The floors were comprised entirely of polished, decorated marble and scented cedar wood. A lush and exotic carpet lined with long, iridescent furs from a Killermeleon furled out into a path that led up to a receiving counter where, presumably, an attendant would ascertain reservations and likely take coats or bags to a sealed wardrobe nearby. 

Pa.s.sing the counter, Li could see an interior filled with round tables draped over with white cloth clean as fresh snow. Cus.h.i.+oned chairs lined these tables, and there was not a single speck of dust or dirt in any crevice of either furniture or floor. The walls were decorated with vibrant paintings of natural landscapes, and these paintings were flanked by long windows that would have let in plenty of sunny light during the day. 

"You mentioned you ate in places like this before?" said Li as he kept forwards, smelling a fragrance of wildflowers floating through the air. "No offense, but it doesn't seem like your kind of thing."

"Well, I was curious bout' the whole restaurant thing," said Azhar, his eyes closed as he followed behind Li. "Knew it was for rich sn.o.bs, but when I ate the food, d.a.m.n it was good. And I like good food. But yer right, Lakeside Bounty's a little above my paygrade."

Li raised a brow. As he moved, he could hear pops and crackles. Faint lights burst across the walls and on the floor as automated defensive runes and spying spells broke apart. By now, he had likely stepped over and disabled several explosive runes, paralysis cages, cursed wards, and other trivial little things.

"You��re a silver ranked adventurer, aren't you? Don't you get paid enough?"

Azhar laughed. "Us adventurers might make good money compared to regular folk, but at the end of the day, unless we're golds and famous, we ain't rollin' in coin. This here ain't a place for regular folk – it's for the elite. The n.o.blest of the fattest of n.o.bles. That whole deal."

"Interesting. Maybe this place can give me the goods I need to feed Tia." Li paused. "But onto business at hand. I can sense lives underneath us. A decent bit underneath us. The only issue is I don't have tracking spells I can use without a target, so I'm not entirely sure where the path is to get to this underground compartment, and I don't want to make too big a scene and blow a crater into the floor."

Li's a.r.s.enal of spells were limited to the specialties of his cla.s.s and subcla.s.ses, and since he had completely optimized himself as a battle mage, he had long since cut out any general tracking spells that were only useful in PvE, and even then, with online guides, there was no real use for anyone to use spells that revealed locations either. 

Not to mention the fact that Elden World was rather strict about what cla.s.ses could do. If he was a battle mage, then he was a battle mage – he had limited capacity as a scouter or supporter in the same way that he did not have access to good stealth spells. 

Which was another reason why Li had brought Azhar specifically. 

"I can help you with that," said Azhar. "With yer spell knockin' out any interference, I can use my trackin' spells no issue."

"Good. I'm counting on you," said Li as he stepped back to let Azhar focus without chipping away at his sanity. 

Azhar knelt to the ground and put his palm onto the cold marble. 

"[Tracking]," he said, invoking the ranger cla.s.s spell. As he did so, his eyes lit up, likely seeing a thread of energy visible only to him that led to what he wanted to find.

"See it?" said Li.

"Yeah, just follow me." Azhar kept his eyes on the ground as he headed forwards, his posture wary as he thumbed at the dagger at his side.

"You really don't have to be worrying," said Li as he eyed Azhar's caution.

"I know. Ain't raggin' on your abilities, but can't be countin' on you all the time, right? Wanna' keep my senses sharp."

Eventually, the two made their way past the dining room and back into the kitchen. It was extremely s.p.a.cious, almost as large as the dining room itself, and likely could have packed a whole team of dedicated cooks in there. The surfaces were wooden, but they were polished and clean, devoid of any rot indicative of exposure to moisture and foodstuffs. 

Kitchen utensils of all kinds of shapes and sizes and uses hung from racks placed strategically around for ease of reach and use, marking out stations for cutting, skinning, tr.i.m.m.i.n.g, and so on. At the back of the kitchen, there was a ma.s.sive, ironclad vault sealed with runes and locks. 

As Li approached, the runes broke apart, leaking out the smell of food within. Food storage, it seemed. Hopefully, they could hire a runesmith early tomorrow to fix the runes again to keep the food preserved.

Azhar led Li away from the storage and into a small room filled with cleaning supplies. Buckets, mops, and the like. 

"Strange. My eyes are tellin' me it's here, but this is just a dead end," said Azhar as he pointed forwards, at the solid and stout wooden wall opposite to them. 

"I see." Li tapped Azhar's back. "You've done well, and you're right. This is the correct way. Here, I can sense this is magic."

Li stepped in front of Azhar, and the ranger looked away as the wreaths of darkness curling around Li flitted past him. Li reached his hand to the wall and pushed it through. It sank into the wall as if it were made of water. 

"It's a portal, which is rather interesting. That's C ranked magic, at least. In any case, just follow my lead again." Li made sure Azhar had readied himself before stepping through the wall. 

In the next instant, Li found himself in the midst of a cavern so undecidedly unlike the pristinely clean environment of the restaurant that he had to blink to reorient himself. An underground cavern sprawled out around him. Stalact.i.tites from above hung low, occasionally dripping some beady moisture. 

The area was well lit with lanterns, and Li could see that he was on an elevated platform of rock overlooking a wide and flat s.p.a.ce filled with the living presences he had sensed from before.

