Doomsday Pillars

"I DID IT!" Tiffany excitedly said in her joyful tone.

Right as Tiffany said that, the legendary creature, the Basilisk, abruptly stopped in its track. It then lowered its head until it laid on the stone bridge. On the other hand, Alex only stood there with Stroke brandished in front of him, behind the barrier he casted, clearly surprised by the sudden turnaround. 

Tiffany, who now had returned back to her normal condition, stepped closer to the creature, which evidently made Alex anxious, apparent from his pale expression and rising heartbeat. However, to much everyone's surprise, except Cerri, the previously ferocious snake had suddenly turned into a docile creature. 

It only laid there frozen still, while being patted on the head by the little girl. Heck, Alex was sure he could even hear a faint, happy, hissing voice from the creature.

Seeing the situation was basically defused, Cerri also approached the snake. The creature was staring at the mysterious girl for around a minute long, until it slowly retreated and slithered back to the bottom of the bridge into the dark abyss. Moments later, the creature was no more.

If there were no traces of something slithering on the bridge, such as the puddles of unrecognizable objects with a nasty stench and the destruction of the bridge fences, Alex would have thought everything was just a dream.

When the creature went for good, Alex immediately approached Cerri and demanded an explanation. "What just happened?"

Cerri, who looked at the creature with a sorrowful gaze, turned around after she schooled her expression back to normal, "That is Neheb, she was my friend. As for the reason why she attacked us when I was her friend... This place had made her forget who she was. Fortunately, she has come to her senses. Your daughter has once again reminded her who she was."

Honestly, Alex found it hard to believe what the mysterious girl said, but he could only believe her statement for now. Moreover, he knew Cerri herself was actually a beetle, so the chances her explanation was true were bigger than its counterpart.

Realizing Alex received her explanation, Cerri swiftly turned around and walked deeper into the bridge, "Let's go. We are no longer far from our destination."

The group continued their journey, as they made their way across the bridge. When they reached the end of the bridge, the group found a huge, metallic door, which had strangely opened. The moment they walked through the door, Tiffany screamed in shock and swiftly hid behind Alex's back.

Behind the massive door there was a large open area, which was completely filled with black blood and corpses. Countless body parts were strewn around on the ground, creating a horrendous sight to the eye.

When Alex examined the state of the bodies, he found out all of them were new. Based on his estimation, they died probably just a few days ago, as their bodies still had some flesh and were decaying. Alex also knew their origin, as he recognized some of them were wearing the same uniform as the Iron Eagle squad soldiers, who stood behind him.

Turning his head around, Alex gazed at Heinrich, while pointing his finger at the corpses, "Those are your men, Heinrich?"

"Yes... we lost contact with them last week. Hence, the reason for our arrival."

Not even needing to know their motive, Alex knew he would never like this man named Heinrich. He didn't even flinch seeing the corpses of his men, as he walked past their bodies with a calm expression.

As they walked deeper into the area, the group discovered a few military tents that had already been set up. They also found some equipment and supplies scattered around.

"How long have they been here?" Alex asked, as he examined the supplies on the ground.

"Two weeks." Heinrich answered calmly, "This was a combined project between my organization and the Heavenly Gate. So yeah, they had been here since two weeks ago."

Upon hearing that, Cerri that walked in front became irritated, "You thieves deserve such punishment!"

"We only wish to find out about the truth of humanity." Heinrich retorted, earning him a piercing glare from Cerri.

Before the two of them could start their own argument again, Alex swiftly cut them off, "And you? What about you, Cerri? What are you doing here?"

Turning her head with a huff, Cerri replied, "Just keep walking. You will see it soon enough."

After an unknown amount of time, probably an hour, the group finally arrived in front of a pyramid-like structure, but it was shaped differently than the pyramids Alex had seen on the surface. Instead of the common pyramid form, this structure had its own distinct appearance but still kept its pyramid-like essence. It was a ziggurat.

Heinrich immediately rushed into the structure the moment he laid his eyes on it. Alex and the others swiftly followed the man, otherwise he would be going alone into the unknown.

When they entered the inside of the structure, the group was greeted by the sight of a massive hall that screamed archaic, with walls filled with mysterious symbols and inexplicable images. At the moment, one could see the extremely excited Heinrich examining the area.

As Alex scanned the entire hall, he noticed there were two 5 meters statues standing at the end of the hall. Both of the statues had human-like figures, but their heads weren't. One had the head of a crane, while the other had the face of a dog. 

From how the statues were positioned, Alex guessed they were guarding something, and his guess wasn't wrong. Right between the two statues, located a little behind from them, there was something that appeared to be a coffin.

While Heinrich and Ardeth were fascinated by the symbols and images on the wall, Cerri ignored them and quickly approached the end of the hall, exactly where the coffin was. The moment she reached it, Cerri immediately knelt in front of the coffin with a submission posture.

"Master, I have finally returned to your side."

Nudging the awed Ardeth, Alex asked him, "Do you know who could possibly lay there?"

Unfortunately, his question only earned him a shaking head from Ardeth, which showed he had no clue. For a moment, Alex really wanted to question the eligibility of this man's bachelor's degree in archeology.

Meanwhile, Heinrich, who finally noticed the coffin, swiftly approached it. While trembling all over, the man knelt towards the coffin and opened his mouth, "Here lies the Allfather, our creator, Anu."

When Alex glanced at Ardeth asking for explanation, this time the tattooed man was able to give information, "Anu is the heavenly father written in the ancient transcriptions from the old Mesopotamian civilization. Many believe Anu came from space and was the one who brought civilization to our world."

A moment later, Cerri took out a large box from her ring. It was a chest with a golden sheen all over. Alex could see the of two statues of winged people facing each other on top of it. Surprisingly, Ardeth and almost all the Iron Eagle fighters instantly knelt on the ground when they saw the chest's appearance.

Heinrich was also shocked the moment his eyes spotted the object in Cerri's hands.

"The Ark of Covenant!"

The Ark of Covenant was perhaps the most valuable artifact that had ever existed in the history of mankind. It was brought by the Israelites when they left Egypt. Since then, the ark had been following them and giving them victory in their wars, until it was lost the moment Israeli Kingdom was destroyed by the Babylonian.

Ever since then, the ark had been missing from the world, with its whereabouts unknown. Through the centuries, many people had been trying to find the ark, but to no avail. Hence, this was the first time it ever revealed itself again.

Heinrich was flabbergasted and the words coming out of his mouth were incoherent, "Y-you? The Ark? How? It was you who took it from Babylon, didn't you?"

"Yes, when you people keep disappointing my master's will, I decided to keep it."

"Then, it is true! It is true!" Heinrich became more and more excited.

Surprisingly, Cerri turn around facing at Heinrich and raised her hand letting Heinrich to approach the artifacts

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