Chapter 84: The Tomb of Eldakrad Part 2

The sanctum had suddenly turned into a dungeon.

Statues, now transformed into monsters, began to swarm toward us.

“Did they seriously start moving the statues first?”

“Let’s just dodge for now!”

The statues swung their swords aggressively.

Swish!

I fired magic bullets to repel their attacks.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

“Can we destroy them?”

The magic bullets streaming from my hands struck down the knight statues.

Crash!

They broke apart.

The statues were weaker than expected.

In other words, these statues weren’t originally created as anti-intruder defenses.

It was clear they were being forcefully animated by dark magic.

“Damn it. Why did I even enter this sanctum?”

There was no need to rush.

I needed to bring Syria and Kise along, too.

Perhaps I had been too complacent, assuming that nothing would happen near the Ashtar sanctum after defeating Pector.

“Miss Olivia, are you alright?”

“Let’s hurry and head to the first floor. This place is dangerous.”

“We could still turn back now without getting overconfident.”

“Staying here any longer would be too risky.”

“But… heading back might be difficult,” Kiriel said, pointing at a door marked with a purple magic circle.

“What’s that? A barrier?”

Unfortunately, the door leading to the first floor was sealed with a barrier.

Dark magic inscriptions were etched into the door.

“We were in trouble.”

“It’s a triple-layered barrier. Ashtar’s mana alone might not be enough to break through it.”

“No, it wasn’t impossible.”

“If it followed the family’s original mana authentication system, we just needed to pour enough mana into it.”

“Enough to shatter the barrier.”

“However…”

“A test showed that even a substantial amount of mana wouldn’t suffice.”

“And the statues wouldn’t just stand by while we worked on the barrier.”

“This is such a mess.”

“How many knight statues were crammed into this sanctum?”

“No, there was an even bigger problem.”

“If it’s dark magic, it means someone is down below, right?”

“Exactly.”

‘A practitioner of dark magic—who could it be?’

‘Perhaps one of Clanis’s followers.’

‘Why were they targeting Ashtar?’

‘Could they be after Eldakrad’s body?’

“In the end, we’ll have to descend to the third floor. It seems your grandfather is deeply resentful, Miss Olivia.”

Kiriel let out a sigh of frustration.

That’s how it was going to be.

Still, I was furious.

“This is such a pain.”

This was a complete disaster.

***

Sanctum Basement – Third Floor

Eldakrad’s sanctum was a massive burial chamber housing the remains of Eldakrad, who had led Ashtar during its golden era.

To the people of Ashtar, Eldakrad’s sanctum was considered sacred—a hero’s tomb.

However, the once-holy third floor of Eldakrad’s sanctum was now shrouded in malevolence.

The dark energy was so oppressive that it wouldn’t be surprising if an army of the dead arose at any moment.

In the innermost part of the third floor, inside the hero’s tomb, a woman clad in a nun’s habit leaned her face against a white coffin.

She lovingly whispered to the coffin.

“My lord. My dearest lord.”

The corpse within could not respond to her murmurs.

Yet, she continued to speak.

“It seems there are intruders in your sanctum, daring to trespass simply because they share your bloodline. What should we do about them?”

The woman had known from the moment Olivia entered the Ashtar sanctum.

She wouldn’t let them leave.

Though circumstances made it difficult for her to confront them directly, killing intruding Ashtar descendants within the sanctum was no challenge.

Thus, she had set up a magical barrier.

A triple-layered one.

There would be no escape.

“Even though you betrayed me, I still protect you. I may not love you as much as I once did, but I still shield you. So why… why are there so many obstacles?”

The corpse remained silent.

“Do you still think I was wrong?”

“No, it was you who made the mistake.”

“That’s why… you must listen to me now. Those unworthy descendants disturbing your rest—use your own hands to cut them down.”

The woman recited an incomprehensible incantation.

A strange phenomenon unfolded within the white coffin.

Rumble…

A long-dead hero clad in silver armor rose from his eternal slumber.

In his right hand, a crimson sword ignited.

“Strike down those who disturb our time.”

The resurrected corpse, under her command, began walking toward the second floor—to cut down his own descendants.

***

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Magic bullets erupted, destroying the statues.

Their numbers seemed far greater than expected.

‘The way they kept coming suggested their numbers exceeded the original placements.’

‘Someone had to be orchestrating this.’

‘Whoever it was must have known only Ashtar descendants could enter here and was determined to stop me from reaching Eldakrad’s tomb.’

‘Who could it be?’

‘Were they truly after Eldakrad?’

‘If it was a dark magician, they might intend to resurrect Eldakrad’s body.’

‘Necromancers.’

“Miss Olivia, you’re quite skilled. But are you only using magic bullets?” Kiriel teased.

“I can’t use my right arm properly, so I have no choice,” Olivia replied.

Kiriel, too, was fighting impressively.

“By the way, how many of these statues are there?”

“Who knows? Probably a lot. They might be coming from the third floor.”

That was almost certain.

The movement of the knight statues indicated they were rising from below.

Occasionally, the tremors in the ground confirmed it.

“What should we do? There are too many of them.”

“Let’s retreat a little. The area behind us narrows like a bottleneck, so their numbers won’t matter there.”

