The Gene of the Ancients (Rogue Merchant Book #2): LitRPG Series by Roman Prokofiev (ebook reader for comics .TXT) 📗

“Hear me out...we found...” Tao croaked, afraid to move, his neck caught in her chilling grip.

“Don’t talk,” Ananizarte stopped him. “Show.”

She pointed at the pool. Tao lowered his hand in the black water. It burned him like liquid fire. Ripples passed over the surface, and the stars vanished.

“Think!” the goddess commanded. “And the Herald will show it.”

Tao focused, closing his eyes. Images rippled over the water, first murky, then growing bright.

A huge cave, translucent pillars of edra, blue-green ellurite lazily flowing through them. A black hexagonal Ziggurat serving as a throne for a colossal statue. A wall made of ice-like substance, the front of a building bleeding through it. A big group of players studying it.

“Aha!” Ananizarte puffed out, striking at the water. “The grey swindler! Tao. It’s very dangerous. You must destroy them.”

“Impossible! They’re deep in Helt Akor!” Tao quickly argued.

“The Grand Temple of Shadows,” the goddess said, as if speaking to herself. “He’s found it, and he has someone capable of destroying the Ancients’ seals. If it’s done, the Grey One will once again rise in power. They must be stopped. At once.”

Chapter 23

“WELL, I KNEW that you’d be of use to us here,” Komtur said as he patted me on the shoulder. “You did great with them.”

“Too bad there’s no video. We couldn’t hear anything,” Olaf spoke up. “I’d love to have a look.”

For once, I got the unanimous approval of the Watchers as the one who had scouted the Ziggurat and successfully negotiated with the demons. The only turd in the punchbowl was the Tiara of Prince Consort and no chance of looting the Ancients’ stuff.

AlexOrder: I translated the Kann-Elo from your screenshot. Do you still need it?

HotCat: Of course, go on!

AlexOrder: Well, there are seven pictograms in total. They make up two ideograms that I would translate as “put on” and “enter”.

Put on and enter.

The sneaking suspicions about the band I had found next to the Ancient’s body turned into certainty. The one who sat on the edra throne in the Ziggurat and put on that item would most likely get to control the Colossus in manual mode. Two things stood in the way: the band was unidentified, and the one who picked it up would be attacked by the guardians. I threw one more look at the Colossus and the wall of ice.

We were standing right next to it, examining it. The wall turned out to be smooth, as if built from glass or diamond. The outer layers were transparent, but deeper, the crystal turned white, hiding what was inside. The only thing we could see was the pillared facade, the ornamental frontpiece, and the open suite of the entrance that led into the unknown.

Komtur: What’s that?

Olaf: The Grand Temple of Shadows.

HotCat: How did you know this?

In response, Olaf sent me a link. I opened it to see background information.

When gods and the Ancients engaged in a deadly war, Dark, Light, and Shadow joined together to achieve victory. The Ancients were numerous, and their magic was powerful. Many gods who are now forgotten were killed or depowered, partly or completely. In order to weaken the gods, the Ancients destroyed or sealed their temples. The Grand Temple of Shadows was one of the victims of that war. The Ancients transported it into the inapproachable Helt Akor, hiding it, and sealed it inside the Crystal of Negation, assigning a guardian...

The blinding icon of the divine quest shined right next to me. So that’s why Tormis had sent us down that route. With our — most likely, my — hands, he wanted to free his temple from a millenia-long imprisonment. But how could I destroy that wall?

“What’s a Crystal of Negation?” I quietly asked AlexOrder, who was standing by my side.

“Nobody knows for sure,” my friend replied with a sigh. “They say, it’s the most powerful protective magic the Ancients had. Wiki mentions it, have a look.”

A Crystal of Negation is the dreaded magic of the Ancients that survives only in mentions. It creates a giant indestructible crystal. Inside, time stops. A Crystal of Negation completely ignores all magic effects. Its creation expends tremendous amount of energy.

The Watchers wandered around the Crystal, staring at it with fascination. Olaf, Komtur, and Abbot were discussing something in a soft voice. Quietly, I came right up to the translucent edge. Completely ignores all magic effects, they said. Finally, I realized why Tormis had picked me from thousands of others, and it wasn’t my trading skills. The flaming sword, the true fire that ignored any and all resistance. It might be the only way to damage that thing.

Aelmaris left its sheath, glowing with blue flame. Several heads at once turned toward me, curious. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw Olaf startle.

“HotCat!”

The sword reluctantly sunk into the crystal, as if it was dry earth. The translucent mass gained a shaking scarlet outline and a health bar. I wondered how many hit points that thing had. What? THAT MANY?

You dealt the Crystal of Negation 3500 true fire damage! You dealt the Crystal of Negation 3500 true fire damage! You dealt...

The hit point bar didn’t move by an inch. On top of 100% resistance, it had an enormous amount of health. Quickly, I made the necessary calculations. If I kept dealing 3500 damage, I would have to slave away for a month. Billions of hit points. I had no idea there could even be so many of them.

“HotCat! Stop! What are you doing?”

But if the sword’s true fire damage was limited, the Blazing Warrior’s wasn’t. Basically, by activating that cheat-level skill, I transformed into true fire myself instead of dealing damage of that type, and true fire could destroy anything. Even Daine, a