The hunting team that Ryan had infiltrated had not yet arrived at the ruins area.
On the other hand, in a pyramid-dense area outside the royal city of the ancient kingdom of Monkel deep in the desert, a group of people are excavating ruins in full swing .
It was a square temple with statues hundreds of meters high on all four sides. Each statue was dressed similarly and wore a crown, but their faces were different. It seemed that the statues were of successive kings of the ancient country of Monk.
There are nine dark entrances leading to the underground on each of the four sides of the temple.
At this moment, in front of the obelisk in front of the temple, George Rosas, the young lord of the "Black Wind Territory", and a group of core members were watching something.
In the open space not far away, a red-robed wizard holding a skull staff was setting up a magic circle, preparing to expel the curse. This man was the top wizard in the "Cursed Field" of Glory City, Burlag Hogg.
Casting a spell to break the curse is a very complicated process, and everyone was feeling a little bored.
The progress of the excavation of the ruins was not ideal, and the knights of the Rosas family suffered heavy losses.
Several senior executives were whispering about something.
"There are thirty-six gates, and we have suffered such heavy losses after exploring just one passage. It is simply impossible to fully explore them all by ourselves in a short period of time..."
"Yeah, not to mention the bugs that are everywhere, even the dog-headed monsters in the maze are too weird. They can only be killed after sucking human blood... I don't know how many of them are in this tomb."
"That is a legendary creature from hell, a minion of the god of death [Osiris]... It is said to be formed by the aura of death, a body of pure elements. Only after swallowing the blood of living people will it become a body of flesh and blood that can be killed."
"But... to kill a monster, one person must die. How can we get so many slaves to fill this hole? But if we don't get rid of those elusive elemental monsters, we will never be able to go deep into this tomb..."
"Hey, who says we have to have slaves? As long as it's not one of our own going to die, anyone can go."
"oh?"
"Not now, but there will probably be some tomorrow. The Duke has asked the territory to recruit idle wasteland hunters. There will be five teams, about 30,000 people in total. These blood foods should be enough to feed those monsters. Also, haven't those wasteland hunters in the periphery been clamoring to go to the ruins? Let them in tomorrow to help us clean up those monsters."
“…”
The green-haired young man and his confidants were still discussing something, and at this moment, the red-robed wizard who was performing the "shaman dance" suddenly shouted loudly.
"Bring me the Blood of the Cursed Spirit!"
"yes."
As soon as he finished speaking, someone holding a sharp knife walked towards the iron cage with special inscriptions not far away.
In the cage, a thin little girl was shivering as she looked at these strangers.
The white-robed wizard holding a knife roughly pulled out her arm, stabbed her wrist, and then released a large bowl of scarlet blood.
Soon, the blood was handed to the "Cursed Mage" Burlag and splashed on the magic circle he had set up.
After being bled, Naretta's face turned a sickly pale color, and her eyes were trembling with fear.
What no one noticed was that she looked at the temple with a dazed look in her eyes. In her memory, this place seemed familiar...
…
After the bowl of blood was poured onto the magic circle, some mysterious reaction seemed to occur, and golden light became brighter.
The foul and negative energy around was instantly dispelled, and everyone present felt that the depressed feeling in their hearts was suddenly relieved .
The most obvious thing is that the ghostly shadows that used to wander around the temple every night have disappeared completely.
"call……"
Seeing this scene, the red-robed wizard heaved a sigh of relief, and seemed to be talking to himself, or explaining something to others, saying: "The curse of this temple has finally been resolved. If it weren't for this 'Blood of the Cursed Spirit', it would take a hundred times more effort to break the curse of the mausoleum."
Hearing this, Young Master George asked curiously, "Mage Burlag, is this tomb curse really that evil?"
Burrag nodded and said, "Those 'shadows' are actually the cursed 'gathering spirits', which is a high-level curse that has been lost. Moreover, this ground temple and the underground palace below are just the entrances to the mausoleum, and the curse is so strong... If you rush into the mausoleum without breaking the curse, you will die."
