Chapter 182 - Chests Are Never Many

The guy from the third team ran up to the wooden chests and was about to open one of them.

"You shouldn't be in such a hurry." Said Wain.

Vineta looked at him and smiled. She thought that Wain had decided to share the reward with them and not compete for it, but none of them but Wain knew about the little secret of the chests.

Click.

The guy opened one of the wooden chests, but suddenly, he saw creepy tentacles and a big eye instead of a reward. Everyone was shocked by what they saw, they didn't expect it to be a trap.

Whoooosh.

The tentacles twisted around the guy's neck and tried to strangle him, but Wooden Mimic was a pretty weak monster. He was able to crush the tentacles and jump aside.

"Shit! What is that?" Shocked, the guy said.

He had never encountered anything like this before, and it was abnormal to him.

Whooooooosh.

Wain appeared in front of the chest and destroyed it with one powerful blow. The tentacle pieces flew apart, and Wain pulled a pack of cigarettes from under his cloak.

He lit a cigarette and said, "I didn't tell you, but every one of those chests is a monster. I've encountered one of those once before, and I must say we've had some pretty bad luck. Instead of a reward, we got monsters."

"What? You couldn't have warned me sooner?" The guy said grudgingly.

Wain smirked, "Didn't I try? You just should have listened to my advice, but you gave in to greed. That's your problem."

The guy wanted to respond to something, but Vineta stopped him.

"Okay, I hear you." The girl said calmly, and a lightning spear appeared in her hand.

She was not happy about the situation, but she could not change anything. Vineta was going to kill Mimics and get out of here.

"Wait, I have a proposition for you."

"Hmm? What is it?"

"I want to take these monsters for myself. In return, this mountain of gold will be yours. I don't know what you'll do with it, but I don't need it." Wain suggested.

Vineta frowned, "Why do you want the monster chests? That sounds rather suspicious."

Wain answered nothing. Instead, he opened another wooden chest, which was also a Mimic. He squeezed its eye with force and crushed it. Wain did this to demonstrate once again that all chests are monsters.

"I have a special ability with which I can get more Soul Essence by killing rare monsters. I also want to do some experiments on these creatures." Wain said seriously.

"What happens if I refuse?"

"In that case, we will fight. I'm not going to give you what I need. There are more of you, but I can kill every one of you." Coldly Wain said, and his aura began to intensify.

Vineta grew wary. She realized that Wain was not their ally despite their combined efforts to defeat the Golden Knight. The same was true of Wain. 

Moreover, he hadn't friendly intentions toward them, for one had sent Harald to kidnap Lea. For Wain, Lea was one of the most valuable people in the new world, except Gisle.

It would not be difficult for him to avenge the attempted kidnapping and kill several people.

Vineta wondered. She didn't know what she should do in this situation. She had initially thought that these chests contained treasure, in which case she would not have agreed to this deal. However, because they were Mimics, she changed her mind.

She also did not want to fight Wain. Vineta understood that in the best case, they would kill Wain, but only she and Selena would stay alive, the others Wain would surely kill. At worst, they would all die.

Vineta could not sacrifice so many lives just because of possible treasure. After all, if Wain's words were true, she would not be able to forgive herself.

"Hmm, I don't mind, we'll keep the gold. I think we'll find a way to use it. But, I have a condition." Said Vineta.

"I'm listening to you."

"I want to open twenty chests and make sure that there really is no treasure in them, and they are monsters."

"That's quite a lot, but I agree, just don't go higher than the third row. The monsters above are too unique and valuable to me. I can't lose them." Said Wain.

Vineta nodded and, together with her companions, set about exploring the chests.

In a few minutes, they checked nineteen chests. Each of them turned out to be a Mimic. Vineta checked the chests on three rows just as Wain had said.

On the first row were wooden chests. On the second were copper, pewter, and bronze. On the third were iron chests.

On each row, there were fewer chests, but they were larger and more massive. Also, the chests on the higher rows were decorated with various patterns, carvings, and precious stones, which emphasized their importance.

The iron Mimics were quite strong and were able to wound to Selena. One of the Mimics bit her on the arm, it was not fatal, but it showed that even such monsters could be dangerous.

Vineta prepared to open the last twentieth chest, but suddenly she changed her mind.

"I want to open one gold chest. It will be the last after which we will take the gold and leave here." Said Vineta pointing to the fourth row.

Wain frowned but eventually nodded. Unlike the wooden chests, of which there were thirty, there were only fifteen gold chests. 

But he could let Vineta check one of them. Wain approached it, as he was about to kill the Golden Mimic himself and get a soul.

Snap.

Vineta opened the chest and prepared to attack, but the situation was different from before this time. This chest was also a Mimic, but it did not attack Wain and Vineta. 

This Mimic's mouth was filled with hundreds of sharp teeth, and it had a long, massive tongue in the center of its mouth.

"What is that?" Vineta muttered, looking at the gold bar wrapped around her tongue.

