The Dawn of the New World Chapter 1539

Hao Xuan's somber expression could not possibly relate how terrible of a feeling he was getting from this.

"I'm listening, tell me everything," his voice lowered to a whisper.

Ryuk began walking around the area pointing at every other spot as he gave details.

"Down here, and here and here and everywhere. So many of them! Long pointy hairballs in small rooms. Oh, many tunnels too! Everywhere! And...."

Hao Xuan listened for what felt like an eternity but no matter how hard he tried to connect them to one of the countless beasts from his memories nothing concrete came up.

'Maybe I just never came across them in any of the other lives, it is entirely possible.'

He had no choice but to extrapolate the results from other species living in a similar environment.

'His depictions are far too vague. I would need to see for myself to be sure but going by the complex tunnel system he mentioned it should be a mostly subterranean species, which could explain why there have been no sightings in any recent records.'

'It is a swarm of thousands if not more, with the smallest creature coming in at over 3 meters but realistically it would be much larger while moving around. They seem to be in deep hibernation so the hairball form he saw might just be what they look like while asleep with their guards up. Their true appearance when fully active could be worlds apart.'

'Like every other subterranean species there outa be a few traits they should have in common. Long and sharp appendages or teeth for digging, strong hides and muscles for moving through the sand and putting up with the heat. They should have sensory organs that can detect other lifeforms from quite a distance so, to some degree, they outa be aware of our presence already.'

'The most obvious and logical explanation is that they simply do not consider us a big enough threat to warrant cutting their hibernation short, which is a big problem since it could mean we are like ants to them. On top of that swarms usually imply that individual fighting power is weak but seeing as this is the abyss, that could be completely wrong.'

Hao Xuan sighed wearily and hauled himself back under the shadow of the grey cloud Viltgar had left behind.

'All I know for sure is that this is a terrible idea and I have no way of telling what could transpire since nothing of the sort happened in the past. The city never damaged its core so it had no reason to stick around and start digging in the middle of nowhere hoping to find another one. This is an entirely new event that came to be as a result of my meddling.'

But there was little else he could do about this at the moment so Hao Xuan had to pass the time some other way. His first choice was to venture behind the veil once again but that would leave his physical body exposed- a risk he did not want to take anymore given the recent discoveries.

He was also too physically drained to train anything so that only left one thing- going over the books that were stored within the pendant.

The first one came from Lord Jyothi himself, containing his vast knowledge related to the various fields of smithing.

'I wanted to first meet the blacksmith of the city to ask for resources from him and maybe learn a thing or two in person while comparing it to Lord Jyothi's teachings but, since I've discovered that strange land within the Umbral Planes with the ability to create things out of thought, I think it might be a good idea to start now and practice a little in there.'

The second book was a hand-me-down from Lord Yami's teacher who had also traversed the abyss at one time or another.

'But maybe this will give me some much-needed answers,' Hao Xuan thought while opening the second book.

As he began to delve past the first few pages, minutes turned into hours within the blink of an eye.

Before he realized it the time to depart was upon them. Sameet's voice carried over from the flag array to gather them to the carriage.

Hao Xuan carried the slumbering Che Yun and made his way over, passing by several other slaves who were in much worse condition than him.

A hint of a wicked smile tugged at the corner of Sumeet's mouth when he saw Hao Xuan come around the corner but he could do nothing more thanks to the watchful eye of the oxen tribe members.

The return trip felt much shorter and soon they were walking up through the city gates. The humidity and the clamoring of the surging crowds even woke Che Yun from his deep slumber.

"Where am I- THE WORM!" he suddenly yelled and jumped out of Hao Xuan's arms, silencing the nearby crowd.

Hearing that, the already temperamental crowd began its swift descent into madness.

"A worm?!"

"It found us?!?"

"We're all dead..."

"LET US OUT! I DON'T WANA DIE HERE!"

But Rufgar's blaring voice killed off any chance of a riot before things got too out of hand.

"SILENCE!"