Chương 699: Where the King Looks

[Beacon Challenge 6 has been updated!] Luke ignored the notification. For a few seconds, nothing mattered but the city. Kataleya rose before him. Even in ruins, there was grandeur in every broken tower, every shattered arch, every transparent structure that looked as if it had been made from glass or crystal. Moonlight caught on those surfaces and spilled through the empty streets in cold, bluish reflections that almost seemed alive.

In the distance, at the highest point, a colossal structure dominated the skyline. A castle.

"That is Kataleya, the Sunken King's home city in your event region," Cadmus said.

"What do you think of it?"

"It's pretty... spectacular." Luke watched the reflections crawl across the buildings.

"It looks lit up. Still active."

"The crystals catch the glow of light and scatter it, creating this display." Cadmus paused briefly.

"But to be honest, some of its mana structures are still functioning. They feed on the mana in the atmosphere. So yes, the city is still active, even with everyone who lived here dead." Luke did not answer right away. There was too much beauty here for a tomb.

"You know this world well," he said at last.

"You're an excellent guide. I wouldn't have made it here without your help."

"Thank you, Luke Moon. I hope that... when this is all over, you still think that." Luke looked away from the city and narrowed his eyes.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing. The ramblings of a conflicted life-form. Ignore me. Anyway, I have absolutely no idea where your Beacon is from here. You'll have to figure it out and walk through the city. Just don't destroy anything."

"So the robot GPS only got us to the Beacon's general area?" Artemis said.

"You used to be better, man."

"Believe me, if I could track the Beacon's exact location, I would. I wouldn't make you wander through this city for no reason."

"It's not the end of the world," Luke said.

"I got a Challenge update." Before he could open the notification, the creature carrying him started thrashing. The closer they got to the city, the rougher the water became around them. The beast tried to swim forward, but its body kept being dragged backward.

"The current's strong," Luke said, bracing himself.

"It's pulling us in."

"I recommend not letting the current take you, Luke Moon."

"Great advice." The fish tried to push ahead, but the current was brutal. It swam, strained its body, whipped its tail, and still lost ground. The roar of the water grew louder, constant and heavy.

"Damn it." The creature leaped out of the water and glided for an instant, but the move only made everything worse. When it crashed back down, it hit the current wrong and was yanked even harder.

"Luke, control the damn horse!" Artemis shouted.

"I shouldn't have jumped. It hit the current wrong." Then Luke saw it. Up ahead, the water simply ended. A massive drop opened at the edge of the city, an absurd waterfall plunging into the darkness below. Mist rose like smoke, and the roar of the current swallowed every other sound.

"Change of plans." The beast came apart. The next instant, Luke was dragged by the water. The force was too much even for him.

"That's the Abyssal Zone!" A tentacle burst from the water and grabbed him. The beast took the form of a kraken, its limbs stretching against the current with monstrous strength. Even against the brutal flow, it managed to swim upstream, dragging Luke away from the drop until it hurled him onto solid ground at the edge of the city.

"That scared the hell out of me," Artemis said. Luke stayed on one knee for a moment, water running from his clothes, then looked into the distance. The edge of the city vanished into a gigantic cliff.

"That part of the city drops straight into the abyss."

"Correct, Luke Moon," Cadmus replied.

"Like the Phase 5 location, the city sits on the border of the Abyssal Zone. But part of this edge broke away, creating a kind of gigantic waterfall. If you had been swimming there, or riding in a boat, you would have gone over." It was like a monstrous version of Niagara Falls, if someone had built it on the edge of hell.

"I'm not in the mood to swim in those waters again."

"Fun fact: this edge is even more dangerous than the one in the Phase 5 city, because the current pulls everything straight into the Abyssal Zone." Luke stared at the illuminated city and the abyss just beyond it.

"And why would a king build a city in a place like this?"

"Hmm..." Cadmus seemed to think.

"Perhaps to make a point. A symbol of sovereignty. After all, if the kingdom's highest authority makes his home in the worst possible place, that sends a message."

