"So you're telling me if you had drunk that, you could have enchanted that advisor to lift the curse?!"
"…Yeah… I think so, but I'm not sure. Anyway, there's no point now to think about it," Carl replied, his tone unchanged.
"Motherfucker — why the hell didn't you do it then? Where was that capsule back then? Did you just pull it out of your ass?" I snapped.
"Like I said — I forgot at the time." He sounded almost apologetic. Which made me want to strangle him.
"So…do I have to go in?" I asked, voice wobbling.
"I mean, we've come so far, and it's been nearly three days since we left the town… he might have gotten even stronger now. So, I think we should follow this plan to the end, and I will kill him in between when he lifts the curse to transfer it to the artifact."
"I'M NOT GOING IN ALONE," I shouted.
"Then who will?" Carl asked, calm as a winter pond.
"I don't care who. I just— I'm not going. I'm scared."
"Listen, Darcy," Carl said, stepping closer so his voice was low and certain. "You'll be fine. You're the only one who can do this."
"How is that even helpful?" My knees felt like jelly.
"Because you have no spiritual power." He explained it like he was describing the weather. "The barrier squeezes out spiritual energy from anyone who enters. You? You have none. You pass through that barrier like air. Same for the tomb below. The first floor is safe for you — you can move freely and get the artifact."
If that's true, then I could actually survive this? I let myself breathe. "You're sure I'll be okay?"
"Yeah," Carl said with quiet confidence. "The entire first floor will be safe. Explore if you must, but get the artifact and come right out."
"…Alright, I will go in. But are you sure you'll be alright here? It's the place where the top predators of the Red Zone roam around."
Carl's expression didn't change. "Don't worry, the capsule lasts about three hours. I've got four more left. By the time you're back, I'll have made a carpet out of any predator dumb enough to bother me. And .. come back fast. I don't want to waste these."
He didn't smile, but I could tell he meant it. My chest tightened — because being terrified was one thing, but being useful and relied on? That was new. Scary, but not the same kind of hopeless.
"Okay," I said. "If I die—"
"Don't be melodramatic," Carl cut in. "Get moving."
I swallowed and looked at the barrier. It hummed like an electrical nerve. I took a step forward, then another. My hands were shaking, but my feet kept going.I glanced back at Joey and Jack. Both were sleeping on the burning ground like it was a soft mattress. No signs of discomfort.
"Don't worry," Carl said, noticing my stare. "Their skin's tough enough to handle the heat."Perhaps I was now a little bit worried about them too…
"Move on; we don't have much time. It's already near six in the evening; the sun is nearly down. You have to do this as fast as possible," Carl said after seeing my hesitation.
"…Alright… By the way, does the first floor have any treasure? Loots?" I asked one last question before entering the barrier, which was now just a hand's distance away from me.
"You might find something important if you search the rooms," Carl said. "Some of his inventions might still be there. But on the first floor... I'm not sure you'll find anything useful."
"Did nobody take them? Sounds valuable."
"His presence had to be erased completely. That means his inventions and technology too."
"Why?"
"...Just go in. We don't have time."
(I really don't want to go and rob his grave now!! Seriously, that's a new moral low, even for me. But here I am, apparently auditioning for World's Dumbest Archaeologist. At this point, I've accepted I'm gonna die — might as well make it entertaining for whoever finds my corpse. And... I won't lie, now I'm also a little bit excited to see this so-called tomb. Why shouldn't I be? I've basically accepted this whole trip is a one-way ticket to my own funeral. When you've already pictured yourself being eaten by a 12-story chicken, the 'grave robbing' part just feels like a weird detour. My fear gauge is already broken. So yeah, I'm relatively less scared. Bring on the cursed tomb! What's the worst that could happen? ...Oh, right. Death.)
"Alright…"
I took another step forward.
The barrier was right in front of my nose.
I lifted my left hand, pressed my palm against it, and closed my eyes, taking a deep breath.
It felt… like touching a giant soap bubble.
"Fuuh… now I'm relieved."
I looked at Carl; he gave me a slight smirk and said, "I told you."
And then, I walked in.
Inside — silence. No sound. No wind. No heat like outside it was more on the colder side.
The ground was unnaturally even, like it had been hammered flat.
I kept walking, not daring to look back.
Looking at them now might change my mind.
I walked.
And walked.
And walked.
Hours passed.
Thirst clawed at my throat. Hunger bit my stomach.My legs and joints burned, every movement like rubbing sandpaper against bone. I wasn't exactly the active type, so every step felt like dragging a dead body. But I couldn't stop.
If I stopped now and couldn't make it fast enough, and Carl ended up with no capsules of his Spirituoglobin, there was a high possibility we all might die.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity — nearly 11 p.m. — I saw it.
A huge black cuboidal structure loomed ahead.
Surprisingly, it was still bright here. The light inside the barrier… it never changed. I hadn't noticed a single shift since entering.
Carl did say the tomb was an inverted pyramid.
So this must be the base… the first floor.
YES! I FINALLY MADE IT!!
I ran towards it like never before. Just looking at it made my body surge with energy. I sprinted straight for about five minutes before stopping, breath ragged.
Now I stood before the huge structure. Smooth. Too smooth. I rubbed my hand against it but—wait….
.
.
"Where's The Entrance?!" I yelled. I wasn't here to admire art — I was here to loot it.
Carl never told me how to get in… that carrot sucker!
I circled around the massive cuboid — 25 meters tall, maybe 200 meters on each side. Not a single door. Every surface was smooth as glass. Now that's strange. I again started to revolve around it, but this time with all my focus on the surface and the ground near it, without caring about my groaning stomach and throat, dry as my wallet.
First side — checked.
Second — checked.
Third—wait. The ground here... has lines. Curves. For about two meters. They look like… a circuit?OH WAIT, THAT'S A CIRCUIT! AN OPEN CIRCUIT! IT JUST LOOKS LIKE A CIRCUIT YOU WOULD SEE ON A MOTHERBOARD!
Do I need to close it to open an entrance? There are two mirror-image-looking circuits beside each other, and a line comes to join each other from each... but it's not connected.
What if I join it? Will an entrance open? Or is it a trap? And even if I want to do it, how would I do it? And I'm pretty sure it has some spiritual power bullshit, even though the circuit looks like an electric one... SHIT, I DON'T HAVE TIME! IT'S ALREADY 11:45 PM! But how? I see nothing around that could work as a conductor to connect these lines... wait, what... what if I do that... will I die? No, Carl said my body cannot conduct or hold spiritual powers, so... what about I…
.
.
.
.
For some reason I don't know—you would call it a genius or a disgusting idea—I decided to freaking pee on it.
Shit, I hope I don't die by getting electrocuted through my dick.
Before I could empty my bladder properly, I heard a "Tss-krrt-tss-tss-kzzzt!" sound.
"Holy crap!! Scared the shit out of me. It scared me enough to put 'Excalibur' back in my pants in such a hurry that a few drops... well, they landed in my pants. But WAIT! A door... a huge door opened out of nowhere! Seriously, where the hell was it hidden? That shit popped up like when you're looking for something and couldn't find it anywhere, then you call your mom, and the thing suddenly appears out of nowhere... but this time, in place of my mom, it was my piss."
Finally!! I found the entrance!! Yeah, I peed my pants — and on ancient tech,but I FOUND THE ENTRANCE!! Though now I can't stop wondering… what was the actual way to open it?