"Hmm, looks like it's asleep and doesn't even know we're here." Wain suggested.

Wain nodded and reached out his hand for the gold bar.

When he touched the bullion with his fingertip, the Mimic suddenly woke up and spat out the bullion. However, the monster didn't run away, and the bullion hovered in the air. 

A moment later, the ingot glowed brightly. It was like the sun. The light engulfed everything around it. It was so bright that Wain, Vineta, and the others had to close their eyes to avoid going blind.

Selena and a few others smiled as they thought they had finally found something of value. However, it wasn't a reward, it was a horrible trap from which there was no escape.

"What's going on?!" Shouted one of them.

Suddenly their bodies began to turn to gold. When Vineta realized this, she tried to back away, but she couldn't do it since her feet were already a lump of gold.

Gradually everyone became gold statues, and the bullion returned to Mimic's mouth. Even though they were turned into golden statues, their minds were not affected. They were able to think.

"What's going on?"

"Where am I?"

"What happened?"

"No...I'm going to die..."

Hundreds of thoughts and questions consumed their minds. Some panicked and realized that this was the end, but others tried to get out of this horrible situation. 

Vineta tried to move or use some skill with all her might, but she didn't work out.

Crackling.

Suddenly there was a crackling sound in the hall. Many fissures appeared on one of the golden statues. It was a statue of a tall man in a long cloak.

[Your Title's Savior of the Damned effect has been activated]

[You are the one who saved the damned from the most ruthless and cruel fate of all. You are the one who ended the Isle of the Damned, and such a weak curse is no threat to you]

Crackle.

The golden shell shattered from Wain's arms, then from his legs and torso. Last was the head, from which the gold shards fell in small pieces.

Wain shook his head and muttered, "Yeah, that was unexpected. I need to get into the business of acquiring strong and rare Titles immediately. Without them, I'd probably be dead by now."

Wain didn't know how to help the others, but he didn't care. At this moment, more than anything, he wanted to know what was in that gold bullion. He realized it was some artifact or even a weapon.

Wain walked over to Mimic and looked at it coldly. He opened the chest and instantly punched it with his fist. The monster tried to block the blow with its tongue, but Wain retaliated by grabbing the tongue with his other hand and pulling it out in a sharp motion. 

Mimic roared in pain and tried to run away, but Wain was not about to let the monster go. He grabbed Mimic by the legs and, in the next moment, tore the monster in two. Wain's physical strength was immense.

Whoooosh.

The blue soul flew into his body.

[Soul of Golden Mimic (Destroyed)

Chronicle: First

Rating: Rare]

Wain wanted to crush the soul, but suddenly he stopped when he saw Mimic's energy being absorbed by Dungeon. At that moment, an interesting idea came to him.

'Mimics have more energy hidden in them than other creatures. Doesn't that mean their souls are more valuable than those of other monsters? Maybe, in that case, I should save them and then sell them to whoever offers a good price?' Wain pondered.

In the end, Wain decided to save the soul and talk to Sven about it the next time he met him.

"Okay, now it's time to find out what it is." Wain muttered was looking at the gold bar lying on the floor.

Wain leaned over and touched the bullion. It glowed brightly again, but this time Wain didn't have to close his eyes, and it didn't turn to gold.

Click.

A mechanism sounded, and the top of the bullion opened. It was a special box and a unique security mechanism. Only a person who knew how to disarm the trap could keep out the deadly beams of light. It didn't matter to Wain, though, the curses couldn't hurt him.

"Isn't that..." Wain muttered, staring shocked at the contents of the box.

There was a small piece of paper in there. It looked like part of a blueprint. Wain knew at once what it was, he had come here for the thing.

Wain touched the piece of card, and the next moment the scrap was covered in blue energy and flew through Wain's body. 

Part of the card pierced through Vineta, Selena, and the others, and then the curse began to fall from them. Then part of the map returned to him, and a scene appeared in Wain's mind.

He looked down on the island as he had the first time, but there were certain differences this time. First, he saw the sun slowly rise over the horizon, and then Wain sensed which side of the world he was in. It was east. 

The next moment the two parts of the map came together. When Wain saw this, he realized that he needed to put one more piece together to make the map complete.

'Now I know not only the day when the island will appear, but also almost the exact time. The island will appear half an hour before dawn if I'm not mistaken. Also, I'll need to head east, but I don't know the exact coordinates... I need more clues.' Wain thought.

"You saved us...?" Vineta muttered uncertainly.

She hadn't heard or seen anything during the curse, so she assumed they were alive thanks to Wain, who had a bar of gold in his hands.

"Yes." Wain nodded weakly. "I have a special passive skill. It helped me survive. Otherwise, we'd be here forever."

"Thank you." Vineta bowed low.

Wain waved his hand, "Never mind. Now take your gold and get out of here. I have a lot of work to do."

"Of course.." Vineta quickly replied and gave directions to her people.