Chapter 861: Produced By Dwarves
“Why would the dwarves have a blueprint of the mausoleum?” Lin Li asked in surprise after hearing Hoffman’s introduction. His question was rather critical. After all, it was the mausoleum of the High Elven royals, and it contained danger that was far beyond ordinary people’s imagination. Exploring with a wrong sketch would be much more dangerous than exploring slowly step by step.
Hoffman didn’t mind Lin Li’s questioning, and seriously explained, “According to those materials, the amicable rule of Prince Brahere gave him a very high prestige in the Dwarf Kingdom. Even after his death, the entire Dwarf Kingdom mourned his demise. After that, the Dwarf Kingdom spontaneously summoned almost all of their top craftsmen to design and build this mausoleum for him. The blueprint of the mausoleum was leaked by the descendants of the top craftsmen from back then.”
Davos leaned over the table mindlessly, not bothering to keep himself poised. He carefully scrutinized the torn sketch in front of him for a while. After hearing Hoffman’s explanation, he returned to his seat, and said, “Judging from the traces of ink and the material, the age of this sketch is true. As for whether or not it’s a blueprint of the mausoleum, I think there’s a 80% chance that it is.”
In fact, the blueprint was no big deal. After all, the dwarves had merely constructed the mausoleum, while the various protective measures in the mausoleum were designed by specialists who were High Elves. Besides, the blueprint was incomplete and tattered. There were very few portions that could be seen clearly.
Lin Li and the rest could only deduce the general structure of the mausoleum from the blueprint. It was not easy to obtain treasures based on the sketch alone. According to the information on it, they could tell that there were seven floors to the mausoleum. The first six floors were for the guardians of the mausoleum, while the seventh floor was where Prince Brahere’s coffin was located. However, they could not tell the differences between each of the first six floors based on the sketch alone.
“That’s all the information that we can find now. I’m afraid we will have to go in and explore the tomb in detail ourselves. We can stop excavating outside.” Hoffman was not too disappointed. Right from the beginning, he had never expected for the blueprint to play much of a role. It was good enough that they could understand the mausoleum’s layout a little.
However, everyone discussed it, and when they were about to enter the tomb, someone outside reported to them that the expedition team of the Mithril Alliance and the Caesar Family had disappeared.
“The lights are still on in the Mithril Alliance’s and Caesar Family’s camp, and there are people who are constantly patrolling as well, but we discovered that the figures in the tents are fake. I reckon most of their members are no longer in the camp,” the person who was in charge of monitoring explained to Hoffman and Lin Li.
Upon hearing the news, everyone in the tent just made eye contact with each other, and they unanimously looked like they had gained a clear understanding. At this juncture, the other party definitely wouldn’t just leave all of a sudden. They had clearly discovered the massive value of the ruins. Hence, they were eager about entering the mausoleum.
In the High Elves’ mausoleum, stone scepters were not only meant to be symbols of the owner’ status when he was still alive, but were also indicators of his age. There might be hundreds or thousands of scepters. The two expedition teams explored the same area, and there was no reason for them to find a stone scepter while the other team did not.
After finding the stone scepters, they could naturally tell that the ruin was actually a High Elf’s mausoleum. They might’ve even concluded that the owner of the mausoleum was a royal of the High Elves. Among the ruins of the High Elves, the mausoleums had always been recognized as the most valuable category. The mausoleums of the High Elven royals were definitely much more attractive.
However, even though they knew that they were a step behind the opposing party, Lin Li, Hoffman, and the rest did not look anxious at all. The fact that the other party was so eager could only say that they already knew that the ruin was the mausoleum of the High Elven royals. It also showed that their knowledge of the mausoleum seemed to be limited to that. If they knew that the owner of the mausoleum was Prince Brahere, the younger brother of the High Elven queen, no amount of temptation would make them forget about being cautious.
“There’s a good show!” Lin Li said smilingly.
Hoffman’s eyes squinted and a sly smile graced his chubby face. “Great, we’re almost done too. Let’s go and see what we can get from Prince Brahere’s mausoleum.”
