Chapter 138: A Game of Deception

A lot of things have also occurred to Glade during the time that they were away. In fact, the king has finally progressed to the depths of the [Ruined City] after defeating a couple more guards who were ranked [A+] evolved.

"Congratulations! You've reached a whole new world record!" Pier said to the elven king.

"What record would that be? As far as I'm concerned, I am the first person to ever explore the Ruined City." Glade said to the god whom he'd have preferred not talking to at all.

"You really like spoiling all the fun out of things, don't you?' Pier said to the elf who disregarded his comment altogether as he pushed a stone brick from the wall.

"You've really grown from the moment you stepped in here you know that? A lot of people would've already died from the get go yet here you are." Pier told Glade who sounded like a proud parent, giving a speech on graduation day.

The ground rumbled and, the ceiling made of the same stone bricks began pouring down dust. Glade wasn't worried that it would suddenly fall down on him because, this structure was made by the [Dwellers] after all; ensuring him that nothing of the sort would happen.

But it did. The stone bricks dropped on him like rainfall which continued on for a while. Luckily for Glade, he had a barrier perpetually set on and, this caught all the debris falling on him.

"I kinda forgot how old this place actually is." He said to himself, finally seeing the opening on the ground. There was a staircase and, down below was complete and total darkness.

"Honestly, they could've at least put some lighting on for the thieves."

Glade threw some [Luminous Crystals] onto the area; an item which he was able to collect through one of the areas of the [Ruined City]. This brightened the place up completely, giving him a clear vision of what awaited him underneath.

"It's a good thing you picked that up huh." Pier said, looking at the amount of light offered.

These weren't the normal dim crystals found on Mythos but, perpetually lit crystals which collected the minimal amount of mana from the surroundings. Through this its light would continue shinning and, would only go out if placed on a manaless area. Glade took a lot of these with him, knowing that they would be valuable samples for his research once he comes back to Mythos.

"Heyyyy." Pier said, with the king not answering at all.

"HEEEEEEY." He said louder but, Glade still refused to reply.

"Okay you don't want to talk to me? Fiiiineee. I'm gonna spill some juicy beans once you begin fighting some strong monsters again. So enjoy your little exploration there." At this, Pier cut the communication, allowing Glade to finally focus on what he was doing.

"Honestly. That guy is even more annoying than the years of act I needed to put on." Glade said out loud, not caring if the god of mischief heard him or not.

The king was actually a few days away from where the elixir was. But the problem was that, even though he knows the area where this should be found, he has no clue where the exact location is – making things a bit more difficult than they already are.

But he casted the thought aside for the moment because, in front of him was a multiple winding road. There were three entrances presented but Glade didn't need to explore them all as he had a sensing ability.

He knelt on the ground and touched it with his left hand, releasing a vibration of mana that began scanning through the areas. Through this, he was able to sense all traps and monsters that were in the way and, as soon the limit of the skill was reached, he disabled it. King Glade then proceeded to the area with the greatest number of traps and monsters.

"Now why would you take that?" Pier asked, curious about the choice made by Glade.

"Monsters and traps could work two ways. They could be there as a means to kill someone off because of their wrong choice on the route taken. But, their presence could also mean that something valuable lies at the end of the route."

"Ohhhhh." Pier said, impressed about the inductive skills of Glade.

"Aren't you the smart kid." Pier said praising but, Glade simply brushed the comment off once again.

As he expected, there were a lot of traps waiting for him down the path. In fact, the very first step he made was met by the hostility of a hundred arrows directed at him. Glade already knows that this would come up, he just wanted to test how strong the traps actually were. He met this head on by firing needle sized air blades at them, destroying the arrows which, as it turns out, also had explosive qualities.

"Odd." Glade said, looking at the whole caved in route which he took. Of course it was still well lit because of the crystals he used and, what he found strange was that, even with the explosion which just came, the whole area didn't crumble down nor was there any sign of the structure weakening even by a little bit.

