Chapter 160: Relic Tomb(1)

What's the best thing about high fantasy games and novels?

The answer is: Discovering valuable treasure. This can be linked to relic tombs, one of the most popular places of any multiplayer fantasy game.

The joy of discovering treasure after overcoming countless hurdles like traps, enemies and bosses was unlike anything else.

The first relic tomb to be added to Star Fantasy quickly gained popularity. Players abandoned whatever quests and tasks they were busy with and went into the relic tomb. Even the biggest dungeon in the game—The Dragon God's Lair—didn't attract as much attention as the relic tomb.

The developers were forced to make thousands of new servers just to handle the influx of players demanding to go into the relic tomb. Of course, it was very expensive and difficult but the relic tomb managed to pull in many investors who wanted to help the company.

Liam streamed himself soloing the relic tomb and obtaining many rare and legendary class artifacts. The company behind the game started adding more relic tombs, seeing that the relic tomb brought so many players to their game.

They first started adding relic tombs through events and guild exclusive quests. This led to the fanbase complaining that the company only allows pay-to-win players to enjoy relic tombs and new game areas. The devs then decided that relic tombs will be added in every major update that they roll out. Special events only adds new items that only a select few could benefit from.

Relic tombs in the game were so popular that Star Fantasy ended up becoming the most streamed game of the decade. Millions of people around the world tuned in to watch how top guilds raided ancient tombs. This spike in popularity brought in sponsorships from every major company that hosts game tournaments.

It was around the first tournament that Liam met his in-game friend, Alecs. Well, they couldn't exactly see each other in the crowd but were able to communicate with each other through live video and in-game voice chat.

He could still remember her vibrant blonde hair and her beautiful mature face.

The two of them was selected to play in the following year's tournament. They were among the top players in the league. Many people wanted to join their guild because of how skilled both of them were. They could compete against entire guilds as a duo.

Naturally with this fame came money. Liam could finally ditch his trashy job and devote himself to play the game in the big leagues instead of just streaming it.

Misteltein grew as a guild since Alecs scouted the many talented players during every tournament.

Everything started with the first relic tomb.

He missed the days he would turn on his gaming system and play with his guildmates. They managed to clear half of the total 193 relic tombs in the game.

…

Snow blanketed the horizon.

Chilling winds of white swept across the land.

The sun was nowhere to be seen since a gray cloud loomed overhead but its light was still lingering.

In the distance was a mountain surrounded in large shards of ice.

"—Rafaela, buff me!" Arnold shouted as he parried his opponent's weapon. His opponent was a knight wearing white armor with its sword being the same color. It resembled a Glass Knight miniboss from the game.

Arnold was currently fighting two of them.

"Okay!" Rafaela's body glowed when she held her arms out in front of her. A burst of power filled Arnold's body.

"!!!!" Arnold deflected knight's blow with the Glass shield, feeling half of the strike.

The knight staggered backwards due to the shield's stunning effect. With the 50% reduction of any attack comes a 20% chance of your enemy being stunned by their own attack. The force of their blow travels through the shield and their weapon in a split second which causes vibrations throughout their body, which results in a stun.

It was extremely dangerous to do this since you have to get the timing right or risk getting injured before your shield is even up.

The other knight swung at Arnold from his side. Arnold parried its greatsword with his "Wind Elemental" sword, causing it to lodge itself into the ground.

The reason he was using this sword and not his soul weapon was because each blow he parries causes the enemy to feel a greater kickback than using a normal sword. The wind magic was the cause of this.

The knight he just parried had no shield to defend itself so it was vulnerable.

Arnold bashed its head with his shield which sent it flying. The knight was at least 2 meters taller than him but it was knocked back like a bag of potatoes.

Arnold looked in Rafaela's direction. She had a focused expression on her face. It seems that buffing someone while being an angel requires you to constantly keep the buff active, unlike priests who can buff continuously with spells. However, priests have far more weaker buffs.

The con about this was that Rafaela will be defenseless against other enemies. If she breaks the flow of her power then Arnold might be in danger if he's squaring off against an opponent much stronger than him in base form.

Arnold suddenly felt a presence behind him. The knight that he staggered backwards with his shield seems to have recovered from the stun.

It raised its greatsword and roared.

Arnold merely pointed his hand towards it after letting go of his shield.

"[Flame Gauntlet]"

His right hand was engulfed by blue flames before shooting towards the knight. The heat of the attack melted the snow underneath Arnold's feet.

