Matthew nodded, making a move as if to jump down.
But at the moment he fell, his palm pressed lightly against the edge of the stone wall. His body didn't drop directly to the bottom; instead, he used a protruding rock to change direction and slid into a crack diagonally below.
This movement was very fast.
It was also obscured by the chaos and the gray light.
The people below only heard the sound of falling rocks and didn't immediately realize he hadn't landed in the same place.
When Matthew tumbled into that narrow space, his shoulder slammed hard against the stone wall, the pain making his vision turn black for a moment.
But he didn't make a sound.
He gritted his teeth and scrambled up quickly.
This place was indeed a small storage room.
Perhaps it was a backup space temporarily sealed when the tomb was built, or maybe it was a private hiding spot for some maintenance worker.
The space wasn't large, containing only two rows of low stone shelves.
Most of the items had already rotted away.
But at the very back of the stone shelf, there was still a well-sealed long case.
Beside the long case were two small stone boxes.
Matthew didn't hesitate for a second and immediately stepped forward.
In the first stone box was a small bag of magic stones.
The quantity wasn't particularly large, but the quality was clearly better than the ordinary magic stones he had obtained before; there were even two darker Medium-Quality Magic Stones among them.
In the second stone box were several well-preserved materials.
A silver-veined black bone fragment.
Three shriveled dark red crystal cores.
And a small bottle of grey powder sealed with wax.
Matthew didn't recognize all the materials, but he could feel the mana fluctuations within them.
Where there were mana fluctuations, there was value.
He quickly stuffed the items from the stone boxes into his leather pouch.
Then, he opened the long case.
The moment the long case opened, a faint scent of decaying wood wafted out.
A staff lay inside.
The staff was not ornate.
It was deep brown all over, with a body slightly longer than an ordinary short staff, and a dark green crystal embedded at the tip. The crystal's surface had cracks, but it hadn't completely lost its luster.
When Matthew reached out to grip the staff, his fingertips immediately felt a weak but stable mana fluctuation.
His breath hitched.
This wasn't an ordinary wooden staff.
At the very least, it was an item that could assist in spellcasting.
Maybe it was damaged.
Maybe its effects were unknown.
But as long as it retained mana fluctuations, it was absolutely valuable.
Matthew didn't have time to look closely; he took the staff from the long case and slung it across his back.
Just as he was about to leave, something suddenly rolled out from the bottom of the long case.
A ring.
The ring was very inconspicuous.
Its color was dark, looking like a silver-black or perhaps old metal that had been smoked by soot. There were no gems or obvious decorations on the surface, only a circle of extremely fine symbols faintly engraved on the inner band.
Matthew picked it up.
The ring felt very light in his hand.
But the moment it touched his skin, Matthew clearly felt a very faint mana fluctuation coming from inside the ring.
It was very hidden.
If his nerves weren't so high-strung right now, he might have even overlooked it.
Matthew didn't know what this ring was.
It didn't seem like an offensive magic item.
Nor did it seem like an ordinary charm.
But since it had mana fluctuations, it couldn't be junk.
He didn't hesitate and immediately tucked the ring into his inner pocket.
By the time he finished all this, the commotion outside had become extremely violent.
Sutton's angry shout came from above the fissure.
“Matthew?”
Matthew’s heart sank.
Sutton had noticed.
But he didn't respond.
It wasn't that he didn't want to, but he couldn't.
If he spoke now, Sutton would know his location.
The next moment, Herbert’s voice also came through.
“He might have slipped into a side crack! Go first! The things behind are coming!”
Sutton seemed to curse something.
Immediately after, a muffled sound of impact erupted above the fissure.
A grayish-white light flashed past the entrance of the storage room.
Matthew immediately pressed against the wall and held his breath.
In that instant, he felt the staff on his back vibrate slightly.
The ring in his pocket also seemed to be touched by something, emitting a trace of coldness.
The grayish-white light didn't immediately drift inside.
It seemed unable to find Matthew.
Or rather, the location of this storage room happened to not be on the main path it was initially pulling from.
Matthew didn't dare delay.
He looked at the mental map in his mind.
Behind the storage room was a narrow crack that could lead to the other side of the underground fissure.
That path was harder to traverse than the main road, but it could bypass the team below.
It could also bypass Sutton.
Matthew took a deep breath and squeezed into the crack.
