by Zhuang Bifan
At this moment, not to mention Rosen, every mage could tell that something was wrong. Aldwin yelled at the mages behind and instructed them to retreat immediately—no trap in Osric's mausoleum was not to be belittled. The mages were the pillars of the Alanna Guild of Magic, and losing one would be a huge heartache for Aldwin. However, the traps laid by Osric the butcher would definitely be lethal.
The ground of the entire square seemed to have suddenly experienced a power outage, and the moonstone that was emitting eternal light suddenly became dim. In the center of the square, the two giant pillars facing the gate of the mausoleum had become brighter, and they resembled lampposts. Between the pillars, there were electric snakes running back and forth, making crackling noises and covering the mausoleum.
"Felic, what kind of trap is this?" Andoine asked Lin Li, feeling worried as he watched the amazing changes in the square.
Lin Li shook his head helplessly, and answered, "If I'm not wrong, it might be the Gate of Doom. Get everyone to get ready for a battle."
Upon hearing that it was the Gate of Doom, even an Alchemy jockey Andoine began to feel uneasy. Although he didn't know much about alchemy, he knew that the Gate of Doom was a Master-level Alchemy Array that was used to open the channel between Anril and the Endless Abyss. The only hope now was for the Gate of Doom to open a channel that was not too far down in the Endless Abyss Otherwise, even if the mages were to win the battle, they would inevitably suffer a lot of losses.
"Since you've already seen it, why didn't you tell me what your idea was?" Rosen scowled at Lin Li. He was the one who ordered the mages to continue to move forward, and claimed that there was no danger, but this time, there was actually such a huge change that was like a slap in his face. He naturally thought that Lin Li had already seen the traps in the square, and was waiting for him to fall into it.
"On the ground of the square, the magic gears were triggered, and the magic circuit has been blocked by the light reflected by the moonstone and the sky. If it weren't the shadow caused by the cloud just now, I would have needed a little more time to find out. As for the Gate of Doom Alchemy Array, it is right in the middle of the two pillars. If the trigger magic gears were not activated, no one would be affected by the Alchemy Array." Lin Li looked at Rosen, and sneered, "Osric is an absolute genius. The profound knowledge he possessed is far from what you can imagine, so don't think that you can pass through this mausoleum just because you have some understanding of Inscription. That will only result in the deaths of everyone."
No one dared to talk to him that way except his teacher. Rosen glanced at Lin Li who was in his early twenties, and began to grow a little infuriated. However, before he could even say anything else, the Gate of Doom was fully opened, and countless Abyssal Demons suddenly rushed out, filling the vast square almost immediately.
"The Abyssal Predators, Kamela and Amut. Seems like it's the seventh floor of the abyss." Lin Li looked at the Abyssal Demons that were surging out of the Gate of Doom and realized that most of them were unique to the seventh floor of the abyss, which gave him a sense of relief. If the Gate of Doom were to connect below the 20th floor of the abyss, they would probably face a tough battle, while the demons on the seventh floor could only post a relatively limited threat to them despite having considerable strength.
The Abyssal Predator looked just like a giant lizard, but it seemed to be walking like humans. However, they were not lizardmen, because they did not have much intelligence. They had poisonous claws and fine, sharp teeth as their weapons. They could easily tear apart sturdy armor and were extremely agile, just like assassins among humans. However, in terms of strength, most Abyssal Predators were only level-10, and only very few could reach level-15.
Kamela and Amut were both demons that were at the top of the food chain on the seventh floor of the abyss, and their strength was around level-15.
The demon Kamela had a lion's head and a sheep's body, and could also spit out black flames. At the same time, the huge body also gave it great physical strength. Claws and strong teeth were also its deadly weapons.
The demon Amut was like a giant flying crocodile with wings on its back to allow it to perform short-distance flight. The most powerful weapon against enemies was not its body, but its earth-element magic.
