Chapter 506: Dispute
Chapter 506: Dispute
Rayne, however, was unaware of what had transpired in the prison, as he had already returned to the temporary camp nearby.
As Rayne began reciting the incantation, a large, oval mirror soon appeared in mid-air.
At the same time, the people in the camp saw Rayne and their faces lit up with joy.
"Lord Rayne, it’s wonderful to see you return safely."
"How did it go?" Sword Saint Tirion smiled as he stood up to greet him.
"Thank you, Lord Tirion, it went smoothly enough", Rayne nodded and smiled.
"Lord Rayne, it seems you’ve had a bountiful harvest", Helm said, glancing at the keychain in Rayne’s hand, also smiling.
Helm knew that even if he were to advance to Dawn Wizard, he likely wouldn’t be able to explore the B2 Level alone like Lord Rayne.
"I managed to get the keys, but didn’t have time to explore further. The monsters inside are very powerful."
Rayne gestured to the keychain in his hand and shook his head with a wry smile.
He wouldn’t reveal the truth, of course.
After all, they were on Federation territory, and there was no telling who might be envious.
Additionally, he didn’t want to invite trouble. It was best to keep his gains to himself.
"Oh? The monsters are that powerful?" Tirion asked, clearly intrigued.
"Yes, I encountered..." Rayne quickly recounted what had happened.
"Lord Tirion, if you plan to explore, be sure not to venture into the B3 Level. Even for the B2 Level, it’s best to go in a group, perhaps with Lord Hernandez and other strong individuals."
Rayne offered a friendly warning to Tirion.
After all, Tirion had been pleasant to him during this time, and Rayne found him to be a decent person.
"Thank you, Lord Rayne, I will take that into consideration", Tirion nodded.
Hernandez, standing nearby, seemed to have picked up on something important and wore a thoughtful expression.
While Sword Saint Tirion and Hernandez didn’t doubt Rayne’s account, the researchers and Helm found it hard to believe.
Many of them whispered among themselves:
"Is that even possible? A Minotaur Mummy’s strength could match Lord Tirion the Sword Saint’s?"
"Does this Lord Rayne from the Empire think too little of our Federation’s Sword Saint to suggest he needs a group?"
"But what if Lord Rayne is telling the truth?"
"I think Lord Rayne might be exaggerating a bit."
"..."
These Level 2 Liquidation Wizards had never witnessed Rayne’s strength, nor had they ventured into the lower levels. To them, Rayne’s account seemed overly exaggerated.
Even Helm found Rayne’s description a bit too severe.
Rayne, of course, heard these whispers, but he didn’t care about their opinions and had no intention of explaining himself.
If they wanted to listen, they could. If they didn’t, and they went unprepared, it would be their own fault.
After all, he had given a fair warning out of respect for Tirion.
"By the way, Lord Rayne, you mentioned something called a Vile Demon?" Hernandez suddenly recalled.
"Yes, have you heard of it, Lord Hernandez?" Rayne asked, equally intrigued.
Earlier, Rayne hadn’t mentioned the fusion of the three black mists, only briefly noting that after defeating the monsters, the black mist formed a Vile Demon, which was very powerful.
"I recall seeing it in an ancient text, but it didn’t provide much detail. It only mentioned it briefly", Hernandez shook his head.
"It seems this Vile Demon is some kind of ancient evil entity that cannot be completely destroyed."
"Oh? Is there anything else in the records?" Rayne pondered.
The fact that it couldn’t be completely destroyed aligned with the system not absorbing any high-quality energy after defeating it.
"Nothing else, I’m afraid", Hernandez shook his head again.
"Thank you, Lord Hernandez, for the information."
Rayne felt slightly disappointed.
After facing the Vile Demon, he was quite wary of it.
It seemed he would need to ask Princess Menya for more details.
Given Menya’s status and experience, she likely knew many secrets that ordinary Dawn Wizards were unaware of.
"Lord Rayne, now that you’ve returned, shall we leave?" Sword Saint Tirion asked.
During the time Rayne had spent exploring the prison, they had rested sufficiently, and his injuries had fully healed.
"Of course", Rayne nodded in agreement.
Soon, the group followed the Sky City blueprint and quickly passed through two tunnels, arriving at Gate 3 on the B2 Level.