His tone was filled with awe for the ancient super-powerful man, and he said with emotion: "The curse has not dissipated for so many thousands of years. You can imagine how clever the super-powerful man who set up this underground palace curse was."
"Curse" is far away from ordinary extraordinary people. This is also a very niche extraordinary sequence with strange and powerful methods.
Everyone didn't understand what was going on, but they all looked happy.
Everyone knows that those ancient people must have been very busy to have arranged so many things on the tombs.
The more dangerous it is, the more it shows that there must be treasures in this underground palace!
At the same time, Magister Burlag glanced at Naretta who was trapped in the rune iron cage not far away and said, "I didn't expect to encounter such a 'treasure' this time. If we want to go deep into the mausoleum to be safe, we have to bring this little girl from the Curse Clan with us..."
…
The next day, several teams arrived at the temple one after another.
The team "Prince Harper" that Ryan was in was the last team to arrive, and it was almost dusk when they arrived.
The yellow sand ruins here have become a large archaeological excavation site, and a large area of ​​sand nearby has been cleared. The pyramids have been completely exposed on the ground, as well as obelisks, strange dog-headed statues, and the remains of a palace whose purpose is unknown...
It has to be said that although the feudal centralized system is backward, it has absolute advantages in excavating large-scale ruins.
If it were an ordinary hunting group, they would at most dig a "trail hole" and serve as a tomb raider when encountering such a large ruin. But only the nobles could mobilize so many people and large excavation equipment in a short period of time and push through it rudely.
Ryan, who was mixed in the crowd, was also quite surprised when he saw the brightly lit hunting camp in front of him.
The tents are connected in large areas. According to preliminary estimates, there are at least 50,000 to 60,000 people here.
When he saw the grand temple, he was also shocked, "Is there really a temple?"
However, upon closer inspection of the human-shaped sculptures on the temple, it seemed that they were not the kind of temples dedicated to worshiping gods that I had seen before.
Looking at those dark moving cave entrances, Ryan had a vague illusion that the temple was like a grinning demon, ready to devour the humans who rashly entered.
In the open space outside the temple, there were piles of ancient artifacts, most of which were made of gold. There were golden coffins, golden scepters, golden masks, golden wine cups, golden kettles, as well as various gems and countless coins...
These "trophies" were displayed in the open air, and immediately attracted the attention of all the new hunters.
At this time, the people in the "Mountain Antelope Group" around Ryan also became excited.
"My God, they found so much gold!"
"Haha, I thought so... it took so many people to excavate the ruins. The scale of the ruins must be huge. It turns out to be true!"
"We might get rich this time... I just heard them say that this is just a small part of the underground palace that has been excavated, and the treasures we have found are still large areas that have not been explored..."
"Hehe, if we just find some gold items, we'll make a lot of money on this trip..."
“…”
Not only the "Mountain Antelope Group", all the hunters had a glimmer in their eyes when they saw the pile of treasures. Their faces flushed, and they couldn't help wanting to enter the ruins immediately.
The ruins were right before their eyes, and it seemed that the treasures would be within their reach as long as they excavated them.
Moreover, not far away, a hunting group has already formed and started to enter the ruins!
This inevitably made the scavengers who were still waiting and watching feel a little anxious, as if they were afraid that if they went in too late, the benefits would be snatched away by others.
…
Ryan was not interested in gold objects. He saw the piles of gold objects outside the temple and the hunters who were eager to enter the temple, and he became a little suspicious.
It feels like some large-scale fraud scene in my previous life, with "hostages" and "prizes".
But the ruins are real, and the treasures are real too...
This trick really works.
Seeing this scene, all the hunters' fatigue from a day's journey was instantly swept away. No one complained about resting overnight, and they all clamored to explore the ruins immediately.
Those nobles seemed to be "reasonable" and planned to start concentrated excavation tonight.
