Chapter 880: Demigod-grade treasure!
Chapter 880: Demigod-grade treasure!
After taking the first step, Bai Zemin felt as if the world around him went dark for a split second, and upon entering the tower, he was not too surprised when he was teleported into a space that seemed to be a different world from the dungeon or the main world the dungeon was in.
A world within a world and now that world contained another world.
Bai Zemin couldn't help but sigh in his heart. Every time he learned a little more about the laws of the universe and the power of the Soul Record he couldn't help but feel small and insignificant.
Looking back, Bai Zemin saw the Demon Lord walking through a stone gate that simply stood in the center of a large meadow seemingly limitless as the view could look to the distant horizon but not reach the end.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!...
...
One after another, more and more soul evolvers were teleported to this new world after passing through the tower gate.
"See, Bai Zemin and the others are still here."
"Looks like we're in time for the treasure."
" Amazing."
"Another world?"
"Don't tell me we have to go exploring again..."
"... Let's hope that's not the case, many have already died."
"Don't mention it, the humans have suffered the most by losing practically all their kings and queens in this goddamn dungeon."
"Fucking shit, I knew this wasn't going to be easy but I'm starting to regret a little bit about coming here!"
...
Everyone began to mutter and chatter amongst themselves with a frown as they looked around for any kind of clue. Even so, everyone stayed with their group or at a respectful distance from the others; especially since after entering the tower they could all feel the battle restraint weaken slightly even though it hadn't completely disappeared.
"Orc, did you discover something?" Seraphina approached Bai Zemin and whispered in his ear what the Demon Lord had said after he walked into the tower.
Bai Zemin gently patted the top of her head as a sign that he already knew as he looked at the surroundings and casually said, "Nothing so far, though I can feel all the mana gathering not far from here."
Bai Zemin's words had barely fallen on Seraphina's hearing when someone of the orc race pointed off in the distance and exclaimed in surprise.
"Everyone, look over there!"
As they followed the spot the Third Order orc pointed to, the first thing they all saw was a strange blurry object in the distance. However, the more they looked the more they realized that this blurry "object" was quickly taking the particulate shape of something.
"A mountain?" Zilug muttered, making everyone quickly realize that as he had just said, the object that was taking form was a mountain.
However, there was something that left everyone dumbfounded.
"That mountain... Isn't it a bit too big?" Princess Dianna raised an eyebrow as she spoke out loud the thoughts of all of them.
The mountain had yet to fully form as it was somewhat blurry, however, they could all make out its overall shape clearly enough to know that this mountain would undoubtedly be the largest elevation they had probably all seen before.
Bai Zemin gestured to Seraphina and she nodded.
The two of them practically rushed off into the distance at the same time, straight towards the mountain.
The expression on everyone's faces changed when they saw this and without stopping to think about the consequences they charged towards the mountain behind them. In fact, it did not take long for the Demon Lord to overtake Bai Zemin and Seraphina.
No one wanted to lose the treasure, it was to obtain that treasure that they had all come this far and advanced so much after experiencing so many dangers that put the strength of each of them on test. Even if everyone present knew that there was a 90% chance that the treasure would fall into the hands of Bai Zemin or Demon Lord Ar'gon, that remaining 10% was more than enough for everyone to be willing to press on.
At the end of the day, no one knew whether the Demon Lord or Bai Zemin, whoever ended up victorious, would be in a position to continue fighting later enough to keep the treasure. This was precisely what everyone was aiming for; most of the humans following Bai Zemin were not much different in this respect either, and the same applied to Zilug and Mei Lin.
By the time they all reached the foot of the mountain, the Demon Lord had stopped instead of continuing his advance.
The mountain had finally formed completely and there was a massive staircase that probably had over 10,000 steps rising up beyond the clouds.
"'Staircase to Heaven', uh..." Bai Zemin muttered under his breath as he raised his head and squinted his eyes trying to see beyond the white clouds.
His words were barely being processed by those nearest to him when a new message from the Soul Record flashed in the eyes of all present.
[The Demi-God grade treasure has been formed without inconvenience. Those who wish to obtain the treasure will first have to prove themselves as worthy of it. Climb the Staircase to Heaven to the top step, the treasure awaits its master at the summit.]
For several seconds, everyone froze staring up at the mountain with wide eyes. Seeing some people's mouths open and close as if they wanted to say something but couldn't as if someone had slit their throats, Lilith couldn't help but worry as she looked at Bai Zemin whose stunned expression seemed to speak volumes of how big of a surprise he had just received.
"Zemin, is something wrong?" she asked in a low voice as if afraid to startle him by speaking out of the blue.
Before Bai Zemin could respond, an explosion shook the ground slightly as a Second Order soul evolver shot forward and in just seconds had already crossed 500 meters into the distance and climbed about 5 steps.
"Bastard!"
