Chapter 335: Riddle Of Three Doors

The chamber swallowed their footsteps.** The stone walls amplified every sound, bouncing it back like a challenge, daring them to proceed.

Their torches flickered, casting trembling orange light that danced across the ancient carvings,lines and shapes etched by hands long turned to dust.

The group halted, all eyes drawn forward.

Three towering doors loomed before them, massive and ancient.

These were no ordinary stone slabs; they were monoliths adorned with intricate symbols: a radiant sun, a coiled serpent, and a pair of balanced scales.

The carvings were deep and sharp, seemingly untouched by time.

Ethan broke the silence with an exasperated groan. “You’ve got to be kidding me! Three more doors? Didn’t we almost die opening the last one? Are these people allergic to hallways or something?”

A few soldiers chuckled nervously, though tension still clung to their faces like mist.

Mireille spun around to face him, hands on her hips and voice crackling like a whip.

“Ethan, you complain more than this tomb itself groans! If you’re that scared, go lie down with the skeletons back there!”

Lukas smirked from the sidelines. “Careful, Mireille; he might take you up on that.”

Ethan rolled his eyes. “I’m not scared; I’m just… practical! Apparently that’s a crime in this group.”

Arthur remained silent, his gaze fixed on the doors as he weighed options and scanned for signs.

He viewed the carvings not as art but as potential weapons.

Professor Adrian stepped forward, adjusting his glasses with a thoughtful look. His voice echoed faintly in the chamber.

“These doors are different from before,the reliefs are symbolic! They’re not meant to scare intruders away; they’re meant to test them.”

Kaelen Rhys nodded in agreement, his tall frame casting a long shadow against the wall.

“The serpent, the sun, the scales, archetypal symbols found across cultures! The serpent represents cunning; the sun symbolizes truth; and those scales signify judgment.”

Josef Brandt snorted dismissively. “Or three different ways to bury us alive! My money says one’s a pit trap, another’s fire, and the last one’s spikes.”

Dr. Ren tightened Jace’s bandage while keeping his focus sharp on their surroundings.

Jace sat pale and sweating beside him; his left sleeve tied where an arm used to be. Ren spoke without looking up:

“He’s not wrong,every choice in this tomb has teeth! Don’t think too long or it’ll chew you up while you hesitate.”

Marta Sorel’s voice cut through with calm steadiness as she studied the door adorned with scales,her fingers tracing its grooves gently.

“But they gave us a clue this time,” she said thoughtfully.

Arthur tilted his chin slightly in curiosity. “Go on.”

She pointed upward, her finger tracing the faint lettering that stretched across the stone arch above the center door. Adrian flicked on his torch, illuminating the words etched with ancient precision:

A low murmur rippled through the group. Soldiers exchanged uneasy glances while the archaeologists leaned in closer, their curiosity piqued.

Rask crossed his arms, skepticism etched on his face. “Balance? Balance of what?”

Kaelen stroked his chin thoughtfully. “Perhaps it’s a balance of judgment,a fair path, free from pride and deceit. The scales hint at equality, weighing life against death.”

Josef frowned, shaking his head. “Or maybe it’s about balance like a trap trigger! Step wrong, and boom a rain of arrows!”

Ethan raised his hand dramatically, sarcasm dripping from his voice. “I vote we don’t touch anything ever again! Who’s with me?”

Mireille groaned in response. “You’d starve before we got out of here.”

As voices began to overlap in heated debate, Adrian argued that the sun symbol represented light and truth,a guiding principle throughout Azurian texts.

Kaelen countered with serpent imagery tied to wisdom and immortality found in various inscriptions.

Josef insisted that these carvings were mere lies meant to ensnare the foolish.

The commanders,Marek, Rask, Vos, Lyra, Holt, and Stone,stood tense at the edges of the chamber, eyes scanning every shadowy corner for danger.

Gunner hovered close to Arthur like a silent sentinel while Lukas leaned against a pillar with arms crossed, gaze darting between doors as if weighing odds at a gambling table.

Arthur let them argue for several minutes; his expression remained unreadable as he studied every detail,the ground beneath him, the walls surrounding them, even the ceiling above.