The knight's agonizing roar shook the mountains.

Its lifeless corpse fell on the ground.

A magic circle suddenly engulfed it with black smoke.

The smoke went into the corpse. The corpse suddenly stood up and picked up its greatsword. The spaces in its helmet glowed in a red light.

"Necromancy, huh."

The undead knight suddenly ran towards the other knight and began fighting it.

"Can't let such a fine knight just die, can I?" Tanaera's voice came from his side.

Smoke rose from the ground and manifested a young woman with long black hair. 

"What did you find?" Arnold put the shield on his back and sheathed the sword.

He sent Tanaera on a recon to scan the surroundings and infiltrate the relic tomb up ahead. He didn't want any surprises so he wanted to know what they'll face.

"As you predicted. There's a boss inside the tomb."

"I see. How were you able to find that out?"

"There are a lot of corpses littering the cave. I checked their memories using [Before Death]. I couldn't get a good look at what killed them since it was so fast. Ah, but I could make out the form of a sickle or something resembling a scythe just before one of the people inside died."

"That spell sure is convenient, huh."

Before Death is a high ranking spell that can help its user see the memories of the dead before they died. The name itself was self-explanatory but it wasn't just a simple spell. If you can get hold of the right corpses then you can find out a lot of things of the world, whether good or bad.  

"There are multiple trap mechanisms as well so we should be careful. I only managed to go as far as I have because of my shadow cloak spells. Should we head in immediately?"

"Yeah. I hope this will be worth the effort, though."

Rafaela came towards the two.

"We should eat to replenish our energy. Here." She took out two of those protein bars.

Arnold's mouth instinctively grimaced.

"Can't we just cook food? I'd hate to eat that thing before I have to fight a lot of monsters. I might not even be able to eat meat once I go into the relic tomb."

"You want to start a fire with these winds? It will take forever to start a fire. I don't see any caves to take shelter except for the relic tomb up ahead. And no, we shouldn't make a fire right by the entrance since monsters can get attracted by the smoke and smell. The snow obscures our vision so we can't see that far. We should assume that there isn't a place near us suitable for building a fire."

"Tch." Arnold took the protein bar and bit into it.

'Guh, it tastes bitter. Why is the texture so damn tough?'

He looked over to Tanaera who was making a similar disgusted expression.

"Why does this smell like human feces?" she asked and spat the bits out that she chewed.

"It's made from ingredients that are high in all sorts of vitamins. The disciples leave these as rations in case something happens to them or if they are unable to stock up the supply points. We'll just have to make due with these to save time."

Two shadows loomed over the three of them just when Rafaela finished speaking.

Those shadows belonged to the two knights from earlier. Both had the same glowing eyes now.

"How long can you hold your necromancy spell?" Arnold asked after he finished eating the awful protein bar.

"They will stay under my spell as long as I feed them my mana. They're fairly easy to control since they're so weak so it will be a while before the spell wears off. I'll have them cover our backs."

"How many corpses can you control at once?"

"It depends on their size and the strength they had when they were alive so I can't make a general estimate. I could probably control ten of these knights at once."

"These knights should be on the level of a 4th star warrior in my world. I can't be sure if there are more but having a small unit to fight alongside me will make things much easier. But you should prioritize Rafaela's safety during a fight, alright? The two of us are the only capable fighters. One knight will fight with me while the other stays with the two of you. We'll divide them in half."

They'll keep that strategy assuming nothing else happens that forces them to change plans.

"I get it. Protect the angel when we fight. We should get moving now, no?"

"Yeah. Let's go."

The three of them left the area and began walking towards the relic tomb's entrance. There was nothing special about the outside, only that the entrance had a faint purple glow as if it's a portal of some kind.  

"Has your master ever gone into a relic tomb before, Rafaela?"

"None that I know of. She doesn't need artifacts so there's no point in going into an ancient tomb."

"Really? What class does she have?" 

"She's a mage."

"A mage needs all kinds of magic items to be fully prepared for battle. It's hard to believe she doesn't want magic artifacts capable of increasing her strength."

"There's no point to using artifacts if they don't work on her. She's not that strong but she can fend for herself even without the company of her guards."

'Didn't she kill a boss on her own?'

"What do you mean that magic artifacts don't work on her?"

"Gods originally crafted artifacts to be handled by beings with mortal flesh. The rare few are magic artifacts that are either made with mana or have magical effects. My master is neither a human or a mortal. She's from a race born from mana itself. Any magic artifact she tries to use either doesn't function as it should or the mana is wasted."