"That's stupid," Artemis said.

"Yeah," Luke agreed.

"I'd have a house somewhere safe and protected. Screw sovereignty." Cadmus let out a laugh.

"Perhaps it is. But look on the bright side. If there were ever a rebellion, few people would come after him here." Luke looked back over Kataleya. The city seemed dead and alive at the same time.

"I've been in a kingdom's capital before. This place makes me nostalgic... and cautious."

"Really, Luke Moon?"

"In the end, I had to fight the king because he didn't want to let me leave."

"You seem to have lived a very exciting life... or a very unlucky one, knowing you."

"Really lean into unlucky," Artemis muttered. Stolen novel; please report. Luke finally opened the notification. Phase 6 Challenge You have reached the area where your Beacon is located. Well done! Your mission is to search the city and gather clues to find your Beacon. (Hint: What does the King watch?) Luke closed the message with a sigh.

"Well, that complicates things. I thought I'd get here, spot the Beacon shooting light into the sky, and walk into the dungeon."

"Ghost city time?" Artemis asked.

"Looks like it." He walked toward the gates. At Kataleya's entrance stood an enormous monument. On its pedestal, an inscription remained intact, carved with precision into pale stone.

"Visitors, behold Kataleya. Here blooms the city that shall never be forgotten." Luke read the words and lifted his eyes to the empty streets. There were no residents running through them, no voices echoing, no children playing, no merchants calling out their wares, no curious faces peering from behind windows. Only silence.

"What was the point of this beautiful city," Luke murmured, staring at a bust of a humanoid creature with the face of a shark, "if there was no one left to remember it?" He continued through the streets. Kataleya was empty, but it was not simple. Its ruins blended something like Greek and Mayan architecture, with columns, broad staircases, and geometric shapes engraved into the walls. Yet everything had details of translucent crystal, as if its people had built the city to speak with light.

Luke knew where he needed to go. The palace was the obvious point. Even so, he did not activate his cloak to leap between buildings. Maybe it was because he did not want to risk destroying anything. Maybe it was respect. Or maybe places like this simply demanded to be crossed on foot. When he reached the castle, he climbed the stairs slowly, studying the towers scattered across the city. Many still rose above the houses and avenues, pointed at the sky like spears.

Luke guessed that, in the past, maybe they had weapons on top to defend Kataleya.

"I just need to figure out what the king watches," he said.

"Maybe he watches the city."

"Maybe go inside the palace before solving the riddle, man."

"Last time, you complained that I pulled the answer to the Vaelor temple door riddle out of my ass. I'm showing my work."

"Of course you pulled that answer out of your ass. You just pulled the solution out of nowhere. It's what writers call 'plot convenience.'""If I'm right, I need to reach the area where the king stayed and look in the direction of whatever was in front of him. Like the throne. What the king sees might be the starting point for finding my Beacon." Luke pointed behind him, toward the city.

"And I'm already giving you the possible solution: look from the palace door toward the city."

"Sure..."

"Don't call it plot convenience later." He approached the castle doors and opened them.

"Theme music is about to start," Artemis said.

"Get ready for a fight."

"Stop talking nonsense." The palace hall was wide and cold. Crystals decorated the columns, walls, and arches. The ceiling, made from some transparent material, caught the moonlight and spread it across the floor in silver bands. The ornaments were stone, but almost all of them had crystalline details, some subtle, others so flashy they seemed like the whole point of the piece.

"The true symbol of wealth in this society was crystals," Cadmus commented.

"I noticed." Luke walked through the corridors. The metal ornaments were strange, though beautiful, with curves that suggested waves and sea creatures. Long rugs still covered some passages, probably preserved by magic.

"This rug is soft."

"Are you going to take it?" Cadmus asked. Luke looked down the silent corridor.

"Everything here looks valuable. It definitely has historical value. But it feels disrespectful." He ran a hand along the cold wall, where light flowed through the crystal like water.

