Chapter 21: Ancient Tomb of the High King.

“Papa!! There’s a pillar over there!”

“Good spot Rose! Now, shoot your vine hold across towards that pillar. We will swing to it!”

Both of us barely made it before the humongous axe cleaved the pillar that we were on, cleanly in half. She might be small and weirdly looking, but I could not underestimate her strength. It looked funny though; as a fully grown man holding to a Mandragora look-alike on its back. But not for long.

Flying mid-air, being pulled by Rose’s Vine Hold skill had left the two of us vulnerable. Popo was right; this monster was indeed fast. At 100 feet tall, the monster; God’s Wrath immediately twisted his body, changed the holding arm and swiped the axe across us while we were still in mid-air.

Afraid that it might hit us, I instinctively let go of Rose. That made her immediately pulled towards the pillar faster than having me holding on her. I took this opportunity to actually fell back albeit awkwardly but having missed the blade by the breath of my neck.

“Damn, fighting in the dark is no good. I could not get its attention away fast enough. What else could I do?”

Having separated from Rose, she was waiting for my next order. For now, she was safe as the titan corrected his stance and let out a low but deep grunt, focusing on me instead. Its reach was huge indeed, at 120 feet once it swung it axe fully. I could never run away fast enough or dodge its attack continuously. The broken pillars were the result of my earlier efforts and the rubbles that flew around served as a reminder; I must never get hit by any of those. We had been jumping and flying from one pillar to another pillar as how I had been instructing Rose. Attacking it in any way was useless.

*Invulnerable*

*Invulnerable*

*Invulnerable*

Three times of futility were more than enough. Because of that, my plan had changed and my role currently was simple but not easy; avoid being hit and led this big fellow away as far as possible from the rest.

But for now, we were at an impasse. I did not dare to make a move. Breathing as slowly as I could, I tried to gauge his patterns of movements. In the dark, all I could rely on was my sense of hearing and foreboding learned through my real combat experience. If I were to see its axe, it would be either too late for me or too close for my comfort.

“Rose, extend your vines throughout the whole area. Smear on it the items I gave you earlier.” Once I uttered my words, God’s Wrath moved yet again, attacking me head on. I felt the chilly wind within the darkness as the hair of the back of my neck stood up straight.

A sickening wind sound came from above. I could feel a sense of dread and instinctively, I rolled to my left as the giant axe hit the ground with a cracking thunderous boom. But before I could even stand up, yet another one of those chilly piercing wind came. This time, it tried to stomp me with its giant stone feet. Though I avoided being crushed, the effect took my balance out as I was thrown to the other side of the wall.

*Lost 1000 HP*

*Lost 500 HP*

With just a wind graze and the force of hitting the wall, I was now left with approximately less than half of my HP. This could never be good. Without the buffs from Mimi earlier, it could be worse than this. One or two more hits and I would be dead. Confirming my earlier suspicion, even if I as much as lifted my finger, the monster would attack me relentlessly. And its detection range was so huge that if the others were to come out and run to the door, with just a single swing at this current location, he could have cleaved the whole lot of them in half easily.

Wiping the blood from my forehead and lips away, I stood up yet again for one more round of fighting in this darkness. Looking towards the darkness behind the God’s Wrath where my party members were hiding; just a little away from where I now stood, I began to calculate own my next move.

Earlier before of this deadly game of the lion toying the rat, we were on the top floor of this hall; a small platform that eventually led down towards the grand hallway by a staircase. From those who could see the surrounding clearly, there were many huge pillars that supported this weird place and situated at the end of these rows of pillars was our escape route, guarded by this titan. Whether it was true that it was our escape route or not, we would never know either. But we have to try. According to Mimi, there were supposed to be a bunch of more of these titans here, but luckily I had not met any yet.

Unfortunately, it did not move far enough for the rest of the party to run safely. The grand hallway was large, more than 2000 feet in length with a more than a thousand feet in width. For the best chance, I needed to bring this titan to the other side of the hall within the darkness. If the plan were to go smoothly, I must succeed in doing so while not getting myself attack by this guy or detected any one of the others hiding in the darkness. Easier said than done. The odds were stacked against me. But of course, I would not have it any other way.

*Oi, pretty boy!!! You better get your gold coins ready. You are going to the bloody lose the bet!!!”

I shouted out loud but I just received the silent treatment. He betted that I would lose to this God’s Wrath and get myself killed or having my plan failed. I wished he could just shut up earlier. Betting against me was a very bad idea.

