Sebagian dari Lex bertanya padanya mengapa ia bahkan mengambil begitu banyak barang terkait dengan pesawat ruang angkasa ketika tidak memang membutuhkan pesawat ruang angkasa tersebut. Apakah hanya karena tampak menarik?
Tidak, ia hanya sedang mempersiapkan diri untuk menghindari masalah di masa depan. Setelah semua, siapa tahu kapan ia akan membutuhkan pesawat ruang angkasa yang sangat keren itu.
Pernapasan sucha hanya lewat mimpi Lex yang masih berlanjut sambil menyusun barang creasi. Ia membutuhkan waktu lebih lama untuk menyelesaikan lantai ini dengan pesawat ruang angkasa, namun hanya karena mengumpulkan sumber energi dan pelestarian itu memakan waktu lebih lama daripada sekadar mengambilnya. Bahkan untuk mendekatinya memerlukan prosedur khusus, demikian agar tidak ditamputasi atau rusak.
Di sela-sela aktivitasnya, Lex terus diserang, tetapi ia mengabaikannya. Namun ada satu perbedaan pokok sekarang dibandingkan sebelumnya. Karena sifat sensitif dari barang yang ia kumpulkan, ia membuat penghalang di sekitar tubuhnya sehingga serangan tidak sampai pada sumber energi atau amunisi yang mudah meledak.
Dan mengingat fakta bahwa semua orang kini mengejar suatu manusia, ia juga memanfaatkan Tidak Terkenal untuk menyembunyikan identitasnya. Setidaknya, itu adalah harapannya. Dengan ber bagaimana pun, rasanya ia bisa sekadar menjadi suatu linci yang tidak dikenal lain dari berbagai suku yang menyerang gereja itu bersamaan.
Bagaimana pun, ide awalnya tampak berhasil. Tidak ada yang menyerangnya karena ia adalah manusia. Sebaliknya, kepekaan dari mereka yang menolak untuk menyerangnya membuatnya menjadi target utama.
Lex hampir membuat diri ragut gerakan taktiknya, namun memandangi kekagetannya yang menumpuk di musuh-musuhnya, Lex merasakan kepuasan yang halus. Ia sungguh harus mengakui, hasrat Geeves untuk menggagalkan musuh-musuhnya tidak buruk sekalipun.
Tetapi ada satu faktor yang sangat penting yang harus diingatnya. Untuk kembali ke Penginapan, ia membutuhkan waktu untuk teleportation, dan ia tidak boleh ganggu selama jangka waktu itu. Jika diserang, teleportation akan dibatalkan. Oleh karena itu, ia harus memiliki rencana kabur yang mencakup menjauh dari kerumunan cukup lama untuk melakukan teleportasi.
Setelah menyelesaikan sebagian besar pesawat ruang angkasa, Lex dengan sibuk naik ke lantai berikutnya. Ia tidak benar-benar bisa membawa sebagian besar sumber energi, karena ia menyadari betapa tidak amannya bila ditempatkan di dalam harta bentuk ruang.
Lantai berikutnya, menakutkan, tampak lebih seperti koleksi botol antik daripada gonungan seekor draga. Ratusan ribu botol berkaca, berjade, plastik, bahkan logam ditata rapi di ratusan bilangan counter. Namun, di antara kebiasaan lantai yang sebenarnya, kekerasan dan kekacauan pertarungan adalah yang paling lebat.
Satu penataan cepat mengungkapkan mengapa situasinya begitu berbeda.
Setiap botol itu mengandung obat. Jika hanya itu, mungkin Lex tidak akan memberi rasa istimewa pada lantai itu dan akan secara acak mengambil beberapa sari canda. Setidaknya, pengetahuan medisnya yang terbatas membuatnya tidak akan membedakan obat-obatan tersebut apa pun istimewanya.
