CHAPTER 637

【 THE MAUSOLEUM GUARDIANS 】

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“What the—! So much obsidian?!”

All the veteran players stared wide-eyed at the massive pile of black stones in the center of the hall while panting heavily.

“We’ve struck it rich… we’ve hit the jackpot!”

The archer, whose equipment was comparatively plain, exclaimed in excitement.

FacetheWind looked dumbfounded at the mound of obsidian that loomed like a small hill and murmured under his breath, “Good grief…just how many tens of thousands of contribution points could this be worth…”

“Hundreds of thousands! Definitely hundreds of thousands!” the druid said excitedly. “Obsidian is highly conductive to mana. Once refined, it becomes an excellent material for crafting magic staves, and even in its raw state, it’s a premium construction resource. Moreover, several player-owned cities are in urgent need of it. On the current market, one ton of obsidian converts to at least fifty thousand contribution points!”

“No, not just that!”

The mage, Donut, picked up a small piece of obsidian and examined it closely. She then shook her head, her expression showing a mix of astonishment and disbelief.

“I just appraised it. The purity of this obsidian is remarkably high—better even than the ones found in Sandstorm City. This grade of premium obsidian could easily fetch double the usual price… or even several times that!”

“Se-several times?!”

All of them gasped collectively.

Hapsburg, the usually composed hunter, looked around the hall, his voice trembling.

“There must be at least dozens of tons here, right?”

“Dozens? No way! This is stone—we’re talking density! It’s probably closer to a hundred tons!” the archer said excitedly.

Listening to their exchange, the two newcomers were utterly stunned.

Nana was still somewhat oblivious as she didn’t yet have a clear concept of contribution point values, though the mention of “hundreds of thousands” left her in awe.

Yeye, however—who had watched countless game videos and had a decent understanding of the in-game economy—was completely dumbstruck.

“H-Holy crap… this amount is like the price of a luxury villa in the center of Chosen City…” he muttered under his breath.

FacetheWind swallowed hard, forcing his gaze away from the obsidian pile. He turned toward the two newbies and asked, “Coconut, Nana… what’s going on here?”

The excitement hadn’t yet faded from their faces. They were still a bit dazed, staring at the long string of zeroes added to their EXP bars.

Hearing the older man’s question, they exchanged a glance and replied,

“These obsidian stones… were left behind when the obsidian statues shattered. Senior Féng said they were a gift for us newcomers.”

“This… is all her gift to you two?”

The veteran players were momentarily taken aback.

Seeing their surprised expressions, Yeye and Nana exchanged another glance before quickly adding,

“Um… maybe it’s not exactly our gift alone. After all, we wouldn’t have made it this far without Senior Wind inviting us to be scouts in the first place. Besides, this ruin was something your party discovered together, so… we’d say this pile of obsidian counts as our party’s shared loot.”

The two had no intention of keeping it all for themselves, anyway.

In fact, they couldn’t have even if they tried.

There was simply too much obsidian here, which was far more than what the two of them could carry on their own. They would definitely need the help from FacetheWind and others to safely transport it out of the ruins, perhaps even requiring assistance from his guild.

A person ought to know their limits.

That was probably why Miss Féng had reminded them before leaving.

So Yeye thought to himself.

After hearing the two speak, the veteran players’ expressions grew joyful, yet a little conflicted.

“You two have good character! Haha! Then we won’t hold back! To tell you the truth, the city our guild owned, Atlantis, has been short on obsidian lately. So this pile will definitely fetch us a great price!”

FacetheWind laughed heartily, giving the young man a solid pat on the shoulder.

Then, with a grin, he added,

“Hey, Coconut, once you both reach Iron-rank, I’ll put in a word to get you two into our guild! In Elven Kingdom, being part of a big guild really gives you an edge!”

The others nodded in agreement.

“That’s right. If you ever need help, just say the word! we’ve got you.”

“That’d be amazing!”

The two newbies replied happily.

“Oh, right… what about Miss Féng? Where did she go?”

FacetheWind glanced around, a hint of confusion in his tone.

Yeye looked toward the depths of the Mausoleum.

“She said goodbye to us and went on ahead.”

“You didn’t try to stop her?”

Yeye gave a wry smile.

“She said the areas ahead are dangerous enough to threaten even Silver-rankers. We couldn’t possibly continue following her any further…”

Hearing that, the older man looked a little disappointed.

