Chương 159: Chapter 155: The Channelworks

The path after descended in a long, steady curve. At first, it looked natural. The stone was uneven beneath our boots, damp in places, with narrow cracks filled with minerals. The air rising from below still smelled faintly of the underground lake, but the farther we walked, the more that changed. It soon became similar to iron. I kept Spriggan's Will in hand. Then natural stone gave way to cut blocks fitted together with precision.

A channel similar to the ones in the city appeared on the right wall, no wider than my palm, carved in a line that ran downward beside us. But this time it wasn't empty. The liquid inside moved slowly, sliding through the groove. And soon we realized it was the source of the irony smell. Blood.

"Channels," Cyrus said quietly. Everyone stopped. The groove continued along the wall, then split into three thinner lines before disappearing into the floor. More channels appeared a few steps later, crossing beneath our boots. Some were empty, while some carried the same dark red liquid.

"Same style as the city," Alysanna said. Alice crouched beside one of the grooves without touching it.

"Yeah, but these are active." The tunnel widened after another hundred meters, and the channels multiplied. They ran through the walls in parallel lines, braided together around pillars, then dipped beneath the floor and rose again at a later point. Stone sluices sat open beside us, their gates still, and wheel-shaped mechanisms protruded from alcoves, most of them cracked or corroded. Several bridges passed over deeper cuts in the floor where the blood flowed in thicker streams.

The notification appeared when the passage opened into the first true chamber. You have discovered: The Channelworks The chamber beyond was enormous, though not as grand as Camazotz's roost or as open as the lake cavern. Channels covered the floor in geometric patterns, all sloping toward a central trench. On either side of the room stood raised walkways connected by stone bridges. Several pillars held up the ceiling, and each pillar had channels spiraling around it like carved vines.

And I saw figures in the distance. At first, they looked like workers. Small, hunched forms moved between the channels, carrying jars, bowls, and stone basins. They were goblins, or what had once been goblins, their bodies dried out and hollowed. Their movements were repetitive. One lifted a cracked jar from the floor, walked six steps, poured nothing into a channel, then returned to the same place and did it again.

Another dragged a bundle of bones from one side of the chamber to the other, only to lay it down beside a groove, then bring it back to the starting position. They felt like bugged NPCs, and there were dozens of them. Hollowed Carrier Level 27 Hollowed Carrier Level 27 Hollowed Attendant Level 28"They don't aggro," Denxy said.

"Don't touch anything," Alice said.

"Cyrus?" The mage was already studying the chamber.

"The far gate is sealed. The channels all feed toward that trench, but the flow is weak. There are three larger sluices feeding the central line: left, right, and far-center." I looked where he indicated. He was right. Three thicker channels ran from different parts of the chamber into the central trench, each controlled by a stone gate shaped like a set of jaws. The jaws were half-open, letting blood trickle through. Above each sluice was a circular mechanism with carved marks around the rim.

"Puzzle?" Alysanna asked.

"Almost certainly," Cyrus said.

"Can we just break them?" Verdugo asked. Scale gave him a look.

"That is always your first question."

"If I keep asking, amigo," he said, "it will become the answer one day."

"Do we attack them?" Redcap asked. Alice lifted one hand.

"We shouldn't. At least until we understand what we're dealing with." Unfortunately, the dungeon didn't wait for us to be ready. A Hollowed Carrier near the central trench stopped moving. Its head turned toward us, neck cracking. Then another stopped. And another. Around the chamber, dozens of dead workers froze in the middle of their tasks. The channels pulsed.

"That settles it," I said. The goblins that had looked barely functional a moment earlier broke into a run, jars and basins clutched to their chests. However, they soon changed direction, sprinting toward the active channels.

"Intercept!" Alice shouted.

"Don't let them pour anything in!" Scale and Mano Roja moved first, crossing the left walkway in a blur. Adaptive cut off two carriers on the right side, while Redcap lowered his spear and braced near the nearest channel. I drew and fired, hitting a carrier in the shoulder just before it reached the groove in front of it. The arrow spun it around, and Alysanna's follow-up took it in the head. It collapsed on dry stone. Denxy slammed his shield into a carrier, knocking it away from the blood line.

