Chapter 728: Treasure Hunt I
CH728 Treasure Hunt I
***
The Crypt Spider Queen sensed the incoming attack through the countless sensory hairs covering its body and limbs.
With startling speed for something of its size, the massive creature leapt backward to evade Saul’s strike.
Boom!
Saul’s hammer strike slammed into the cavern floor with devastating force.
The ground quaked violently as shattered stone and debris erupted outward like shrapnel, tearing through nearby Crypt Spiders.
Those not instantly killed were blasted away by the shockwave, creating a temporary clearing around Saul and the Spider Queen.
Screeech—!
Enraged by the coordinated attacks from Alex and Saul, the Spider Queen slammed its forelimbs into the ground.
Massive stone spikes burst upward from beneath the cavern floor, shooting toward Saul from multiple angles.
Charge!
Saul stomped his foot and launched himself forward like a cannon shell, narrowly evading the erupting spikes.
Bang!
He shoulder-checked the Spider Queen head-on, attempting to drive the gigantic creature backward.
Yet despite the force behind the collision, the Spider Queen barely budged.
Hissss—!
The creature retaliated immediately with a piercing sonic screech aimed at disorienting him.
However, Saul merely grinned.
The sound attack dispersed harmlessly against the tightly controlled Saint Domain wrapped around his body like invisible armour.
’Two can play that game.’ Saul thought coldly.
This time, he fully expanded his Domain while ensuring the Spider Queen remained directly at its centre.
The gigantic arachnid suddenly froze.
Fear.
Weakness.
Melancholy.
Lethargy.
Despair.
A flood of negative emotions crashed into the Spider Queen faster than its nervous system could properly process them, leaving the creature momentarily stunned and disoriented.
"By my Will, I curse thee with weakness." Saul chanted solemnly.
Using his Domain as a conduit, Saul wrapped his Combat Energy and Willpower around the Spider Queen, imposing a crippling debilitation upon it.
The creature’s body visibly weakened.
Seizing the opportunity, Saul poured a tremendous amount of Combat Energy into his twin warhammers before smashing them downward onto the Spider Queen’s head.
Craaack—!
A sickening fracture echoed throughout the cavern.
The hardened exoskeleton around the Spider Queen’s head cracked apart as thick purplish fluid oozed from the wound.
The moment the injury appeared, the Spider Queen flew into a frenzy.
So too did the surrounding Crypt Spiders.
The Queen repeatedly hammered its legs against the ground as though attempting to trigger something beneath the cavern floor.
Yet nothing happened.
Instead, the surrounding Crypt Spiders surged toward Saul in a maddened swarm.
"Saul! Sun!" Alex suddenly roared.
Despite the abrupt warning, the BattleBane Guild Master somehow instantly understood Alex’s intention.
"By my Authority, I bless thee with Brilliant Sight!" Saul declared.
Saul’s chant instantly altered the senses of the surrounding spiders, forcibly enhancing the eyesight of the subterranean creatures.
However, the old BattleBane guild master was hardly acting out of goodwill.
[Stellar Radiance]!
A blinding sphere of light suddenly manifested above the cavern.
The brilliance was so intense it struck the spiders’ optical nerves like lightning itself.
And because Saul had just amplified their vision, the Crypt Spiders suffered even greater damage.
Several weaker spiders convulsed violently as their nerve centres were directly fried by the overwhelming radiance.
"Jump!" Alex shouted once more.
Without wasting a beat, Saul immediately launched himself into the air.
The blinding light abruptly contracted inward, compressing into itself until its true form became visible—
A gigantic sphere of Solar mana hovering above the cavern floor.
[Scorching Wave]!
The massive orb crashed downward.
Boom!
A blazing wave of heat and light erupted outward like a surging tidal blast, reminiscent of the earlier Five-Clawed Divine Dragon explosion.
However, unlike the previous mystic flames, this attack carried terrifying destructive power.
Everything caught within the wave was scorched.
The Solar flames clung to the spiders like burning napalm, refusing to extinguish until the creatures themselves were reduced to charred remains.
Screeeeeeech—!!!
The Crypt Spider Queen released a hellish shriek so powerful that the cavern itself trembled violently.
Dust and fragments of stone rained down from above as the underground chamber threatened to collapse.
Yet before the Spider Queen could fully unleash its fury—
Saul moved.
"By my convictions, I bear the weight of melancholy." Saul declared solemnly.
Boom!
His twin warhammers crashed downward once more.
This time, the attack completely crushed the Spider Queen’s cephalothorax.