FacetheWind sighed softly.

“I see… well, okay.”

But his expression quickly brightened again as he reassured himself, saying, “Actually, this isn’t bad. At least we’ve got the map Miss Féng gave you two. It’ll keep us busy for a while. Oh, and thanks for sharing it with us.”

The two newbies hadn’t hesitated to share the map that Féng had given them and shared the map in the party’s chat group.

“It’s just map data. Senior Wind, as long as you keep guiding us, that’s more than enough,” Yeye said with a smile.

“Haha, of course! Don’t worry about it! In return, I promise to help you two level up not just to Iron rank, but all the way to upper Iron if needed!” FacetheWind thumped his chest proudly.

After a round of pleasant conversation, everyone was in high spirits.

The party discussed their next move and decided not to venture deeper into the Mausoleum.

Féng’s reputation preceded her. Although she tended to keep a low profile, within the circles of high-level players, her influence was well recognized.

No one had ever heard a single bad word about her, and nearly all comments were overwhelmingly positive, especially regarding her guidance and mentorship toward new players.

For that reason, despite their curiosity about what other treasures might lie deeper inside the Titan’s Mausoleum, FacetheWind and his companions ultimately chose to heed her warning and stop there.

None of them had yet reached Silver rank, and the risk was simply not worth it.

Of course, the sheer volume of obsidian she gave them was another deciding factor. After roughly estimating the weight, they realized the total easily exceeded one hundred tons.

In terms of value, it was worth over ten million contribution points, which was comparable to the price of a complete upper-Silver-grade artifact. Even the famous Lionheart Sword owned by Moe Moe’s Guildmaster, Little Salty Cat, was estimated at roughly the same price.

In other words, this pile of Obsidian alone made the entire expedition worthwhile.

A share of several hundred thousand contribution points per person was more than enough for an ordinary max-level player to fully gear up from head to toe with decent equipment and still have enough left over for a down payment on a house in one of the seven player-owned cities.

However, moving over a hundred tons of obsidian was a challenge even for them.

Among their group, only the thrifty archer owned a spatial ring, and its storage capacity was nowhere near enough to hold such a large quantity.

After some discussion, FacetheWind decided to contact his guild and sell the entire batch through them.

“It’s settled. I’ve contacted the guild, and they’re sending people to collect it. I showed them the appraisal data, and they’ve agreed to buy it at a rate of one hundred twenty thousand contribution points per ton. It’s a bit lower than the market price for this quality of obsidian, but the guild is handling all the logistics in exchange. All we need to do now is take the payout.”

Hearing this, the others looked visibly relieved.

The Titan ruins was a chaotic place. Although it seemed quiet now, no one could ever predict when other parties belonging to rival guilds might appear.

With more people around, this pile of obsidian would quickly become an easy target. Thus, selling quickly was simply the safer option.

Given the situation, letting their guild take a small profit seemed like a fair trade.

༺⟐༻

After bidding farewell to the two interesting newcomers, Evé continued deeper into the Titan’s Mausoleum.

She had not changed her appearance and still wore her disguise as “Féng.”

The Mausoleum’s passageways wound endlessly like a maze, but Evé walked at an unhurried pace, as if strolling through a garden.

No traps were triggered by her presence, and the Titan statues which guarded the corridors did not seem to notice her intrusion.

Only when she ventured deeper into the ruins did she encounter the true guardians of the mausoleum. These formidable beings were Gold-rank stone gargoyles that immediately sensed the aura she carried.

However, upon feeling the obscure, overwhelming power emanating from her, these undead guardians trembled and curled up in the corners, not daring to move at all.

Yet their reluctance to take action did not mean Evé intended to ignore them.

With mild curiosity, she regarded the terrifying and grotesque creatures that were feared throughout Seigües, and let out a soft, amused laugh.

“High-rank gargoyles appearing this early… as I thought, this Mausoleum must be the core of the entire Titan ruin.”

These gargoyles, who were typically immortal and unaging, were often the guardians of choice for ancient civilizations, and the Titan race was no exception.

However, most ruins contained only Silver-rank gargoyles. Only the mausoleums located in the deepest and most central parts of these ruins housed guardians of Gold rank.

The fact she had already encountered such guardians before even reaching the core indicated that this Mausoleum’s master must have held an exceptionally high status.

It did not surprise Evé.

