The Innkeeper

Chapter 1566  Graveyard of Secrets

Kaemon hesitated, but eventually relented and got in the Lava Hot tub, letting out a deep groan as he did. Just because he was a Magma Lion did not mean that fire or lava would heal him. They would, at most, allow him to feel comfortable as he returned to his natural habitat.

Yet how could the lava in the Midnight Inns Hot tub be normal lava? Kaemon felt as if a million warm hands were massaging his body and releasing a soothing energy into his body, allowing it to heal itself better.

As an immortal, Kaemons' body's natural healing ability was phenomenal. But the locusts similarly had a very strong ravenous intent infused throughout their body, which would infect the body of their victims. Removing that intent from within his body wasn't exactly easy, for it needed to either be combated with an equally powerful intent, or slowly whittled out of his body.

An immortal without at least some kind of intent was practically impossible to find, and Kaemon too had a powerful intent. In fact, his Fire Intent was at the fourth level of transformation, which was already above average for the average Earth Immortal.

In comparison, Lex's Sword Intent was actually only at the third level. Admittedly, the lower level was because he usually focused on growing in other aspects, such as improving his physical strength as well as his Domination. Those two aspects of his were the strongest - besides his defense, of course.

Yet the reason why Lex's intent seemed more effective than Kaemon's was because Lex was much too used to fighting above his level. His insight into laws was surprisingly deep in aspects that other immortals lacked in - despite his short time within this realm.

Most importantly, his diverse skill set did not actually make him weaker. Instead, each new skill he learned and picked up supplemented his power as a whole, allowing him to achieve unexpected and unanticipated feats - such as using sword intent to target the soul, as well as Karma together.

Something like this could not be achieved by someone who focused solely on a single skill, for they would need mastery over multiple difficult fields.

In essence, despite having a stronger intent than Lex, the reason why Kaemon could not remove the ravenous intent filling his body was because his application of his intent was limited - though he couldn't be blamed for that.

By normal standards, he was already incredible enough for keeping the ravenous intent from sweeping through his body and devouring his soul!

The soothing lava from the Hot tub did not eliminate the foreign intent - at least, it didn't do so promptly. However, it had begun work on purifying his body, and included in that purification was all foreign intents!

"I missed the smell of fresh lava," Kaemon groaned with his eyes closed, all his fatigue and tension beginning to slip away.

"Yeah I have some fond memories with lava too," said Lex, recalling that one time he had accidentally fallen into a lava pool back in the Crystal realm when he was underground. He was nearly cooked alive back then, and only survived because of how durable Regal Embrace had made him. Good times.

For a few minutes, the two of them sat in silence, but even as Kaemon let go of some of his worries, he could never truly relax, so he quickly sobered up and began his story.

"We arrived in Abaddon just seven years ago, despite it feeling like centuries," he said, looking out into the distance, as if he could see his own arrival in these accursed lands play out in front of him.

"Back then, we arrived here with another force called Superstore in the Apocalypse. To be honest, they weren't all that strong, but the leader of the force was quite formidable. They managed to survive the longest of any of the reinforcements we got - though I'm getting carried away."

Lex didn't reveal his thoughts with his expression, but he couldn't help but think about the Superstore in the Apocalypse System - which is most certainly what it would have been called.

It was such an original and entirely entertaining idea. It wasn't like there were literally a bunch of videos about people surviving in superstores for a month or so on the internet with millions of views.

"We had our orders from day one, and they haven't changed yet. Back then, the Condottiere had stumbled upon this place personally, but couldn't stay because his presence attracted far more dangerous enemies. He shared what little he knew about this place before leaving.

"Apparently, Abaddon is a place that has existed for a very long time, but exactly how long it has existed, no one actually knows. He told us to collect as much information about this place and its history as we could, and that he'd try to ensure we always had some allies to help us along, but that we wouldn't be able to leave until the mission was complete.

"In the beginning, things were fine. Just like we are being attacked by locusts right now, we were being targeted by locusts back then. For a few months we managed to avoid getting slaughtered.

"Although the folks from the Superstore weren't great fighters, they had incredible tools and resources, and they kept us well fed. Morale was high. Then we encountered a locust king, and the owner of the Superstore couldn't quite survive that.

"Since then, true to his word, the Condottiere kept sending us reinforcements, although, for some reason, they were never more fighters. It seems like we were always meant to be the main fighting force, while the others would fall into some kind of supplementary role."

Lex silently wondered if all those 'reinforcements' that Kaemon had gotten had all unlocked their Joint quests through access to Primordial Energy too. It seemed unlikely, since Primordial energy shouldn't have been so common, and these people who could so easily be wiped out didn't seem strong enough to go look for it out in the universe.

"During this time, we learned a bit about Abaddon. We encountered ruins of civilizations that seemed eerily well preserved, though we couldn't understand why. As if that was not enough, all of those ruins seemed to have murals depicting critical events, cluing us in on the history of this place.

"It seems that the very existence of this place is to punish condemned souls, much like Hells are depicted in many faiths. But I think that… there's a lot more to it than that. I have no proof, but I think Abaddon's very existence relies on absorbing the energy from multiple souls."

"You think the locusts are like puppets controlled by this place?" Lex asked. "Like puppets with which Abaddon absorbs souls?"

Kaemon shook his head gravely.

"No, I think the locusts are more like parasites than anything else. Abaddon… Abaddon is far more terrifying than anything I care to imagine. A couple of times, we've seen the souls of the deceased get absorbed into this place before they disappear. I… I dare not even think about what I sensed in those times. All I can say is that… I was probably under some kind of illusion, because I could have sworn I felt auras containing Dao in some of the souls that were pulled in."

The lion trembled at the mere thought, but Lex only frowned.

"Don't take your senses too seriously," he said. "If you really sensed the Dao, even from a deceased soul, then you'd likely already be dead or overwhelmed by the contamination of that aura."

"Probably," Kaemon muttered, though he didn't sound convinced. "The mysteries of this place are far too many for me to tell. Many of them are because I'm simply unable to recall them. Each time we visit a set of ruins, we end up encountering a challenge. If we are unable to complete the challenge, everything we learn from the murals get erased from our memories over time.

"The problem is that we don't have the time or the energy to spare to complete an additional challenge, so to date, we have only completed a single challenge, and even that was by accident. But of the things we ended up learning, I don't think we can actually believe even a single one of them. They are much too fantastical to be true."

"What did you learn?"

"Too many fragmented things. Everyone knows that the Dawn Era has had three Ages, but one of the first things we learned is that there may have been an entire Age that the entire universe has completely forgotten about known as the Forgotten Age. Even evidence of that Age's existence was wiped out of the entire universe.

"You can see why I would hesitate in believing something like that. It is more likely a child's fable than reality, and yet it's enough to plant seeds of doubt. This place has too many secrets. One might even say that Abaddon is a graveyard for secrets, all of them buried and left to be entirely forgotten."