Although these demons from the seventh floor were more powerful than the Undead Army in the Shadowglen, they were after all facing the Alanna Guild of Magic, one of the powerful forces of Anril. Seeing that countless demons were surging out, the mages all remained composed and everyone raised the Crescent Staffs in their hands as the overwhelming magic suddenly swept towards the demons.
Facing the tide-like demons, the 200-odd mages were like a small boat floating in the sea. They were extremely thin and fragile as if they would capsize when hit by a massive wave. However, under the commands of their commander Lampard, they seemed to have rooted themselves to the ground, and remained still despite the roaring Abyssal Demons.
Kamela spat out a mass of abyssal flames, but when it was about to fall on the mages, it was blocked by a faint ray of light, and was reflected back to the demons which besieged the mages, causing the demons to wince and howl in pain.
Ice Spears and Wind Blades seemed to have formed a barrage as they darted out like missiles. The mages were only casting some low-level magic, but they were strong enough to result in the collapse of the Abyssal Demons.
To the mages, Ice Spear was a relatively low-level offensive spell, but when an Ice Spear hit the demons, the damage would be incredible. As long as they could break through the enemy's defense and damage the enemy, the effects of low-level magic and powerful magic would be the same. With the excellent magical equipment on their bodies, the mages seemed to recover their mana almost instantly. Even if they were to kill all the Abyssal Demons, their mana would probably still be full.
However, their purpose this time was not to battle, but to explore Osric's mausoleum. Andoine raised his staff and first looked at Rosen before turning to look at Aldwin. "It's not the time to train them now. We haven't even entered the gate of Osric's mausoleum. Let me deal with the demons."
Andoine flew into the air and swung his staff with momentum while chanting a spell. Noticing that Andoine was about to take action, Aldwin ordered the mages to transition to pure defense.
Just as the magical defense of the mages was put up, Andoine finished casting his spell and raised the staff into the sky. Dark clouds rolled in the sky, and the entire square was cast in shadow. Next, lightning seemed to have filled the sky and fallen down onto the square like heavy rain.
Chapter 711 - Keyhole
Although the level-20 offensive spells were not that powerful, they were enough to deal with the level-15 demons. Under the support of Andoine's huge mental strength, the range of magic was expanded by several times, and all the demons were shrouded in the attacking range of the lightning.
Lin Li looked at Andoine who had cast the spell, and began to get a clearer idea of his abilities. Although they were both level-23, there was still a difference in their mastery of nomological power, mental strength, and mana. However, Lin Li could tell that his abilities were rather similar to his at the moment.
In just a few seconds, the originally beautiful moonstone pavement was already covered in the blood of the Abyssal Demons. The dense lightning was like a huge meat grinder, destroying the corpses of the Abyssal Demons and smashing them into bits. It caused the entire square to be elevated by one floor.
Fortunately, the mages' mentalities were good. Ordinary people would probably die.
"Andoine, you're thrilled, but what are we supposed to do?" Aldwin complained jokingly.
"Fly over. I've already checked. Apart from the Gate of Doom, there are no other traps here in this square," Lin Li said with a wry smile. Fortunately, he had already studied everything there. Otherwise, he would not be able to see the traps at all by now.
The Gate of Doom between the two giant pillars was closed
as soon as the Abyssal Demons occupied the entire square, revealing the gate of the mausoleum that was not too far behind. The Legendary-mages, like Lin Li, flew towards the gate of the mausoleum, while the other mages slowed down a little and cast Levitation Spells to hover above the nauseating bloody corpses.
Everyone arrived at the gate of the mausoleum and landed on the steps in front. Rosen, who had been remaining silent, checked the gate and the surrounding environment. He did not mention anything about the place being safe, and instead remained silent. Rosen refused to believe that Lin Li had really discovered the magic trap because of the cloud. He felt that Lin Li had long planned to make him embarrassed.
