Chapter 187 The Path to the Core

If it weren't for the little sprite leading the way, Hao Ren felt he could wander around in the crystal pillar layer for a hundred years and still not find the entrance to the deeper levels.

Because this entrance wasn't even on the physical plane!

Under the guidance of the sprite, the group arrived in the depths of the crystal jungle, where there was a lake that had been transformed into solidified crystal. Before the force of madness had invaded this place, it had been the most vibrant habitat in the crystal jungle, with countless wonderful creatures and active energy gathered here. But now, the lake had turned into a solid block of crystal as if frozen, and on the open space on the shore, only the remains of creatures that had turned into incomplete crystal fragments could be seen.

On the frozen lake surface, as smooth as a mirror, a beam of light shone from the distant crystal pillars and reflected on the lake surface, shooting diagonally towards the sky.

That was the path to the Earth's core.

"Just follow this road up!" the little sprite said, gesticulating on the holographic projection, her face filled with pride. "You have to go up to reach the very bottom of the Earth's core – aren't the sprites super creative?"

Hao Ren and his companions were dumbfounded: This was beyond creativity! How could this be possible?

Hao Ren didn't know what others were thinking, but he immediately thought of the joke about the drunkard climbing up the beam of a flashlight – but here, driven by the incredible power of the sprites, the joke had become reality.

The path to the Earth's core really was a beam of light, and you could really climb up along the light...

"Are you sure that climbing up this thing won't make us fall off?" Lily was chosen as the first to try. She stood where the beam of light reflected on the lake surface, looking suspiciously at the light column that sloped upwards and disappeared into the dome of the Earth's crust. "It feels like climbing up this thing would be really stupid."

"Is this the time for you to worry about that?" Vivian glanced at Lily. "Just climb up, we'll cheer you on from below – anyway, with your physical fitness, it won't matter much if you fall halfway down."

"But you can fly! Why don't you go first?" Lily glared at Vivian with her hands on her hips, then pouted. "Fine, I promised anyway, I'll go up first – but you're not allowed to mess around, no one's allowed to block the light!"

In fact, according to the sprites, this beam of light was just a marker. Even if the light column disappeared, the hidden passage would still be there. But it seemed that Lily hadn't been listening carefully during the explanation...

With a look of righteousness and nervousness on her face, Lily stepped onto the bright beam of light that shot diagonally into the sky.

Then she stood firmly on the surface of the light beam.

"It… It actually works!" The nervousness on the husky girl's face almost instantly turned into excitement and curiosity. "And it's tilted so much, but I don't feel anything! This is so interesting! Landlord, landlord, I'm going up to check things out~~"

Leaving these words behind, the husky girl, who had been reluctant just a moment ago, ran up the light column like a horse that had broken free of its reins, disappearing hundreds of meters away in the blink of an eye. Hao Ren, who was behind her, jumped up and down in anger, "Hey, wait… Dammit, she really lives up to her name as a runaway…"

The group followed the excited husky girl and embarked on the "secret path" to the sanctuary. After walking along the beam of light for a while, Hao Ren discovered that this path was indeed, as the sprites had said, a "miracle road" that was detached from the normal structure of space and time.

Because when he looked down, he could no longer see the jungle: Even though, in terms of physical space, they had only moved forward a thousand meters.

Strange and bizarre scenes began to appear around the light column. Light and shadows, like auroras or rivers, flowed and floated in the void on both sides, and some of the light even solidified into images of palaces and buildings, disappearing after a very short time.

As they continued to move forward, these scenes gradually disappeared. Hao Ren felt that the whole journey had only lasted for less than ten minutes. The things around him had changed from illusory and uncertain light and shadows back into reality: Thick rock layers and huge crystalline prisms appeared around them. At first, they were just broken fragments floating in the air, but further ahead, they became a stable whole: The team was passing through a spherical shell formed of stone and crystal.

"Wow—"

Lily, who was walking at the front of the group, suddenly exclaimed in surprise. Hao Ren quickly followed her, and his vision suddenly opened up.

The road had reached its end. The team passed through the god-made spherical shell that covered the outside of the Earth's core. Inside the shell was a very open space. Because Amantir was a planet created by the Creator Goddess, this "Earth's core" was not as hot and high-pressure as the core of a natural planet. On the contrary, there was a large space and a suitable temperature here, and in the center of the vast spherical space, a "small planet" that looked even a little cute was quietly suspended.

It was a crystal ball with a diameter of only a few thousand meters – but calling it a crystal ball was not quite accurate, because it had obviously not been carefully processed and polished. Rock and crystal were still mixed together, more like a rough sphere made of stones and crystals intertwined with each other.

This was the "original crystal" that the sprites spoke of, a semi-finished product generated during the Creator Goddess's creation of resonance crystals (or node crystals).

Although it was a semi-finished product, this thing clearly had a huge effect. Hao Ren saw countless slightly flashing lines on the surface of the small planet. They were runes and magic arrays that covered the entire sphere. These facilities left behind by the goddess herself were operating, projecting large areas of constantly moving, combining, and deforming geometric figures around the miniature planet. At a glance, it was dazzling, but it seemed to contain the ultimate laws and mysteries.

