Chapter 208

A few hours later.

Having thrown the twentieth backpack with crystals into the spatial artefact, he smiled tiredly, wiping the beads of sweat from his forehead and straightening up, he turned around, after which he whistled with slight surprise, no longer seeing the place where he had started his journey, and the walls themselves were pristine clean, as if there had not been a single mineral on them before.

"Not bad, I think this should be enough, and if we need more, we can come back later ..."

"Are you finished?" Nagini's voice sounded, who, to put it mildly, was tired of watching all this, and she couldn't even sleep normally, since Severus was constantly: walking, raising and lowering his hands, bending over, etc., and she did not want to go into the box with the other monsters, fearing that he would not let her out at all and would leave her inside until he returned back to the room.

"Yes, we can go further," Severus nodded, stretching a little, and then turning around, he touched one of the crystals, replenishing the magic reserves in the core and a few seconds later they were caught by a gust of wind.

"Hold on tight, now we will speed up a little."

"Good," the reptile breathed out with relief, following his instructions.

"I'm ready."

In response, Severus only nodded silently and the next moment he took off and flew forward at great speed, but at the same time he did not fly at his maximum speed in order to have time to study the objects lying on the ground, and also not to miss anything important, any passages or other unnatural magical formations.

"Now Shafiqi will be able to focus on the materials I need and will not have to look for those crystals that will help speed up the work on this project ..."

"Severus."

"Hm?" Thanks to the fact that they were surrounded by a thin barrier, air currents flowed around it and did not interfere with talking.

"I wanted to talk about the bones, didn't they seem strange to you?" she asked with apprehension in her voice, looking down at the blurry white objects, after all, over two thousand years, many bones of unsuccessful researchers and animals had accumulated there.

"Yes, they are suspiciously clean, and there is no smell inherent after decomposition, although it should have been absorbed into the walls and things, and besides, there are also no traces of blood….." he nodded in agreement, and then added, but this time using the connection between their minds, "You are thinking in the right direction, there really is someone here, I have been feeling someone's gaze on me for about a couple of hours, although I can't find the source yet, but it cannot be ruled out that this place may be to blame, for example, since the walls absorb magic, it is quite possible that they also take away life force, because usually after this only a skeleton remains, and the one who is watching us may be the creator of this place himself, since I do not feel anyone, You should still be on guard, you have much more developed instincts and it will be easier for you to sense the approach of the enemy if he has some kind of masking charms," the snake, with a very serious face, nodded in response, "In general, be on guard, it is unknown who might attack us," he added out loud, "And who will eavesdrop."

"I understand, I will try!" she nodded cheerfully, looking around tensely, which slightly raised the mood of Severus with her reaction.

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But they did not have to fly for long, because after a few minutes, their speed began to fall and they stopped, just a few metres from a strange door, to which a small staircase led.

But what attracted the Prince's attention were the stone skulls located around it, in the form of an arch, as well as the patterns on the door itself: in addition to strange symbols, it depicted a human skull with a headdress made of something resembling leaves, like some Shamans.

For some reason, this entrance reminded him of the entrance to a tomb, which he once, in the company of his only friend and fellow student, robbed, taking out all the artefacts, books and other things, making a good profit on them after selling them all.

After all, it belonged to no one, but to the "Great Archmage", but although he put up protection, passing through it was not a big problem for them.

And now, looking at this door, he felt the same as then, an unpleasant, oppressive feeling from the aura of death hanging in the air.

Previously, it was not felt anywhere, although skeletons were scattered all along the way and judging by them, this place should have been filled with it.

And it was too suspicious and something told him that not everything was so simple. Nagini also shared his feelings. She did not feel any fear or panic, because the snake was sure of Severus, although at times he really did a lot of strange and crazy things, for example, that recent jump, after which, her heart really almost jumped out of her chest. And his next words did not come as a surprise to her: "Shall we go in?"

"Even if I said no, you would still go in," the maledictus chuckled in response, and then measured him with an indifferent look, "Am I not right?"

"Who knows…" Severus just shrugged and, approaching the door, he put his palm to it and began to release magic, an order of magnitude faster than it was absorbed by the walls, so the young man, without any problems, was able to find out what was inside, from which his eyes narrowed, but after a few seconds he returned to his usual smile and opened it without any problems.

He was met by a small pile of gold, of which there was a lot in the room, especially in the left corner, the height of which reached all the way to the ceiling.

The tomb itself, judging by the coffin standing in the very centre, was made in a standard, mediaeval style, and the ceiling was supported by several columns, one of which had long since collapsed.

