Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 914 - 907: Tomb Chamber Doll

Chapter 914: Chapter 907: Tomb Chamber Doll

The shock wave, mixed with rolling dust and smoke and carrying numerous fragments of rubble, struck them. At the moment of the explosion, Luo’er quickly embraced Baiyue, then shielded her with his back to prevent her from being hit by the debris.

Fortunately, because it was a directional blast, their position wasn’t directly impacted by the shock wave, sparing them from being hit by the fragments.

After the explosion ended, Luo’er let go of Baiyue, then looked down at her and asked with concern, "Are you alright?"

"Mhm..." Baiyue, with her head lowered and cheeks flushed red, didn’t dare to make direct eye contact with Luo’er.

"That’s good," Luo’er nodded, then raised his rifle to work the action and loudly commanded, "Barrier cleared, everyone prepare to enter the tomb chamber."

Ignoring the tender moment between the two, Tangmo walked straight up to the blasted opening of the tomb chamber and threw in an activated Magic Crystal.

The Magic Crystal, glowing faintly, was tossed into the pitch-dark tomb chamber. Although its light wasn’t bright enough to fully illuminate the room, it made it less dark.

"Fulajie’er, go in for reconnaissance. After confirming it’s clear, notify everyone to enter," Luo’er continued to order.

Luo’er felt that, under these circumstances, it was better to let the invincible Fulajie’er take the lead, in order to minimize casualties as much as possible.

"Roger that!" Fulajie’er responded and then transformed into a streak of light, flying into the main tomb chamber. Since she had previously promised Luo’er, Fulajie’er was now much bolder than before and no longer as timid as she used to be.

Soon after, Fulajie’er emerged and said to Luo’er, "No mechanisms found, it should be fine..."

"That will do, thanks for your effort," Luo’er nodded and said.

"No, I feel like I didn’t do well enough," Fulajie’er answered sincerely.

"Moumou, check for possible traps. Everyone else, Little Ke and Feng will stay outside; the rest follow me inside," Luo’er ordered again.

"Received!" Hu Daoke and Feng nodded in acknowledgment.

Tangmo stepped forward, crossing the rubble-strewn entrance, and began examining the magic traps within the main tomb chamber.

Before long, a clamor emanated from inside the chamber. The noise lasted quite a while, and just as Luo’er started to worry about Tangmo, she appeared at the entrance and gestured, "All done. I’ve dismantled the magic crystals powering the Magic Array Traps. There shouldn’t be any traps left, I guess."

"How did you dismantle them?" Luo’er couldn’t help but ask.

"By pulling with hands, kicking with feet," Tangmo said matter-of-factly.

"Isn’t that a bit too, I don’t know, you’re a mage..." Luo’er said with a wry smile.

"Even a mage has to use common sense, right?" Tangmo shrugged and then turned to lead the way into the tomb chamber.

Luo’er shook his head helplessly and then motioned for everyone to enter the tomb chamber. Under the illumination of a few spotlights, the entire main tomb chamber gradually emerged from darkness, revealing itself to the group.

It was a sizable chamber, roughly one hundred square meters in area, and shaped in an irregular ellipse. The curved walls surrounding the room were polished to a smooth finish, and they seemed to depict intricate murals. However, due to dampness and other factors, many of the murals were now difficult to discern in their original form.

At the end of the chamber stood a raised platform about three steps high, with an area of around ten square meters, also irregularly oval in shape.

At the center of the platform rested a dark rectangular sarcophagus. The sarcophagus was glossy black and appeared to have complex bas-reliefs carved into it.

As they entered the tomb chamber, Luo’er sensed something off underfoot. Bending slightly to inspect, he discovered that the floor of the chamber was covered in a layer of water, less than a centimeter deep.

The group’s footsteps through the chamber produced a quiet pitter-patter of water sounds. Baiyue, looking up at the murals in front of her, was so astonished that she was left mouth agape, almost speechless. However, Luo’er’s attention was primarily focused on the sarcophagus at the end of the chamber.

He noticed that underneath the platform where the coffin resided, there appeared to be a person kneeling. As the light shone over, he realized it was a metal sculpture, engraved with complex and exquisite runes.

"It seems there are no burial goods nearby," Tangmo looked around and couldn’t help but speak out.

"The burial goods might be with the coffin; we’d better go have a look," Luo’er suggested.

Hearing Luo’er’s words, Tangmo also shifted her focus to the coffin, but soon, her attention was captivated by the kneeling sculpture on the platform.

"This is..." Tangmo frowned, slowly walking towards the sculpture.

"It might be a sculpture of an enemy, a way to express the tomb owner’s identity," Luo’er replied with a shrug.

"Wait, this doesn’t seem like a sculpture," Tangmo stooped down for a closer examination in front of the object, then affirmed.

"What is it then?" Luo’er asked, momentarily stunned.

"It’s more like a puppet; look, it has movable joints," Tangmo pointed out the puppet’s joints.

"Strange, why would the tomb owner place a puppet kneeling before their own coffin?" Luo’er asked curiously.

"It’s not kneeling; it’s kneel-sitting," Tangmo said, pointing at the puppet’s exposed feet.

"If it’s not kneeling, then its status is..." Luo’er asked hesitantly.

"It might be similar to a servant, maybe the tomb owner wanted to have a puppet to take care of themselves underground, but..." Tangmo paused, taking in a sharp breath with a hiss.

"But what?" Luo’er pressed.

"The runes on this puppet are strange..." Tangmo squinted, observing closely and showing an incredulous expression.

"What’s strange about them?" Luo’er inquired.

"I can’t put my finger on it; I need to study them a bit more," Tangmo frowned, trying to recall the rune patterns from her memory.

"Alright, just be careful," Luo’er nodded and then moved towards Baiyue, who was looking up, eyes fixated unblinkingly on the wall paintings. Axia was also looking up, observing the paintings along with her.

"Did you find anything?" Luo’er couldn’t help but ask.

"These paintings seem to record the life achievements of the tomb’s owner," Baiyue pointed at the paintings and said, "It looks like the owner joined the army as a youth and rose through the ranks to become a general. These paintings likely depict scenes of victories from several military campaigns they experienced."

Following the direction Baiyue was pointing, Luo’er saw that most of the paintings depicted scenes of victorious cheers or signing treaties with enemies. The soldiers in these paintings were similarly dressed and the emblems on their flags were similar, indicating that these battles were likely ones fought during the Aud Empire era.

"This is the scene of breaching the North Territory fortress..." Axia couldn’t help but exclaim.

Following her gaze, Luo’er saw that painting, depicting a broken city wall with soldiers moving through the breaches to attack inside, while the enemy was fleeing in panic.

In the center of the painting was a mounted general, surrounded by a few guards, watching his troops flood through the walls and the enemy being routed and retreating in disarray.

This painting contained many interesting details; for instance, Luo’er noticed that the fleeing enemies were painted white, with exaggeratedly elongated pointy ears, clearly resembling Snow Elves.

Moreover, Luo’er also noticed that the city wall seemed to be filled with dozens of thick arrows. If he wasn’t mistaken, these arrows must be Kedal metal arrows, because it was only possible for such arrows to penetrate the hard city bricks.

Of course, as mentioned before, Kedal metal possessed disruptive properties against most materials. So once the arrows lodged into the wall, the arrowheads essentially couldn’t be removed, since the shafts that came into contact with the arrowheads would have been shattered due to the disruptive properties, rendering them unusable.