Broadcasting Live From Inside An Eldritch Horror Game

Chapter 92: Into Hell. Part-3.

Although the presence of the screaming bizarre monsters near the intersection caused some delay, Zephyr and Xinran managed to make their way through the rest of the sewer passages with relative ease.

Many of the passages had cracked open due to years of disrepair, and miasma was seeping inside of them from the cracks, but since the passages were quite wide, the duo managed to maneuver their way through it all.

By evening, the duo reached a circular passage leading upwards; a metallic staircase was fixed in the wall, similar to the entrance from where the two of them had first entered the sewers.

"Originally, my plan was to use a different exit but the passage leading to it seemed to have collapsed due to wear and tear and constant miasmic filth flowing inside..."

"This one is likely one of the last few exits that are still left intact and located in secret locations..."

Along the way, the duo had encountered many tunnels that seemed to have collapsed recently due to the increasing miasmic corruption seeping into their foundations and corroding them from the inside out.

According to Xinran, the last time she came here, the miasmic decay in the place was not so serious; the current increase in miasmic density was also likely a side effect of the birth of a new ’Vessel of Corrosion.’

Although the two managed to make detours and avoid the collapsed passages to keep moving forward, the risk of the passages collapsing at any moment increased the closer they got to the city.

By the time they were near the exit, the situation had turned into a walk on the edge of life and death.

If the passage collapsed on them while crossing, they would have no choice but to use powerful magic to make their way forward, and that would increase the risk of exposing their location.

Up until now, although miasma has likely become aware of them and the ’Vessel of Corrosion’ has also likely sensed their presence, the other party does not have their exact coordinates.

Due to the mines and sewers being spread in a massive area, finding Zephyr and Xinran’s exact location in a small time is a daunting task, and it will likely take a long time before the ’Vessel’ can pinpoint their location.

But by that moment, the two of them would be long gone from the mines and sewers; this was the reason why the two of them didn’t want to expose their location too early.

It was better to let the other party waste their time while they would make plans and carry out early reconnaissance on the forces of miasma before striking in a swift and decisive manner.

But of course, Xinran and Zephyr both knew the risks involved in this mission.

Even if the passages didn’t collapse after they passed through them, this was likely the last time they would be usable.

This was likely the last chance to use those hidden passages to sneak into the Royal Capital.

The miasmic decay on the passages has become too severe, and they would all collapse sooner or later.

If someone wants to sneak into the Royal Capital next time, they would not be able to use the underground mines or sewers at all, as those paths would become completely unreliable and may even result in a dead end.

The only way left would be sneaking inside from above the surface while under constant bombardment of miasmic rain and the constant attacks of demonic beasts.

Underground, the influence of miasma was still shallow, but above ground, miasmic rain fell all year long; once someone entered its range, they would be found out almost instantly!

The decay of these passages was one of the main reasons why Xinran was so eager to enter the royal capital around this time, as she knew the situation very clearly due to being a frequent visitor.

"I can’t sense anything living nearby through my mana sense and there are no undead either; this exit should do, let’s go..."

[Basic Magic: Float!]

Without further delay, Xinran cast levitation magic on herself and flew upwards at a slow but steady pace.

Once reaching the sewer’s manhole cover, she made it slide to the side with a flick of her finger and slowly poked out her head to see the situation outside.

Seeing that everything was just as she had expected, she immediately flew out and stooped aside, waiting for Zephyr.

[Basic Magic: Clean!]

Mana flickered around Xinran as she cast the ’Cleaning’ spell on herself while waiting for Zephyr.

When Zephyr walked out of the sewer entrance, a strange expression appeared on his face, and even his cheeks seemed a bit red, making Xinran feel puzzled.

"Hmmm? What happened? Why are you blushing like a shy maiden?"

Hearing those words, Zephyr glanced at Xinran up and down several times and then said in an awkward manner.