"Race born from mana itself… A magic race?"

"I believe that's what they're called, yes. Arcane theory has never proven why magic artifacts don't work on creatures born from mana. Like a fairy, they cannot make use of artifacts but their cousins, Elves like me, can use magic artifacts just fine."

"High Elves should be the same, right?"

"Yes."

A High Elf is an evolution of a regular Elf. Their origins are a mystery unless you dig deep enough into the lore of the game's story. It's possible for regular Elves to become High Elves through the use of ancient rituals passed down for generations. There are currently only two High Elves left. They've been alive for half a millennium. They serve as leaders on the Fairy Council in the Fairy Province.

It was said that only the two of them knew what happened to their brethren.

It was never proven, even in the game, why magic races like Fairies, High Elves, Hiisis and Druids can't make use of magic artifacts. Some people claim that the mana that they were born from and the mana inside magic artifacts cancel each other out. Think of it like two electrons spinning in the same direction or two North pole magnets.

Unlike in science, it's impossible to change the core structure of mana to get a desired effect so magic artifacts will never work in the hands of magic races. Magic items are a different story since they aren't of divine nature.

'Do gods hate magic races? That must be why a magic race can't use magic artifacts. That's pretty petty of them.'

"The only person from a magic race I know is Lyra…" Arnold muttered when they entered the relic tomb.

Perhaps she had found a way to use magic artifacts through her decades of confinement in the academy?  

The three of them—plus the two undead knights—walked deeper into the crystal cave. The air became several times colder back when they entered.  

A magic circle surrounded Tanaera's hand. Three red wisps flew out of the magic circle.

"It gets even colder inside so have one of these guys sit somewhere on your body. They'll regulate your body temperature for you so it will be easier to fight."

"Alright." Arnold grabbed one of the wisps. It felt warm on his hand, not to a burning degree though but still comfortably warm.

He put the wisp on top of his left shoulder. His body immediately heated up. It felt like he was under a summer sun. His cold breath turned back to normal.

"What else did you find, Tanaera? Are there any humans down here?"

They crossed a bridge-like iceberg.

"There's a frozen wasteland down here. There's also a small town with a palace inside. I don't know how that's possible. It's like there's a world within a world in this tomb. Every single building from the town besides that palace is frozen in ice. It's like the small town was hit by an ice age."

"Interesting."  

Arnold noticed that a part of the ground up ahead seemed out of place.

"Stop."

The two of them stopped when he spoke.

Arnold knelt down and picked up a chunk of ice. He threw it across the bridge. The ground beneath suddenly moved down when the ice slid over it.

The sound of gears moving, followed by ice breaking, resounded in the cave.

The three of them looked up.

A gigantic log, attached to chains, swung itself across the bridge. Something suddenly jumped up from below the bridge.

It was a monster. It was even bigger than the log that almost sent the three of them flying. The monster opened its maws, probably expecting a victim to end up in its mouth. It fell down after closing its mouth.

A low growl echoed, probably the monster expressing disappointment. 

"…Well, you weren't lying when you said there were traps."

"What the hell!? I didn't see that one!" Tanaera looked over the edge of the bridge, straight into darkness and shivered, "W-We would've fallen to our deaths."

"It sounded like water splashing when that monster fell down so it's highly likely that the one from earlier isn't alone down there."

'How many players died this early on.' Arnold shook his head mentally, 'I can remember my noob days like they were yesterday. I used to fall victim to these kinds of obvious traps all the time.'

"Tanaera, you should summon some monsters to check our route from now on."

"Yeah, that's a good idea…."

About ten rats appeared from the magic circle she placed on the ground. They ran ahead of the trio.

◇◇◇

The three began moving again, mindful of any odd contraptions that were hidden in plain sight. Whoever built this relic tomb was trying to keep uninvited guests out.

Rafaela had never been in a relic tomb before so she wasn't certain what to expect. She glanced over at Arnold who was leading them.

'Why does he seem confident that he knows where to go?'

It couldn't be that he's been in tombs like these before, right? He looked so young. Even if he is strong, chances that he's able to complete a relic tomb run alone are slim.

Rafaela's master told her many stories about the past when relic tombs and dungeons were the most popular places. The people—who she refers to as Highborn(people with divine origins)—used to raid many relic tombs for their treasures.

Her master was by no means human but she frequently visited the human worlds back then. This allowed her to see many strange and wonderful things.

