Wizard: Starting from the Skill Tree

Chapter 851: Chapter 768: The Coffin

Just as Duke was checking the rankings, footsteps came from behind him.

Not just one person’s, but many people’s.

Duke turned around and saw a few silhouettes at the end of the corridor walking towards them.

Leading them was a young wizard dressed in a blood-red rose magic robe, followed by two companions in similarly dark red robes.

Their robes were dusty and bloodstained, clearly having undergone numerous battles to get here.

Those three saw Duke and Vera, paused momentarily, glanced at them, then shifted their gaze to the rooms that had already been searched.

"Too late," the leader said softly, with a tinge of reluctance in his voice.

A companion behind him muttered, "How can they be so fast? We fought our way up non-stop..."

The leader didn’t respond, merely glanced at Duke, then moved deeper into the place with his companions.

The footsteps gradually faded away, disappearing into the depths of the palace.

Duke withdrew his gaze and continued forward.

After a while, more footsteps came from behind.

This time it was people from Star Tower, three, two women and one man, all dressed in deep blue magic robes.

They saw Duke and Vera, nodded slightly in greeting, and then quickly went deeper inside, clearly not wanting to waste time.

Next were people from the Seville Empire, two of them, dressed in dark red uniforms, marching in unison without expression.

As they passed by Duke, they didn’t even glance over.

Then, one after another, people started coming up in twos and threes, some alone, some in pairs.

Upon seeing Duke and Vera, some displayed cautious expressions, some quickened their pace, some deliberately took a detour.

More and more people were arriving.

Duke stopped, turned to glance back at the path he had come from.

At the end of the corridor, figures continuously appeared, some familiar, some unfamiliar, some exuding strong auras, some looking utterly exhausted.

They were all coming up from the first layer. As long as someone opened the passage to the second layer, others could follow along the opened path.

"Let’s go," Vera said, "Let’s clear what’s ahead before they catch up."

Duke nodded and quickened his pace.

...

The plundering of the second layer lasted an entire day and night, with rooms deep within the palace being opened one by one, and treasures inside being carted off batch after batch.

Some found boxes of magic crystal stones, some uncovered well-preserved high-tier scrolls, some dug out a few intact witchcraft artifacts from decaying wooden racks, and others discovered a stack of manuscripts in a secret compartment of the alchemy table, the writing on which was blurred but vaguely discernible as some lost formula.

Conflicts were inevitable.

A wizard and two Star Tower apprentices simultaneously found a room containing high-tier magic wands, and neither side was willing to back down, resulting in a scuffle.

The wizard, lacking strength, was beaten out of the arena, the golden teleportation glow briefly flashed through the palace.

Even the two Star Tower apprentices didn’t fare well; one had an arm injured by a backfired spell, and the other, coughing blood from a dying Loose Cultivator’s last strike, had to abandon the room and support each other in search of healing.

Another time, Seville Empire people and the blood-red rose group met in a narrow corridor.

On either side of the corridor, there were rooms not yet opened, and both sides insisted they were the first to discover them.

Within the span of half a tea’s time, some unknown party made the first move, and the corridor erupted.

Arcs of electricity and flames intertwined, metal fragments flying everywhere, and when the dust settled, both the Seville Empire people and the blood-red rose group had retreated, leaving the doors to both rooms wide open, their contents already divided clean.

Duke and Vera did not partake in these conflicts.

They continued along the main corridor of the palace, clearing rooms one by one as they went, bypassing rooms where people were fighting, and entering unoccupied rooms to search and loot.

Other West Coast people gradually converged throughout the day.

Leon was the first, with several new scratches on his armor, but in good spirits, holding a war axe found in some room, its blade still stained with dark red blood.

He grinned when he saw Duke and Vera, slinging the axe over his shoulder, "Finally found you two, it’s swarming with people all the way up here, been in several fights."

Ely arrived too, followed by the young wizard from Tower of Ashes; both were dusty-headed but steady in their aura, uninjured.

Ely brightened upon seeing Duke, greeted softly.

There were also two other West Coast apprentices, gathering together, finally feeling a bit of safety among familiar faces in the foreign palace.

Adrian also arrived, accompanied by several Star Tower people.

He nodded slightly at Duke in greeting.

His magic robe had a few tears, but his aura remained calm, as if nothing had happened.

Duke nodded back, not saying much.

By noon the next day, the second layer had been thoroughly turned over. Every room had been opened, every treasure looted clean, and even a few runes on the walls had been pried off.

The palace quieted down, with no more sounds of argument or fighting. Everyone started searching for the entrance to the third layer.

The entrance wasn’t hard to find.

It was located right at the center of the second layer, a giant sarcophagus.