"Hah!"
Silas continuously cut open wounds, flinging blood forward.
The crimson blood mist spread through the door crack into the tomb's antechamber, quickly filling the entire area.
The monsters hiding in the darkness, within the confined space, were inevitably tainted by Silas's blood.
After doing this, he raised his dagger and muttered in a low voice.
"Pft!"
Under the startled gazes of the exploration team members, Silas directly pierced his own palm with the silver dagger.
Almost simultaneously, numerous sharp howls rang out from the tomb's antechamber.
Those were the agonized screams of monsters whose life forces were being extinguished, as if they had encountered unimaginable terror in their final moments.
These howls overlapped, accompanied by "sizzling" sounds of corrosion entering everyone's ears.
After the chaotic sounds continued for some time, the tomb gradually returned to silence.
Also falling quiet were the several people behind Silas.
"We can go in now."
Silas turned his head and told them.
After withdrawing the silver dagger, his wound quickly healed.
"You... you're actually..."
The bespectacled Best was dumbstruck, stammering, trying to say something.
"Wonderful, that really helps a lot!"
But the middle-aged gentleman Zoroya suddenly interrupted him, saying with a smile, preventing Best from revealing the dangerous sequence the other belonged to.
The group entered the antechamber one by one.
The now deathly silent tomb was gradually illuminated by the gaslight's glow. They explored cautiously, occasionally pausing beside some monster corpses.
"Died pretty miserably..."
Kate sneered, poking at a corpse with his sword tip.
That corpse had been corroded by Silas's blood, with nearly half its flesh gone.
A few of the monsters were slowly precipitating characteristics, but most had simply died.
The few characteristics were all collected, to be distributed after the exploration ended.
"Strange... no murals or writing at all..."
Best and Zoroya had already walked a circuit around the antechamber walls, finding neither hidden mechanisms nor any valuable information.
"This shouldn't be!"
He said in surprise. "According to Fourth Epoch burial rites, the antechamber should display the tomb owner's glorious deeds during life. If the tomb owner had no achievements, there should at least be murals depicting him enjoying peace in heaven after death..."
Where Best's gaslight illuminated, the solid walls were completely bare, without even text or symbols. Though this tomb's specifications couldn't be called anything but noble, the degree of attention paid to the tomb's owner seemed quite ordinary.
As for those monsters occupying the antechamber, they didn't look like they'd been placed there during the tomb's construction, but rather like they'd gradually infiltrated over thousands of years and made it their nest.
Could it be that this tomb actually didn't contain anything valuable?
That shouldn't be possible. Otherwise there'd be no way to explain why previous exploration teams never returned alive.
"Let's keep going deeper. Perhaps we'll discover something else."
Silas frowned, exchanging a glance with Sharron.
Everyone regrouped and continued along the corridor toward the tomb's depths.
"The left side chamber is empty! Damn it!"
The female warrior returned from the darkness, cursing angrily.
"Nothing on the right either."
Best and Zoroya had also found nothing.
Silas stood silently in place, waiting for Miss "Wraith" who had gone to scout ahead, hoping she'd bring back good news.
Soon, at the edge of the gaslight's glow, the illusory figure of a lady in a black court dress gradually materialized.
"There are quite a few precious extraordinary items and characteristics ahead.
It seems the tomb owner's treasures are all stored there. The protective mechanisms have decayed and should be quite easy to remove."
She spoke incredible words in an ethereal, indifferent tone. "Hurry and come with me..."
"Excellent!"
After hearing this, Best couldn't help showing joy.
He'd long grown anxious from the fruitless exploration, and finally heard good news!
He was about to follow her deeper when he noticed the other several people merely watching coldly without moving.
Why aren't you moving?
He thought in confusion, only to be stopped by Zoroya's arm.
"Finally, something worthwhile."
The female warrior stretched her neck, turning to look at the others.
"This one's mine to clean up. Need to stretch a bit. Any objections?"
"Suit yourself."
Silas was noncommittal.
"Heh."
The woman sneered, looking at "Sharron," battle intent surging in her eyes.
"Boom!"
Light like dawn flashed beneath her feet, instantly illuminating the pitch-black tomb passage.
Best watched in surprise as that lady with a face as delicate as a doll, bathed in the morning light, suddenly had her original appearance become distorted, then transformed into a mass of pale human skin.
On that human skin, Sharron's appearance was slowly fading away.
A Human-skin Shadow!
An extraordinary creature that could mimic human appearance and devour living people!
The knowledge in his mind instantly connected.
Best felt both surprised and fearful. If he'd followed it just now, he'd probably have been devoured alive...
"Screech..."
The morning light scorched the pale skin.
It leaped into the air, seemingly trying to escape deeper into the tomb passage.
But the female warrior had no intention of letting it go. Gripping her greatsword, she charged forward and viciously cleaved downward, splitting that human skin in two.
The light erupting from the sword's blade consumed the human skin. When it fell to the ground, it had already turned to ashes.
These ashes glowed faintly, spontaneously gathering into pure characteristics.
From its appearance, this characteristic looked like a huge diamond, each facet reflecting a different face, making one feel dizzy.
This is the main ingredient for Klein's Sequence 6 potion.
Silas thought.
Judging from the Human-skin Shadow's performance, perhaps it could give him the ability to change his appearance?
"Thud, thud..."
After the Human-skin Shadow was killed, the surroundings didn't become quiet.
Instead, they grew more clamorous.
Heavy footsteps came from the distance. The female warrior's morning light hadn't yet extinguished, revealing the source of the footsteps.
Those were several monsters over four meters tall, grayish-white throughout, as if statues had come to life.
They had demonic appearances, with goat horns on their heads, fangs protruding from their mouths, eyes burning with piercing red light, and six grayish-white stone wings growing from their backs.
"Scraaape..."
The halberds they held in their hands scraped sparks from the floor.
Several Human-skin Shadows were mixed among them, seemingly preparing to ambush at any moment.
"Six-winged Gargoyles!"
Best shouted, somewhat alarmed. But quickly, he remembered his duty and explained, "Their bodies are very solid, and making eye contact with them will slow people down!"
These gargoyles were clearly stronger, forcing even the several Sequence 5s to become serious.