Chapter 229: [229] Tomb Raiders (1)
Chapter 229: [229] Tomb Raiders (1)
The moment the puzzle was complete, the treasury suddenly began to vibrate, and then a bright light bathed the room.
That was how Eliron found himself staring at a seemingly endless space...
He was in a dark hallway. The air smelled damp, oddly similar to wet concrete, and the hall seemed to stretch on endlessly.
There were blue magic crystals every three feet or so that gave off a dim blue light. Although they were present, they only did the bare minimum of allowing them to see, nothing more than that.
Strangely, the hall was pretty wide. Ten Ash’s could probably lie down in a straight line and they still wouldn’t reach the end (from side to side), and it was even taller.
"Was this place made for giants or something?" He joked. "Or maybe two hundred feet long snakes, heh, now that would be a sight for sore eyes."
Alex gave him a blank stare from where he stood, his eyes looking wary. "Please don’t make those types of jokes Eliron, are you trying to invite calamity upon us?"
Eliron noticed that he had by himself dropped the honorifics, which was much appreciated. If he had to hear ’lord’ throughout this journey he would run mad.
"So where are we right now?" Alex asked, walking towards the wall to inspect it.
Eliron shrugged. "We are where we need to be." He was not purposely trying to be vague, the truth was that he had no idea.
Much of what happened after the prince and the mc solved the puzzle was done off screen.
The author decided that it was the best time to show the readers the war, and then the MC did a heroic entrance like seven Chapters after....
"Eliron!" Alexander’s distressed voice suddenly came. Eliron glanced at his direction, he was running his hands though the wall, his eyes as wide as saucers.
The wall was a deep shade of blue and there were small shimmering crystals that resembled sand mixed up with it.
"This is—"
"Anti magic, yes." Eliron nodded, completing his sentence for him. He had sensed it from the moment they got warped into this hall.
Anti magic was a type of natural rock that was not just extremely rare to find, but very expensive.
The rock was like a black hole that hungrily devoured mana, after absorbing it, it would release this stored mana as light.
In a way, even these rocks were following the law of conservation of mass. Most of the things in this world followed this law.
Since the rocks did not have infinite storage, the way they dispersed mana was by this conversion, turning it to light, a useless form of energy to mages.
"Want to see something really cool?" Eliron asked as he walked up to the wall.
He placed his hand on it and channeled his mana into the stone.
The anti magic greedily drunk up his mana, then all around them, the minute crystals began to shine, illuminating the room.
It was like a sea of stars nestled in the dark blue sky. For a few seconds, Eliron just stared at it in awe, taken in by the beauty.
He did not even care that the stone was sucking harder than a midnight whore.
"This is nice isn’t it?" Eliron glanced at Alexander.
Alex sighed. "I cannot deny its beauty, my friend, but shouldn’t we be a little more worried?"
"Hmm? Why should we?"
"We can’t use magic! That means we are stuck here, without direction, defenceless, and waiting to be eaten by some godforsaken monster!" Alex massaged his forehead tiredly.
"And who says we are defenceless?" Eliron smirked, tapping his sword with his free hand. "And as for your earlier question.."
Alex was confused at first, but when he stared up at the ceiling, his eyes widened.
Eliron had just channelled his mana on a whim, little did he know that it would show them the first clue they needed.
The stones above them were arranged in a specific way, so when they lit up, they formed words.
— The Great Tomb Of Thalgatheus, the founding king of Donia, the iron shield of salvation.
To those who dare step foot on this holy mountain, you have brought damnation upon yourselves.
Your blood shall cleanse this mountain, and your wails shall echo through this halls till the age of men shall once again pass.
But as for those who are worthy, may these runes be a guiding light, ushering you to the path of redemption. The blessings of your forefathers await you.
Alex slowly turned to stare at Eliron...
Eliron blinked. "What? Too morbid for you?"
The prince let out a dragged sigh. "Did you expect me to be happy when I read that? I could have done better without that information you know?"
Eliron chuckled and pulled his hand off the stone. Once again, the room was plunged into an eerie darkness, but that was not all that happened.
Creak—!
A sharp pulling sound, like chains being dragged against each other, reached their ears. The sound echoed from one part of the hall to the other, then suddenly—
BOOOM!
