LOOTING THE TREASURES

As Lynne and others did their best to conceal their presence, the battle was beginning to truly heat up; although the trio couldn’t see the one that unfolded in the skies, they were still able to sense massive shockwaves that caused their blood to stir. They were certain that if the fight was any closer to them, just a small whiff of that shockwave would be enough to kill all three of them.

Realizing that the ground battle as well has turned completely chaotic to the point where dust storms and winds had covered nearly every inch of the ground, Lynne grit his teeth and motioned Anna and Elynal to follow him. If there ever was an opportunity to sneak in to the tomb, this was it. The battle would still go on for some time, and it was pointless to just wait from the side. Even if they couldn’t sneak it in the end, it was better to try.

From his brief observation of the battle, Lynne had noticed a few things; first was that each person had a preferred element they used the most. He himself though didn’t have one; he could say he preferred fire due to the fact that he was following the Origin Path of a Skyfire Magus, but in reality he wasn’t any more well versed in fire than he was with other elements. He realized that the reason for this preferential treatment was simple: master of one rather than jack of all trades. He’d have to ponder himself on which element to choose quite soon, lest it be too late.

Secondly, he had noticed that individual strength was greatly eclipsed; outside of the Spellweavers who were having a duel, all others were engaged in a group battle, where individual strength didn’t matter much. Even the Vanguard of the flame-clad group wouldn’t be able to persist alone on the frontline without the support of the rear. Each time someone would attack his blind side, someone from the rear would cover it. It was a battle of formations where individuals had no room to shine, despite their strength.

This proved Lynne’s initial ideas about Magic: regardless of talent, individual strength always had a peak. Past that peak, it was nearly impossible to climb. While it was easy to showcase one’s strength in a duel, battling groups – even if they were individually weaker – was nigh impossible for a single person. This was due to disparity of elements. One had absolutely no chance of being master of each element, and would always have an exploitable weakness. For instance, flame-clad group’s Vanguard; his defensive capabilities were probably unmatched by anyone within the two groups, but as he was mostly using earth-based Arts that are known for their defensive strength, he was rather vulnerable to someone who focused on speed, thunder or water. This was where his backline came into play.

Thirdly, Lynne had noticed that these people rarely used actual Spell Arts, and that they mostly created spells on the spot. It was reasonable, as it was impossible to have a Spell Art for every situation. This had caused Lynne some pain; he had already learned a lot of Spell Arts, but his understanding of them was miserable. His battle prowess was extremely low because he rarely fought, thus his moment-to-moment reactions suffered. In addition, it was clear that whenever Spell Art was used, the caster had immense understanding of it, unlike Lynne who barely had a basic understanding of his own. Regardless of how talented he was, Lynne realized, he was sorely lacking compared to others. Just in the terms of Mana reserves, he barely had 20% of what the weakest among the two groups had. How could he possibly face off against them?

Lastly, Lynne had realized that nearly everyone who fought in melee used weapons that corresponded with their preferred element. For instance, that Spellweaver from the flame-clad group wielded a diamond spear, while a Physical type from the green-clad group wielded a pair of massive, metal gauntlets. Lynne, of course, had his Elemental Blades, but his swordsmanship was terrible, and he wasn’t too keen on that fighting style either. He realized he also needed to find a personal weapon that suited him best, and evolve Elemental Blades to be used as a ranged attack.

These understandings helped him greatly, but now was not the time for him to comprehend them completely. The trio scuttled along the edge where the forest hadn’t been burnt, in a half-crawling stance, but still maintained decent speed. Within a span of ten breaths, they had found themselves at the most advantageous angle from the entrance; as they were forced to retreat back due to the sheer size of the fighting field, the entrance now was whooping 400 meters away from them. It was simply impossible to run over there without being spotted; what’s more, the green-clad group’s rear was roughly 150 meters away from their current position.

“I have an idea,” the monkey suddenly spoke as the others sunk into deep contemplation. “But it’s kind of insane.”

“Yours is merely insane,” Anna said, smiling bitterly. “Mine is impossible. Just say it.”

“I can create a spacial array between two points at this distance,” the monkey said. “However, the moment you guys transport through it, every single creature within the radius of ten kilometers will feel the spacial fluctuation and be alerted. I had already scouted the entrance: it is buried roughly 100 meters beneath the ground, and it is impossible for me to unearth it in a short period of time.”

“When we transport there,” the monkey continued solemnly. “We’ll have less than five seconds where no one will bombard us with spells.”

