Chapter 489: Act 237 – The Underground Tomb
The entrance to the tomb is near the bottom of the valley, where several broken columns stand among dense shrubs, overgrown with vines. If one does not observe closely, they would think it was just green rock. However, Brendel believes the tunnel dug by the mercenaries is quite professional; he often excavated such tunnels himself in the past, a task traditionally done by warriors, and he can be considered quite adept at it.
He took a brief look and noticed the stone of the columns was severely corroded, with intricate small patterns resembling writing. These inscriptions were neither in Cruz’s language nor in Elven, suggesting they likely came from the history of the mountain dwellers; before the Silver Elf Empire and the Erluin Kingdom consecutively ruled this area, the local natives were indeed the mountain dwellers. This history dates back to before the Saint’s War, which means the tomb could genuinely be quite ancient.
Unfortunately, his knowledge of history is not extensive. His scholarly understanding mainly lies in heraldry and noble affairs, knowledge he initially acquired to masquerade as a noble, which now seems like a wasted effort.
Lelian’s apprentice wizards have already chanted spells to create magical orbs, and the group enters the tomb. The stifling air of the crypt has long since escaped, but a lingering scent of decay remains. The lighting is dim, and they make their way into a tomb chamber, where they begin to see rows of side wall niches filled with skeletal remains, some of which have already been disturbed.
The card in Brendel’s hand was found within these niches, but he sensed nothing through it. Instead, a faint magical essence emanated from ahead, causing a flicker of excitement in his heart. Charles lagged slightly behind to walk beside him, with Xi and Juliette on either side. The female mercenary captain pressed her hand on her longsword, her emerald eyes glowing with a fiery intensity in the magical light. Xi tightly gripped her spear, calmly watching for any movement in the darkness through her amber eyes.
The smell of decay grew stronger, sending a wave of discomfort through the group. Romaine clutched Brendel’s hand while his eyes sparkled with a mix of excitement and fear, darting around anxiously.
The accumulated dirt within the crypt has been cleared away, and soon light appears ahead. As they approach, Brendel discovers a large onyx barrier, shimmering with rows of runes, thick in the center and tapering on both sides, clearly indicative of some magical wall.
“Is this the magical protection?” he asked, glancing back.
“Yes, Lord. We have tried various methods but have been unable to dismantle this protection,” Lelian quickly replied.
No wonder; this spell is the Chaotic Crystal Barrier, a sixth-ring arcane spell, requiring the caster to be at least a level forty wizard. It would indeed be strange for Lelian’s apprentices and rogue sorcerers to dismantle it.
“Can you break it?” Brendel turned to Charles.
“Easy,” Charles responded nonchalantly. “Now?”
Brendel nodded.
The young wizard apprentice began to chant. He extended his hand to lightly touch the magical wall. Centered on his fingertip, a black hole appeared on the onyx barrier, rapidly expanding until the entire magical wall disintegrated into nothingness.
The tomb fell silent for a moment.
“Easy. The caster should only be a sixth-ring wizard,” Charles concluded. He is a seventh-ring master, and a one-ring discrepancy makes all the difference.
“This spell does not seem like protection; it resembles a seal,” Brendel said.
“Why?” Charles asked in confusion.
“Because the Chaotic Crystal Barrier is a highly defensive spell, more akin to preventing external objects from entering. If it were purely protective, it would at least have some offensive capability.”
Charles, of course, did not know that Brendel had encountered numerous defensive spells like this set in underground cities. “You know about this spell, my lord?”
“Of course. After all, I am a Highland Knight,” Brendel replied dismissively.
Now it was Charles’s turn to feel a pang of bitterness.
He knows that the master standing before him is not a true Highland Wizard—
Yet everyone around them firmly believes that only a Highland Knight would parade around with a wizard apprentice and possess such profound knowledge of mysterious magic.
After breaking the magical barrier, Brendel continued to lead the group forward, this time more cautiously. Seals differ from protections; protections are inherently dangerous, whereas seals imply unknown dangers lurking within the tomb.
Moreover, seals often carry a mystique; in all of Erluin, there are not many places used to suppress evil spirits. The most renowned is Ampere Seale’s underground public tomb.
Yet another crypt.
Brendel felt that today was truly a day of misfortune.
Behind the luminous barrier lay a vast crypt, illuminated by a pale glow, where more than a dozen stone pillars silently stood in the dark, cloaked in silence and draped in cobwebs. In this dusty world, aside from the dense side niches, many stone sarcophagi were also present in the center of the hall.
According to the barbarian’s customs, these should belong to higher-status individuals entombed. Brendel used a detection spell to scan the entire hall, noticing three or four flickering points in the corners, but none were fate cards.
Even putrid meat is still meat; after all, low-level dungeons can also yield good things.
He pointed out the locations, and the wizards immediately began searching the room. But unbeknownst to them, someone must have disturbed something. Suddenly, a series of cracking sounds echoed in the silent hall, and Brendel soon saw several dark figures pushing open the lids of the sarcophagi and crawling out.
“It’s tomb ghouls!” the wizard apprentices cried, their faces turning pale.
