It was something that defied common sense.
“Is the master of this tomb something even stronger than an Elder Lich?!”
That was the only explanation he could think of. But did such undead exist? Greenham had no answer.
“Damn it! This god damn tomb!”
The warrior at the rear shouted while breathing hard.
As if waiting for that moment, the floor began to glow in shapes. It was big enough to surround all of Greenham’s group.
“Argh!”
Someone’s voice rang out with what sounded like a scream—
—and then there was a floating sensation, different from when they had fallen earlier.
♦ ♦ ♦
Greenham’s vision was nothing but pitch darkness. There was something crunching underneath his boots and he felt a slowly sinking sensation, as though he was being sucked into a swamp. He had panicked for a bit, but it didn’t seem too deep as he stopped sinking after he was submerged to about his waist level.
Greenham spoke out in the realm dominated by pitch darkness and silence, like a lost child looking for his parents.
“…Is there someone here?”
“Over here, Greenham.”
The voice of one of the comrades, the rogue, rang out. He didn’t sound too far away. Probably about the same distance they were keeping when they were running.
“…Is there anybody else?”
There was no reply. It was the expected answer. Considering there was no light, the magic caster or the warrior wasn’t likely to be here. He should consider it lucky that at least the rogue was with him.
“…It seems there’s only us.”
“That means… Che, I guess you’re right.”
He looked around with taking a step forward. The deep darkness was everywhere and invoked the fear that he wouldn't be able to tell where he himself ended and where the darkness started. There was no sign of movement anywhere.
“Should we turn on the light?”
“Sure thing.”
He wondered if their movement would break this silence, or activate a trap, and other negative thoughts creeped in. However, human eyes could not see in the dark and they needed some kind of light source.
“Hold on a moment.”
With the rogue’s voice, some kind of moving noise came from the darkness and there was a light.
The sight of the rogue holding a glowing stick was the first thing in view. And countless shining objects which reflected the light. It reminded him of the treasures in the mausoleum.
But that wasn’t the case.
Greenham barely suppressed his screams and the rogue looked as if he was about to have a seizure.
The light brought up countless reflections. Insects filled the entire room and the identity of the reflections were cockroaches. The room was filled with cockroaches of various size ranging from ones the size of pinky finger to ones which were over a meter long. Furthermore, they were stacked on top of each other in countless layers.
The crushing sensation and noise by his feet had been the cockroaches. Considering they came up to his waist, he didn’t want to imagine how many there were.
The room was so wide, the light did not reach to the walls. Considering the effective area of the glowing stick was fifteen meters wide, he could roughly comprehend how wide the interior was. When he looked up towards the ceiling, he could see a humongous swarm of cockroaches reflecting the light back at him.
“What… is this place?
The rogue murmured in groaning tone. Greenham could understand what he felt like. He felt if he spoke, they would all start moving at once.
“Just what is going on?”
While looking around in fear, Greenham remembered the last moment before they were teleported into the pitch darkness. He thought about the glowing magic circle and asked the rogue.
“…Was it a floor trap?”
“It’s probably not the case. Wasn’t it something else? A different spell…?”
“A teleportation type magic trap… Maybe the Elder Liches cast it?”
Teleportation magic existed. For example, the 3rd tier magic used for running away, ‘Dimensional Move’, was one of them, but the caster could only use that spell on himself. Magic like this, which could be used on other people, and multiple people, on top of that…
“There is 5th or 6th tier magic that could teleport a group of people at once, right?”
“Yea… I think so.”
“To think they could use that kind of magic…”
A being that could use 5th tier magic at the very least. It was unheard of. But Greenham could make sense of it. If there was someone as strong as that, then it made sense he would be able to rule over multiple Elder Liches at once and given that they were intelligent, they would be easier to command and control as well.
Greenham realized the true extent of danger lurking within this tomb and a chilling sensation filled his body. At the same time, hatred for the Earl who had made this request started boiling deep inside him. Of course, the people who had taken on this work were Greenham and the other workers, and they had put their lives as a betting chip despite all the risks. They couldn’t say anything about it.
But the Earl must have had some information about the tomb. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have offered such significant sum of money to gather the workers.
“Did he purposefully hold back on us? Damn it… Let’s get out of here fast. This place… it wasn’t something we should have messed with.”
“Alright, Greenham. You lead, I’ll follow you.”
The rogue didn’t seem to have noticed, or perhaps it was better if he didn’t.
The cockroaches weren’t moving at all.
Greenham looked around at the cockroaches that surrounded him. Considering their antennas were moving ever so slightly, they weren’t dead, but they did not move either. It reeked of unknown danger.
“No, you cannot escape.”
The voice of a third person sounded.
“Who’s there?”
Greenham and the rogue looked around everywhere, but there was no sign of movement anywhere.
“Ah, I apologize. This one is Kyouhukou, the one entrusted with this territory from Ainz-sama. Pleased to meet your acquaintance.”