
As they entered what was called the heart of the Golden City, the entire space whispered to them what kind of place it was.
[Sanctum of Gold]
This was the very depths of the Golden City.
A platform for performing a ritual to gather the accumulated energy from the entire city for the reawakening of the great one.
Having sought to take the god’s seat in human form, that arrogance drew the wrath of the gods, obliterated by the sole god [Sofemia of the Sun], it was the site of resurrection for the great archmage.
“Today, we’re getting a lot of resurrection materials. I, the Golden Dancer Riske, am truly thrilled that my master’s resurrection is hastening.”
A golden girl so beautiful, as if all the beauty and emotion that all the gold in the world possessed were concentrated in one form.
The Golden Dancer Riske gracefully lifted the hem of her skirt with both hands, bowing slightly in a gracious gesture.
The teaching assistants were more focused on the feast table extending behind her than on the maiden’s beauty.
Guests were already seated at the separate tables.
On one side, terrified adventurers.
On the other side, Oknodie and its entourage, making scared yelps like, “Hieek!”
“What’s going on here?”
“This is the [Table of Knowledge], which will unfold the banquet of knowledge. While there are plenty of [Body Materials] for my master’s resurrection, the [Knowledge Materials] required by the great golden magician aren’t enough. So, this girl, Riske, had a thought. I will exchange my accumulated knowledge to compete in the total amount and value of our knowledge.”
“…What happens if we refuse?”
The mana density of the space surged terrifyingly.
It was at a level powerful enough to evoke memories of the ‘Professors.’
“I’ll have no choice but to use you all as [Body Materials] to present to my master.”
Unlike the Golden Colossus which can only produce high-powered destructive beams and mass troops with its clumsy large body, this was on a whole different level.
“If Oknodie looks that terrified, this one must really be something exceptional.”
“To be honest, I have no confidence in winning.”
“This… leaves us no choice but to sit at the banquet table.”
“But which table should we sit at?”
The adventurers shouted hurriedly.
“Over here! We’ve roamed the world gathering tales of adventures and secrets. If we join forces, we can survive the feast of knowledge!”
“Hieeek!! Professor Weird’s minions!! I’m dead, we have to run!!”
…Seeing how Oknodie appeared to be more terrified than even the Golden Dancer Riske, they made their decision.
“Oknodie seems like its reason has been paralyzed with fear.”
“Here, we’ll need to team up with the adventurers.”
The teaching assistants took their seats at the banquet table filled with adventurers.