Namun karena kekerasan pertarungan, banyak botol yang pecah dan melepaskan sari canda atau sirup dari kandangnya yang kedap udara. Instingtanya langsung teralih pada beberapa sari canda seolah dapat memberikan manfaat tak terbatas, meski hanya untuk beberapa detik singkat sebelum mereka rusak dalam kekacauan itu. Sebaliknya, ia terkesan menyendiri oleh beberapa yang lain, seolah-olah sangat berbahaya, bahkan untuk dirinya sendiri.
Sebenarnya, karena pertarungan dan pembusakan terus-menerus dari botol-obatan, semua bahan yang pecah menumpuk di lantai dan secara tidak terencana mencampurnya satu sama lain. Hal ini seharusnya tidak menjadi masalah di luarnya, selain fakta bahwa setiap obat itu sudah sangat jarang di seluruh galaksi, dan tidak mudah direplikasi tidak peduli seberapa kaya atau berkuasa seseorang.
Tetapi dalam contoh ini, alasan yang lebih pentu adalah karena semua sari canda, sirup, dan bahan yang pecah yang dicampur itu perlahan-lahan menyatu menjadi racun yang sangat membunuh.
Dengan harta di depan mata, dan timer penghitung mundur di dalam kepala yang mendorongnya, Lex melompat dengan penuh semangat, mengambil botol-botol dan rak-arkap secara acak, menaruhnya ke dalam drum penyimpannya.
Mungkin Charles bisa mengidentifikasi penggunaan sari canda itu. Meskipun terpengaruh kuat oleh beberapa sari canda, Lex tidak mencobanya langsung. Karena tubuhnya sudah mencapai batas yang Ia tauhi untuk saat ini, dan jika sari canda itu masih ditentangi oleh instingtanya, maka pasti luar biasa. Makanya, mengunrahkan makanan di saat ini hanya akan menjadi sia-sia.
Lex mengumpulkan banyak kekayaan sambil menarik banyak kebencian, seperti yang biasanya terjadi, ketika sesuatu yang baru akhirnya terjadi. Gerbang ke lantai berikutnya pecah dan perseriran abomiasi mengalir deras.
Lex akhirnya melihat salah satunya dan segera mengerti mengapa mereka disebut begitu. Dengan tubuh yang tidak masuk akal, makhluk-makhluk yang terbuat dari es itu menyerang siapa pun yang dekat dengan kekejaman mutlak.
Badan mereka terlihat seperti guluh putih main anak yang dibelah oleh anak-anak, sebagian besarnya. Mereka memiliki belukang yang keluar dari tempat yang tidak masuk akal dan tangan serta kaki yang tidak praktis.
Semua yang seharusnya membuat mereka lemah justru membuat mereka tidak. Tubuh dingin mereka menemukan sejukkan yang menyakitkan, bukan hanya membekukan tubuh, tetapi juga energi rohnya.
Itu hanya yang biasa saja di antara abomiasi. Beberapa di antara mereka tampak seolah-olah meniru Frigals, pengerik, atau binatang, bahkan bisa berubah bentuk sesuka hati atau kebutuhan.
Ancaman terbesarnya, namun, bukan dinginnya yang aneh atau kekuatannya yang tidak wajar, melainkan angka mereka. Ratusan ekor mereka mengalir deras dari gerbang, dan justru banyak yang mencoba memperbesar pembukaan itu dengan memecahkan gerbang sehingga lebih banyak yang dapat masuk.
Tentu saja, baik kekuatan mereka maupun dinginnya tidak memberikan efek signifikan pada Lex, sehingga ia awalnya merencanakan untuk membongkar mereka, tetapi rencananya berubah cepat. Perasaan menakutkan mengisi dirinya seketika dan ia perlahan mundur.
Makhluk ini tidak sederhana. Sebeneranya, mengingat bahwa mereka tidak pernah ada di planet tersebut sebelumnya, dan hanya muncul baru-baru ini, maka mungkin ada hubungannya dengan makhluk aneh yang membunuh seekor draga itu.