Gate 3 was located in the opposite direction of the prison, closer to the area where the Prototype had self-destructed. As a result, there were very few Goblin Corpses in the vicinity.
This only made the researchers more skeptical about the accuracy of Rayne’s earlier account.
"Truly a massive steel gate?" Helm marveled, gazing at the metal gate that towered at least thirty meters high.
"Yes, the channel for deploying giant golems naturally can’t be small", Rayne explained, having seen the design plans of the Sky City. He understood why this passage had been designed to be so grand.
"The mechanical gate is no longer functional; we can only open it using this manual lever", Helm frowned, pointing to a circular wheel shaped like a ship’s steering wheel.
Although he was a metal wizard, the wheel was connected to a complex gear system that required significant force to turn. Simply deforming the metal wouldn’t be enough to open the gate.
The circular wheel, over three meters in diameter, was clearly designed for goblins to operate some mechanical device or golem.
Among the present group, perhaps only the strength of Sir Tirion the Sword Saint would be sufficient, but the wheel was at least 2.5 meters off the ground, making it impossible for a normal human to reach and apply force.
As for deforming the gate to create a large hole, that was something Helm knew he couldn’t do.
Perhaps Sir Rayne could manage it.
Helm thought to himself.
"Alright, I’ll handle it", Rayne said, stepping forward quickly.
He had considered the same issues that Helm had.
His right arm suddenly swelled, Dark Silver dragon scales emerging, and his entire body grew to over four meters tall. This was still a controlled transformation by Rayne.
"Creak! Creak!"
The thick Dragon Claw gripped the metal wheel and began to turn it forcefully.
"Rumble!"
The metal gate, over a meter thick and dozens of meters high, started to lift slowly.
However, suddenly!
The red warning lights around them began to flash, followed by a high-decibel mechanical voice:
"Warning! Warning! Gate 3 has been illegally opened. Please eliminate the threat immediately. (Ancient Gnomish)"
"Trouble, all the exits of Sky City are connected to the control room. I didn’t expect the control system to still be operational", Helm’s expression changed.
"Sir Rayne, you—"
"Relax, we have time."
Due to the gear-driven mechanism, the wheel needed to be turned several times for the metal gate to rise just a few centimeters.
However, with the alarm sounding, Rayne’s speed of turning the wheel became exceptionally fast. The massive metal wheel spun faster and faster in his giant Dragon Claw.
The metal gate rose rapidly.
"Go!" Hernandez quickly led the researchers and the Federation exploration team through the gate.
Sir Tirion the Sword Saint, being the fastest, stayed behind to guard Rayne.
"It’s done, Sir Rayne."
"Good."
When Rayne released the wheel, he didn’t secure it with the nearby latch.
The wheel spun back at high speed, and the gate began to close rapidly.
However, with Rayne and Tirion’s speed, they had more than enough time to dash through the gate.
"Whoosh! Whoosh!"
The two figures shot out of the gate.
As Rayne left Gate 3, he sensed something and turned back to look. In the distance, several hundred meters away, a number of unfamiliar Mechanical Raptors were sprinting towards them.
"Boom!"
In the next second, the metal gate closed again, and the Mechanical Raptors disappeared from Rayne’s view.
"Sir Rayne, is something wrong?" Sir Tirion the Sword Saint asked curiously, noticing Rayne’s gaze on the closed gate.
"Nothing, Sir Tirion, let’s go." Rayne shook his head.
By now, the two had reached the outside of Sky City, standing on a narrow two-meter-wide maintenance channel. Below them was a dark red lava moat.
Compared to their position at the cave entrance, they were now much closer to the ground, giving them a clearer view.
Hernandez and Helm had already used their magic to reach the opposite side and were constructing a simple steel bridge for the elite soldiers to cross.
Rayne and Tirion, of course, didn’t need such assistance. Five minutes later, the group had returned to the Cave Camp in Retheron Canyon, where they had initially set out from.
The Cave Camp was now much more developed.
There were dozens of tents of various sizes, and various magical arrays had been set up around the perimeter.
When Rayne, Tirion, and Hernandez successfully brought back Helm and the others, the entire camp erupted in excitement.
Half an hour later, top-secret messages began to flood the Federation’s decision-making levels.
Meanwhile.
