Mystery: The Undead Don't Die from Linking the Fire

Chapter 151 What you're doing is a bit rude.

On the outskirts of Backlund, in a fertile field, a river flows from afar, curving around a cliff in front. One side of the cliff is bare, revealing pure white rock, which, from a distance, possesses an unusually sacred beauty.

There is also a hidden underground entrance at the bend in the river.

"Is this the place?"

Ember silently gazed at the cave entrance, which seemed poised to devour anyone in its path, and stood there pondering for a moment. Then, he pushed aside the weeds and bushes that served as cover and slowly walked down into the cave.

Inside the cave was a mausoleum, the mausoleum of the great noble family of Amon, originating from the Quaternary period. Klein had revealed this information to him, as he thought Ember might be interested. And indeed, that was the case; otherwise, Ember wouldn't have come.

The black marble steps, polished to a degree that has withstood the erosion of one or two thousand years, still retain their hardness and show no signs of decay. Following the trail, the embers descended into the earth, where they saw asymmetrical stone pillars and rugged, angular patterns characteristic of the Quaternary period.

The pillars stood on either side of a wide road, dividing it into many shadowy corners shrouded in darkness. Even Ember couldn't help but suspect that at any moment a hideous monster might leap from the darkness, roaring as it pounced on him.

But as Ember approached, the holy light emanating from the Sunbug helmet on his head immediately dispelled the darkness and illuminated the surrounding path. Those seemingly gloomy corners were empty, except for stone slabs also polished from black marble.

Finally, he reached the end of the passage. Ahead stood a massive, heavy, double-leaf dark gray stone door. The door was cracked open, allowing two people to pass side by side, revealing a deep, dark interior.

"Snapped!"

Yu Jin stopped in front of the door, glancing at the two sides of the stone gate as if some terrifying monster lurked behind it. After all, he had been tricked more than once or twice, and the insults were extremely strong.

After a moment's thought, he took out the ashes—

"Ring ring~!"

Within the dark passage, the clear, ringing sound of bells echoed continuously. With each ring, three tall silver knights, clad in gleaming silver armor and helmets adorned with horns, emerged from a cloud of gray mist. Without exception, they all wielded longswords and heavy, deeply grooved knightly shields.

Their eyes, hidden beneath their helmets, gleamed with a deep, eerie light; the instant they were summoned, they understood their duty. Amidst the clanging of metal against metal, they charged fearlessly into the darkness ahead! Their steps were incredibly heavy, yet their speed was beyond human comprehension!

"roar!"

A monstrous roar seemed to echo from the darkness. Amidst the flashes of light from the gleaming silver armor, a grotesque monster lurking behind a stone gate could be vaguely seen lunging at the towering knight. But mid-air, the silver knight rammed into it from the side, using his shield to send it flying, before swinging his longsword to stab the monster's body.

More and more monsters pounced on the Silver Knight from the darkness, only to perish under his longsword.

Ember, standing behind the stone gate, did not rush inside. He held the Twilight Amulet given to him by Sirius in his hand. At the same time, dark energy emanating an unsettling aura began to gather in Ember's palm, eventually spiraling towards the deep darkness behind the stone gate.

"Snapped!"

"Zzzzzzz~!"

Amidst countless subtle rustling sounds, the dark energy that fell to the ground instantly transformed into countless tiny black beetles! They formed a black wave, frantically devouring everything in their path like army ants!

And this is precisely the kind of dark miracle that is rare among miracles—

Doris's Corruption

The Mad Mentor - The Miracle of Doris.

It can summon a large swarm of insects to fiercely devour enemies.

Those who stand on the edge of the abyss sometimes lose their footing and fall.

She will reap the benefits at this point and will certainly become engrossed in it.

"Bang! Bang!"

Having dealt with the enemy, the Silver Knight sheathed his longsword, his eyes beneath his helmet gleaming with a deep, eerie light. They didn't linger, but instead charged forward swiftly, their heavy footsteps fading into the distance. A series of heavy thuds seemed to accompany their retreat, as if some mechanism had been triggered.

And the swarm of insects that make up the purest black tide also went away; they would not disappear until they had completely devoured everything in front of them!

