Walker and many of the soldiers had split from one another. Groups of three or four to explore the ruins. They all knew that there would not be any monsters around. The undead had ensured that was a thing. Therefore, the safety was fairly high when it came to battle.
This was not the same when it came to collapse. There were some heavy battles that went on. Ventus and Ignus had been burning very high intensity flames all around. Just because they focused these flames and wind attacks on the undead, did not mean that the ruined city would not be affected.
The ruins had been tempered with flames and wind through Ignus and Ventu attacking. Therefore, they would clearly change. Some of the stones showed black marks where undead had burned next to on them. While other places showed the heat and cooling stress cracks that any stone super heated too fast or cooled too fast would have.
This showed a lot of warning to others. The soldiers had listened to Walker and the others about this danger carefully. They understood that they had to tread carefully to avoid collapsing this entire place. If they accidentally broke a key piece of the stone work, then it was not impossible for the stone city to begin to break away and collapse. Especially the massive dome above.
This also brought a lot more to thought. The massive dome had been constructed with interlocking stones. It created an entire bubble of two layers with a protected space inside for guarding the city. An impressive and amazing accomplishment that superseded the building of today.
Genesis had some amazing buildings, but because of how the builders had grown on their continent, wood had been more of a focus than stone. That was also the fact for the dwarves who had somewhat focused on the metal and underground instead of interlocking pieces. They also focused on gears and steam to power things. A change compared to this more ancient ruin.
The architectural knowledge alone could massively advance some of the current building practices. This was something clearly overlooked by the undead. They had focused on their goals because of twisted and evil intentions and practices. Therefore, they had missed something that they excelled in over all else. The pure skill to build.
The fact that the entire city had survived in decent condition regardless of the undead awakening was still spectacular. Ruins that the party had explored before had been in much worse shape. The large ancient ruined city that the Immortal king was trapped in with his undead were perfect examples.
That city had rotted, crumbled, and become a mess in general. The underground portions had even flooded in places leaving worse undead monsters or just terrible conditions. It was all due to the stagnation left with being unable to move and leave or have new materials brought in.
This city had been controlled carefully and because of that, the city had even begun to get cleaned up to a small degree. Not to mention that runes had been protected by the building. Therefore, when the undead had awoken, they had been able to fix something better than others. While some small homes that weren't even fit for storage had fallen or broken, the largest of storage buildings were intact.
This was where Walker, Onyx, and Midnight found themselves. They had managed to find a very large storage building. The stone coffins inside had also crumbled when the runes were entirely destroyed. That left a rather dusty floor making things a bit rough to travel through. Yet, that also presented some decent clearing.
The fact that the space was more open helped Walker look for things left behind before the city had become full of evil and twisted intentions. It was already easy to see just roaming through the barren streets that the city had lost a lot.
The normal items that would have been here and there around homes and market areas were nowhere to be seen. Rugs and fabrics would have long rotted away but that wasn't what Walker was sad not to see. Pottery and anything that would have stood over the test of time were missing. That was proof that when the undead had taken over, they had gotten rid of anything that could not be of use.
The fact that this was the case also meant that the twisted madness of the mummified pharaoh had been deeper than just taking over to attempt his growth to becoming a god. It had completely tried to stamp out the past where there was a goddess of harvest or growth. It was a rough reality to accept but that was why Walker and the others were looking for things. They could bring back the past and prove that this wasn't always a palace of evil.
So far, the small pillar tops they had seen buried in sand would be proof of this. Those were small stopping points and alters. Walker had gotten some all around appraisals from them to prove this about. Therefore, he could further prove that as the surroundings were buried in cursed sands, that there were things held safe to prove a good past. To prove that there was kindness and goodness here at some point.
"Brother, there are some small coins here. Rusted, but they are here." Onyx managed to push aside some of the dust piles to discover that small rusted coins had been left with some of the undead coffins. It seemed that they had a decent currency system at one point.
"I bet there will be a lot of those. They look like rusted iron so nothing too complicated. Especially since gold seemed to have been used for the throne and some runes. This iron probably wasn't important so it was left on whoever was holding it. Especially for the mummified undead that were not as strong." These coffins had to hold more mummified worshippers than anything. That seemed to be the majority other than starving mummies that also were high in number.
"I hate this though, they completely tried-"
Walker was a little annoyed and tried to kick the dust away. Instead, though, he managed to kick solid stone and fall flat on his face. It was a very embarrassing event that made Midnight struggle to hold back some of her laughter. She had taken her dragonkin form back after the last battle since she knew she could safely keep training herself in it while she explored.
She has begun to really like the dragonkin form. It made her feel closer to the party since she looked a little more like them. Not that she didn't enjoy her dragon form. She knew that was very impressive and powerful as well.
But that wasn't what the focus was, midnight had also discovered some coins and a few rusted metal pieces that had been carried on the undead before they had been placed in these coffins.
When Walker had fallen he had managed to uncover a piece of stone that would have been missed in the group of storm coffins. His recovery brought him, Midnight, and Onyx to look down at the dust covered opening.
Below from what they could see would be what anyone would consider a basement storage. An ideal place to put away the more valuable goods in a storeroom. Even the ancient races and civilizations would have things like this. Regardless of how developed their markets were when they were alive and thriving.
"This should be a good place to start looking." Walker forgot the embarrassing frustration and fall just a minute ago. He traded that for the excitement of making a little progress.
Just as he wanted to share what they had discovered about the ancient angels with the current world's angels, he wanted to discover more about these ruins and people.
"Brother, would there be monsters under here if the undead did not go inside?" Onyx raised a good question.
"I doubt it. They wouldn't be able to survive without leaving. The cursed sands would have harmed them even more here. They also would have to avoid the senses of the undead. That would be very hard." Walker didn't like this fact but it was all too true. Even pests like rats wouldn't be able to escape.
"Then I believe we should explore. There must have been a stone coffin here covering it." The undead were not stupid but these undead followed orders. They definitely didn't seem to have ignored this slight opening and just placed stone coffins regardless.
"It's settled then. I will use the light orb to see and we will explore. Or should we train our night vision more?" The suggestion was more of a game than anything. Walker figured it could be more fun to train a little while searching this storage space.
….
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