What we can get? The High Elven royal’s mausoleum is already impressive enough, and Prince Brahere is the younger brother of the High Elven queen, who is also a royal. How can it be easy to excavate his mausoleum!?
The Glittergold Trade Union and the Tower of Dusk even managed to get a torn blueprint, and didn’t have much confidence in the excavation of the mausoleum. One could only imagine the consequences that they would face by barging in.
Under the orders of Hoffman and Lin Li, the expedition teams of both forces immediately started setting off. They packed up and cleaned up the camp without having to cover up like the other party. They openly advanced into the depths of the Gargas Canyon. The remainder Mithril Alliance and the Caesar Family immediately panicked when they saw the scene. Later on, they followed Lin Li and the rest under the lead of their leader.
The area where the camps of the two expedition teams were located was still some distance away from the real mausoleum. Besides, there were winding roads in the canyon, and thus Hoffman, Lin Li, and others had not really seen the real mausoleum yet. Along the way, they saw a lot of corpses of monsters and some traces of magic gears and magic traps. However, it was clear that those things did not cause any loss to the other party’s expedition team.
After walking for about five or six minutes, they made a turn at the canyon, and their vision suddenly cleared up. Although the Gargas canyon was not narrow as it was called an insurmountable moat, the area in front of their eyes was obviously much wider than other areas. In the entire Gargas canyon that spanned thousands of miles, the area that they were in could be considered the widest and the most impossible section to surpass.
It was called insurmountable partly because the canyon was wider than usual, but also more importantly because there was a terrifying vortex of power hidden in it. Under the influence of the huge power vortex, even a bird or a powerful beast that wanted to fly over would instantly be torn into pieces by that power. For a long time, people thought that that vortex was a natural storm in the canyon, but it now seemed to be a different case.
Right in the center, there was a dome that looked like a palace. It was slightly different from the traditional style of the High Elves. There were not too many ornate decorations on the outside, which gave off an elegant and noble yet not extravagant vibe. The material used in the entire building made it look like it was a sculpture made of ice and jade, emitting a bright light at the bottom of the pitch-black canyon. The terrifying power vortex was from the mageweaths that were constantly flashing on the building.
However, the building was not too large. It was at least much smaller than Osric’s mausoleum which was like a microcosm. Outsiders who did not know what was going on would probably be a little disappointed upon seeing it, but Lin Li, Hoffman, and the others knew that it was only the bottom of the mausoleum, and that the Prince Brahere’s real mausoleum should be beneath the palace.
There were plenty of magical beast corpses around the palace, but they clearly had not been killed by the expedition team of the Mithril Alliance and the Caesar Family—the corpses were mostly covered in ice. They were relatively low in level, and they were creatures like the ice wolves and snow bears. There were also powerful Snow Demons, some of which were Legendary-level. They existed there like frozen amber for numerous years.
“It’s no wonder that the stone scepter and the broken items could be found so far away. These beasts have come to disturb Prince Brahere’s slumber many years ago,” Lin Li said while smacking a snow monster ice sculpture.
If they were ordinary beasts, they would naturally only be interested in food and building nests, but those beasts were rather different, and magical objects were also attractive to them. The stone scepters, sculptures, stone tablets engraved with magic symbols, and so on might not have any more magical waves and seem just like ordinary stones, but the best magical gemstones were probably used back then. However, the magical beasts seemed to have paid a huge price for those items, as evidenced by their corpses.
“President Felic, should we wait here and observe the situation or enter the mausoleum now?” Looking at the ice and snow palace that was not far away, Hoffman was also a little excited as his voice seemed to tremble slightly.
“Let’s wait a while. I reckon the expedition team of the Mithril Alliance and the Caesar Family has yet to delve deep enough. We might let their good intentions down by entering at this time.” Lin Li looked at the door of the palace that was left open, but did not seem to panic at all.
Although Brahere was not as famous as Osric in history, he was definitely not to be belittled. Besides, given his status, there was no need for him to do anything at all. He could easily make all the High Elves and top talents in all fields of Anril at that time work for him. The mausoleum was not only his resting place, but also the assembly of the pinnacle masterpieces of all fields. It was probably much more dangerous than Osric’s mausoleum.