Azimuth: The Elden Throne

Make sure to drop some power stones and add the Novel to your collections.

Peace.

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/A few minutes later deep in the Catacombs…/

"I shouldn't be doing this... But here we are." Dale said as he looked around with a sharp gaze

"Are you sure this is the right way? I feel like I've been here before... Twice."

He looked around, everything looked the same but he knew this was an area he hasn't been to before, he just wanted to bother David.

Like anywhere in the Catacombs, it was also very dark, and even with his enhanced senses, it was still pretty dark.

Thankfully, faint golden light was being produced by David's eyes, illuminating the surroundings and the path ahead.

From a strange item to a lantern, he had been promoted!

"Yes, I am… Now turn right and focus and stop whining."

"What are we looking for?"

"We're looking for an entrance, a hidden tunnel, an interesting and unusual place." David replied as his eyes darted around

"A tunnel? But to where?"

David smirked and said:

"Curious now? Weren't you against this at first?"

Dale shrugged and said:

"I'm already filled with a ton of shit to do, so I'm sorry if I said I wasn't coming on a 'little adventure', besides, I need to wait for my shoulder to heal..."

"You're no fun, you need to relax a bit more, and don't lie to me, you're terrible at this."

"Your shoulder is perfectly fine."

"..."

'Relax?... How is this relaxing?...'

"In any case, I would've liked to wait but my energy reserves won't last for long, and who knows how long it will take until I recover to this state naturally."

"So we have to make the most of it while it's still here… Turn left."

Dale followed his instructions, and he eventually came to a dead end.

"Destroy this wall."

"Break it? Are you sure?" He asked suspiciously as he looked around

"Yes, whatever mechanisms this wall once had are already broken beyond recognition, there is no point in trying to open it through normal means anymore."

"So we'll go with the brutal approach."

Dale had to agree somewhat, so he strapped David on his waist and knocked on the wall, trying to see if he could tell if it was hollow...

And the result was surprising!

/Knock!/

It wasn't.

"This wall doesn't seem hollow, it looks pretty solid even." Dale said with a frown as he kept touching the wall

'Hum... This hole is likely the opening mechanism, but it's incredibly rusted...'

David rolled his eyes at Dale's words.

"Sigh... Do you really think a secret passage would be so easy to be discovered? That a flaw like that would exist? They wouldn't make it so obvious..."

"Hum..."

"Just break the damn wall already!"

/BAM!/

Dale got into position and in one punch the wall crumbled under his fist.

"Ouch…"

But his hand suffered the consequences, the wall was much more resilient than the normal stones found all around the surface, being hard enough to make his fist go numb.

"If this place wasn't so overly corroded I wouldn't have been able to break it." He said as he shook his fist

But David just said:

"We have no time to dwindle in idle chat, onwards!"

Dale grabbed David once more and took a step into the new unexplored area…

…

"This place… It has a strange smell." He said as he looked around

'Like the smell of Ozone or gas... I hope this place isn't filled with gas and I could explode anytime...'

The design of this place was very similar to the Catacombs but much more simplified.

There were no grand decorations or the remains of it, only two paths with a trench in the middle for water to pass, although there was no water now, only a dry passageway.

The ceiling was arched over and made of some sort of unknown gray stone brick.

It looked more like…

"These are the sewers." David said with a poker expression

"..."

'Damn...'

[DING]

[You have discovered a hidden Dungeon, Sewers of Resko]

[Respawn point set]

[For the next week, all drops and XP acquisition are doubled, with the chances of acquiring rare items increasing while the death penalty is decreased for as long as you don't leave the Dungeon]

[The Dungeon is readjusting…]

'Oh! A Dungeon!'

'As expected, double XP and loot drops… The same message I got last time.'

'What a terrible timing, I would've loved to farm in this place for a little while but… Perhaps I can farm until I'm Level 30?'

'And with my double rewards from my privilege... That's a 4 times increase to all drops.'

'Still, it's better not to assume things for now, this Dungeon could be inappropriate for that.'

"So these are the sewers…"

'I seem to be in an unused area, which is good, it would be pretty awkward to find a turd in here...'

"At least what remains of it, I am surprised this place lasted so damn long, it was surely made to last." David said with a bit of respect as he looked around

"These sewers go below the entirety of Resko, and they were built together with the Catacombs."

"I am pretty much certain that the Sewers only have a total of 3 floors, everything past that was used by the Catacombs."

"As such, there are some areas where their structures overlap, like that wall."

"The sewers were built around 5 rivers that were redirected to fit Resko's needs, but only one of them remains now, and thankfully, it still didn't dry up."

"It's an underground river, and the sole thing responsible for the village not smelling like ass..." David said in a sarcastic tone as he continued to walk

Dale found all of this pretty interesting.

'It seems Resko has a lot of structures hidden beneath it…'

"Since the sewers connect to every single house in Resko, they can be used to access some of the blocked buildings if you so wish, no need to thank me." David said with a smug smile as he illuminated the way

"... If I wanted to I could've just dug a hole and the result would've been the same." Dale remarked with a frown

"True, I guess there was that option, although very boring." David replied with a pensive gaze

"So? Where should I go now?"

