Chapter 603
Without much hesitation, the team proceeded to the position of the “tomb” slowly and with caution. It seemed to be the case that Caroline’s energy flowing and stored inside of the array that was essential to this place allowed her to see the tomb, while others could not see it at all. Even Jason, who arguably had the most acute sense of energy fields amongst those who were present, could only detect a vague presence in that position.
“Okay, Caroline, activate your mind block and be extra careful - this kind of vision typically signals something that has to do with mind and spirit magic, even soul magic.” After several failed attempts at detecting the “stone tomb” Caroline mentioned, Laura warned: “It could be as simple as a really strong illusion magic, or it could be the results of some very arcane spell combining mind and spirit magic and space magic, I do hope it’s not this case.”
“Well, let me try.” Jason nodded, conjured a small silver bead and threw it at the position of the tomb.
The silver bead shone as it traveled through the air, hitting something invisible at one end of the room, and then bounced off and rolled on the ground like a marble ball.
“It’s there.” Jason nodded: “It’s some kind of high level illusion magic or obscuration spells no wonder our senses are being dulled in this place. It’s a - ”
“ - combination illusion array.” Laura finished the sentence with Jason: “Good, which means we can lift the illusion without having to deal with the complexities of space magic. ”
“Bang! Bang!” The metal door to the room was dented from impact and was slightly pushed out of its frame, the team could see the claws of the lycans behind breaking through it trying to rip the door out from the wall using this grip. Thomas immediately raised his gun and opened fire at the door, a couple of the enchanted bullets fired from his gun struck the fingers and claws reaching out from the gap between the metal door and the wall. The lycans roared in pain as their fingers were broken off by the bullets and their palms were pierced by the shrapnels. And just a moment later Thomas saw a couple of bloodshot wolf eyes behind the gaps trying to to look through the gaps, and he opened fire again without any hesitation, striking the peeping lycans in the face, possibly blinding them in the process.
A high-pitched screeching sound came from a small wooden pouch hanging on Laura’s waist when they came closer to the position of the tomb. This startled everyone, especially Jason who was paying close attention to everything in the environment.
“What the hell was that?!” Thomas asked while reloading his gun.
“Shit - this!” Laura opened up her pouch and took out a transparent jar with several layers of energy seal and protection spells - everyone could see that there was a centipede-like creature inside frantically jumping around inside and banging its head, its tail and its claws against the jar.
“What the fuck is this?!” Caroline asked with visible disgust.
“This is the remnant of that fallen god, we extracted it from the conduit’s body.” Jason answered: “Whatever is inside that tomb, it seemed to have either resonated with it or really excited it.”
“Why didn’t you put it back in the inn?”
“We came here right after you called! We didn’t get a chance!”
“Alright!” Aimee and Thomas yelled together: “Focus! Guys!”
“I’ll seal this one up with additional layers. You continue.” Jason slapped his own forehead as a way of apologizing for his mini-freak out and said: “If it doesn’t work, I’ll turn this jar into a grinder.” Then he concentrated his Xuanli and hardened the metal door with an additional layer of energy barrier.
“Okay, Laura, Aimee, Jason, can you lift the illusion? If not I’ll just blast this fucking tomb open.” Caroline nodded and took a deep breath, then conjured out her battle axe and shield and cast a True Sight spell on herself. Her eyes, just like her battle axe and shield, glowed in orange and red.
“We don’t have the time, just do it.” Jason shook his head and said: “Our barriers will not hold any longer.”
“Suits me, I’ll be careful.” Caroline raised her battle axe, then swung it down, unleashing an orange and red energy slash at the corner of the stone tomb. This was intentional, because in her vision, the corner of the tomb was the thickest part, but it also had a crack on it.
When the energy slash clashed into the corner of the tomb, the energy slash split into two parts, each going into the direction of the two surfaces of the tomb. And with a “poof” sound, the walls of the stone tomb crumbled and the lid was blown off to the side. This attack also created enough disruption from inside the illusion, and as the lights and shadows twisted and rippled, the crumbled stone tomb and what was inside were revealed to everyone present.
It was a dried corpse, of a creature that looked like a four winged bat with black fur. On the chest of the corpse was a symbol that seemed to be branded with iron - a True Word, one that both Jason and Caroline recognized.
“... broken deals?” Jason frowned.
“Or - traitor?” Caroline shrugged.
The centipede creature inside the jar in Laura’s hand became even more frantic, so much so that the scratch marks inside the jar had started to blur its figure.