Rafael followed with a clean strike that finished it before it could crawl back. Cyrus and Leona burned four more near the center with narrow, controlled Flame Lances, avoiding the channels entirely. Then Diego killed one too close to the right-hand stream. The carrier fell with one arm hanging over the carved groove. Its body broke apart before it hit the floor, not dissolving into light like a normal monster but collapsing into black-red ash that poured into the channel. The entire chamber pulsed.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Deep Wound Saturation: 1 The blood channels have been fed. All Hollowed enemies in the Channelworks gain 5% increased damage. At 5 stacks, the Deep Wound will answer. Diego went pale.

"Sorry!"

"Noted!" Alice shouted.

"Pull them away before finishing! Everyone, away from channels!" The enemies changed immediately. The Hollowed Attendants lifted their heads, and unlike the Carriers, they had weapons: curved knives, bone hooks, and long ritual needles that glistened with dark liquid. They moved toward us in a coordinated line, not repeating tasks anymore.

"Attendants are combatants!" I called.

"Carriers feed the channels!"

"Priority on Carriers," Alice said.

"Tanks catch Attendants, DPS burn Carriers before they reach a channel!" The raid adjusted fast. Denxy took the first line of Attendants with Grand Bulwark. Rafael stood beside him, shield angled to cover Desirae and Carmen. Corral moved to the right walkway, blocking a narrow bridge while Redcap stabbed past his shoulder at anything trying to slip around. I stayed mobile, using the higher walkway to keep sightlines across the chamber. The layout was annoying.

The channels weren't just hazards; they divided the room into lanes. A bad knockback could push enemies into them. A wide attack could kill three Carriers in the wrong place. Even corpses mattered. Camazotz's words echoed in my mind. I tore the dead king open, and the wound drank the blood. I broke the priests, and the wound drank the fear. I crushed the altar, and the wound rooted deeper into the channels beneath it. It was not a metaphor down here.

A group of four Carriers broke from the left side, each one holding a jar that actually contained something this time. The liquid inside shone with a dull red light.

"Left side, four Carriers with jars!" I called. Alysanna and I fired almost together. Two dropped before reaching the channel. Scale intercepted the third with a dagger to the knee and dragged it backward before finishing it. The fourth slipped past him, jar raised.

"Got it!" Mano Roja shouted. He appeared behind it and cut the jar from its hands before kicking the Carrier away from the groove. The jar shattered on dry stone, spilling blood. Then a Hollowed Attendant plunged its needle into one of the fallen Carriers and dragged the body toward the channel.

"Oh, come on," Talion said. Somnus reacted faster than anyone. His shadow stretched across the floor, catching the Attendant's arm and pinning it in place. Verdugo crossed the center with a sweeping axe strike that removed the Attendant from the equation, then planted one boot on the corpse before it could slide into the groove.

"Not yours," he growled at the channel. The channel did not respond.

"That worked?" Scale asked.

"Of course it worked," Verdugo said.

"Even blood fears me."

"You could say that," Cyrus replied with a smile. The second stack came from the far side. A Carrier reached a channel none of us had line of sight on and threw itself in headfirst. Deep Wound Saturation: 2 All Hollowed enemies in the Channelworks gain 10% increased damage. The liquid in the grooves moved more quickly now, no longer a reluctant pulse but a steady crawl. The Carriers reacted to it, too.

Some abandoned their old routes and turned toward the three main sluices, as if the fed channels had given them new instructions. Cyrus's jaw tightened.

"It's accelerating."

"Can we reset it?" Alice asked.

"Maybe by closing the sluices," he said.

"Scale, Mano, inspect the left mechanism. Adaptive, cover them. Orion, Alysanna, keep Carriers off that side. Everyone else, hold center." The raid split within the chamber. This was where Godsrealm's raid design showed its teeth. The enemies weren't individually terrifying after Camazotz, but the room itself punished sloppy play. We had to control bodies, positioning, and death locations while trying to understand an old machine under pressure. Damage alone wasn't enough.

In fact, too much damage in the wrong place made things worse. I liked it.

"Left mechanism has three locks," Scale reported.

"Obsidian pins, maybe? I can't interact with them, though." A Hollowed Attendant climbed onto the walkway behind Scale, moving with sudden speed. I caught it halfway up with Silk Shot, the filament latching onto its shoulder. Instead of pulling myself toward it, I braced and yanked sideways. The Attendant lost its grip and fell onto the stone below, where Adaptive drove a blade through its back.

