Chapter 73: Gates of the Fallen Kingdom

Chapter 73: Gates of the Fallen Kingdom Night gave way to day in several cycles, and darkness fell once more. The blood moon hung high overhead, reaching its most perfect form of the month, like a crimson giant eye watching over the earth. Monsters grew restless, distant roars echoing back and forth continuously, and the spiritual energy in the air reached its most active state of the month. On nights like this, Psionics users didn’t dare catch a wink of sleep, staying constantly on guard against monster attacks... "It’s time!" In the area below the large hill, a concealed passage mystical circle began glowing. Thousands of rubble piles formed by the destroyed Stone Box Monsters were positioned at specific points around the array. As the mystical circle came to life, the rubble piles rapidly dissolved, transforming into streams of earth-brown energy that poured steadily into the array’s center. At the same time, Carlos’s expression turned deadly serious as mysterious whispers continued flowing from his lips: "&&&&##&&#" The array’s center thunderously erupted with a strange devouring force. Moonlight cast by the blood moon was continuously sucked into the array’s center as the surroundings grew darker and darker... The earth-brown energy and gathered moonlight began clashing and intertwining. Suddenly, a red-brown portal flickered in and out of existence at the array’s center. Seeing this, Carlos’s voice suddenly rose in pitch. Instantly, all the rubble piles in the array completely dissolved, and the moonlight devouring became even more intense... Just as the blood moon rose directly overhead, the flickering red-brown portal at the array’s heart finally appeared completely! The moment it materialized, Carlos’s whispers ended perfectly on cue. He immediately strode toward the red-brown portal. The portal’s maintenance time was limited—not a second could be wasted. The red-brown portal wasn’t huge, only about ten feet high, with a translucent energy feel to it. Earth-brown and blood-red patterns wove together across the portal’s surface—not fixed, but constantly weaving and shifting, seemingly without end. Carlos placed his hand on the portal. Instantly, an irresistible suction yanked him inside. In just a heartbeat, his surroundings became bright as day, as if he’d stepped into an entirely different world. "I made it—one of the precious ruins of the Ersbah United Kingdom! The Merit Exchange Center ruins!" Standing before him was a massive pyramid-like building. Like some giant beast crouching there, imposing and ancient, inspiring an involuntary sense of awe. This was Carlos’s destination—the Merit Exchange Center! The four tower faces of the Merit Exchange Center were carved with four intensely imposing, differently shaped giant shields, giving off an indestructible vibe. What’s more, the tower faces had no gaps whatsoever, seemingly without any entrance at all. Carlos’s gaze swept from top to bottom. He knew the entrance wasn’t at ground level but underground. Probably to fend off powerful enemies, major buildings from the Shield Era generally had only one hidden underground entrance. Looking around and drawing on his inherited memories, measuring the right distance and angle, Carlos finally pinpointed where the underground entrance should be. "Right here." He called forth his skeleton guards and immediately ordered them to start digging downward. Light Gold Quality greatswords were perfect for digging. Under the skeleton guards’ enhanced strength, they could easily drive deep into the soil, then shovel out the dirt... Soon, several high dirt piles had built up on the ground... After about four hours, several "thud" sounds told Carlos that his skeleton guards had finally reached the underground passage, with two of them tumbling down. Carlos hurried over to look down: "Pretty darn deep." He didn’t rush to jump but had Purple Thornblade Guard #1 grab a Glow Stone and drop down. Then he had the guard lead the two who had fallen to head toward the Merit Exchange Center through the underground passage. Through Guard #1’s vision, Carlos could clearly see strange murals covering the underground passage walls. Maybe because of the incredibly long years that had passed, the mural contents were blurry, but you could still vaguely sense that era’s magnificent grandeur. Following the passage straight ahead, traveling without a hitch and not running into any dangers or traps, until they reached the end. At the end stood an ancient, heavy iron shield portal carved with two lifelike beast heads. Part lion, part tiger, with tightly shut beast eyes and mouths featuring two downward-curved fangs. "Looks safe enough." With Guard #1’s scouting report, Carlos confidently dropped down. His Redrose Guards hoisted up the Iron Palanquin and started racing... Soon they reached the iron shield portal. Carlos stored away the Iron Palanquin and slowly approached the iron shield portal. "Ancient alchemical life forms—slumbering tiger-lion beast heads!" These were powerful alchemical beasts specifically created by ancient alchemists to guard portals. Completely non-aggressive, but able to give portals terrifyingly powerful defensive fields—the best guardian beasts you could ask for. "First, let’s wake them up." Carlos nodded, and two skeleton guards stepped forward, each taking responsibility for one beast head. Their bone claws first gripped the fangs on the tiger-lion beast heads, then simultaneously pulled upward with force. A series of crisp clicking sounds as both pairs of fangs turned to curve upward. After finishing the job, the skeleton guards let go and stepped back. Moments later, the tightly shut beast eyes of both tiger-lion heads suddenly snapped open—they had awakened after sleeping for who knows how long. The beast head on the left portal yawned and greeted its companion: "Right, we slept for ages!" The beast head on the right portal looked more serious, casually responding: "Left, yeah, slept for ages." The two tiger-lion beast heads greeted each other and began chatting as if no one else was around... "Alright, you two beast heads, please get back to work." Carlos cut into the beast heads’ conversation—he couldn’t let them keep yakking. Left to their own devices, they could keep talking until they fell back asleep. Carlos’s words caught their attention. Golden vertical pupils rotated, focusing on the human standing before them. The left beast head looked annoyed: "Ugh! Back to the grind!" The right beast head looked Carlos up and down, tone wary: "Left, heads up! He’s a stranger!" Carlos ignored the beast heads’ complaints, his expression serious, using a strange intonation to speak an unfamiliar phrase: "o/|]oo" This was Shield Era alchemical encryption code, specifically belonging to this Merit Exchange Center. Upon hearing the encryption code, both beast heads immediately spoke in mechanical voices: "Please state United Kingdom Year 96, Period 13 encryption code!" "|oo!" "Please state United Kingdom Year 88, Period 32 encryption code!" "IooI ooI!" "Verification successful! Verification successful!" they both announced. Both tiger-lion beast heads slowly faded away as the iron shield portal swung open! "Much obliged, you two!" Carlos thanked them, then surrounded by his skeleton guards, walked inside. After Carlos entered, the iron shield portal closed again as both tiger-lion beast heads reappeared. "Left, weird. Why would a stranger who’s not a council member know the encryption codes?" "Right, that’s not our problem." "Fair enough, I’m just bored out of my skull. Let’s play counting by threes." "Sounds good. Three." "Six." "Nine." "..." In the empty passage, the two beast heads’ counting voices kept echoing... ...