The Keepers of the Tomb

Later, we had arrived in front of some stairs that led deeper into the Tomb.

Squeak!

Luna almost slipped down the stone stairs. Of course, it was only a moment ago since the gates closed, so the floor was going to be slippery.

"Be careful, we don't want any injuries that didn't come from a fight."

"S-shut up, idiot!"

Me?! An idiot?! You're the one that almost slipped to your demise.

I thought as I peered down into what seemed like an endless void. It was dark, so I couldn't see what was down there.

Luckily, I was riding a cipactli, so I had no chances of slipping. I mean, have you ever seen a crocodile slip? Well, if you throw them in oil, then yes. Hmm, I can imagine a crocodile slipping.

"Hehehe..."

"What are you laughing at?"

"Nothing, something just flew by my mind."

Fsh!

Something incredibly fast just flew by my eyes.

Thunk!

I looked at the projectile, and it was an arrow. I looked deeper into the darkness and suddenly, a storm of arrows came our way.

"Come out!"

I yelled and the 4 other cipactlis appeared, shielding me from the arrows.

What about Luna?

I looked over at her, and she was deflecting a few of them before she took cover. I was kind of impressed she could do that.

"Can you see what's down there?"

She asked as she sheathed both her daggers and grabbed her kunai. I tried sneaking a peek over the cipactli, but I couldn't see anything except arrows. One zipped past my head and I ducked.

"I can't see anything."

"Use your magic!"

Oh right, magic.

I made a ball of light that consumed 10 MP. Then I got up and threw it down the stairs like a grenade. Then I ducked once more and suddenly, an explosion of light.

The entire room flashed, and the interior of the tomb was visible. I looked over the cipactli and what looked like undead samurai were firing arrows at us. Their faces were all distorted and partially stripped of their flesh. Their armor was half broken and musty. I looked at the ground and there was a bunch of floating bodies surrounding the spot where I had thrown the ball of light. Hmm, since it exploded, I should call it a light grenade.

After I looked at the bodies, I wondered...

Are these things weak to light?

Well, like the famous saying by Davee Jones. You'll never know until you try.

A made plenty of light grenades and tossed them overhead.

Dom!

Dom!

Dom!

A symphony of explosions. It was a sight to behold. Well, if you look at it directly, you'd be blind for days.

When I couldn't hear the explosions anymore, I looked over the cipactlis. Floating in the water was a bunch of dead bodies. Guess they were weak to light.

I was thinking of moving forward since they were all dead, but then more came, 10 of them. And this time, they didn't fire any arrows. Instead, they came running up with Katanas in their hands.

"Well, that's not good."

I said as I clutched onto my longsword. Comparing a longsword to a Katana, which one would be sharper and stronger? To my knowledge, the longsword has more stopping power while the katana has a more cutting edge.

I glanced over at Luna, who was clenching onto her daggers. Then she suddenly vanished from my sight.

"?"

I looked over at the incoming samurai and four of them were taken out with ease. Until one of them noticed and spun around. He was on guard, waiting for the next strike.

But since Luna was using her stealth, the samurai was easily taken out as he was stabbed chin first with the dagger.

She took out five, so I guess I should take out five as well.

I hopped over the cipactli wall and dove at the samurai. I quickly used [Lacerate] and I easily decapitated three of them. Then I grabbed one by the helmet and poured light magic onto it. The samurai slowly melted into a goo substance. As I got on my feet, the last samurai was about to strike me, but one of the cipactlis came charging towards him and swallowed him whole. Feels bad to die like that. But hey, we defeated them.

[Light magic level up! (Lv6)]

"Are you alright?"

I said to Luna, who I couldn't see until I saw her on top of one of my spectrals. She looked at me and rolled her eyes.

"I don't need you to worry about me."

She looked away.

Hmph, alright lady. No need to be so hostile about it.

Of course, I wouldn't want to say that out loud or she could kill me since I can't sense her using my stealth. She must have an advanced level of stealth, one that hides everything of her.

[Souls are nearby]

I turned and saw countless blue orbs.

"Whoa, this is too much."

I looked at my soul counter.

[Souls (10/35)]

I can only have 25 of them. But as I get deeper into the dungeon, I'll be encountering stronger enemies. So maybe I should say some space.

I think I'll just take 10 of them.

I collected the souls of the 10 samurais that we had just fought and made them my spectrals.

[Souls (20/35)]

We proceeded to go deeper into the tomb. As we did, we encounter more samurais and took them out.

[Level up!]

Eventually, we ended up in a large room. To my knowledge, this might be the boss's room. But I saw another door on the other side, so this must be the room before the boss. There was a large statue of what looked like an Oni in samurai armor. I walked up to the edge of the room and noticed there were similar statues to the one in the middle. Five of them. Now that I compare the one in the middle and the ones on the walls, it looks like the one in the middle towers above these little ones. The middle one was about... what, 5 meters? Comparing it to the gate outside, which was like 100 feet, this one looked about a fifth of it. The ones at the walls were a bit shorter than the middle one. About 3-4 meters.

