Chapter 58: Relic

“Boss, is there really a switch to open this door?” Ba Lun knocked on the big door with his axe, and a dull sound came from inside.

They searched around for a long time but found no mechanism that could open this large door.

“Step back a bit,” Su Lun said, waving his hand. He decided to force the door open. Looking at the marks on the door, he guessed the mechanism inside might have been broken long ago, and even if they found it, they probably couldn’t activate it.

Su Lun reached out and pressed his hand against the rusty iron door. Then he tensed his muscles, and the two iron doors let out a grating, unpleasant sound as they slowly began to move.

Dust fell heavily from above the door as the heavy iron doors gradually shifted.

“Bang, bang, bang!”

A series of metallic snapping sounds came from behind the door, and the thick stone door slowly but surely opened. Once the door was halfway open, Su Lun let out a sigh of relief, rubbed his arms, and a musty, rotten smell drifted out from inside.

Su Lun did not enter immediately. Who knew if the air inside had turned poisonous after all this time? He casually summoned a gust of wind and sent it into the doorway. Soon, air carrying a strong scent of decay and mildew blew out.

After two or three cycles of air exchange, the smell inside became normal. Two Barbarians, holding newly made torches, stepped in first.

Once inside, the light grew much dimmer. Under the torchlight, they could finally see the passage clearly—a corridor about four meters wide and three meters high. On both sides stood rows of bronze wall lamps. The corridor was pitch black, and it was unclear where it led.

Walking further down the passage, Su Lun soon spotted a corpse that had decayed into a pile of white bones. Judging by its clothing, it must have been an Adventurer. The clothes on the corpse were torn and tattered, and a few broken arrows were stuck in its chest. This unlucky fellow must have triggered a trap in the corridor and been shot to death.

After a quick search, they found nothing on the body except a rusty weapon. Just as they were about to move on, the skeletal remains slowly stood up.

“Undead?” Su Lun wasn’t surprised to see the skeleton revive. When he entered the corridor, he had sensed that the Negative Energy here was quite high. Corpses left in such places had a high chance of awakening as Undead.

This skeleton did not have the glow of a soul fire in its eyes, which meant it was just the lowest form of revived skeleton. These low-level Undead were easy to deal with; a farmer could smash one to pieces if they overcame their fear. As an Undead creature, it was very sensitive to the presence of living beings. As soon as it stood up, it grabbed the rusty weapon and tried to attack Su Lun.

But before it could strike, a large axe swept horizontally and shattered its bones. The broken bones scattered everywhere, leaving only a skull at its feet. A steel boot stepped on it, and with a loud crack, the skull was crushed into pieces.

“Be careful, there might still be traps inside,” Su Lun said after dealing with the skeleton. The group continued deeper into the passage. Actually, when exploring such ruins, it was best to have a thief along, since thieves were familiar with all kinds of traps and hidden mechanisms and could disarm them easily. In Su Lun’s group, aside from the Barbarians, there was only him, so they had to rely on brute force.

Fortunately, someone had already been here before, so many of the traps could not be triggered again. Only the expensive, cleverly crafted traps could reset after being activated.

As they went further down the corridor, the eerie feeling grew stronger. Soon, Su Lun spotted three more corpses that had also decayed into skeletons.

One of the skeletons had three broken ribs, likely caused by a blunt weapon. The other two had at least ten arrows stuck in them. Su Lingave them a quick check and found a few Silver Nael on the bodies, along with some decayed Parchment. The Parchment had become so tattered over time that the writing on it was no longer legible.

These bodies had not turned into Undead, and Su Lun guessed it was because their skeletons were too badly damaged. After sweeping the bodies aside, the group moved on. Just then, a creaking sound echoed through the empty corridor, like a rusty door hinge suddenly opening.

Immediately after, a dark shadow rushed toward them from ahead. The Barbarian Warrior at the front quickly raised his Two-Handed Axe. The wide blade acted like a shield, covering most of his body. The shadow slammed into the axe with a loud thud, and the Barbarian was pushed back several steps.

Only then did Su Lun see clearly—it was a wooden log as thick as a bowl, its front wrapped in a layer of copper. Although it was just wood, the impact was still powerful. Seeing this, Su Lun realized that the corpse with the broken ribs must have been killed by this trap. What surprised him was that the trap was still functional after hundreds of years.

As the log pulled back to build momentum for another strike, another Barbarian Warrior nearby swung his axe and cut the chain holding the log. The log lost balance and slammed into the wall.

After dismantling the trap, Su Lun checked on the Barbarian who had been hit. Despite the heavy impact, he had blocked it with his axe first, and with his armor protecting him, the tough Barbarian was unharmed, though he looked a bit disheveled from the fall.

After this encounter, the group became much more cautious. They took the log and used it as a tool to check for traps ahead. It had to be said, this Relic was surprisingly well preserved. Along the way, they encountered many more traps—stepping on a floor tile triggered dozens of crossbow bolts to shoot out from the walls, or a floor panel suddenly flipped over to reveal sharp blades below.

These traps might work against ordinary Adventurers, but they were useless against Su Lun’s group. With their equipment and quick reactions, they easily deflected the arrows. As for the flipping floor traps, they were triggered by the heavy log they carried.

As they continued, Su Lun found no more corpses. It seemed the three they had discovered earlier were the last members of that Adventurer party. Perhaps there had been a survivor who, after seeing his companions die, gave up and left.

They continued to break through the traps with brute force, moving at a steady pace. A few minutes later, another stone door appeared before them.