Tomb ghouls are a variant of ghouls, undead creatures at level 27, their strength nearly peaking at black iron. Moreover, beings killed by them will rapidly turn into undead derivatives, making them one of the most fearsome entities to encounter within dungeons.
Watching the apprentice wizards panic in fright, Brendel couldn’t help but recall his first adventure. The scene in the dungeon had been so vividly terrifying that he and his friends had fled in terror from a monstrous beast.
Reflecting on the past, he couldn’t help but chuckle softly.
But on the other side, Charles felt nothing but shame at this scene; these wizard apprentices were considered his subordinates, and their utter disgrace naturally reflected on him.
“What’s all this chaos!” he finally snapped, “Do you want to die messily?”
Only then did the wizards react. The tomb ghouls had already climbed to the ceiling, hiding among the dark wooden beams above, making it impossible to see where these monsters had gone.
Unbeknownst to which wizard first raised a Mage’s Wall, the hall sprang to life with various barriers, stone armor, water shields, and light walls.
“Light the magical orbs!” Lelian commanded immediately.
Several magical orbs flew to the ceiling, and although tomb ghouls preferred lurking in the shadows before launching surprise attacks, this time they could find no refuge. Their hunched bodies were illuminated by the light, and they immediately screeched in distress.
“Six… seven, eight, there are eight of them!”
The wizards began to cast their spells as the ghouls leapt down. A few were toppled to the ground, and although the ghouls’ sharp teeth couldn’t pierce their shields momentarily, chaos ensued.
Xi fixated on the monsters and hurled her spear, skewering three of them against the opposite wall. Juliette charged into the fray; her strength was on par with the middle ranks of silver. While she may not have excelled under Brendel’s employment, she had more than enough skill to handle these level 27 undead beings, and in no time at all, she stabbed each of the ghouls attacking Charles’s mages through the skull.
The remaining two ghouls attempted to retreat deeper into the tomb, but the waiting wizards were not about to let them escape. A myriad of magical arrows, ice, fire bolts, and electric claws struck them, causing their bones to shatter into pieces.
The spectacle was so grand that Brendel could only stare in awe.
Charles could only wipe the sweat from his forehead.
The battle started quickly and ended just as fast. A few skeletons began to rise from the nearby side niches. When these skeletons stood, Brendel might have felt a bit flustered back in the Jirande tomb, but here, even his lamest mercenaries could easily dispatch them.
Once the fight concluded, the wizards retrieved several magical amulets from the locations Brendel had pointed out—trinkets of alchemical grade meant to fend off evil. These items no longer appealed to Brendel, so he handed them directly to the accompanying wizard apprentices, eliciting rounds of cheers.
Finally, a magical longsword presented to him made Brendel pause slightly. The sword was a deep red, crystalline like onyx, with a pair of fire ravens on the guard—a visibly rare treasure.
He recognized this magical sword—”Tongue of the Fire Raven”—a brass-level magical longsword of decent quality, notable for its ability to unleash a fiery whip; in the early game, it was indeed considered a rare item.
Noticing that Juliette had yet to find a fitting sword, he simply passed it on to her.
“My lord?” Juliette was momentarily stunned, surprise evident as she accepted the longsword. In this era, low-magic items were commonplace, but anything above brass level was a true treasure. She knew Brendel owned the Earth Sword, but this sword could be kept for those closer to her; she hadn’t expected Brendel to unhesitatingly gift it to her.
She gently caressed the sword’s body with a sense of longing; no swordsman could resist a fine sword, especially one this good. “Thank you; I will cherish it,” Juliette said earnestly.
But Brendel hardly thought twice about it; to him, brass-level gear was just an ordinary magical item. Seeing Juliette as part of his team, he wouldn’t hesitate to give her even a silver-level sword if it suited her.
At that moment, a wizard scouting ahead rushed back, breathless, saying, “L-Lord, there’s a tomb chamber up ahead.”
Seeing the disgraceful display of these apprentices, Charles turned his face away, pretending not to notice. Of course, he was now thinking about how to properly train them when they returned.
He felt he might have been too lenient before.
“A tomb chamber?” Brendel, unfazed by the apprentices’ behavior—he had been even worse on his first adventure—felt a strange sense of familiarity when seeing these wizards; it reminded him of encountering noobs in the game.
Amber Sword was a very lively game, always filled with newcomers and rookies.
“Yes, a tomb chamber. There’s no other path behind!”
“Is this really the end?” Brendel was taken aback; he hadn’t expected the tomb to be so short, but it made sense upon reflection. There were indeed many small dungeons like this in the past game.
After all, this was a tomb, not a labyrinth; not every tomb needs to be compared to the public tomb in Ampere Seale. Amber Sword primarily aimed for a commitment to realism.
“What is this tomb chamber like?” he asked again.
“In there, there’s a big stone sarcophagus,” the wizard apprentice said with an unremarkable tone, “and many of those cards.”
… (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, please visit Qidian (qidian.com) to cast your votes and monthly support; your support is my greatest motivation.)