I fired again, dropping a Carrier at the edge of the left walkway, then Quick Stepped away as another jar shattered at my feet. The spilled blood hissed across the stone, crawling toward the nearest groove like it had a mind of its own.

"Spilled blood moves now!" I shouted. Leona raised one hand.

"Incinerate." The blood dried up fast, evaporating into thin air.

"Fire can burn it," I said. The third stack came from a mistake that wasn't really a mistake. Desirae was healing Denxy when three Attendants pushed him back toward a channel. He held his ground at first, but the 10% damage increase was already noticeable, and one of the needles slipped around his shield, stabbing into his thigh. His health dropped faster than expected. Rafael stepped in to relieve pressure, Shield Wall flaring in front of them.

Leona cast a wind burst to knock the Attendants away, and it worked a little too well. One Attendant flew backward, hit a Carrier we hadn't noticed, and both tumbled into a side groove. Deep Wound Saturation: 3 All Hollowed enemies in the Channelworks gain 15% increased damage. Blood channels flow faster. Additional Hollowed Carriers awakened. Leona cursed.

"That was my fault."

"It was the room's fault," Alice said immediately.

"No uncontrolled knockbacks near channels." The far walls opened. Small alcoves that had been hidden between stone seams widened, and more Hollowed Carriers crawled out, each one carrying a jar or bundle of bones. The chamber's background noise grew louder, the steady movement of blood becoming a wet, rhythmic sound beneath the fight.

"We can't let it reach five," Cyrus said.

"You think?" Talion replied. I saw the next Carrier wave forming near the far-center sluice. Six of them this time, moving together.

"Far-center, six Carriers!"

"I can slow them," Alysanna said, sending a Burning Arrow into the cluster. Cyrus followed with a controlled ring of fire behind them, cutting off their path to the channel without burning them directly.

"Don't kill until they're clear!" Denxy shoved forward, driving the Attendants back with enough force to buy space. Alice took advantage, cutting through two of them with precise strikes that sent their bodies falling, away from the grooves. Scale yelled from the left.

"I found a switch! I can try the lock!"

"Do it," Alice called. He pressed a button, and every Carrier in the room turned toward him.

"Of course," Scale said. Then he turned back toward the mechanism.

"I have to keep it pushed down!" The left side became chaos. Carriers that had been heading for channels changed direction, darting toward the mechanism instead. Attendants followed, weapons raised. Adaptive intercepted the first two, but there were too many. Mano Roja cut one down, and I dropped another with Piercing Shot before it reached the walkway.

"Left side needs support!" I shouted.

"Verdugo!" Alice called.

"With pleasure." The Berserker broke from the center and charged across the nearest bridge, axe dragging sparks from the stone. He hit the first cluster like a door being kicked open, knocking Carriers away from the mechanism without sending them into the channels. A Hollowed Attendant leaped onto the mechanism platform, needle raised. Somnus caught it with a shadow bind from across the chamber, but the bind broke almost immediately. I was already moving.

Quick Step carried me to the edge of the upper walkway, and the freshly off-cooldown Silk Shot latched onto the stone ring above Scale's head. I pulled myself across the gap, landing hard beside him. The Attendant came down. I kicked Scale aside and caught the needle on the Threadweaver, the impact jarring my arms. The Attendant's face was inches from mine, its hollow mouth opening and closing. Alysanna's arrow took it in the side of the skull. I didn't waste the opening.

"Fan of Arrows!" At point-blank range, the cone blasted the Attendant backward, where Verdugo finished it with an axe strike.

"Push!" Cyrus shouted. Scale scrambled back to the mechanism and slammed his palm onto the button again. The left sluice snapped shut soon after. The blood in the left channel slowed to a crawl, then stopped. The carved groove did not empty, but the liquid inside darkened into a dull crust. The Carriers nearby faltered, their movements stuttering as if one part of their instructions had been cut away. Left Sluice sealed. Deep Wound Saturation reduced by 1.

Current Saturation: 2 A cheer almost went up, but Alice killed it before it could begin.

"Good. Two more." The chamber answered by opening more alcoves on the right side, sending more Carriers and Attendants our way. And this time, something larger crawled out behind them.