"The h.e.l.ls is this?" said Azhar as he materialized behind Li. 

"The slave holding spot, I a.s.sume," said Li. He narrowed his eyes as he got a focused look around. There were likely around two dozen beastwomen lying on two long formations of beds of straw. Around them buzzed humans that tended to them.

"Don't look like slave tradin'," said Azhar. "None of the beastwomen are harmed, and they ain't chained either. The humans are checkin' em' for their health, givin' em' food and stuff."

"And they wouldn't if they weren't brainwashed," said Li. "All of them. Only reason any of them are staying here is because of that. Brainwashed subjects don't need to be restrained, and I doubt they can reach this platform to escape."

And subjects they did seem to be. Azhar was right in that the whole area did not seem so much like a place to groom slaves as much as it was a laboratory. The beastwomen here were not groomed up, cleaned, and prettied up as the Feli and Serpi were. They were dressed in shabby, loose fitting robes. There were also long tables packed not only with food, but with vials of strange liquid and alchemical instrument. 

"Azhar, can you make big jumps?"

"Yeah, I got a skill for that."

"Good." Li jumped down the platform, falling perhaps ten meters as his feet hit solid earth with an echoing crack. 

Azhar landed beside him, blue energy from the horse tattoos on his arm reinforcing his legs. He grimaced. "d.a.m.n, at this rate, I ain't gonna' have knees to stand on when I'm old."

"Think it a blessing to get old in the first place." Li switched off his aura. 

"Ya ain't keepin' that spell up? What if someone sees us?"

Li shook his head. "I'd want them to see us. n.o.body from the public is going to be spying on us here. And besides, I'd also be breaking everyone's mind control if I came up to them with that aura active. Sounds good in theory, but if all of them snap out of it, it'll just cause ma.s.s mayhem."

Li walked up to the middle of the whole operation, but he found that n.o.body reacted to him. They all just lounged around or moved about with lifeless expressions plastered on their faces. Obviously, they were not programmed to deal with intruders, which made the job easier.

"So then, what are we gonna' do? It's gonna be mighty hard movin' everyone here out," said Azhar. "Can ya cast portal magic too?"

"Not the right kind," said Li. "I can banish someone into a dimension of infinite horrors, but that won't do here."

"Yeah, sounds bout' right."

"But hopefully, the being running all this will be kind enough to make a portal for us."

"Huh?"

Li could sense the magic near him. It radiated in warm pulses, and as he faced towards its direction, it got warmer and warmer until finally, in the middle of the cavern and enclosed in a heavily fortified box, was the phylactery.

From the beginning, when Li heard that there were three different locations where there were mind controlled beings, he realized that whoever was behind this could control familiars from multiple locations. He did not rule out the possibility that there were multiple people running the operation, but he doubted it. All of them would have to be able to cast ma.s.s mind control which, as warlock spells were not only banned, but also too high level for an ordinary man.

No, it was most likely that just one powerful being was doing this. Normally, however, this was not possible as evidenced by Li being unable to issue direct commands to his Myrmeke once he strayed too far away from it.

However, it was possible for a single race to subvert this limitation, and they were also the most suited to be warlocks lore wise: liches. Liches could split their soul into phylacteries, physical orbs that they could plant in various locations which acted like beacons where they could remotely cast spells and issue commands to their summons. Not only that, but the phylacteries were like extra lives, allowing for resurrection through them if the lich's main body was destroyed, though there were certainly restrictions involved.

 "What's this?" said Azhar as he kicked the box. He blasted backwards as a warding rune activated, and as he groaned, he said, "Right, forgot you turned off yer spell."

"If you're talking like that, I'm going to a.s.sume you don't need healing. It's a phylactery. Part of a lich's soul, though whether this is an Elder Lich or not, I'm not sure yet." Li reached his hand to the box, ready to destroy it. He might not have tracking spells he could conjure up in general, but he did know curses that could track down targets. One of the weaknesses of the phylactery was that any curses on it transferred to their owner, and so this would be a very easy way to scope out the lich's location.

After that, it was just a matter of 'negotiating' before Li could convince the lich to submit to his wishes.

"A lich?" Azhar's eyes widened. "That ain't right. Whole lot of em' got wiped out couple hundred years ago. Only undead that roam round' now are basic zombies and skeletons, but even then, proper burial's got most of their numbers out too."

"Such is the arrogance of mortals."

 The atmosphere in the room changed. All the beastwomen and humans aside from Azhar froze like puppets with their strings held taught. A distinct chill settled through the air. 

A maelstrom of purple and black energies swirled behind Li and Azhar, and from the chaotic portal emerged a man dressed in a deep purple suit. He was a little old, perhaps middle aged, but seemed healthy enough. A monocle covered one of his amethyst eyes, and a lengthy, white dotted beard and moustache drooped from his mouth. 

Overall, the look of a refined academic.

"I have been expecting you two," said the man as he cracked his neck, a crackle of magical energy surging from the movement. 

Azhar instantly got onto his feet and darted back to make distance. He withdrew his enchanted bow and nocked an arrow. "Yer right. This guy ain't no joke. I can feel he's somethin' else, unlike anythin' I've faced before."

Li nodded at the disguised lich. "Great. Now I don't have to waste time tracking you down."