Creak!
Creeeak!
That ear-piercing sound echoed through the passage inside the pyramid.
The stone door Alex had directly passed through earlier was now being pushed open by Hank and Tiger together.
Even after forcing open a gap just wide enough for one person to pass through, both men were drenched in sweat and breathing hard.
After resting for a moment, Hank raised his rifle and shined the flashlight mounted on it inside. After confirming there was no danger, he tossed in that metal sphere detector used to test the air composition.
Only after getting a safe reading did he gesture to Tiger.
Tiger crawled in first, then Hank followed behind him.
A short while later, the entire team entered the passage.
Beams of light swept across the surroundings, landing on the walls Alex had ignored.
There were murals painted on them.
Within those murals, Dr. Nick saw the owner of the tomb.
It was an extremely imposing middle-aged man. He wore a robe embroidered with all kinds of mysterious symbols, and in his hands he held a human skull carved with equally strange markings.
He stood atop a pyramid.
Below him knelt countless humans and all kinds of animals in worship.
Dr. Nick narrowed his eyes, then sucked in a cold breath.
"This…"
Captain Hank looked over,n"What is it, Doctor?"
Using the flashlight beam, Dr. Nick circled the man standing atop the pyramid.
"This is probably a Necromancer King."
Hank's heart immediately sank.
After seeing those ghost-like things on the stone steps earlier, many people had already wanted to back out.
But in the end, Dr. Nick convinced them, and everyone regained their courage and continued exploring.
Yet after reaching this place, Dr. Nick was now saying there was a Necromancer King here.
"Look here."
Using the flashlight as guidance, Dr. Nick pointed Hank and the others toward the bottom of the pyramid, toward the creatures worshipping the man standing at the top.
"These aren't humans. Look at them carefully. They're wrapped in bandages."
"They're mummies."
"And these animals too. Look closely. None of them are alive."
The mural was huge.
Though each animal in the painting was only palm-sized, it wasn't hard to tell, some had their stomachs split open, while others had intestines hanging out.
The whole image carried a thick aura of death.
Hank lowered his voice unconsciously, "Then what we saw earlier might not have been an illusion?"
At this moment, Amy called from ahead, "Doctor, come look at this."
Dr. Nick pulled his attention away from the mural.
He walked over to Amy's side.
Amy pointed toward a high-backed chair placed atop a raised platform ahead.
Dr. Nick narrowed his eyes slightly and walked over. At the base of the platform, he discovered some ancient Egyptian writing.
After carefully reading it, he said, "These words say that beyond the door lies the land of the dead, a place that does not welcome the living."
"So this place is guarded by Anubis."
"Anubis?", Karma walked over holding her rifle, "You mean that Egyptian god with a jackal head?"
Dr. Nick nodded.
Tank, the bald man, laughed, "Looks like Anubis wasn't doing his job properly. Otherwise, where is he now?"
Assistant Vic was staring blankly at a mural when he suddenly stepped on something, producing a light clang.
He lowered his head.
It was a sickle.
"Doctor, there's a sickle here."
"Huh? There are bandages on the ground too."
"Ah!"
Vic screamed and collapsed onto the floor.
Where the flashlight shone, there was half a dog's head.
His scream drew everyone's attention.
Dr. Nick and the others came over and saw the sickle, the bandages, and the half dog head on the ground.
Everyone felt a chill run down their backs.
Karma said quietly, "Could it be… Anubis was killed?"
"That's the Egyptian god of death."
At this moment, Dr. Nick and Amy exchanged a glance.
Both of them thought of the same person.
'Homelander!'
If there was anyone capable of hurting the Egyptian god of death, then it could only be that man.
———
As for "that man," Alex had already reached the top level of the pyramid.
Fragments of zombies and undead animals were scattered everywhere here.
Alex no longer continued using the Darkhold to create Abominations.
By the time he reached this point, the number of Abominations had already exceeded fifty.
These things completely filled Alex's field of vision, while countless undead floated everywhere.
Looking at this fantasy-like scene, Alex felt a strange sense of unreality, like he was dreaming.
He was actually commanding an undead army and crushing his way through everything.
That was something he would never have dared imagine before.
The multiverse really was full of endless possibilities.
Alex sighed.
At this moment, through the senses of the undead, Alex saw this scene.
At the front of the undead army stood a stone door, similar to the previous "Gate of the Afterlife."
But instead of religious scripture, there was a scale engraved on it.
One side of the scale held a feather, while the other held a heart.
The heart symbol was sunken inward, as if a real heart could be placed into it.
At this moment, two Abominations charged forward.
They pushed at the stone door with all their strength, but something was suddenly triggered. Several streaks of black light shot from the crack in the door.
The lights swept across the two Abominations.
Their bodies instantly turned into rotten flesh.
Alex narrowed his eyes slightly, "So a heart has to be offered to keep going forward?"
He smiled and immediately ordered one Abomination to dig out its own heart.
Another Abomination carried the heart forward.
At this time, several injured Abominations rushed over and began feeding on the companion that had sacrificed its heart.
Meanwhile, the Abomination that reached the door placed the heart into the sunken symbol.
