Chapter 362: Stashed Away Pt.3
After Lake's attempt to start a conversation failed, he and the others had just stood next to the bed's massive leg while they waited for Hampton to come back or say something down from up top. Enough time passed this way for him to get curious enough to use Detector to look for Hampton to see if he was still fine on the top of the bed.
Seeing a small man start to glow above them he watched for a few seconds to make sure the man was moving before looking away. "He's still fine." Lake felt like the others would want to know this so he went ahead and shared the information with them even though he was sure none of them would say anything back.
After another ten minutes passed they finally saw Hampton lowering himself back down to the group. "Alright we can go now." Lake was decently happy to hear this since Hampton didn't seem like he was going to let him do anything while here in this place but the others didn't seem ready to go and quickly asked a question each.
"Did you figure out where the Phantoms are coming from?"
"What's up there, is there actually a body?"
"Will we have the chance to go through the stuff we passed on the way here?"
...
Donny understood why the other two asked what they asked but he really thought they were shooting for the stars here while the stuff they passed was much more likely to fall into their hands. There was really no way Hampton would ever confirm if there was anything up there or not so it was best if they just moved on.
"I won't be letting anything, knowledge or material goods leave this place with any of you. Now get moving please, we have a long journey out to the surface." This was a heavy blow and Donny was sure the guard would attack after this but remembered what their original goal was to get food and go back not steal treasure that belonged to the Earth Domain.
As long as the guard was able to remember this as well there was no way a fight would actually break out. All that stuff earlier had just been greed getting the better of them for a moment. Looking to the guard to see if they had also snapped out of it Donny was happy to see him looking less intense than he had been earlier.
This couldn't be said about the adventurer though who was looking at Hampton like he was about to try and kill him. "Let us at least try and find the source of the phantoms before we try to go out there and leave the collapsed tunnel. It could be our death if we try to leave with them still out there."
Donny didn't think anyone was buying these were the actual reasons the man wanted to have a look around so when Hampton started talking in a harsh voice no one was surprised. "There's nothing we can do about it with the people here. Now let us get going." The finality in Hamptons words almost made Donny start walking towards the door subconsciously but he was able to keep himself from moving.
The adventurer was able to say something else surprisingly enough like he hadn't been affected at all by Hamptons show of power. "Are you saying that you know for sure there's no one here that you should at least let have a look at whatever it is on top of the bed. For all you know maybe someone here could do more than you think."
Donny still didn't buy that the man cared about the phantoms but his words made sense. Donny would really like to get a look at whatever was up there to see if there was something they could do to make their escape safer. A small glimpse surely couldn't be that big of a deal since they all already knew what was probably up there that Hampton was trying to hide.
"Sir Hampton we all already suspect there's a body up there so the man's words ring true. If you give us a chance there's a real possibility that we might find a solution." Donny really didn't feel it had been his place to say this but he felt he had to and by the look on the guards face after he was done it had been the right move.
...
Lake was surprised when the fight he was sure would happen the second Hampton told them to leave instead became a conversation but this wasn't the first time he had seen people lose heart before a battle took place and it wasn't like it was still impossible that there would be some type of altercation since it was very obvious Hampton was getting pissed with each word that came from the other men.
"No none of you are getting anywhere near what's up there now start walking. It's the last time I'll say this." Hearing such an ultimatum Lake was sure something was about to happen and switched Detector to look for people who were attacking him as he watched the people around him.
...
Donny couldn't help but look at the young mage who seemed to have gone into a fighting stance as soon as Hampton said this because he would be the one who would fight the mage if a battle did happen. Over the next few seconds each person shifted to a stance that said they were ready for the apparent fight but before another rumble shook the entire room.
This made all of them lose interest in the others they had been just about to attack because unlike what they expected the source of the rumble wasn't apparent while inside the room which was where they had all expected it to come from. "If the source isn't here then what's causing these quakes?"
...
Lake wasn't sure why Hampton had whispered this question but it didn't really matter since it gave him an idea of something he should enter into Detector. After he had set Detector he watched as the very air around them started to glow and while it took him a few seconds to figure it out he eventually said. "It's the mana level."
He hadn't been the only one to notice the extreme level of mana here in this place so after he said this it only took a few seconds for Hampton to put the rest together and say. "It's the formation I set at the door to get rid of the phantoms. It's probably causing some disruption in the balance of mana that's present. Hurry, I must dispel it now before any more quakes happen."
After he said this Hampton tried to move towards the door but stopped because no one else moved. It was obvious they all planned to take advantage of the fact Hampton had to go all the way back to the door to get rid of his formation and have a look at what was on top of the bed.
...
At this point Donny just wanted the tension to go away but he wouldn't abandon the guard if he really thought this was a good idea by walking out of the room with Hampton. That left him stuck here in this terrible silence as they all tried to read each other's faces. After a few seconds of this stand off the guard finally spoke up. "Just let us get a brief look."
This was obviously the last thing that would be said if Hampton said no and it seemed the older man knew this because it took him a long time to react.
Sadly the response they got was what seemed to be the beginning of an attack as Hamptons hands started to glow a light blue. With the fight started Donny instantly threw his shield in front of him and rushed towards the younger mage.
...
Lake wasn't particularly surprised when Donny ran at him even after he had tried to make it clear he would be on their side if a fight broke out but he saw a real problem with letting this continue now that they knew how unstable the mana in the air was. Dodging the shield charge from Donny Lake said. "Hampton, you really shouldn't use your magic here."
It was obvious Hampton was about to use the same type of magic that he had used to disperse the phantoms which was most likely going to cause another quake. He didn't know why this was happening but he would put his money on some of the mana in the air was what was causing the phantoms in the first place since there was such a violent reaction to the magic Hampton used on the phantoms.
"You're right. I'll just use Water." After he said this, Lake watched as the blue coming from Hamptons hands turned darker until it looked like the same color as the ocean. He had been hoping to stop the fight with his words but truly he was fine with the fight as long as he survived it.
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