Bone Ring

Hearing Marlow’s compliment, Bondoni did not answer immediately. He glanced around the circular room, and upon seeing the Skeletons lying on the ground, he thought to himself:

“So it’s possible for Skeletons here to evolve into undead of the Netherworld. As I thought, this is no ordinary tomb. In that case…”

Before Bondoni could continue his train of thought, marlow waved his hand in front of Bondoni’s eyes.

“Mr. Bondoni, you seemed distracted.”

“I was just observing the surroundings, that’s all.”

As he spoke, Bondoni looked around the chamber once more, then asked,

“First, let me confirm something: you hired me to help you explore this tomb, correct?”

As Bondoni spoke, marlow nodded.

“Yes, that’s right. When we first discovered this tomb, it felt dangerous, so we decided to hire a powerful mage. Of course, the reward is one part of it—if we find any treasures, we’ll give you a share, as agreed.”

“Oh? Then I won’t be polite about it.”

Bondoni replied with a strange smile, though the other three didn’t notice.

Having already entered the underground tomb, they all began to investigate the closed, circular room.

While the other three busied themselves examining the magical patterns on the tomb walls, Bondoni immediately noticed the magically sealed stone door.

Gazing at the magic stone door, Bondoni deduced that this must be the magical seal those three had been talking about.

Comparing the patterns on the stone door to the ones he remembered from the map, Bondoni confirmed—without doubt—this was the “legendary ancient tomb”!

At that moment, Bondoni was extremely excited; he felt incredibly lucky.

Ever since he had received news of this tomb, he had been searching for a month without any leads.

Yet, after all that fruitless effort, luck had simply dropped this opportunity in his lap.

As he snuck into a human town to resupply before returning to the jungle, he happened to overhear several youngsters discussing hiring a powerful mage to explore an ancient tomb.

They were offering a high reward—no less than fifty gold coins. But after the undead outbreak in the Corrupted Jungle, no one dared set foot in this land of death.

But Bondoni dared!

As a necromancer, spending time with the undead was just daily routine for him.

And, more importantly—what did he hear? An ancient tomb!

He, too, had been searching for an ancient tomb!

With the intent of making some easy money and collecting a few living specimens for further necromancy research, Bondoni pretended to be a mage, took on their commission, and escorted the three here.

As expected, based on the comparison of the magic seal’s patterns, this tomb was the very same “Addis Tomb” where, years ago, the “Bloodstorm, Draconic Tongue” sealed away the undead’s treasure!

He had finally found it!

Endless wealth! The undead of the Netherworld!

All of it would soon be his. For today, he had even betrayed the Church—it was finally time for his reward!

Frenzied excitement flashed in his eyes as Bondoni lovingly caressed the magic-sealed stone door. Behind this door lay the treasure necromancers had dreamed of for generations.

He would have it!

“Hm… This stone door looks quite similar to the one I opened above, doesn’t it?”

The thief, Beverly, came over as well, gazing at the door and mumbling to herself.

Hearing her words, Bondoni grabbed her shoulder in excitement.

“You can open it?!”

Startled by his outburst, Beverly backed off a little.

“Well, I am a thief, so I suppose I could open it, but…”

Glancing around at the piles of human bones, she voiced her concern,

“But is this really okay? It feels a bit dangerous to just start tampering with the tomb’s mechanism.”

“With me here, there’s no danger at all. Go ahead and open it.”

Bondoni urged her. Hearing the intensity growing in his voice, Serea was now sure he was up to something. She immediately gave an order:

“Dogsius, use Mind Reading!”

“Yes, master.”

Dogsius used the Mind Reading skill; hidden in the darkness, Celia’s eyes took on a faint violet hue. But as soon as Dogsius initiated Mind Reading, Bondoni immediately looked sharply around.

“Who’s there?”

Dogsius’s Mind Reading failed. To avoid exposing itself, Dogsius stopped its attempt and apologized,

“Forgive me, master. This man’s willpower is extremely strong; without using force, I can’t see into his mind.”

“It’s fine.”

Serea replied. Meanwhile, Bondoni still felt as though someone was spying on him, though he detected neither Dogsius nor the four girls.

“Uh… Mr. Bondoni, there’s no one else here, is there?”

“Hm?”

Still suspicious, Bondoni nevertheless dismissed his doubts at the thought of the undead treasure awaiting him.

“Perhaps I’m just being paranoid.”

“Then, Captain Marlow, what about this stone door?”

Beverly looked to Marlow, who pretended to ponder, and then started down a reckless path…

“Well… let’s open it. There’s not much left here anyway, and it’d be a shame to not examine such a well-preserved tomb thoroughly.”

“Alright, everyone back up a bit.”

Beverly instructed, and the group stepped back a few paces. Beverly then stood before the stone door and cast a defensive spell on herself using a magic scroll.

Done with her preparations, she produced a black stone.

A magestone!

With this magestone, the faded magic of the seal was hardly an obstacle.

After a few experiments, Beverly figured out the magic flow within the seal.

She began channeling mana into it; when her frequency matched the seal’s, the seal glowed with violet light.

Bzzzz!

The light flared, and the stone door began to shake. Beverly quickly withdrew, and as the door slowly fell, everyone caught sight of what was behind it.

A wall?

To be precise, it was a sealed small chamber.

While everyone puzzled over this, the stone door settled completely and revealed a dark stone pedestal within.

Above it sat a ring—a bone ring, inlaid with a blue gem.

Hmm!!!

Seeing the gemstone, Serea instantly activated her detection ability.

Addis’s Bloodthirsty Banshee (Gold, blueprint): Upon use, allows one to convert corpses (female only) into Bloodthirsty Banshees (Bronze Elite+) using the Plague Graveyard.

Bloodthirsty Banshee (Bronze Elite+): The elite light-armored troops under Demon King Addis, capable of becoming Rangers, archers, and Assassins, and may even produce rare special units.

A troop blueprint!

Though she had no idea how to obtain a Plague Graveyard, getting the blueprint came first!

“Be ready—take it by force when the time is right!”

Serea transmitted her thoughts to Celia.

Receiving Serea’s mental command, Celia prepared to act.

By now, the thief Beverly had already reached out to touch the bone ring.

(To be continued…)

————-= Clacky’s Corner ————-=

【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】

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