Chapter 1954: Chapter 1954: Tomb
Li Yao chuckled wryly, “Under normal circumstances, I would be happy to see so many monsters lying around, but now I just feel horrified.”
The enchantress nodded, understanding Li Yao’s meaning. Under normal circumstances, with ample time, there would be many ways to kill the vast number of sleeping or dormant undead here.
But now the problem is time is insufficient, and they can’t make too much noise, plus they know too little; the conditions for these undead to awaken are still unknown.
Assassination could work, but there are too many of them. Forget about assassinating them one by one, the idea of looting doesn’t even appeal anymore.
The only thing worth looting quickly is the Ammon statue.
Li Yao picked up the statue and said, “This statue is nice, placing it in a personal residence may not be as comforting as a pillow, but it’s very decent, and praying to it once a day grants a nice random buff; dismantling it would be a pity.”
“Is it pure gold?” The enchantress moved closer to inspect the thirty-centimeter golden Ammon statue.
“Most likely it’s mostly gold, with other metals mixed in. It’s not too heavy and probably crafted with special techniques, weighing about a hundred Gold Coins. But in terms of value and artistic merit, it starts at at least three hundred Gold Coins.” Li Yao handed the statue to the enchantress.
The enchantress lit a stick of incense, knelt on one knee, and after a moment stood up and said, “I received a buff lasting a day, increasing attack by 5% and stamina by 10%, it’s quite practical.”
“Since it can be stacked up to two hundred at a time, why don’t we split up and carefully take the statues from each prayer room, then give them to the guild so members can benefit?” Li Yao suggested.
“Okay, let’s split up, but be cautious, just in case more awaken.” The enchantress agreed with Li Yao’s idea, as the items are valuable. They can let Sister Li weigh how members can exchange them.
The enchantress then sent the loot to Sister Li, allowing her to weigh it first, so that once they return, members can exchange.
“Remember to be ready to use the Substitute Doll anytime, these undead don’t have the ability to strip its use.” Li Yao reminded.
“Alright, then let’s split up.” The enchantress paused her action of collecting the statues and added, “Do you want to pray too?”
“To Ammon? No, I think I’ll pass.” Li Yao said as he headed to another prayer room.
His intent wasn’t pure, as what he truly wanted were the Rule Fragments and high-level primal energy; Ammon was the target he aimed to hunt, praying was just a joke.
The two split up, cautiously collecting the statues, managing to do so without any danger.
If the statues weren’t outstanding, neither of them would have risked it; it took them almost an hour before they regrouped at the entrance to the next level.
“How many?” Li Yao asked.
“Over five hundred, how about you.” The enchantress replied.
“About the same.” Li Yao stated with a serious expression.
“This layer is extraordinarily large, so there might be a thousand prayer rooms; is this covering the entire city’s underground?” The enchantress found it hard to imagine.
“Still lacking information, how many bodies must be lying here, and what is the church actually doing?” Li Yao wondered, feeling a bit shocked.
“Any other discoveries?” the enchantress inquired.
“There are some, certain coffins have been opened at different times, and those undead that revive seem to be exceptions; other than a few, most are difficult to awaken. This layer has countless bodies, but only a few hundred revived. Initially thought to be guardians, now it seems only the first ten or so killed were guardians. The others were just revived corpses.” Li Yao analyzed.
“Increasingly confusing, let’s move to the next layer.” she suggested.
Knowing the revival of bodies was just an exception, they were less worried as they moved on to the second layer, where the strategy was consistent.
As they carefully cleared the revived undead on the second layer, they found it was the same as the first layer.
“Should we continue collecting statues?” the enchantress asked on the second underground layer.
“Forget it, who knows how many layers there are. Collecting them takes another hour, let’s first check what’s below, and if there’s time, we’ll continue.” Li Yao responded reluctantly.
Although the enchantress felt it was a pity, Li Yao’s point aligned with her own thoughts; the truly important items were surely further below.
However, the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth layers were all the same as the first layer.
Initially, upon seeing the first layer’s situation, they were horrified; after collecting the statues, they became calm.
But as they delved deeper, their horror returned, with the number of prayer rooms increasing layer by layer.
It wasn’t until the passage to the seventh layer changed in appearance that they realized the next layer might differ from the ones above.
“What do you think this massive underground tomb resembles?” Li Yao asked before opening the seventh-layer portal.
“A pyramid, do you have the same feeling?” the enchantress asked.
“Yes, we’re getting closer to the truth; if I’m correct, starting from the seventh layer, higher-ranking officials should be present.”
They exercised greater caution this time, but with the Sealing Door Kill, although slightly troublesome, they ensured safety.
Sure enough, although the undead on the seventh layer were strong, there were less than a hundred of them.
“Exactly what I thought.”
They opened the first prayer room door; while smaller than those above, it contained only an upscale coffin.
Yes, a coffin rather than the lack of coffins like above.
These individuals surely held higher status during their lifetimes.
“The statue has become a Blue Quality item, with better craftsmanship and improved effects,” the enchantress proposed, “let’s collect some.”
“Yes, let’s each collect one set and then go down.” Li Yao agreed.
“Alright.”
This time was faster, taking just a quarter of an hour before regrouping.
As they continued deeper, the layout from the seventh to the ninth layer was identical, featuring only singlestory rooms.
On the tenth layer, they encountered no movement, no Undead Guardians, and no revived undead.
The tenth layer had an eerier structure, vastly spacious, no longer resembling an underground palace.
Instead, it was like an underground world; the overhead ceiling was at least one hundred yards from the ground, and if unnoticed, one might think they were outdoors, looking at a night sky filled with stars.
A full moon silently hovered at the top, illuminating the area.
More bewildering were the grandiose tombs standing tall, styled in varied forms, with tombstones and statues of different shapes guarding them.
They approached the nearest tomb, lavish and giant compared to others, and saw odd lettering, which the enchantress couldn’t recognize.
“What does it say?” she asked.
“Tomb of the twelfth generation church pope, Fanmuna Saint Fireholder.” Li Yao replied, looking at the tombstone.
“Tomb of the twelfth-generation procurator, Gemon Battle Fireholder.” Li Yao added.
…