From that position, we could fire magic bullets at them and take down multiple statues at once.

Even the knights’ numbers had to be finite.

“Oh, I see. So we’ll deal with the ones chasing us from behind with magic bullets?”

“Exactly.”

That was the plan.

The only exit was blocked by a barrier of dark magic.

It was a deliberate trap to tie us down.

With no way to escape, I decided to fight to the bitter end.

It would be easier to deal with the enemy this way.

“You’re quite skilled. Are you okay?”

“We’ll just do what we can for now. That’s all.”

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The knights charging in a straight line were pierced by magic bullets.

Since they weren’t swarming from all directions, the narrow corridor allowed each bullet to take down two or three at once.

Kiriel’s spells were elemental magic—water-based.

Reacting to her mana, the grimoire at her waist opened, unleashing a torrent of water that engulfed the knights.

Crash!

I destroyed them with magic bullets, and Kiriel’s water swept them away.

It was an efficient way to minimize mana consumption.

“This isn’t so bad, is it?”

“It’s manageable.”

“I didn’t expect you to be so skilled with magic bullets, Miss Olivia.”

“Using magic bullets isn’t that hard.”

“The process isn’t difficult, true. But the power and control are what matter. Yet, you precisely destroyed their cores and took down three knights at once. That’s not something just anyone can do.”

“That’s true for you as well, Kiriel.”

Thud, thud, thud!

Suddenly, massive shields appeared.

The rectangular shields bore the emblem of the Ashtar family and blocked the water spell.

“Shield bearers now? What’s this about?”

“They seem to be holy knights. Weren’t the statues in this sanctum said to represent Eldakrad’s former subordinates?”

Behind the shields, spears glinted faintly.

The shield bearers held massive shields in one hand and spears in the other.

Soldiers like that at the front lines would be formidable indeed.

“Yes. There was a memorial stone outside the sanctum stating that.”

Though they were merely statues and not actual knights, the intimidation they exuded was immense.

“They’re impressive. If Eldakrad commanded such forces in life, it’s no wonder he led Ashtar’s golden age.”

This wasn’t the time to be impressed.

“Focus. They’re using magic.”

“The knights imbued their shields with mana.”

‘Of course, it was tainted with dark energy.’

‘There was no doubt that a dark magician was behind this.’

‘Whoever they were, I would tear them apart.’

I concentrated my magic bullets into a single mass.

“The water flow is diminishing,” Kiriel noted.

“The shields are blocking everything. It’s useless.”

‘If they had deployed shield bearers, then Eldakrad himself might already have been resurrected.’

‘We couldn’t waste energy here.’

‘It was better to minimize combat with the shield bearers.’

“Let’s switch to destruction. I’ll strip away their shields.”

I hurled a condensed mass of mana down the corridor.

Boom!

The explosion threw the shield bearers off balance.

Kiriel seized the moment, throwing a fireball that finished them off.

Crash! Boom!

After a few rounds of this, the shield bearers were gone.

“Is that enough?”

“Not yet. Conserve your mana as much as possible.”

“We’d need it for Eldakrad.”

“Are you saying something else is coming?”

“Do you think the dark magician controlling this sanctum revived only those knights?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Oh no…”

“Eldakrad will be here too.”

“Could we even face Eldakrad, a master of sword magic?”

“If we avoided being sliced in two, it would be a miracle.”

“And after that, we’d still have to deal with the dark magician directly.”

“By the way, Miss Olivia,” Kiriel said.

“Yes? What is it?”

“Do you know someone named Noah?”

‘Why was she asking about Noah?’

“The former mage of the Hero’s Party, right?”

“Yes.”

“Why do you ask?”

“Could she know about me?”

“Was this about sword magic?”

“There was no benefit in discussing Noah.”

“If you don’t know, then forget it.”

Thud, thud.

Heavier footsteps echoed now.

All the knight statues were gone, leaving an eerie silence, like the calm before a storm.

“This feels ominous. Like something big is about to appear,” Kiriel muttered.

“I agree. Something massive is coming.”

A huge shadow emerged at the far end of the corridor.

“Does teleportation work here?”

“I’ve already tried. It doesn’t.”

We had no choice but to face that shadow.

“Here it comes.”

“There’s only one person clad in silver armor. Eldakrad.”

The figure was identical to the one depicted in the first lord’s portrait.

Silver armor.

A master of blackened sword magic, his blade had once decimated the demon king’s army.

Despite being the illegitimate offspring of a concubine, his charisma had drawn the loyalty of Ashtar’s knights.

He was the only lord to rise as a powerful military leader without being a high-ranked adventurer.

“He really is using sword magic,” I said, exasperated.

“And it’s intensely crimson.”

While the color of sword magic reflected the caster’s mana, this crimson hue wasn’t ordinary.

It was sword magic corrupted by the dark magician’s malevolent energy.

Raising the dead wasn’t the limit of this dark magic—it could replicate the magic they used in life.

This was going to be exceptionally difficult.

‘If the dark magician’s magic could manipulate pure mana-based sword magic, their skill level must be extraordinary.’

Both Eldakrad and the dark magician were far from ordinary opponents.

‘I would probably have to risk losing an arm in this battle.’