Just before Rona was forced into the square tomb to scout,
Lin Gui had already taken Elvia and, using the perfect concealment of the 【Shroud of the Gloomy Night】, silently slipped inside ahead of them.
As the core of the entire mausoleum complex, this grandest square tomb naturally possessed formidable defenses.
As they went deeper, Elvia saw many heart-stopping trap layouts.
The walls were densely packed with holes, inside of which she could faintly see the cold gleam of poisoned arrowheads;
certain floor tiles differed slightly in color from their surroundings, clearly indicating weight-triggered trapdoors or pitfalls;
and massive, spike-covered maces hung from the ceiling, suspended by nearly invisible, slender metal wires.
At some corners, she could even see magic circle bases embedded within the walls, their runes dimmed but their structures still intact.
Once triggered, there was no telling what kind of destructive elemental energy they would unleash.
Surprisingly, all of these seemed to be deliberately exposed, allowing anyone entering to spot them at a glance.
Before Elvia could even wonder if this was a trap,
Lin Gui was already riding his staff, charging through the peril-filled tomb corridor without slowing down in the slightest.
This made Elvia's scalp tingle, and she couldn't help but lower her voice to hiss, “Can't you slow down? What if we trigger a trap? This is an ancient tomb!”
Lin Gui's calm voice drifted back, “The 【Shroud of the Gloomy Night】 perfectly masks all physical characteristics and energy fluctuations on both of us.”
“Therefore, these traps that rely on physical triggers or energy detection cannot perceive us.”
“That amazing? Doesn't that make you invincible?”
“Not invincible,” Lin Gui denied.
“Legendary Rank magic perception, High Rank or above soul detection, and divination spells can all see through the Shroud of the Gloomy Night.”
“And in the end, I am only a Low-tier High Rank squishy mage.”
“I specialize in concealment and perception, and I don't even know a single defensive spell.”
“Any knight out there could end my life with one serious attack skill.”
“If I were alone, exposing myself would be no different from seeking death.”
“Then why did you get involved in this mess?” Elvia asked, puzzled.
“Don't I have you?”
Elvia froze, her face flushing slightly.
Before she could savor the meaning of his words, she heard Lin Gui calmly add, “If we are discovered, I can throw you—a knight who can both take hits and fight—to block the blow, which will buy me time to hide again and escape.”
“As long as the distance is far enough, even soul detection and magic perception might not find me.”
Elvia was instantly left speechless.
“No wonder you only brought me into this square tomb and left that half-demon outside to back us up... I shouldn't have held any illusions about a guy like you!”
“Likewise.”
Passing through one seemingly dangerous but actually “carefully” marked trap zone after another, Lin Gui and Elvia finally reached the deepest part of the square tomb.
This was an incredibly vast underground hall.
Around the hall, hundreds of stone coffins were arranged in neat rows, like silent guards flanking the center.
In the very center of the hall was an elevated stone platform, upon which rested an exceptionally massive sarcophagus.
The lid of the sarcophagus was actually polished from a single piece of clear crystal.
Lin Gui controlled his staff and flew directly above the crystal sarcophagus.
Through the clear crystal, they could clearly see the scene inside.
A skeleton wrapped in tattered cloth, long since turned to dust and bone, lay peacefully within.
The skeleton's hands were crossed over its chest.
Beside it lay a longsword engraved with complex runes that still glinted with cold light despite the passage of time, an ancient helmet adorned with wing motifs, and a set of magnificent, majestic silver-white armor.
Even lying inside the coffin, the extraordinary quality and power of these pieces of equipment could be felt.
As a Holy Knight, those items instantly captured Elvia's gaze.
Especially that set of armor—it was definitely a rare treasure of at least Legendary quality!
It didn't look any worse than the demi-god artifact that the half-demon had picked up.
Elvia's eyes shone with excitement. Since she was the only knight in Lin Gui's team, then naturally this equipment...
However, with an inadvertent glance, she noticed a badge held in the skeleton's hands.
When she clearly saw the design of the badge, she felt as if she had been struck by lightning!
How... how was this possible?
She forcefully patted Lin Gui, who was still surveying the surroundings. “Hey! Look at this!”
Lin Gui withdrew his gaze and followed Elvia's trembling finger to look at the badge.
He felt the design of the badge looked somewhat familiar.
Elvia's voice carried unbelievable shock, “This is... this is the crest of our Carter Royal Family!”
Lin Gui understood, but then cast his gaze back toward the neatly arranged coffins around them, not caring as much as Elvia did.
“It seems your ancestor is buried here. You'll have to kowtow to them now. I'll let you down.”
Before his voice even faded, he manipulated the oak staff to suddenly flip over!
“Ah!”
Caught off guard, Elvia let out a startled cry and fell straight down, landing right on her butt on the cold, hard ground.
Rubbing her aching buttocks, she looked up, about to curse, only to find the space above her completely empty!
There was nothing blocking her view; she could clearly see the entire ceiling of the tomb chamber, as if Lin Gui and the staff didn't exist at all.
