Leavemealone led Jack and Arlcard to the stairs into the basement. Down there, the corridor branched into two paths.
"I was taken in that direction, to the dungeon where they keep prisoners," Leavemealone pointed to one of the paths.
"Then we should try this one," Jack pointed at the other path.
"What are we waiting for?" Arlcard took the lead and headed down the corridor.
"Can you not be so eager? There could be traps down here," Jack called as he and Leavemealone chased after Arlcard.
Luckily, no such traps sprang in their path, but a locked door barred their way at the end of the path.
"Okay, let me unlock this door using my…"
Jack was still taking his lockpicks out when Arlcard started bashing at the door. Damage number appeared. It was not too sturdy to nullify Arlcard's attacks.
"… Or we can do that," Jack stored his lockpicks and joined Arlcard in attacking the door. Leavemealone lent his fists.
The door soon fell under their valiant efforts. The three entered into a large hall and came face to face with fifteen armored statues.
As the three took a step forward, these statues opened their eyes. Jack knew then what these statues were. They all had bloodshot eyes.
"The blood guards!" Jack used his Inspect. The same as Horatio informed, fourteen were level 70 rare elites and one was level 75 mythical. They were all classified as demons.
"Arlcard, use your instant-killed red smoke skill!" Jack exclaimed.
"… It won't work on them," Arlcard answered. "Also, it's still on cooldown."
The blood guards rushed forward. The lead mythical grade arrived first. Jack used Flame Strike and clashed with it. Jack was thrown back.
Jack had not used any buff skills but from the clash, he agreed with Horatio's statement that this blood guard was stronger than the level it showed. He estimated the mythical blood guard was as strong as Arther in terms of raw power.
Then, some kind of dark red aura came out of the blood guard. Jack sensed the blood guard's power increased. The other blood guards emitted the same aura.
"Sigh… And here I thought I could save my mana cores," Jack said. "Let's finish this fast!"
Jack injected 50,000 mana cores into his pendant. A flaming tornado poured out of his pendant. As it subsided, the archdemon lord was in the room with them.
The archdemon lord laid eyes on the fifteen blood guards in front of him. There was disdain in its eyes. It then uttered a shrill cry. One so loud that Jack and the others had to close their ears.
The blood guards had a more severe effect from the cry. Their bodies shivered as damage numbers popped up on them. They also completely stopped.
After the cry stopped, the archdemon lord floated forward casually, as if not putting these blood guards in its eyes. The blood guards attacked it then, which drew a clear surprised expression from the archdemon lord.
"That just now is the Demonic Dominance," Peniel said. Her ears were still slightly ringing from the cry just now. "It damages and disorients all enemies in the vicinity, but it has an extra effect on demon-type monsters. It could take control of the demons and turn them into allies for a short period."
"But since these blood guards were controlled by the Chalice of Blood, the controlling effect is not working," Jack surmised.
"Yes," Peniel confirmed.
The archdemon lord's surprise expression turned into anger. How dare these lowly demons offend him?
It struck the end of its long staff into the floor. Spell formation formed on the floor. Pillars of infernal fire shot out of the floor and engulfed them.
The archdemon lord had drawn the attention of all fifteen blood guards. Hence, Jack and the others were unhindered. Arlcard took the chance and went to the door on the opposite wall. This was the door the blood guard was guarding.
That door was similarly locked. Arlcard hit this door. It could be damaged but this door's HP was significantly higher. Arlcard used his dark lord's sword and other skills to drain the door's HP fast.
Jack decided to go to the door as well. The archdemon lord didn't like taking his order. He doubted it would appreciate his help, so Jack left the archdemon to deal with those blood guards. Leavemealone followed Jack closely.
Using his powerful skills and spells, Arlcard managed to break the door before Jack arrived.
"Hey! Wait up, will you?" Jack called when he saw Arlcard dash ahead through the broken door by himself.
Jack and Leavemealone entered right behind Arlcard. They came into an even larger hall. One in which the walls and the ceilings were filled with murals. Jack didn't have the time to study these murals and guess their meanings. His attention was on the far wall of this hall, where a pedestal was standing on an elevated platform. On this pedestal was a red goblet.
Standing beside this goblet was Emperor Marcus and Motherboard. Motherboard moved away when she saw the intruders. It didn't seem like she was there willingly.
Jack fired an Ice Bullet while approaching. His target was not Marcus, but the goblet beside him. Jack did not doubt that was the Chalice of Blood.
Marcus simply stood there and looked at the ice bullet as it approached. It came half a meter from the chalice when it hit an invisible barrier. A damage number and an HP bar appeared above the barrier. From the proportion, the damage was not even one percent. It would take some time to deplete the barrier's HP. Additionally, an energy came out of the rune diagram on the floor. This energy healed the barrier and brought its HP back to full.
Jack wasn't surprised. Horatio had told him about the protective rune diagram around the chalice. He just wanted to make sure if this protective rune diagram was separate from the palace's rune diagram. It was now proven to be so.
Arlcard stopped below the elevated platform where Marcus and the chalice were.
"Marcus…," Arlcard uttered. There was a mix of emotions in his voice. Something that Jack rarely heard from his companion.
"You… Do I know you…?" This was the first time Marcus laid eyes on Arlcard. Yet, he couldn't shake the familiar feeling when Arlcard stood before him.
"I've waited hundreds of years for this. You will finally pay for your betrayal," Arlcard said.
Marcus' forehead creased. He didn't understand what Arlcard was saying but it also somehow made sense in a way.
"You still can't guess who I am, can you? Brother?" Red smoke came out of Arlcard's body. It formed a person above him. Someone who looked much older. "I am here for our blood debt."
"Ca… Cain…?" Marcus uttered in surprise.