After receiving this news, the members of the "Mountain Antelope Group" couldn't wait any longer.
After a brief discussion, everyone agreed to enter the ruins tonight.
Since they were ready to go, Captain Bart naturally asked Ryan, the only outsider, "Brother Nicholas, we plan to go into the ruins now, what about you?"
After all, this exploration is bound to be full of dangers. There is only one Sister Pasha in the group who is a medical professional. With one more doctor, the chance of survival will be higher.
"sure."
Ryan nodded and agreed happily.
He originally came for the temple.
Although it was his first time here, if there was anyone who knew the most about this temple, it would be him.
Because he can understand "Monkl ancient language"!
In addition to the pyramids and temples, there are some obelisks everywhere in this ruins.
No one knows what material these stone tablets are made of. They look like gold but not gold, and like jade but not jade. Even though the surrounding pyramids have been weathered, they are still well preserved.
The key point is that this thing is engraved with clear ancient characters.
To others, these words are just some incomprehensible symbols, but to Ryan, he can read them all.
Each obelisk is engraved with the main deeds of a king during his lifetime.
Then Ryan looked at a few pieces and immediately had a general understanding of the timeline of this well-preserved ancient kingdom of Monk.
“The Temple of Pallas?”
He looked at the name of the temple on the stone tablet with a strange look on his face.
The surname Pallas is the surname of [Thunder Nightmare] Arulet, who ranks 36th among the "72 Gods".
Looking at the most conspicuous obelisk again, the glorious deeds of Pallas XV were recorded there, and it turned out to be the "Thunder Law" god general Aluret.
It turns out that the god is actually the king of a country!
When the "tide of zombies" attacked the city before, the cultural relics brought out by the zombies really pointed to this place!
Ryan and the members of the "Mountain Antelope Group" lined up and began to enter the ruins.
As he walked and looked around, he also matched the sculptures at the entrance of the temple. From "Pallas I" to "Pallas XVI"... the deeds of each king were recorded.
Of course, I also saw the warning on the stone tablet: [Anyone who trespasses into the mausoleum of the Pallas royal family will be cursed and die].
Ryan didn't pay much attention to this warning.
After all, he has an "intelligent brain" so any energy invasion that affects his body will be revealed, and he will never be attacked for no reason.
The essence of the curse is the invasion of some special negative supernatural forces.
Not to mention that his own healing abilities could resolve most negative supernatural energies, the various high-level potions he carried with him and the evil-repelling items he got from Elder Coleman were enough to deal with most curses.
In terms of the ability to deal with curses alone, no one here is stronger than him.
…
There were long queues at the sixteen entrance ruins of the temple, and noble guards from the Rosas family were handing out wristbands at the door.
In front of each entrance, there is someone giving a simple "popular science introduction".
"The curse has been broken by Lord Magister Burlag, and everyone can enter the ruins without worry. But there are still some bugs and monsters in the underground palace, and the risk is very high. We don't force anyone. Hunters who are willing to enter the ruins can come to me to receive a [Magic Bracelet to Repel Evil]..."
"There is a very complicated maze of passages inside the underground palace. Please observe the passages carefully..."
"After leaving the ruins, all items must be inspected. Our Duke's Mansion has the priority to purchase them..."
“…”
The guards spoke in a loud voice and there didn't seem to be any coercion. Everything was "voluntary". They also thoughtfully prepared magic bracelets for everyone to avoid being contaminated by the curse.
In order to allow the wasteland hunters to enter the ruins with peace of mind, the top leaders of the "Rossas Family" even led their teams and entered the ruins first.
Ryan didn't listen to those people's nonsense and was ready to go anyway.
His eyes had been wandering among the crowd, and naturally he saw those eye-catching red-robed great wizards and high-level extraordinary people. Most of these guys were well-known "celebrities" in Glory City, and the system also identified some of them.
"One fifth-level mage, three fourth-level mages..."