The God’s Wrath yet again attacked me, spurred by my sudden shout as I avoided his attack. Yet again, the attacks were not slow nor laborious. It was swift, fast and decisive. Not bad for a supposed to be a 100 feet golem. And the pattern yet again repeated. Any movements or sounds I’d made, it would attack me with various attacks and then stopped altogether. It was being reactive to me. But being in the pitched black darkness was not helping me either.

Suddenly, while I was still planning my next move, I could feel a poke on my ankle. Rose had finished doing what I had ordered her to do just in time. Though I had planned something on to go with her earlier, I was not so sure about the success rate. But better this than nothing. It was now time for Plan Bravo.

*****

The vine tendrils were smeared with my special burning mixture which I had some left from the previous FATE. The fire caught it well and now, as the trails of fire aligned from each of the pillars we once stood, I could see my foe clearly; a knightly shaped titanic golem carrying an axe that sent shivers down my spine. Having seen my foe, it was out dumb luck and sheer insanity that I managed to survive this long.

The moment I burnt the vine tendrils with my extra torch, the titan attacked me again. This time, the lighting was enough as I could see its axe moving at me from the side now. Trying to cleave me yet again, I ducked myself on time.

“Rose, execute Plan Bravo now!”

Immediately, I turned and ran away. The God’s Wrath, having seen me doing that gave chase. Swinging its axe, I could not outrun the distance it had. All I could rely on was to be a proper cockroach now; avoiding all kinds of its attack while still running like a crazed bastard. Every crevice, every stone, every hole and every opening that I could find to delay my doom was my salvation. The only thing that I could not match a cockroach was the smell it emitted. If I farted, that would just seal the deal though.

Honestly, I haven’t had so much fun since the last time I beat my first Red Dragon in LIXXO four years ago. My adrenaline was pumping and my senses were tingling with excitement. I let out an eerie laugh as my foe tried to stomp me once I passed through between two huge stones. I even had the time to teased Alviss even further. “Oi, pretty boy! Think you could tank better than me?! You better not crapped in your pants. Hahahaha!!!”

While I was being chased, Rose slowly crept towards the opposite side of the grand hallway towards the door where Mimi had marked for us earlier. It was fortunate that the titan did not notice Rose’s movement at all. Once she was there, Plan Charlie would come next. She would need to tell Popo her location via her vine tendrils and once he got that signal, he would need to let me know.

Halfway through the grand hallway, I stopped. The light was a little dimmer now since we only managed to brighten up the other end of the place. However, this was enough. Having seen that I suddenly stopped my movement, the God’s Wrath let out a loud growl and stomped at me. Since I could still see a little better now, I had more than ample time to avoid to its blindside; towards the stomping leg. I just kept running and avoiding its furious stomps. I felt a little pathetic to run and avoid like this without giving a single hit. But for now, pride was not important. What important was Popo’s next command.

*****

“Ghost! We are ready!” Popo shouted at me from the platform. Luckily, the platform was about 500 feet away from the door. Since the beginning, I had moved the monster that guarded the door little by little towards the opposite end. Since we were now at what supposed to be the 1000 feet mark of the grand hallway, another 500 feet further and it would be good enough for them to run in safety.

“Oi, stone face. Stop stomping on me already. Try hitting me for once!” I knew the taunt did not work, but I need to let off some of my steams and make noises. I could not let this monster knew that there were other people here.

I took out my shield and taunted him further, “Come try hitting this little piece of crappy shield, arsehole!” Once I said that, again I turned my back and run. And as I predicted, it did give me a chase yet again.

“Plan Charlie, commence!!!” I shouted at the top of my lung after having avoided a direct hit to my side. Using a stone as a platform to jump, I took a few tumbles forward as it was destroyed with a single blow.

*****

“Hurry, Mimi! You need to decipher the script before Ghost gets here!” Popo was a nervous wreck. The whole party, minus Ghost; who decided that he wanted to play the bait, had now crept slowly towards the door that they first saw. Ghost was distracting them but if they were not careful and make more sounds than needed, surely it would spell trouble for them.

500 feet from where they stood towards the door were not much, but when those five tried to crouch and move, it was like a pregnant turtle moving trying to get a poop. Hazardously slow. Forming a line, it took them about 15 minutes to reach the door before Ghost came shouting the dreaded news.

“WE ARE COMING!!”

*****

“Ohh fuck! Why are they still at the door? Do they have a death wish or something?!” Cursing under my breath, I could not believe my eyes when I saw the whole lot of them standing like a bunch of thieves trying to break a door. The other half of the grand hallway was lighted up properly so I could see each and every one of them.

“Ghost! Buy us some more time! Mimi is having a hard time trying to decipher the Ancient text!” Alviss shouted at me.

