As the distance closed, the scene within the coffin came into focus.
A giant, far larger than any normal human, lay quietly inside.
He wore magnificent, ancient attire.
Even in the dim light, the gold and silver threads embroidered into the fabric shimmered with a dull luster, a testament to his high status in life.
Now, a shocking puncture wound marked his broad chest, the fabric around it torn and charred.
Several pieces of material, appearing like a cross between leather and paper and covered in dark-red runes, were wrapped around his torso and limbs as if they were alive.
They emitted oppressive energy fluctuations, likely a powerful seal.
His face looked as if it were carved from cold, gray stone, with rigid lines that retained an air of majesty even with his eyes closed.
His skin was a lifeless ashen white.
His left wrist was completely gone.
The cut was clean, yet there wasn't a trace of blood—only a texture reminiscent of ash.
The ornate fabrics lining the coffin were somewhat disarranged, indicating there had been a struggle or movement not long ago.
His right arm was bent at his side, his massive palm clenched tightly, with a metallic glint peeking through the gaps between his fingers.
It was a pendant secured by a corroded silver chain, appearing tiny against his massive hand.
The main body of the pendant was a palm-sized circular insignia made of cold Starsilver.
The edges were inlaid with a ring of tiny white crystals, and the front was engraved with a complex “Twin Crest Entwinement” pattern. It looked less like a decoration and more like a token of power or identity.
Seeing Bai Xuan standing by the coffin for a long time without any adverse reaction, Tessa’s curiosity overcame her fear.
She cautiously edged forward and peered into the coffin.
Bai Xuan focused his mind again, locking his inspection on the giant within the coffin.
The moment the information flooded his mind, a chill eroded back along his mental perception, causing the hairs on the back of his neck to stand up involuntarily.
The massive drain on his mental energy left him momentarily dizzy.
He rubbed his head as text surfaced in his vision:
【Grand Duke Tisolus】
【Class: Undead Archon Lv. 15 (Hero)】
【Status: Heavily Injured, Sealed】
【HP: 320 / 6,100】
【MP: 90 / 2,700】
【Potential: 4-Star (Crown)】
Silence followed...
This was the highest-level entity Bai Xuan had encountered to date, one who had stepped into the realm of a Hero.
The sheer magnitude of those HP and MP values created an invisible pressure of its own.
Fortunately, the heavily injured and sealed status, along with the nearly empty HP bar, provided a bit of breathing room.
Moreover, the format of the panel information was different from that of monsters.
This meant there was a possibility of communication, which put him slightly more at ease.
Just as Bai Xuan was trying to analyze more from this limited information, the Grand Duke in the coffin opened his eyes without warning.
Inside the sockets were not eyeballs, but two slowly swirling pitch-black vortices. At the center of each vortex was a point of dark red, like an ember about to go out.
These inhuman eyes happened to lock onto Tessa’s gaze as she was peering in.
Tessa’s entire body froze. Her eyes turned vacant for a split second before regaining clarity.
“Eek—!”
She let out a short, sharp shriek and sprang backward with incredible speed, retreating several steps until her back pressed tightly against a cold stone pillar.
Her chest heaved violently, the color drained from her face, and her eyes were filled with pure terror.
Bai Xuan was also startled by Tessa’s sudden scream. He quickly retreated two steps, holding his iron rod horizontally in a full defensive stance.
He frowned and glanced at the distraught Tessa before fixing his attention back on the stone coffin.
The two pitch-black vortices in the coffin turned slightly, seemingly looking at Bai Xuan.
Just as Bai Xuan was struggling internally, weighing whether he should immediately grab Tessa and flee from this obviously extremely dangerous being...
A raspy, dry voice, sounding like the scraping of rusted metal, echoed directly in their minds:
“Are you more hyenas following the scent of greed?”
“A pity... the choice flesh has already been snatched away by another shameless little cat. You... are too late.”
He can communicate!
The tension in Bai Xuan’s mind loosened slightly, but his vigilance didn't waver.
He caught the keyword “little cat.”
“By ‘little cat,’ do you mean a Shadow Cat demi-human?”
Bai Xuan kept his voice steady, his eyes fixed on the coffin. “She is the one who dragged us into this place.”
“Can you tell us what she did? And... how we can leave?”
“Dragged you in?”
The Grand Duke’s mental voice carried a hint of cold irony. “That wretched thief used a bit of cleverness and a high-tier binding item.”
“While I was suppressed by this damned seal, she not only took my storage ring but even took my left hand, which had a Shadowshade Medium implanted in it.”
