Chapter 454: Top of the Cliff God’s Temple?
The Captain couldn’t help but wonder earlier about the reason Lillian had ordered her Monster to destroy the stone elevated platform.
But upon peering over her shoulders, his eyes shone with a bright light at the sight of the beautiful brown gem in her hand.
However, not only does the sight of it spark his greediness, but also his suspicions.
"Crewmate, how did yar know this gem was here?"
Lillian jumped at the sound of his voice and immediately stepped away instinctively. Breathing a sigh of relief, she glanced back at the gem before looking back at him.
Noticing the suspicion and curiosity in his eyes, Lillian wondered for a couple of seconds.
How could she get herself out of this?
...
"Because of the Divine Temple." Lillian stated confidently, gesturing towards the temple behind the colosseum. "Surely, you know that every Divine Temple has a Divine Gem, right?"
The Captain stroked his hand through his beard.
"Of course I do, but..."
He pointed towards the stone rubble.
"How did yar know it was specifically here, in this exact spot?"
Lillian blinked at him before smirking smugly. With a dramatic wave of her hand, she stated with clear confidence, "Because of my gut."
Narrowing his eyes, the Captain looked down at her before nodding strongly.
He folded his arms and said:
"Even warriors of the sea listen to their gut to survive. Yar one seemed to be quite the keen one."
Lillian, seeing that the Captain fell for her excuse, snickered internally. She pretty much knows a lot about the bearded man’s way of thinking, so making excuses proved easy.
’But... It’s getting harder and harder to make excuse for Viesta...’
She rubbed her chin as she looked back. Although she was extremely careful, she couldn’t help but notice the way that Viesta always gave her a suspicious gaze.
From the moment she retrieved the treasure chest from the leviathan’s stomach, when she summoned the Gate, tracking down her location in the Trial, and even finding the Jungle Lord...
’Although Viesta hasn’t said anything about it, she is most likely getting suspicious about my knowledge...’
The woman was, after all... More of a scholar than an adventurer, as much as she tried to deny such a claim.
And usually, scholars were people who would be able to put together things rather easily...
After exiting the colosseum and making their way over the temple... They began their ascent up the mountain of stairs—one step at a time...
Was what any insane person would think.
With the help of the Captain, Lillian got a ride to the top of the temple, which was unreasonably large and covered in jagged bricks and spikes.
The Jungle Lord, however, wasn’t that fussy over some flight of stairs and instead ran up it with immense speed, equal to the Captain, who found it entertaining to compete with the Wendigo.
Fwoosh...
The further they went up, the more groups of skeletons were found—these were the skeletons of the Kobolds. They must’ve died while trying to climb up the temple’s stairs.
’Well... They aren’t safe from the birds that could be in the skies.’
After a minute or so, they eventually arrived at the top.
Lillian, having been gently placed down on the ground, wandered around as she gazed upon the variety of luxurious furniture at the top and a large stone bowl beneath a pillar.
This was the bowl where the Kobolds would place their tribute.
She peered inside it and noticed how it was polished to a frightening degree, not even a speck of blood or dust in sight—it must’ve been cleaned recently.
Lillian looked towards the pillar and laid a hand on it, running her fingers over its smooth surface and material until it went over a conspicuous hole—a hole that happens to be in the shape of a recently acquired gem.
Pulling out the gem, Lillian looked at it for a moment before slotting it inside the empty slot.
After that, she waited for a moment before spinning on her heel.
Spinning around, looked back to find the Captain speedily stealing all of the luxurious furniture he could find, storing them within his spatial ring.
Lillian’s face twitched as she saw this.
She then sighed as she walked behind the thick pillar.
Besides the Umbralight Pearl she retrieved from the Drake, she needed another ingredient that could be found at the top of the temple.
Walking around, she eventually came upon a rather detailed sculpture, more than one in fact. And they all were shaped to be the past Cliff Lord’s, even the Manticore was here.
She walked towards the first-generation Cliff Lord statue, which was in the form of a griffin and within its beak was a... Stone flower?
Pulling the stone flower out from between the statue’s beak, Lillian tried to peel away the stone with her nail, but did nothing but scratch at it. She frowned slightly and shaped her finger into a blade.
Skr...
And yet that still didn’t work despite her earring’s buff to her water magic.
She narrowed her eyes as her face became deadpan before snapping her fingers, calling over the Jungle Lord.
Lillian handed over the stone flower and ordered the Jungle Lord to try to break it open.
The Jungle Lord gazed at the stone flower in his hand before tilting his head in confusion.
With careful and steady hands, he tried to pinch and form cracks in the stone to peel from. Unfortunately, such a method didn’t work as the stone shell remained undamaged.
Seeing that his gentle method didn’t work, he placed it on the ground before lifting his axe over his shoulders and slamming it down on it—
THUD!
—Finally, causing a crack to form in the stone shell.
Lillian watched this happen and couldn’t help but compare it to the scene of an animal trying to crack open a nut.
After that, the Jungle Lord returned to its gentle method prior before handing back Lillian the flower’s true appearance.
It had long, slender petals that shifted colour depending on the light, currently displaying a silver-blue colour due to the moonlight. Its stem was as black as obsidian and had streaks of glowing white, as if it were cracked.
Lillian curiously held the flower to her nose and breathed in its scent.
The flower had a calming fragrance and a distinct smell of lavender. She could even feel the fatigue and tiredness in her mind waver as a sense of rejuvenation appeared.
This was the fourth ingredient for the medicine she needed to create.
And its name was...