Chapter 32: Reef’s voice
Translated by: Chua
Edited by: TN and Elkassar
As of now, even a fully equipped Sheyan may not live in combat against a uruk-hai, what more now that all his equipment was gone? The permanent +1 attribute was only like a thirst quenching plum, it wasn’t really a game changing factor.
The traces of the faraway blaze had gradually expired. Sheyan understood this meant that the pursuing orcs would be reaching soon, as he urged Melody to swiftly advance. If he fell, it didn’t matter. He could easily return to the realm; but before that, he would do his best to bring this elf maiden to a safe location.
Visibly, the rocky valley again gradually turned narrow, their route also became more rugged. Finally, the sides converged and ended their route. Ahead of them remained a huge and deep cavern.
The cave was at least a hundred metres wide, cracks were present on both rocky edges, cracks that appeared like enormous black lightning on the rocky surface. The ground was littered with scattered rock fragments. On the ground were distinct traces of a water current rushing through. It was clear that the ravine here would experience occasional floods, and the floods finally ended at that lake after the pine forest.
Facing this cave, Sheyan hesitated a little. The winds smacking against his face carried a hint of sulfuric smell, causing his hair to stand on end. It seemed like there was an invisible deterrence being transmitted out from within. His heart decided that he had to instantly turn around and flee, but at the same time, the cave also seemed to contain an unfathomable enticement calling him in.
At present, even a twilight elf like Melody had a pale expression, she was obviously ten times more sensitive to nature and sensing. She was probably able to sense the hidden terror contained inside the cave, as if nature itself was moaning in acknowledgement!
At this moment, a coarse voice suddenly transmitted from his nightmare imprint.
“Hey, dammit, Seaman can you hear this?”
It was shockingly communicated from his temporary party channel. If not Reef then who? For the channel to work, it requires members to be within a definite area. Hence, he could confirm that Reef was definitely not far from here! As he glanced around, the rocky rubble remained, no clues of Reef at all. But listening to Reef’s voice, it was gloomy and seemed like he was out of breath, he should have suffered heavy injuries.
“I heard you Reef, where are you? Are you injured?”
Sheyan hurriedly replied.
Upon hearing Sheyan’s voice, Reef immediately coughed violently, before regaining his composure to speak.
“Praise the Lord; I have been sending a message every 20 seconds within this channel, finally you received it.”
Sheyan smiled bitterly and replied.
“Wow you’re really patient eh? Right, you’ve also lost your equipments right?”
Reef panted.
“Yes, if you still don’t show up, I can at most hold on for another hour. *Cough cough*, pooh!! This damned mucus!”
Sheyan once again surveyed his surrounding terrain and replied.
“I’m at the end of the valley, there’s a huge cave here, how do I get to you?”
Reef exclaimed in excitement.
“Oh! I know where that is! You mustn’t enter that cave, it’s insanely dangerous. First backtrack a hundred metres, you’ll be able to see three huge boulders within the valley, the boulder on the right is pasted against the mountain wall. Climb that huge boulder on the right first, then feel around on the wall. There will be a groove for you to climb up, head up roughly 30 metres and you’ll find the channel into the mountain’s belly.”
Sheyan curiously asked.
“How did you find such a secret place? Oh right, another important question. Why did you suddenly scream and then instantly vanish?”
Reef transmitted a dejected helplessness.
“You still remember that pine forest before we crossed the lake?”
While heading to his location, Sheyan continued chatting.
“Of course I remember. The one with the hallucinatory poison fog. Once it is released it would create a powerful hallucination.”
Reef smiled bitterly and replied.
“After I jumped down from that boulder, I landed in a dense fog of that concentrated poison. The poisonous gas was heavier than air, thus it was pushed to the bottom. After that, I was directly taken over by a frightening spirit force, controlling my body to walk ahead and climbed up to where I just told you. After that, I had to act as a bitter laborer, repeatedly shifting around those abominable eggs. That is why I am extremely familiar with the terrain here.”