The moment the heart was placed inside, it exploded into a cloud of blood mist.
The blood was quickly absorbed.
Then the maze-like patterns on the door gradually filled with blood.
After they were completely filled, the stone door trembled with a hum and slowly opened.
This time, no other trap was triggered.
The stone door opened to reveal a tomb chamber hall. It was extremely spacious, and at the center stood a raised platform with a golden coffin placed on top.
But the coffin lid was already open.
Alex sent an undead over to inspect it.
The inside of the coffin was completely empty.
"Don't tell me it's like last time."
"Did the elder run away too?"
As he said this, Alex snapped his fingers.
Several undead instantly shot upward above his head.
Directly above Alex, within the shadows, a dark figure lunged downward.
It was a man wearing a black robe.
A young man.
Long black hair draped loosely around him. His features were strangely beautiful, and his skin was pale.
His eyes glowed with frightening red light, and sharp fangs protruded from his lips.
The black robe on his body looked like smoke itself. Wisps of black mist drifted from the edges of the robe before fading into the air.
Several undead pounced over and rushed into his body before violently exploding.
Instantly, pale light burst out from the black-robed man's eyes and mouth.
His body exploded in midair, blood mist scattering everywhere.
It was one of the "Black Robes."
Just like the pyramid before.
This tomb also had these tomb guardians.
After this Black Robe appeared, more and more Black Robes emerged one after another.
Some were male, some female, some old, some young.
There were far more of them than in the pyramid from Jordan.
Even facing Alex's undead army, they showed no fear.
Red light flickered in every pair of eyes as they lowered their centers of gravity slightly and moved cautiously.
Just as the Black Robes were about to charge, a deep voice echoed through the tomb chamber.
The speaker was probably using ancient Egyptian. Alex couldn't understand it, but all the Black Robes immediately stopped.
Then several figures walked out from deeper inside the chamber.
Leading them was a skinny middle-aged man.
His face had no color, his skin was dry, and his whole body looked like a corpse.
He wore a robe embroidered with all kinds of mysterious symbols and markings.
In his hand he held a human skull, also covered in symbols, while pale flames burned within its eye sockets.
Beside this middle-aged man stood four bald figures wearing red robes.
Two men and two women.
Their robes seemed unusual as well, much like the Black Robes.
The Black Robes emitted smoke, while these Red Robes flickered with amber-colored firelight.
At this moment, the middle-aged man holding the skull spoke in a deep voice.
"Powerful necromancer, I do not know you. Why have you entered my tomb?"
It was English.
Though it carried an accent.
Like the guide Ackman.
Alex looked somewhat surprised, "You actually speak English?"
"How do you know what language I use?"
The middle-aged man calmly replied, "This valley holds no secrets from me."
"The undead you command once obeyed my orders."
"I had them wander the valley and monitor every blade of grass and tree here."
"Through them, I learned some new languages."
"Language itself is not difficult to master."
"I already sensed your arrival the moment you entered."
"But I did not expect you to be such a powerful necromancer."
"Powerful enough to seize control of the undead from me."
Alex didn't think much of it.
After all, the Darkhold was a divine artifact. Its magic was naturally powerful. Otherwise, it wouldn't qualify to be recorded within this book.
Alex narrowed his eyes slightly, "You're Tutankebeken?"
"You know my name?", The middle-aged man's words were basically an admission.
Alex shrugged, "I also know you're one of the elders of the Undying Empire."
"And there's another one called Brocks."
Tutankebeken immediately became wary, "You're that traitor's friend?"
Now it was Alex's turn to be surprised, "Traitor?"
Seeing that Alex didn't seem to be pretending, Tutankebeken said, "So you didn't know."
"Forget it. Since you have nothing to do with him…"
"I don't want to make things difficult for you either."
"Powerful necromancer, could you please leave?"
The answer was naturally no.
Alex smiled, "You want me to leave? Fine."
"But you have to come with me."
"I'm very interested in the Undying Empire. Maybe having an immortal as a servant would be interesting."
Anger flashed through Tutankebeken's eyes, "You want me to become your servant?"
"Impossible!"
"I once swore loyalty to the Queen. I will never serve anyone else."
Alex shrugged, "Really?"
"That's a shame."
"In that case…"
He stepped back.
The Abominations immediately roared, moved in front of Alex, and advanced forward.
The undead also screamed as they flew toward Tutankebeken's side.
"Wait!"
Tutankebeken shouted, "How about this instead?"
"I'm also a mage, and I specialize in necromancy."
"Let's settle this with a mage duel."
"If you can defeat me…"
"It's not impossible for me to consider your proposal."
'Coward.'
Alex laughed inwardly before saying, "You won't go back on your word, right?"
Tutankebeken said solemnly, "I swear in the name of the Egyptian gods."
Alex didn't believe in that kind of oath at all.
But he believed in himself.
If Tutankebeken regretted it later, Alex had plenty of ways to kill this immortal.
So he stepped out from among the Abominations.
"Fine. I'll make sure you lose completely."
As he spoke, Alex took out the Darkhold.
