Chapter 88

After defeating the zombie, Al, who had been crouching to hide in the darkness, stood up after a while. He slowly moved his left arm, which had gone numb from the ghost's touch. It seemed the loss of sensation was only temporary, and Al let out a sigh of relief. That must have been the "Chill Touch," a ghost's technique he had heard about. The feeling of loneliness that surfaced in his heart—what would have happened if he had been overwhelmed by that feeling? Shaking his head to dispel the fear, Al stretched and took a deep breath to change his mindset.

He checked the holy water bottle in his backpack as a precaution. It didn't seem to have decreased much. Apparently, it wasn't used up much in a single spray, just like when he drew with ink. He started walking toward the zombie's corpse, remaining vigilant.

"Al, aren't you going back?"

Gry's voice sounded in his ear.

"Hmm, I know how to defeat them now. I won't get another chance to hear the story of the people who built the ancient ruins and explore them. I should explore for future reference."

"Is that so..."

Gry's voice sounded a bit worried. However, Al gathered the zombie's corpse to the side of the path, placed his hand on his chest, and prayed for their peace before returning to his exploration.

Beyond the hall, the entire mountain was a three-dimensional labyrinth. There were many traps, such as spears that shot out and pitfalls. It was so vast that it was hard to imagine how long it would have taken without knowing the correct path in advance. There were also what seemed to be the corpses of grave robbers scattered here and there. Each time he found one, he used a spray spell to draw the symbol of the goddess Ludo, a double circle with a vertical line, on their forehead with holy water and prayed for their peace. He encountered zombies and ghosts, but since he knew how to deal with them, he didn't struggle much and was able to handle them.

After advancing through the three-dimensional labyrinth for about an hour, Al, who had been walking in the darkness, saw a flickering lamp light ahead. According to the information he had, this wasn't a place where he would be outside yet. The lamp light meant there were grave robbers. Al quickly crouched and used the floating eye spell. It was a bit unsettling to use it after a long time, but he didn't experience the dizziness he had the last time. It must have been because he had used it for a long time then. He prepared to escape at any moment, hoping there were no mages among the grave robbers, and slowly moved the transparent eye of the floating eye spell toward the lamp light.

As he got closer, it became clear that there were quite a few lamp lights. The path ahead led to a large room, about 30 meters on each side, similar to the room where he first encountered the zombies and ghosts. There were five large tents set up, making it look like a campsite. Even without seeing inside the tents, there were nearly 50 people outside. They didn't seem to be bandits but rather knights or guards with proper attire.

Next to these tents, flags with emblems were raised. There were several flags, and most of the emblems were unknown to Al, but two were familiar. The four-color flag, divided diagonally with aqua, white, red, and white from top to bottom, was the flag of the Kingdom of Tempest. The other was the flag of the Sun God Pyros, with a yellow circle in a green square. This meant that the group belonged to the Kingdom of Tempest and was also involved with the Temple of the Sun God Pyros. This was a matter far beyond grave robbing. However, why would a country and a temple be involved in a single tomb? Perhaps they didn't know that this was the tomb of the mage Tempest, the ancestor of the Kingdom of Tempest. Maybe undead creatures had emerged from this tomb, and they had come to exterminate them. Or perhaps there was another reason.

Al wanted to gather more information, but the floating eye spell couldn't hear conversations, and if it was a knight group, there was a good chance a mage was with them. Getting too close would increase the risk of being discovered. Al thought it was too dangerous to investigate further. It would be better to consult with Malachi. He dispelled the floating eye spell and hurried back the way he came.

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"…That's how it is."

Breathless, Al entered the tomb chamber and quickly touched Malachi's assistant device, telling him what he had seen. Malachi was shocked and deeply disappointed.

"The descendants of the Kingdom of Tempest defiling the tomb of Lord Tempest..."

"What should we do? It would be best if they gave up in the labyrinth."

Dummy tomb chambers were set up in the three-dimensional labyrinth. There was a possibility they would find one and stop exploring. There were also guardian golems as a final defense line, so there was a chance they could be repelled there.

Malachi thought for a while. Finally, he said:

"Since they are from the Kingdom of Tempest, I don't want to fight. Even if we resist, it would only buy us time. Al, although this is a tomb created by Lord Tempest, I want to move. Do you remember the spell we used to transport my friend's body? Can you use it to move Lord Tempest's remains? Also, do you know of a place where we can avoid being seen?"

Thank you for reading.

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On September 26, 2023, I corrected the odd tone of Malachi's speech at the end.