Chapter 1735 The Bizzare Topmost Floor!
1735 The Bizzare Topmost Floor!
"Put it to rest, Dankin." Commander Bia ordered, relieving him of the awkwardness.
Dankin took advantage of the chance to throw one more insult before giving up on picking a fight with them.
'This has never happened before. Have they figured out a way to control their chaotic thoughts? That can't be right?' Syla communicated with the squad through an encrypted frequency channel.
'That shouldn't be possible.' Sera shook her head, 'The Chaosians have been unable to control their thoughts ever since their birth.'
'It should be a mere fluke.' Dankin sneered, 'Should I continue pressing them? It will be more helpful to us if we manage to get rid of some of them before the opening of the tower.'
Knowing that a battle ought to break up between them within the tower, they might as well kick it off right now, right here.
At least, there would be fewer variables that might affect their victory. When it came to variables and unpredictability? Chaosians thrived in such environments.
'No, we must maintain as much strength and energy as possible.' Commander Bia remarked sternly as she gazed at the powerful leaders around them, 'It's clear, we aren't the only ones with the same goal in mind.'
Unlike the mercenaries, Dankin and the rest of the royal guards all showed serious expressions.
Their eyes were still clouded in confusion about the true purpose of the mission since Commander Bia hadn't given them the details yet.
'Our intentions might be correct.' Felix narrowed his eyes, 'This mission might not be for collecting treasures on surface level.'
'Why bother? We will be ditching them either way.' Apollo replied lazily.
Felix remained silent, having a feeling that it might not be as simple as that...
***
After an arduous week of waiting, tensions high, and patience wearing thin, suddenly, the Echoing Tower started to shake akin to being hit by a ninth-degree earthquake!
Without warning, the tower pulsed!
KA-THUMB!!!
A deep, resonant heartbeat, louder and more forceful than any that had come before, echoed through the air.
It was a sound so robust that it bordered on the physical, vibrating through the bodies of those a.s.sembled, rattling bones, and forcing many to their knees!
The heartbeat was not just heard; it was felt, a primal force that resonated with the core of every being present.
Yet, no one lost their focus or acted out of place. They started to scan across the tower's roof with penetrative gazes.
Then, near the center of the tower's roof, a harmless crack emerged.
Ka-thumb!!!
With another heartbeat, the crack began to widen, the very stone and substance of the tower seeming to breathe and s.h.i.+ft.
What had been a mere sliver in the surface expanded, growing into a gaping maw!
As the crack opened fully, revealing a dark, yawning entrance into the topmost floor of the Echoing Tower, the commanders shouted orders, rallying their squads as the initial shock wore off.
Prince Malakar led his squad towards the gaping pitch-black abyss and everyone gave them room for it.
Even when they showed bizarre control of their aggressive nature, no one was stupid enough to trust them to behave.
Thus, it was best to put some distance from them within the tower.
After his subordinates went in, Prince Malakar turned to gaze at the Vibronixians while he was standing at the edges of the crack.
Then, he said with an emotionless tone, "See you inside."
Before anyone could respond, he jumped inside the abyss.
"He thinks we scared of them?" Dankin requested with a cold tone, "Can we chase them down?"
"No, there will be plenty of opportunities to face them." Commander Bia said calmly, "Remember, this is a marathon, not a battle."
Soon, the squads crossed the threshold from the known into the unknown one by one until only Commander Bia's squad was left behind.
"Go ahead."
Commander Bia ordered Felix and the rest of the mercenaries to go in first.
Without questions asked, Plix led his team to dive first into the crack, and the remaining four followed suit.
"See you below. Woohoo!"
Apollo made a peace gesture as he backflipped inside the abyss, not feeling an ounce of fear from the unknown or shame.
"Is it in his nature to try and embarra.s.s me at any given second?" Felix murmured in irritation after being left with everyone's judging stares.
After taking a deep breath, he jumped in too.