"Those symbols…" Elizabeth's eyes gradually lit up with research interest, "Could it be the knowledge of the gods…"

"It's Candy Crush," the little sprite in the holographic projection answered crisply.

Hao Ren and Elizabeth: "...Huh?"

"It's Candy Crush," the little sprite said matter-of-factly. "The Creator Goddess was very bored when she built the planet, so she added a Candy Crush game to the magic array when she was engraving the Earth's core magic array – do you want to play? It's super fun! The sprites usually have nothing to do…"

"No, that's enough," Hao Ren covered his forehead with one hand and stopped the little sprite from continuing with the other. "Let's just leave it at that. Saying any more will have a devastating impact on the team's morale."

Little Sprite: "?"

"In any case, let's go down first," Vivian also twitched at the corner of her mouth, but managed to control her expression. "I see a lot of little specks of light gathering over there. Are those your compatriots coming to greet you?"

"Ah, ah, sprites, sprites!" The little sprite immediately shouted happily, urging the data terminal to fly over quickly while shouting. "Fly, fly, I want to show the other sprites my new mount~~"

"You're the mount, your whole family are mounts!" The data terminal was immediately furious. "I'm high-tech, do you understand high-tech!"

As they spoke, the group had already flown to the airspace above the surface of the miniature planet. Even at such a close distance, Hao Ren could clearly see that the "land" under his feet was very curved, and a large group of sprites had gathered on the surface of the "Earth's core" inlaid with crystals and runes.

"Outsiders! They're outsiders!"

"The sprite brought back a group of outsiders! The sprites are very nervous!"

"Are these the energy reactions that were detected earlier?"

"The sprite sent back a message earlier saying that they weren't bad people…"

"What happened on the surface? A lot of runes have been heating up since just now…"

"These outsiders look so strange, that one over there looks several meters long."

Hao Ren even felt a sense of familiarity from the chattering noise: Sure enough, this was the familiar atmosphere… Being with sprites was always like this.

Vivian looked around at the large group of little ones that had gathered around and gently nudged Hao Ren's arm. "Sure enough, all the sprites have that characteristic."

She was referring to the tuft of black and red hair on the top of the sprites' heads: All the sprites gathered here had the exact same tuft of hair. It seemed to be the only characteristic that the power of the Lord of Madness had left on these wonderful creatures.

At this time, the sprites around them also noticed the state of their companion, who was floating above the data terminal in the form of a holographic projection, and they curiously surrounded her, asking her why she had become like this.

"The sprite is temporarily living in this iron lump!" The little sprite (to make it easier to distinguish, Hao Ren decided to temporarily call her Sprite Number One) said proudly, hugging her chest. "These people are here to deal with those monsters, and they also plan to blow up this corrupted planet warship, but before they blow it up, they want to take all the sprites away – the way to take them away is to let the sprites stay in this iron lump temporarily!"

The data terminal sighed faintly. "This is the worst I've ever been portrayed."

"Are they reliable, are they reliable?" "Is there a lot of space in the iron lump? Can you really fit all the sprites in there?" "What's it like living inside?" "Do you want to play a game of Candy Crush?" "What's the world like on the surface now?"

Sprite Number One patiently answered the questions raised by her compatriots one by one. It seemed that the sprites who were chosen to be scouts and carry out missions on the surface were indeed different from ordinary sprites. Although they didn't seem very smart, they had much more patience and observation skills than ordinary sprites. She was able to clearly explain her experiences in the upper regions.

However, just before she was about to happily go play a game of Candy Crush, Hao Ren couldn't help but speak up, "We have limited time, let's discuss how to solve this mission first."

The sprites immediately clamored, "Oh, right, you want to get the Amantir Crystal, right?" "The Amantir Crystal is connected to the Nightmare Nest!" "I already told them that." "So to get the Amantir Crystal, you have to deal with the big monster in the Nightmare Nest first!" "Otherwise, you'll be discovered in an instant, and then you'll be drowned by the monsters that come out of the ground!"

"I want to know if you have any suggestions," Hao Ren looked with little hope at the sprites gathered at his feet, who were looking up at him curiously with their big eyes. "We already know the general information about the Nightmare Nest from your companion, and we know that there are many monsters inside, and there's an exceptionally powerful guy dreaming inside. We want to know if there's any way to take the Amantir Crystal without alarming these monsters."

"Without alarming them? That's probably not possible," a sprite who looked slightly more stable (really, only slightly more stable) came out. "The Amantir Crystal has already become the energy source for the Nightmare Nest, and there are many deeper connections. It's impossible to take it away silently."

"You seem to know a lot about this?" Hao Ren looked at this little one with some surprise. "You are…"

"She's an expert among the sprites!" A little one shouted while jumping up and down. "She knows the most! Especially about the Amantir Crystal and the control center, there's nothing she doesn't know!"