“You two are likely... the sacrifices she planned to use to open the passage.”
“It requires a large amount of blood, especially the blood of a cleric, to briefly activate the key’s guidance.”
Bai Xuan’s face darkened.
As expected, from the chance encounter at the tavern, everything had been a trap meticulously designed by Kami.
Her Secret Treasure Scent hadn't just discovered the treasures he might have on him.
She had even viewed him, a “cleric,” as the key to unlocking the treasure!
Even the lives of her own team members were likely part of her calculations.
Beside him, Tessa had clearly understood as well. The fear on her face was replaced by a massive sense of confusion and disbelief.
Her lips trembled, but she couldn't make a sound.
The leader Kami, whom she had always trusted and followed, had actually treated everyone as disposable tools from the very beginning?
This realization made her body shake uncontrollably.
“We need to leave,” Bai Xuan said, suppressing his anger toward Kami. “Do you have a way for us to get out?”
“The core that maintains the existence of this Shadow Realm is connected to my soulfire and buried here.”
The Grand Duke’s intent seemed to flicker. “I can separate it and give it to you. At that time, the spatial lock will also be lifted. In exchange, you only need to do one trivial thing for me.”
“Peel these annoying sealed parchments off my body.”
“They seal my movements, but for the outside world, tearing them off is no more difficult than tearing a piece of old parchment.”
Bai Xuan’s heart skipped a beat.
The condition sounded simple, and he would even give them the core.
A Hero-rank entity had an important limb and treasure stolen by an Awakened Rank demi-human.
Would he be so peaceful toward new, equally weak visitors and promise such a fair trade?
Something was wrong.
He didn't respond immediately, thinking rapidly.
Beside him, Tessa seemed to have recovered slightly from the shock.
Hearing that they could leave, a faint glimmer of hope lit up in her eyes.
Her lips moved, and she looked at Bai Xuan, then at the coffin, appearing somewhat hesitant.
The Grand Duke’s intent came again, this time with a hint of temptation: “That thieving rat has narrow vision; she only took the superficial treasures.”
“The true relics of the Glay Empire are things she was never meant to see.”
“The 【Skycrown Potion】, which can break the limits of mortal potential and stand equal to dragons; the 【Holy Silver Dragon Inverse Scale Armor】, a sacred relic passed down by the Empire’s Dragon Knights; and the 【Vulture Emperor's Scepter】, which opens the treasury hidden deep within the Kingdom’s shadows...”
“As long as I gain my freedom, you may choose any one of these as an additional reward.”
“You only need to... reach out your hand.”
Bai Xuan remained unmoved.
A potion? Looking at how old this place is, it’s probably long since expired.
The armor and scepter sounded tempting, but only if the other party kept their word.
Would a Hero-rank undead, toyed with by an ant, really pay the reward out of gratitude once freed, rather than crushing the witness and a potential target for his vent?
Seeing Bai Xuan’s silence, the Grand Duke’s mental voice suddenly deepened.
The coldness was replaced by a gradually boiling anger: “Do you think I am begging?”
“This seal is something I could break given enough time.”
“The reason I need you to act now is because I must immediately retrieve my left hand and my family assets!”
“I will cast that despicable thief into the soulfire of Eternal Silence and make her wail as she pays for every bit of the sin she has committed!”
The fury transmitted through his intent became an almost physical pressure, making the temperature in the tomb seem to drop several degrees.
“This is your only chance to leave safely and obtain a reward.”
“Do not... test my patience.” The final words were a blatant threat.
Bai Xuan felt the pressure mount.
If the Grand Duke was telling the truth and the seal only trapped him temporarily, then if he waited until the Duke broke free on his own, both he and Tessa would surely die.
But helping him escape could just as easily lead to a dead end.
What to do?
His mind raced, taking stock of every chip he had.
Suddenly, something flashed through his mind—the ancient scroll in his ring!
【Sealing Scroll (One-time): A product of ancient sealing arts. Can forcibly seal a target no higher than Lv. 11 (Transcendent). Extremely poor effect against non-physical or conceptual entities.】
But its limit was Lv. 11... and before him was a Lv. 15 Hero.
The level wasn't high enough... wait!
The 【Item Rank-Up Card】 he had gotten from the draw!
There was no time to hesitate; the Grand Duke’s patience was clearly running out.
I’ll gamble on it!
Bai Xuan’s eyes narrowed. His mind dove into his storage space, and the ancient 【Sealing Scroll】 appeared in his hand.