"Follow this dry passageway until you reach a dead-end and turn right, we should be able to find a clue there."

"There are special markings made by the architects of this place that give insight into the nearby structures, if we follow them we should quickly arrive at our destination."

"No worries, I'll teach you on the way how to decipher them, but for now, let me lead the way."

"Uhum..."

'Learning the markings should lead me to future treasures, learning them won't get in the way...'

'Though I'm unsure of the fun in exploring sewers...'

They continued on their march into the darkness...

…

/15 Minutes later…/

[You slew a Gray Giant Amoeba]

[+2.2%*4=8.8% XP]

As the strange-looking gray slime dissolved into nothingness, Dale said:

"What are these things?"

'If things continue like this I'll Level up in no time… 4x XP boost is a big deal… It makes me even more devastated to leave…'

'Hum... Perhaps killing some things on the way won't hurt, though it would be a pain to explain where I was to the other Elders.'

'From one troublesome matter to another...'

"They are Giant Amoebas, in simple terms, they are a colony of microscopic life forms that have fused together and are now a single life form."

"Amoebas..."

'So they are like Slimes?... No, they are Slimes, this world's version of a Slime.'

'Perhaps they have a Slimer per se... Well, I'm thinking too much into it.'

"They aren't really dangerous, but the bigger they get, the smarter and more dangerous they become as well…"

"The bigger ones can usually dissolve things faster, and their danger can be usually determined by their color, the darker they are the faster they can turn your hand into liquid."

"After they pass the threshold of 1M in diameter, they'll learn how to hunt, and after 2M, they learn how to harden certain parts of their body, pretty much allowing them to pierce through weak defenses..."

"But before they reach that size, they are perfect bottom feeders."

"Every once in a while, the people of Resko used to clean these sewers to limit their population, but I don't imagine this has been done recently for obvious reasons."

"Nor do I think it's a problem, it's not like there is enough food for them to proliferate that much, and it should be pretty hard for them to leave the sewers deeming we have yet to learn of any such incident..."

"Don't feel bad about killing them since it's completely impossible to exterminate them."

"Even the one you just slew was not entirely killed; it simply lost its structural integrity, and its body will soon agglomerate into smaller forms or baby Amoebas."

"A better way to put it is that the father has died, but from its flesh, the children are born…"

"Interesting… But where did these creatures come from? They don't look native."

"You are correct, but that in itself is complicated…"

"I can say several hypotheses, one is that they came attached to things that are prevenient from the central and more populated parts of the Continent."

"Another is that they were just… Defecated by people who came from there. Because they are so small, it isn't impossible that some of them could've been swallowed by someone and the rest is simple."

"Out of millions of individuals, they just need a single one to survive and the rest is history."

Dale frowned a bit but didn't continue the conversation.

Instead, he looked at the ground where he saw a strange glowing object…

[Sludge Pearl // Material //

Description:

...]

"What is this?..."

"Oh! That is quite interesting to see." David said with some surprise

"You know what this is?"

"Slightly yes. It's a rare substance produced by these creatures, how I don't know, perhaps that Alchemist girl may know something."

"Normally they would throw these away after it grows to a certain size, so if you pay attention, we may find a few of them laying around."

"Hum… You're right…"

'The description doesn't give me much information either, just that it seems to be some sort of substance that is formed within the bodies of these slimes.'

'It's like a pearl... Hence the name?'

"... Wait, how do you know about her?" Dale asked suddenly as he raised an eyebrow

'He's just a talking head…'

David looked at Dale as if he was a monkey.

"Dale, many people would pray to me and send me their worries every day since I was rescued, not only that, I know everyone in the village to some extent."

"I also know that you visited her recently, not the exact details of course, but I know that your actions have helped the girl recover, her aura wasn't so good until you visited her."

"You are much more versatile than I thought…"

"Are you finally realizing that I am a Holy relic of the highest degree?"

"But enough of this, our path is just around the corner."

Dale nodded, storing the pearl in his inventory before proceeding…

…

/Later.../

"This is?..."

'A strange-looking door.'

In front of Dale was a normal size door, but it seemed to be made out of glass, allowing him to see through it, yet, when he knocked on it, it made a clear metallic noise.

It was filled with strange symbols, and the corners of the door seemed to be fused with the walls, he couldn't even see any hinges...

It was more of a transparent wall than a door.

"This was our destination." David said with a small smile as he looked around

"A door? No, more like a wall."

"So I imagine what lies beyond it is the thing you wanted to show me?"

David closed his eyes in agreement.

"Beyond these doors lies… The Great Wall further down South." He said in a dramatic tone

"What?! Can you repeat that for me?"

"Beyond these doors..."

"Not that you shithead!"

…

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Notes

Next chapter is the end of Volume 1!

It's a big chapter, so I'll consider it as 2 instead of 1, counting it as the 100 Power stones bonus chapter as well.

Peace!