Chapter 696

Chapter 696: The Tomb That Felt Wrong

When that low, muffled rumble rang out, Duncan’s attention at once shifted to the open space in the center of the square.

He saw the patch of mottled, ancient stone slabs suddenly begin to rise and fall like flowing sand. Some huge structure slowly floated up from deep below the ground. What first came into view was a gray-white spire. A moment later, an ancient and mysterious tomb, like a giant combination of pyramid and palace, slowly rose into his sight.

Solemn and silent, old and austere, the “tomb” made of some kind of gray-white monoliths simply stood there not far away. It looked like time itself had been frozen into a block and set down in this dim chaos. Duncan stared in surprise at the huge building rising from the ground. Driven by curiosity, he studied its style and structure, only to find that it did not match any architectural style he knew from the Age of City-States.

It looked more like the architecture of the Kingdom of Critt he had seen in some old books.

All across the square, the Saints’ spirit projections also fell quiet. Countless gazes were drawn, almost against their will, to the giant pyramid tomb. A solemn, tense air spread over the assembly ground, and the whole place became utterly silent.

Several more minutes passed. Just when Vanna and Morris both began to frown in doubt and wonder if something had gone wrong, some movement finally came from deep within the tomb. The stone gate, which looked unbearably heavy, slowly began to open with a deep rumble.

The great gate stood wide, revealing the dark corridor within.

The spirit projections gathered in the square fixed their gazes on that gate. The deathly silence lasted a long time, then slowly turned into a faint stir and a low buzz of discussion.

Listening to the low voices from all directions, Duncan realized something seemed off. He frowned and quietly asked Vanna beside him: “What went wrong?”

“…The Gravekeeper didn’t appear.” Vanna also lowered her voice. She seemed uneasy as well as confused. “Under normal conditions, the Gravekeeper should walk out of the gate at this point.”

Duncan’s expression slowly grew heavier.

As time went on, the old and mysterious tomb still stood quietly in the center of the assembly ground, yet the Tomb Keeper who should have appeared still did not show himself. The low chatter on the square spread further and further. For a while, this strange situation even made many people forget about “Captain Duncan,” who had come to the assembly today.

But some others, instead, unconsciously turned their eyes toward Duncan.

Duncan ignored the looks directed at him and walked straight toward Helena.

“It seems you’ve never seen this happen before,” he said bluntly. “What is your plan now? If you don’t have one, I’m going to go check this so?called ‘tomb’ myself.”

“Please wait a moment.” Helena spoke at once. Then she thought for a second and turned to look at Rune and the others beside her. “…We’ll go over and take a look first.”

“Fine.” Rune nodded first, then lifted his gaze and spoke to the spirit projections gathered in the assembly ground: “Everyone else, remain on standby in the square. Do not approach Vision 004.”

With that, he turned around. Together with Helena, Banster, and Frem, he slowly walked toward the solemn tomb in the near distance.

Duncan thought for a moment, then also stepped after them. Rune heard footsteps behind him and glanced back. Duncan casually said: “I’ll just come along and take a look. Relax, I won’t set anything on fire.”

Rune’s expression turned a bit odd for a moment, probably remembering the great blaze that had marked Atlantis’s final moments. Helena hesitated, then looked at Vanna. After a brief pause, she gave a light nod: “Vanna, you come too.”

“Me?” Vanna froze for a second, then quickly reacted and hurried to catch up.

Morris stayed behind with the others in a “safe zone” some distance from the tomb. He watched with nervous eyes as the few figures slowly approached Vision 004.

Duncan followed behind Helena and the others and slowly came to the foot of the solemn gray-white pyramid, in front of the silent, gaping gate.

A deep, dim corridor stretched away from the gate into the distance. The weak lights inside only gave a hazy glow to the outline of the passage. The tomb’s interior seemed far more vast and deep than it looked from outside. The corridor appeared endless; he could not see its end at a glance.

Frem bent down beside the gate, as if carefully checking something. Rune pressed his hand on certain spots on the outer wall of the tomb. Near where his palm touched, faint lights like runes briefly floated in the air and flashed before vanishing.

Helena and Banster seemed to be praying in silent benediction, while also keeping watch for something.

Duncan watched the scene with some curiosity and could not help asking: “What are you doing?”

