The spirits trembled before Abis, just like devout believers in front of their gods, filled with awe and dare not be the least bit disrespectful. After Abis assured them that if they were unsuccessful, Princess Leona's body would be returned and the safety of the village guaranteed, the ghosts silently led Abis and Flora towards the distant mountains.
The princess's tomb had only one entrance, located in a natural cave. The entrance was an irregularly shaped natural stone, blending seamlessly with the cave wall and appearing completely natural. Even the most experienced adventurers would find it difficult to perceive that it was actually the entrance to a princess's tomb.
"This is the entrance to Princess Leona's tomb. The guards and I are not qualified to enter. I can only bring you here," the ghost said in a hoarse voice.
"We will take it from here," Abis nodded approvingly. "You can rest now."
"I humbly request the dark wizard to protect our village and spare our descendants from suffering," the ghost lingered.
"I, Flora Sicatia St. Flossespleen, in the name of the Nine Spirits, promise to protect the villagers from harm," Flora solemnly assured the ghost.
In this world, a promise made to a god under one's true full name held great power and bound the individual. Those who broke such a promise would undoubtedly suffer misfortune, and Flora could not possibly be unaware of this fact.
The ghost trembled slightly. It knew that Flora was once a saint and understood the significance of the Nine Spirits to this young girl. Finally, it let go of its worries, nodded at Flora, and gradually disappeared into thin air.
"Alright, we can go in now," Abis tilted his head towards the stone door. "I won't let you break your oath."
Flora instinctively held Abis's hand. In just a few short days, she had become accustomed to Abis's comings and goings in the Darkness.
With a snap of his fingers, Abis stood in front of the stone door and paused for a moment. Then he extended his hand towards the door.
Abis's hand quickly became covered in sharp bone armor, and a faint buzzing sound filled the cave. As the buzzing grew stronger, Abis's hand began to tremble. Then, the bone armor on his hand shot out like arrows, directly hitting the stone door. The door was solid and heavy, but compared to the bones launched by Abis, it seemed as fragile as sugar. A palm-sized hole appeared on the door with a loud crack, followed by a series of cracks.
After that, Abis kicked the door.
The door made a cracking sound, and debris fell, but it remained intact.
"...You go ahead," a wounded Abis covered his face and hid behind Flora.
...
After entering through the entrance, they found themselves in an unremarkable underground passage. The walls around them had been haphazardly chiseled, with the marks of axes still visible. There were no sources of light. Instead of a princess's tomb, it felt more like an unsafe abandoned mine.
"Perhaps it's about to collapse," Abis looked at the cracks on both sides of the walls and said, "There are quite a few cracks."
"If it collapses, the princess and her secrets will forever be buried underground, right?" Flora said sadly, "Cursed to death and hastily buried, it's so unfair to Princess Leona."
"Not only will they be buried, but the princess's body will also be damaged," Abis extended his index finger, "Even with magic and alchemical preservatives, I don't particularly enjoy digging up an ancient meat pie from underground."
Flora looked at Abis with a disgusted expression.
"But if you say the queen is not concerned about this tomb, then she really is wrongly accused," Abis smiled and pointed at the ground beneath Flora's feet, "Take a look at what you stepped on."
Flora immediately looked down, only to see uneven steps carved into the ground.
"Don't worry, take another look now," Abis blew lightly towards the ground.A dense array of magic runes instantly appeared in front of Flora's eyes, numerous runes combining to form lines like a spider's web, covering the ground and blocking the path ahead.
"If we weren't in Darkness, these magic arrays would have been triggered by now when we entered," Abis walked forward without a care, "But it doesn't matter anymore. Even if we were to dance here in this tomb, it wouldn't affect the real world - I actually know a dance to perform in front of graves, do you want to learn?"
"No, thanks..." Flora immediately declined.
"Sooner or later, you'll dance with me," Abis chuckled softly, in a good mood.
With their dark vision, they didn't need any lighting equipment like torches. They followed the path, which became steeper as they descended about forty or fifty meters. Suddenly, the view ahead opened up and they entered a relatively spacious area. It was a hall with an area of about three to four hundred square meters. However, despite its large size, the underground hall was empty. There wasn't even a single brazier, only a luxurious coffin decorated with gold and gems lying lonely in the center, giving off a strange atmosphere.
The densely-packed and hair-raising magic runes intertwined to form a giant web throughout the entire hall, constantly rotating. Even a mouse entering could be immediately detected.
"The magic runes here are even more densely packed," Flora marveled, "It must have cost a fortune to build a magic array of this scale."
"This place is heavily guarded, like the teeth of a ghoul. It seems the Queen's confidantes replenish the materials for this magic array every six months to keep it running," Abis sneered, "The royal family wouldn't easily waste money on an unseen place like this. The Queen must have her reasons. Things are getting more and more interesting."
"Now, how do you plan to retrieve the princess's body? There should be a magic array in the coffin as well, right?" Flora looked at Abis, not sure what to do. She had countless ways to retrieve the princess's body using her expertise in spirits, but none of them could be done without triggering the magic array.
"There is a way. This magic array can only detect physical objects, not souls," Abis nodded and touched the ring in his hand, releasing the illusion of a mage.
"My master, is there something you need?" the illusion of the mage respectfully asked Abis.
"Travik, have you seen the magic arrays around us? Can you tell what magic spell this magic array corresponds to?" Abis pointed to the rotating magic runes around them and asked.
The mage illusion named Travik looked around, pondered for a moment, and said, "This is a magnified seventh-level magic, Arcane Spiderweb. There is one in the coffin as well, connected to a sending magic array."
"That's right, Arcane Spiderweb. I need you to stay here for a month and chant the spell of Arcane Spiderweb in reverse. Use your mana to temporarily paralyze it," Abis said, "It shouldn't be difficult for you, and as an undead, you won't feel any discomfort."
"Well... that's not a problem... but..."
"Meet your two card-playing friends," Abis directly released the illusions of two other people. As soon as they saw Travik, they happily called out.
"Ah, someone to play cards with me is all I need. Master, leave this to me!" Travik immediately became joyful and promised as he patted his chest.
Seeing that Flora was a bit confused, Abis sent Travik and the other two souls back to the real world while explaining to her, "He was an elf mage who immersed himself in magic for many years. Although his own strength was average, he was very knowledgeable. I would often seek his advice on non-necromantic magic spells. I had him chant the magic spell in reverse to interfere with the detection magic array, temporarily halting it without triggering the sending mechanism. And Travik has a huge passion for card games. As long as someone plays cards with him, he'll be happy."
Travik, who was sent to the real world, immediately started playing cards with his two friends. His mouth was not idle either. A string of messed up incantations flowed out of his mouth due to chanting in reverse, and the magic runes that were originally glowing around him actually extinguished in a brief flicker."That should do it. I'll go and carry Princess Leona out while you stay here and don't move," said Abis as he also grabbed Flora's hand, and the two of them left Darkness together.
Flora obediently stayed in place, watching as Abis casually walked over to the coffin and skillfully lifted the lid. He reached inside and started feeling around with one hand.
"So he resurrects the dead directly inside the coffin..."
"Ah, success!" Abis smiled satisfactorily and extended his hand towards the coffin, saying, "Come, grab my hand and come out... huh?!"
Before Abis could finish speaking, a small hand suddenly reached out from the coffin and grabbed his throat. With a swift pull, it dragged his entire body into the coffin!
Flora rubbed her forehead, admitting that Abis was incredibly strong, but why did she feel absolutely no surprise when he had an accident halfway?