Yu Jin nodded slightly before taking a step and slowly passing through the stone gate.

By the soft light of the Sunbug helmet, Ember could see clumps of dirt and debris on the ground. They once belonged to the monsters that hid in the darkness, but now they had been torn apart by the swarm of insects, leaving only a few remnants to barely prove that they once existed.

But that's all. These remaining stains alone are not enough to tell what kind of monsters once roamed this place, nor can one guess what the purpose of the traps that were once set up here was.

With the Silver Knight and the swarm clearing the way, the path beyond the stone gate was unobstructed, leaving only a trail of extraordinary properties. Ember scavenged the loot as he ventured deeper into the mausoleum.

But as they walked along, Yu Jin began to have some doubts: could this mausoleum be just a decoy?

After all, according to custom, the tomb of a nobleman would contain more or less things that indicated his status and glory during his lifetime. And when the tomb became a mausoleum, or even a mausoleum, with enough space, it was common to use murals to tell the story of the owner's life. This was not uncommon in older and more primitive times, and was even the most common method. Humans learned to draw first, not to write.

Even the mysterious island he had reached with Alger's guidance contained numerous murals within its ruined tombs. But in this current Amon family mausoleum, the walls along the passageways were completely bare, lacking not only similar murals but also any decorations.

"Clatter!"

Finally, after walking some distance, Ember saw a picture frame. It was hanging on the wall about seven or eight meters ahead, brownish-yellow in color, with a clear wood grain, and only the side was visible for the time being.

This was the only decoration we'd seen along the way, besides the monsters in the darkness, and anyone could see how strange it was.

Yu Jin casually put it away, glancing at the description at the same time.

Ghost Picture Frame

[A magical item originating from the Amun family of the Quaternary period]

As long as you step into its range and are reflected within it,

The spirit will instantly detach from the flesh and blood, becoming a portrait.

It was sealed inside forever.

Yu Jin instantly realized that this painting was probably the real trap in this mausoleum. Even if someone managed to get through the monsters' blockade to this place, they would have to pass through this painting to get through this passage.

If someone unaware of its true nature comes here, they will be instantly reflected into the painting the moment they stand before it, their spirit detaching from their flesh and blood to become a portrait, until the death of their physical body. It must be said that this painting has a "death by light" property, making it a rather remarkable magical item. There's a reason why the Amon family placed it here.

"But now, this painting belongs to me."

Ember withdrew his gaze and continued walking towards the main burial chamber at the end of the passage. At the end of the passage, the three silver knights and the black swarm of insects remained, seemingly blocked by something.

As the embers drew nearer, they discovered a black stone door covered in intricate, knife-cut patterns.

Illuminated by the sunbug helmet, Ember saw the entire stone gate. In its center was a greyish-white disc, its surface divided into twelve sections, with a black pointer, like a clock from the outside world. However, the sections were not evenly distributed across the disc; some were large, some small, creating a highly discordant effect, and half of each section was painted in shadow.

This immediately reminded Ember of the Time Worm left behind after Amon's clone perished. Because Amon was trapped inside the door and unable to move, the Time Worm was ultimately left outside and obtained by Little 'Sun', who used it to create the lie that 'Amon' was hostile to the 'True Creator'.

Yu Jin gathered his thoughts and slowly walked towards the stone gate. Along the way, the swarm of insects that covered the passageway pushed aside to reveal the smooth marble floor that had remained black for thousands of years, welcoming Yu Jin's arrival like a loyal servant.

Yu Jin stopped in front of the stone gate, and without hesitation, placed his hands on both sides of the gate and pushed it outwards with force.

"Click!"

With a heavy thud as the stone door opened, it slowly revealed a deep passageway wide enough for two people to pass through. Ember, however, showed no intention of pushing it further, leaving it half-open.

"Bang bang bang!"

The silver knights strode heavily into the tomb first, followed closely by the black beetles, which almost instantly filled the fairly spacious tomb, searching for anything that might pose a threat.

In the very center of the tomb chamber, a high platform rises, upon which rests a deep black coffin. Iron lampstands extend from the surrounding walls, each supporting a white candle that burns silently. None of the candlelight flickers; the stillness is as if a scene frozen in time, completely untouched by the passage of a thousand or two millennia.