Setelah memikirkan hal itu, Lex langsung memutuskan untuk mengakhiri sesi creasinya yang manis itu. Setiap saat ia menikmatinya, namun tidak memang butuh apa pun dari harta itu, dan lebih baik untuk tahu kapan sebaiknya menahan amarah satu penghabisan.
Tapi situasinya terus memburuk. Suara ledakan penghancuran yang menjawabkan menghantamkan bangunan, diiringi getaran getaran bumi yang menakjubkan. Lex tidak tahu situasi di luar, namun terlihat sudah cepat memburuk.
Ia butuh waktu untuk kembali ke suatu tempat di mana tidak diserang lagi sehingga dapat teleportation. Sayangnya, semua orang lain juga mempunyai ide yang sama untuk mundur dari perseriran abomiasi yang mendatang, sehingga terbentuklah tata panas yang menumpuk di terowongan.
Dan itu belum cukup. Lex merasakan beberapa indra spiritual yang kuat menyalut area tersebut. Earth Immortal yang baru saja berteriak tadi sudah hadir, dan Ia tidak sendirian!
"Astaghfirullah," bisik Lex perlahan dan menyeret diri di mana pun menghampirinya, tidak peduli siapa
A part of Lex wondered why he was even bothering to steal so many spaceship related things when he had no real need for spaceships at all. Was it just because they looked so cool?
No, he was just preparing in advance to avoid issues in the future. After all, who knew when he would need a very cool looking spaceship?
Such justifications were going through Lex's mind as he continued his looting. He was spending longer on the level with the spaceship, but that was only because harvesting the energy sources and ammunition took longer than just grabbing it. Even reaching it required going through special procedures, lest they become tainted or compromised in some way.
During this time, Lex was continuously attacked, which he was ignoring. But there was one fundamental difference now compared to before. Due to the sensitive nature of what he was harvesting, he would create a barrier around himself so the attacks would not accidentally hit the energy sources or volatile ammunition instead.
Oh, and considering the fact that everyone was now hunting for a human, he also used Notorious Anonymity to hide his identity. After all, with various races attacking the castle altogether, he could easily just be some other race that was not well known. Or at least that was the hope.
For what it was worth, his idea seemed to work. No one was targeting him because he was a human. Instead, his complete disregard for any attack targeting him made him the biggest target.
Lex almost considered reevaluating his tactics, but watching the frustration build up in his attackers, Lex felt a subtle sense of satisfaction. He really had to give it up to Geeves. His idea to frustrate his enemies was not bad at all.
But there was one very important factor he had to keep in mind. To return to the Inn, he needed some time to teleport, and he could not be disturbed during that time frame. If he were attacked, his teleportation would be canceled. As such, he needed to have an escape plan in mind, which included getting away from the crowd long enough to teleport away.
Once he had been through most of the ships, Lex reluctantly went up to the next floor. He was unable to actually take away most of the energy sources, as he recognized them to be too unstable to handle the environment inside a spatial treasure.
The next floor, unbelievably, looked more like an antique bottle collection than a dragon's hoard. Hundreds of thousands of glass, jade, plastic, or even metallic bottles were lined up in countless counters. But it was this mundane, unusual even, floor in which the fighting was most brutal and chaotic. A single moment to study the situation revealed why the situation was so different.
Each of those bottles contained medicine. If that were all, perhaps Lex would not have paid any extra attention and would have randomly grabbed some of the pills. After all, his medical knowledge was fairly limited, so he would not know if they were anything special.
But due to the intensity of the fighting, many bottles broke and freed the pills or syrups from their airtight containers. Lex's instincts were immediately attracted to some of the pills as if they could provide endless benefits, though only for the few brief moments before they were destroyed in the chaos. At the same time, it was strongly repulsed by others, as if they were extremely hazardous, even to him.
In fact, due to the fighting and the constant destruction of medicinal bottles, all the ingredients were falling onto the floor and mixing with one another haphazardly. This should not have mattered much beyond the fact that each of these medicines was rare beyond measure in any galaxy, and could not be easily replicated regardless of wealth and power.