Lin Li didn't care about Rosen's attitude. Instead, he looked up at the mausoleum's gate which was even larger than the gates of the Felan Kingdom's capital. That reminded Lin Li of the Titans' shrine that he saw in the Endless Labyrinth back in the Sky Castle. Of course, it was completely different. The Titans were massive in size, and were as large as mountains. Hence, they were not inferior to the ancient wyrms.
"How do we open this door?" Andoine asked as he took out the key that was divided into two halves. He then stared at the door for a long time before finally finding a place to put his key at. He placed the two halves of the key together, and carefully inserted the key into the keyhole…
No reaction? How can there be no reaction!? Andoine grabbed the key and twisted it left and right before pulling it out and inserting it into the keyhole again. After a long while, there was still no response.
Seeing that Andoine was hovering in the air, Rosen could not help but urge, "Andoine, what are you doing? Hurry and open the door. We don't have much time to waste here!"
Andoine landed on the ground helplessly and handed the key to Rosen. "There's no response. No matter what I do, there aren't any changes at all. You'll know when you try it yourself."
Upon hearing this, Rosen ignored everything else and immediately grabbed the key before flying into mid-air and tossing around like Andoine did. At last, he flew back onto the ground with a look of bewilderment.
Aldwin and Macklin began to panic after seeing Rosen's reaction. "Why? Can't it be opened? Is the key fake?" Apart from the effort that they had put in to get the key, they had also been looking forward to exploring Osric's mausoleum. If everything were to be in vain, they'd definitely feel terrible.
"It can't be fake. This key was authenticated by the arbitrator. Maybe the way we used it was wrong." Rosen shook his head and carefully looked at the key in his hand, only to realize that there were no useful clues.
"There are no magic traps around here, right?" Aldwin asked. After receiving a firm answer from Lin Li, he said to the mages, "Check the gate and the surroundings carefully to see if there is anything suspicious. "
Osric's mausoleum was on the other side of the gate. No one wanted to walk there; hence, they could only look at the gate and sigh. The 200-odd mages immediately separated from each other and hovered in the surroundings, where they carefully investigated everything.
"Why don't we just bomb the gate open?" Andoine suggested after knocking on the gate with his staff.
"Bomb it? This gate was forged with Titan alloy, and there is also a Guru-level mageweath on this. Any attack will be reflected, and even a powerhouse of the Sanctuary-realm may not be able to break it," Rosen said with a look of disdain.
The mages were looking around for clues, and the leaders discussed other ways to enter. They considered opening the door, blasting the walls, and digging a passage underground. However, their ideas were all turned down by one another. The light that was shrouding the mausoleum did not seem impressive, but Lin Li told everyone that the halo and the Sky Castle were similar. The sky of the Sky Castle could resist even the strong Nether Storm, let alone their spells. How could the formidable Osric have designed a mausoleum that was full of loopholes?
Just as everyone felt like they had nowhere to go, all of a sudden, an Archmage yelled with excitement, "Sir, there is a line of High Elves text here, which seems to be the ancient type."
"What? What text?" Andoine asked, and rushed forward to see a line of High Elves text just above the gate as expected. However, as an authoritative figure in High Elves research, Andoine found the High Elves print to be rather strange. Although he was certain that it was the text of the High Elves, he could not seem to translate it.
In fact, the Legendary-mages and Archmages present were all rather learned in High Elves Print. After all, many powerful magic spells had chants that were in High Elves Print. However, even the authoritative Andoine who was extremely knowledgeable about High Elves Print could not translate those words, let alone the rest.
"It seems to be the ancient High Elves Print, which was the first generation of High Elves Print created by the High Elves after they emerged. Hence, no one really knows much about it. In fact, even the High Elves in the late Dark Age might not have known it."
A voice suddenly came from behind everyone, and Lin Li turned around to see that it was a middle-aged mage who was talking. Before Lin Li even asked anything, Andoine had already sprung out and pulled the middle-aged mage back.
"Can you translate it? Since you know it is the language of the ancient High Elves, you should be able to translate it," Andoine said as he pointed at the line of words on the gate. Although he seemed rather calm on the surface, his tone was full of urgency.
