After a few dozen paces, Moonlight stopped before an unremarkable gray rock face. The wall was covered in withered, yellow vines and green moss, looking no different from the surrounding mountainside.
Moonlight looked back and gave a soft cry to Raylo.
"This is the place."
Raylo understood at once.
Moonlight was extrely sensitive to all sorts of magical fluctuations and had clearly discovered the arcane secrets hidden here.
Ed stepped forward and tore away the withered vines, revealing the stone wall behind them.
The stone was covered in weathered marks, but upon closer inspection, one could still make out so faint, ancient runes.
These runes ford a complex Magic Array from which a faint wave of energy emanated.
"That’s right! This is the place!"
Lisbon cried out as soon as he saw the runes.
"Our Mage was right here... He recited a long Spell and used a lot of expensive materials just to open the door!"
Ed’s brow furrowed.
"My lord, the magical ward on this wall has grown weak with the passage of ti, but its structure is still intact."
"It’s just a door on the verge of crumbling."
Sun snorted in disdain.
He took a few heavy steps, walked up to the stone face, and nudged it with his massive head, as if gauging the wall’s thickness.
Sun turned his head.
"Stand back. You don’t want to get stone chips in your face."
The corner of Raylo’s mouth twitched. He pulled Ed and Lisbon back several dozen ters.
Sun took a few steps back, his thick hind legs digging two shallow pits into the ground.
His long, golden tail, covered in heavy Scale Armor, rose up behind him like a Siege Hamr. Then, with a terrifying roar that tore through the air, it whipped violently against the stone wall inscribed with the ward!
BOOM!
A deafening explosion rocked the valley like a clap of thunder from a clear sky.
The mont the golden Dragon Tail struck the wall, the ancient runes, dormant for a millennium, suddenly flared to life, attempting to muster a final defense.
A faint curtain of light materialized on the wall’s surface, but it didn’t even last for an instant.
Ti is the greatest enemy of any seal.
Like glass struck by a hamr, the curtain of light was instantly webbed with cracks. Then, with a CRACK, it shattered completely into a shower of brilliant motes.
Imdiately after, the thick stone wall, along with the seal behind it, was smashed to smithereens by the terrifying Power contained within the Dragon Tail!
Countless shards of rock shot inward as dust and smoke plud into the air.
Echoes rumbled through the valley, only subsiding after a long while.
As the dust gradually settled, a pitch-black hole over five ters in diater had appeared in the once-solid mountainside. It was bottomless, and chilling gusts of wind poured out from within, carrying a foul, decaying stench.
Lisbon stared at the scene, dumbfounded. His mouth hung open, unable to form a single word.
’The door their rcenary Corps’ Mage had spent half a day painstakingly opening... had just been swatted open by a tail?’
He felt his entire worldview had been violently shaken.
Sun flicked his tail, shaking off a bit of stone dust. He then raised his head and shot Raylo a glance from the corner of his eye.
Raylo gazed into the pitch-black opening.
"Let’s go,"
he said.
"Ti to pay our respects to this slumbering ’Sun King’."
The mouth of the cave was like a man-eating Giant Beast.
Wind rushed into it, only to be squeezed back out by the narrow passage, transforming into a ghostly wail.
Lisbon’s face was ashen. He would never forget this aura as long as he lived.
"Sun King... What an arrogant na."
Sun’s massive golden head drew near the entrance. He sniffed inside and let out a disdainful draconic roar.
Raylo ignored the Giant Dragon’s childish antics and turned to Ed.
"Ed, you take the lead."
Without the slightest hesitation, Ed drew the Long Sword at his waist and nodded to Raylo.
"Lisbon, you wait out here."
Raylo’s gaze shifted to the pale-faced rcenary.
"The other Personal Guards will also remain outside and stand watch."
Lisbon, as if granted amnesty, imdiately agreed.
The Personal Guards also accepted their orders in unison and ford a defensive periter.
Ed’s figure quickly vanished into the depths of the pitch-black entrance.
"Let’s go."
Without another word, Raylo strode in after him.
An aura of darkness and decay washed over him, chilling him to the bone.
This was a long-forgotten tomb. According to the ancient texts Raylo had consulted, the so-called "Sun King," Amun Ra, was a figure from a millennium ago.
A thousand years was enough ti to wear away many things in this world.
The tomb’s passageway was wide enough for several people to walk abreast, but for Sun, it still felt a bit cramped.
His massive body scraped against the stone walls on either side, and he took each step with caution.
Coal Ball hopped lightly around Raylo’s feet, while Moonlight, as always, rested on Raylo’s shoulder, its pale golden eyes glinting in the darkness.
As they ventured deeper, Raylo saw traces of Magic Traps: Magic Crystals embedded in the walls, or complex runes etched into the floor.
They must have once been deadly and dangerous, but a millennium had drained their energy supply or corroded their chanisms.
They had lost their forr power, like a row of toothless beasts.
This saved them a great deal of unnecessary trouble.
Lisbon had been right; this path wasn’t very dangerous.
After all, the Iron Fist rcenary Corps, with only its leader being a Sky Knight, had managed to reach the tomb’s depths after paying a certain price.
About ten minutes later, the faint sound of footsteps echoed from up ahead.
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