"This is..."
"This is the Gate to the Afterlife."
In the dim underground space, flickering lights illuminated the stone door before them.
The stone door was enormous, giving the impression that it led to another world.
It bore maze-like square patterns and was carved with religious scriptures.
Holding a magnifying glass, Dr. Nick examined the inscriptions excitedly, "No mistake."
"This is a Gate to the Afterlife. According to ancient Egyptian legend, passing through this gate allows one to enter the afterlife."
The survival expert Charlie chuckled, "So if we walk through it now, will we end up in the future?"
"The Gate to the Afterlife isn't a gate to the future."
Amy corrected him, "Ancient Egyptians believed that after death, a person had to pass through the Gate to the Afterlife before they could be reincarnated as a human again."
"It's not about traveling to the future."
Computer specialist Kelly sighed in admiration, "The doctor's intuition was unbelievably accurate this time. We found this place without me even needing to investigate."
Dr. Nick's expression turned slightly awkward. He coughed twice, "I just got lucky."
He didn't mention that it had been John's reminder.
He trusted Homelander's judgment, which was why they had found the hidden entrance beneath the cliff and discovered this "Gate to the Afterlife."
Captain Hank touched the stone door and said, "This is extremely hard granite. So, do you want us to blow it open?"
Dr. Nick jumped in alarm, "No! No! No! That won't be necessary."
He explained, "This is a tomb entrance. There should be some kind of mechanism to open it. Let me look for it..."
John had no interest in waiting for the doctor to slowly figure things out. While everyone's attention was fixed on the Gate to the Afterlife, his body turned intangible and passed straight through the rock, entering the world beyond the door.
———
Behind it was a staircase leading underground.
The stairs were also made of granite. Even after the erosion of countless years, there was barely any visible damage.
They largely retained their original form, descending deep underground like a path into hell itself.
John strode downward and took out the Darkhold, flipping to the page titled Necromancy.
He pressed his hand against the page covered in mysterious symbols and patterns.
Immediately, ghostly green flames began rising from the page.
The flames poured out from the book and rapidly circled around John, sketching complex symbols into the air.
The symbols linked together into lines, forming patterns.
The patterns connected with one another, creating an enormous and intricate magic array.
The massive array radiated eerie green light, bathing the underground world in a sickly glow.
Standing at the center of the array, John's face looked deathly pale beneath the light, like a demon freshly crawled out of hell.
Then, with a humming sound, the array shattered apart.
Every symbol and pattern exploded into ghostly green flames.
Countless streaks of green fire scattered into the darkness.
A moment later, a gray-white head slowly emerged from the stone steps in front of John.
Then the figure rose completely, climbing out from within the stairs.
It was a mummy, but its body was translucent and insubstantial.
Gray smoke drifted constantly from the edges of its body, dispersing into the air.
It was an undead spirit.
Soon after, more undeads like it continuously appeared around John.
Many of them were mummies, but among them were also locals dressed in strange clothing.
There were gaunt-faced women, men so thin their ribs were visible, and hunched old people.
John's Necromancy had awakened the dead in this region.
They had been summoned forth and placed under his control through magic.
John focused for a moment.
Everything these undeads saw, heard, and sensed, he could share as well.
There were so many undead spirit here that the amount of shared information was absurd.
Fortunately, John possessed Quantum Sub-brain, which could process the burden.
Otherwise, simply sharing the undead spirit's senses would have overloaded and exploded his mind.
Without needing to speak, John merely issued a thought.
The undead spirit instantly scattered.
They became his eyes and ears, scouting the underground world for him.
Very quickly, John discovered that after the staircase reached the bottom, it opened into an enormous space.
Not a natural cave system, but a flat and clearly man-made underground area.
At the far end of that vast space stood a pyramid.
Unlike the one discovered in central Jordan, this pyramid did not merely have its peak above ground.
The entire structure stood completely within the underground chamber, resting on the broad, level floor.
At the base of the pyramid was a massive pair of stone doors, flanked by pillars supporting the archway.
Above the entrance stood a pharaoh's statue.
As for which pharaoh specifically, John had no idea.
.
.
.
A short while later, John arrived before the heavy stone doors.
Undead spirits constantly drifted in and out here. Some even stood beside the doors with their heads lowered, raising fingers to point toward the entrance as if guiding John forward.
John's body became intangible again, effortlessly passing through the doors without wasting time or effort opening them.
Though for him, forcing them open would only have taken a moment anyway.
Beyond the doors lay deep darkness.
Tiny points of light appeared in John's eyes.
Immediately, the interior became clear.
Behind the doors was a corridor that was neither particularly wide nor especially narrow. At the end of the passage stood a high-backed chair.
It rested atop a raised platform.
Beside it stood a statue with a jackal's head holding a scythe, Anubis, the Egyptian god of death.
Behind the statue and the chair stood another enormous pair of doors engraved with intricate patterns and ancient Egyptian text.
John returned to solid form and walked toward the end of the corridor.
At that moment, he suddenly noticed the statue seated upon the high-backed chair tremble slightly.
Then it began shaking harder, shedding layers of dust.
