Chapter 244: Aelric’s Mistake

Aelric’s sudden movement had successfully given the group a near-fatal heart attack.

As a matter of fact, the cohort itself was in a state of extreme consternation. Looking at them now, one would hardly believe they were the same survivors who had fought tooth and nail to reach where they were.

For one brief second, they were reminded of the unfortunate fate that had befallen them the instant Valmyr’s impetuousness had gotten the better of him, causing him to act without impunity.

Out of the greed and avarice of his heart, the failed Vanguard had decided that walking into uncharted territory was perhaps the safest—and most profitable—thing to do.

All because he wanted to maximize his gains, he had actually thought in naivety that the sarcophagi might contain treasures; treasures he wanted to gladly hoard for himself.

Instead, he had nearly gotten them killed.

If there was one lesson they had learned from that experience, it was that one should never blindly trust one’s instincts, especially when those instincts were being driven by greed. The moment Valmyr had decided to act on his impulse, the failed Vanguard had managed to unleash a calamity upon them.

In less than the time it took for a single breath, the Terracotta warriors stationed throughout the crypt had been activated. With no failsafe in place, the group had possessed no other choice but to fight their way out.

Even with their strength and wits, they had barely managed to escape that harrowing plight. And just when they had finally begun to recover from it and reassess their priorities, Aelric had committed the exact same mistake as the failed Vanguard.

Honestly, there was nothing they wouldn’t have traded for super speed at that moment. Unfortunately, reality did not always indulge desperate wishes.

Thus, they could only watch as one step from Aelric’s foot activated a sequence of ominous mechanisms that might plunge them straight into an abyss of despair.

Hearing their sudden screams, Aelric stopped a few meters from the sarcophagi and turned around, his brows furrowed in confusion.

"What’s wrong? Why are you screaming like that?" He asked, bewilderment lingering within those emerald orbs of his.

"What’s wrong?" Vaelorin repeated, the question emerging from his mouth with the cadence of a man on the verge of losing his temper.

The failed Pyromancer dragged a hand through his hair, his fiery eyes wide with disbelief.

"Do you realize what you just did?" he shouted. "You’ve just put us in trouble, and this time, it isn’t the kind that can be solved by simply running away!"

At this point, Vaelorin was almost experiencing a full-blown panic.

He had never advocated for coming to this place in the first place. In fact, he had tried to dissuade them from undertaking the expedition.

One could therefore imagine what was going through his head after discovering that the expedition he had been forced to join might turn into something that would bury them all in an unmarked grave.

Vaelorin did not feel safe, not even remotely... And that was despite being a Vein Awakener. Apparently, the psychological scars left by their first expedition were gnawing at his mental fortitude like a rat trapped inside a grain store.

Aelric remained utterly perplexed by Vaelorin’s outburst and the group’s sudden apprehension until Regaleon finally explained the situation.

"You see, Aelric, the reason we shouted at you is because crossing that line..."

Regaleon pointed toward the geometric circle laid across the dais, its circumference glowing faintly beneath Aelric’s feet.

"...is actually a trigger for a massive activation sequence, and that tends to animate the Terracotta warriors around us."

The silver-haired Knight had barely finished speaking when a series of deep, grinding stone cracks began echoing throughout the crypt.

Everyone suddenly froze, a cold sensation crawling down their spine. The recognized that sound and with eyes filled with horror, the group slowly turned toward the army of stone warriors standing upon their obsidian platforms just in time to see their heads move.

The Terracottas were no longer staring toward the entrance. Instead, in a synchronized and utterly eerie manner, every single one of them turned its head toward the raised dais... Toward the nine figures standing upon it.

Their empty visors were fixed upon the group and then, in the next instant, those visors began blazing with a fiery crimson glow.

Some of them actually took a few steps backward because at the sight of those glowing war-born visages, memories they had long since suppressed came spilling forth, surging into their minds like rushing water breaking through a collapsed dam.

"Oh, we are doomed..."

Veyrath uttered the words in an absolutely despondent tone, one that communicated the sheer catastrophe of the situation better than any elaborate speech could.

In the next moment, the group watched in horror as the Terracottas began jumping down from their raised platforms.

THUD!

The first impact against the obsidian avenue was enough to send Vaelorin into a near-mad frenzy.

"I told you..." His voice cracked. "I told you!"

He began gesturing wildly, his staff nearly slipping from his grasp.

"I told you that we shouldn’t have come back here! We could have just left the Scarlet Canopy and begun our journey to the Sanctuary, but no!"

He pointed accusingly at Aelric. "You just had to lead us back to this accursed tomb!" Pointing towards the others, he then added. "And you guys had to just support this foolishness!"

The more Vaelorin spoke, the more hysterical he became, until he was almost resembling a prophet announcing the end of the world.

Valmyr stared at him. "Are you finished?"

"No!" Vaelorin practically shrieked at the same instant another Terracotta landed below.

THUD!

Vaelorin flinched.

"Definitely not!"

Meanwhile, the rest of the group trembled in trepidation at the sight of the armed stone warriors advancing toward them.

Aelric, however, suddenly spoke in the most casual manner imaginable.

"Oh..." He glanced toward the Terracottas. "So that’s why you tried to stop me from walking near the coffins."

There was a dead silence at his statement. The sheer lackadaisical manner in which the green-eyed youth spoke was almost insulting; actually, it was borderline provocative.

To make matters worse, he continued speaking, his voice perfectly measured and utterly devoid of the fear consuming everyone else.

"However, I see no reason why a bunch of Terracottas would frighten you." He tilted his head. "I mean, I expected better from you."

For a moment, the group simply stared at him.

Aelric sounded as though he were mildly disappointed in children who had become frightened by harmless shadows.

Although the green-eyed youth was merely holding them to a high standard, at that moment, it sounded suspiciously like he was taunting them and that was something the group did not appreciate, especially not when an entire army of murderous stone warriors was marching toward them.

For a brief moment, they actually forgot about the approaching Terracottas and turned their attention toward Aelric.

The green-eyed youth was still wearing that infuriatingly composed expression he seemed to possess regardless of circumstance.

Veyrath’s eyelid twitched, Vaelorin looked ready to strangle him and even Kaeloris stared at him with a mixture of disbelief and irritation, his scholarly curiosity already wiped away from his face completely.

"How can you possibly be this calm?" Caelestra finally asked.

Aelric merely shrugged. Before anyone else could speak, he shook his head and released an exhausted sigh. "You people really do worry too much."

In the meantime, the Terracottas continued their advance. Stone feet struck obsidian in rhythmic succession, each impact echoing through the crypt like the tolling of an execution bell, leaving dust and pebbles billowing in their wake.

Yet Aelric seemed completely unconcerned. Then, in the next moment, he did something that almost made the eyes of the group pop out of their sockets...