Before Andrew could catch his breath, Jones was already on his feet. He walked step by step to Andrew’s side and yanked him up from the ground, "Alright, you can tell me why you’re so familiar with this place. And to what extent you’re familiar with it."
Turuk stood on the side, watching cautiously with wide eyes.
Andrew chuckled, a grin spreading across his face, "No need to rush; we’ll tell you soon enough."
As he spoke, Andrew slowly pried Jones’s hand off his collar, stood up, leisurely brushed the dust off his clothes, then suddenly his expression changed, and he jumped back to create some distance from Jones, assuming a spellcasting stance.
Turuk hurriedly stood up and retreated to his master’s side. New ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄhapters are published on novel·fire.net
Dora watched the two of them warily.
Jones looked at Andrew coldly and asked, "What do you intend to do?"
"What do I intend to do? Hahaha, who gave you the courage to be so arrogant?" Andrew sneered, "The Lich is not by your side now. Can you really defeat me?"
"So what?" Jones continued to look at Andrew coldly, "Are you planning to fight me here? I just saved you."
"But the danger was brought by you, wasn’t it?" Andrew’s eyes widened as he gritted his teeth, "Let’s take this opportunity to make things clear."
"Make what clear?" Jones asked.
Being asked this, Andrew seemed to pause for a moment. As if he had thought of something, he said, "Alright, indeed, it’s hard to make things clear. Impossible, actually. In the ruins, I’m strong, and you will definitely listen to me. But once we get outside, you will be strong. Then any agreement we make now could be torn apart. Talking really is meaningless."
Jones looked at Andrew quietly.
"Let’s do it ." Andrew continued, "If my guess is correct, you got separated from the Lich you brought in, and you encountered danger. There are dangers everywhere. It will be hard for you to get out on your own. But I can lead you out; I’m completely confident. In return, I want everything we find in these ruins. Everything we can carry."
"You broke your initial promise. For someone without credibility, I won’t talk about credibility," Jones said coldly, "Even if I agree now to give you everything we find here, I can have someone rob it back after we leave."
"We’ll deal with that later." Andrew said with a smile, "Our deal only lasts until we get out of here. After that, if you want to rob it back, that’s your business. How to hide it from you will be my business. So, what do you think? After all, the agreement we’re making now could be invalid once we get outside. But here, you still need me, and I need you. We can cooperate for a while."
"Really? How can you guarantee you won’t set a trap to kill me before we leave? If I die here, no one will chase you for what you take out."
"No, I wouldn’t do that. I don’t want to thoroughly offend the White Bone Holy Light Court."
"If entering the ruins in violation of the promise and forcing an agreement in your favor when you’re strong doesn’t count as thoroughly offending, you certainly haven’t thoroughly offended them."
All of a sudden, the atmosphere became tense.
Sweat began to drip from Andrew’s forehead, and Jones’s forehead was also soaked with sweat.
This was the reality, a matter of committing a single crime versus numerous crimes.
Clearly, just taking the things found in the ruins was not enough for the White Bone Holy Light Court to kill Andrew. But if Andrew were to kill Jones here, the White Bone Holy Light Court would undoubtedly hunt him down.
However, given Andrew’s boldness to discuss such a deal, he clearly never intended to be caught by the White Bone Holy Light Court. In this scenario, committing a lesser crime or a greater crime made little difference. Besides, if Jones got out alive, Giant Snake City would certainly know that Andrew had the items. But if Jones didn’t make it out, it was uncertain. Even the White Bone Holy Light Court wouldn’t be able to conduct a large-scale investigation in the ruins in the short term. And time was crucial for Andrew.
Jones looked at Andrew quietly.
Andrew also looked at Jones quietly, the two of them in a standoff.
"Lord Jones, don’t trust him. We just need to stay here for a few days. After a few days, Adelle will definitely realize something’s wrong. Then someone will come to rescue us," Dora whispered.
"Master, they need us; we don’t need them," Turuk whispered.
"No, we need him too," Andrew answered softly, "This place is too dangerous. They have the speed advantage in bat form. At least when escaping, they’ll be faster."
"We don’t know how many days it will take for Adelle to realize there’s a problem, or how many more days it will take for them to get in here. If it takes too long, without fresh blood, we’ll all go mad. If we go mad here, we’re as good as dead," Jones answered quietly.
Jones and Andrew stared at each other.
After a long pause, Jones finally took a step forward.
Andrew lifted his spellcasting hand cautiously.
Jones took another step forward.
They stared at each other in silence.
Jones continued step by step forward until he was so close to Andrew that he stretched out a hand, "Let’s put aside our differences for now. Cooperating is beneficial for both of us right now. When our alliance breaks depends on when we want to tear it apart. What do you say?"
"A sensible idea." Andrew slowly extended a hand and shook Jones’s, "Until the moment we decide to break the alliance, I suggest we both mind our words and actions to avoid misunderstandings that could prematurely end our alliance."
"Agreed." Jones asked with a gentle smile, "Which way should we go now?"
"Just head downwards." After a pause, Andrew said, "I don’t have much information, but I know the most important things are definitely at the core area."
"The core area; you mean where the Magic Power source is?"
"Hmm... It seems the Lich helped you sense it already. Don’t worry, even though the Lich is not by your side, I can still perceive it. As long as we avoid the Tomb Guardian Demon as much as possible, we’re safe." As he spoke, Andrew took the torch from Turuk and began walking towards the side hallway.
The others quickly followed.
"Those eyeball monsters called Tomb Guardian Demons?"
"No, they’re just used for ’guarding tombs’ and are space beasts, so they are called Tomb Guardian Demons. That’s not their actual name."
"You said we should avoid the Tomb Guardian Demon, but I know the core area you mentioned definitely has a massive Magic Power source."
"Not all Magic Power sources are Tomb Guardian Demons; some are other things. Of course, very small Magic Power sources are almost certainly Tomb Guardian Demons."
"How do you know all this?"
"Books. The Divine Wood Library of the Blood Elves has a vast collection of books. Even though the records aren’t detailed, you can still infer some things."
Casually chatting, the group walked past the railing and began to descend a newly discovered spiral staircase.
"So, what was this place originally intended for? It couldn’t really have been a tomb, right? It’s huge, with many rooms, looking somewhat like an underground city, but it seems not that either."
Glancing lightly at Jones, Andrew continued walking forward, speaking softly, "This should have been a refuge. During the Krimasha era, wars between humans and various races, and even wars between gods and demons, were very frequent. They needed many such large fortresses to house entire cities’ worth of people in times of need. Isn’t a refuge capable of accommodating a whole city essentially an underground city?"