Chapter 380: The First Artifact
Su Han wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, looked at the constantly vibrating barrier, and a taste of rust rose in his throat.
Biyao's fingertips wandered over the moss-covered stone tablet, and the light from the runes made her face look as pale as paper.
In the distance came the harsh sound of the Monster King's claws scraping against the ground, and each sound seemed to be sawing on their tense nerves.
"This way!"
Bi Yao suddenly grabbed Su Han's sleeve and ran towards the corridor on the east side of the ruins.
The damp ground was covered with dark green moss. Su Han had just taken two steps when he suddenly heard a clicking sound of a mechanism being activated under his feet.
Countless arrows shot out from the hidden holes in the wall. He instinctively turned around and swung his sword. The sound of metal collision exploded in the enclosed space.
Bi Yao took the opportunity to feel along the wall. With the cool touch, she felt a slightly concave stone. The moment she pressed hard, the arrow stopped abruptly.
At the end of the corridor is a huge bronze door with a door knocker carved with twisted snake patterns.
The moment Su Han reached out to touch the door knocker, the snake's pupils suddenly emitted a scarlet light, and the entire door began to shake violently.
Dozens of bronze snakes emerged from the door, their bodies emitting dark blue venom and their open mouths revealing barbed fangs.
Biyao picked up the rubble on the ground and threw it at the snakes, but she saw that the stones turned into green smoke as soon as they came into contact with the venom.
"Burn it with fire!"
Su Han remembered the tinder at his waist and hurriedly lit the linen cloth he carried with him.
Flames leaped in the darkness, and the bronze snakes let out teeth-grinding hisses and retreated into the door.
But the crackling sound of the burning flames also alarmed the mechanism deep in the ruins. Spider-web-like cracks began to appear on the ground, and sticky black liquid flowed out through the cracks, corroding the stone slabs wherever it passed.
The two were forced back to the center of the corridor, and Biyao suddenly noticed the diamond-shaped grooves inlaid on the wall.
"Rune! The shapes of these grooves match the outlines of the runes on the stone tablet!"
She took out the broken stone slabs she had found from the altar and fitted the pieces into the grooves.
When the last slab of stone was embedded, the cracks in the ground began to heal and the black liquid stopped spreading.
Through the bronze door is a secret room filled with bones.
The bones piled up on the ground like a small hill, and each bone was engraved with tiny runes.
Biyao squatted down and looked carefully, and found that these runes formed a map, marking the location of the three artifacts. "The first one is..."
Before she could finish her words, the ceiling above her head exploded, and the giant claws of the King of Monsters came towards her with a bloody wind.
Su Han swung his sword to block, but the huge impact force knocked him back several steps, his knuckles cracked, and blood dripped down the blade.
Bi Yao took the opportunity to rush to the corner of the secret room, where stood a sarcophagus with a relief of a sword-wielding warrior carved on the lid.
As soon as she touched the coffin lid, the sarcophagus suddenly opened automatically, and a skeleton in armor slowly sat up, holding a rusty sword in his hand.
A faint green light flickered in the skull's empty eye sockets, and he raised his hand and slashed with a sword.
Biyao dodged sideways and found that the skeleton's attack trajectory was strikingly similar to the movement of the runes on the stone tablet.
She tried to imitate the trajectory of the runes and unexpectedly broke the skeleton's attack.
The long sword in the skeleton's hand fell to the ground, turned into a stream of light and sank into Biyao's palm.
“It’s the first artifact!”
Before Bi Yao finished her words, the roars of the monsters were already approaching.
Su Han protected her behind him, but saw that the monsters did not launch a direct attack, but formed a circle at the entrance of the secret room.
The King of Monsters looked down at them condescendingly, growling deeply from his throat, as if waiting for something.
The floor of the secret room suddenly flipped over, and the two fell into the dark river below.
The cold river water carried them forward, surrounded by rugged stalactites and sharp stalagmites like inverted blades.
Su Han paddled hard, grabbed a protruding rock, and pulled Biyao to his side.
A faint light appeared at the end of the dark river. They drifted along the water and found a cave covered with luminous moss.
In the center of the cave stands a crystal altar with a bronze compass suspended above it.
The surface of the compass was engraved with star maps, and the needle was spinning wildly, pointing to the depths of the cave.
When Biyao approaches the compass, a transparent barrier suddenly rises from the altar, trapping her inside. (End of this chapter)