"I used to be an assistant sprite in the control center, responsible for monitoring the state of the Amantir Crystal and inputting data into the central computer," the slightly stable sprite said, puffing out her chest and speaking in a soft voice. "My crystal is still in the control center, and it hasn't been destroyed by those monsters – because my crystal is directly connected to the Amantir Crystal, those monsters don't dare to touch it casually. Through resonance, I can feel that the connection between the Nightmare Nest and the Amantir Crystal is very close, and the birth of every monster in the nest is related to the Amantir Crystal. Although I don't know why the sacred object left by the goddess has become the 'material' for those monsters to create their companions, it's certain that something in the Nightmare Nest is drawing energy from the Amantir Crystal."

Hearing these words, Hao Ren and Vivian exchanged glances, while Izhaks next to them stroked his chin thoughtfully. "It seems that things still have to fall on that Nightmare Nest… We're bound to have to take a trip there."

Vivian frowned and shook her head. "But there's too little information. We lack an understanding of the number and strength of the monsters in the Nightmare Nest. It's unwise to rashly break into such a place with so little information."

Hao Ren also nodded. "What if there's another Lockmarton in there? The situation would be very tricky."

Lockmarton could be said to be the most difficult enemy Hao Ren's team had ever faced. Although the monster was eventually completely destroyed by Hao Ren's series of arrangements, and the final showdown even achieved a one-hit kill, that was achieved with the joint efforts of more than a dozen inspectors and the home field advantage of the surface world. At that time, it was Hao Ren's home field, and Lockmarton was surrounded, but the situation here was exactly the opposite: This was the nest of the force of madness.

If they were careless, Hao Ren and his companions would be the ones surrounded and ganged up on.

"There's no need to worry about Lockmarton-level enemies appearing here, because the combat power of one Lockmarton is completely comparable to that of a planet warship that doesn't activate its doomsday weapons. If there really was such a trump card among the corrupted monsters, they would have used it to fight the Guardian Legion head-on," the data terminal said after a simple analysis, shaking its body. "The fact that the monster is still staying in the Nightmare Nest and honestly responsible for spawning troops shows its limitations. That is, its ability is limited to producing soldiers – its direct combat ability shouldn't be too strong."

Nangong Sanba spread his hands. "Even if it's not strong, it's not a weakling. Summoners are the most disgusting to fight."

"Are you going to the Nightmare Nest to find that big monster?" At this time, a very cheerful voice suddenly sounded among the sprites. "I think… If you're really a little stronger than the Guardian Giants, then maybe it's possible."

Hao Ren looked at this newly emerged little one with some surprise. "Hmm? What do you know?"

"I'm responsible for monitoring and researching the Nightmare Nest!" The little sprite said like popping beans. "Although we can't directly see the big monster in the Nightmare Nest, we can still sense some of its activities. In order to continuously create new soldiers, the monster must always be in a dream state. There aren't many guards around it either. We guess that's because guards in a conscious state would affect the effect of the nightmare, so the big monster's body in the real world is easily destroyed – as long as you can touch it."

Vivian frowned. "Won't it wake up?"

"Yes, but as long as you don't directly stimulate the Amantir Crystal, the big monster will wake up very, very slowly! In order to ensure the efficiency of creating monsters, the dreamer is very, very deep in the dream. Its main perception of the outside world is relayed by the Amantir Crystal above and the temple network – in other words, the monster doesn't have much defense against attacks from below."

A sprite next to her shouted, "Because Salamander's Guardian Legion hasn't attacked Amantir's mainland in so many years!" "So those monsters never thought they would be attacked in their lair!" "They never thought that there was anything to be wary of in Amantir's underground…"

"How much time do we have?" Nangong Sanba asked from the side.

"About thirty minutes from the time the Nightmare Nest senses the attack, we've calculated it – it's just that the sprites don't have the ability to launch an attack, so we just calculated it…"

Hao Ren stroked his chin. "If that monster really doesn't have the ability to counterattack in the real world, and we have half an hour to act, then it's very feasible, but we must be able to break through the barrier of the Nightmare Nest and directly reach the dreaming monster in a short time, otherwise half an hour may not be enough for us to break through the defense outside."

At this time, a timid voice suddenly sounded from among the sprites: "If… If it's this problem, there should be a way."

Hao Ren lowered his head and tried to find the little one who was speaking from among a group of sprites. A short-haired sprite with a small stature came into his view.

"I… I used to be responsible for monitoring the crystal pillar layer and the stability of the Earth's crust," the little sprite said nervously. "I… I've been monitoring the geological and spatial changes near the area where the Nightmare Nest is located since I hid here. I found that the Nightmare Nest has solidified into the Earth's crust, and it and a large area around it are supported by… by three crystal pillars. The geological structure of that part is very fragile due to the equatorial rift. If…"

At this moment, Hao Ren had a flash of inspiration and directly took over the little guy's stuttering words: "If we blow up those crystal pillars…"