The Secret of the Darkness Gate

Before a massive stone gate adorned with ancient patterns stood six elven mages...

After they entered the Darkness Gate Portal, they finally tracked them down here through countless magical pathways.

This place is directly beneath the base of the Darkness Gate, and even these mages never imagined that there was an even larger underground complex beneath the massive Darkness Gate.

Judging from the surface decorations and reliefs of these buildings, the underground complex connected by the Darkness Gate was likely built by the Priest of the Goddess of Freedom Temple.

Once inside the underground complex, the reliefs depict various magnificent scenes of the Goddess of Freedom wielding the Sword of Light to conquer the Dark Land, as well as scenes of fierce battles between the Holy Expeditionary Force and the Dark Legion.

Of course, these murals failed to attract the attention of the mages. They followed a torrent of magical energy to the front of the stone door. This torrent of magical energy was hidden beneath countless intricate patterns. It took the mages quite a while to find the passage of this torrent of magical energy.

Now everything points to this massive stone door...

The archmages were fully prepared. The leading archmage glanced at the archmage standing in front and gave the order:

"Eroud, open the door!"

"Yes, teacher." The archmage standing at the front immediately replied.

As the mage drew two summoning circles in front of him with his staff, two Rock Golem slowly rose from the center of the circles. The huge Rock Golem were three meters tall, but when they stood in front of the stone gate, they were less than a third of the height of the stone gate.

Their sturdy bodies were covered with countless pale blue Magic Rune. The mage Eroud commanded the Rock Golem to push the stone door open with all their might.

The two Rock Golem crouched in front of the stone gate, their hands bracing against it. Blue Magic Rune spun rapidly around their bodies, and with a cracking sound, the massive stone gate finally broke open with the combined force of the two Rock Golem.

The gap wasn't very wide, but it was enough for the elven mages to pass through.

Archmage Eroud and another archmage slipped through the crack in the door first, and then Eroud's excited shouts came from inside:

"Found it, this is it!"

Upon hearing this, the four archmages outside the stone gate exchanged glances and eagerly stepped inside.

The scene inside the stone gate astonished them so much that they gaped in astonishment, but dared not take another step inside.

"Is this the source of all the power in the Darkness Gate?"

A mage pointed to the Magic Power Core suspended in mid-air in the stone chamber and exclaimed in surprise.

"That's right. I originally thought it would be a magic crystal mine to provide magic power for such a magnificent Darkness Gate. I didn't expect that a Fallen Angel would be imprisoned here. It turns out that this Fallen Angel has been providing the Darkness Gate with energy day and night to keep it running!" The oldest-looking archmage narrowed his eyes and looked at the Fallen Angel firmly planted on the ground with countless thorium chains at the center of the magic circle in the center of the hall.

As an angel, his body had been completely corrupted, his wings were tattered and broken, and he was in a state of extreme old age. Apart from the wing skeleton, his body was skin and bones. He hunched over and curled up on the rocky ground, and the sixteen cerium chains continued to draw power from the Fallen Angel and send it into the Magic Power Core that was suspended in mid-air.

Around this magic circle, there were also sixteen liches chained to the area, their bodies bound to sixteen giant stone tablets.

Each stone tablet was topped with a Holy Scepter, suggesting that the Magic Rune Array here belonging to the lich and the sixteen Magic Tower surrounding the Expeditionary Force camp had some specific connection.

"Who exactly was it that sealed away the Fallen Angel?" Archmage Eroud asked softly, standing before the massive stone gate.

The old archmage pondered for a moment before saying, "I reckon the only one who can seal the Fallen Angel is that Goddess of the Goddess of Freedom Temple."

This statement immediately caused the surrounding archmages to widen their eyes.

Archmage Eroud stared at the Fallen Angel at the center of the magic circle and muttered, "But... it seems its condition might not be very good right now."

The old magician couldn't help but nod, sighing, "Yes, it's old, and its Magic Power is nearly exhausted. I don't know how much longer it can last!"

"Once it dies, will the Darkness Gate stop functioning?" Archmage Eroud couldn't help but ask.

