Chapter 286: The Undercity Of Mutants

He led us to a path that brought us away from the main road and I quickly realised that the path was cleared by burning the grass that had grown close to it.

I’m assuming that he was using his fire powers to burn the grass every time he walked through this path to keep it clear.

Even now, he still hasn’t stopped trying to flirt with Olivia who was just completely ignoring him and giving him the cold shoulder.

Unfortunately, that didn’t stop him from talking.

"You know, wandering through places like this is tiring isn’t it? Have you thought about settling down? Just staying in one place? I think you would like our place."

At this point, I think he just really likes the sound of his own voice since he just keeps talking even though he wasn’t getting any answers from her.

Looking at everyone else in our group, I could also tell they were quite annoyed by him but at least they were able to put up with it since he wasn’t talking to them directly.

As we headed deeper down the path, we reached what I could only describe as an outhouse that looked completely out of place as it was the only thing standing in the middle of a burnt out field with nothing else around it.

Without hesitation, the guy stepped up to it and opened the door, revealing the inside of the ’outhouse’ was a set of stairs that led downwards into the bowels of the earth.

It wasn’t an outhouse but a hidden entrance that led somewhere.

He turned to smirk at us, as though he was proud that he managed to find the secret entrance or something... Or that their hideout had a hidden entrance, probably.

I guess for them, something like this would be pretty impressive since the other survivors have just been turning whatever they could find into their base to survive in and these guys no doubt built this on their own.

The stairs were so narrow that we had to descend them in a single file but as soon as we got below ground, it widened into a large tunnel where five people could walk side by side quite comfortably.

"What do you think? Impressive, right?" The guy asked, still talking to Olivia.

I admit, it was certainly quite impressive since the stairs were at least big enough to accommodate Olivia’s size and the tunnels were high enough that she did not need to duck her head because of her height.

But she was still completely ignoring him and simply looking around to check for any threats around us.

The tunnel was obviously man made since the walls were metallic and there were even lights that powered on the moment we stepped inside.

Diana leaned over to whisper, "Can I kill him after this?"

"Only if he does something to threaten us," I whispered back.

He carried on guiding us through the tunnel, revealing other branching paths that led to where I assumed were other entrances and exits to the main tunnel.

Eventually, we reached a rather large, metal door that looked to be a few inches thick with a control panel built into the wall beside it.

The guy walked up to it and placed his hand on one of the screens, revealing that it was a scanner which flashed green before the heavy, metal doors started to slide open with a hiss.

The doors opened up to a ramp leading downwards and we were treated to the sight of an underground city.

And when I say city... I really did mean an entire city.

This place looked like it had been hollowed out from the earth to form a giant cavern where the people here had built an underground city.

There were apartment buildings, towers that stretched several stories high, factory complexes with chimneys that stretched up into the ceiling of the cavern and even streets and roads where cars were driving through freely.

The place was massive and it reminded me of those fantasy dwarven cities that you might find underground except this was the modern version of it.

The guy turned to grin at us and asked the same question again, "Impressive, right?"

Ok, this was definitely something to be impressed about and Maylene was definitely eating up the sight. Not surprising for her since her people also made something similar but it wasn’t to this scale in her own World, but I would argue their colony was more high tech than this one’s.

But for them to build this giant city down here was definitely amazing.

At least... That was what I thought...

Looking at the rest of my companions though... They were looking at the place like they have seen something like this before.

Ok, granted... In some other rifts, we could also find places like this which were remnants from the civilisations that once lived in that rift before the Anomalies showed up... But this was clearly something they built after the Anomalies have taken over. I think it at least deserved some credit.

The guy saw our faces and frowned a little, clearly not expecting such a reaction from us as he cleared his throat to get our attention.

"Ahem... I suppose I have not yet introduced myself here... I am Khar’Vehul, the Duke of Fire. I welcome you all as guests to our city of Mar’brijul."

Duke of Fire he says... I’m assuming that if he was going to call himself a ’duke’ of all things, this colony would most likely be using the caste system to function.

And I’m also going to assume that this guy is pretty important here.

I turned to him, "So... You’re a duke?"

He straightened the collar on his coat, "Hmmm~ That’s right. For you to be allowed to address me directly is a huge honour for you, you know? I still can’t believe that you are allowed to speak on your betters’ behalf. But I suppose the outside world is certainly interesting."

Olivia turned to regard him and I could tell that she was thinking if it would be a good idea to just punch him in the face right now.

Unfortunately, since she had been ignoring him this entire time, the guy mistook her sudden attention as a change of heart and a spark of interest from her.

He grinned, "I don’t think I’ve gotten your name, miss? Oh, you can call me Khar if you wish."

Olivia snorted at him and turned away, opting to look at the city instead.

Khar was still unbothered by her and chuckled, "It’s a beautiful place isn’t it? Even with how the surface is rendered to a wasteland, we are still thriving down here. Shall I show you all around? You get the honour of having a Duke be your tour guide, you know?"

Ugh... I really want to smack his face but he hasn’t done anything to us aside from being annoying so I have to hold back...

He continued leading the way, reaching the main street where a security checkpoint was set up with walls and towers that watched the road leading towards the main door.

There were a few people manning it and the moment Khar stepped up to the door, all of them fell to a knee and bowed their heads.

Wow... I don’t even...

"Hey, hey~ Look. At least these people know how to appreciate their betters~" Diana chuckled, nudging both me and Siti with her elbow. "I guess these people can sense that we are Mortal Gods, eh?"

Err... I hate to say it Diana, but...

Siti scoffed, "They clearly aren’t bowing their heads for us you idiot."

Diana rolled her eyes, "I know, you dumb dumb. Can’t you let me be delusional for once?"

No one else paid us any mind as we stepped past the gates, none of the guards even stopping us or asking who we were as we followed behind that duke.

Heck, they didn’t even look at the Guardians who did not look human either, opting to just keep their heads down to stare at the ground.

Either this has happened before where Khar has brought people back here or... They just don’t dare to raise their heads in his presence.

There were a few vehicles that were parked near the side of the wall and I assumed it was his entourage.

He gestured to the sleek, black car in the middle while smiling at Olivia, "Come, my car can sit two people so how about you ride with me? I can point out the interesting parts of the city for you. The rest can take the transports following behind us."

Olivia did not even hesitate as she responded without looking at him, "No need, I will follow the rest."

The duke froze up and I even noticed the guards at the war stiffen as well, some of them looking like they were expecting themselves to die at that moment.

Khar frowned and shifted his gaze to me specifically as if I was the one responsible for her words.

He narrowed his eyes for a moment before shrugging, "Fine. Let’s go then."

Huh... I expected him to explode here... Maybe... He’s not actually that bad of a guy?