The crack was very narrow.
So narrow that he got stuck several times while carrying the staff.
The stone walls scraped his sleeves and left several bloody scratches on his arms.
But he didn't stop.
The chill from behind was getting closer and closer.
The power of the empty sarcophagus was still in pursuit.
It wasn't chasing everyone.
At least in this moment, Matthew had a very clear feeling.
It had also sensed him.
Maybe it was because he had taken the items here.
Maybe it was because of that ring.
Or maybe it was simply because he had left the team and become a target that was easier to lock onto.
A very soft sigh suddenly came from the crack behind him.
“Come back...”
Matthew’s body stiffened.
This voice wasn't the kind Noel had heard.
Instead, it rang directly in his ear.
Very soft.
Very close.
Like someone whispering against the back of his neck.
“You took something you shouldn't have.”
Matthew didn't look back.
He knew he absolutely couldn't look back.
In a place like this, looking back might mean seeing something he shouldn't.
He bit the tip of his tongue, using the pain to stay conscious, and continued crawling forward.
On the mental map, the route ahead began to flicker.
There was a break on the left that seemed like an exit, but the line's color was darkening.
On the right was an even narrower seam that barely looked like a path, but the map still maintained a faint, bright line there.
Matthew didn't hesitate and chose the right.
That voice rang out again behind him.
This time, it was no longer gentle.
“Wrong.”
“That way is a dead end.”
“You will be crushed to death inside.”
Matthew sneered in his heart.
If it were any other time, he might have hesitated.
But now, he was even more certain that the right side was the path to survival.
Because that voice wanted him to give up.
It wanted him to doubt the map.
This meant the path indicated by the map was exactly the path it didn't want him to take.
Matthew squeezed into the right-side crack with great difficulty.
The stone walls were practically pressed against his chest and back, making it hard to breathe.
The staff on his back got stuck once.
He gritted his teeth and used force, dragging the staff through by sheer strength, which left his shoulder burning with pain from the abrasion.
The chill behind him was getting closer.
In the darkness, Matthew even felt the outline of an empty sarcophagus slowly forming outside the crack.
It had no physical form.
So it could permeate along the seams of the walls.
Yet it wasn't truly formless.
The narrow terrain could still slow it down slightly.
Matthew could only gamble.
Gamble that he was faster than it.
Finally, a bit of wind appeared ahead.
That wind was very cold.
But it carried the scent of soil and the night.
It wasn't the decaying smell of the tomb.
It was the breath of the real world outside.
A glimmer of light finally appeared in Matthew’s eyes.
He used the last of his strength to crawl forward.
The end of the crack was blocked by several pieces of rubble.
Matthew raised his short staff and struck hard.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
The rubble loosened.
The wind from outside became even more obvious.
Behind him, that voice suddenly became shrill.
“Come back!”
“The position is still empty!”
“You cannot leave!”
A massive pulling sensation suddenly tangled around Matthew’s shadow.
Matthew’s entire body jerked backward.
His fingers death-gripped the stone crack ahead, his nails nearly snapping.
The coldness climbed from the soles of his feet all the way up his spine.
For a split second, he saw the main burial chamber.
He saw that empty sarcophagus.
He saw the humanoid indentation in the center of the sarcophagus's bottom.
And that humanoid indentation actually faintly overlapped with his own body shape.
Matthew’s mind reeled in shock.
No.
He would never go back.
He hadn't become an Official Wizard yet.
He hadn't figured out the true nature of this world.
He hadn't turned the resources he had gained into his own strength.
How could he lie in an empty sarcophagus and become a filler for some failed ritual?
A look of ruthlessness appeared in Matthew’s eyes.
He suddenly drew his dagger and slashed his palm with a backhand stroke.
Blood surged out.
The sharp pain cleared his consciousness instantly.
He pressed his bloody hand hard against the rubble in front of him and shoved with all his might.
“Get lost!”
The rubble was finally pushed aside.
The soil outside collapsed downward.
A sliver of grayish-blue night light filtered in from the gap.
Matthew practically tumbled out.
He fell out of a fissure on a hillside, his body rolling several times down the slippery mud before finally crashing heavily against the root of a withered tree.
Sharp pain radiated from his back.
Matthew’s vision went dark, and he almost fainted.
But he still forced himself to scramble up.
