Chapter 128: 070. Guardian of the Tomb (Part Two)
**
Whether it was in the past or the present, it seemed to me that folks like emperors and kings just loved to show off their might to the world.
For instance, the ancient pharaohs of Egypt had giant pyramids built for them, while China’s Qin Shi Huang had all those terracotta soldiers made.
And the story seemed to be largely the same for the kings of this world, too. Not only were we inside a giant pyramid, we even discovered relics that kind of resembled a terracotta army in this place.
I raised the torch up and explored the dark interior of the pyramid.
The vibe I got while looking around this place was that it resembled a ‘factory’. From a smithy meant to manufacture various weapons, to a laboratory designed to research magic, and even a workshop to construct siege weapons, etc…
On top of that, there had to be thousands of finished weapons and various other equipment, as well as hundreds of chariots and bones of horses that would’ve towed them, all strewn about everywhere we looked.
Heck, we even spotted several incomplete bits of Cyclops Golems lying around here and there, too.
“For sure, this place is a treasure trove, alright.”
At least it would be for Aslan, considering its foundation was built up on the backs of the Necromancers. Despite thousands of years having passed by, these things still retained their exquisite detailing to this day.
If it was an Aslan noble discovering this tomb, then that lucky individual would’ve become the possessor of an incredible military might.
Even Damon was scanning our surroundings with an entranced expression on his face. “Truly amazing, my lord. Never mind a fallen noble house, an ancient ruin of this calibre should be more than enough to serve as a foundation for a fallen dynasty to rise up once more.”
I took out a jerky from the item window and munched on it. Even while doing that, I couldn’t stop glancing at the bits of the Cyclops Golems lying around. “I wonder, can these things move?”
Damon walked up to one of the statues and closely studied it. “I believe it will be quite difficult, my lord. Not only does it boast a highly complicated architecture, it also demands quite a lot of demonic energy to operate. Unfortunately, I currently have no clue on how to activate it.”
After hearing his brief explanation, I picked up the ‘gemstone’ that belonged to the Cyclops Golem. By now, I had more or less figured out its structure and the flow of magical energy. If it’s the current me, I should be able to bring one of these statues to life.
I knelt down slightly and placed my hand on the statue’s head.
Meanwhile, Hans was looking around the vicinity.
As befitting an Alchemist, his curiosity-filled eyes continued studying and taking in the various relics found inside the structure. His wandering gaze eventually spotted a ‘coffin’ hanging on the nearby wall, and he began tilting his head in puzzlement.
After taking a few steps back, he raised the lit torch even higher.
The light from the torch chased away the darkness around him, revealing a wall’s surface adorned by hundreds, nay, over a thousand coffins as if they were some kind of a macabre decoration.
Hans glanced behind him while an expression of concern gradually formed on his face. “U-uhm, excuse me? C-can you come and take a look at this…?”
Tina heard Hans’s shaky voice and looked at the coffins as well.
Dust blew out from the slightly ajar coffin lid, and a ghostly pair of glares began gleaming sharply underneath.
**
(TL: In 3rd person POV.)
The first things to wiggle and crawl out from the open gap were creepy insects. Almost right after that, a rotting hand shot out from the gap of the coffin.
A creature with glowing eyes was forcibly prying open the coffin lid to emerge from its millenniums-old slumber.
“Damon, it’s an undead!”
Tina’s cry prompted Damon to flinch in surprise, and he hurriedly looked around his vicinity.
As the lids of the thousand-plus coffins opened up, the reanimated corpses began crawling out.
These creatures were called ‘mummies’. Dirty bandages were wrapped tightly around their bodies to hide the rotting flesh underneath. Damon sucked in his cold breath after recognising what those things were.
“Mummies! Were they still protecting the tomb after all this time?!”
He became flustered. Even if this was an ancient ruin, he never guessed that so many guardians would still be active and were protecting the tomb inside.
“Lord Allen!”
Tina hurriedly called out to Allen. But the boy was currently focusing his divinity with his eyes closed. He seemed to be preparing something.
The mummies opened the lids of their coffins located high up on the tall walls and fell hard to the ground with loud thuds. However, they simply shuffled back up to their feet as the creepy glares oozed out from their eye sockets.
The tottering horde of mummies reached out and grasped the weapons hanging on the walls. Even the bones of the dead horses were reanimated into the skeleton horses; the mummies connected a chariot to the numerous four-legged undead and climbed aboard the vehicle.
