Chapter 136: Infiltrating the Black Market (2)
Max passed through the portal, and for an instant, everything was light and heat.
He felt a strange sensation, as if his body were stretching and compressing at the same time.
Then, in the very next second, his feet hit solid ground.
Dirt and dust.
The change was immediate. The darkness vanished. The lighting here was completely different.
Not natural... but alive and warm.
The air hit his face. And it was full of scents.
Roasted meat. Strong spices. Freshly baked bread. Caramelised food. Oils. Street food.
But mixed in with all of that...
Other smells. Metal. Sweat. Dampness. And something far less pleasant.
Animals and confinement.
Max heard the chaos before he fully processed it.
Voices everywhere. People haggling. Vendors shouting about their goods. Laughter. Cutlery clinking. The sizzling of food being cooked.
And in between it all...
Howls, barks, growls, and shrieks. The sounds of creatures trapped in cages.
The atmosphere was overwhelming, alive, messy, chaotic.
Max looked up.
And froze.
They were inside a massive cavern.
Gigantic.
The walls looked like natural formations of dark stone, stretching upward until they disappeared into the distance.
And the "sky"...
Wasn’t a real sky.
Thousands of fireflies floated high above, illuminating everything in golden and bluish tones, like artificial stars suspended in darkness.
Below them: streets. Shops. Stalls. Signs hanging everywhere.
Different languages. Unknown symbols. Strange letters.
Unfamiliar alphabets.
And yet...
Max could understand absolutely everything.
His eyes moved from corner to corner.
Extravagant food stalls selling creatures he didn’t recognise.
Auction stands.
One of them displayed chained servants behind a raised platform.
Magical weapon stores with display cases full of floating daggers, enchanted swords, and armour glowing with runes.
Shops for accessories, relics, potions, cursed objects, and things he probably didn’t want to touch.
Max smiled without realising it.
His excitement was obvious.
"No way..."
He slowly turned in place, absorbing every detail.
"This is incredible."
It was real.
A completely new place in Eldoria, outside of his knowledge.
A place he had never once been able to visit in the games.
Not a single time.
His chest filled with excitement.
’A new area. Unreleased content. Real exploration.’
For one second, he even forgot about the mission.
Just for one second.
The others stood in front of him.
Seraphine observed the place with refined interest. Her eyes scanned the shops as if making a mental checklist.
’Grimoires, artefacts, rare magical objects.’
Clearly, she was already thinking about expanding her collection.
Neros, meanwhile, was completely rigid.
Looking everywhere. Analysing faces, postures, movements.
As if mentally cataloguing criminals one by one.
’He’s probably already making a mental arrest list.’
Very typical of a royal knight.
And Dorian...
Dorian was smiling.
But it was a different kind of smile.
Softer. More genuine.
With a faint melancholy in his gaze.
He looked around like someone returning to an old memory.
"It’s good to be back..." he murmured.
A pause.
"My first home."
Max looked at him.
That explained several things.
But this wasn’t the time for sentimentality.
He shook his head slightly.
"Okay, yes, this place is impressive and all... but now is not the time to be amazed by a new location."
His expression hardened again.
"We need to find Chloe."
He looked at Dorian.
"Where are we going?"
Dorian snapped out of his thoughts and pointed toward one of the main streets.
"Finn’s shop is a few blocks away."
A crooked smile.
"Follow me."
Without waiting for an answer, he started walking.
And the rest of the group followed, heading deeper into the streets of the black market.
***
After walking several metres through the chaos of the black market...
The group finally moved away from the main area.
Less noise. Fewer stalls. Fewer people.
Until they reached a more isolated section.
And there, a small wooden structure. Something like an old shack. Slanted roof. Small windows. Walls worn down by time. Nothing flashy. Nothing special.
Which, considering where they were...
Probably made it even more suspicious.
Max kept looking around as he walked, still amazed.
Every corner had something new.
Something he had never seen in the game.
Something completely outside his mental map of Eldoria.
"I need to come back here after all this..." he muttered, almost to himself.
Dorian stopped in front of the shack.
And smiled.
"This is it."
He spread his arms slightly.
"Finn’s shop."
His expression was full of nostalgia.
And a certain sense of anticipated amusement.
Seraphine observed the door.
"Aren’t you going to knock?"
Dorian let out a small laugh.
"That’s for customers."
He casually spun his staff between his fingers.
"Old friends have another entrance."
That did not sound reassuring in the slightest.
Max narrowed his eyes.
Dorian raised his staff.
And began spinning a small light spell around himself.
Soft, glowing particles orbited his body slowly.
"Watch where you step," he said casually.
He looked at the group.
"And prepare yourselves for the welcome."
Max looked at him.
Then at Neros.
Neros looked back at him.
Both with the exact same expression.
’What does that mean?’
And then, green lights began glowing from the shack’s windows.
Bright. Like eyes staring at them.
Max frowned.
"Uh..."
Then he felt something strange beneath his feet.
He looked down.
The ground was moving.
No, worse.
It was swallowing his legs.
Like quicksand.
"What the hell!?"
Max sank to his knees almost instantly.
Neros reacted immediately.
He unsheathed his sword.
"Get back!"
He began slashing at the ground beneath him.
Dirt. Roots.
Nothing responded normally.
As if he were cutting through solid water.
"What kind of magic is this?"
Dorian burst out laughing.
"HA."
He shook his head.
"That idiot Finn still uses the same tricks as always."
Max looked at him like he wanted to murder him.
"This is normal!?"
"Yes."
"That doesn’t help!"
Seraphine, on the other hand...
Was perfectly fine.
Because she wasn’t touching the ground.
She floated calmly a few centimetres above it, supported by her magic circle.
She looked at everyone with one eyebrow raised.
"I must admit... this does look quite a lot like a trap."
Dorian pointed calmly at the ground.
"Don’t worry."
He looked at the mage.
"Come in with us. This is the real entrance to Finn’s shop."
Seraphine hesitated.
Only for a second.
She pulled out her grimoire. Opened it quickly.
The pages began turning on their own as she activated a small analysis spell.
Her eyes scanned the invisible runes across the area.
The magic. The structure. The anomaly.
Then she looked at Dorian.
Who was still completely calm.
Annoyingly calm.
She sighed.
"Fine."
She deactivated her levitation.
The magic circle vanished.
Her boots touched the ground.
And immediately, she began sinking too.
"Hm. How unpleasant."
Dorian kept smiling.
"Stay calm."
Max was already waist-deep.
"If this turns out to be a trap..."
He pointed at Dorian with difficulty.
"I’m ripping your head off."
Neros nodded while sinking beside him.
"Well said, boy."
Dorian laughed.
"I’ll take that as a sign of trust."
And seconds later...
The ground finished swallowing them whole.
Disappearing beneath the earth under the old wooden shack.