“Huh, what?!! What do you mean by decipher???!! Hurry up and run away!!” I shouted at the top of my longs as Alviss replied in a swift manner. “B-But we need more time!!”

“What fucking more time?! We don’t have time! I said 5 minutes, not fucking 15 minutes!!” This was going to be one nasty end for all of us if Mimi did not finish whatever thing she was supposed to do on time.

“Hurry up, Mimi. Hurry!” Miranda was urging the Bunnian on. Wiping her furry forehead, she looked like an anxious wreck. “I know! But this is hard!”

But before long, she mumbled something that I hardly could make out from this distance. “To the Ancient King of yore, I beseech thee…”

“Oi, are you done?!” With less than 500 feet away, this was now or never. A few more seconds and the God Wrath would surely have reached them.

“Let us enter, the undeserving one. Bestow us your kindness to us, your unworthy children.”

“NOW!!!” Not too soon after I shouted, the monster’s incoming axe reached the dangerous point; just within a hundred feet from them. It was then when suddenly, Elly screamed the final verse.

“Let us bathe in your eternal wisdom and strength, O’ Great High King!”

The stone tablet on the door shone and opened the door. Once it was opened, the five of them entered immediately.

“BOOM!!!”

*****

Loud crashes were heard within the grand hallway. The God’s Wrath had slammed himself against the large wall and it shook the whole Forgotten Hall of the Ancient. The vibration was so strong that clouds of smoke and dust formed while rubbles and stones falling all over the monster, pinning it on to the ground for a good while.

“W-we made it…” Alviss was the first to say those words. Feeling relieved, he stood up and checked upon all the members. Miranda laid beside him, looking exhausted while Sophia was lying on top of Elly. Popo and Mimi were with Rose, who was the first to enter and the three of them looking relieved and thankful. Realizing that all of them were saved, now was the first time they could take a proper deep breath. Looking at each other, their faces spoke of how much a close escape it was.

“W-Where’s Ghost?”

Suddenly, all of them were jolted by Sophia’s initial question. Looking around, Ghost was not there with them. Even on their party member list screen, they could not see his name nor his status. As if he had just vanished. Just an empty bar that denoted he was once there.

“D-Did he…” Before Elly could finish her words, she broke down in tears. Sophia too was crying. Alviss, trying to act as coolly as he could, began looking around the new place; a dimly lit room with a stone coffin laid at the end of the room.

An unknown tomb.

The cloud of dust came from beyond the door and making it harder to see properly. However, once it subsided, there was still no sign of their party leader.

“I guessed he did not make it, after all.” Mimi looked dejected. The rest soon follow suit.

“Papa…” Rose whimpered while hugging Elly tightly.

“I-I’m sorry, Ghost. As your Master, I could not even do a thing, po.”

“You are damn right about that, you useless and lazy rabbit!”

Suddenly, a voice came that jolted every one of them within the room.

*****

“GHOST!!” That was the first thing I’d heard before Sophia and Elly came to me like a lioness in heat. I was too exhausted to even do anything. I wished I could have swatted them away like flies instead of being clung like a striptease on a beanpole. Rose made it worse by crawling up to me and having her tendrils all over my lower half.

"Girls..." I could only sigh at the end. I was not too fond of being acted upon like this.

“We thought you were dead!” Alviss came towards me looking a little shell-shocked. “We could not see your name nor status in our screen!”

I just shrugged at him. “It meant that I was on a different map than you guys. Did you folks forget about that?”

“Ughhh…” Looking at him bowed his head down, I highly doubt it that he even considered it.

I tried to push the two girls away but they would not have it. I wondered what was wrong with them anyway. I was just gone for a few seconds. “The reason why we did not pull the God’s Wrath aggro here because we’re in a different zone.” A simple reasoning, but I was sure that it had escaped their mind for a while.

And Mimi was right when she first told us about this door. However, this was no escape pathway. This was another dead end.

“I’m sure we could find our way out of here.” Mimi seemed confident. I hoped she was right about it this time. I could use a rest too.

“This tomb was created using old technologies and concepts that no longer in practice within this Kingdom.” Mimi started to explain to the rest of the team. “The only thing we need to find now is a secret pathway that leads to the outside world that the tomb makers made once they completed their task.”

Whatever, Mimi. We might be safe for now, but we were still trapped.

“I’ll let you and the rest find out about that secret pathway or whatever. I’m resting.” I slumped my body against the wall. Sophia and Elly had not let go of me yet. And I could not be bothered to tell them off.

“Let me heal you, Ghost!” I just nodded at Sophia. She immediately cast a healing skill that healed my HP fully.