The gigantic arachnid spasmed briefly before collapsing lifelessly onto the cavern floor.
At the same time, Saul glanced around the battlefield and saw countless spiders writhing amidst blazing golden flames that looked almost illusionary in nature, yet radiated frightening heat and light.
Click!
A faint snapping sound echoed through the cavern.
Instantly, the flames vanished.
However, by then, nearly all the Crypt Spiders were either dead or left twitching on the brink of death.
Saul turned toward the youth responsible for the devastation.
Only to find Alex seated heavily on the ground, breathing roughly.
The BattleBane Guild Master quickly walked over.
"Are you alright?" He asked.
"I’m fine." Alex nodded between breaths. "I just burned through too much mana too quickly."
He shook his head wryly.
Due to the urgency of the battle, Alex had been forced to deploy several untested spells created through OmniRune’s simulation programs and spell-formation manipulations.
Unlike the conventional Fire and Lightning spells he normally would have used in such a battle, these Solar and NetherSpark spells were far better suited for a confined environment like the cavern.
They delivered devastating destructive power while minimising collateral damage to the surroundings.
The drawback, however, was equally obvious.
These spells consumed far more mana than ordinary spells—vastly more.
Thus, even with Alex’s unusually large mana reserves, he still felt the strain from unleashing them in rapid succession.
A few minutes later, Alex finally steadied his breathing and looked toward Saul.
Compared to his own spells, Alex found himself even more intrigued by Saul’s chants.
"I thought you were a Paladin." Alex asked curiously. "How are you still able to cast divine prayers?"
Saul laughed softly.
"Did you forget, Young Master Alex? I once possessed access to two Divinities." He replied. "When I inherited the Twilight Adjudicator Divinity, I gained the physical strength and combat abilities of a Paladin. But before that, I was originally a Priest of the Divine Kirin."
He shrugged lightly.
"Although both Divinities have now been cleansed from me, I discovered that I can still invoke the prayers—as long as I focus them upon myself within my Saint Domain." He explained.
Alex immediately found the phenomenon fascinating.
’If Deity Cultivation is merely another path of cultivation, then there must be far more overlap between the systems than I initially assumed.’ He mused inwardly.
’Since the prayers only function within his Saint Domain—and only when he himself becomes the target of the prayer—does that mean a Domain essentially functions as a pseudo-divine territory?’
His eyes glittered with interest.
’Fascinating...’
Unfortunately, now was hardly the time for deep research.
Alex looked deeper into the cavern and noticed a peculiar energy signature emanating from one of the countless tunnels lining the walls.
Specifically, the tunnel positioned northeast from the cavern’s centre.
He pointed toward it.
Saul immediately nodded in understanding.
Before moving out, however, the older man took a moment to retrieve the beast core from the Crypt Spider Queen’s corpse.
Seeing this caused Alex’s gaze to drift toward the countless carcasses scattered across the cavern floor.
There were undoubtedly many more beast cores hidden amongst them. Unfortunately, they lacked the time to collect everything themselves.
Still, leaving such resources behind felt painfully wasteful.
Alex got on comms.
"Follow my signal. Try to locate the underground route and rendezvous with Saul and me." He instructed through the comms device.
Then he added,
"Also, sweep the carcasses for beast cores on your way down."
With that, Alex and Saul continued deeper into the underground passage.
Fortunately, it seemed the Spider Queen’s earlier frenzy had summoned most—if not all—of the Crypt Spiders toward the cavern.
The pair encountered no further resistance along the tunnels.
What they did encounter instead were bones.
And catacombs.
The tunnel eventually opened into what appeared to be an ancient burial hall.
Shelves lined both sides of the chamber, and upon them rested preserved mummified corpses laid carefully side by side.
The dead were dressed in the garments of their era.
Even with Alex’s admittedly limited knowledge of historical fashion from this plane, he could immediately tell these individuals had not been ordinary people in life.
How?
Simple.
Their clothing.
Across most civilisations, the number of layered garments a person wore was often an indicator of wealth and status.
And the corpses before him were practically wrapped in as many layers as physically possible.
Any more cloth and they would have resembled bundled balls of fabric.
More striking still, several corpses were even buried in full suits of armour.
Even amongst noble families of this plane, armour was commonly treated as a treasured heirloom passed down through generations.
Only truly affluent and prestigious Houses could afford to bury their dead alongside the armour they had worn in life.
Taken together, it was obvious this was no ordinary catacomb.
’A creepy underground graveyard? Check.’ Alex thought dryly to himself. ’Yeah... this is becoming a proper treasure hunt.’
***
