The junk I found lying in the warehouse left me slightly annoyed. Clearly incensed by the inability to open up something good, I glared at the Black Blood Queen Ant who immediately shrunk in on herself upon seeing my blackened face, mouth kept perfectfully shut by her fear.
As for the next warehouse we found, it was better than the first, though not by much. Within, we found a pile of what looked like golem outer shells. Given that, all we needed to do was create a core and put the two together according to the schematics to create a functional golem, probably.
‘The activation method is still a problem though…’
The third warehouse we stumbled upon practically made my eyes glitter. There were actually several hundred gigantic stone coffins within. Of those coffins, only a hundred or so ended up yielding something.
Opening up one of the coffins, we found a golden set of giant bones, preserved so well one could have sworn that the giant had just died yesterday.
Of those 100 or so coffins, 5 skeletons were noticeably larger than the rest and even had a pair wing-like bones growing out of their backs. If I had to hazard a guess, these were probably the skeletons used to craft those high level golems.
Next, I had the Black Blood Queen Ant search for other warehouses, which she succeeding in doing, but the contents of those warehouses weren’t really all that useful to us. They were all storages for weapons and war-related implements. However, the problem was that we had no soldiers…so they might as well have been display pieces.
With nothing left to find, we decided to return to the warehouse with all the completed golems.
“Sweetie, have you found the activation method for the Abyssal Golems?” Throughout our scavenger hunt for warehouses, Mo Na had been busy scouring that black leather book while riding on my shoulders. Her eyes were glued to the book, completely oblivious to her surroundings and would have stayed so had I not called out to her.
“Hmm?” She paused for a second before finally coming to her senses. Realizing that it was me who called out to her, she promptly shook her head and said: “Mo Na still hasn’t found the method to activating those big lugs.”
“Not yet, huh…”
‘Ahh…that’s a whole freaking treasure trove right there! Over a thousand Abyssal Golems just quietly waiting in front of me…and yet I can’t use the…dang it!’
I took out the Gem of Authority and waved it around the golem’s eyes, hoping that this little test would activate it. Unfortunately, it didn’t work.
‘Blast it, exactly what do you want me to do in order to wake you up…’
“Hoh, looks like Little Brother has met with some trouble, huh.” Just as I was busy cursing everything in the world, a gloating voice popped out within my head.
[Ferti’nier, you see this as well, don’t you? All these golems are just standing there in front of me but I can’t use them…Almighty Lucifer gave me a mission to conquer Sable Radiance and then invade the Western Human Realms, but without these golems, I can’t even complete the first step…let alone the second…]
Truth be told, I didn’t want to invade the Western Human Realms, but if circumstances forced me to…perhaps I just might. However, regardless of what my decision would be, there was one thing I had to do now: get stronger. I needed to get stronger so that I wouldn’t have to fear anyone…anyone not including divinities of course…
“Hahaha, this one just knew that fellow wouldn’t make things easy for you.” She immediately followed up with another annoying laugh. The next thing she said however, completely caught my attention: “You might not know the method, but this one does.”
Even though I couldn’t see her face right now, I could clearly tell that she was winking at me, the extremely sly kind no less.
[You know?! Tell me, quick.]
Truly, this was a fortuitous surprise for me, for her to actually know of the method when all else seemed to have failed me. But was it really that surprising for her to know of it? Not really, she was, after all, a Devil King; her knowledge couldn’t be limited.
“Is that the attitude you should show when making a request? Isn’t it a tad too casual, why should this one tell you the answer?”
‘I…I swear…you’ve been squatting in my body for at least two years now. Not only do you not pay any rent, you don’t even help me out when I need you to, me, your landlord! You’re clearly dead set on being a jerk then, aren’t you?! Why should I even keep you here then?!’
Just as I was about to explode from anger, Ferti’nier teasingly said as such: “Hohohoho, Little Brother, I think you’ve forgotten something here, this one can hear your thoughts.”
‘I…’
Other than bargaining with her, I really couldn’t think of any other viable option right now. In fact, I was a little worried that I just do something rash like threaten to cut her up with Shadowfang…ahem…in other words, cut myself…
[Speak then, what are your conditions?]
“It’s really simple, Little Brother just has to promise this one a little favor.”
[What favor?] I immediately asked.
“This one isn’t sure yet, when she thinks of one, she will tell you.”
‘Dang potatoes, why does this feel like some kind of Wuxia drama right now? Don’t tell she’s fallen for me? I seem to remember Zha* Min saying something like that in Heavenly Sw*rd and Drag*n…come to think of it, for her to fall in love with me…that’s clearly not possible! She’s practically ancestor-level right now! As they say, three generations is a ditch. Well, this 80 000 years old ditch separating us is practically a Mariana Trench right now.’
‘Me and her? Ahahaha, like that would ever happen.’
[Let’s be clear here, if it’s impossible for me or it goes against my principles, I won’t do it.]
“It’s alright, this one’s conditions are definitely doable for Little Brother.”
Like a fox that had successfully stolen the grapes, she grinned from ear to figurative ear. Even though I still couldn’t see her face, I could tell from that annoying tone of hers that she was up to no good.
Honestly, I wasn’t sure if this was even a good idea. After all, this incorporeal Devil King had a terrible personality; I might just get scammed when I least expected it.
But…did I really have a choice there? Without her, I had no way of activating the golems. Without those golems, how was I to conquer Sable Radiance?
[Speak then, what’s the method?]
“Simple, Little Brother just has to use the gem as a medium and activate the Soul Array carved onto the floor of this warehouse.”
[How do you know there’s a hidden array on the floor?]
“Because the book says so.”