The statue, which had sat alone in darkness for countless centuries, suddenly began to move.
At the same time, information appeared across John's vision.
[You have actively triggered an Encounter Event.]
[Event Name: Ancient Secret, Necromancer.]
[Description: This is the tomb of Tutanbeken, an elder of the Undying Empire. He was a powerful mage skilled in necromancy. Through his magic, he made servants long dead continue serving him for eternity. Now, you have disturbed his tomb guardian!]
[Event Requirement: Flatten this tomb using magic.]
[Event Start!]
John froze briefly, "Flatten this tomb using magic?"
Then he laughed.
"Now this is interesting."
At the same time, at the very top level of the tomb, within the main burial chamber, a golden coffin suddenly began shaking.
Then the lid slowly opened a crack.
From within the darkness, thick black liquid began oozing out.
A withered hand stretched out from the liquid.
———
In front of the Gate to the Afterlife—
Click!
A soft sound echoed.
At the center of the stone door engraved with square maze patterns, a slab of granite slid backward, revealing an opening large enough for one person to pass through.
"We did it!"
Assistant Vic said excitedly.
The others burst into cheers as well.
Computer specialist Kelly wiped sweat from her forehead.
On her computer screen was a 3D model of the Gate to the Afterlife.
It was easy to see the complex internal mechanisms within the door. These had been mapped using sonar equipment before Kelly reconstructed them through 3D modeling.
That allowed Dr. Nick to more easily decipher the true method for opening the tomb entrance.
"Excellent work."
"Now we can finally go inside."
"I can't wait to see what's in there."
One of the archaeology team members was visibly excited.
As team leader, Hank remained cautious, "Hold on first. Let's check the situation inside."
He took out a metallic sphere resembling a grenade. After activating something on it, Hank tossed it through the opening.
The metal sphere quickly rolled into the darkness.
The captain then looked down at the tactical computer on his wrist, where streams of data were displayed.
"Good. No toxins in the air."
"Oxygen levels are normal. That means there's either a massive underground space or a ventilation system."
After checking several readings, Hank said, "Tiger goes in with me first. Then the doctor and the archaeology team."
"Tank, Robin, you cover the rear."
"Karma, you stay with the doctor and Mr. John."
After assigning everyone's positions, Hank prepared to enter the doorway.
Then Karma suddenly let out a confused sound, "Mr. John is gone."
"What?"
Hank spun around sharply and swept his flashlight over the archaeology team.
One face after another, but the blond man was nowhere to be found.
Dr. Nick's assistant, Vic, whispered, "Didn't the guide say that anyone who enters Devil Valley never appears again?"
"Could this be how they disappear?"
Amy shot him a glare, "Shut your damn crow mouth."
Then she added, "Mr. John will be fine."
At that moment, Dr. Nick coughed lightly, "Let's go. There's no need to worry about John. He can take care of himself."
"The people we should worry about are ourselves."
The old professor recalled the bloody experience in the pyramid last time.
Now Homelander wasn't beside them.
They really were the ones in danger.
Hank looked toward the old man, "You sure?"
Dr. Nick nodded, "Absolutely."
Hank shrugged, "Fine then."
"We move as planned."
He and Tiger entered first, followed by Dr. Nick, Amy, Karma, and the others.
The bald Tank and sniper Robin walked at the rear.
The group passed through the Gate to the Afterlife and reached the staircase beyond.
Hank mounted a flashlight beneath his rifle and carried the weapon in a ready-to-fire stance.
Step by step, he descended.
"Stay alert."
"If anything happens, we retreat immediately."
As he spoke, Hank suddenly saw, within the flashlight beam, about a dozen steps below, a figure abruptly appeared.
It was a woman. Standing beside the staircase.
Her head hung low as she raised a hand in a stop gesture.
Then she flickered once, and vanished from the stairs.
Seeing that scene, even mercenaries like Hank, who had faced death countless times, felt their scalps go numb.
Not to mention the others.
"What was that?"
"A ghost?"
"Should we turn back?"
The archaeology team members immediately began losing their nerve.
———
Inside the pyramid—
John saw the terrified expressions on Hank and the others' faces through the undeads and smiled faintly.
He had sent one of the undeads to warn them.
Telling them not to come down.
As for whether they listened, he didn't care.
The only reason he bothered warning them at all was because they had gotten along reasonably well these past few days.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have wasted the effort.
At that moment, he watched undeads continuously enter the "Anubis."
That thing wasn't actually Anubis at all, it was a mummy wearing a jackal-headed mask.
Probably one of Tutanbeken's creations.
A corpse revived through magic.
Now, after the undeads entered the mummy, they controlled its body and used its own scythe to sever the jackal head.
The head rolled to John's feet.
John stepped on it.
Then he saw the mummy's body collapse to the ground.
From inside crawled out a scarab beetle.
Ordinary scarabs were black.
This one, however, was white.
Strange patterns covered its shell, forming the image of a human face. It looked deeply unsettling.
The scarab beat its wings and flew into the air.
But after flying for a short while, it suddenly weathered away like decaying stone, turning into fine white sand that scattered across the floor.
"A type of medium?"
