Descending from the bronze disc and stowing it away, Jacob stood in front of the black, smooth surface of the Dark City entrance and waited for Dark Rose to speak, as usual.
However, a few moments passed, and there was no trace of the AI. Everything was silent, which made Jacob frown with uncertainty. Then he touched the black surface. Still, nothing happened. There was no trace of Dark Rose.
"I want to enter," Jacob said coldly. Still, there was no response.
Now, he was getting suspicious and impatient. He was suspicious because if Dark Rose wasn't responding to his entry, it could only mean he was either blacklisted or Dark Rose wasn't present at the moment.
Jacob was more inclined to believe that it was the former case. There was probably only one person who could blacklist him from Dark City without any reason; the Dark City Administrator, the Dark Earl!
He was impatient because he didn't want to waste any more time here. He wanted to confirm if this was all a façade and if the bunker was some sort of trap designed to deal with him.
Hallberg seemed quite friendly, but Jacob had only known the man for a very short time. That's why he didn't blindly take his kindness at face value and came here to see for himself if Hallberg was really a saint as he appeared to be.
The lack of response from Dark Rose was giving Jacob all sorts of bad ideas. But it didn't make any sense for Hallberg to directly restrict his entry if he wanted to deal with him since it would only make Jacob more suspicious.
Or maybe Hallberg never thought Jacob would come back, instead of greedily following the map to earn ownership of a type-2 treasure ship.
It might have been the case because any Rare Plains native would have quickly made their way toward the type-2 ship first instead of coming back to spy on the person who gifted it to them.
Even Jacob might have done the same if he hadn't had the bronze disc and encountered the strange situation with the Cursed Path Glory Gem.
'Trap or not, forget it. I've got my own arrangement. I don't think it's a good idea to be greedy and save some time only to risk waking into a potential trap set up by the most mysterious person in the Rare Plains.
'Canceling the trip, then giving me his means of transport and a certain time to reach it, and now I can't even enter the dark city. I should have known better…'
Jacob's heart was colder than ice. For a moment, he really thought that Hallberg might be a good guy worth having a connection with. But now, he fully accepts the fact that there are no benefits without any price, and people's hearts are fickle.
After all, he was playing Hallberg by not telling him about getting rid of the high-ranking dark beings and their ruler, so he wouldn't have to babysit him.
But in the end, it turned out he wasn't the only one with a goal and hidden agenda.
Without further delay, the bronze disc appeared under Jacob's feet, and he vanished without a trace. His eyes were completely emotionless as he looked at the dormant entrance.
As the disc started to lift off the ground, Jacob's lips curled up in an extremely devilish smile. A thought surfaced in his mind, 'It is double the pleasure to deceive the deceiver!'
Thereafter, Jacob shot toward the top of the waterfall without looking back!
Above the waterfall was a wide river, which was also a branch of the Great Star River.
Jacob started flying in the opposite direction of the water current. He also changed the map Hallberg gave him since he had no intention of going to the bunker and getting his hands on that ship. But this didn't mean he was going to leave just like this.
After flying for half an hour, he changed direction and slowly flew above the rainforest as if he was searching for something.
Three days later, Jacob reappeared on the bank of the river. This time, a beautiful golden snake with white patterns coiled around his neck. It was an Extraordinary Tier-6 Gold Poison Viper.
The viper was Autarch's new host, which Jacob had found for him. He had also taken care of some important business, which was quite cumbersome, but he had to do it.
"Finally, we can leave this place!" Jacob muttered with a hint of excitement.
The next moment, a jet-black triangle appeared over the river current, unaffected by it. It was the Stealth Triangle he had bought from the Black Sea Company.
Although he also has another ship that he found in the A-0's storage ring, he prefers this smaller one.
Jacob sat in the comfortable seat and quickly installed the route map given to him by Ellie in the ship's interface. He was not planning to take the exact route marked on the map, as he had studied it for a while and decided to take a slightly different path.
The cockpit canopy of the Stealth Triangle slid over and sealed Jacob inside. The triangle then suddenly turned transparent and vanished without a trace.
With this, Jacob's voyage toward the Epic Plains finally began!
---
If Jacob had decided to force his way into the Dark City entrance, he would have been shocked.
Because right now, behind that entrance was nothing but a dark, empty tunnel. There was no trace of previous stations, cable lifts, or even the door at the end of the tunnel.
The most shocking thing was that the once-bustling metropolis of Dark City had somehow vanished without a trace. Not even a brick was left. There were only empty, rocky fields.
The entire Dark City has vanished from within the mountain!
---
End of Second Volume: A Cursed Heart!
[AN: I just want to thank everyone for their support. The second volume of CI is finished! Please feel free to tell me what you think in the comments or reviews. If you have any ideas for the story or anything you think I missed, please share them with me. I'll take them all into consideration!]