He activated the Rank-Up Card without hesitation.
Beside him, Tessa’s eyes began to glaze over, and her body leaned slightly toward the coffin...
The Rank-Up Card turned into a stream of pure golden light, winding around the old scroll as if it were alive.
The surface of the parchment scroll was saturated with the golden light; its age and gloom quickly faded, becoming smooth and resilient.
Flowing, dark-gold secret patterns emerged on the edges, and an ancient sense of power and restraint faintly emanated from it.
The upgrade was complete!
【Sealing Scroll (One-time): A product of ancient sealing arts. Can forcibly seal a target no higher than Lv. 16 (Hero). Slightly poor effect against non-physical or conceptual entities.】
The qualitative change brought by the scroll’s upgrade settled Bai Xuan’s heart.
He immediately looked up at the stone coffin, only to see that Tessa was already standing at its edge.
Her upper body was leaning into the coffin, and one of her hands was grabbing the edge of a sealed parchment, pulling hard!
“Stop!” Bai Xuan roared, lunging forward.
Tessa didn't react to his shout. Her eyes were hollow and her movements stiff.
Rip! Another piece of parchment was torn at the corner by her.
Bai Xuan rushed to her side, having no time for second thoughts.
He imbued his rod with the purifying power of 【Purifying Severance】.
The iron rod swept across, attempting to knock Tessa away from the coffin’s edge.
The moment the golden light touched Tessa’s body, the thin layer of black mist in her eyes fluctuated violently before dissipating. Her consciousness returned.
“Uh?”
Tessa blinked blankly, seemingly not understanding why she was there.
But at the very same instant she regained consciousness, the last bit of connection to the parchment was torn away by her unconscious fingers.
All the sealed parchments wrapped around Grand Duke Tisolus fell off simultaneously and turned to ash.
From the positions where the parchments had fallen, from the shadows at the bottom of the coffin, and even from the carved crevices of the stone coffin itself...
Countless indescribable limbs suddenly shot out!
They were like the manifestation of death energy and resentment.
There were several slimy tentacles dripping with semi-coagulated black blood, pale bone claws clutching at the air, and zombie arms with rotting flesh and sharp, black fingernails...
They seemed to possess an independent, hungry consciousness.
The moment they appeared, they all coiled around the nearest living thing.
Tessa, who had just regained her senses.
“Ah—!”
Tessa let out a short scream. A cold bone hand had already clamped around her waist, and another slimy tentacle wrapped around her neck like lightning.
Immense force lifted her feet off the ground, dragging her toward the coffin.
“He—”
Her cry for help was choked off by the suddenly tightening tentacle, her face rapidly turning from white to blue.
Her eyes bulged from suffocation and terror, and tears flowed uncontrollably, mixing with the blood seeping from her lip, which she had bitten in her struggle.
Bai Xuan’s scalp crawled with terror at this sudden, horrific sight, but his movements didn't stop.
He let out a roar and stepped forward, his bent iron rod carrying the golden radiance of 【Redemption Strike】 as he smashed it heavily against the bone hand wrapped around Tessa’s waist.
Crack! The bone hand shattered, and black gas dissipated.
However, even more alien limbs surged up.
A rotting arm grabbed Tessa’s ankle, and another tentacle wound around her shoulder.
She was like a fly caught in a spiderweb, being enveloped and pulled by even more dark limbs.
She reached out desperately, her fingertips clawing futilely toward Bai Xuan, broken sounds squeezing out of her throat:
“I didn't... I didn't mean to betray...” A cold bone hand clamped around her waist.
“Don’t... don’t want to die... Kami... Leader Kami took me in... we only wanted to... survive...”
Her voice was cut into fragments by the tightening grip, tears mixing with bloody foam as they fell. “Why... why do this to us...”
Before she could finish, an exceptionally thick tentacle covered in tumors completely wrapped around her head and face.
It dragged her final whimpers and her despairing eyes together into the churning, thick darkness deep within the sarcophagus.
“Tessa!” Bai Xuan cried out, wanting to rush forward again.
But from within the coffin, a low roar came that sounded like countless voices overlapping.
Boom!
An invisible shockwave of death energy exploded outward with the stone coffin as the center.
Bai Xuan felt as if he had been hit head-on by a speeding truck. His chest throbbed with pain, and he was thrown backward.
He slammed heavily against the stone wall at the back of the tomb and tumbled to the floor.
He coughed up a mouthful of blood. His vision went dark, and his ears rang as he struggled to lift his head.
Rate on N.U.