His instincts screamed that one door led forward while others beckoned toward graves.

Finally swayed by their discussion, Kaelen and Adrian leaned toward choosing the serpent door.

“It represents hidden wisdom,” Adrian declared confidently. “The ancients often disguised truth beneath layers of fear. The serpent door is our path to knowledge.”

With growing tension in the air, they shifted toward the serpent door,men tightening their grips on weapons while archaeologists lit fresh torches.

But Arthur’s eyes narrowed; something felt off about this choice.

The grooves above the serpent door seemed too fine; its floor was unnaturally smooth; faint lines crisscrossed along its ceiling, almost invisible but there nonetheless.

His chest tightened with urgency.

“DOWN!” His shout reverberated through the chamber like thunder.

The company obeyed instantly,dropping to cold stone floors as instinct kicked in.

With a rumble that shook their very bones,the serpent door creaked open!

A storm of arrows erupted like a deadly rain, shafts screaming through the air in an unending barrage.

They sliced through the flickering torchlight with chilling precision, sparks flying as tips struck stone.

The sound was deafening,like a thousand blades whistling in furious harmony.

Men pressed flat against the ground, shields raised protectively over their heads.

Nearby, archaeologists whimpered, arms shielding their faces from the chaos.

Minutes dragged on like hours until an eerie silence settled over the scene.

Cautiously, they lifted their heads.

What they saw was a nightmare: the serpent door had become a slaughterhouse.

Skeletons hung grotesquely, pinned like trophies and impaled countless times.

Rusted armor clung stubbornly to shattered bones, while empty eye sockets gaped at the intruders as if mocking them for their audacity.

The archaeologists paled; sweat trickled down their temples. One nearly retched at the sight.

Ethan forced out a laugh that trembled in his throat. “Well… good news is, we’re not decoration. Yet.”

Mireille shot him a sharp glare. “You think this is funny?”

He raised his brows defiantly. “I’d rather laugh than piss myself! Pick one.”

Clara chuckled softly, her voice dry as dust. “At least he’s consistent.”

Even some soldiers smirked, tension cracking under the weight of banter.

Arthur stood still, his gaze drifting back to the riddle above the center door.

His voice broke through the tension calmly: “The riddle isn’t about wisdom or strength; it’s about balance,judgment,the scales door.”

No one dared to argue after witnessing what lay behind them.

Marek barked orders and moved men into position while Holt and Stone examined the floor for hidden triggers.

Vos and Lyra checked walls for slits or grooves that could hide secrets waiting to be uncovered.

Adrian and Marta joined Arthur, tracing ancient carvings with trembling fingers.

Arthur placed his palm against the cold stone surface,it was smooth yet unyielding beneath his touch.

“On three,” he instructed.

He, Gunner, Marek, and Rask pressed their shoulders against the door with all their might.

Muscles strained; sweat glistened under torchlight as they pushed together slowly but surely,the ancient slab groaned in protest as it shifted against stone with an echoing rumble that reverberated through the hall.

Dust fell like confetti around them; age-old smells of stone filled their lungs.

As the gap widened enough for one man,and then two,they slipped inside one by one.

Mireille urged forward those who were hesitant; Clara steadied Marta while Holt guided Dr. Ren and wounded Jace through safely.

Arthur lingered at the back of the chamber, his gaze sweeping over the eerie scene one last time.

The serpent door loomed ominously, lined with lifeless corpses, while the sun door stood untouched,an unsettling reminder of a lurking danger.

With a deep breath, he stepped through.

The scales door slammed shut behind them with a thunderous boom that reverberated through the walls.

Darkness enveloped them like a heavy cloak.

Deep within the tomb, faint grinding noises began to stir.

Mechanisms that had slumbered for centuries suddenly sprang to life. Stone gears creaked and turned; levers shifted with an unsettling precision.

The sound crawled through the passage like a secret whisper, chilling their bones.

The group froze in place, hearts racing in unison.

No words were exchanged, but every face mirrored the same realization: they had passed some kind of test.

Yet, something far more sinister was now set into motion.

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