Plunging into the dark crack, Felix felt the world around him dissolve into shadow, a sensation of falling through endless nights gripping him.
But as suddenly as the darkness had enveloped him, it receded, leaving him freefalling across a blue clear sky with bits of white clouds here and there.
Yet, what struck Felix with a sense of astonishment was the serene and majestic landscape that unfolded before him.
A vibrant gra.s.s field surrounded by forests, rivers, and trees, which mirrored the beauty of the common environments in the matter universe.
Thud!!
Landing on the soft, verdant earth, Felix's slightly widened mouth was filled a bit with dust and dirt...Yet, he didn't bother to close it.
"How?!"
"No one knows." Apollo appeared next to him as he anwsered with a tint of marvel in his voice, "Such an environment is too common for us, but to see it here, in the quantum realm, it must be the strangest phenomenon ever experienced."
It seemed like the rest of the squads were also awed and mesmerized by the environment. However, it was for a different reason.
They never had seen something like this while Felix and Apollo were shocked by the notion of a tower's floor mimicking the reality in the matter universe.
'Is everything here made out of quantum energy? Or is this the real deal?' Felix soon jolted his head, 'It can't be? It will mean we have been sent to a dimension outside of the quantum realm entirely mirroring the matter universe.'
Felix understood that was impossible since their sizes would have to forcefully return to normal while the quantum natives wouldn't even be able to exist. After all, quantum energy was too small to exist in the matter universe.
'As long as you are in the Echoing Tower, nothing is impossible.' Lilith shared a piece of advice with a knowing expression.
'You mean my a.s.sumption right?'
'Of course not, are you dumb?' Lilith rolled her eyes at him.
'...'
Felix's lips twitched, but he couldn't retort as he had walked himself into getting insulted.
He realized that since they were still on the topmost floor of the tower, the reality disturbances weren't strong enough to create such an impossibility.
In other words, this must be a mere external copy of the matter universe made out of quantum energy.
'Is it just me or does it resemble Earth's environment a bit too much?' Candace tilted her head in confusion after noticing many tree species from Earth, such as Maple Tree, Oak Tree, Willow Tree, and more.
'You're right.' Felix raised an eyebrow in surprise.
'There are many other species unrelated to Earth.' Lady Yggdrasil shook her head, not thinking too much of it, 'It could have mirrored most of the trees in the universe.'
'Most likely.'
The rest agreed and dropped the subject...Seeing everyone move on, Candace could only shrug her shoulders and drop it too even though she still had a weird tingling feeling about it.
Soon, Dankin, Sera, and the rest of the royal guards entered the floor and grouped up near a ma.s.sive maple tree.
After waiting for a short moment, Commander Bia joined them.
"What took you so long?" Plix frowned, "Is everything okay?"
"Don't concern yourself over me." Commander Bia replied with a firm tone.
Plix didn't like her response, but as an escorting mercenary, all he could do was zip his mouth.
Uncaring about his feelings, Commander Bia reached inside her armor and brought out a small red bag...Then, she pulled out a rugged-looking brown scroll with a black rope keeping it tightly rolled up.
Seeing the scroller ten times bigger than the red bag created it clear that it was a dimensional inventory.
This didn't surprise either Felix or Apollo as both of them had bought their own through Zephyr's a.s.sistance even when it was incredibly difficult to get one's hands on them.
If it was up to Felix, he would have fetched with him his spatial rings or AP bracelet, but there was no way he could shrink them too. Thus, he departed them behind in a secured place until his return.
Without further ado, Commander Bia tapped on the scroll and dropped a bombsh.e.l.l on them.
"This is a map leading to the first floor...Our main mission is to reach it and retrieve the stone of reality. Our secondary mission is to explore the bottom floors and obtain any kind of treasure in it."
Felix, Apollo, and the mercenaries were departed utterly speechless, feeling like she was pulling their leg.
"You joking right?"
"Do I look like I am in the mood?"
"..."
"..."
"..."