"Can this... be removed later?" Lin Jun looked at that staff firmly embedded in the seal, only feeling a pang of heartache.
"As long as the seal is repaired properly, it can be removed." The old fishman explained.
"Then can you..."
"Lord Puchi, I regret to say I don't know much about this seal."
Great. This trip's greatest gain had instantly become a seal patch that could only be looked at, not moved.
And losing the staff, even the advantage of freely coming and going through secret passages...
Wait, how did that Tanaka who betrayed the hero's path and chose to collude with the Demon King access the secret passages?
Lin Jun immediately ordered all magic items Tanaka left behind gathered before him.
After trying them one by one, he quickly locked onto a seemingly plain silver ring.
Injecting a bit of magic power, intricate runic circuits appeared on the ring's surface. No matter which secret passage entrance it was aimed at, part of the runes could resonate with the passage's activation patterns—clearly a master key crafted specifically for Tidal Sanctuary.
Though the rune integration was extremely high with complex structure, the crafting difficulty wasn't actually high. Replicating it wouldn't be difficult.
Lin Jun could completely have subordinate craftsmen make a batch of replicas based on this template.
But this also meant there might be other holders similarly possessing such keys.
Secret passages could no longer be assumed as an advantage exclusively for their side, otherwise they'd take losses like this time.
Besides this key ring, other items like protective bracelets, underwater breathing pendants, and concealment rings might be considerable wealth for individual adventurers, but to Lin Jun they weren't particularly rare.
What was interesting was this seal-breaking stone tablet—it could actually damage the Demon King's seal!
Puchi Dungeon similarly sealed part of the Demon King. Lin Jun had carefully studied it. That seal was tightly connected to the dungeon structure, almost impossible to destroy through brute force.
But this tablet had done it.
Undoubtedly a treasure.
Just unknown whether its effect only targeted Demon King seals, or had miraculous effects on all magical seals or even magic arrays... He must analyze it thoroughly later.
Lin Jun noticed the old fishman had been staring at that broken metal ring beside them, gaze somewhat absent, so he asked: "Is there something special about this?"
Through the old fishman's explanation, Lin Jun learned there had previously been a water elemental lord guarding here.
This giant ring over ten meters in diameter before them was precisely something from that lord's body.
However, even such a powerful water elemental lord had soundlessly disappeared during the mist's shroud.
So there really had been a guard dog, just carried off by the mist!
Thinking this way, dungeon cores all seemed to have similar guardians.
The Stone Fort Dungeon—that ancient relic already declined to the point it couldn't even maintain rules—need not be mentioned.
Puchi Dungeon had two S-grade war golems. Divine Tree Dungeon had those pale pilgrims, or simply old Divine Tree geezer himself watching the gate. The Dwarven Dungeon, though not yet deeply explored, likely had that fire elemental lord wreaking havoc in dwarf territory who was essentially a gatekeeper uncle.
What about Scarecrow Abyss?
Seemingly no one had found its core's true location yet. That dungeon's mechanisms were too bizarre, involving multiple overlapping spaces. Exploration difficulty exceeded other places by more than a little.
As for several dungeons within Empire territory, Lin Jun didn't know much.
"Boss, just now that... slurry person, who was he?" Norris asked.
Lin Jun thought briefly. Telling core members about this matter was fine: "Just a blob of Demon King."
"Demon King?!" Norris instinctively shuddered.
Almost simultaneously, fragments sealed in memory's corners surged up—heard from wandering bards and drunk old adventurers when still pursued by debt.
Reportedly, humans once lived for generations in the central fertile plains.
Until the Demon King descended, commanding countless evil races and unleashing boundless slaughter.
Survivors were forced to abandon their homeland, fleeing to the southern barbaric jungles, struggling to continue in crevices between miasma and monsters.
Yet even so, the Demon King remained unsatisfied.
He desired to take the entire continent into his palm, enslave all races, making only the Empire exist across the whole continent.
Really so...
For some reason, when thinking this, the fungal mat spreading across the earth appeared in Norris's mind, along with various races in mycelial symbiosis upon it.
He vigorously shook his head, casting this abrupt association from his mind.
Though Boss always loved tormenting people, constantly scheming to spread fungal mat to every corner of the world, and secretly doing scalp-tingling experiments with criminals... Norris's heart still believed Boss was ultimately good.
At least... probably... couldn't be compared to the Demon King, that legendary evil existence, right?
Realizing that phantom just now was the Demon King, the slight favorable impression from "being recognized as human" instantly vanished like ice and snow.
No human didn't detest this Empire's creator.
If not for the Hero's appearance, current humans would probably have long since become vampire livestock, or worse.
The Demon King's name made Norris both fearful and worried. Ming's reaction was completely different—he felt nothing at all.
If Spark, Hunt, or Dome were present at this moment, they might fall into brief silence and sentiment.
Though these new generation members hadn't personally experienced the Demon King's rule, they'd heard that era's glory from elders reminiscing about the past.
Now with changed allegiances, actually becoming enemies with the legendary Demon King would inevitably bring complex emotions.
But Ming was different. He was pure mushroomkin with no feelings toward the Demon King. To him, the Demon King was just Boss's enemy—a powerful and detestable enemy!
As for Little Pig's reaction, that was quite interesting.
Upon first hearing "Demon King," her pupils sharply contracted, instinctive fear flashing across her face.
But immediately after, not knowing what she thought of, that trace of fear rapidly faded.
Her eyes instead lit with an almost scorching glow. The corners of her mouth uncontrollably lifted slightly, revealing irrepressible excitement.
Lin Jun didn't know what she was excited about, but at least it was better than simple fear.
The seal and staff matter could only remain as is for now.
However, Tidal Sanctuary's cleanup work wasn't yet finished.
They'd successfully occupied the gate and established defensive lines, killing all mist monsters successively entering the dungeon.
These mist monsters seemed brainless, not even understanding the principle of gathering numbers before attacking together.
Though occupying the gate, considerable numbers of mist monsters still wandered various places inside Tidal Sanctuary, requiring cleanup.
This wasn't just for the fishmen trade. Tidal Sanctuary itself held considerable value.
The underwater environment let Lin Jun use this as a base to develop a Puchi navy.
And the dungeon's inherent attached space similarly moved Lin Jun's heart.
If he could control this attached space, he needn't laboriously seek that unknown space within Empire territory—at least wouldn't need to rush there.
Additionally, Tidal Sanctuary's exit now was quite close to the mist's edge, which was why so many mist monsters appeared here.
For others, the mist was a calamity to avoid at all costs.
But since Lin Jun planned to save the world for himself, the mist was an unavoidable problem.
Rather than waiting on the continent for the mist to spread back and threaten his base—
Using Tidal Sanctuary as a frontline base position to thoroughly research the mist in advance was much better.
If someday the mist truly swallowed Tidal Sanctuary, Lin Jun could just retreat back—the loss wouldn't be too great.
With Lin Jun's order, Little Pig launched sweeping operations within Tidal Sanctuary.
On the other side, the delegation led by Inanna, after arduous travel, finally arrived at the Dwarven Mountain Kingdom's border.
However, the gazes the dwarves cast toward the delegation didn't seem very friendly at all.
(End of Chapter)
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