This confirmed his thoughts about the place being made of stronger materials. A lot more reliable and sturdier than they were made out to be. Outside, the same old looking bricks fell down on him and he thought that this was an intentional act schemed by the [Dwellers].

They probably wanted to scare anyone who wanted to come in; making them think that it was actually unsafe. But now, with what he just witnessed, Glade was sure that the whole underground area won't be crumbling down any time soon.

"That's a nice little trick. You even had me fooled for a minute there." Glade said, speaking to the souls of the dead [Dwellers] and hoping that they heard him.

The king continued moving forward and, he avoided as many of the traps as possible. Some of them were inevitable while some could simply be avoided by walking on one piece of brick over the other. And, as he progressed deeper and deeper, he finally reached the part of the area which he wasn't able to scan. Glade performed the same act, kneeling down on the ground and beginning the scan using his mana.

Unfortunately for him however, the [Dwellers] of old already thought of something like this happening. They knew that, if some sort of [Scout] or [Scanner] were present, then that person would reach where King Glade was at the moment. Hence, the [Dwellers] reserved the full power of their traps for the latter areas.

All the lights went off – with the crystals of Glade shattering to pieces. This was followed by some vine like substance tangling the king all over. He wasn't able to see it because it came from underneath nor was he able to sense it because the vines had an [Ultimate Stealth] type of function. He couldn't kill it because, the thing somehow restricted his use of mana and this angered the king.

"What the hell is this?" And at that moment, Pier stepped in once again and laughed his heart out.

"Ahhhh this is golden kid. Hahahahaah" The god began, entertained by the little display presented before him.

"I want you to know that I never orchestrated any of this. Heck, I didn't even know that something like this would be down there." He continued, watching the king slowly get pulled by the substance coiling itself around him.

"But I gotta hand it to those dwellers, they did a really fine job in making this place. Bravo! I'd rate this S+ but this area isn't a proper spot within Mythos anymore." He spoke.

"Get me out of this!" Glade commanded the god who was still amused with the events.

"Now why on earth would I ever do that? I'm the god of mischief and deceit, not the god of saving vine tangled elves." The god replied, remembering the little promise he made to Glade.

"You know what. That thing is probably gonna take you in as slowly as it could and from the looks of it, your mana is also getting drained so I'll give you the juicy stuff I mentioned earlier." He said, thrilled about what was happening.

"You see, some humans were sent to Mythos again and its not just one this time. Oh no. It's twenty." Pier said, getting the much-desired reaction from Glade who muffled an angered cuss.

"Twenty elite and hand-picked humans have been sent by the three major deities to your beloved Mythos." Glade's eyes widened in horror, not hearing any of this from Pier beforehand. He wanted to shout at the god but his voice was being covered by the vines that extended to his mouth.

"But that's as far as I know. Sadly, they closed the mirror which allowed us to see Mythos as soon as those guys were deployed so, I guess that's all the information I can offer you man. Sorry." Pier continued, watching the elf get dragged deeper and deeper into the unknown.

"Well, whatever it is that would happen to you. I hope you won't take it against me. Nice knowing you." At this, Pier closed the communication channel, immediately going on the lookout for a new pawn to replace Glade… or so he thought.

Down the route, the vine began having a violet smoke ooze out of it. The creature's tangle on the king got weaker and weaker until, Glade as finally free from its grasp. He then proceeded to removing all the trackers which Pier placed on him, preparing for this day to come for a long time now.

"It took some time but I guess this works." Glade told himself, referring to his plan of getting rid Pier's prying eyes from him. Of course, the god may still find out sooner or later but for the moment, Glade was free to do whatever he wanted and so, he continued exploring the area without having to act week nor feeble.

He remembered the words of Pier but paid it no mind. He couldn't care less about a bunch of kids entering Mythos.

"After all. 'He'd' take care of them." The king said, smiling as he was about to reach the end of the passage.