Trial Of Monsters And Summons 61 Ch. 39- Raiding The Tomb

The only real action that occurred was Musas.h.i.+'s fight against the dullahan, it was lucky for him that it had such an exploitable advantage. If he had faced some spartoi or other more powerful undead there would have barely been a fight, the fact that it had flesh to cut was a great advantage for Musas.h.i.+, but conversely, it also meant there was more intelligence than normal in an undead.

It was rather odd to see such a congregation of the undead, and both of us seemed to suspect there was something else around here that was the reason for the gathering. That didn't matter right now however as Musas.h.i.+ claimed his spoils of war from the fallen low-cla.s.s tier 4 dullahan.

Whatever life force animating and strengthening the monster had died along with it as Musas.h.i.+ was able to peel back the armor and dig into the pale grey chest cavity of the humanoid monster searching for its core. A bit of reaching around and a greyish-blue core came out and was immediately devoured by the large mantis.

It didn't come as any surprise to me that once the core was finished off, Alex's bladed mantis began to evolve. It had been quite a while since it had last advanced and had been in some intense fights alongside my summons. Despite him not being her starter summon, he had more combat potential currently and thus quickly grew strong through many fights. With her more diverse summon lineup this wouldn't be as unequally distributed, especially with a poisonous tier 4 dragon-kin monster on her team.

Golden lights began to flow out from Musas.h.i.+ and collect towards Alex, and all that could be seen was the distorted shadow of the large insect as his form grew and changed. By the end, of the transformation a very different summon was present, and from the aura, he was exuding, I could tell had finally breached the tier 3 wall into the bottom of the 4th tier.

Standing on four carapaced legs was a dark grey and blue mantis covered in extra thick and spiky chitinous armor that seemed to be modeled after the dullahan's apparently. This was just an exterior change, and aside from having grown and added onto his defenses, the other most noticeable change was the blades on his forearms.

What used to be straight gladius-like appendages were now curved and serrated scythe-like weapons that looked to have terrifying combat potential. I didn't know what other changes or powers Musis.h.i.+ might have from his advancement, but I'm sure I would learn in time. What I really wanted to know was what power or boost Alex had gained from Musas.h.i.+'s change into a death scythe mantis.

"Congrats on Musas.h.i.+ evolving. What ability did you end up getting from his change?" -Thomas

"Well if I'm understanding this right, I've gained the ability to turn my fingernails into sharp daggers. There doesn't seem to be any real drawbacks from it, only that it requires close contact to use. It seems to be due to Musas.h.i.+ being able to coat blade aura over his scythes and project them out at enemies." -Alexis

"That's pretty handy, and I'm sure will make a nice little surprise card in dangerous situations, especially with humans who won't be expecting you to fight without a blade present." -Thomas

"I'm definitely glad it finally happened, I was worried he wasn't going to advance. What I really want to know about is why these undead were gathered here, this many albeit weak undead don't gather unless there is someone or something calling them." -Alexis

"Why don't we take a look around and send Queenie and Brutus for some reconnaissance, there's got to be something around here. Judging by that old throne, there's probably some remnant from a now-extinct civilization. After all, there were plenty of tombs and temples in South America." -Thomas

.....

It wasn't long after when we heard Brutus barking to call us over, it seems he had found the thing we were looking for, but I still had no idea what it could be. We neared the rocky outcropping behind the ruined throne, and what we saw definitely came as a surprise.

What Brutus had found was a manmade opening from some sort of sandstone leading into the underground with only the rocks to serve as a barrier from accidental intrusion. The way the entrance was positioned it became obvious that whoever had created it did not want it to be found and likely robber, not that there was really anything wrong with that.

After all, the dead had no need for riches, not that I would go grave digging, but if this was a tomb with treasure, I'd have to be crazy not to take it. This was just fantasy for now as we hadn't seen much of anything yet. Knowing that it would be dark and confined, we unsummoned our larger summons, only to leave Brutus, Queenie, and saber to delve into the depths.

Before heading down I grabbed a nearby thick branch and wrapped one of my extra t-s.h.i.+rts around it before soaking it in a bit of leftover tequila, it would do for a makes.h.i.+ft torch. I didn't need it since I had night vision courtesy of Brutus, but Alex had no such ability, and even I need at least the barest hint of moonlight in order to see. The pitch-black corridors would prove to be a challenge if there were traps or monsters within.

Seeing that we were as prepared as we would be, I handed Alexis off the torch and had Saber move ahead of us a.s.s we descended into the stairway underground. Pa.s.sing that entryway, I noticed little markings in some ancient or foreign script that I didn't remotely recognize, and I only hoped it wasn't anything forboding.

It's good luck for us that the traps weren't made with summons in mind as various projectiles such as arrows and darts were launched only to ping off of Saber and the few that made their way past him were deflected by the strength of our armor.

We didn't get overconfident despite the ineffective traps, it would only take one unlucky projectile to make their way past our armor and lodge themselves into us. It probably wouldn't kill us unless we got really unlucky, but it would definitely hurt and hamper our abilities. Monsters were what we were most worried about, I figured there would be more visible undead by now, and this absence was only making me warier.

What could be smelled was the musty decaying air of unopened tombs that as you would imagine, smells like the dead. Lichen, dust, and cobwebs could be seen all along the walls and floor built from jagged and uneven bricks, the cool air that could be felt within didn't help with the creepy ambiance either.

The tense air was broken by a cras.h.i.+ng sound resonating within the shallow hallways, dust was kicked up and the sharp sounds echoed off the walkway walls. I couldn't help but laugh at the sight of Saber falling down into a punji stake pit filled with fragile and decrepit wooden stakes that only broke into hundreds of tiny pieces under the weight and hardness of Saber's sh.e.l.l.

He chittered angrily at having been caught by such a simple and ineffective trap, but mostly my laughing at his unfortunate current condition. I did my best to console my sullen companion by resummoning him out of the pit and patting him on the head a bit, but mostly one of the soldier scorpion cores I fed him seemed to make up for the incident. I had plenty after Alexis having killed the ma.s.s of soldier scorpions that charged us along with Saber and Queenie, we had split up the cores to feed each of our summons food suiting them.

We continued on through the maze-like pa.s.sages that continued further and further underground until we came across some ornate and ominous iron doors. I looked around to make sure we were as ready as could be and out of caution brought Jareth out in the now wider corridor while Alex brought out Musas.h.i.+.

Whatever was behind these doors would likely hold the answers as to why so many undead were staying in this area, and I had a feeling that it wouldn't be a peaceful interaction we have with what's on the other side.