“Ugh…” Lynne felt a splitting headache from the proposition, but it was probably the best one they could come up with. “Bird, how confident are you in your speed?” Lynne asked the Ice Phoenix who was still resting lazily on his shoulder.

“I can easily escape everyone except those two monsters,” the bird replied honestly. “However, majority of people here can easily wound me, so if I’m struck, it’ll be a solemn bye-bye for all of us.”

“… how the hell did we stumble on such dogshit luck?” Elynal groaned. “It took me months to find this place, yet it just so happens that two other groups managed to do the same? Give me a break!”

“They probably have no idea what this place is,” the monkey explained. “However, spacial fluctuations from the natural treasures are simply too strong. It is possible that those two monsters felt them, which is why they came to this place.”

“Furthermore,” Lynne interjected. “There are probably some traps within the tomb. And, considering it’s a high-ranked Magus Tomb, I have no doubt they are pretty complex.”

“Should we just wait for the to open it and then send the monkey in to pick up whatever he can?” Anna proposed.

“It wouldn’t work,” the monkey shook his head. “Although I can conceal my presence, the moment I’d pick up anything worth a damn, those two monsters would feel it.”

“Bird,” Lynne suddenly asked. “How sensitive you are to presence of other creatures?”

“Hm?” the bird’s eyes flashed with the hint of understanding. “You’re thinking that the tomb has a beast Guardian?”

“Yeah,” Lynne nodded. “However, if it doesn’t…”

“Even if it has, at best it would be Nine Evolutions one,” the bird said. “Forget the two monsters, even those four beneath them would be able to deal with it easily.”

“Aah, why is this so complicated? Just when I thought I’d stumble onto treasure box, snake comes out and bites my crotch off…” Lynne grunted as his eyes became watery.

“….”

“….”

“….”

“What?” Lynne asked, confused. “It’s a saying.”

“It’s not.”

“Sure is.”

“Shut up.”

“….”

“Should we just leave this place? The risk is just too high…” Anna said worryingly.

“There’s another way,” Elynal said in a low voice, as if uncertain himself. “We could just dig our way from here to the entrance.”

“Damn!!” the monkey exclaimed. “How the hell didn’t I think of that?!”

“Would that work? Wouldn’t they feel our Mana? There’s no way we can dig without it!” Anna questioned.

“Considering the scale of this battle, our minuscule Mana wouldn’t draw much attention,” Elynal said, but he himself had some doubts. “At this distance, it should take me roughly five minutes to dig my way through to the entrance. Seeing how the battle is unfolding, there’s no way it would end that quickly.”

“Hm,” Lynne nodded. “If things turn sour, we’ll just bolt away on the bird. I doubt that those two monsters will pay attention to bitch-like weaklings like us.”

“….”

“….”

“….”

“Start digging.” Lynne said with a mischievous smile.

Their idea was actually quite sound, and Elynal began digging immediately. He tried to constrain his Mana as much as possible, but even if he didn’t, no one had luxury of keeping their eye out on the surroundings in the heat of a battle. As such, the group of five slowly began digging their way through earth, dwelling deeper and deeper, until they started moving horizontally towards the entrance.

Lynne had lit up a few spheres of fire that illuminated the narrow tunnel. They had already hid the entrance, so as long as their Mana wasn’t discovered, they’d be able to enter the tomb unrestricted.

Roughly six minutes later, Elynal suddenly stopped digging as his gauntlet clashed against something firm and metal; unearthing it a bit, they saw a staggeringly large doors, but it wasn’t actually completely closed; the entrance was opened a few inches, but even so, they’d have to pour massive amounts of effort if they were to open it any further.

Elynal, as one with the strongest physical body, had to do this as well. Grunting, he grabbed one of the doors and pushed it back, veins popping out on his youthful body. Inch by inch, the doors squeaked as they opened, until there was just enough room for a person to squeeze through. Excited, the trio immediately began squeezing one by one, until they entered.

Before them was a massive hallway, fifty meters wide, with pillars supporting the ceiling. The floor was tiled white, and the walls were built out of red bricks, completely empty. Having no moment to spare, the trio increased their speed, but still kept their eye out for the traps.

However, after traveling almost two hundred meters in, they encountered no trap, but instead found themselves in front of the four entrances. As there were three of them, they decided to enter one entrance each, and return back here in fifteen minutes, regardless of what they found. At most, the battle would be led for half an hour, and within that time they’d have to not only leave the tomb but also escape the surrounding area.

On the urging of the monkey, Lynne entered first, passing through the leftmost tunnel. From the wide hallway, he entered a narrow passage that appeared like an entrance to a cave. Without stopping, with the bird and the monkey on his shoulders, he pushed forward as quickly as he could. Soon, light sparked towards horizon, and his lips curled up in a smile.

