Chapter 321 - 316: Earth Vein Death Knell

Chapter 321: Chapter 316: Earth Vein Death Knell

Velin turned to Tristan, his voice steady.

"Send all the Sea Beasts from the last capture to Master Valerius, dead or alive."

"Also, inform Elvin to take the Casters and assist the Master."

Tristan acknowledged the order and hurried away.

Baron Kroo, who had just taken a large swig of wine, nearly choked on hearing this.

He opened his mouth, the fat on his cheeks jiggling.

"Sea Beasts? Lord Velin, you mean those shelled creatures? We’re on the brink of destruction! What’s the use in studying them?"

Inside the council hall, the other nobles grew restless, the panic they had just suppressed resurfacing.

"That’s right! We should be gathering all our Alchemists to make another batch of depth charges!"

"What can those things do? Become our dinner?"

Velin offered no explanation.

He sat back down and picked up a grain reserve inventory, as if the impacts from below were nothing more than raindrops on a windowpane.

His silence carried more weight than any rebuke, and the clamor in the council hall gradually died down.

「Two days later.」

Origin Association Underground Isolation Chamber.

The door to the isolation chamber was pushed open, and Velin walked in.

Valerius’s eyes were bloodshot. Wearing a pair of crystal Goggles, he faced a complex device made of copper pipes and tuning forks, rattling off a series of commands.

Beside him, assistants scrambled to turn valves and record data.

With a casual glance, Velin could see parchments to the side covered in various crossed-out failed schematics.

The experimental table was scattered with various dissection tools and the remains of several Sea Beasts.

"Master," Velin began.

"Shhh—not a sound!"

Without turning his head, Valerius raised a hand to silence him, his eyes fixed on a shackled sea crab on the stone platform.

"Elvin! ’Lullaby,’ drop the frequency below the auditory threshold, aether flow at fifty percent!"

Elvin slowly turned a dial marked with Runes.

The tuning fork on the device made no sound, but it could be seen vibrating faintly.

On the stone platform, the previously motionless sea crab’s eight limbs suddenly began to twitch. It then began to struggle violently, frantically striking the platform and its own carapace with its limbs in a frenzied display.

"Did it work...?" Elvin asked, watching the scene unfold with uncertainty.

"Work? Of course it worked!" Valerius spun around, yanking off his Goggles. His face was a mixture of exhaustion and crazed excitement.

He rushed up to Velin, waving his arms excitedly. "Velin! We were wrong from the start! Everyone was wrong! I’ve discovered..."

"Master," Velin interrupted his torrential explanation, his gaze shifting from the crazed sea crab. He asked calmly, "I don’t need the process. I just need a result. Can this effect be amplified? I need a device that can penetrate thick layers of rock."

Valerius was taken aback by the question. He gave Velin a slightly regretful look, his eyes seeming to say, ’Are you sure you don’t want to know the details?’

Velin slowly shook his head.

Valerius sighed. "Very well. Give me twelve hours, my lord."

The next day, Leviathan One dove into the deep sea.

Inside the troop transport bay, Ola and his Knights sat calmly in their seats, flanked by six metal devices.

The devices resembled tuning forks magnified dozens of times, with heavy circular bases covered in energy Runes.

[Geomantic Death Knell.]

Velin’s message echoed in the squad channel.

[A creation of Master Valerius. Your mission is to place these six ’Death Knells’ in the rock layer above the tunnels, according to the coordinates I’m providing.]

A holographic map projected into their minds, with six flashing points marking the locations.

[Remember, move quickly. We won’t get a second chance.]

The bay doors opened, and seawater flooded in.

The Knights struggled across the seabed, carrying the heavy "Geomantic Death Knells."

This time, the number of Bonebreak Clan patrols had not only doubled, but they were also mixed with Shamans capable of detecting invisibility.

The experienced Ola keenly sensed the abnormalities in the water. He led the team to change their route several times, weaving through the complex seabed terrain and narrowly avoiding those mobile "eyes."

Fortunately, there weren’t many of these Casters, and this time the coordinates didn’t point directly to the mining core. The security level was relatively low, which gave them an opening.

Even so, there were several instances where Multi-Armed Race Warriors swam past the rock crevices where they were hiding, the currents they stirred making Ola feel his own beard sway.

By the time the last "Death Knell" was set in its designated position, Ola’s back was soaked in a cold sweat.

