Chapter 413 Routes
Zaos jumped in the cart and then pulled the lever. Much to his surprise, the vehicle took a while to gain speed, but once it did it, it became even faster than a horse. While Zaos could move even faster than a horse if he enhanced his legs, the vehicle used far less mana to move as fast.
"It seems I really have a lot of room for improvement when it comes to magitek," Zaos thought.
The tunnel once again thinned up since the place was only used by the cart and by the path-like thing on the ground. Not to mention, it was man-made, so making it larger than necessary would be a waste of time. The place looked clean, but it didn't seem that new… it was probably clean because they were deep underground, and the temperature was annoying as hell.
After being transported by the cart for one hour or so, Zaos finally reached the other side of that tunnel. It was shocking that not even ten percent of the mana stored in the magic stone had been used to cross such a distance… While the magic stone was pretty large, the creator of that magitek certainly had some fearsome skills and knowledge.
When Zaos left the cart, he found that the rough part of the tunnel quickly ended like and then he found normal-looking walls ahead. He also found an ordinary stone staircase.
"I guess I should send the cart back… this trip is going to take a while for all of them to come, but at least two or three should come to see all of their organization ending," Zaos thought.
It will take two hours for anyone to reach that point, so Zaos had two hours to check where that staircase leads. Zaos hurried to check the structure above, but he made sure to keep his senses on alert to notice the presence above as soon as possible.
After going up for a couple of minutes, Zaos found a wooden door, but he didn't feel any presence. He was still deep underground, so it was only natural that with all the earth blocking his way, he wouldn't feel the presence of those on the surface. Still, he was surprised that he didn't feel the presence of other members of the organization.
Zaos looked around in search of traps, but he didn't find anything weird. He even checked the door as well, but again, he didn't find any sign that some kind of trap would be waiting for him on the other side. Still, Zaos only opened the door slowly… and found a simple meeting room. The place only had a simple table, some wooden chairs, and some jugs of water. On the other side of the room, Zaos could see numerous doors, and after checking most of them, he found stairs that would lead to the underground. Only one of them would lead him to the surface…
"I see… they meet here," Zaos furrowed his eyebrows.
That was, without a doubt, the best place to ambush the targets. However, Zaos had no idea when they would reunite… it would be nice if Zaos could find some map that would tell him where those routes would lead him to… perhaps he would find something if he checked things above. However, before that, he decided to wait for the next group and ask them when was the last time that gray-haired man left for those meetings.
Zaos waited patiently for Nakin, and two others showed up. As expected, the vehicle moved slower since it was carrying more people. Zaos showed them the room above and the doors. With each one of them, Zaos confirmed a cart with a magic stone under them.
"Do you remember the last time that guy left to have a meeting here?" Zaos asked.
"Around two months have passed," Nakin replied.
"So, the next meeting will be in three weeks… that isn't good," Zaos rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I suppose that I will have to deal with them one after the other to speed up things. That might be good, though. If a fight breaks out here, they will escape using the numerous paths and following them will be a pain…"
That would be quite a lot of work to do, but it was for the best… based on what Zaos saw, that meeting room was only used now and then, but that doesn't mean the other parts aren't guarded. No, it would be weird if they were guarded, considering that the gray-haired man put his full trust in the stone doors.
"One of you should go back and inform the others," Zaos said. "I will rest for a while before checking those places, I used too much energy while I was fighting you guys."
Zaos wanted to finish things as fast as possible, but he couldn't be hasty when he didn't know where he was going to fight. He needed to prepare for all possible scenarios.
"Ah, can you lend me your knife, Nakin?" Zaos asked.
"… Yes," Nakin said after hesitating for a short while.
"If you don't want to, then you can say so," Zaos asked.
"… May I ask why do you want it?" Nakin asked.
"I just wanted to increase my Poison Resistance," Zaos replied. "It is going to take a while before I can recover all my energy, so I might as well use that time wisely."
Not even the assassins used their weapons to raise their poison resistance like that. Still, they didn't know much about the world, so Nakin imagined that some people out there could increase their poison resistance like that.
After giving away his weapon, Nakin and the others returned to the cart. Meanwhile, Zaos used the knife to scratch his body now and then, and he also meditated to recover his mana. Things would be a lot easier if he had some potions… but he didn't have time to plant the plants he bought a few months ago… he had to make it do with what he had…