The old archmage shook his head slightly and sighed:

"The situation could get even worse. It's very likely that the Space Fissure at the Darkness Gate will continue to collapse... consequently affecting the Dark Land and the Elf Continent. It's possible that the two planes connected by the Darkness Gate will be swallowed by the void..."

One of the archmages was somewhat at a loss. "So how can we make up for this? Are we going to restore this Fallen Angel to its former glory?"

"Replace the source of mana!" the old archmage said decisively. "Complete the replacement of the Darkness Gate's source of mana before it dies, only in this way can the Darkness Gate Portal be preserved."

Upon hearing the old archmage's words, the other archmages were immediately plunged into a state of despair and negativity.

Archmage Eroud hurriedly asked, "Even if we find sixteen young liches, what about this Fallen Angel?"

The old archmage shook his head, saying nothing more. Instead, he turned to Eroud and asked, "Given the current situation, if you were in charge, how would you resolve it?"

After considering it seriously for a moment, Eroud replied somewhat guiltily, "If it were me, I would plan to build an auxiliary mana source here to replace these liches that are on the verge of extinction. As for the principle of the auxiliary mana source, I plan to refer to the working principle of the Magic Furnace."

The old archmage nodded slightly, indicating his approval of Archmage Eroud's decision.

"We have a way to provide auxiliary mana sources here, but how do we solve the mana source problem for the Dark Land?" the old archmage continued to test.

"You mean that for this Darkness Gate to function properly, it actually requires the source of magic to provide two kinds of power to the central structure of the magic array: one is magical power, which can stabilize the half of the Darkness Gate on the Elf Continent side, and the other is dark power, which is used to stabilize the half of the Dark Gate on the Darkness Gate Dark Land side!" Archmage Eroud explained softly.

The old archmage clapped his hands lightly and praised Eroud:

"That's how it is..."

Archmage Eroud continued, "Magic Crystal Stone can be converted into magical power, the source of mana. As long as there are enough Magic Crystal Stone, the Darkness Gate on the Elf Continent can be maintained. However, the Darkness Gate on the Dark Land may require a large amount of pure soul crystals to be converted into dark power, the source of mana. We can currently procure a large number of Magic Crystal Stone, but soul crystals are relatively rare in the magic market."

"Soul Crystals? Of course, we'll find a way here in the Dark Land..." a mage couldn't help but say.

The other mages chimed in, saying, "Then... we'll probably have to find a few liches, and that's probably the most troublesome thing! The Fallen Angel looks incredibly old and weak, but I know he won't die!"

"I've heard that liches can be found deep within the Dark Land, but it would be quite difficult for the six of us to capture one Dark Land!"

"..."

Inside the underground Magic Hub of the Darkness Gate, six elven mages stood before the massive stone gate and began to discuss their case.

They studied the Darkness Gate Portal for nearly two months and finally found the reason for Darkness Gate gradual collapse, thus gaining access to Darkness Gate interior.

The mages discovered that the source of Magic Power that powers all the Magic Rune Array of the Darkness Gate is now nearly depleted.

The mages investigated and discovered that the collapse of the Darkness Gate was not caused by their sealing array, but by the depletion of the Darkness Gate's own magical power. The Fallen Angel sealed within the magic array was too old, and his power was showing signs of exhaustion. The sixteen liches surrounding the magic array with him had all their Magic Power absorbed by the array, and now they appeared to be sixteen enormous skeletons.

How to replenish the Darkness Gate with new mana became the biggest problem troubling the six archmages.

Recently, the supplies at the Darkness Gate Expeditionary Force Camp have mostly been carried over from the Gorfito military headquarters by the Half-Elf Warrior of the Mine Guard Regiment.

The Silver Moon Elf had no intention of delivering those military and living supplies to the Expeditionary Force camp.

Every other week, Roy would bring a group of Half-Elf Warrior to the Goddess of Freedom Temple in Gorfito Canyon and take away a batch of supplies.