But Severus only glanced indifferently at the gold and looked at the stone coffin, and then lowered his gaze lower and for a moment, a slight surprise flashed in his eyes, but nothing more, and a sword appeared on his belt, his palm laying on its hilt.

"Now it is clear where the magic is leaking from....maybe you should stop pretending to be asleep and get out, say hello to the guest, but if you can't, then I can help you?"

For some time, there was a deathly silence in the room, until an unpleasant grinding sound was heard, slowly, like in the best horror films, the slab on which the stone figure of a man lay began to move aside and a completely white palm lay on the edge of the coffin, but at the same time covered with skin, which was quite surprising when the Prince himself expected to see a bone hand, assuming that a Lich lay there, at least at the peak of the rank of "Master", if he of course absorbed all the energy of death and magic from the skeletons lying on the ground.

"The lich couldn't have been so well preserved, even with Eileen, I had to try hard to keep her from turning into a skeleton, but then..." but the next moment, one guess came to his head, "Blood... there was not a drop of blood anywhere, as if someone had dried the bodies dry..." and a body rose from the coffin and what immediately caught the eye was pointed ears, long to the shoulders, dark hair and completely white skin, and when he looked at the man indifferently, Severus could also see... A vampire, his sharp facial features, thin eyebrows, pronounced cheekbones, smooth skin and a pair of green eyes, as if a real aristocrat was standing in front of him, almost a second Lucius, but about twenty years older.

"Human... I haven't seen living people for a long time…" he drawled languidly, slowly rising to his feet and shaking off his dark clothes, he left the coffin and went to the window, from which light emanated, as if there was day outside, "I'm surprised that you were able to use magic... you are a very interesting specimen…" turning to them, the Vampire began to study the "guest" with interest, "I have been watching you since the moment you landed…"

"Remember I said that you look like a vampire?" hissed Nagini, to which Severus nodded slightly, "Forget it, I take my words back, although you are a little similar, but he looks much scarier than they showed in those films."

"And?" Severus raised an eyebrow indifferently.

The creature in front of him was a "Master" at the top of the rank and had almost strengthened his core to the peak, not to mention that these creatures are much stronger physically and are real masters in Blood Magic ... so that his strength can already be compared to the "Master" at the peak.

'I did not think that I would meet such an interesting opponent here ... '

"And you are interesting, how about becoming my servant? There are many benefits to it, a strong body, increased magical abilities and of course eternal life….."

"I will probably refuse such an attractive offer, I propose the opposite, you will become my servant and I will help you become human again, what do you think?" His impudent smile, oddly enough, did not anger the undead, but on the contrary, made him smile, although rather grim.

"Too bad, you would have made a good Vampire…"

"And you would've made a good human."

"It seems we won't be able to resolve this issue with words…" the Vampire said, his gaze narrowing dangerously, claws slowly starting to grow on his fingers.

"I doubt it, I really don't like bloodsuckers like you…" Severus grinned, taking his sword out of its sheath, 'I'll send you to the others, get ready.'

'I understand, good luck to you,' Nagini didn't show her usual character at this moment, realising that she simply couldn't cope with the Vampire standing in front of them and she would only get in the way, no matter how much she wanted to stay and help, 'Only…'

'I know, but don't worry, I'll be fine, don't you remember those visions? And until I return you to human form, I just can't lose my life…' his words and confident smile caused a real hurricane in the heart of one little snake.

'I... I believe in you…'

And as soon as Nagini was transferred to the artefact, this became the very signal after which: the Vampire's eyes turned red, he disappeared and the next moment appeared right in front of the Prince, with his hand raised, at the end of which were long, sharp claws, with which he was going to tear off the prince's head in one fell swoop.

But, to the undead's shock, he did not even have time to notice how the boy's sword was about to plunge into his chest, from which the pale-faced man's face twisted and he quickly jumped back, not allowing himself to be touched, feeling a strange sense of danger from the weapon.

Severus himself did not stand still and jumped into the open door, where there was much more free space and it was easier to swing the sword, after all, he did not want to accidentally destroy that place.

The magical creature also did not try to stop him, allowing him to leave the tomb, because he himself did not want to lose his "home", on which he had been working for many centuries.

When both opponents were outside, the Prince's sword was engulfed in a light which would've been pleasant and warm for any normal person, but seeing it, the Vampire's face twisted in disgust.

"I have long wanted to try out my fencing skills, and such a strong and nimble target is simply an ideal candidate... but enough of this meaningless chatter, attack!"

"I have changed my mind, I will not make you my servant, but I will immediately kill you and suck you dry! I am sure that you have a lot of life force." and the vampire took off, opening his mouth and sticking out his fangs, already anticipating the prince's next step, preparing to dodge and sink his fangs into his throat...

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