The moment this extremely dark and evil book appeared, Tutankebeken's heart began pounding.
As a genuine mage, he had learned necromancy from the Book of the Dead and had reached a high level of mastery.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to create so many mummy zombies and undead animals.
Because of that, the instant the Darkhold appeared, Tutankebeken immediately sensed how extraordinary it was.
It was even more evil than the Book of the Dead.
It felt like the purest darkness.
The deepest death.
Tutankebeken even had the urge to kneel before the book.
Barely suppressing the fear in his heart, he tightened his grip on the skull in his hand and chanted a string of spells.
The gray-white flames inside the skull flickered.
Instantly, a phantom skull appeared beside Alex.
The skull opened its mouth and bit toward him.
This was one of Tutankebeken's proudest necromancy spells. It could directly bite out a target's soul.
As long as he dragged the opponent's soul out of their body, Tutankebeken could control them.
But when the phantom skull bit toward Alex, it was like hitting an invisible wall and was sent flying backward.
It had encountered Magic Resistance.
Alex also had no interest in playing some magic duel with Tutankebeken.
He immediately flipped the book to the page containing Dark Prison.
On this page, the mysterious symbols looked as though they had condensed from black mist. Thin strands of black smoke seeped from them while the symbols constantly twisted.
Alex placed his hand on the page and activated the spell.
Immediately, strands of black aura rose from the ground around Tutankebeken.
Then the black aura began spinning like a hurricane.
In the blink of an eye, it rose into the air and closed together above Tutankebeken's head.
Instantly, this elder of the Undying Empire could no longer see anything.
Could no longer feel anything.
It was as though he had suddenly entered the deepest night.
Tutankebeken could see nothing, hear nothing, and even his senses became blurred.
He hurriedly used a spell that temporarily transformed him into an undead spirit, turning him into intangible smoke.
Using this spell, he could move quickly and pass through obstacles.
But after using it, Tutankebeken couldn't tell whether he had moved at all.
Even his sense of distance became vague.
After struggling for a while, he was still trapped in darkness.
He tried several more spells, but none of them allowed him to escape his situation.
Tutankebeken gradually began to panic.
He had never encountered anything like this before.
He started wondering if he would remain trapped in this darkness forever.
As an immortal, he could enter long periods of slumber.
A hundred years meant little more than an instant to him.
But he did not want to sleep forever in darkness.
Especially since he could not die.
If he could never escape this darkness, then eternity itself would become torture.
When even his sense of time became blurred, Tutankebeken panicked completely.
He did not dare imagine what it would feel like to remain in darkness forever.
He loudly declared surrender, but he could not even hear his own voice.
No one knew how much time passed.
Then suddenly, a beam of light appeared overhead.
The darkness around him descended, and the black aura vanished into the ground.
Only then could Tutankebeken hear his own voice again.
His voice had almost changed pitch.
"I surrender!"
"I surrender!"
Alex smiled.
At the moment Tutankebeken admitted defeat, information also appeared before Alex's eyes.
[You have successfully resolved this event.]
After Tutankebeken surrendered, Alex canceled both the Abomination and Undead Control spells.
The former returned to piles of flesh. The latter slipped free from control and disappeared back into the shadows of the tomb.
Since the event was already over, Alex no longer needed to limit himself to using magic.
If Tutankebeken dared regret his decision, Alex would reward him with a heat vision blast.
Seeing the tomb chamber become empty once more, Tutankebeken also made a gesture.
The Black Robes retreated into the darkness, while the four Red Robes dispersed.
Only then did Tutankebeken respectfully say, "Master, how should I address you?"
"Haven't you already figured out how to address me?", Alex smiled.
Tutankebeken froze for a moment, then lowered his head even further.
"Yes, Master."
"I must have slept too long. My brain isn't working very well anymore. Please forgive me for embarrassing myself."
Alex shook his head and clasped his hands behind his back as he walked around inspecting Tutankebeken's tomb chamber.
As he walked, he asked, "You said Brocks is a traitor. What's that about?"
Tutankebeken snorted.
"After the battle against the Shapeshifters back then, the Queen disappeared."
"Three Pharaoh Kings, along with most of the Pharaohs and elders, died in battle."
"Only a few of us survived, including Brocks and me."
"But all of us were heavily injured, so we each built tombs and used deep slumber to heal our wounds."
"Not long ago, I was awakened."
"The one who woke me was Brocks."
"He claimed humans had disturbed his sleep, and said the world had already entered a new era."
"He planned to restore the Undying Empire to the world."
"He invited me to join him."
"But I refused. The Undying Empire has only one emperor."
"That is the Queen of the Night!"
"What does he, Brocks, count as?"
"He dares talk about reviving the empire? He isn't qualified!"
'I see. Looks like even though they are both elders of the Undying Empire, their relationship definitely isn't friendly.'
After thinking for a moment, Alex said, "Brocks has probably established an organization called the Dark Council."
"He's trying to use it to restore the Undying Empire."
"Can you find Brocks?"
"I have a task I want to give you."
[🎉 Shoutout to Salty, Steffen, what_iz, julien and archer for joining p@treon. Thank you very much.🤗]
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