In the dim underground rock cave, Charles stared at the huge black and white worms surrounding him.
The worms didn't seem to have any organs of vision, but Charles had the sense of being watched.
"Your woman told the Explorers Association the coordinates of darkness, so I came here early. My servant and I wanted to find the darkness directly and bring it back to Earthsea, but as you can see, things are not that simple." Piper gave an expected answer.
Although Charles was very surprised that he could arrive so quickly, he now had other important things to ask.
"What's up there? Is that a god from the surface? Did you run into the Foundation?"
Various questions kept popping out of Charles' mouth.
Piper's voice sounded in his mind again, with a hint of dissatisfaction in his voice.
"Your speech is not to the point. There are so many questions. Which one do you want me to answer?"
"There are things out there that can kill us at any time. You're not afraid at all and you still have time to ask this."
Charles' mouth curled up slightly and he smiled dryly. "Maybe before, but now I feel like I'm getting used to it. So let's start with the first question. What was that just now? Was it a god on the surface?"
"It's not a god on the surface. It's not even a god. I don't know what it is. I need to observe it further. Whatever it is, it's very powerful. It killed my two subordinate gods as soon as we met."
Charles didn't know how powerful the false gods of the Hek tribe were, but since they were able to occupy a place in Earthsea, it was obvious that they were quite capable.
Being able to kill two false gods easily, the strength of those three eyeballs is probably not much different from the god who previously guarded the door for God Futan.
Piper went on, "We didn't go up very far, and we don't know what's up there either, but one thing we can note is that darkness is up there, and we need to find it."
Hearing this, Charles was stunned for a moment, "Isn't the darkness outside the darkness of the Earthsea?"
Piper's hideous huge mouthparts shook slightly. "No, that's just a derivative of it. I guess you should have noticed that the closer you get to it, the faster any dead thing will turn into its original form. In your words, it will become a relic."
"Based on our deduction, the darkness on the surface is likely to have become a relic. I strongly suspect that it has now been fully revived."
"What!?" Charles' pupils shrank to the smallest size in an instant.
Piper continued, "I know this is unbelievable, but this is the most likely inference, so we need to bypass those powerful things and get it back."
Charles frowned as he digested this shocking news. This was not a good thing.
The darkness that had become a relic, he found it hard to believe what it looked like and what abilities it had.
The most important thing is that the current situation makes exploration countless times more difficult. Searching for darkness among the gods is undoubtedly like snatching food from a tiger's mouth.
After a long time, Charles looked up at Piper again. "There should be another force going up there besides you. Did you encounter the Foundation?"
Piper shook his head. "I don't know. Believe me, the area up there is very unusual and complicated. Once you get up there, you will have no time to care about anything else. Just staying alive will be difficult enough."
Charles was considering whether he should tell them about the foundation, as it was a matter of life and death.
After careful consideration, Charles decided to tell him that although they were now in the same boat, it would be a bit unreasonable for him to be on guard since the other party had just saved his life.
Charles explained the situation of the Foundation to him as simply as possible, and told Piper that the Foundation might have a way to bring darkness back to Earthsea.
"Have you ever considered cooperating with them? We can contact them and become allies to work together to save Earthsea." Piper suggested a solution.
Seeing that Piper was silent, Charles continued, "Not only do you not have it, but the entire Earthsea also does not have it. They have been deliberately erasing their existence in the history of Earthsea."
"For things like this, you should be more cautious. No one knows what they are going to do."
Just as Charles was about to say something, there was a "snap" and the bandaged right hand slapped Charles' shoulder.
"Captain... ...getting out first... is the most important thing... We are not out of danger yet..."
Charles nodded slightly and turned to look at Piper, "How long are we going to stay here?"
"Stay until it goes away. It's still up there now. I can feel it. Shh, don't talk. It's coming."
Upon hearing this, Charles' heart tightened and he and the crew squatted down, trying not to make any noise.
Time passed minute by minute, and the concept of time gradually became blurred in the dark space. Charles couldn't tell how long he had been there.
As time passed, he gradually felt tired and hungry.
Suddenly, Piper's black and white torso began to turn, and he rolled up Charles and walked upwards. "It's gone, let's get out of here as soon as possible."
Charles, who had just emerged from the cave, breathed a sigh of relief when his dark vision was instantly brightened by a pink light.
He looked around blankly and found that above the floating island, there were three giant eyeballs as big as planets, staring at them with overlapping pupils. The pink light made the whole island unusually bright.
It didn't leave at all, it was just standing outside staring!
The moment he saw the eyeball, Paibo's body relaxed and he drilled into the ground with his afterimage.
Arcs of light similar to moonlight appeared in the air again. This time there was not just one, but one after another, weaving into a giant silver net.
Charles felt Lily's body trembling slightly. She was afraid.
Not only her, but other crew members also had despair in their eyes. In front of God, humans are not even ants.
But Charles did not give up. Although the hope was slim, he wanted to give it a try.
"Let's go!" Charles, transformed into a bat, spread his wings and covered everyone, directly triggering the teleportation dice.
Their figures kept flashing on the floating island. Charles' stomach was churning, but he had to endure it. Only by enduring it would he have the only hope of escape.
But no matter how useful a relic is, it comes at a price.
"Bang!" Charles fell to the ground, spitting out mouthfuls of blood. Fragments of internal organs were mixed in the red blood. His body could not support such frequent use of the relics.
At this moment, the silver cover in the air came down like a waterfall.
This side is very beautiful, but also very deadly.
(End of this chapter)