With Cassius and Vira standing in their way, a deadlock had been momentarily created.
Daniel and Alyna were willing to keep up their end of the bargain since Marcus had specifically helped them, but Cassius and Vira were still hoping to cling onto the surveillance system they had created.
Soren was clearly torn between his own interests and following Daniel, but it was obvious that his feelings aligned more with Cassius and Vira. Weather he would actually support them or not was up in the air however.
'I can also see that Daniel is wavering just a bit. He is the one who made the soul surveillance system for the most part, and there is no doubt that it holds a great strategic advantage.' Marcus thought, preparing for things to take a turn for the worst.
If it came down to fight against just Cassius and Vira, that would not be an issue.
Against just Marcus or Mrazivý alone, their chances of winning were low. And against them both, they had practically zero hope of coming out victorious.
Being a lich and level eighty-five made Daniel the greatest threat and easily more than half of their strength. If he was not fighting, then Marcus and Mrazivý had nothing to worry about.
But even if he did decide to fight against them, the odds were not as in his favor as before.
Alyna was now Marcus' adjutant and could not go against him. If a battle broke out, she would now be fighting on his side.
Luckily it did not come to a fight, as Daniel shook his head and stood aside.
"I will let you two do as you please, but I am going to uphold my word. Marcus has helped me personally and I will not fight against him."
Taking the path of neutrality, Daniel did not have it in him to force his friends into submission or betray his promise to Marcus.
Without their strongest combatant willing to join them and Soren standing next to Daniel as well, Cassius and Vira were the only ones left opposing Marcus and Mrazivý.
Clearly, they knew they had no chance, and Mrazivý decided to put the last nail in the proverbial coffin.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"I have already contacted my great, great,, great, more greats than I wish to count Grandfather, Boreas. If I do not get back to him within three hours, he is going to come here and destroy this place himself. Naturally he realizes how dangerous they system you created is, and if we cannot deal with it, he will." Mrazivý said, her tone heavy with intensity.
She was making it known that under no circumstances was this surveillance system going to be left intact. Even if it meant the entire resort got wiped off the map.
With an overwhelming force bearing down on them, Cassius and Vira stopped their vain struggle and stood aside.
Neither of them was happy about losing their intelligence network, but there was nothing else to be done about it.
"Good, now lead the way." Mrazivý said, turning her gaze towards Daniel.
"Follow me, I will show you to where the device is."
Going through the corridors of the underground base, Marcus and Mrazivý followed Daniel into the depths of the place.
It was easily the most secured area and the hardest to get to, and inside was thousands of crystals screens.
"This looks like something you might see in a movie." Marcus said, gawking at the unreal sight.
Some of the screens were currently on and showing what a number of people were currently seeing.
Marcus even recognized that one of them was within Borealia's Royal Castle.
"We keep tab on all of the most important individuals without rest. For others we can just bring up the recordings that get sent our way." Daniel explained.
He then told Marcus and Mrazivý about the intricacies of the system and how exactly it worked.
"So, this is the formation that will collapse the system?" Marcus asked for confirmation.
Naturally Daniel knew how dangerous this network was and had installed a failsafe that allowed him to destroy the system and erase all of the information it had stored.
"Yes, if you inset this key in that slot and send in a large wave of magical and spiritual energy, you will overload it and destroy it. In this scenario all of the pseudo soul fragments will shut down and naturally fade away, so there is no need to worry about destroying them individually."
Nodding his head Marcus accepted Daniel's statement.
'If I focus, I can feel the spiritual energy that is being transmitted. After it is destroyed I just need to make sure that the transmissions cease and I can be certain that we are done.' Marcus thought, taking the key from Daniel.
But before he destroyed the system, Marcus had a couple of questions that he wanted answered.
"I know this may be a bit hypocritical of me, but before we shut this system down, there are two things I want to ask you." Marcus said, turning towards Daniel.
"Go ahead, whether I will be able to answer depends on multiple factors though." Daniel responded.
"I am looking for two things, one is called a font of death, and the other is a ghost king, would you happen to know where I can find either or both of these?" Marcus asked.
Putting on a contemplative expression, Daniel was clearly looking back into his memories and eventually nodded his head in acknowledgement.
"I cannot remember the exact details, but I am sure that information related to both of those topics are saved within the network. It might take me a bit of time to find what I am looking for, and as you said it is hypocritical of you. In my opinion you should just go ahead and destroy it as we have agreed or you can leave it and as the favor we owe you I can look up the information you want." Daniel said, negotiating with Marcus.
Frankly he did not want to destroy the system he had put a painstaking amount of time into creating, would rather give Marcus all the information eh wanted rather than have it destroyed.
"No that is not an option. We came down here to eliminate this network and it is happening one way or another. I am quite sure that I would hear about it for eternity if I let this go." Marcus said, glancing towards Mrazivý.
"I see, happy wife happy life as they say." Daniel said, nodding his head.
Mrazivý looked a little offended by this statement that was unfamiliar to her, but in this situation Marcus agreed.
Of course, he felt strongly about ending this surveillance system as well, even if not as much as her.
Still, Marcus wanted this information about the items he needed to achieve his evolution. To that end he figured that he could barter with some information of his own.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"So, for helping you and Alyna I get one favor. Either access to the surveillance system or its destruction. But what if I offered you information on something that you do not already know and has a real possibility of helping you return to being human or at least no longer being undead?"
Dangling bit for bait in front of Daniel, Marcus waited for his response.
"Fine, but at least tell me a bit first. If it is not actually of interest, then my answer is no." Daniels said firmly.
Alyna who was with them tried to interject and say that Daniel was being rude, but he stopped her by raising his hand.
"No, I need to stay firm here. You may have escaped from your curse but the rest of us haven't. I said that I would destroy the soul surveillance network and nothing more. If Marcus wants information from us, he will have to offer up more." Daniel said, not backing down.
"It is fine Alyna. I may have helped you both, but Mrazivý and I did barge down here and force our own wills on all of you. I am fine making a deal for an exchange of information." Marcus said.
But before he did, he made sure to get confirmation from Mrazivý, and mouthed two words to her in a way that neither Daniel nor Alyna could see.
Frowning Mrazivý understood Marcus' intentions but was unsure whether to go along with them.
"Go ahead, I think it will be better to tell them than not. You were probably planning on doing it anyway, since you have such a soft spot for them." Mrazivý said, allowing Marcus to proceed as he liked.
Having obtained his partner's approval Marcus told Daniel what eh had to bargain with.
"I am sure you have heard of special dungeons. We happen to know where one is and you may be able to obtain an item there that can restore your humanity. Does that sound good enough to exchange information?"
Going wide eyed, Daniel and Alyna were once again astonished by Marcus.
Certainly, they had heard of special dungeons, but these miraculous places were closely guarded secrets.
Even with their surveillance network they had not come across the location of one. Simply having heard about them.
"Yes, that is sufficient. I will find out what you want to know." Daniel said, changing his tune incredibly fast.
His expression actually seemed almost giddy, and he pulled up a number of knew screens and began searching for the information her only vaguely remembered about a font of death and a ghost king that Marcus desperately wanted to know.