Chapter 1163: Cursed Guard [Part 5]

That declaration sounded significantly more impressive before they spent the next several minutes searching dead bodies.

Lux crouched beside the chief guard.

Nothing.

He checked the armor first, running his fingers along the black metal while his system scanned every seam, rune, compartment, and enchantment. The man carried two throwing blades, a pouch of crystallized demonic energy, three communication stones, one emergency healing vial, and enough royal insignias to compensate for a deeply insecure personality.

No key.

Lux searched the belt. Nothing.

Boots. Nothing.

He even checked beneath the man’s gauntlets.

Still nothing.

Across the corridor, Runa searched another corpse while Vaelor reluctantly examined the remaining bodies.

Lux straightened. “Anything?”

“No,” Runa answered.

Vaelor shook his head.

Lux looked at the five dead royal guards. “Well.” He planted both hands on his hips. “This is awkward.”

He nudged the chief’s sword with his boot.

No hidden key fell out.

Disappointing.

Lux turned toward Vaelor. “Do you know something?”

The former knight stared at the sealed doors. His expression tightened. Then he shook his head. “My memory…” He touched the side of his skull. “…is still jumbled.”

Lux’s annoyance softened immediately.

Right.

Hundreds of years.

Forced transformation.

Curses.

Mind control.

Centuries spent trapped inside a body Kaelmor had turned into a living lock.

Expecting Vaelor to suddenly remember administrative security procedures was probably unreasonable.

“Yeah.” Lux sighed and glanced toward the bodies. “I should’ve left one of them alive.”

Vaelor went still.

Lux continued casually. “Could’ve asked where the lock was before you turned the interrogation department into a morgue.”

Vaelor lowered his head. “Sorry.”

Lux looked at him. “Don’t be.”

Vaelor’s gold eye lifted.

“I understand your anger.” Lux crouched and wiped one dagger against the chief’s cloak. “I’d probably do the same if I were you.”

Vaelor studied him.

Lux shrugged. “Actually, considering my personality, I might’ve been worse.”

Vaelor’s shoulders relaxed slightly.

Then…

“Guys.”

Runa’s voice came from beside the doors.

“You need to see this.”

Lux turned.

She was crouching near the lower-right corner of the enormous doorway, one hand hovering over something hidden beneath several overlapping runes.

Lux immediately approached.

Vaelor followed. “What did you find?”

Runa pointed.

Lux crouched beside her.

For several seconds, all three stared.

There was a diagram.

At least Lux assumed it was a diagram.

A circular arrangement of lines had been carved into the white stone, partially hidden beneath the larger royal formations. Several smaller circles overlapped one another. Strange symbols connected them, while five curved markings surrounded an elongated central shape.

Vaelor leaned closer. “Is this the lock?”

Lux slowly turned his head. “That was supposed to be my question.”

Vaelor blinked.

Lux gestured toward him. “You’ve been here for, what, a hundred years? Two hundred? Possibly several hundred? And you know nothing?”

“They never let me know anything.”

“Nothing?”

“No.”

“You guarded the door.”

“I guarded the corridor.”

Lux stared.

Vaelor stared back.

“They activated my curse whenever someone approached. I was never allowed beyond this point unless they commanded me.”

Lux closed his eyes. “Great.”

Kaelmor had apparently understood basic compartmentalization.

Runa ignored both of them and traced one claw above the diagram without touching it. “It looks like the lock.”

Lux leaned closer. “It looks like a picture drawn by drunk witches.”

Runa and Vaelor looked at him.

At exactly the same time.

Lux glanced between them. “What?”

Neither answered.

“I won’t revise what I said.”

Runa sighed. “Look properly.” She pointed toward the center. “This part.”

Lux followed her finger.

The elongated central shape.

Five curved markings around it.

Wait.

Lux narrowed his eyes. “Oh.”

Runa nodded. “It looks like a hand.”

Vaelor crouched beside them. “A hand?”

“Palm,” Runa corrected. “I think.”

Lux tilted his head.

Once she said it, he couldn’t unsee it.

Five fingers.

Palm.

Some kind of recognition formation.

Possibly identity-based.

“Magic lock,” Runa said. “Something should trigger it.”

Lux looked toward Vaelor. “Any ideas?”

Vaelor glanced toward the corpses. “We checked them. They didn’t carry anything.”

Lux stared at the palm-shaped diagram. “So…” His eyes slowly drifted toward the bodies. “…we need a palm.”

Runa immediately looked at him. “Lux.”

“What?”

That tone.

She was using the tone his women tended to use immediately before he did something technically logical but morally questionable.

Lux stood.

Vaelor watched him cross the corridor toward the chief guard.

Lux drew one dagger.

Runa’s ears flattened. “Lux.”

“We need a palm.”

“That doesn’t necessarily mean—”

-SHHK!

Lux’s dagger cut through the chief guard’s wrist.

The severed hand separated.

Lux raised the severed arm slightly. “I got the palm.”

Runa covered her face.

“I guess,” Lux added.

Vaelor’s mouth twitched.

Lux noticed. “Oh, don’t start. You were using one of them as a wall decoration ten minutes ago.”

Vaelor immediately became serious again.

Lux walked back toward the diagram carrying the severed arm and crouched.

He rotated the arm. “Which way?”

Runa stared at him. “Palm against it.”

“Yes, thank you. I understood that portion.”

He pressed the dead guard’s palm against the diagram.

Nothing happened.

Lux waited.

Still nothing.

He pressed harder.

The fingers bent unpleasantly.

Nothing.

Lux moved the hand slightly to the left. Nothing.

Right. Nothing.

He lifted it. Pressed again. Nothing.

Runa crossed her arms. “What now?”

Lux stared at the hand. Then at the diagram. “Maybe…” His gaze dropped toward the chief’s corpse. “…blood?”

Runa and Vaelor looked at him.

Lux slowly turned. “What?”

Runa’s expression was magnificent. “Your solution to everything is becoming increasingly concerning.”

“Demon locks use blood all the time.”

Vaelor frowned. “They do?”

“Yes.”

Lux gestured around them. “Blood seals. Blood contracts. Bloodline recognition. Sacrificial authentication. Blood-key formations. Hell has an unhealthy obsession with bodily fluids.”

Runa sighed.

Lux lifted the arm. “Besides, what else are we going to try? Asking politely?” He faced the door. “Hello, terrifying ancient prison door. Would you kindly open because we’re staging an unauthorized royal asset liberation?”

Nothing happened.

Lux looked at Runa. “See?”

“You didn’t have to actually try.”

“Scientific method.”