CHAPTER 91: A STAB TO THE CHEST.

"Yes, my lord, we want to see!"

The workers all muttered excitedly as they moved closer to their prince.

"Oh? I figured you guys would; you are men after all, seeing cool things is bound to raise your testosterone levels."

Sylus replied, one hand on his waist and his finger rubbing the bottom of his nose while he carried a smug expression.

The workers nodded in unison, acknowledging what he said.

"You are seriously going to do this?" Zani gave Sylus a judgmental stare.

To which he responded with a thumbs-up and a bright smile.

"Don’t worry about it; the dudes said it’s cool."

"That is not the point."

"Anyway..."

Sylus pointed at them, "Everyone should stay in a straight line. And do as I requested earlier, make sure your mana is connected, or those with open links will be left out."

They all acted as requested.

Standing in a straight line, they slowly began to release their mana, allowing it to flow toward the back.

The blue shimmering light bounced from one person to the other, forming into strings that tied around each individual.

Seeing this, Sylus was pleased.

’They got it right off the bat. I’m impressed.’

He looked at their arms and noticed they had his sigil implanted.

’That explains why...’

Honestly, it was quite shocking how many people in the city now bore his sigil. At this rate, he might be giving the gods a run for their money.

Once he had confirmed they were good to go, he focused his gaze back in front of him.

"My lord, if you start to run out of mana, I beg you to tell me. I will gladly lend you mine," said Zani with utmost determination.

Although, Sylus was already expecting her to say something like that.

"Hai hai, I already knew that."

Sylus now closed his eyes, entering a state of focus.

Then, Sophia’s voice echoed in his head.

{Correct me if I am wrong, master, but is this not the first time you are pulling off this technique?}

’You wake up and this is the first thing you ask of me.’

{I am sorry. Taking a human form drains a lot of my mana.}

’Sigh, that is understandable. Yes, this is the first time I will be using this technique. In fact, I only recently learned this from a book I was reading.’

{Are you sure you can pull it off?}

’Who do you think I am?’

Grinning, Sylus began.

He started by transferring the mana from his magic circuits all the way to different parts of his body, and then he let them all out at once, right after strengthening.

As soon as the mana left his body, it formed into a cocoon, sheathing everyone under it in its protection.

’It worked!’

Sylus’s eyes sparkled with pride as he pressed his finger on the mana expansion; it felt soft but at the same time impenetrable.

He once again looked back, making sure everyone was covered individually under it, they were. Some had even begun resting on the soft mana shield.

The only thing connecting them together was the single mana string each of them was letting out.

’Yosh, looks like we are ready.’

"Okay, let’s move forward."

He wandered off, the workers swiftly doing the same.

Zani sighed and then followed.

They traversed the cave for a long time, going only forward, as there was no other path.

The further they went, the stronger the corrupted mana seemed to become.

At some point, Sylus needed to borrow a bit of mana from Sophia, although that was only to buy time until his mana pumped back up.

After what seemed like forever, Sylus finally found a lead.

A hole.

He stopped, staring at the deep hole for a while.

’Eh? This is unexpected. Then again, a hole means this might be a mine like I expected,’ he thought to himself, staring into the pitch-black pit.

"Are we going in there?" asked Zani, trying to point her torch toward the hole to see if she could make out what was in there.

Sylus sighed in response.

"As much as I hate to admit it, going in blind is a bad idea. For starters, we need to make equipments fit for this type of journey. Secondly... yeah, that’s about it."

"So you’re saying we should turn back?" Zani looked at him, clearly unimpressed.

"Don’t say it like it’s a bad thing. Now that I know what the cave looks like and where it leads to, I can fully prepare myself. Why do you think I asked the other workers to build a warehouse in front of this cave?"

Listening to her prince rant, Zani turned her attention to the hole.

"I guess you’re right. This hole is kind of giving me the creeps."

Sylus did the same.

’Hmm...’

[You are currently using the Blessing of Information.]

Location: Entrance to Alhara

Special Qualities: Mana Stones, Mana Crystals, and other forms of raw materials and resources

Error: Home of the Dalins

’I should have done this earlier; this just further proves how valuable this place is. "Other resources"? A mine having more than two is unheard of.’

He placed one hand on his jaw. "Other resources" is quite tempting. Now I really want to know what’s down there. Then there’s that...’

Error: Home of the Dalins

’What are Dalins? I’ve never heard of them before. Are they supposed to be some kind of hidden species?’

He shook his head. Thinking about that now would only lead to more unanswered questions. What he needed to do now was come up with a better strategy.

Turning around, Sylus uttered,

"We are heading back for the day. We shall continue tomorrow. There are a few things we need to prepare our sleeves for before digging too far."

"If His Highness wills it, we will do so." The workers were fully committed.

Nothing could make Sylus any prouder—the smile on his face was proof of that.

But then, the unexpected happened.

From the hole, a golden power spear shot out, stabbing Sylus in the chest, blood spurting from his mouth.

Everyone who watched was frozen in fear. Zani’s eyes sank with sorrow.

And then, just like that, Sylus’s body fell into the deep pit.