After all, according to the Book of Titans, this was the only undiscovered Titan ruin hidden within the Elven Forest.

And amongst all the areas the players had explored over the past two weeks, this particular Mausoleum was by far the largest—and most strategically located—one yet found.

By this point, even ignoring the surface ruins, Evé could sense that the other paths leading to this mausoleum within the underground ruins had probably already been found by the players, if her perception was correct.

Watching the trembling high-rank gargoyles before her, Evé lightly tapped the ground with her scepter.

“I’ll leave these gargoyles as one-time mini-bosses for the players.”

Her tone was calm and leisurely.

It was possible that a genuine divine artifact existed somewhere within the Mausoleum. Because of that, from the moment this ruin had been unearthed, Evé had prohibited players from bringing in any statues belonging to other deities.

As a result, the “Divine Judgment Bomb” meta was rendered useless here.

Without access to divine bombs, and since Evé had no intention of granting divine blessings as she did in battlefield summoning missions, the strongest opponents that players could reasonably handle through cooperation were those at the Silver High-rank level.

Therefore, it was necessary to weaken the Mausoleum guardians’ strength.

At her gesture, the auras surrounding the gargoyles suddenly plummeted. In the blink of an eye, their golden-rank energy signatures dropped to the level of Silver-rank.

Seeing their drastically diminished presence, Evé nodded in satisfaction.

“That will do. It’s not as though this ruins can become a permanent dungeon anyway.”

Unlike abyssal demons, the monsters here in the Titan ruins couldn’t respawn.

Thus, they could only be adapted into limited, “one-time” dungeon based on the players’ current power levels.

As for why Evé did not bother to deal with these monsters herself—well, the truth was that the rewards for slaying Gold-rank gargoyles no longer interested her in the slightest.

To be frank, it was better to leave them for the players.

Let the little leeks have their fun, sharpen their combat abilities, and grow stronger for future endeavors.

After sealing the gargoyles’ power, Evé paid them no further mind.

Under their fearful, trembling gazes, she quietly disappeared into the deeper parts of the Mausoleum.

Evé continued forward.

Nothing within the Mausoleum could escape her sight.

As she ventured deeper, the decor grew increasingly magnificent. Along the walls appeared timeworn murals, ancient yet vivid.

This, too, was a custom of the Titans. They enjoyed engraving the most glorious moments of their lives upon the innermost walls of their Mausoleums.

Evé walked leisurely, observing the murals that stretched on both sides of the corridor.

They depicted the growth of a Titan and their battles against dragons.

The Mausoleum’s owner must have lived during the later era of the Titan Age.

He was not one of the original Titans, those Ancient gods born from creation itself, but rather a descendant—a scion of diluted Titan blood from generations that followed.

By that time, the dragons could no longer tolerate the Titans. The Titans had chosen to weaken their divine blood in exchange for greater fertility, spreading their kind across the world and establishing vast, powerful civilizations. The war between the two races had already begun.

As Evé followed the murals, she felt as though she were reading the Titan’s life story.

In the paintings, the owner of the Mausoleum grew stronger and eventually became the ruler of this great Titan city.

Then war came. As the city’s guardian, he fought fiercely against the dragons.

In the end, after slaying three demigod-ranked dragons, the Mausoleum owner himself—also a demigod in strength—fell in battle, exhausted.

His Mausoleum was built afterward by those who honored him.

Having studied the murals to their end, Eve’s eyes gleamed slightly with understanding.

“I see… I think I now know what serves as this Mausoleum’s final guardian.”

Every Titan Mausoleum possessed a final guardian—its strongest protector.

After reaching that conclusion, Evé advanced once more.

At the end of the corridor stood a massive, closed stone gate, ancient yet exquisitely crafted.

Standing before it, even her, the Goddess of Life—albeit disguised as an ordinary player—appeared as small and insignificant as an ant.

She took a moment to admire the intricate carvings upon the gate, then stepped forward and transformed into a shadow, passing through it.

A high-level spell: Shadowform.

Her figure shimmered faintly and then slipped silently to the other side of the gate.

Therein lay a vast burial chamber.

At its center rose a tiered platform, and atop it rested an enormous stone sarcophagus that was large as a mountain.

Flanking it on three sides, three colossal skeletal dragons knelt protectively, their empty eye sockets glowing faintly as they guarded the coffin in eternal silence.

These were the Mausoleum’s final guardians.

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