Along the straight path from the stone gate to the coffin, there were corpses lying one after another. Some were wearing black woolen overcoats and top silk hats, while others were dressed as ordinary workers and wearing baseball caps. They were clearly people who had entered this place in recent years.

Without exception, all the corpses had sparse white hair, dry and wrinkled skin, and obvious markings, resembling elderly people in their eighties or nineties. They had no obvious wounds, suggesting they had died of old age recently, not yet having had time to decompose.

"The power of time?"

Ember raised an eyebrow slightly, immediately connecting it to Amon's ability—Amon's clones leave behind Time Worms after they die, and in the Silver City's records that Little Sun introduced, the 'Creator' is accompanied by eight Archangel Kings, one of whom is the Time Angel. And this Time Angel could very well be Amon, wielding a power similar to manipulating time?

The only question is, how did these people get in?

The tomb chamber was filled with countless monsters, the passageways contained ghostly picture frames, and at the end of the passageways lay a heavy stone door that had never been opened. All these obstacles were intact before the arrival of the embers. How did these people manage to bypass all those mechanisms and traps and reach this tomb chamber so silently?

Even assuming they were lucky enough to bypass the monsters and successfully pass through the ghostly picture frame trap, what about the closed stone door? Surely someone didn't kindly close it for them after they died there?

Or, there is another possibility—

"Extraordinary individuals with special abilities."

Yu Jin looked at the corpses, his brows furrowing slightly.

Of all the extraordinary pathways he knew, the Gate pathway could accomplish everything mentioned earlier—even an apprentice, with the ability to pass through walls, could potentially pass unharmed through the monsters' blockades and traps.

There's no need to even open a door; one can simply pass through the stone gate and enter the tomb chamber. But if that's truly the case, then what are the extraordinary characteristics of these corpses? Surely, not everyone who comes to this tomb is an ordinary person?

Ember's gaze drifted forward, settling on an upside-down picture frame at the base of the platform. A black tide of insects hovered around the platform, forming a circle that left numerous gaps around its center. Any insect that entered these "gaps" had instantly perished, returning to nothingness.

Yu Jin thought for a moment, then slowly took a step and walked unhurriedly toward the high platform.

One step, two steps, three steps. As he drew closer to the platform, Yu Jin could clearly feel a force influencing his body—the immense power of time. A normal person would likely be aging at an unimaginable pace, teeth falling out, hair turning white, skin wrinkled and dry, rapidly approaching death.

However, this method had no effect on Ember. Despite the power constantly affecting his body, Ember's pace did not slow down. He simply walked step by step to the platform, bent his knees, bent his back, and flipped the upside-down picture frame over.

"Whoosh!"

As the picture frame flipped, a sudden gust of wind swept through the sealed tomb, dispelling the invisible confinement and silence. The candles on the iron lampstands burned rapidly, becoming exceptionally bright, but soon reached their end, melting away completely. The aged corpses on the ground rotted quickly, emitting a foul stench. At the same time, the extraordinary properties within the corpses slowly coalesced, some even combining with certain parts of the body to form eerie and wondrous objects.

Ember didn't rush forward. Instead, he looked down at the flipped-over picture frame in his hand. It was a portrait of a young man with a smile on his lips. He had dark eyes, curly black hair, a broad forehead, a thin face, and wore a monocle and a black pointed soft hat.

Ember had seen this person before, had seen him stuck in the doorway; his name was Amon.

Yu Jin frowned slightly, casually put away the picture frame, and continued up the steps to the platform, toward the black coffin. He placed his hands on the coffin lid and pushed it open forcefully.

"Squeak!"

With a sickeningly heavy scraping sound, the coffin lid was slowly lifted. But there was no corpse inside; the coffin was empty except for a layer of pale gold cushion at the bottom, on which was embroidered a worm with twelve rings on its body.

After a moment's thought, Yu Jin put away the golden cushion—after all, he had come all this way, he couldn't leave empty-handed, could he?

Just as he was putting away the cushion and considering whether to take the coffin with him, a voice suddenly came from beside him.

"Isn't that a little impolite of you?"

(End of this chapter)