The rewards for clearing stage4 were bountiful indeed.
It wasn't just a single treasure that they got for clearing the stage, but a room full of it.
There were layers and layers of neatly stacked gold ingots with each ingot being as big as one of Sebastian's leg.
A quick estimation by Severus put the value of one ingot to roughly 50,000 gold coins and there were at least 1 million such ingots, putting the value of just the gold alone at 50 billion gold coins.
Apart from that, there were countless precious jewels, ornaments, magical treasures, but most importantly the blueprints for making the Titan Golems.
The blueprints alone could fetch a price of 50 billion easy, if it were a thing that money could buy in the first place.
The Titan Golems could easily become the backbone of Bloodfall security, as with hundreds of them stationed at each planet even gods would think twice before invading them brazenly.
Selling them as finished products could also bring in significant revenue over-time and help deepen relations with foreign powers.
Of all the loot, Max graciously gave Lucius 30 billion in gold ingots, of which he shamelessly took back 15 as the first instalment of payment that was promised to him for clearing stage one, meaning Lucius was left with only 15.
For everything else from the gems and the remaining ingots and the blueprint, it was looted dry by the Bloodfall gang as Lucius watched on helplessly.
However, unlike previous stages, once they had looted this treasure room they did not see an opening to proceed to the next stage as instead they only saw a runic inscription on the wall, written in a language that they assumed only Max could read.
" For my children under god-hood, this is the end of the road, for those of you who have ascended beyond mere mortals, press your divine essence against the rune and continue on your journey forward
WARNING - DO NOT OPEN THIS SEAL "
Max felt conflicted reading the message on the rune.
The handwriting of the upper message and the warning did not match, neither did its contents.
The upper message asked those who were gods to continue the dungeon run, however, the one written below made it seem like the rune was an ancient seal, one that was not meant to be breached.
Max recognised the upper handwriting to be that of the primal god of war, it was the same as that in his notebook, however, the one underneath was written by someone who he did not know.
Conflicted, Max did not understand which was the right decision to make as he looked at Sebastian for council.
" There are two messages written there, the upper one says of all of you, only I can continue in the dungeon run ahead.
The lower one however warns me to not unlock this seal, what should I do? " Max asked as Sebastian did not even think about the answer as he immediately replied
" Turtle Hermit Way, Rule number #5, it's better to be slow and steady than dead and still.
As a coward, we don't venture into warnings and the unknown.
We have gained a fair bit from this raid, we don't need to risk it anymore "
Max nodded, Sebastian's words did make sense, however, his inner conscience seemed to be screaming at him to do it.
He knew he had some special fate with the primal god of war, and this seemed to be his calling, however, oddly, while he would be faced with a dilemma on other occasions, he would have a clear inner voice telling him what to choose.
This time however, he did not have a clear voice.
One part of him screamed at him to explore further, however, other part of him told him to take the warning seriously.
" If I may, my lord, I have something to suggest… " DarkSorrow spoke as Max raised an eyebrow but gestured for him to speak.
It was odd because DarkSorrow never usually spoke, but since he wanted to offer a suggestion of his own volition it was bound to be something good.
" I think you should go… what's the worst that can happen? You face dangers and are forced to flee?
Who in the history of the universe has ever become great by playing it safe?
Pardon my beliefs but, cowardice is the sureshot way to mediocrity " DarkSorrow said as he carefully tiptoed away from Sebastian.
" Oh no you didn't just say that….. TAKE IT BACK " Sebastian screamed aggressively as Anna and Severus had to hold him back.
What followed was bickering amongst the group as Max had a headache looking at them fight.
Although he did not say it, DarkSorrow's words resonated with him deeply as he agreed that nobody had ever become great by playing it safe.
Since his goals were sky-high and chances like these were rare to come-by, he needed to take the risk and at least see for himself as to what lay beyond.
" Okay, stop bickering, I've made my choice " Max said, as Sebastian stopped his flurry of slurs towards DarkSorrow and turned towards Max in anticipation.
" Hand me your teleportation token Sebastian, I'll bail out if the danger is too great " Max said, taking a sound approach to the problem as Sebastian begrudgingly handed him the token.
" So what now, you just leave us here and we wait for your return? " Lucius asked in complain as Max without sparing a glance at him said " Feel free to follow me if you can "
As he reached the runic inscription on the wall, he felt his heartbeat rise as he felt nervous for some reason as he poured his divine essence into it.
Instantly, he was teleported to the other side of the wall as the runic seal began to come undone.
A few seconds later, the runic pattern that laid on the treasure wall disappeared completely, as now there were no longer any means for anyone to follow Max even if they could.
***************
( On the other side, Max )
Max was teleported into a dark cave filled with puddles of blood.
This cave had thick divine essence and was buzzing with abundant vitality as by just stepping into it Max felt like all bodily functions like breathing, moving and absorbing mana were a thousand times easier.
As he spread his divine sense to detect any nearby dangers, he was shocked to sense that in the centre of the cave there was someone human-like that was still alive and breathing!
Max tried to probe the individual for a check on his strength but to his surprise the system check returned as a series of question marks [ ????? ]
Max immediately drew his weapon, the newly acquired Lucifer's sword and walked towards the man in the centre with vigilant steps.
Thankfully, the man did not make any sudden movements or show any indication of hostility towards Max as he allowed him to come up till 50 metres of himself, from where Max could get a clear look of his body.
The man looked incredibly frail and weak, his skin was as thin as paper and he looked almost akin to an undead skeleton.
All his ribs were prominently visible, however, the blood red lustre in his eyes was as vibrant as any that Max had ever seen.
" Mmmmm, I smell a trace of dragon inside you " The man said in a deep voice that almost reminded Max of the style of voice that Angakok chose to speak in.
" Who are you? " Max asked, his sword still pointing towards the man, as his silly question caused the man to chuckle.
" I am the first vampire, The progenitor of your species, First son of celestial god of war Junfred, I am the destroyer of a thousand planets and the rightful inheritor of the vampire throne.
My child who reeks of dragon.
I am Dracula "