Antuhol, the Federal Capital, was halfway to Zetaya in the sky.
The mixed dirigible fleet of the Empire and the Federation stretched for dozens of miles, resembling a giant dragon floating in the air, steadily advancing toward Zetaya.
On a giant Federation dirigible at the front of the formation, a few people were holding a meeting in a small conference room.
The cause was an urgent transmission received just ten minutes ago.
"What? That ruin is actually a Sky City?"
This news was like a thunderclap in the minds of those present!
It was a Sky City!
A legendary creation capable of long-term flight, with combat capabilities surpassing the most advanced giant dirigibles of the present-day Federation by at least several dozen times.
"That's right. Ten minutes ago, I received this urgent transmission. You can all take a look at the documents on the table first. Then we can discuss what to do next", Vice Speaker Bertrand nodded and said.
Since the final stop of the Imperial Delegation was Zetaya, the Federal Parliament had conveniently assigned the matter of the ruins to him.
He was just as shocked when he received this news as the others in the room.
For a moment, the conference room was filled only with the sound of pages turning.
A few minutes later, the old man with the smoking pipe, who seemed to have finished reading the transmission, spoke with a solemn expression: "Rescuing the Helm Team and discovering a large amount of ancient goblin technology and a Sky City is, of course, a cause for celebration."
"But the problem is, according to the intelligence, the Imperial delegate, Mr. Rayne, has also obtained relevant ancient goblin technology. This is very disadvantageous for the Federation!"
"This means we have lost an important bargaining chip at the negotiating table with the Empire."
"Yes, I was worried about a possible leak before, and it has indeed happened", the Federal Admiral who had attended the previous meeting said, glancing at Trina.
"Moreover, if the intelligence is accurate, perhaps we should reconsider our attitude toward cooperation with the Empire", the Admiral suggested with a pointed look.
"I also believe that if we can successfully control the Sky City, the revived beasts will no longer be a problem", the Pipe Elder nodded in agreement.
"Vice Speaker, I have a proposal. If Mr. Rayne does not clearly express his intention to join the Federation before he leaves, perhaps we can make him stay permanently."
The Federal Admiral glanced at Trina and then looked at Bertrand, speaking slowly.
"I disagree!" Trina's face turned red with anger, and she stood up immediately.
"Admiral Randall, Mr. Rayne is a prodigy. Even if he doesn't join the Federation, as long as he exists, he is a pillar of humanity in resisting the resurgence of the gods and the beasts. Your proposal is too cold-blooded!"
"Trina, I actually agree with Admiral Randall."
"Although this suggestion might not sound good, it will ensure the Federation keeps the secret of the ruins."
"Once we master ancient goblin technology and the Sky City, we might not only solve the problem of the resurrected beasts independently but also eliminate the Dragon Empire and incorporate its territory into the Federation."
"Undoubtedly, a unified large Federation is the most efficient way to mobilize human and material resources and respond to future situations, rather than the current model of cooperation between two countries", the Pipe Elder said, taking his pipe out of his mouth and tapping the ash into the ashtray.
As both a member of the Parliament and the head of the Federation's industrial production, he had ample reason and confidence to say this.
"Finally, Trina, don't forget that you are a member of the Federation Parliament. The oath you took, 'Everything for the Federation, never to do anything that harms the Federation,'—have you forgotten it?"
"I still disagree! Haven't you read the intelligence about Mr. Rayne's crucial role in this operation? Violating basic moral principles for the sake of interests, I cannot agree with this!"
"This..." Faced with the significant disagreement, Vice Speaker Bertrand hesitated.
Undeniably, if the subject were anyone other than Mr. Rayne, Bertrand would have leaned toward keeping the secret, as it represented the core interests of the Federation.
However, the subject was Rayne.
Bertrand had personally witnessed Rayne's combat prowess and unparalleled talent. Killing such a promising young man, regardless of the cost, would be a great loss, and he found it extremely regrettable.
"We have just set out for Zetaya and have a day to go. The military can handle this. Recently, the Zaral Resistance has been active, and we can pin this on them", Admiral Randall continued.
"If we wait for Rayne to join the Imperial Delegation, we won't have a chance to act."
"Vice Speaker, time is running out."
"Vice Speaker, I firmly oppose this!" Trina said, her face cold.
(End of Chapter)
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