He didn't dare stop.
Because behind the fissure, that chill hadn't completely disappeared.
Matthew stumbled forward.
The mountain forest was dim, and the night wind blew through the treetops with a rustling sound.
There were no lights in the distance.
Nor were there any human voices.
He didn't know where outside the tomb he had been ejected.
He didn't know if Sutton, Herbert, and those Class holders had escaped through another path.
He only knew that he was out.
Relying on the map in his mind, he had escaped from that already awakened Official Wizard's tomb.
He felt extremely lucky. At first, meeting Nathan on the grasslands, he thought he would die there, but he had won steadily and killed him!
Then came the opportunity to meet Sutton,
And by a stroke of luck, he had obtained this map from Nathan's wife and daughter!
And this map just happened to be the map of this tomb!
As Matthew ran, his mind was filled with constant thoughts—excitement, agitation, dread, and fear. All these emotions weighed on him, making his body increasingly exhausted...
After running a long distance, Matthew finally couldn't hold on anymore and hid in a shallow pit covered by bushes.
He leaned against the damp, cold earth wall, gasping for air.
His chest burned with pain.
His palm was still bleeding.
His shoulders, arms, and knees were all covered in scrapes and bruises.
But his consciousness was abnormally clear, as if he had experienced a final burst of energy!
He first listened to the movements around him.
Only after confirming there were no footsteps nearby, nor that chilling calling, did he slowly look down to check his things.
The leather pouch was still there.
The magic stones were still there.
The materials were still there.
The metal box in his coat was also still there.
The deep brown staff lay beside him, the dark green crystal at its tip emitting a very faint light in the night.
And then there was the ring.
Matthew took the ring out and placed it in his palm.
The silver-black ring lay quietly, looking as ordinary as ordinary could be.
But the flickering mana fluctuation inside it still existed.
Matthew stared at it for a long time.
He didn't know what this thing was actually for.
Nor did he know why it had been placed in that long case along with the staff.
But he was certain that this ring was definitely not an ordinary accessory.
Maybe it was some kind of magic item.
Maybe it was just a small item left behind by an Official Wizard.
Whatever it was, it would have to wait until he was safe before he could study it slowly.
“A rich harvest, but I must handle all of this carefully.”
Matthew tucked the ring back into his inner pocket and wrapped the staff simply with cloth strips to prevent the crystal's light from leaking out.
Only after doing all this did he slowly look up toward the depths of the mountain forest.
The night was deep.
In the distance underground, a very faint muffled sound seemed to drift up.
It was as if a stone door had completely closed.
Or as if a coffin had shut once more.
Matthew looked in that direction in silence.
Had Sutton escaped?
Had Herbert escaped?
What was the fate of Noel and those Class holders?
He didn't know...
And there was no way to know.
He was just one person now.
A person who had luckily escaped from an Official Wizard's tomb with magic stones, materials, a staff, and a mysterious ring.
As for that empty sarcophagus...
Matthew looked down at his shadow.
Under the moonlight, his shadow lay quietly on the ground, no longer being pulled in any direction.
But he still wasn't completely at ease.
Because he always felt that in the depths of that tomb, in some vacant spot, it had already remembered him.
Remembered this person who hadn't lain inside.
Matthew slowly gripped his short staff and forced himself to stand up.
He couldn't stay here.
At least not tonight.
That tomb might still continue to change.
If Sutton were alive, he might also look for other exits.
And the person who gave Sutton the information was an even greater danger hidden in the shadows.
Matthew didn't know who that person was.
But he had a faint feeling.
In this trip to the tomb, the truly terrifying thing might not just be that empty sarcophagus.
It was also the person who had led Sutton into the tomb.
Since the other party could provide half-true, half-false information, it meant they knew some of the secrets of this tomb.
Perhaps they even knew from the start that the central sarcophagus was empty.
They knew it wasn't a coffin, but an altar.
If that were the case, then Sutton was just a pawn pushed to the front.
And those of them who followed into the tomb were the sacrifices brought along by the pawn.
At this thought, Matthew felt even colder inside.
He didn't look back toward the tomb again.
He turned and vanished into the deeper darkness of the night.
No matter what happened to Sutton and Herbert in the end, at this moment, he had to survive first.
Only by surviving would the magic stones, materials, staff, and that ring with mana fluctuations truly belong to him.
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