“You were in a terrible condition, Ghost. What did you do?” Elly asked. She looked at me without blinking her eyes.

“Nothing. Just surviving. Thanks to Rose too for her help.” Rose purred happily when I mentioned her name. She did help me tremendously. Patting her leaves, she cuddled up next to me.

While I was resting, the rest took their time looking for that secret pathway that Mimi mentioned. Every nook and corner, they gave their best to locate what might constitute a secret pathway. Whatever that may be. However, their attempt ended in futility.

“Blast it!! We had spent longs hours looking for anything that resembled a secret pathway, but… but…” Alviss finally lost his cool and curses much to my pleasant surprise. So the pretty boy could no longer hold himself, huh?

“This is a tomb, right? Shouldn’t there be any treasures alongside that stone coffin?” I nonchalantly reminded him.

But Alviss was not amused. “You are still talking about treasures at this moment?”

”Yeah, that’s a good reason why a tomb was created. Whose tomb is this, Mimi?” I asked as Mimi walked to the other side of the room, inspecting the tapestries.

“King Alderon Thoran the First. Founder of the Kingdom of Asgardia.”

“So, is he a hoarder?” Yet again with the question, but this time Mimi had realized something.

“Now that you mentioned it, I don’t see any treasures anywhere. Just plain empty, mouldy and dimly lighted room and that…”

Suddenly, a soft sound was heard that froze all of us in fear. Instead of a secret pathway, Alviss triggered a trap by unknowingly stepped on a tile near the stone coffin. The wall suddenly shook and from it, came a few golems that looked like the previous monster I faced. Every one of us gulped hard. We were really in deep shits.

Each of the Stone Guardians was at level 150 and they were no pushovers. None of us was even above level 55 and facing enemies that tripled our level was a certain death. Not to mention in this small room where the movements would be severely hindered. However, to our pleasant surprise, our two new guests were more than capable. We were told not to get our hands dirty. Feeling doubtful, we nonetheless just watched while maintaining our stances.

Lo and behold, the Stone Guardians were smashed into bits before our eyes.

After they had disposed of the last of the Stone Guardians, only then did I knew that Popo was level 250 and Mimi was at level 235. That realization made my jaw dropped. The lazy rabbit was not who he seemed to be.

“If it not because of the kobolds took our friends as hostages first and threatened us with their lives, we wouldn’t need to have people looking for us, po!” Popo, as he introduced himself, was the Royal Sword Meister while Mimi was the Royal Scholar.

“You never told me anything, Popo.”

“Such life had been forgotten a long time ago, Ghost. After 75 years in the service of the throne, the last one being the late King, His Majesty King Aldemarac Thoran, we decided to retire into obscurity.” Mimi answered it for him.

“What? 75 years? How old exactly are you two?”

“Po! Never ask a Bunnian their age. But I’ll have you know, I’m 125 years old and my wife…” Before he could complete his words, Mimi smacked him on the head.

“Never reveal a lady’s age, you lazy rabbit!” Mimi looked at him disapprovingly. Guessed Mimi now took a liking to what I called her husband.

“Well, that aside, what do we do now?” Sophia, who sat next to me all the time looking after me asked next.

“Uhmmm guys? I think I had found something… on the stone coffin.” Suddenly, we heard a call from Miranda.

All our eyes focused immediately on the stone coffin at the end of the room. I immediately stood up and paced myself towards the object and stared at it intently. Seemed too good to be left alone intact.

With a big wide grin, I ordered Miranda and Alviss each to take a side next to me.

“Blasphemous! You cannot do that, Ghost!” Mimi shouted at me but I waved her away. I was not interested in some dead people’ legacy.

“To defile a High King Tomb, what more of our Founder is sacrilege! I can’t have that!” Mimi was still insistent that I lay my hand down but I was having none of it.

“Too bad you don’t get to decide it, Mimi. I’m the party leader.”

“B-But…” Mimi whimpered a little but I was right. Looking around, she wanted the others to convince me not to do anything sacrilegious. But before that could happen, I reasoned out with her.

“Look at it this way. If you don’t escape, you might be resting in peace together with your Ancient High King. Do you want that?” I paused as I tapped the stone coffin lid.

“Whatever inside this coffin might be our way out. So, would you prefer to escape first and then come back here sometime later and make a record of it with other archaeologists?”

It did not take much to convince her. “I-I guess you are right. B-But… I’ll not allow even a damage to it.”

“Alright, we will not destroy anything, but we will take whatever treasures we find, alright?” With bated breath, Alviss, Miranda and I pushed to stone coffin lid aside and peered into it.