“In ancient times, this ‘Nameless King Tomb’ went through a period when it could not be controlled. During that time, it randomly summoned chosen people from all over the world and caused many terrible events. Later, the Church of the Four Gods acted together and finally placed a shackle on this old, self-running ‘Vision’.” Rune explained casually as he checked the hidden state runes around the tomb. “Those contracts, witnessed by the Four Gods, set rules for the original, chaotic ‘summoning’ behavior of Vision 004. Only then did we get the current Swift Bell and assembly system…”

Duncan raised his eyebrows: “That sounds like some kind of containment measure.”

“Only limited ‘use’.” Rune shook his head. “Visions cannot be contained. But by grasping their patterns, we can cut their harm to the lowest level, and even put them to work. Vision 004 is still running on its own just like in the past. We’ve only found a way to draw information from it without getting killed…”

Visions cannot be contained…

As he listened to Rune’s casual words, Duncan’s expression turned a bit strange.

He thought of the Vanished—strictly speaking, the Vanished was now in a state of containment, and this “Captain Duncan” was the containment condition for the Vanished.

Yet this one exception still fit the “Clause Zero rule” for Anomalies and Visions…

Duncan shook his head and pushed aside these stray thoughts that had suddenly popped up. At the same time, he heard Frem break the silence in a deep voice: “Looks fine.”

“Yes, everything seems normal.” Rune also finished his first round of checks. The elderly Elf straightened up and took two steps back. He looked up at the grand pyramid tomb, his face very serious. “At least… on the outside.”

“If everything outside is normal, then the problem can only be inside.” Duncan spoke softly. He stepped back to the main gate of the tomb and looked at the dark corridor that seemed to have no end. “So what is your plan now?”

Frem walked over. Under Duncan’s curious gaze, the tall, silent Senkin Pope raised his staff and tapped it on the ground three times, not too hard and not too soft.

The next second, a vague shadow suddenly split off from beside him. In the blink of an eye it solidified, taking on the form of another Frem.

“This is my historical avatar form from one hour ago.” Frem turned and explained to Duncan in passing. At the same moment, the “historical avatar form” had already stepped forward with firm steps and, under everyone’s gaze, crossed the gate of Vision 004.

The tall figure walked into the dimness. Vanna moved to stand near Duncan, watching with some tension as it went deeper into the corridor. Then she saw the figure suddenly stop at some point.

“Why did it stop?” Duncan turned his head and asked in confusion.

Frem also frowned. Even he, the Summoner himself, did not know why his historical avatar form suddenly stopped on the spot. He stared at the sight deep inside the gate of Vision 004 and raised his hand to sketch a few runes in the air, as if trying to rebuild his link with the avatar form. But at that moment a great wave of unease suddenly surged into his mind!

Almost at the same time, the historical avatar form that had been standing still in the dim corridor trembled slightly, as if slowly turning its head.

Frem, standing outside the gate of Vision 004, instantly changed color. He jerked up his staff and, even as he cut off the summoning, he called out at once: “Careful, corruption!”

The next second, he cleanly severed the summoning and ordered the historical avatar form to dissolve. But only a brief, dim glow flickered at the top of his staff. The tall avatar form standing in the corridor of Vision 004 did not vanish at all. Instead, after a slight shudder, it continued to turn its head.

Like a strange corpse, the tall, pale figure twisted its head around. Its face, slowly turning in the Shadows, had already begun to warp into horrible shapes and dark hollows. A torn, chilling smile spread across that chaotic face. In the dim glow, that ripped grin bloomed in the dark like the mad laughter of a lunatic. Layers upon layers of mutters, whispers, and weird howls seemed to ring at once in almost everyone’s ears!

The ghastly scene made everyone’s hair stand on end. Banster and the others reacted at once, instantly ready to respond to corruption and fight a powerful enemy. Even if it was only a historical avatar form that had entered the tomb, it was still the Flamebearer Pope’s avatar form. Any power that could corrupt and drag it down in an instant was clearly no ordinary thing!

But just then, a tall figure stepped forward and moved ahead of everyone, blocking the gate and cutting off the “historical avatar form’s” line of sight.

Duncan’s body rose in layer upon layer of unreal fire. In the crackling surge of spirit flame, a wall of ghostly green fire almost covered the entire gate. He stood in the flames, fixing his gaze on the figure in the distance that had already been corrupted by some power.

“Why did you stop turning?”