"I'll try," said the middle-aged mage, who then nodded and observed the words carefully. He then slowly murmured, "Seal, mine, something, hibernation. It should be something along the lines of 'only with my seal will you be able to enter my hibernation's place'."
They finally found a clue, but it still wasn't very useful for everyone. What is the seal? Isn't it the key? If it's not the key, what would it be? Everyone was going crazy. What did Osric try to do? Since there was a key to the gate, why would there be a seal? Did that guy have an illegitimate son or something?
The group began to make wild guesses, and even planned to send someone back to ask the arbitrator Megard about the seal. However, after hearing their discussion, Lin Li suddenly thought of an idea. I have a ring called Brand Of Dusk. Could it be what Osric is referring to? Back then, I managed to enter the Eternal Furnace because of this Brand Of Dusk. Since the Eternal Furnace was constructed by Osric, this ring might really be the proof needed to enter Osric's mausoleum.
Thinking of this, Lin Li interrupted everyone and asked Andoine for the key. After scrutinizing it, he found a groove in the key which seemed to be a spot for something to be placed there. Lin Li didn't hide his thoughts, and instead took off the ring on his hand and tried to fit it into the groove. He finally succeeded.
With a soft sound, the key suddenly burst into a dazzling light, and when the light faded away, Lin Li found that the Brand Of Dusk and the key had completely merged together. He could also clearly sense the strong wave of mana flowing through the key slowly.
"Hah, I didn't expect the seal to be in your hands," Andoine said with a smile of surprise.
Even Rosen who had been displeased with Lin Li was filled with joy that poured out from his eyes. They were already so close to the mausoleum, and none of them would be willing to return empty-handed. Most importantly, the item that the Supreme Council wanted was very likely to be in the mausoleum. If they could not obtain it, it would be a huge impact to the Supreme Council's plans.
"I'm not sure yet. I'll try it." Lin Li then inserted the key that had been fused with Brand Of Dusk into the keyhole carefully. Then, a powerful wave of mana was emitted from the gate, causing them to retreat while the thick and heavy gate opened.
Looking at the door that was slowly opening, joy was written all over their faces; it was as if the treasure in the mausoleum was right in front of them.
Lin Li removed the key and placed it directly into the Ring of Endless Storm instead of returning it to Andoine. Although the door opened, the key seemed to be useless. However, it was fused with his Brand Of Du
sk, and he had no idea if it could be removed, while the Brand Of Dusk was the key to opening the Eternal Furnace.
In fact, at this time, everyone was already considering all the problems in the mausoleum. Even Rosen, who often picked on Lin Li, did not ask for the key back. After Lin Li came over, neither Andoine nor Rosen mentioned the key. Since the door was already opened, there was no use for the key. To them, leaving the door unlocked when leaving wasn't a matter for concern.
After the door was fully opened, everyone got into formation and slowly walked towards the door of the mausoleum. However, they did not expect to be greeted with the sight of a boundless mausoleum.
Although Lin Li and the rest had the maps of Osric's mausoleum, the maps were all extremely complicated, and the instructions were like tongue twisters. Before entering the mausoleum, everyone knew that they would pass a graveyard, but they did not expect its scale to be so massive.
The large tombs were like hills that were blocking their vision, and even the Legendary powerhouses could not see the end of the graveyard whilst in the air. The entire land was endlessly covered in huge tombs. It was practically a world of tombs, and not just a cemetery.
This world was full of dense, substantial death aura. Even the one in the Shadowglen could not compare to it. The only place that Lin Li could think of which could compare to this place was the Psychic Array of the Sky Castle.
As the gate opened, it seemed that wind had blown into the world of tombs that was filled with death aura, which in turn began to surge violently. Sensing the changes in the death aura, everyone was shocked. It was obvious that tomb was not for one to rest in peace. Indeed, everyone soon saw that there were countless arms extending from the mud which suddenly became looser beneath their feet. Undead creatures then began to climb out of the mud.