"Let this city stay like this. Untouched. Whatever happened to the people who lived here, this place deserves that much." The side doors were locked. Each one had a bipyramid-shaped crystal set above it.

"The door is pretty strong. Even with force, it won't open." Luke activated [Witch's Gaze]. The structure before him changed. The crystal was not just decoration. It was a magical artifact. He could see something like veins of mana running down from it and connecting to the door, locking it from the inside.

"Some kind of lock."

"The explosion method would solve this," Artemis said.

"Maybe."

"Destroying the door does seem like the most direct solution," Cadmus added. Luke touched the crystal.

"What are you doing, Luke Moon?"

"It's similar to what I did to take control of my scarf. This is a kind of mana lock. I just need to tune my mana to the same pattern. Basically, I'm hacking it." Cadmus burst out laughing.

"Luke Moon, there is no way you can open a magical seal built by a society whose magic was far more advanced than yours. It would be like guessing a combination tens of thousands of digits long."

"Got it."

"What?!" The door unlocked with a soft sound, and Luke stepped into the new corridor.

"Impressive," Cadmus said, genuinely stunned.

"How? How did you do that? That should not have been possible."

"The guy's basically Tony Stark with mana, Cadmus," Artemis said. Luke did not explain everything. The answer was a combination of his own understanding, [Witch's Gaze], and [Eye of Sariel]. He could see the flow, understand the logic, and adjust his own mana until he found the right fit. It was not simple, but it was not impossible either. Not for him.

"I'm guessing the people here didn't have to walk around touching crystals," Luke said.

"It was probably automatic, reacting to their mana." Each door demanded a decent amount of mana, but Luke kept exploring the palace. He passed through empty halls, narrow corridors, and areas where the furniture remained almost intact. In one of them, he found crystal busts lined against the wall. Their faces differed from one another, humanoid, but with the traits of sea beasts: eyes too large, fins, elongated jaws, scales carved with precision. At last, he reached the place that seemed most important.

A huge room, sealed behind a door far more imposing than all the others. Above it, the crystal was much larger.

"The crystal on this door is huge." Luke touched the surface. Mana was ripped out of him like water down a waterfall. Within seconds, his mana hit zero. And the door remained closed. He took a deep breath and stared at the crystal. So. New problem. Luke waited for his mana to replenish a little, tried turning into shadow and searching for some gap, but there was none. The door was smooth, solid, perfectly sealed. No way around it. Either I blow the whole thing up, or I keep dumping mana into it.

Blowing it up would work. Probably. But it would also destroy part of the castle, and if that room held the clue the system wanted him to find, damaging the place might be a terrible idea. It'll take a while for my mana to refill. And this crystal... I have a feeling it's going to need a lot more mana than I have. I'll have to recharge a few times. Luke calculated the time. There was still the Beacon deadline. There was still the journey back to the citadel.

At least now he knew how to cut through some of the ocean's more difficult sections, and he would not need to swim against the force of the waves. The return trip would be faster. Even so, he might not make it before Stage 2 ended. If my Beacon challenge lasts a week like some of the others, there's no way I'll make it back to the citadel in time. He sat down in front of the door and began to meditate. For three days, Luke repeated the process.

He filled his mana reserve, poured it all into the door's lock, and started over. Sometimes he left the palace to explore the city while meditating elsewhere. He sat near dry fountains, in empty plazas, beneath towers, or before statues of creatures no one remembered anymore. Kataleya kept shining around him, too beautiful to be dead, too silent to feel alive. Near the end, Luke felt that only a little remained. The lock was close to giving way. Still, he did not try to open it immediately.

He waited until his mana had fully recovered.

"Finally," Artemis said. Luke stood, touched the crystal, and poured in the small amount of mana still missing. The stone doors trembled. Then they began to open.

"Luke Moon," Cadmus said, his voice suddenly quiet.

"There's something I need to tell you." Before Luke could answer, an earthquake shook the entire palace. The floor vibrated under his feet, the walls groaned, and the tremor seemed to spread beyond the castle, reaching the whole city.

"What the hell?"