As he passed through light, he found himself in a squared room. The room was completely white, illuminated by glowing rocks cast at the ceiling. At the center of the room was a large coffin, cast from bejeweled gems and stones, epitome of wastefulness. The coffin was raised atop a small platform and was cased in by glass, supported by an array formation. Each of the three walls had a single shelf, two meters tall and five meters wide.

As he glanced through these shelves, Lynne was slightly stunned; one shelf contained only books, most of which appeared ancient, with some even having their own Mana circulations. Lynne had absolutely no idea what the cause might be, but he wouldn’t be skimpy about it either way. He quickly collected all of the books and put them in the black, dimensional pouch, turning his eyes towards the other two shelves.

The one behind the coffin had a mixture of pills and potions; Lynne was unable to identify 90% of them at the first glance, but as he had no time to ponder, he immediately put them all into the black pouch and moved onto the next shelf. The shelf actually only had four items: flat, rectangular, white stone; head-sized, oval egg with a strange pattern spiraling across its surface; some sort of a circular weapon that Lynne was unable to recognize and a tome, two-fingers thick. The surface of the tome was bland, cast in brown, ugly leather, but Lynne felt his heart beat faster and faster the more he looked at the book. The six symbols representing two Origin Paths shook, and he began hearing – or rather sensing – a calling from that ugly book. Could… could it be? Lynne swallowed a gulp of saliva, look of astonishment on his face.

Not only he, but even the bird and the monkey felt something was off about that tome. The reason why monkey chose this tunnel was all because of pills and potions. However, surprisingly, all of the pills and potions were a side-dish at the moment.

“Quickly, what are you spacing out for?” the monkey screeched into Lynne’s ear, shaking him out of confusion. “We haven’t got much time left!”

“R-right…” Lynne stuttered as he picked up the stone, the egg, the circular weapon and the tome, placing them all into the pouch.

Regardless of what these four items were, now was not the time to research them. Seeing that there was nothing left, he lightly bowed towards the coffin in respect; after all, these items were life-long riches the person in the coffin accumulated, yet Lynne robbed him dry within a span of five minutes. The least he could do is thank the poor corpse.

Without much thought, he raced back to the entrance of the four tunnels, and found that Anna was already there. Before entering, the trio agreed to keep whatever they found a secret, unless they believed it suited someone else more. Thus, when Lynne saw Anna’s smiling face, he knew she found something rather good. However, when she saw his rather odd and confused face, she was slightly startled.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Hm? Ah, nothing…” Lynne replied, somewhat weakly. If that tome truly was what he thought it was, should he really keep it? He was already following two Origin Paths, and while the bird said its Master theorized that one had to follow all 7 to ascend to the Divine Realm, Lynne doubted it was true. How could he even add another path at the moment? Still, he said nothing; it would be absolutely insane for him to share what he found, so he simply decided to keep it a secret for a moment.

A few minutes later, Elynal also left the tunnel, his smile as wide as distance between his ears. It appeared as if he also had a grand harvest. As they stared at the last tunnel, it would be a lie to say that they weren’t tempted to enter, however, the monkey drove them back to reason.

“Most of the fluctuations from Natural Treasures come from that tunnel,” the monkey said. “If we take them with us, there’s no doubt those above will notice. I already sensed most of them, and while they are precious, none is heaven-defying. It’s best if we keep them there as aversion for the old monsters when they enter.”

The trio reluctantly agreed and then bolted backwards, quickly leaving the tomb. None of the three spoke about what they found, in accordance to their prior arrangement, but just from the look on their faces, it was easy to gather that their harvest was massive.

They quickly found themselves back in the tunnel, but as they didn’t have to dig their way back, their speed was much faster, and they found themselves back in the forest. The battle had already reached a breaking point, as Lynne saw quite a few people lying down, injured or dead. Sucking in a cool breath, he couldn’t help but feel nervous; what would happen to him if he participated in such a battle? I’d probably die before I even had a chance to piss my pants.

However, as they had no more interest in the battle, the group quickly retreated. As they reached a kilometer away from the battle, they exhaled a breath they’ve been keeping in; that was simply too heart-quenching. If they were caught, there’s no doubt they’d die without even knowing how. However, just as they crossed two kilometers threshold, Lynne’s heart skipped a beat as he glanced backwards. He felt a massive Mana surge racing towards them, locked onto their position.

“Crap!” he exclaimed, throwing the Phoenix off his shoulder. “We’ve been found out!”