"Errr.... Maybe... it’s a better idea to not wear skirt-type clothes when flying... ahem... cough cough..."

Only after hearing those words did Xinran realize that she was wearing skirt armor, and when it flew up, Zephyr was still standing below and got a full HD view of her ’Little Bear Pants.’

"Hmph! Pervert!"

In embarrassment, Xinran lightly jabbed Zephyr on the side which obviously did nothing to his ’Indestructible Body.’

"We are doing a serious mission here; focus on the mission, not me, idiot, hmph!"

Hearing those words, Zephyr shrugged his shoulders and said nothing.

’Thankfully, the stream is carried out from a third-person perspective not from my perspective or It would be a big problem of privacy violation if the footage got shown to hundreds of millions of people...’

’Well, the broadcast is able to censor privacy-related matters like these so it should be fine I think...’

Zephyr had tested this matter when he was changing into the newly acquired armor back then.

The stream was able to censor the private parts; in some scenarios, it even directly changed the camera angle and pointed it in some random direction to give the anchor privacy.

’The weirdest thing about this broadcast system is that it openly livestreams the horrific death of people without censoring it in the slightest bit... Moreover, even that goblin cave incident was broadcast live to the world...’

’And yet... it censors these little incidents?... Could it be that the broadcast system also operates on some kind of hidden rules?’

’Broadcasting horrific incidents generates some kind of ’Value’? Other incidents, like the anchor walking naked in broad daylight, don’t generate the so-called ’value’?...’

’This seems similar to how I gain ’Belief Points’ only when people believe in me and place their hopes on me... If they believed in someone else or something else, they would not generate the ’value’ that is ’Belief Points’ for me...’

Thinking about this matter Zephyr intuitively felt that he had grasped a little portion of the inner workings of this mysterious world.

’D*mn, to think a momentary glimpse of a maiden’s pants brought me such sudden enlightenment... maybe a few more glimpses won’t hurt... ahem! COUGH!!!... What am thinking!?’

’Tch, my mind must have been affected by miasma for me to be think of something like that!’

While Zephyr was busy making faces at empty air, Xinran, who was standing nearby, couldn’t help but feel confused.

"What are you doing? Why are you making such weird expressions? Don’t tell me that your brain went haywire from just one glimpse?"

Hearing Xinran’s words, Zephyr replied with a sneer.

"Bah, you are thinking too much! I am only interested in martial arts and combat skills! Women will only slow the speed at which I throw a punch!"

After saying that, Zephyr ignored Xinran’s cute frustrated reaction and glanced around to survey the environment.

To his surprise, after exiting the sewer, they had actually arrived inside a dimly lit warehouse where hundreds of mining robots were stored in a neat formation.

"So many robots... hmm, but most of them seem to have fallen in disrepair... Has miasma accelerated the rusting process on them?"

Seeing Zephyr shrug of the matter so calmly, Xinran stomped her foot in anger and pouted while staring daggers at Zephyr’s back.

’Hmph! Fine! You want to ignore this lady after taking advantage of her! Hmph! I will not talk anymore! Hmph!’

"Oi Xinran, see what I found! There’s an intact golem core here!"

Hearing those words, Xinran’s eyes lit up as she immediately rushed towards the core.

"Oh! These are high-quality cores! You have sharp eyes! We can use them to make mana bombs! Nice!"

Xinran stared at the golem core as if she had found a golden treasure chest, and the plan of not talking to Zephyr to show her anger was completely forgotten before it could even be implemented!

"You know how to make mana bombs?"

Hearing that question, Xinran replied with a wide grin on her face.

"Back in the days people used to call me the ’Greatest Magic Artifact Craftsman’ of the era!"

"The armor worn by ’Layla Jauregia’ and that standard armour that you are wearing now, it was me who came up with 40 percent of their design you know!"

Zephyr’s eyes widened at those words as he looked at Xinran with a look of astonishment.

"You are really... awesome!"