Fire Mage (Web Novel)
chapter-681

Chapter 681: Homunculus

"What happened to you, Mr. Alistair?" Charles asked as he looked at the claw scar on his naked chest. Although Alistair managed to heal the severe wounds with the help of potions, it still gave him a huge scar.

A bitter smile appeared on Alistair's face as he turned around and invited him in.

Then, he started to speak.

"After parting away, we moved to the southern direction with the information we gathered from all these years. But instead of reaching Baston Fort, we ended up moving further away and reached a strange mountain cavern. It looked almost similar to the second floor's boss area. That's where we met our nightmare. It's the Devil Crow!" He gulped down his saliva as he recalled a terrifying scene and spoke with fear in his eyes.

"It was a 100-meter tall shadow-like bird! Before we knew it, the entire shadow shrouded our surroundings and enveloped us in darkness. At the same time, I saw the huge shadow smash Evander and kill him in a second. Although we tried to fight back, it soon turned into a one-sided massacre. Only I managed to escape with a teleportation scroll and made my way back to this place. No, I should say that monster might have left me alone on purpose." He still recalled the prying sensation he felt all the way from that cave to the Baston Fort and trembled.

"Everyone from your team died?" Charles showed a shocked face and soon spoke sadly.

"I'm really sorry for your loss, Mister. So, what are you planning to do next?" He asked while walking inside the living room and sitting on the sofa placed on the side.

"What can I do? Although the expedition to this fourth floor met with a great failure, it was a good lesson for me. At least I realized how terrifying the fourth floor is. Once I get back to Edhen World, I will share more information with the family and prepare for the next time exploration. I'm sure our next exploration will be a big success." Saying so, Alistair also sat on the opposite sofa, suddenly thought of something, and asked.

"Did you take the 'Sacred Oath' yet?"

"Not yet." Charles shook his head.

"Me too. Currently, I'm still pondering over what to do next. Should I go back without making the Sacred Oath or make the 'Sacred Oath'? Now that I remember, did you meet your companions yet?" Alistair asked.

"I don't think you can leave this layer without making the 'Sacred Oath.' As for my companions, I indeed met one person. Thanks to him, I managed to find the Human Settlement quickly." Charles lied without hesitation.

"So, what do you plan on doing from now on? Will you join your companions and proceed to the 5th floor? Or, go back to your home world?" Alistair asked while taking out a bottle of wine and pouring it into the glasses placed on the coffee table.

Charles didn't respond instantly. He showed a troubled look as he took one glass of wine and sipped.

Then, he cleared his throat and spoke.

"Before going to the fifth floor, I plan on exploring a ruined temple situated 200 km away from this settlement. Thanks to my companion's help, I might have an easy time talking with the Commander of this base and borrowing a few helpers. Would you like to join this expenditure?"

His invitation surprised Alistair.

"Think of it as a repaying the help you did to me in the last layer," Charles added.

"Hmm, I need to think." Alistair pondered for a moment and soon asked another question.

"Can you tell me more about the place we are going to?"

Charles nodded in agreement and explained.

"We are going to a place called 'Fortress of Soul Graves.' In truth, our goal is to enter the temple at the center of the Soul Graves ruins and search for a strange coffin. Once we get our hands on the coffin, we must end the expenditure and return. And whatever you find along the way will belong to you. The same goes for all the participants."

Upon hearing Charles's words, a frown appeared on Alistair's face.

"Hmm, your words are too simple. How difficult is this mission? How many Legend Rank Beasts will be there? And how many people will be participating in this expenditure?" After facing the Devil Crow and experiencing a near-death situation, he became extremely cautious of this layer.

'I really can't blame him for his cautiousness. Even if I faced the Devil Crow, I might have been severely injured or ended up using Grace's 'Void' ability before dying.'

