[Vol. 8] Chapter 231: The Mausoleum Hall
By the time the other elite guards arrived at Sasha’s side, all they saw was their captain standing silently with a dark expression, and the bloody, tragic scene lit up by the nearby campfire.
“Miss Sasha! What happ—… Oh my goddess! This… what in the world happened!?”
Someone tried to check for signs of life on the deputy leader York, but Sasha had clearly seen the arrow pierce right through his neck artery. She already knew how it ended. Without waiting for the shocked and angry questions from the others, she took the initiative to speak up.
“There were assassins targeting us. And not just any kind, these were top-level professional killers. They tried to take out me and York, the captain and vice-captain, in a sneak attack to throw the team into chaos... Every move was meant to kill.”
“Only two of them showed themselves, but I doubt that’s all there are. We can’t stay here tonight. Everyone pack up now, we need to leave immediately and head for Saint Tyr City as fast as we can.”
“Wait… all of a sudden? Miss Sasha, what’s really going on? Why would assassins suddenly come after us like this?”
Faced with everyone’s confused and worried looks, Sasha sighed and shook her head.
“I still don’t know the full reason yet. But these people aren’t after our goods, that’s obvious. Don’t ask. Just tell everyone to move, now. This is serious.”
The guards all looked at one another, unsure, but in the end they could only nod.
“…Alright. Then what should we do with Mr. York’s body?”
“Wrap it up properly and preserve it as best we can. We’ll deal with it after we reach the city. And remember, move quickly. If something’s not important, leave it behind. We move out in fifteen minutes.”
“Yes, ma’am!”
As the others ran off to get ready, Sasha turned back toward the body of the deputy leader who, just moments ago, had been standing beside her, calmly discussing plans.
Though she and York hadn’t been the closest of friends, they’d worked together for many years as colleagues in the merchant group and got along well. Now, just like that, a living person was dead.
Her face showed sadness and anger.
“Human life… so cheap in these times... Could the ‘chaos’ the guild master warned about really be coming?”
She looked again at the [Light Worshipper Church] badge, still tightly gripped in her hand. After a moment of silence, she carefully placed it into her pocket for safekeeping.
“…This is going to be a real problem.”
………………………………………
Far from the Saint Laos City, deep in the mountains, four figures stood atop a hill, quietly gazing down at the structure below, which sat in a clearing between the trees. Each of them had a different expression.
“So that’s the ruin? Looks more like the entrance to a tomb, honestly. I’m not really into robbing people’s graves…”
A young priestess casually made a sarcastic remark, then glanced over at the man beside her, who looked tired and defeated.
“By the way, the town nearby was pretty lively, but I didn’t see many people actually going into the ruin. Is there some reason for that?”
Under the intense gaze of her curious silver-blue eyes, Aldrich’s mouth twitched slightly.
To be honest, he really wanted to snap back, “Why the hell should I tell you?” But after seeing the unbelievable powers of these three, especially that mercenary-looking man who could walk in the air without wings, Aldrich had completely lost the courage to act tough.
Whatever identities these three were hiding, one thing was clear. They were not people he could afford to mess with.
So, he decided to play it safe.
“This young lady, do you think treasure hunting is some kind of child’s game? This nameless ruin has only been discovered for about two weeks, and I already know of over a thousand adventurers and mercenaries who’ve died inside. The average casualty rate is over fifty percent. No one wants to throw their life away, so people make sure they’re fully prepared, rested, geared up, and with enough teammates, before they even consider entering.”
“Normally, a proper expedition group would have at least ten or even dozens of people. But you three? Charging in with just the three of you… I mean, well, pardon my words, but I’ve really never seen anyone so... reckless before.”
Oh… so what you’re saying is: you’ve seen crazy people, but not people this crazy. Got it.
The priestess chuckled silently to herself. Then, as if remembering something, she casually asked:
“What about Miss Blue Butterfly? How many people did she bring into the ruins?”
Hearing Violet deliberately bring up a sore subject, the man forced to be their guide twitched at the corner of his mouth again and let out a helpless sigh.
“She wasn’t the leader, but the group she went with had over thirty people. In the end, only a handful made it back alive. I’ll ask seriously just once, are you guys really planning to go in like this? Let’s make this clear. I’ll lead the way, but just like last time, I’ll only guide you to the cutoff point. I’ll wait there for three days. If no one comes back after that, I’m leaving on my own.”
It was exactly the response they expected, so Violet simply nodded. In fact, as Blue Butterfly had explained before, it was precisely because this Aldrich guy was a “smart coward” who never actually stepped into danger himself, that he was still alive, and had become something of a local expert around Saint Laos City.
Ever since the ruin appeared, he had caught a whiff of “business opportunity” and moved nearby right away. He often followed large expedition teams to survey the outer areas of the ruins, and by now, he was very familiar with everything before the cutoff point.
“Three days is enough. We’re just doing an initial exploration this time, we won’t stay too long.”
As she said this, Violet tossed a small pouch of gold coins to Aldrich, who quickly caught it.
“That’s your payment for today. Paid in advance. If you do well later on, we might hire you again~”
“You all… sigh, fine. Since you’ve already made up your minds, I won’t try to stop you. I just hope you really do have the strength and confidence to back up your words. Treasure is great and all, but only if you live long enough to spend it.”
Without opening the heavy pouch of coins to check, Aldrich sighed again, hooked it to his belt, and his face gradually turned more serious and focused. He took the lead and started walking.
“Follow me.”
They were already quite close to the entrance of the ruins, and after just a few minutes walking along a forested path over a low hill, the four of them arrived in front of a large palace-like structure that looked a lot like the entrance to a tomb.
The palace wasn’t very tall, only about 40 to 50 meters of it was visible above ground. It sat quietly between the mountains and trees, with a simple layout. From what they could see, there was just a single main hall. Its doors were wide open, and on each side stood a large bronze statue, seemingly guardians or sentinels of some kind.
But perhaps because the mausoleum had been standing for so many years, the two statues were badly worn by time. Their features were almost completely eroded, and it was hard to tell what they originally looked like. Judging by their shapes, though, they seemed to be powerful and majestic beasts.
Seeing Violet staring at the two statues, Aldrich didn’t seem surprised. He glanced back at her and casually warned.
“Look all you want, but don’t touch anything in this hall. Plenty of fools saw those statues, thought they were made of some rare metal, and tried to dig them out to sell or melt down. Wanna guess what happened to those guys?”