“Then why wasn’t there any existence of that poisonous gas on the second day?” Sheyan suspiciously asked.
Reef sighed.
“I can roughly guess the reason, but I’m unable to explain right now. More importantly, if you continue to head into that cave, you’ll definitely encounter that damnable giant octopus!”
After hearing the phrase ‘Damnable giant octopus’, his fingers instantly tightened as he climbed the mountain wall! Several fragments of rock slided down, he couldn’t resist blurting out.
“Are you talking about that legendary creature ‘Ocean-freak of Moria’ that forced the Fellowship of the Ring in the main storyline, to journey through the darkness of Moria’s mine shaft.”
Reef gnashed his teeth and replied.
“Apart from it, who else? This mountain is at least semi-hollow, within it there’s an underground lake that is connected with several larger lakes. That octopus naturally came through there, but it should be its breeding period now, that is why it specially nested itself within these snowy peaks to ovulate. According to my inference, it probably requires a special environment to breed, it requires a warmer place, and also maintain the moisture of the eggs….this damned octopus actually forced me to ferry around snow water to water these damnable eggs!!”
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The location Reef mentioned wasn’t very far. Sheyan and Melody very quickly arrived here without much effort. As they climbed while listening to Reef, they had reached a suspending cavern on the wall surface.
This cavern was suspended 30 metres up from the ground, its entrance was sheltered by a lateral boulder, blocking off vision from the bottom valley. One wouldn’t even be able to spot it close by, not to even mention from far away. Sheyan grabbed onto the edge of the cave, and easily lifted himself up, then he helped to pull Melody up.
“Alright, we’re at the cave, where are you?” Sheyan transmitted to Reef.
“Wait!” Although Reef was using the party channel which wouldn’t leak a sound, his voice still carried an unexplainable anxiousness.
“That sleeping octopus suddenly moved, you have to wait for a moment. I’ll notify you when to enter. Remember you have to remain at the cave entrance, if not even with the twilight elf’s blessing, you will be discovered easily!”
“This damned octopus even has several other orcs as its everlasting spirit slaves. These fellas seemed to be aboriginals from mine shaft of Moria, with no relations to Saruman. That cave at the valley end is extremely risky. Therefore, the passageway you are at now is the channel that those orcs normally travel to and from.”
“That is fine.” Sheyan didn’t possess his equipment, but Reef still possessed his failsafe card of returning to the realm. Hence, he wasn’t really worried for him, as he leaned against the cave wall and sat down. His thoughts suddenly stirred.
“Right now it seems like that hallucination poison fog is closely related to that huge octopus ocean-freak Moria?”
It was as though Reef had breathed in some liquid, as he coughed violently.
“These damned eggs are annoying like a running nose! Heavens, they sprayed the mucus at my face again. Your guess is correct that hallucination fog is secreted out from this hellish eight legged demon. Its blood and body fluids contain a powerful hallucination agent, the places it stays for long will be contaminated.”
Sheyan asked curiously.
“Then back at the boulder, why did you get affected by I didn’t?”
Reef lowered his tone.
“I’ve also considered this question. The only explanation is that your body possess a buff that i don’t – that twilight elf’s blessing! The blessing have probably assimilated you into nature, that is why the octopus isn’t able to detect your presence. Or perhaps the blessing possess a hidden attribute, that can specially suppress this ability related to charm and intelligence. Don’t forget, when we were caught by those uruk-hais, you woke up much earlier than me!”
Sheyan contemplated for a moment, feeling that it does make sense.
The two continued communicating through the party channel. Of course Melody wasn’t able to hear anything, but she could also sense the danger here, as she didn’t lay down her guard down one bit. Sheyan was shocked to discover, after this elf maiden had evolved into a twilight elf; as long as she remained still, she would give off a fading sensation. She was obviously right there, but the aura on her had completely assimilated into nature. From another perspective, it was as if nature was sheltering her!