In his mind, Ryan silently counted the existences that posed a threat to him.
The mages' attire allowed people to identify their ranks at a glance, and the extraordinary people of other professions could also be roughly identified by their equipment.
And after taking a quick look around, fortunately, he didn't see any top-level extraordinary people like the "Grand Master" Rocky Refar.
Those guys might be hiding, maybe in the ruins...
But Ryan felt that the most likely possibility was that he was really not here.
Now that they "know" that Basel and the others might be nearby, those guys probably wouldn't dare to rashly go down to the tomb.
Then, Ryan saw a familiar face among the group of people who first entered the temple, and his pupils shrank slightly.
“Eh…”
Looking around, the little girl Naretta from the "Curse Clan" was tied up with a rune chain and was led by a white-robed wizard into a passage in the temple.
Ryan looked at it and frowned.
Although he knew that the "Curse Clan" had a tough life and would not die easily no matter how hard they were tortured, he still looked cold when he saw Naretta being led like a slave.
Not only this acquaintance, Ryan also saw another familiar face in another team under the banner of "Sunflower Chamber of Commerce", who was also tied with chains.
He looked a little surprised: "Gannix? He's still alive?"
However, apart from Gannix, Ryan did not see Catherine, and he didn't know whether she was killed or escaped.
Moreover, the president, Madam Phoebe, and the guy who looked like Wum were not seen in the team.
"Why are those guys exploring the ruins with Gannicus?"
Ryan had some doubts in his mind, but suddenly he figured it out.
Although Gannix's extraordinary rank is not high, he is a genuine "ancient civilization scholar" and has conducted in-depth research on the Monk civilization.
"Those guys probably thought he was still useful, so they didn't kill him..."
Thinking of this, Ryan withdrew his gaze.
Because, at this time, the guards had already distributed the [Magic Bracelet to Ward Off Evils] to him.
…
Ryan followed the "Mountain Antelope Group" into one of the thirty-six doors of the temple.
It was pitch black underground, and everyone lit torches and filed in.
After walking along a long sloping sacred path, we entered an unexpectedly large underground palace with stairs leading to the underground.
Once he entered the temple, Ryan was no longer careless.
His eyes carefully scanned every corner of the temple, and the system automatically scanned and identified everything here. There were some mottled murals on the walls, but most of them had oxidized and fallen off, so it was unclear what was painted. On both sides of the shrine stood strangely shaped stone sculptures of monsters, with jackal heads and human bodies...
Once they entered the tunnel, without the constraints of queuing, the anxious hunters could not wait to rush down the dark stairs ahead, as if they were afraid that if they were too late, the treasures would have been taken away by others.
Those who can't keep their cool are mostly inexperienced newcomers.
The more experienced the hunter is, the more cautious he is.
Captain Bart was an experienced veteran hunter. He did not rush to the front, but led the team members to explore carefully along the way.
In this kind of underground palace, not to mention the secret passages, even the insects and "monsters" that the knights warned about before have not been seen at all, so we must not be careless.
But he kept his composure, but the young members of the team couldn't hold back any longer.
Going down the stairs, I entered a claustrophobic passage.
Not long after walking, we saw some broken pottery jars, golden coffins, and even a few coins left in the sand, as well as some obvious traces of objects being moved...
It can be imagined that someone who had been there before must have looted the place and taken away all the valuables.
Seeing this, a young member of the group spoke anxiously, "Captain, shouldn't we hurry in? If we keep going this slow, we might not even get a sip of soup..."
" Yeah, the good stuff is grabbed by those guys who run fast..."
“…”
Hearing this, Bart smiled and shook his head, saying: "If the treasure is so easy to get, how could those nobles give up this bargain? Don't worry, judging from the scale of this underground palace, the ruins must be larger than we expected, and it is not so easy to be fully excavated. Although those who go in first may get the treasure first-hand, does that mean they really get it? Only those who can walk out of the ruins alive will make a profit..."