When the eerie glowing eyes were locked on the quartet of living invaders, the group was frozen stiff in their spots. The mummies’ eyes eventually landed on Allen, who was still injecting divinity into a statue.
He was to be the first target of the undead.
One of the mummies began stumbling forward. At first, its steps were slow but it gradually gained pace, and eventually, it broke into a frenzied leap.
The ends of the bandages tightly wrapped around the creature whipped in the air as the mummy dashed forward. Just before it could take a swing at its target with a sword, Tina stood in the undead’s path.
She injected divinity into her staff and slammed it down on the ground. Withered tree branches broke out from the surface and wrapped around the mummy.
“Damon! We must protect Lord Angel!”
“Understood, my lady!”
Damon rushed towards the bound mummy and smashed it down with his own staff.
Meanwhile, Hans hurriedly hid behind them and began rummaging through his bag once more. “T-the thing that works wonders with the undead… Ah, here it is!”
He pulled out some silver powder and quickly poured it on the ground.
Despite all the commotion taking place around him, Allen continued to keep his eyes closed in silence.
His right hand rested on top of the statue’s head, while his left was holding the gemstone that would’ve served as the Cyclops Golem’s brain.
[Divine Aura has been used.]
He used [Divine Aura] to temporarily enhance the performance of the Golem. He then used [Mind’s Eye] to analyse and detect the flow of demonic energy in the statue.
As if he was reading a skill book in a game, knowledge began flooding into his mind.
And then…
A light flickered within the Cyclops Golem’s lone eye.
[You are now operating a Cyclops Golem.]
[A new skill has been generated.]
-Ku-oooooh!
Two pairs of skeleton horses snorted out as they roughly neighed and dashed forward, flinging away the rows of mummies standing before them. Their target was Allen and his group.
The mummy riding on the chariot raised and pointed a lengthy spear, while the skeleton horses reared up high to stomp down with their hooves.
It was as if the group would get crushed at any given moment now.
The chariot and the horses dashed in too fast, leaving the invaders no time to defend themselves.
“Heot?!”
“Lady Tina, it’s dangerous!”
“Lord Angel, we must protect Lord Angel!”
While Hans was hugging his head in terror, Damon stepped forward before Tina to protect her. Meanwhile, she quickly turned her head behind out of her fear for Allen’s safety, only for a huge hand to brush past her view.
Her eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as she hurriedly looked up. There it was, a huge statue at least five metres tall.
A Cyclops Golem had come to life.
The huge Golem covered in sturdy armour grabbed and tossed aside a pair of skeleton horses, causing the chariot to crash and overturn. The remaining pair struggled mightily. However, the large statue simply stomped on the skeleton horses and the mummy aboard the chariot with its feet and crushed them out of existence.
When the huge Cyclops Golem began making its move, the mummies raised their heads and stared at it.
The lone glow within the huge statue’s eye hole seemed to burn brightly.
“This is the beginning of round two, folks.”
Allen was riding on the statue’s shoulder with an evil grin etched on his face.
A petrification ray exploded out from the Golem and began turning the mummies into stone statues. Countless mummies thrust forward with their spears, but none of them managed to inflict a single scratch on the Cyclops Golem.
Unfortunately, just as the Golem began crushing the mummies by relying on its overwhelming strength…
-Ku-ooooooooooh!
A roar so loud that it threatened to burst everyone’s eardrums rang out from somewhere within the ancient ruin. That monstrous howl contained a dense killing intent.
Tina, Damon, and Hans froze up on the spot in an instant as fear overtook their senses.
A creature was slowly revealing itself from beyond the darkness. A creature so huge that even Allen, who was still riding on the huge statue’s shoulder, had to raise his head to take a good look at it.
By the time all four of them regained some of their wits and peered at the darkness, the massive monster had fully emerged out into the dim light.
A humongous body and equally large bat-like wings, arms and legs thick and muscular enough to easily crush a giant. And then, a pair of horns jutting out from its crown as if to symbolise the majestic aura befitting the mightiest living creature currently in existence.
It was a dragon.
Allen muttered out, “…It’s only round two, yet we’re already facing the last boss?”
The guardian of this ancient ruin was glaring at the human boy as heavy breaths tinged with flames leaked out from its maw.
< 070. Guardian of the Tomb (Part One and Two) > Fin.
