Our Family Has Fallen

Chapter 68: Chapter 68: Collector’s Showroom_1

The bomb exploded less than a meter in front of Lance. Even though he had used the Collector’s body as a shield, the intense explosion flipped it over, dragging him into the fray as well. He could feel something hitting his body.

At the same time, the invisible impact made his ears ring. The intense disorientation turned his brain to mush. His sole thought was that he definitely wouldn’t be this reckless again.

”My Lord... are you alright, My Lord...”

”Quick... drag him out first!”

”Take off the helmet.”

Lance saw light before his eyes and several shaking afterimages. He also heard intermittent shouts beside his ear.

Feeling something dragging him, his consciousness returned. He immediately used [Bless] to clear the negative status.

”Quick... help me up!”

Lance staggered to his feet. The first thing he wanted to know was whether the Collector was dead.

The others hurriedly supported him over to the Collector’s corpse. Seeing that its head was completely disconnected from the spine and that the artifacts in its body had finally ceased to react, he relaxed his tense nerves.

”Let go of me.”

Lance sat directly on the ground and placed his hand on the Collector’s corpse, activating the ability [Sacrifice]. The bomb-torn body was gradually devoured by the Void. Seeing this, Lance finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Another abomination expelled from our land...

But soon, his attention was pulled elsewhere. He saw that the [Tribute] returning from the Void did not merge into his body but instead flowed towards the broken skull. Under the influence of a bizarre power, the skull changed incessantly until it finally dropped to the ground.

Huh? Does this count as a gear drop?

Lance bent down and picked up the item on the ground. It was a bone ring with an extremely odd design: the ring’s face was a skull, and the band was formed by spine-like bones entwined with tentacles.

Dismas and the others couldn’t see these details. They only saw the Collector’s body vanish and a small object fall to the ground, which their Lord then picked up. He seemed to fall into deep thought over it.

Soon, they saw Lance put the ring, which exuded an eerie aura, on his hand.

”My Lord?”

The others voiced their concern, but Lance reassured them with a raised hand.

”I’m fine. The Divine Revelation’s blessing protects me from all evil interference. I’m just studying this.”

As he spoke, Lance sank back into silence, his consciousness now focused on the ring.

The series of recent battles, from the alpha wolf to the Collector, had consumed a significant amount of the [Tribute] he had painstakingly collected from the bandits.

He had thought that the Collector, being so strong, would grant a substantial amount of [Tribute]. Yet, it turned out that only this small object remained.

Lance didn’t know why, but as he held it, he vaguely understood the item’s purpose.

Or rather, using the ring as a ”key,” his consciousness entered an indescribable place.

[Collector’s Showroom]

These words appeared on the panel. Lance immediately understood, his face lighting up with ecstatic joy.

A dimensional ring! A Divine Artifact!

Any slight dissatisfaction he had felt earlier was swept away. He would have been willing to pay extra for this, let alone have the [Tribute] deducted.

Lance’s consciousness eagerly scanned the space. Unfortunately, he couldn’t perceive its specific size; all around was profound and boundless darkness.

Within this space were some odd and curious items. However, Lance’s attention was immediately drawn to a stone box engraved with ancient characters. Regrettably, now was not the time to study it.

Lance’s consciousness withdrew. Seeing the various expressions of those around him, he couldn’t help but explain with a smile,

”This is an Extraordinary item. With the power of the ring, one can enter a mysterious space. Simply put, it’s like a backpack you can put things into.”

As he spoke, Lance raised the short sword in his hand, stored it in the [Collector’s Showroom], and then retrieved it.

To Dismas and the others, it seemed as if the short sword vanished into thin air one second and reappeared the next.

This magical scene filled them with amazement.

Lance appeared very relaxed, but in truth, there was one thing he hadn’t told them.

After equipping the [Collector’s Showroom], a new trait appeared on his panel.

[Collector’s Gaze]: The Collector wandering through the Void has noticed you and longs to possess your head.

Simply put, this trait meant that his chances of encountering a Collector in the future would increase.

It was hard to say whether this trait was negative or positive. Collectors didn’t really pose a threat to him; the difficulty they faced this time was entirely due to being unprepared and lacking information.

With the experience from the first encounter, handling them would be much easier. If every Collector dropped equipment, he could rightly be called a philanthropist.

However, the issue was that a Collector’s strength might not be uniform. Just as there are ordinary people and Extraordinary humans, encountering an exceptionally strong Collector could possibly end in disaster.

Not to mention, if a Collector suddenly appeared during a fight with other enemies, the situation would become troublesome. He might have to start over.

So, this trait should probably still be considered negative. However, Lance was unwilling to give up such useful equipment.

He would keep it for now. There shouldn’t be any problems.

”The battle has ended. Everyone, relax a bit.”

Lance raised his hand, casting a spell on them to help ease their tense emotions and the pressure built up from the fight.

It had to be said that the Collector’s appearance had disrupted his plans. Fortunately, he had managed to resolve it in the end. Otherwise, if a few had gone mad or if there had been a team wipe, who knew if there would have been another chance to try again?

”My Lord, is this also an Extraordinary item?”

Having witnessed the ring’s magic, they no longer showed any aversion to such items. Dismas even drew a comparison, pointing to an item on the ground.

It was the headpiece the Collector had been wearing. The previous explosion had shattered the skull into several pieces, but this metallic, cage-like headpiece remained undamaged.

Lance reacted by picking it up. The item was very simple; it had no inscriptions or special patterns. What made it special was its material. It wasn’t ordinary metal, for if it were iron, it wouldn’t be so light, nor could it have remained undamaged after the explosion.

Moreover, it definitely wasn’t a torture device, as it was finely polished. Nobody would waste time polishing torture equipment.

The only certainty now was that Aberrant Demons themselves had no ability to forge metal objects. This meant the item must have been crafted by someone using some kind of Secret Technique to imbue it with a certain power.