This time, he also led a large group of Half-Elf Warrior out of the Darkness Gate. These Half-Elf Warrior were surrounded by dense Darkness Qi, and more Darkness Qi kept escaping from the gaps in their Magic Armor. Each Half-Elf Warrior looked as if they were walking out of thick smoke.

Seeing how disheveled these Half-Elf Warrior were, the Silver Moon Elf Warrior they encountered along the way all made way for them...

Roy, however, greeted the captains of the Silver Moon Elf Warrior with a calm demeanor and then led the Half-Elf Warrior through the side corridor of the temple with an air of nonchalance.

Seeing some Silver Moon Elf Warrior practically pressing their bodies against the stone wall, holding their breath to wait for the Half-Elf Warrior to pass, Vitas couldn't help but whisper to Roy, "Boss, aren't we overacting a bit?"

Roy glanced at him, telling him to shut up.

Roy then led the group of Half-Elf Warrior out of the Goddess of Freedom Temple.

After leaving the canyon, they arrived at the lake outside the Gorfito Canyon, boarded the Magic Airship, and took out the Dark Magical Beasts materials they had brought with them, storing them in the cabin below the deck of the Magic Airship.

Viscount Philek followed Roy throughout the process, verifying the quantity of these Dark Magical Beasts. He even meticulously recorded the flaws on each Dark Magical Beasts material in his notebook.

These monster materials, purchased from the Wanderer Camp, were thus transported by Roy through the Darkness Gate to Gorfito Canyon.

They were then quickly sorted and sold by Viscount Philek, and unexpectedly, these Dark Magical Beasts materials were very popular in the magic market.

Currently, almost all dark magic materials are found in the magic market of Murayaki City, which has attracted a group of magic scholars who study Darkness-type magic to Murayaki City.

This group of magic scholars has always been able to conduct research on magical theory, as many magical experiments cannot be carried out due to a lack of dark magic materials...

Suddenly, a batch of dark magic materials appeared in Murayaki City. They were like a group of sharks that had smelled blood, quickly appearing in the Magic District of Murayaki City...

Viscount Philek discovered that the Priest of the Goddess of Freedom Temple in the Gorfito Canyon might be responsible for the scarcity of dark magic materials on the Elf Continent...

The Goddess of Freedom Temple has always guarded the Darkness Gate, and it is these Priest who have kept Darkness Gate sealed.

Dark Creatures cannot enter the Elf Continent through the Darkness Gate, and the elves are basically unable to enter the Dark Land to hunt Dark Creatures.

Therefore, there has always been a significant shortage of Dark Magical Beasts materials in the magic market.

It could even be said that some Dark Magical Beasts materials are simply nonexistent in the magic market of the Elf Continent.

The appearance of Dark Magical Beasts materials on the magic market immediately attracted the attention of mages, and Dark Magical Beasts materials were indeed very profitable...

During the trading of magical materials, for some unknown reason, the name ' Boss Roy ' suddenly spread throughout the Trading Company circles of Murayaki City.

Magic merchants have all heard that these dark magic materials belong to Boss Roy, but none of them have ever seen Boss Roy.

Viscount Philek spent a long time on the Magic Airship and became very familiar with the Half-Elf crew members, gradually learning about Roy's Mine Guard Regiment.

He discovered that the Mine Guard Regiment ' wealth actually came from the Pattington Plane.

Although the military supplies are currently provided by the Gorfito military headquarters, before this, the Mine Guard Regiment had to raise all its own supplies. What surprised him most was that the Mine Guard Regiment was actually rolling in money. Their Half-Elf Warrior wore the best Magic Armor, used Superior Quality Magic Weapons, and traveled in newly modified Magic Airship when they went out...

"Boss, this batch of goods has already been reserved by the Magic Guild of Murayaki City."

Viscount Philek joined the other Half-Elf Warrior in calling Boss Roy."

"Let them pay with Magic Crystal Stone, or you can exchange them with the Tree of Life Sap." Roy looked at all the Dark Magical Beasts materials stored in the warehouse before turning to Viscount Philek and giving him instructions.

"That's how we did the last batch of goods."

"That's what Viscount Philek said."

Roy nodded and walked out of the cargo hold with Viscount Philek...