Double Imposter

I made a few modifications to my mask, the first was the ability to pipe liquids directly into my mouth, mostly so that I could drink water while walking.

The second modification was a second set of lenses that was positioned over the first, these lenses improved sight, hopefully, this would help with my visibility. In the deeper parts.

With my quick modifications finished I had the golems pack up and I set out once again.

It took me about 6ish hours to get back to around where I left off, visibility was about twice as good with the lenses so it was nice to see my modifications work.

After walking for another hour or two I made it into the 4th zone.

At this point, it was less of a walk and more of a climb, the terrain was much steeper although that seemed to be the only change.

Luckily I didnt have to move much further to finally find something interesting.

I had stumbled upon quite the find, a massive and I mean truly massive quartz crystal stood before me.

Luckily there was more than just an oversized crystal, someone or something had carved a castle out of the quartz.

I was debating on how I should enter the castle, I didnt see a door, and climbing the walls just felt like a bad idea especially considering the wind.

I could dig into it, but that would take too long, maybe animation powder would do the trick?

I took out a pouch of animation powder and made sure to apply it to the wall, I did lose some due to the winds but a good portion of it made it to the wall.

I watched as a small portion of the wall turned to dust. These quartz nanites are far more versatile than I first thought.

Their life span is only around 5-10min but their intelligence seems to scale with how many there are allowing for far more versatility than normal golems.

If only I had a method to increase their lifespan then I would have quite the army.

With the wall out of the way, I squeezed my way into the hole, almost getting stuck.

Once I was inside I commanded the golems to seal up the hole and to deactivate sealing the wall shut once more.

The inside of the castle was open to the sky, which was weird considering that the nether didnt have a sky.

What was weirder was that it was raining, it did get weirder though. It was not raining water but blood instead.

"Uhhh taint it is raining blood right, that is also the sky correct? I'm not hallucinating, right?" I asked

"I wish you were hallucinating, but you are sadly correct. This is a new sight even for me." Taint said

As I walked further into the main courtyard I saw a heavily armored warrior approach me. The armor was some iron plate armor and he wore some crimson robes underneath that a symbol that I recognized instantly.

The Crimson Cult.

"Eldrich One we were not expecting another one of your kind so soon, I hope you weren't waiting too long." The knight said gingerly

"No uh, I just uh got here don't worry about it." I hastily responded

"Very good, please follow me I will lead you to your associates." The knight replied while breathing out a sigh of relief

I had no idea what was going on, but I was going to use it to my advantage for now. I really hoped that these other 'Eldrich Ones' that this knight was talking about would be as easily fooled by my appearance as he was.

As I was led down the hall we passed quite a few rooms and with that quite a few cultists. Luckily I had gained a little knowledge about how the eldritch ones were treated while walking.

A lot of the cultists looked afraid of me, some of them looked terrified of me, and a few of them looked at me like I was the one true god.

As we made our way into one of the main rooms I saw a cultist wearing robes approach us.

"Esteemed Eldritch One we were not expecting another one of your kind, may I ask who summoned you?" The robed cultist asked with a hint of fear in his voice

"Better not fuck this up Stella, otherwise we are in a whole hell of a lot of trouble." I heard the taint say

"Nobody summoned me, I came through myself. I was getting tired of dealing with the others and I found your array to be rather interesting." I said in the most demeaning voice I could manage

"We were not aware one such as yourself could open the portal." The cultist said

"You are not aware of quite a lot of things, but because I came unannounced I will help you free of charge just this one time." I said

I was really thankful I had read the Crimson Rights back when I lived in Orario, knowing how the Crimson Cult worked even if only vaguely was extremely helpful.

"That would be most helpful!" The cultist responded, "Please follow me, I will lead you to your associates."

"Let's speed things up shall we, the other one had said the same thing." I said with fake anger in my voice

"Yes of course!" The cultist replied shakily

I was led to one of the side rooms, and upon entering I saw 3 'Eldritch Ones' and just as I had thought they were just like the creature I had fought during the monster festival back in Orario.

Although these Eldritch Guardians were far less deformed compared to the other one I had killed.

"They summoned a fourth, they are quite stupid if they think we are going to help them open that stupid portal." One of the eldritch guardians said

"4th follow us we will show you to the portal site, we need to come up with a plan to kill all these stupid cultists." the 2nd eldritch guardian said

I have no idea what I have gotten myself into do I...

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Word Count: 1033

Stella is hiding among the enemies... It's a shame she is a double imposter. Suggestions and power stones are always welcomed!