Seeing that the players didn't have any more questions, Lekraxc asked again:
"Now then. Are you willing to free me from this prison?"
"We will do our best."
A prompt appeared in front of the players and Liam quickly accepted it. A new quest was issued.
[
[Step one: Find the location of at least one key!]
[Step two: Bring one of the missing keys to Lekraxc!]
OR
[Step two: Destroy the two missing keys!]
Reading through the quest Quickstep furrowed her brows. She realized something, asking Liam and Lekraxc:
"How do we leave this place now? Do we have more underwater breathing scrolls?"
Liam remained silent looking at Lekraxc. The troll shaman had already prepared a solution:
"I can cast some weaker spells. The cultists will propagandize it as a godly sign and will immediately enter prayer. It will make it easier for you to sneak around. You can even enter the temple if you want to. Just watch out for the high priestess."
"That works?"
"Are those cultists so pretentious?"
The players showed some surprise. If the cultists' purpose was to siphon of the shaman's power, why would they pretend to treat him like a god? Perhaps not all of them knew of the real purpose.
Liam remained indifferent expecting the troll's answer. He looked around and noticed that everyone was ready to go. He nodded towards Lekraxc as a signal for the shaman to being.
The old creature slowly closed his eyes. For a moment an intense, overwhelming power erupted from his body. Even without being targeted the players felt as if a brutal storm was about to engulf them.
Immediately countless patterns lit up on the five chains wrapping around the shaman's body. The magic was instantly suppressed, only allowing a little bit to leak. But this was already enough to fill the entire cave with magic circles.
The players marvelled at the beautiful and mysterious sight while the magic circles attracted the mana in the mountain. Their rate of absorption was slow. It took about a minute for a change to happen.
Suddenly dark clouds gathered in the air above the island. High Priestess Efroahnol, still bound within the temple by Scholar Fang's spell, seemed to feel something and looked up with a frown.
"What is the old man doing? Now is not the time... Damn!"
The beautiful elf murmured with gritted teeth. However, in order to keep her subordinates in check she could only make a declaration which echoed through all the islands:
"Our god has shown their might! Believers of the jailed god! Prove your devotion!"
Cultists everywhere dropped all their tasks. They rushed towards the closest altars, kneeling down in prayer.
Back inside the mountain Liam waited for half a minute before telling his friends that it was time to go. They left the cave, coming back to the hall in which they fought Jeddid.
Instead of going back the way they came from they approached the large tunnel at the other side of the room.
It was a winding tunnel, spacious and well illuminated. The group hurried up a bit and rushed down the empty tunnel. After a short while they reached a large gate and pushed it open.
Immediately a humid atmosphere welcomed them accompanied by the sound of pouring rain.
"What? When did it start to rain?", asked Braag with surprise.
"Ew, why are we so fated with water today? I don't want to get soaked again..."
Liam could only shrug upon hearing Fortune's complaint.
"Sorry guys, but that's the troll's promised distraction. Now no cultists will attack us on the way to the ship."
"The ship? That's so far away... Why don't we try stealing the key from the temple? Shouldn't the priestess still be in binds from the scholar's spell?"
"No.", rejected Liam without hesitation. "The key can only be taken away if the priestess is dead. But even with the scholar's help she's too strong for us right now. Don't forget that she is borrowing power from the troll shaman."
Fortune scrunched her face letting out a sigh. She looked at the pouring rain with a reluctant expression. With every heavy drop of water which hit the ground, dirt splashed around. Fortune would've loved to avoid that.
Seeing her like this Liam pondered for a moment and decided to offer her a way out:
"Do you see the smaller building slightly below the temple?"
"Sure. What of it?"
"That's where the island's teleporter is located. You can use it to get back to Foggy Waves City. Let's meet there before we finish the scholar's quest."
Instantly everyone perked up. Fortune smiled gladly, patting Liam's shoulder.
"You actually have a conscience. Not bad. Then I will do as you said."
Fortune didn't delay, afraid that Liam might change his mind. She ran out into the rain. The exit was at the back of the temple. Fortune stuck close to the buildings and hurried towards the teleporter.
"Well, women aren't made for heavy rain! Let's go Edelweiss we will take the teleporter as well."
"Eh? Okay..."
Quickstep didn't ask for Liam's opinion. She grabbed Edelweiss by the arm and chased after Fortune. The three men remained behind, appearing stupefied. Just then Braag coughed awkwardly.
"Everyone knows dwarves live below the ground. We aren't well adjusted to rain either. Let's take the teleporter. See you in the city!"
"Exactly. What Braag says!"
With that, the two dwarves ran as fast as their legs carried them, soon passing a corner and disappearing from Liam's view.
Liam stood within the tunnel, blinking his eyes in disbelief. Did this really just happen?! Liam gritted his teeth. He would love to chase after the others, perhaps give them a good thrashing, but someone had to finish the scholar's quest.
Just you wait...
Liam braced himself for the inevitable. Coming up with all kinds of sinister plans for revenge to distract himself he took the first step outside. Immediately a bucket of water was emptied above his head. His hair was soaked in seconds. Water even streamed below his armor, creating an extremely uncomfortable sensation.
Liam gritted his teeth and endured. He fell into a light jog and went down the mountain. His boots were brown from the mud in no time at all and even his pants weren't spared.
The only saving grace was that the cultists had indeed left for prayer. The path towards the harbour was without obstacles.
When Liam was close to the ship, he was dripping wet and exhausted from the run. Scholar Feng's voice reached him over the drumming of the rain:
"Adventurers, hurry up! I can't hold back the priestess much longer!"
Liam rolled his eyes. He glanced at the scholar, noticing how the faint protective energy surrounding his body held off the rain. Annoyed the veteran went up the plank and boarded the ship, almost slipping on the wet wood.
"Hurry! We need to leave! The priestess is too powerful... eh, adventurer, where are your friends?"
Liam rigidly turned his head towards the scholar. He pressed a few words through gritted teeth:
"Let's just set sail!"
"Well, sure..."
Scholar Feng gestured towards the captain. The man was relieved and began to bellow orders. Soon the ship left the island.
The sea was rough, affected by the weather. High waves threw the ship left and right. Liam sat on the floor holding tightly onto the railing. It took a few minutes until the ship left the stormy area.
The weather calmed down gradually. The sailors all revealed relieved expressions. Liam took a deep breath embracing the sunshine. He didn't ask C to dry his clothes for him. Instead, he took everything off, switching to a pair of light trousers and enjoyed the peaceful scenery.
Liam got comfortable, browsing through the global chat. As always, most discussions were about some guilds having slain a world boss or having broken the speed record of some dungeon.
Right now, the competition around dungeons was rather quiet. It would take some time until the next dungeon would be accessible to the players.
Many were confused why there was no dungeon at level 50. Liam could answer them, but why would he do so?
Just as Liam was scrolling through the chat, a sudden announcement drew everyone's attention.
[Server Announcement:]
[Please congratulate Galaxy on reaching guild rank 2.]
[Galaxy thanks Colville City Military...]
Immediately discussions were rife. It didn't take long for people to compare Galaxy with Dream Avenue, questioning which guild was superior. After all, despite Dream Avenue having reached rank 2 before them, Galaxy did advance further in the tournament.
But Liam wasn't too concerned. Dream Avenue's territory war was right around the corner. As long as Galaxy didn't manage to snatch Dream Avenue's targeted territory from right before their eyes, they would take another large step forward and leave the other guilds behind.
On the other hand, Liam was more curious about how the other guilds were doing. Had Graveyard of Heroes already advanced to rank 2? How far away were Force of Nature, Nest of Flames, or Infinito?