"To tell you the truth, the place I'm planning to explore is one of the five great forest regions like Ancient Trinket and also an unexplored area for the past few millenniums. Although the ruin is located not in the deep region, it is still a dangerous place and will take more than three days to travel in large numbers."

'More importantly, I'm not 100% sure of finding the Sealed Coffin.' But there was one thing he was sure of.

Soul of Graves was the only place name that implied death.

After hearing his explanation, Alistair closed his eyes for a while and soon sighed.

"Although I want to explore and get some precious treasure to make up for the loss, I can't take this gamble, my friend. It is indeed a tempting offer, and I'm also well aware of your combat abilities. But if I somehow die in this exploration, our Truelords family will lose the game against all other families. We already lost many elite members. If I also died without revealing any information about the fourth layer, the family would end up sacrificing a large number of geniuses to get to this place in the future. It's not worth taking the risk."

"I understand," Charles also nodded in agreement and gave up on persuading him.

"Hmm, although it feels awkward, why not stay in this house until the exploration preparations are over?"

"Okay." Charles didn't refute Alistair's offer and agreed to stay. After that, he continued to converse with Alistair for a while and soon heard a knocking sound from the entrance.

Alistair hurriedly went to receive the guest and soon returned to the living room.

"It's Maverick's homunculus, Charles. She is waiting at the entrance for you to escort you to the Commander's residence."

"Oh? I didn't expect him to get an appointment so soon." Charles said with a surprised tone and stood up from the sofa.

"Of course, he will. After I told him how you handled the situation in the third layer battle, he became more interested in you. Not only that, you came to this layer from a completely unknown world. So, even Commander Erwin will be interested to learn about your world customs and knowledge. After all, the more connections with people from different worlds, the more advantages one will get in many things."

Charles wasn't interested in any of those relationships. After all, he fabricated this whole fake story with his past life memories.

'More importantly, it seems only some particular worlds are connected to this fourth layer. Hmm, up to 3rd layer, the dungeon seems only connected to the Edhen World. But after 4th layer, more worlds seem to intersect. Then, does that mean all other world peoples also have gone through similar layers before reaching this fourth layer?' While thinking deeply, he arrived at the entrance and soon saw a black-haired young lady in her silver armor. If not for no sign of a soul within her flesh body, Charles would have found it difficult to distinguish if she was a human or an artificial being.

"Agatha greets Mage Charles!" She hurriedly bowed her head and greeted him in a mechanical voice that was almost similar to a young maiden's.

"Guide me to the Commander Erwin's residence." Charles gave a curious look at her face and ordered.

"Yes, Mage Charles. Please follow me." Saying so, she turned around like a real knight and started walking on the concrete pathway with stiff movements.

Before long, she reached the wooden fence, opened the wooden gate, and started walking on the concrete road.

Although Charles tried to converse with her by asking some questions, she only responded with yes or no.

'It's more like an AI. But it seems to only obey one order at a time and doesn't seem suitable for the conversation itself. Compared to Zera, this one barely has any self-thinking capacity.' While he was thinking, the homunculus named Agatha led him all the way towards the end of the fourth street and then stopped in front of a three-storied palace-like mansion.

Charles also noticed that all other street roads were also connected to the front square of the tall mansion, almost similar structure to the War Castle.

He soon turned his attention towards the mansion and stepped forward.

But what startled him was the appearance of many homunculus within the mansion as he entered through the compound gate. Starting from gatekeepers standing at the entrance, the guards, gardeners, maids, butlers, and even chefs were all homunculus!

While looking at the unique beings with curiousness, he walked past the fountain, arrived under the mansion porch, and stepped into the main building. He soon entered the main hall and saw a grey-robed man sitting on the sofa in the middle. He appeared to be around 70 to 80 years old, had a wrinkled, pale face and long white hair, and looked thin.

Even though he looked like he was breaking down at any moment, Charles sensed a refined and pure wisdom power radiating from his body.

He was none other than the Commander of this Stronghold, Erwin!