This was the first time she had personally experienced what Lin Gui looked like to others when he used the 【Shroud of the Gloomy Night】.
“He really has... disappeared in every sense of the word...” she muttered to herself, a chill rising in her heart.
Even with a Legendary Rank invisibility spell, the caster still occupies space, which more or less distorts or blocks the background, allowing sharp-eyed observers to spot them.
But with Lin Gui's 【Shroud of the Gloomy Night】...
Looking through the position where he had just been, she could actually see the things behind him that should have been blocked!
This was simply terrifying.
She couldn't imagine what would happen if an enemy possessed such magic and lurked beside her all day without her knowing...
“Fortunately... this guy is temporarily on my side...” she could only comfort herself this way.
Composing herself, Elvia walked to the crystal sarcophagus and carefully studied the badge inside.
“It is indeed the Carter Royal crest... but I've never seen this design before...”
This was truly strange.
“There is writing here.” Lin Gui's voice suddenly rang in her ear.
Elvia complained, “You threw me down just to see if I would trigger any traps, didn't you? Once you knew it was safe, you came down?”
Lin Gui replied indifferently, “If you trigger a trap, I can still save you. If something happens to me, you can only wait to die.”
Elvia didn't argue.
Although Lin Gui's actions were far too unreasonable, deep down, she highly agreed with this extremely rational, even cold logic of survival.
“I just hope this guy will give me a heads-up next time...” she grumbled, walking to the side of the sarcophagus that Lin Gui pointed to.
It was covered in dense carvings of text.
Elvia took one look and squinted; she couldn't understand it!
This was not the common human script currently used on the Akara Continent, but a much older and more complex set of characters.
Beside her, Lin Gui's low and clear voice began to read aloud, as he seemed to recognize the writing:
【To my eternal star, the last pearl of Carter, Queen Catriona:】
【When you read this letter, I, along with my loyal knights and all the brave warriors willing to die, will already be resting here.】
【The kingdom has fallen, and demons swarm like a tide.】
【We poured the kingdom's entire strength, gathering all knights and the civilian army who volunteered to stay.】
【Yet we still failed to stop 'its' trampling steps.】
【The walls crumbled in wails, and the banners turned to ashes in the flames.】
【I watched loyal knights torn apart in the demon tide.】
【Brave commoners built the last line of defense with their bodies.】
【And then... annihilated.】
【We bled dry, yet could only watch the darkness swallow everything.】
【The last hope lies in the depths of this chasm, the ancient 'Annihilation Formation'.】
【I will use my remaining life and the souls of all the soldiers who followed me here as a sacrifice to activate it.】
【To temporarily block this moving natural disaster, the god carrying unknown horrors, right here.】
【Catriona, my love, my Queen.】
【Lead the remaining citizens to the secret highlands marked on the map in this letter.】
【Hide there, and escape the fires of doom.】
【Do not look back, do not grieve for us.】
【Live on.】
【...】
【...】
【In the end, we succeeded.】
【The formation is active, and 'it' is trapped here to death.】
【To prevent future generations from entering by mistake and disrupting the balance maintaining the formation, I ordered the last Legendary Mage of the army to collapse the towering cliffs around us,】
【burying this ancient tomb, along with me and all the soldiers, completely in the depths of the rift.】
【Catriona, my beloved Queen.】
【I miss you every single moment.】
【Do you still remember our first meeting?】
【Under the oak tree of the Royal Academy, you ran into my arms holding a thick magic book.】
【The books scattered everywhere, and you glared at me crossly, your golden eyes brighter than the sun...】
【Do you remember the coronation day? Wearing your crown and royal robe, under the gaze of thousands, you secretly winked at me.】
【At that moment, I knew I would give my life to protect your smile and the kingdom you rule...】
【Do you remember our last farewell?】
【At the secret fork leading to the shelter, you clutched my cloak tightly, tears soaking my shoulder armor...】
【I promised to find you. I'm sorry, Catriona, I broke my promise...】
【Once the formation is activated, my soul will be bound to it,】
【burning and fading as the formation runs, until finally... I won't even have the right to enter the Netherworld Sea.】
【How I wish... to see you again.】
【Even if just from afar, to see you safe and sound...】
【How I wish...】
【Forever loving you, the last hero of the Carter Kingdom, Reinhardt Cameron.】
Lin Gui slowly finished reading all the carved words.
Beside him, Elvia had fallen into complete shock and confusion, unable to speak for a long time.
The Queen's name, Catriona...
She had searched through all the royal family trees but had never found this name!
The founding monarch of the Carter Kingdom was clearly a male emperor, definitely not a queen!
However, the shelter hidden in the mountains mentioned in the letter...
Its described location was clearly the steep, hidden mountain area where the Carter Royal Capital was currently situated!
The Royal Capital had been established there ever since the Golden Age!
Countless generations of Carter kings and scholars had found it strange.
