Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 976 - 969: Circular Tomb Chamber

Chapter 976: Chapter 969: Circular Tomb Chamber

"Hiss hiss, it feels suddenly much colder." Tangmo snuggled up next to Luo’er and shivered slightly before speaking.

"Maybe it’s because the space got bigger, so it’s no longer as temperature controlled as before." Luo’er looked around; all he could see was darkness, their Magic Crystal flashlights illuminating nothing.

In fact, it was mainly because their equipment was not good. The principle of the Magic Crystal flashlight’s illumination has been mentioned before: it uses the cold light produced by activated Runes for lighting. This technology is almost identical to electronic lighting technology on Earth, the only difference being that one relies on magic power and the other on electricity.

Earthlings are currently still in the early stages of applying magic, mostly at the forefront of theory and have not yet been implemented into concrete inventions. Therefore, the flashlights they were equipped with were considered the most advanced available, and they could only wait for improvements from the scientific research department for anything stronger.

"To think there’s such a huge space inside this mountain, it’s unbelievable. This must be naturally formed, right? If it’s just for building a tomb, there’s absolutely no need to make it so vast." Luo’er looked around and couldn’t help but remark.

"Shall we fire a Signal Flare to take a look?" Baiyue suggested.

"Um, that’s a good idea," Luo’er nodded, then looked with concern at Cheng Ziang and the Flying Head Monster up ahead, and then hesitantly said, "I’m just afraid of startling her."

"Shall I go and communicate?" Fulajie’er volunteered.

"Eh, you can do that?" Luo’er asked with a face full of expectation.

"Mhm, if it’s Luo’er’s request, I’m sure I can do it." Fulajie’er said, and then leisurely flew toward the Flying Head Monster.

"Is this... the noble family’s tomb of the Snow Domain?" Talis stepped forward and looked around in awe.

"You’ve never been to the Snow Domain before, have you?" Luo asked, glancing back at her.

"Heh, I rarely even come up to the Continent, let alone the Snow Domain." Talis answered.

"Aunt Axia," Luo’er looked at Axia and then asked, "Have you ever seen a noble family’s tomb of this form?"

"No," Axia shook her head and then said after looking around, "I’ve seen quite a few noble tombs, and I’ve even seen tombs built based on original caves, whether they belong to the Snow Elves or the Aud people, but something of this scale is indeed rare."

"Luo’er, don’t you find it strange?" Tangmo looked around, then asked with a frown.

"What’s strange?" Luo’er was momentarily perplexed.

"Do you remember that marching tomb we encountered last time?" Tangmo didn’t respond directly but continued to question.

"Oh, I remember," Luo’er nodded thoughtfully and said, "That tomb had lots of mechanisms, and we almost lost our lives in there."

"Right, mechanisms," Tangmo nodded and then continued to look around, "Don’t you find it strange that we’ve reached this point in the tomb and haven’t encountered almost any mechanisms, neither physical nor magical traps?"

"What do you mean?" Tangmo’s words certainly alerted Luo’er.

"They’re so confident in the defense of this tomb, or is it..." Tangmo said and squinted towards the Flying Head Monster that was floating mid-air.

"That is, it’s very possible that this creature is the tomb’s only defense mechanism." Luo’er furrowed his brow and analyzed.

"But now this only defense has taken Cheng Ziang’s side, making the entire tomb’s defense system completely fall apart. The intruders can take away anything, yet her eyes are firmly fixed on Cheng Ziang," Baiyue spoke coldly.

"Is there a possibility," Tangmo’s gaze shifted onto Cheng Ziang, then he pondered aloud, "Cheng Ziang might be related to this tomb."

"This is a bit... like a fairy tale, isn’t it..." Luo’er said with a forced smile, "Although Ziang is from the Otherworld, he was born and raised on Earth. If it’s related to him..."

"Do you remember our previous analysis of Cheng Ziang’s bloodline?" Tangmo asked.

"There was analysis, but the results were not entirely satisfactory, were they," Luo’er said, "Ziang’s family is the Fiolonte Family, a family that has lived in Odelanqi for generations, almost never having had any dealings with the Snow Domain."

"We only analyzed one aspect of that, and there’s another we haven’t considered." Baiyue reminded.

"Huh, there’s more..." Luo’er was taken aback, then squinted his eyes and muttered, "If it’s not the Fiolonte Family, could it be... Uncle Swordsman?"

"Luo’er," Tangmo suddenly thought of something and looked at him, saying, "If Cheng Ziang has Snow Elf bloodline, and it’s not related to the Princess of the Fiolonte Family, then there is only one possibility."

"Oh, you mean," Luo’er suddenly had an epiphany, "The Snow Elf bloodline in Ziang comes from his father’s side, that is, Uncle Swordsman!"

"Yalunte Burlingchi, if I’m not mistaken, he is very likely the descendant of a Snow Elf hybrid from that time," Baiyue added.

"But that raises another question," Luo’er said, looking down with a puzzled face.

"What problem?" Tangmo asked.

"Don’t forget," Luo’er looked at her and said, "Elf genes are very dominant, and for the most part, their genetic traits show as dominant traits. If Uncle Swordsman is a descendant of a Snow Elf hybrid, why can’t we see any Elf characteristics in him, and instead, he looks much more like an Aud person?"

"That is indeed a problem." Hearing his question, Tangmo also fell into deep thought.

"Could it be a genetic mutation," Baiyue suggested, "We’ve said before that Elves will adjust their genes according to the environment, so could it be that back then, a small group of Elves gave up their dominant genes to better hide their descendants within the Aud-dominated society?"

"Possible," Luo’er nodded and then looked at Cheng Ziang’s back, saying, "That means, Ziang’s connection to this tomb may come from his paternal heritage. So is this tomb the resting place of Aud nobility or Snow Elf nobility?"

With such questions in mind, everyone looked towards Aunt Axia. Facing everyone’s gazes, Aunt Axia shook her head helplessly and said, "I’m not particularly clear either. Only by meeting the owner of the tomb can we figure out whether this tomb belongs to an Aud person or a Snow Elf."

While the group discussed enthusiastically, Fulajie’er finally flew back and brought them good news—after communication, the Flying Head Monster agreed to let them use a Signal Flare to illuminate the vast cavern space.

Having received an affirmative response, Luo’er took out the signal gun, loaded a Signal Flare, and aimed roughly at the center before pulling the trigger.

With a loud bang, a Signal Flare was fired into the sky, but it quickly hit the ceiling of the cavern and the small parachute even got stuck in a crevice.

Luo’er then continued to fire a second flare, which also got stuck in a crevice above their heads. With the intense light from the Signal Flares, the outline of the cavern slowly came into view for everyone, finally giving them the opportunity to glimpse the vast space of the cavern.

They saw the cavern space was overall irregularly circular, with about fifty meters of height above them, the ceiling studded with natural stone spires.

Their location was a platform that extended towards the center of the circle, which could be followed all the way down, and the cavern had additional spaces below.

Everyone came to the front end of the platform, where there was a zigzagging path leading down to a super large platform about ten meters below.

This platform, located at the center of the circle, was about ten meters lower than their current platform. It was round in shape, meticulously leveled by hand, and covered with densely packed stone bricks.

There were about thirty white stone columns on the platform, surrounding it in a circle, somewhat reminiscent of Stonehenge in England, but the style of the columns clearly resembled the ancient Greek Doric Stone Columns more.

At the center of the platform was a raised flat surface with a diameter of about five meters, encircled by a round drainage ditch. In the very center of the platform, a white stone sarcophagus lay quietly.