Chapter 249: The Secret Spot

Despite the others bickering, Aelric paid them little attention. Upon hearing Valmyr’s confident words, he merely flashed a small smile in his direction, his green eyes carrying an almost mischievous glint.

"I wouldn’t be so sure about that, Valmyr." He said in a mysterious manner.

He then reached into the coffin and carefully lifted the skeleton’s head, running his fingers along the stony protrusion that served as a pillow beneath the corpse.

Seeing this deliberate action, Regaleon’s eyes narrowed. His golden gaze immediately settled upon Aelric’s hands, following every movement with keen concentration.

However, he was not the only one observing because standing opposite him, Aureleah had likewise kept her attention fixed upon the green-eyed youth.

Ever since Aelric had displayed his extraordinarily perceptive observation of the crypt upon their arrival, the silver-haired Assassin had understood that his decision to accompany them was motivated by something more than coincidence and this was despite the fact that he had initially tried to cover up his true intentions.

Furthermore, their subsequent discoveries had gradually revealed the nature of that motive, particularly his connection to the Knight Templars and the mysterious Key.

Nevertheless, Aureleah could not determine whether Aelric had been entirely truthful or whether his revelations were merely an elaborate ruse designed to divert their attention from his true objective.

Despite that uncertainty, she still believed him. However, unlike Regaleon, her confidence did not originate from some prior knowledge or correlation between Aelric’s words and her own experiences.

Rather, it stemmed from a simpler observation: Aelric did not strike her as someone who would construct an elaborate scheme merely to deceive a group of people he had known for only a few days.

As an Assassin, Aureleah had been trained to discern sincerity through speech, posture, expression, and subtle alterations in demeanor. Although Aelric possessed a higher cultivation than her, that disparity did not diminish her ability to observe him.

If anything, it only made her scrutiny even more deliberate.

This is because most people who possessed overwhelming strength often became complacent, assuming that those beneath them lacked the capacity to perceive their intentions; therefore, they sometimes see no need to be wary of those beneath.

And Aureleah had long ago learned that such arrogance was precisely what allowed an Assassin to see through them.

Thus, she had reached a sufficiently sound judgment to accept the revelations surrounding the crypt, from the existence of the Knight Templars to the secretive Cult that had safeguarded the Keys of the First Oath.

Beneath her stoic exterior, Aureleah was every bit as stunned as the others.

This was the first time she had received such an extensive account of Aetherium’s ancient history. Some portions were undoubtedly exaggerated, and others had become distorted through centuries of retelling, but that did not diminish their significance.

If anything, the fragments Aelric had provided suggested that the history they knew was merely the visible surface of something far older and more complicated.

And it was precisely because of this realization that she had been interested in bringing Aelric to the crypt in the first place.

Meanwhile, Aelric continued running his palm along the edge of the stone pillow, searching for the mechanism that would reveal the hidden chamber. His fingers moved slowly across the weathered surface, yet he seemed unable to locate the opening.

Regaleon’s eyes narrowed further.

Then, without hesitation, he extended one finger and pointed toward an almost imperceptible seam where the stone pillow connected with the inner wall of the sarcophagus.

"There..."

Aelric paused slightly, lifting his head to look at the silver-haired Knight.

"That is the mechanism for opening it," Regaleon said with absolute certainty.

A flicker of surprise appeared within Aelric’s green eyes as he looked toward the silver-haired Knight. However, he did not ask how Regaleon had discovered the concealed mechanism; instead, he seemed to reach his own conclusion almost immediately.

Regaleon was observant, intelligent, and far more perceptive than his quiet demeanor suggested.

Had Aelric known the truth, he might have found the coincidence rather amusing. Regaleon had identified the mechanism because, during their first visit, he had already suspected that the crypt had been constructed for a purpose far more consequential than an elaborate burial and had even come perilously close to discovering the secret hidden beneath the coffin.

Aelric simply pressed the location Regaleon had indicated.

The stone sank beneath his finger and a strange clicking sound immediately echoed through the crypt.

The others widened their eyes as the stony pillow began separating down the middle, its two halves sliding apart with mechanical precision. Yet that was only the beginning.

Along with the pillow, the entire sarcophagus suddenly shifted.

The ancient structure separated with astonishing smoothness, opening like an enormous curtain being drawn aside by invisible hands.

The skeleton lying within moved along with the mechanism, its brittle bones breaking apart into several sections that slid in different directions before disappearing completely into the surrounding stone.

"Woah...!"

Sylveris’s exclamation rang through the chamber. Her silver eyes shone with childlike fascination as she leaned forward, barely containing her excitement.

She was not alone in her astonishment.

The others stared at the unfolding mechanism with varying degrees of shock. Even Vaelorin, who had spent much of their exploration complaining about the crypt, had momentarily forgotten to complain.

Caelestra’s composed expression had given way to open fascination, while Kaeloris pushed his spectacles higher upon his nose as though doing so might somehow make the impossible sight easier to comprehend.

His eyes were also gleaming with scholarly curiosity and there was no doubt that the failed Gnost was already trying to figure out how the mechanism works, if he hadn’t known about it already in the first place.

Valmyr simply stood there, his mouth slightly open in an ’o’ shape. The same man who had confidently informed Aelric that he was mistaken now looked like someone who had just been presented with irrefutable evidence of his own foolishness.

After several moments, the interior of the coffin finally opened completely, revealing another layer concealed beneath its apparent structure.

A secret chamber and at the center of that chamber rested a relic.

For several heartbeats, nobody spoke as they swept their glances over the object laying within the chamber.

The object was unlike anything they had seen in the crypt before. It rested upon a small stone pedestal, isolated from the surrounding mechanism as though the entire elaborate structure had been designed solely to protect it.

Aelric’s eyes immediately brightened. Then, he slowly turned toward Valmyr, and a teasing smile appeared upon his face.

"Valmyr, what were you saying before?"

The bulky youth froze, especially when he saw the unmistakable mocking gleam in Aelric’s eyes and a portion of his face suddenly flushed red with embarrassment.

For someone whose physique made him appear considerably more intimidating than his peers, the sudden expression of mortification looked strangely incongruous, almost as though a heavily armed warrior had been caught sneaking sweets from a child’s cupboard.

Sylveris immediately covered her mouth, but the mischievous sparkle in her eyes made it obvious that she was struggling not to laugh.

Veyrath turned away, shoulders trembling. Even Aureleah’s usually impassive expression softened by the slightest degree and there was no doubt that Vaelorin would have taken a jab at him had the red-haired Pyromancer not been occupied with staring into the chamber at the moment.

Valmyr clenched his jaw and in a desperate bid to reclaim his lost face, he spoke through gritted teeth. "I merely said I didn’t see a Key but I never doubted you from the beginning."

Aelric’s smile widened, then he shook his head at Valmyr’s antics. Seeing this, for once, the failed Vanguard had no immediate retort.

Yet the humor quickly faded as the significance of what they had uncovered settled upon everyone. This was not merely a hidden compartment or an ingenious burial mechanism, it was something meant to hide a secret, the kind that could very well influence the course of the world they know itself...