Crack!

"Hmm?"

Was it me, or did this statue just open its eye?

Rumble~

"Heeee... I hate it when I have to fight statues... that turns out to be the enemy."

Boom!

I hurried away as the statues all started moving. I quickly summoned the bear and the cipactlis.

Slam!

Luna slammed into me as she looked at the large Oni in front of her. Well, I would yell at her for doing that, but I don't think it was intentional... or was it?

[Quest: Wipe out the Keepers of the Tomb (0/5)]

Keepers of the Tomb. They must be guarding the boss room then. I looked at the looming figures. Comparing them to the cipactli, they beat them in height, but in length, they are nothing compared to them. I wonder if I can just let the cipactli do everything. The bear won't do much, but I might as well let it go wild.

The largest keeper made the first move as it slammed down a large club that everyone dodged. Then it swung its large Katana which almost got me by an inch.

"Sh*t."

I stumbled back and the other keepers saw their chance and slammed down their clubs. Unfortunately for them, I had summoned my centipede before they attempted to smash me.

"KIEEEEAAAAAAAA!!!!!"

The centipede shrieked as it slowly materialized to its full length. In the process, it crashed into the ceiling and plunged into the ground. As the dust cleared away, the centipede was now standing at 10 meters tall. Its figure was so large that the keepers flinched and backed away slowly.

I summoned the rest of my spectrals, the ten samurais and the other centipede which crashed into the walls, slamming into one of the keepers. Since the samurais had become my spectral's, they looked a bit more human now.

I order the cipactli and the samurai to go after one of the other keepers. Then I ordered the centipede in front of me to take care of the largest one. Since the other centipede had taken one of them with it, I didn't need to command it as it already knows what to do. Then I myself will take on one of them. Luna was already fighting with one of them, and it looks like she can take it out with ease.

I approached one of them. The keeper in front of me growled as I got closer. The keeper raised his club, exposing his underarm. I used [Lacerate] and threw the longsword at its underarm. The sword stabbed it and it started bleeding. I remember how my [Lacerate] skill allows me to wield weapons with ease and makes my arms lighter. It could also make weapons lighter, only to me though. So I threw the longsword with ease. The keeper roared in pain and it dropped its club and lowered its arm.

Snap!

I heard my longsword breaking under the keeper's arm. Well, there goes my sword.

I dodged and evaded the club. The keeper was now unarmed, but he still has his large Katana, I should quickly attack it.

The keeper went for its Katana. I used [Leap] and hopped onto its shoulder. When it noticed, I had used [Jab] and gouged one of its eyes out.

"Oh, that looked painful. You gonna be alright?"

I taunted the keeper as it dropped onto the ground and held its eye.

Surprisingly, this was quite easy, I didn't know I could beat an Oni just like that.

After that, I sprayed a storm of flames into the Oni's eye and it burned from the inside out. Maybe that was a bit cruel.

I glanced around, checking whether the other keepers had been taken care of. Luna had finished as the keeper she was fighting was filled with gashes. The other two keepers had been taken care of, and the largest one was currently being devoured by my largest spectral centipede.

[Quest: Defeat the Keepers of the Tomb (Completed)]

[Leap level up! (Lv3)]

[Fire magic level up! (Lv4)]

[Rewards: Tomb Key]

I brought the Tomb Key out, and it looked similar to the Distorted key. It had the same glow, but it looked like it was made of glass.

Luna walked past me and headed for the door into the Tomb. She tried opening it but it wouldn't budge.

"Why won't this open?"

"Luna..."

She twirled around and glared at me. I held the key in my hand. She reddened up in embarrassment. She stomped towards me, snatched the key from my hand, and went towards the door again.

I shook my head and looked at the dead bodies in front of me.

[Souls are nearby]

I looked around, and 5 green ghostly lights were hovering around. I held my hand out, and they slowly came to me. Then I absorbed them.

[Souls: 30/37]

Looks like my spectral army is increasing every day.

I turned around and the largest centipede had devoured the five bodies whole. Then it started glowing. My body flashed in response and then the centipede changed.

The green ghostly glow it was emitting was now emerald green.

[Impenetrable Centipede soul has leveled up!]

So my spectrals level up by devouring bodies? But what about the samurais? How do they level up?

I thought for a minute and then eventually guessed they leveled up by killing. It's probably the most suitable way for them to level up as they aren't beasts.

Click!

While I was busy looking at my spectrals, Luna had finally opened the door. I wonder what took her so long.

All my spectrals returned to my body, and then I walked over to Luna. When she opened the door, the key had vanished. It's the same thing for when I opened the gate.

I looked at Luna.

"You ready?"

She looked at me and nodded.

"Alright, let's go."

We then entered the room.