[My lord, all units are in position.]

[Withdraw.]

Once Ola and his Knights had returned to the transport bay, Velin gave the order.

[Activate.]

Leviathan One let out a low growl.

The Thunder Diamond within it instantly connected to the six Geomantic Death Knells, transmitting a massive amount of energy.

An invisible wave spread out from the six devices like ripples from a drop of water in a still lake, silently seeping into the entire seabed rock formation.

Deep underground, the rhythmic and dull impacts... came to an abrupt halt.

In the command cabin, everyone held their breath.

Seconds ticked by.

One minute.

Five minutes.

The underground fell deathly silent.

Sarah’s voice sounded in Velin’s mind.

[Father! It worked! I can sense numerous faint but chaotic vibrations inside the tunnels!]

[The excavation has been paralyzed!]

The crew in the command cabin exchanged high-fives in celebration.

However, Velin’s body remained tense, not relaxing in the slightest.

...

Inside the murky tunnel, chaos reigned.

A Rock-Breaking Giant Crab swung its massive pincers, smashing a fellow crab’s carapace until it cracked open, bodily fluids splattering everywhere.

Its compound eyes were blood-red, its movements frantic.

Unas, who had just arrived, watched the scene with cold indifference.

A Centurion beside him was pressing its own head with one of its arms, the veins beneath its skin bulging. It was clearly affected as well.

"Chieftain... what is this..."

Unas did not answer.

He waved one of his arms, pointing at the maddened Rock-Breaking Giant Crab.

Two guards stepped forward and pierced its eye sockets with bone spears, ending its frenzy.

After executing several out-of-control Sea Beasts, Unas turned to the shadows deeper in the tunnel.

"Come out."

The water swirled in the shadows.

A giant octopus-like Magical Beast slowly emerged.

It was enormous. Its fleshy membrane, when unfurled, completely covered the entire tunnel, and was dotted with thousands upon thousands of suckers.

"The land-dwellers’ tricks end here."

Unas’s voice carried through the water.

The Magical Beast’s fleshy membrane began to vibrate, each sucker contracting and expanding in a unique rhythm.

A counteracting, far more complex sonic barrier rapidly formed around it.

Within the barrier, all chaotic infrasonic resonance was canceled out and smoothed over.

The frenzied Sea Beasts quickly calmed down upon entering this area, the blood-red color fading from their eyes.

The Shatter-Armor Shrimp, protected at the core of the barrier, had been completely unharmed from the very beginning.

「Less than half a day later.」

The vibrations beneath Minas Tirith started up again.

But this time, the nobles felt neither terror nor anger.

It was as if all their emotions had been drained away, leaving only the numbness of settled dust.

’Of course. You just can’t kill those things.’

Someone slowly raised their goblet and drained it in one go.

Their eyes were empty, their heart devoid of feeling.

’Every one of Velin’s victories only serves to delay the inevitable defeat.’

The council hall was deathly silent.

Just then, the great doors were thrown open with a BANG.

Ola strode in. He had just taken off his diving chainmail and still carried the salty scent of the sea. His face was alight with irrepressible excitement and high spirits.

However, he quickly noticed that the atmosphere in the hall was off.

He looked at the room full of dejected nobles, who looked as if they had already lost the war, and scratched his thick beard in puzzlement.

"Hey! What’s wrong with all of you? Why the long faces? We just won a battle, and you’re acting like this?"

Baron Kroo lifted his reddened eyes and pointed weakly at the floor.

"Won a battle? Baron Ola, can’t you feel it? Those damned vibrations... they’ve started again! We’ve failed again."

Ola froze for a moment, then burst into roaring laughter, the sound exceptionally jarring in the quiet council hall.

"Failed? HAHAHAHA! Who told you we failed?"

He scanned the astonished faces of the crowd and slapped his chestplate, producing a loud CLANG.

"Didn’t anyone tell you? Because of these two harassment runs, those long-legged octopuses lost a huge number of their digging Sea Beasts! Lord Velin sent me to inform you—they have no hope of digging through the tunnel before the full moon!"

Ola grinned, revealing a set of pearly white teeth, his eyes burning with a ferocious will to fight.

"All of you, get it together! The Lord Commander has given the order! We’re preparing to initiate the final plan. It’s time for our general assault!"

"The moon will be full very soon!"