The world was overrun by Highborn who people feared and revered. They just mysteriously disappeared from this world somewhere in history. From what her master told her, Highborn visited many worlds in their dimension. Their escapades weren't limited to one world.

Perhaps they even visited Arnold's world?

'That could be why he wants to know about them. He may have encountered them as well.'  

Rafaela was probably from that world as well from what Arnold said but she wasn't sure about that. Maybe she also encountered Highborn during her time on that world?

If they were so legendary, why did people forget about them? Shouldn't they be viewed as Heroes too? They stopped countless threats and saved many lives.

Rafaela only knows what her master told her so she wasn't entirely sure why or where these Highborn disappeared to.

Why does only one human know about them?

'Could he be a regressor? It should be possible for people to regress to the past.'

If artifacts—like the necklace Tanaera possesses—existed, then it's possible to travel back in time with the use of another artifact.

What's his purpose for wanting to find them? Why was he interested in them in the first place?

It could just be that he was fascinated about them in general. Think about it, mortals with the powers of gods—Highborn. Rafaela was also interested in them given how far their legends have spread. The Highborn visited most of the worlds in this dungeon. Some of the other disciples even said that the Highborn went to the shadow worlds.

This was many eons ago so it's hard to say what exactly happened to them. No one has a clear answer.

Rafaela's master might know.

"Whoa…." Arnold whispered under his breath when the three of them finally left the cave. 

The three stood in silence as they looked at the frozen palace standing in the middle of white.  

In the center of this frozen land stood a majestic palace. A beacon of a strange white energy was atop that palace, giving the vast cave light equal to that of the sun.

Arnold unsheathed his sword, "Tanaera, did you find anything?"

"My summons spotted the exact same knights as the ones with us close by. There are much bigger knights further ahead as well."

"We should assume that they're stronger than the knights I fought. Also, whatever's causing that beam of light has to be an artifact. We'll need to move through that entire palace. That means it's highly likely that we'll be attacked inside. Remember to protect Rafaela when I'm fighting."

"I know. Hold on, where are you going?"

Tanaera asked when Arnold stood on the edge of the cliff.

"I'm going up ahead alone to kill the monsters on the way. I'll meet the two of you when you reach the town."

"Are you that impatient? Fine. I'll reach you using the wisp when we get there."

"Alright. I'm off then." Saying so, he jumped off the cliff in a free fall.

"Did that guy really just jump off…" Tanaera sighed.

"Let's get moving."

"Okay."

◇◇◇

Arnold summoned his demon lord helmet when he was alone.

'Why is there a forest down here?'

He was standing in the middle of a small forest. Well, the trees had no leaves and were frozen in thick layers of ice so he wasn't sure what was a tree and what wasn't. Still, the area gave him a good hiding spot.

There were two notifications in his helm.

·        Welcome to the Crystal Sanctum(S) relic tomb.

·        Level requirement – Not available.

'An S-class relic tomb, huh. It's a relief that there isn't a level requirement. Still  I should be careful of what's out here.'

He has never been in this relic tomb before so he'll be going in blindly. Whatever was inside that palace had to be guarding the relics. For now there was nothing else besides the ginormous castle in sight. Perhaps there are more areas to explore but for now the town and the castle is his main goal.

Arnold left the small forest. He spotted four figures standing beneath the town gates. His reason for leaving Rafaela and Tanaera behind was to clear out the enemies on the way so he'll need to kill whatever he comes across.

The knights were double the size of the ones he faced before. Their armor was also different. It glowed in a radiant light which was a sign that it was enchanted armor.

Arnold frowned.

"I might need to use my aura sword to kill these guys."

Luring them out one by one was the solid strategy here. He didn't have confidence that he can fight all of them at once while preserving his power.

"For now I should check their levels." He took out his hologram card.

·        Sanctum Knight – Level 70

"A mid-tier knight, huh? This'll be troublesome since they're close to 7th star knights in terms of levels."

He took out a small urn. He poured its contents onto his hand and took out the spear he wanted to give to his little brother, Jack.

'I hope I'll find that merchant again. I'll need to buy repair powder for when my weapons break.'

The spear was S-class so it was unlikely to break easily. Still, he wanted to give it to his brother with its durability at its maximum. Who wants a damaged weapon as a gift?

The only reason he's using it is to give him better range.

Arnold smeared the ooze onto the spear. The spear glowed yellow before a cacophony of noises—similar to thousands of bird sounds—resounded. The ooze he used gives magic effects to whatever weapon he has equipped. 