Why would the first monarch choose to establish the Royal Capital in such a remote, steep, and inconvenient mountain area instead of a wider, more fertile plain or hilly region?
In history, several generations of Carter kings had attempted to relocate the capital.
But in the end, they were all forcefully rejected by the Council of Elders on the grounds that “the Royal Capital must never be moved.”
The origin and reason for this ancestral instruction had always been one of the biggest mysteries within the royal family.
Could it be... the current Carter Royal Capital was not some land of glory chosen at the founding of the nation at all...
But rather... a refuge during the final escape of the last generation?!
And this Reinhardt in the sarcophagus, who called himself a “Hero”...
Along with that Queen Catriona who was never recorded in history...
They were the true origin of the Carter Kingdom?!
Just as Elvia's mind was reeling, nearly overwhelmed by this revolutionary information,
the crisp sound of a system prompt suddenly rang out in Lin Gui's mind!
【Ding! Strong obsession and unfulfilled wish detected. Special Commission triggered!】
【Commission: Deliver the remains of the Hero Reinhardt to the tomb of Queen Catriona so he can meet his beloved.】
【Route: Withered Rift → Carter Royal Capital → Tomb of Catriona】
【Reward: Special High Rank Soul Magic—Eyes of the Netherworld】
【(Allows the user to see soul pathways and states, perceive souls invisible to ordinary people, and resist soul intrusion and illusion to a certain extent.)】
【Note: Residual soul energy in the hero's remains is about to be exhausted. Recommended to move them away from the formation's energy node immediately.】
【The formation's running energy is currently sustained by the armor and longsword. Do not attempt to take the sword and armor to avoid unpredictable consequences.】
【Host must ensure at least a trace of soul obsession remains in the skeleton to trigger the subsequent quest evaluation.】
Lin Gui's mouth twitched slightly as he complained in his mind, “System, you even take commissions from dead people?”
【Ding! According to the fundamental rules of the Akara Continent, only when a soul completely merges into the Netherworld Sea is it considered truly 'dead'.】
【The target's residual soul has not fully dissipated.】
Lin Gui raised an eyebrow. “So this hero isn't completely dead?”
【No, he is dead.】
【Soul residue is less than one-thousandth. Even gods cannot save him.】
Lin Gui rolled his eyes. This explanation was completely useless.
“Delivering letters for the dead... I can't imagine what the next clients will be...”
However, this reward, the 【Eyes of the Netherworld】, indeed held an extraordinary attraction for him.
Being able to perceive souls would undoubtedly make up for the biggest shortcoming of the 【Shroud of the Gloomy Night】—its inability to mask soul detection.
While Lin Gui was lost in thought,
a faint but clear sound of traps being disarmed in the distance was caught by his keen 【Wind Listening】 and drifted into his ears.
Lin Gui's gaze sharpened. “The knights are here!”
Without wasting any time, Lin Gui immediately called out to the still-dazed Elvia, “Push the coffin open!”
Elvia snapped out of her shock.
Although puzzled, she still channeled her energy as instructed and slid the heavy crystal lid open, leaving a gap wide enough.
The moment the lid moved, she instinctively reached out, wanting to take the longsword and the armor.
“Don't touch them!” Lin Gui barked sharply!
Elvia shuddered in fright, her hand freezing in midair as she turned back with a look of utter confusion. “Didn't you open the coffin to take these extraordinary pieces of equipment?”
“Don't touch them, they are connected to the trap mechanism!” Lin Gui explained urgently. “If you touch the sword and armor, we might not make it out of this chamber!”
Elvia immediately retracted her hand, a lingering fear in her heart. “Then why did you open the coffin?”
Lin Gui did not answer. Instead, he leaned down, carefully picked up the skeleton of the hero named Reinhardt from the coffin, quickly took off his mage outer robe, wrapped the bones carefully, and stuffed them into Elvia's arms.
Elvia let out a startled cry, nearly throwing them away instinctively.
Lin Gui immediately warned, “Don't drop it! That is your ancestor!”
“If you dare drop it, I'll teach you a lesson on your ancestor's behalf and leave you here to face the knights alone!”
“What?!” Elvia was completely dumbfounded as she held the bundle of bones. “Are you fucking kidding me?!”
“Alright, there's no time to explain! The knights are coming. Start setting up the traps according to plan!” Lin Gui spoke rapidly.
“Go find an empty coffin, move it to a spot about a hundred meters from the entrance, and place it somewhere obvious so the knights see it at a glance!”
“At the same time, create the illusion of a trap-ridden path ahead.”
Elvia flusteredly tied the mage robe containing the bones onto her back. Recalling the trap plan Lin Gui had mentioned to her earlier, she asked with a strange expression, “Are you sure you want to do that?”
“Yes!”
Having said that, Lin Gui paid her no more attention. He mounted his oak staff and flew toward the magic glowstones emitting soft light at the top of the hall.
Seeing this, Elvia could only stare in the direction he disappeared and curse angrily.
“Damn it! What a lunatic! I've never seen anyone set an ambush like this!”
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