The Innkeeper

Chapter 2393: Countdown

"Do you really think that leaving him there is the best idea? He’s just a human. He’s going to die the moment your shield disappears," asked one of the Dao Lords accompanying Romulus as they watched him leave Lex on the first step of the pyramid.

It wasn’t that reaching the top was too dangerous for them, but it would definitely distract them from their current task. No matter how valuable the unknown flower was, they were not willing to gamble it against the known value of the next area they were about to go into, which is why they had not considered attempting to procure it themselves at all.

"Buddy, that human is backed by a Dao Lord who can attack us from outside the Gilded Hollow. His chances of survival are a whole lot higher than us. This is not me sending him off to death, this is me earning good will from whoever backs him," responded Romulus as he looked at Lex before turning around and entering the area that appeared to Lex as total darkness.

Of course, all of that happened at such immense speed that Lex had not even processed his change in location before the Dao Lords were already gone. Thus, these few Dao Lords did not see his reaction. Then again, it would not have mattered, for with that incomplete thought from that corpse, all Dao Lords had been frozen, and so had the Gilded Hollow! Even the universe itself had been affected, so there was really no one around to watch Lex make a fool of himself.

The Fortune Lord promised him ten seconds of safety. As Lex looked up to the peak of the pyramid which was a quintillion miles away, he knew he would not make it in time. Okay, maybe he was exaggerating about the distance, but all things considered, Lex had every right to do so at that moment.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit!" Lex kept exclaiming like a mantra as he ran, all the while focusing on trying to activate his damn retribution string, but nothing was happening. Yet running and cursing weren’t the only things Lex was doing. No, he was using 100% of his brain to utilize every means available to him.

He was trying to teleport, but the space in this region was beyond his control. Lex reached out to the laws of space and found them to be stagnant. He didn’t think too much into it - a place constantly baptized by such intense Dao radiation must have experienced changes he’d never anticipated.

In truth, the laws were not responding to him because they were still recovering from the frozen effect of that broken thought. As one second passed by, the effect of that thought had already begun to lessen, but Lex had no way of knowing that.

Besides all of that, he also had Jack give up everything he was doing and instead focus on trying to connect to the necklace and directly pull it from the Hollow to himself. If he could send materials to Lex, there was no reason he couldn’t directly pull Lex to himself.

Unfortunately it was easier said than done, and he had only a total of ten seconds, now with only nine left!

Lex took out the Primordial Farham Egg shell and wore it on his face like a mask, hoping that it would protect him a little when the Dao Radiation would come back. Of course, that’s only how it appeared. In truth, Lex was inside a necklace so the eggshell was covering the necklace.

Then another second passed, and Lex made no progress. Even running at his full speed, he was only halfway through the first step of the pyramid. That meant that if everything else stayed the same, and he encountered no deadly traps or anything of the sort, he would need about 200 seconds to reach the top.

All in all, the pyramid wasn’t too big, but considering he only had the shield for 8 more seconds, it hardly mattered because he was definitely screwed.

"This cannot be happening," said Lex as he, utilizing only one second, crafted an entirely new and utterly unique Lawcraft for the sole purpose of launching the necklace through the damn air like a slingshot with rocket boosters! Unfortunately... the laws still weren’t responding to him!

"Lord Fortune, there seems to be something wrong. The retribution strings aren’t activating!" Lex yelled out loud without any concern for face or looking foolish.

This was serious stuff. He’d just refined the necklace to a point where he felt confident about his return - he wasn’t going to waste it on a flower he knew nothing about and didn’t necessarily immediately need.

Unfortunately, the pyramid must have put him in some kind of isolation barrier because the Fortune Lord didn’t respond to Lex’s yell. He must not be able to hear it.

Five seconds left and Lex began to sweat. No, seriously, the amount of pressure the situation put on Lex, and thus his soul, was so immense that it began to affect the necklace, squeezing it until hidden impurities within the necklace started to get pushed out in liquid form. The impurities looked like sweat.

As Lex hopped onto the second step of the pyramid, and only a couple of seconds were left, he began to seriously regret not mastering time laws. Unfortunately, now wasn’t the best time for that.

He began erecting the best, strongest most powerful defense he could think of, using the influence of his Dao Body without restraint as he felt the seconds pass him by.

One second left and Lex finally stopped cursing as he sharpened his focus to the utmost. Whether he could do it or not, he’d force Jack to pull the necklace back the moment something went amiss. The egg shell should buy him at least a few seconds, and maybe his defense could buy him a couple more.

Regardless of what happened now, Lex readied himself to face the obstacle up ahead with his absolute utmost. Yes, he did not ask for this situation, but that did not mean he would collapse and give up if he couldn’t escape from it either.

Even though logic and experience told him that the only thing that awaited him was death, Lex was ready to face it with a serious face. Besides, the necklace itself had absorbed quite a few Dao materials. Who knew whether it would have developed a resistance to Dao radiation. There was only one way to find out.

Zero seconds left... time elapsed, and then there was nothing.