Lightning and fire(and sometimes poison) is very effective against enchanted armor. Decaying ooze was also an option but that was risky since your weapon can lose its durability at a much faster rate when attacking. He had limited weapons at the moment so he didn't buy that kind of ooze from the merchant.

Arnold stepped out of the forest and ran towards the town at incredible speeds. He threw the spear at one of the knights. The knight staggered backwards when the spear hit its chest. It didn't penetrate its armor but it definitely caused some shock damage.

The other knights reacted. They charged at Arnold.

Arnold dodged the first attack and jumped to grab the spear. He took out his shield to block the next attack before he landed on one of the knights. Using the shield, he bashed the top of its helm, causing it to stagger. He jumped off before another knight could grab him.

He landed on the ground with his shield up and his spear ready.

The knights also recovered.

"…." One of the knights approached Arnold with its guard and shield up. Its greatsword was the size of Arnold's body so getting hit by that thing will do a lot of damage.

The other three knights slowly circled around the two of them.

'They want to pincer me, huh?'

But your little strategy won't work on me, thought Arnold before using his Speed of Sound skill.

He thrust his palm into the knight's chest. Were this a regular strike then it wouldn't do much damage but the speed at which he was travelling multiplies his damage per second.

His palm connected. The knight's armor shattered. Blue blood flowed out of its orifices.

Arnold could see its face in the split second before it exploded into chunks.

'A decaying corpse….?'

It didn't look undead since it had eyeballs but its skin was completely blue as if it was suffering hypothermia.

'So they were once human… How are they able to move like the living? Is some type of magic the reason?'

He charged towards the next knight. He kicked its leg, causing it to break apart completely. He also bashed its chest with his shield which caused its upper body to forcibly bend backwards after its spine broke.

He threw his lightning spear at the next knight. It flew towards the city gates, with the spear still stuck in its chest.

Arnold deactivated the skill and ran towards the remaining knight. They had a good amount of XP so he wanted to kill all of them.

'As expected, speed works against heavily-armored knights.'

They couldn't even react in time. Perhaps he should use his S-class skill more? It was far better than [Dash], that's for sure. The cool thing was that he hadn't unlocked the skill's full potential yet.

Skills like [Speed Of Sound] that need progress requires experience points. They level up with every usage. Arnold rarely used this skill since it was rare to come across an opponent that forced his hand like this.

Arthur was a different case since he wanted to destroy Arthur's ridiculous pride. 

The knight roared when Arnold dodged its greatsword's swing. Arnold stabbed his sword between the openings of its armor. Its left arm was the first to dangle.

Next, he sliced its shins, causing it to fall on one knee. The knight didn't give up. It performed a 360 swing using its position to its advantage. Arnold jumped just before the greatsword hit him.

He pulled back his arm holding the shield… and threw it as hard as he could.

He didn't forget to add Sword Intent to make its edges extra sharp.

The shield split the knight's head in two.

Arnold took out his hologram card the moment he landed.

·        Level 53 – 4568/78905

"I was level 52 a week ago. As I thought, dungeon diving is better when grinding for levels. I should arrange a dungeon raid with my party when I go back to the empire. Or maybe I should try going to the Deeper Ground relic tomb?"

His first priority before that though is to make sure his party members are well-equipped and are at least level 50.

"Hmm, if I want them to get stronger then I'll have to tell Galadriel and Elora about farming zones."

Unlike monster zones, farming zones were created to make grinding easier for players. Large groups of monsters or animals are often gathered in these zones that have insanely high XP.

The only reason players would never go here is because of how boring and easy it is to level up. The entire point of playing a competitive multiplayer is to work your way to the top through hard work.

Arnold can't let them go to monster zones yet so farming zones will have to do. Elora mentioned being level 15 so she was clearly too weak(not because of how strong she was but her low HP and stamina stats). Levels don't matter to a Magic Manipulator class since she can cast any spell as long as she learns it.

Arnold wasn't sure about Galadriel. She was probably in the level 20s going by what he saw that day when Nuaria city was destroyed. She was probably much stronger now but he wasn't sure if she was close to level 50.

'Hmm, was it a mistake taking a regular warrior as a party member?'

He shrugged.

"Elora seemed happy so it doesn't matter."

A voice suddenly came from the small wisp that was on his shoulder:

-"We're almost there. Ah, there you are."

Arnold spoke while glancing down at the wisp.

"Be ready when you get here. We'll be in enemy territory."

'It's time to get my first relic.'