John stared thoughtfully at the scarab powder on the ground.
He walked over to the mummy's corpse.
After thinking for a moment, he took out the Darkhold.
The pitch-black book radiating evil intent opened in his hands.
As the pages flipped, black mist naturally drifted out from the book, carrying faint sparks within it.
John turned to the page titled Create Abomination.
The mysterious symbols on that page constantly released phantom dark green energy.
At times, the energy formed horribly twisted faces that seemed to hate every living thing in existence.
John pressed his hand against the page, activating the spell.
Immediately, the dark green energy no longer drifted out slowly.
It boiled violently.
The energy surged upward, then screamed through the air as it poured into the mummy's corpse.
The mummy also convulsed violently.
Its dried corpse suddenly regenerated flesh, and its body rapidly expanded.
The wrappings either snapped apart or loosened entirely, exposing dull gray-white skin beneath.
At the same time, the severed head lying nearby also began twitching.
Suddenly, the Anubis mask shattered apart.
A swollen giant man's head emerged from inside.
It looked like a middle-aged man with deep nasal folds.
One eyeball bulged grotesquely from its socket, spinning wildly.
Its teeth protruded past its lips, exposing rows of jagged fangs.
From the severed neck grew red tendrils that crawled like octopus tentacles.
They dragged the head toward the body.
The mummy's bloated body slowly rose to its feet.
Not only had it become obese like a grotesque fat giant, it had mutated.
Its left arm became enormous and thick, with bones piercing through the flesh and mutating into an axe-like shape.
Its right arm split into two, one normal length and one shorter.
Like the left arm, both right arms had exposed bones, mutated into a bone hammer and a gleaming white bone blade.
From the corpse's stomach, ribs protruded outward, interlocking together like a giant closed mouth.
At that moment, the head had climbed onto the neck.
All the tendrils burrowed into the flesh beneath, joining it together.
But the face was backward.
So the Abomination raised its right arm and used the bone hammer to twist its own head around, turning it to face forward.
Then it let out a roar and immediately tried charging toward the outside of the pyramid, clearly sensing the human presence of Dr. Nick and the others.
Fortunately, it was bound by magic.
John possessed absolute control over it.
John immediately issued a command.
The Abomination stopped.
Its single eye overflowed with vicious malice and unwillingness, but it still obeyed, turning around and charging forward on thick legs.
Like a living war machine, it crashed through the doors at the end of the corridor.
Very soon, the roars of other monsters echoed from beyond the doors.
John calmly continued walking forward.
The undeads under his command surged through the doors like a tide, joining the battle to cleanse the tomb.
John himself did not act.
First, because the event required him to flatten the tomb using magic.
Second, because he wanted to see what the undead spirit and the Abomination were capable of.
It had to be said that elder of the Undying Empire had left behind plenty of monsters in his tomb.
There were massive numbers of mummy zombies as well as many undead spirit animals.
It was easy to imagine, without John accompanying them, Dr. Nick's team would probably have died horribly inside this pyramid.
But now, it was the monsters' side being slaughtered.
Originally, John had thought the undead spirit were only useful as scouts.
But now he discovered they possessed many offensive abilities as well.
Besides possession, the undead spirit had other powers.
One was telekinesis.
Like ghosts and evil undeads in movies, they could move objects through thought alone.
As a result, mummy zombies and undead spirit beasts were constantly thrown through the air for no reason, while ancient weapons inside the tomb suddenly flew on their own and pierced into zombie skulls.
Another ability was low-temperature attacks.
They could exhale freezing winds from their mouths.
Even zombies and undead spirit creatures were affected. Once struck by the undead spirit frost breath, thick ice rapidly formed across their bodies, slowing their movements drastically.
The undead spirit's most violent method, however, was self-destruction.
They first possessed a target, then detonated their soul bodies, producing tremendous destructive force and shockwaves.
A single undead spirit bomb was enough to blow mummy zombies and undead spirit beasts into pieces.
Compared to the undead spirit, the Abomination was clearly more fond of physical violence.
It hacked enemies apart with overwhelming strength or smashed them into pulp.
Its mental corruption abilities had no effect on mummy zombies and undead spirit beasts.
But whenever it moved, clouds of ghostly green mist spread around it.
That was Corrosive Poison Fog.
It caused zombies and undead spirit beasts to rot apart, reducing them to piles of rotten flesh within moments.
The Abomination could also actively unleash this ability.
The ribs on its stomach would split apart, tearing open its belly and releasing massive amounts of green poisonous mist from within.
The green fog swept across the surroundings, causing large-scale corrosion.
However, this consumed enormous energy.
After using such attacks, it would usually grab nearby corpses and shove them into its stomach, replenishing itself by digesting them.
In John's eyes, the Abomination resembled an inferior version of Doomsday.
Unless completely destroyed, it would fight forever.
And unlike Doomsday, as long as corpses existed on the battlefield, John could continuously create more Abominations.
Just like now.
All the corpses along the way had been turned into Abominations by John.
Using undeads and Abominations to sweep through the tomb, John advanced toward the top level of the pyramid like a sovereign of death itself.
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