Chapter 72 - The Strange Gregory

In the blink of an eye, ten days had passed.The leaves in the forest had fallen more heavily, carpeting the ground, making the autumn colors even richer.

During this time, Prince Gro had sent over the many materials and items he had promised to Richard, who, after solving a series of tedious details, began to officially start on the quarry.

So, for the next dozen days, on the hill where the ancient castle stood, one could often hear continuous explosions coming from a distant mountain.

“Boom! Boom!”

“Clatter clatter,” Giant Dragon Gregory stepped out of the cave in his humanoid form, lifting his head to look at the sky. The sun had just risen, the light was soft, and the sky was golden—it was good weather. But his expression was somewhat gloomy, as though he had been disturbed from his lazy sleep or was worried about something urgent.

He turned his head to glance in the direction of the distant mountain and couldn’t help but shake his head, buzzing, “Damn kid!”

He turned to leave.

But the very next moment, he saw a purple shadow flash by.

Huh?

Gregory turned his head and saw Pandora standing behind him.

“Er, good daughter, waking up so early today, pretty good…” Gregory’s face immediately changed to a full smile, his eyes shifting around as he tried to make conversation. But to be honest, he was really not good at this, and he just killed the conversation right there, “But I got up even earlier, just didn’t come out, that’s all.”

Pandora glared, not picking up on Gregory’s words, but instead asked, “What are you up to?”

Gregory scratched his head, replying, “Er, not up to much. Just stepping out for a stroll. I mean, it’s just that, that damn boy called Richard has been keeping me up at night, I just had to get out for a bit.”

“Yeah, right!” Pandora responded, her tone blunt—utterly disbelieving.

Gregory replied with a hint of resignation, “Good daughter, I’m telling the truth. Besides, although I’ve been going out these past few days, you had Richard to play with; so you shouldn’t have been too bored. You see, when I originally captured him, I thought you’d play with him for a few days and wear him out, so I could catch a new one for you. Unexpectedly, he turned out to be quite durable, so you can find more time to play with him. Alright, enough said; I’m taking off.”

With that, Gregory seemed in a hurry as he twisted his body and transformed into his giant dragon form, flapping his wings, ready to take off into the sky. After struggling for quite a while, however, he realized he couldn’t take off. Turning his head, he found Pandora was holding onto his tail.

Er, this…

“Good daughter, this…” Gregory looked exasperated, completely helpless. Yet in the next moment, his eyes twinkled, looking past Pandora, “Ah, Richard?”

Huh?

Pandora immediately turned to look behind her, her grip loosening instinctively.

Gregory quickly flapped his wings and took off.

By the time Pandora realized she had been tricked and turned back to look at Gregory, he was already high in the sky, over a hundred meters up, beyond her reach.

Pandora was livid, the consequences severe. Clenching her tiny fists, she glared at Gregory in the sky.

Usually, Gregory would circle around for a while, saying nice things, to avoid getting punched when he arrived home.

But this time Gregory seemed really in a rush, completely forgetting that detail, and flew off swiftly with his wings flapping.

Pandora remained stunned for a moment, slowly lowering her clenched fists, watching as Gregory’s form quickly shrank to a dot and disappeared into the horizon, her brow furrowing.

Lately, Gregory seemed very strange.

Pandora thought for a moment, then turned her head to look in the direction of the distant mountain, where the booming noises continued to resound.

“Boom, boom!”

The mountain.

On the mountain’s flank, a passage about two meters wide and tall had suddenly appeared. In that passage, surrounded by numerous reinforcement braces, Richard was completing the final preparation for the blast.

Observing the rock face in front of him, drilled with many holes resembling a honeycomb, Richard stepped back to a safe distance and then chanted a spell. With a wave of his hand, he released a “Flame Impact,” igniting a fuse on the rock. The fuse branched towards all the drilled holes, eventually lighting the liquid oxygen explosives loaded in them almost simultaneously.

“Boom!”

The whole mountain seemed to shudder violently, the passage shook, and the walls shed large amounts of gravel. The rock at the drilling sites looked as though it had been struck by a massive hammer, instantly shattering and sending debris flying in all directions, followed by a cloud of dust.

Richard used an Air Wall to block the flying debris, waiting patiently for the dust to settle. Looking ahead, he saw that the passage had successfully connected to a chamber a few meters in radius, where in its center stood an altar with a Crystal Skull on it, exactly as he had seen through the Consciousness.

Slowly inhaling, Richard stepped towards the chamber, sweeping his gaze around it for the second time, but the first time with his physical eyes.

The chamber was a cubic shape, each side about six meters, with marks all over the walls. On closer inspection, these were not mere marks but regularly patterned Magic Runes.

Magic Runes!

Richard looked at the entirety of the chamber’s walls, observing the integrated Magic Runes, realizing it was a vast Array. Its function likely involved absorbing free Energy from the surroundings and then transmitting it to the Crystal Skull on the altar.

This was why the Crystal Skull received enough energy every month to burst forth, triggering the Beast Tide.

Understanding this, Richard approached the altar in the center of the chamber with a gleam in his eyes.

Then, Richard noticed Magic Runes also carved on the altar’s surface, even more complex and detailed than those on the chamber walls, likely meant for control purposes.

Taking a deep breath, Richard stepped onto the altar cautiously and reached out to touch the Crystal Skull.

Fifty centimeters, forty centimeters, thirty centimeters…

Twenty centimeters, fifteen centimeters, ten centimeters…

As his fingers drew nearer, the Crystal Skull showed no reaction. But as the distance to the Crystal Skull’s surface narrowed to less than ten centimeters, the skull seemed to sense some danger and began to vibrate. Richard could feel a massive energy surge within it, preparing to burst forth prematurely.

Raising an eyebrow, Richard made a snap decision and grabbed the Crystal Skull from the altar.

Instantly, it was as if an electrical device had been unplugged; the energy surge within the Crystal Skull abruptly ceased, and it became inert, unresponsive.

Relieved, Richard scrutinized the Crystal Skull in his hand.

Visible to the naked eye, it was exquisitely crafted, almost a perfect replication of a human head, specifically a woman’s. Staring longer, one might feel as if a living woman was watching and speaking to them.

“Put… put me back… put me back…”

Richard’s mind wavered for a moment, but he quickly snapped back to awareness, realizing that the Crystal Skull and the chamber were still interacting in some way. Continuing research here might lead to unexpected events; it would be safer to leave and return to the ancient castle first.

With that thought, Richard, holding the Crystal Skull, decisively turned and walked out of the chamber, through the passage, and down the mountain.

A strange fluctuation lingered in the chamber, delayed in its release, attempting to influence Richard’s mind to stay with the Crystal Skull inside the chamber. But it was too late. The strange fluctuation subsided, waiting for the next opportunity.