“Your Eminence, I do recall something about the Dwarves. If we need to rebuild the Sanctuary, we will still require the Dwarves’ assistance,” Bakerze said from the side.
Just as in the novels he’d read in his previous life, wherever they were, the Dwarves were always a race with exceptional skills in construction and forging. As long as you could provide enough materials, they could always find a way to build whatever you needed.
And grand structures like the Sanctuary were impossible for humans alone to complete—it required Dwarven expertise.
“Dwarves… Where do they usually live?”
Mu Xuan asked.
He didn’t deny that constructing the Sanctuary was necessary. Not only that, even building a city would require Dwarven planning and technology.
For now, the village was still small, so there was no rush to start construction and planning. But in the future, they would definitely need it, so finding the Dwarves had to be added to the agenda.
“Hmm…” Bakerze fell silent for a while before saying, “Before the Calamity descended, I heard the elders say the way to the Dwarves usually ran through the mountains… I don’t know about now…”
Mu Xuan had expected this and didn’t push further. Waving his hand for Bakerze to continue with village matters, Mu Xuan once again turned his attention to the staff.
The golden tip trembled slightly.
It was Buzachi…
A moment later, a message came through.
Mu Xuan was momentarily surprised, then his expression turned to delight. Buzachi had found another group of survivors. More importantly, among them were two veteran knights and a mage apprentice! There was even a horse left!
But the location… was a bit far…
Frowning, Mu Xuan didn’t hesitate. He turned and left, quickly finding Griffind and the others.
“Griffind, select five people at once and prepare to go meet Buzachi! The journey is long—bring plenty of food! Kamani, I’ll leave the rest to you!”
“By your will, Your Eminence.”
“By your will, Your Eminence.”
Griffind and Kamani replied in unison.
Immediately after, Griffind picked out five people, lining them up in front of Mu Xuan.
Seeing the five standing reasonably straight, Mu Xuan nodded with satisfaction. It wasn’t perfect, but it was already much better than the disorderly state at the very start.
Mu Xuan had more reasons for bringing them along.
Expanding their reach—this was essential!
Once everything was ready, Mu Xuan led the group of six toward the newly established gate.
Along the way, people kept greeting Mu Xuan, their eyes full of respect.
It was a bit annoying, but Mu Xuan still responded to each one. The image of the Church had to be established—he couldn’t ruin his own reputation.
The five knights Griffind brought each carried a wooden staff. Unlike the simple branch Griffind had at the beginning, every one of these wooden staves had been imbued with five strands of Faith Power, far surpassing the single strand in the original branch.
The use of these staffs was simple. Each knight would plant one along the route, forming a path through the black mist that allowed safe passage.
They were like relay points—within their area of effect, there would be a field of Light, guarded by the knights. This made it much easier to transport survivors back safely.
The information relayed back didn’t specify the exact number of survivors, only describing it as “quite a few.” Given the distance, this was the fastest and most efficient method.
With himself and Griffind going to the rescue, he wasn’t worried about strong abominations causing casualties.
Moreover, Mu Xuan truly did plan to expand using these relay points. Once these bases were scattered around, they’d serve as buffers, scouts, and information relays against the abominations.
But right now, they were far too short on people, and many of his ideas were severely limited because of it.
“Your Eminence, is it still far?” Of the five knights Griffind brought, only one was still following. Griffind was starting to wonder just how far this route really was.
Mu Xuan looked back at the pillars of light joined behind them, then ahead at the pitch-black mist where nothing was visible. Sensing Buzachi’s general direction, he answered, “Roughly two hundred more steps to go…”
On the way, Mu Xuan and Griffind had already taken care of several Ash-White-class abominations.
As for whether the knights left behind would be in danger? Mu Xuan wasn’t the least bit concerned.
Come on, with each circle being formed by five strands of Faith Power, if they still couldn’t handle an abomination, then they simply weren’t fit to be knights.
At worst, it would be a lot more troublesome when they returned.
If they ran into a Deep Black-class abomination, well, just pretend Mu Xuan had never considered this.
After all, having knights with just one strand of Faith Power take on something as strong as a Deep Black-class, which was equivalent to twenty strands, even with the suppression circle, was impossible.
Sigh… Feeling the dwindling Faith Power within the staff, Mu Xuan quickened his pace to rescue the survivors.
Only with more followers could he have enough Faith Power and manpower to accomplish greater things.
Soon, as the final pillar of light slowly expanded and formed a new circle that connected to the previous ones, Mu Xuan and Griffind arrived at a house.
Mu Xuan frowned, hesitating a bit. “The mist here… is even thicker…”
Griffind instantly shrouded himself in light, forming armor and remaining thoroughly vigilant.
“Let’s go in and take a look.”
Sensing that Buzachi had moved slightly, Mu Xuan hesitated for a moment, then gave Griffind the order.
On hearing this, Griffind immediately kicked the door open. With a flash of his silver cross sword, he instantly slew a large eyeball monster hiding inside the house.
After a quick sweep of the interior to confirm there was no danger, Griffind called out, “Your Eminence, the house is secure. You may enter.”
Mu Xuan, upon hearing this, slowly entered. Glancing at the corpse of the giant eyeball, his expression did not change at all.
Relying on his sense for the Light, Mu Xuan opened the door leading to the backyard and walked straight in.
Seeing this, Griffind quickly followed, scanning the surroundings with sharp eyes.
Honestly, Griffind really did give a strong sense of security…
Casting a sidelong glance at Griffind, Mu Xuan praised him silently in his heart before walking up to the backyard wall and looking at the writing carved into it.
There was a trace of Light here—he could be sure Buzachi had left it.
“Mountain behind… Do not enter! Come to the well, go down.”
That was what was carved on the wall.
Mountain?
Mu Xuan’s brows furrowed again. The black mist here was denser—could it be because of the mountain?
If so, it meant something truly terrifying was lurking in the mountain…
Shivering, Mu Xuan gave up on the idea of checking the mountain.
However, Mu Xuan now understood why he kept sensing Buzachi was below ground…
Seriously, why do you like hiding underground so much!!!
Last time, in the Rules Nightmare, it took borrowing the Goddess’s power to tear up the ground and deal with the rules core at the last moment.
And now you’re at it again? What are you planning this time?