The Innkeeper

Chapter 2369: Anywhere but here

As Lex approached the edge of the retribution zone, he’d already burnt off about 40% of his own soul attached to the necklace. This was an injury that could not be casually recovered from, but that was something to look at later.

For now, Lex focused 100% of his attention on his escape. As he closed in on the exit to the zone, he did not lower his guard. In fact, owing to the unusual nature in which the retribution land was behaving, he wouldn’t be surprised if there was some kind of trap waiting for him at the end.

Beyond the edge, he could see Pelagor waiting silently, ready to help as soon as Lex exited. The reason he didn’t enter as well was because with two people inside, the land would become even more dangerous. Just because there was very little distance left to cover did not mean it could be underestimated.

In Lex’s mind, he imagined a Go board where he was black, and the Gilded Hollow was white. Instead of winning by trapping him, the hollow was literally converting his pieces into its own - a clear violation of the rules, but that was besides the point.

In the split second it took him to reach the edge, Lex visualized countless different strategies, and tried to anticipate what could go wrong. The key seemed to be the retribution land’s inaction the first time he went. He theorized that it wasn’t that the land hadn’t acted the first time, but that it was somehow preparing for his return journey, infecting him silently without alerting him.

Since it broke the rules once, who said it couldn’t do so again? Lex laid out a few various plans, and ran a risk-benefit analysis and reached the conclusion that if the damage to his soul approached 50%, then he’d just risk teleporting out.

Lex thought of countless scenarios, so when he successfully crossed the end of the zone without facing any kind of obstruction at all, he did not feel relieved. Instead, he felt even more concerned.

Without hesitation, Lex put his hand on Pelagor and tried to teleport the both of them away, only to discover that he couldn’t. The virus had not stopped affecting him, and besides infecting him with the aura of Pentagal, it was restricting him to this separated realm as well! It was anchoring him to this place so that he’d never be able to leave!

"What-" Pelagor began to ask, realizing that Lex looked much more alarmed than he had anticipated, but he didn’t have the time. Lex pulled him along as he ran like mad towards the exit.

Using his spirit sense, Lex quickly explained what had happened to Pelagor and asked him if he had ever heard of something like this happening before, and if he knew a solution!

Pelagor trembled upon hearing Lex’s words, and immediately pulled out an artifact in the shape of a gold coin!

"This is no ordinary retribution! I’ve heard of it before! This is exactly how the other Lords within the Hollow died! Only the Fortune Lord knows how to counter this ability!"

As he spoke, he activated the golden coin which seemed to wrap both Lex and Pelagor in a golden halo, isolating them from the reach of the Hollow. Lex immediately felt the virus stop its spread, but he doubted that this was over. Since Pelagor claimed that this was how other Dao Lords had died before, he did not think this was something he could overcome on his own.

"The Coin of Fortune will last us a few days at most. We need to return to the stronghold at once, there’s no other way. Fortunately, I always come prepared for such emergencies. You hold on, I’ll get us back."

Lex nodded gratefully at Pelagor, and turned his mind to the imlpications of himself as an Immortal receiving the same retribution as a Dao Lord. Had he crossed some kind of threshold?

All he’d done was try to steal a few Dao materials here or there - was there really a need to escalate things like that?

Returning to the stronghold was not nearly as big an issue as going and finding these rare resources. Heck, Lex himself recorded the spatial location of the waygate he used to come here in case he needed to teleport back to it.

Pelagor knew this, but the fact that he insisted on taking them back himself likely meant that there were other problems involved that Lex hadn’t anticipated yet. In all fairness, due to the shortage of time, Lex had been in too much of a rush to accumulate as many resources as possible.

This time, when he returned, Lex resolved to spend a year or so in the stronghold just researching all the possible issues he might run into. Without Pelagor’s assistance this time, he would have been in real big trouble.

As soon as they exited the realm, Pelagor equipped some kind of finguard on his fins, allowing him to fly at breakneck speeds, relying once again on laws Lex had never even seen before.

They didn’t teleport, they simply flew the entire distance from the mountain back to the waygate in just a few hours. Lex was planning on approaching the Fortune Lord once more and requesting his aid, although he was extremely concerned about whether his request would be accepted or not.

Little did he know, that wasn’t needed at all. The moment he returned to the Fortune stronghold, Romulus sensed what was wrong with Lex and felt like he was getting a headache.

With a ridiculously insane background like the one Lex had, Romulus did not want to risk his plan by provoking whoever was supporting Lex. He could die anywhere else, but he absolutely could not die within the Fortune stronghold.

Thus, the moment they returned, before either Lex or Pelagor could even think of heading towards Fortune castle, they were teleported directly to the Fortune Lord’s private chamber.

"I see you’re really making yourself at home," Romulus said with a casual smile on his face as he placed a hand on Lex’s shoulder. Without the need to even be told, he began cleaning Lex’s soul, and the entire necklace as well.

"I think it’s best if you stay here for a while though. The Hollow is acting unexpectedly. We wouldn’t want you to get hurt even more now, would we?"