But in this instance, the more important reason it mattered was because all the broken pills and syrups and ingredients were mixing and slowly combining to form a very lethal poison.
With treasures in front of him, and a countdown timer in his mind motivating him, Lex burst forward at his full speed, grabbing bottles and entire shelves randomly and putting them in his drum.
Perhaps Charles would be able to identify what these pills were used for. Despite feeling greatly attracted to various pills, Lex did not try eating any at the moment. He had already cultivated as much as his body could tolerate for now, and if these pills were still being targeted by his instincts then they were absolutely phenomenal, and eating them now would only be a waste.
Lex was gathering a lot of loot while also attracting a lot of hate, as seemed the norm by now, when something new finally happened. The entrance to the next floor burst open and an army of abominations came pouring in.
Lex finally laid eyes on one and immediately understood why they were being called as such. With bodies that made no sense, these creatures made of ice attacked anyone near with absolute savagery.
The creatures' bodies looked like blobs of play dough mushed together by children, for the most part. They had tentacles coming out of odd places and hands and legs in inconvenient locations.
All of this should have made them weak, but they were anything but. Their freezing bodies emitted a piercing chill that not only froze the body, but it froze spiritual energy as well.
Those were just the common rabble among the abominations. Some of them seemed to perfectly imitate other Frigals, dwarves or beasts, and could even change shape as they wished or needed.
The greatest threat of all, however, was not their unusual chill or their odd strength, but it was their numbers. Hundreds of them were pouring in from the door, and in fact many of them were trying to enlarge the opening by breaking the door apart so more of them could come in.
Of course, neither their strength nor their chill had any significant effect on Lex, so he originally planned to break through them, but his plans quickly changed. A sense of foreboding filled him all of a sudden and he retreated quickly.
These creatures were not simple at all. In fact, considering the fact that they did not previously exist on the planet, and only appeared recently, they may have something to do with the odd creature that killed the dragon.
Once he had that thought, Lex immediately decided to end his little looting session. As much as he enjoyed it, he was not in dire need of any of it, and it was best to know when to reign in one's greed.
But the situation kept getting worse. The sounds of devastating explosions rocked the castle, accompanied by earth shattering tremors. Lex could not know the situation outside, but it seemed to be deteriorating quickly.
He needed to retreat to somewhere he was no longer under attack so he could teleport out. Unfortunately, everyone else also had thoughts of retreating from the approaching army, so a stampede formed, crowding the tunnels.
As if that was not enough, Lex felt a few incredibly strong spirit senses sweep the area. The Earth immortal who had shouted earlier had arrived, and he was not alone!
"Crap," Lex muttered under his breath and pushed through the crowd, no longer bothering about who blocked his way. The repercussions of trying to be extremely efficient were revealing themselves now, as many of those who had attacked him previously without much success now tried to slow him down - whether it was out of pettiness or simply because Lex just frustrated them too much, he would never find out.
That is because the next moment Lex's instincts suddenly screamed danger, and unable to do much else, he wrapped himself in endless layers of barriers. Something ripped through the ceiling above him and went smashing through the crowd, digging in deeper through the castle floors.
Lex had not been directly under whatever tore through the ceiling, but even still all his barriers broke and he was thrown away to the side. At least he remained unhurt, but the same could not be said for the crowd that had been running with him.
Feeling somewhat shell-shocked, Lex looked up through the hole in the castle. The sky outside was no longer dark as countless ships could be seen flying in the air, bombarding not just the castle but anyone near it.
"What the hell!" Lex exclaimed. It was a literal war zone outside, much more so than even when he came. Without hesitation, Lex jumped into the hole in front of him. No sane person would follow him, and he could the time he needed to teleport away. Unfortunately for him, the icy abominations were not sane by any measure, and they were more than just a few of them.
Pretty soon, an army of abominations could be seen jumping down the hole following Lex.
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