The wall in front of them exploded, sending dust and debris flying across the hallway, and then out of the shattered wall, three gargantuan structures hovered out.
The structures were floating cubes that were made up of multiple smaller cubes, each one of them engraved with dozens of runes.
These numerous floating cubes were all being held together by a core, a round blue orb that sparkled with unhinged energy.
They were each bigger than three carriages combined, yet they were flying with ease.
’For that core to be able to carry such a large body...’ Eliron watched them with great interest.
These were technologies from a bygone era, and yet they fascinated him to no end. There was no doubt about it, whoever built these contraptions were even greater than Dagon the blessed.
’But how are they working in this room?’
Were the devices able to somehow block out the effects of the anti magic stones? Or was it not magic to begin with...
Alex on the other hand, had a very different reaction. "What the hell are those things?!" His eyes widened as he watched them.
Eliron grabbed his sword, twirling it in his hands before grabbing it and unsheathing the black blade.
"They are drones. You might want to stay behind me..."
Alex did not need to be told twice, he immediately hurried behind Eliron, peeking at the drones from behind his shoulder.
One of the drones moved in front of the rest, the cubes around it began to spin, the orb sparking with calamitous energy.
’Does it work like a turbine or some—’
VWOOOSH!
Eliorn was interrupted by a large blue energy beam that flew right at him.
He raised his sword just as the beam pounded into it, the energy dissipating as it gushed past him and Alex.
"Heh? That old scrap bucket really packs a punch." Eliron could feel his sword growing hotter by the second, the energy beam growing even greater.
SWOOOOSH!
The other drones joined in the volley, unleashing their own beams of energy,
Eliron’s feet slid back. Without mana to empower his body, one beam was a lot, but three? Now that wasn’t even fair...
"If you have anything up your sleeve, now will be the perfect time to show it!"
Eliron smirked. "You say it like you do not have secrets of your own."
A strange look flashed in Alex’s eyes, but he said nothing.
’Alright, I think that is enough for the test...’
Now he had managed to gauge the strength of the drones, the easiest way to destroy them would be by going after their cores, but Eliron wanted to keep them intact for research purposes.
It would be harder, but...
He suddenly grabbed Alex’s shirt, the Prince’s eyes widening. "What are you—"
Before he could finish his sentence, Eliron launched him across the room, right towards the drones. "You son of a—"
Eliron dashed to the side, and the beam crashed into the floor, sending chunks of stone flying into the air as it burned a hole into the ground, digging a deep groove in it.
He then raced towards the drones, his eyes locked on their gargantuan forms.
’It is just like I thought...’
These drones... they were not targeting the prince.
Bang!
The floor in front of him exploded and Eliron rushed right through it, he did a flip just as another beam bashed into the floor where he had been, then he raced across the wall by his side, dodging more strikes.
With each explosion, the tunnel shook, and with each blast chunks of anti magic were sent flying into the air.
Then finally, he got close enough to them—
Bang!
The drones unleashed a coordinated strike at point blank range. Eliron raised his sword, his palm resting on one side of the blade as he pushed back against the overwhelming force.
"Three, two, one..."
Suddenly, the beams of energy ceased, the spinning stopped, and the drones hung still in the air.
Eliron laughed as he stared at them. "You know the problem with old tech? You all tend to overheat..."
From how hot the beam was, and the currents that were increasing the longer they kept up their barrage, Eliron could tell it was only a matter of time...
But that did not mean they were now defenceless.
Whooosh!
The three drones suddenly cut through the air like meteors, racing right towards Eliron.
Eliron smirked. "Perfect, come to papa..."
Swish!
His blade flashed, carving multiple sword strokes into the air, and by the time the gargantuan Drones came down, they were nothing but chunks of broken rocks...
Eliron summoned the infinity pouch and glanced at the prince who was watching him with wide eyes.
"What are you doing? These orbs aren’t going to carry themselves..."
Alex stood up, sighed, and dusted his clothes. ’Maybe it would have been better if I never associated with this man...’
Wasn’t there some well mannered hero arranged for him by fate?
"Alex??"
"Coming!"
At that time, little did the two men know that there were far more horrifying things waiting for them in the Great Tomb Of Thalgatheus...
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