There were over 3,000 soul evolvers rushing forward in an instant pushing their Agility to the limit and activating all sorts of skills. If not for the fact that battle didn't seem to be allowed in this stage, it was safe to assume that the death count wouldn't be small with several Third Order soul evolvers activating all sorts of skills to relieve themselves of one more competitor.
Lilith was dumbfounded as she watched everyone suddenly go berserk: "Just... Just, what's going on here?" she muttered.
"It's a Demi-God grade treasure."
Lilith turned to look at Bai Zemin at the sound of his voice. She reflexively asked, "I beg your pardon?"
Bai Zemin was aware that no one was paying attention to him so he didn't bother to pretend that there was no one beside him. He looked at Lilith with a deadly serious expression and repeated his previous words in a deep voice, "It's a Demi-God grade treasure."
Lilith froze as she looked at Bai Zemin with her beautiful ruby-colored eyes growing wider and wider. Despite the difference in power and her status as a Higher Existence, Lilith's reaction was in no way inferior to any other living being present. In fact, from some aspects, her reaction was even bigger because she knew how terrifying a Demi-God grade treasure was!
To Lilith, a Legend grade treasure had the ability to raise her battle power considerably, not to mention a Demi-God grade one! In fact, she didn't have any treasures of that grade!
"How can this be possible.... How can this be possible..."
Bai Zemin understood Lilith's feelings perfectly so he didn't find it funny that she was mumbling the same words over and over again as if she was a broken recorder.
Demi-God grade treasure; only one stage below the highest grade treasure that existed in the universe!
How could it be possible that such a treasure for which the factions of Higher Existences would be willing to clash in bloody wars to obtain was born in a Lower World where the mana of the world, its records, and its laws were so weak?! Bai Zemin felt his heart was about to explode inside his chest as he tried to find an answer to what was happening.
Just at that moment, an explosion resounded loudly followed by a high-pitched scream.
Bai Zemin raised his head abruptly just in time to see the first soul evolver who had rushed out before anyone else being sent flying backwards after climbing around 300 steps.
"Damn, what's wrong with that stupid pressure?!" The soul evolver stood up aggravated but clearly unharmed, and unwilling to give up, he went straight back up again.
Under Bai Zemin's narrowed eyes, several soul evolvers were sent flying and collapsed at the bottom of the staircase. Some were barely able to climb 100 steps, others managed to reach 600 before falling, while some were still climbing despite having broken the number of 1000 steps.
Just by observing for about a minute, Bai Zemin noticed that apparently battle strength was not important for climbing higher on the Staircase to Heaven as an elderly Third Order soul evolver was sent flying after 700 steps while some Second Order soul evolvers were advancing past 900.
Age didn't seem to have much to do with it either, Bai Zemin saw youthful-looking, "low" level soul evolvers being rejected by the 'Staircase to Heaven' while older-looking, higher level soul evolvers were still struggling to continue onward. If age had anything to do with it then the older high level ones would have been rejected by the staircase since being higher level but still looking older meant that they definitely had at least several more decades in their bones.
Apart from Bai Zemin, there were many soul evolvers who despite feeling itchy in their hearts did not rush forward immediately but tried to study the situation first. Of course, there were some humans who seemed to forget everything and charged as soon as they got the chance but the main group stayed firmly close to him waiting for his next move.
Of course, the Demon Lord and his generals had not advanced yet either. Along with the giant Purple Flame Wyvern, they all stood together with serious expressions as they tried to get as much information as possible before trying to reach the top. This was because they were quick to notice that each failed attempt seemed to drain the defeated as those who fell on the 400th step the next time barely managed to reach the number 350 before being sent flying by an unseen force.
Because Lilith was a Higher Existence and could not interfere with a Lower World or Lower Existences to the point of affecting their main destinies she naturally did not receive the Soul Record message, which meant that she was not allowed to fight for this treasure. However, this did not mean that she could not analyze things based on her knowledge and help Bai Zemin a little.
"Zemin, this treasure is probably not a treasure meant for direct battle."
"Mm?" He restrained himself from looking at her as the initial surprise was slowly fading and now many were paying attention to his every action, including the Demon Lord of which Bai Zemin was also on guard.
Lilith explained the theory she had reached after analyzing all her knowledge regarding worlds, laws, treasures, and dungeons: "A Legend grade treasure of attack type has the ability to disrupt the power of a world while a Demi-God grade treasure of attack type has the power to wipe out an entire world, that's why this treasure is definitely not a weapon. An armor is also out of the question, this is because if it were an armor the defensive laws of Eventide World would have been too weakened for the world to keep its ground."
She blinked in his direction and said in a serious voice rarely heard from her, "You understand what I mean, right...? Zemin, you have to get this treasure no matter what."
Bai Zemin paused to think for a moment before replying to Lilith. There were many options regarding what kind of treasure was awaiting at the peak of the staircase to Heaven even if weapons and armor were discarded, however, Bai Zemin was clear about what he had to do.
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