"But……"
Although everyone understood the reason, the young members were still a little anxious when they saw the treasure being taken away first.
Seeing this, Bart said again: "Didn't you see that no one in the large-scale hunting groups was in a hurry? Especially those official hunting groups of the Duke's Mansion, didn't you notice that they came in before us, but now they are behind us?"
"Those guys are waiting for us to go to the mines..."
After a pause, Bart said seriously, "I brought you here to hunt and make a fortune, and I also want to take you out alive. From now on, everyone should be extremely careful, pay attention to the traps, and pay attention to unusual movements... We must not only beware of monsters and bugs, but also our fellow travelers!"
"Yes, Captain."
Everyone responded in unison.
Bart is the only second-level extraordinary person in the group and is very authoritative in the "Mountain Antelope Group".
After his explanation, no one said anything more.
The team members can scold, but as the "foreign aid" the doctor has to take other people's opinions into consideration.
Turning around, Bart also noticed Ryan who was studying the corridor carvings, and heaved a sigh of relief when he saw how unhurried he was.
He smiled and asked, "Brother Nicholas, you seem very interested in these carvings?"
Ryan retracted his gaze and responded with a smile: "Yes. Although I am a doctor, I have also done some research on the Monk civilization. I am looking at what is carved on it..."
Bart was a little surprised. "Oh? You also study ancient civilizations? That's great. Can you tell what's carved on it?"
Ryan shook his head: "I don't quite understand it... But after analyzing it, the pattern above seems to express that there is a monster guarding this tomb. I think we'd better be careful."
He shrugged his shoulders, but he understood the content. The same content was written in many places on the wall: [The messenger of the god of death, Osiris, guards this tomb. They will make intruders pay with blood. ]
Hearing this, everyone in the "Mountain Leader Group" looked nonchalant and showed an expression of "as expected".
Bart responded politely: "Well, you do have to be careful."
Understand?
Naturally, it is impossible for anyone to understand it.
After all, the Monk civilization was a discontinuous civilization, and no one in the two empires could decipher this kind of text.
This site is probably the most complete one ever excavated and also the one with the most written records.
Maybe someone will interpret some similar content in the future, but not now.
Besides, the scavengers are not archaeologists. What they care about is the real treasures they can hold in their hands, not the contents of these murals and texts.
…
Although Ryan and his companions knew that the underground ruins were huge and had a complex structure like a "maze" long before entering the temple.
But after walking for such a long time, they were still in the dark and narrow corridor, which was something no one expected.
And the further you go, the more branches of the channel appear.
Gradually, there were no more traces of other hunters in front and behind them. Thousands of people had clearly entered through the same door, but gradually no one was seen. This was very confusing.
Before entering the underground palace, Ryan had never worried about getting "lost".
No matter how complicated the maze was, the intelligent computer would automatically record all the distance he had walked. If he encountered danger, he felt that he could still return the same way.
But gradually, he felt something was wrong.
This corridor is a bit strange, the system has recorded a walking track of more than 10 kilometers, which is far beyond the coverage of the ruins on the ground.
But they couldn't see the end yet, as if the corridor was endless.
Not long after, the group arrived at a stone chamber.
Ryan finally knew where the uneasy feeling in his heart came from.
This kind of stone chamber of less than ten square meters was normal. There was one every hundred meters or so in the corridor. Moreover, the sculptures and texts were all similar and looked no different.
But in this room, Ryan found something wrong.
No, to be exact, it was the "intelligent brain" that discovered something was wrong.
Because they had been to this stone chamber before!
Although to the naked eye this stone chamber looked no different from the previous ones, the "intelligent brain" discovered through comparison that this stone chamber was exactly the same as one they had walked through before!
There is no two leaves in the world that are exactly the same, and there can be no two stone chambers that are exactly the same.
This can only mean that this stone chamber is the one they passed through before.
But the problem arose immediately.
The group clearly did not go back, so why did they end up in a stone chamber they had been to before?