Chapter 78 - The Cultists (Patreon)

Valkorion didn't really know about that, and he had serious doubts about the safety of the bridge, but nevertheless, they needed to cross into that pyramid because in that pyramid or whatever that structure was, their target was within there.

Seeing there was no other option, he followed after them through the half-crumbling bride who was in terrible shape as he tried not to look down, not like he saw there was something aside from the ever-present all-consuming darkness that was everywhere. 

He looked down but didn't notice anything aside from the darkness. He was also pretty curious about how deep this went because he knew that the Lower Izalith was located somewhere in the depths of the underground complex.

"The place where you are looking right now is the Lower Izalith, which is located approximately three kilometers under the Upper Izalith. In the core, around five kilometers under the ground, is the heart of the Izalith, where the strongest Undead are residing, and the Sequence 2 Undeads are located."

The Izalith was deep under the ground, very deep, and the heart of the city was around five kilometers from their current position.

One could even think that this was some sort of the Underground Kingdom of the Dwarves because everything at the end here was carved by the dwarves, even though the Chaosflame Covenant mainly consisted of humans. 

Mainly, there were still many members from the different species. Soon enough, they crossed the ridiculously long bridge and stood in front of the doors to the pyramid where the vault was located.

"The footsteps... so the Cult of the Damned is indeed here."

When they came to the front entrance of the pyramid, they were greeted with the open doors that were just barely closed and tons of footsteps around the entire place. It seemed that the Cult of the Damned was here before them, which certainly wasn't a good sign for anything, but all of them were already mentally prepared.

"We should hurry."

Mellisandre stated that as they entered the pyramid, contrary to the previous places where they had been when they were traversing through the Undead Asylum Catacombs, all torches were lit up, and everything was illuminated.

Aside from everything being covered by the cobwebs, Valkorion noted that this place was in much better condition. At least nothing seemed to be falling apart, or it could be due to the presence of the cultists from the Cult of the Damned, who took care of this place as they were trying to open the vault.

It wasn't something that they could do in a few days, but that was more than evident, so it was highly possible that they were creating some sort of provisional base in this pyramid.

Valkorion even suspected that they could be going to expand their reach from this pyramid to the other places around the Upper Level of the Izalith, and slowly, they would be taking control of the entire Undead Asylum Catacombs.

Indeed, if they managed to get their hands on the Undead Asylum Catacombs and control all of the Undead in this place, then it would elevate their power and threat level to the Apocalyptic level.

However, he suspected that even if they were not going with this strategy and just wanted to use this place as their headquarters, it would still be very dangerous. From what Mellisandre told them about the Izalith and the Firelink Shrine, when the Chaosflame Covenant was building this place, they were building it with the defenses in mind.

According to her, it was one of the most problematic places actually to breach; its defenses were very strong, and everything was designed for easy defense. In the end, even the end of the Chaosflame Convent came within, not from the outside.

Just crossing these bridges that were connecting the outer areas of the Firelink Shrine with the Upper Level of the Izalith would be a nightmare for any invading army.

These bridges were very narrow, and there were nowhere to hide from the defenses that could just snipe their enemies from a safe distance and protected environment in the pyramid-like megastructures that were spanning several kilometers to the depths in the ground.

"We need to be careful; it is highly possible that soon enough, we will be engaging them in combat. The Cult of the Damned should have sent a lot of people into this endeavor at this time, and they also have a large number of non-Beyonders among their members. Most of their close combatants, such as Cult Assassins, Cult Warriors, and so on, are non-Beyonders, but they are specifically trained in how to deal with and kill Beyonders."

Many Beoynders could be actually killed by the non-Beyonders rather easily, especially the Low Sequence Beyonders and the Cult of the Damned, which apparently had an army of trained Assassins and Warriors who were trained to kill Beyonders.

"Just let them come, and they will meet my axes."

The dwarven Slayer boasted as usual, not hiding his eagerness for the combat, as Valkorion suddenly stopped in his tracks as he proceeded to enter one of the pathways that led to the staircase to the deeper levels of the pyramid as right now, there were only in the entrance and there was not really here.

"It seems that your wish will come true very soon, master dwarf."

Valkorion said gravely as he drew out his sword and prepared for the combat, while Mellisandre grimaced visibly and Gotrik grinned from ear to ear. Everyone hid as they planned to ambush whoever came from the pathway because it was clear that the Cult of the Damned had some of its members patrolling this area.

Soon enough, several figures appeared from the pathway where Valkorion and company originally planned to enter. There were five of them, each wearing rather simple-looking leather armor, but it was very well made and clearly made from some sturdy materials.

All of them had everything on their bodies covered; there wasn't even a single bit of skin being shown, as the black clothes covered everything. All three of them noticed that there was only one Beyonder among them, one that was at Sequence 7, most probably; the rest of the patrol team were non-Beyonders.

But nobody dared to underestimate them because Low Sequence Beyonders were actually not really that different in the physical aspect from ordinary humans. Only from the Mid Sequence Beyonder, the differences start widening drastically, and the chances of the non-Beoynder killing Beyonder in single combat drop to almost zero.

Valkorion looked at the sole Beyonder in the team, noticing that the man had some sort of Necrotic Energy in his body because Excalibur was vibrating in his hand as if the sword was disgusted by the very presence of the Necrotic Energy.

He locked eyes with the Gotrik as they counted to three at the same time, and when they counted down to zero, both of them attacked from their hiding space.

Valkorion aimed directly at the leader of the patrol, as he was the sole Beyonder in the group, stabbing the man in his back with Excalibur while the Holy Properties of the Sealed Artifact did the rest of the job.