Chapter 00284: The Deepest Part
# The Deepest Part
Chapter 284
Novel: AFK Game: Portal to Another World
Chapter 284: The Deepest Part
Monsters around level thirty posed no threat to Audel whatsoever.
Most ruins from the Mythic Era were of this caliber, so this was to be expected.
Hiring the three adventurers was purely for insurance; after all, anything could happen during an adventure.
In the worst-case scenario, Audel could even abandon the three adventurers as bait and escape on her own.
There was no loot to be found on the ground, only some ashes left by the ghosts.
Audel gave it a single glance and immediately lost interest, walking up to one of the thrones.
From Li Chengxi's perspective, pressing the alt key would have shown it as translucent.
But from Audel's side, it was not a throne at all, merely a simple illusion that one could walk straight through.
The experience was somewhat like passing through a completely weightless curtain.
Her vision was blocked for an instant, and then a staircase leading diagonally downwards appeared before her eyes.
The staircase descended for about ten meters, connecting to a curved corridor.
As the last person stepped off the stairs, flames erupted with a 'whoosh' from the walls on both sides of the corridor, extending along the edges of the walls into the distance.
This felt different from before.
There was actually lighting now.
Audel felt that they had likely arrived at the most crucial place.
The corridor wasn't actually that long, especially compared to the previous areas.
After the group navigated two serpentine bends, a large door appeared before them.
This door was five or six meters high and also made of stone.
Nimia easily found a movable switch on a nearby wall that could be pressed, and the door opened in response.
Thousands of years had passed, yet the mechanism was not damaged.
This was clearly not normal; even a magical mechanism should have faded after so long.
Thinking back to the situation with the Ring of Sight...
It wasn't a delusion.
Audel had indeed found the right place.
Once everyone was inside, Audel, who was walking at the rear, quietly pulled the mechanism to close the door again.
Not far ahead, there was another identical door.
But this time, opening it would not be so easy.
Ten interwoven chains were nailed across the heavy door panels.
Each chain was about as thick as a wrist, sealing the door shut tightly.
Nimia approached, pressed her ear against the door panel, and then knocked on it with her fingers:
"It's about a meter thick, and it's made of obsidian. It would be difficult to blast open directly, even with magic."
Obsidian has magic-resistant properties.
Mages often use this stuff as targets for practicing their spells.
Even with Audel's magical power, it would be nearly impossible to blast it open, especially in such a confined space.
A spell with too much power might very well blow her up along with it.
No locks were found on the chains.
There was a pull-down lever on the adjacent wall to open the door, but trying it a couple of times did nothing.
The treasure was most likely on the other side of the door.
Having come this far, they certainly couldn't give up.
Audel carefully examined the chains and the door:
"This is a sealing technique, a trick from the Mythic Era."
She took half a step back and pointed a finger:
"Greater Dispel Magic!"
A blue orb of light shot out from her fingertip and struck the door.
A nearly translucent, shield-like object could be seen shattering, and two of the chains binding the door suddenly broke on their own.
But Audel frowned, because in the next moment, the shield on the door reappeared, and the broken chains automatically reconnected.
The spells of the Mythic Era were indeed not as impressive as modern ones, but that didn't mean the people of that time were stupider than those of today.
Since our sealing techniques aren't powerful enough on their own, we'll just layer them to win through sheer numbers.
Audel could easily dispel one or two sealing spells, but they had layered a full ten of them on the door, and even added an auto-recovery ability.
Unless all ten seals could be broken in an instant, any attempt to dismantle them would be useless.
This certainly posed a problem for Audel.
She observed the seals carefully, trying to find a clever way around them.
But in the end, perhaps out of an urgent desire to see what was inside, Audel decided to spare no expense.
So, she reached into her magic bag, rummaged around, and took out a golden scroll.
That was a magic scroll of the highest grade currently available.
Depending on the spell stored within, its value could well exceed ten thousand gold coins, and it was the kind of item you couldn't buy even if you had the money.
Holding this scroll, which was literally worth a fortune, Audel didn't hesitate in the slightest.
She tore off the wax seal and began to softly recite its contents.
As she murmured the spell, immense magical power gathered around Audel's slender body.
The three adventurers were pushed back several steps by the pressure of the wind generated by the magic, and in their eyes, Audel seemed like a mountain, exuding immense pressure.
Using the scroll didn't take long.
A few seconds later, the scroll in Audel's hand disintegrated, and the prepared magical energy was ready to be unleashed:
"Mordenkainen's Disjunction!"
A beam of light struck the door.
Almost simultaneously, the chains on the door exploded with a series of rapid bangs, like popping beans, offering no resistance at all.
In the blink of an eye, they all shattered.
"Nimia, go pull the switch."
"Ah? Oh."
Nimia was still in shock at the sight of ten thousand gold coins being thrown away so casually, her reaction a beat too slow.
For a novice adventurer like her, ten thousand gold coins was an unimaginable sum.
As the mechanism was pulled, the long-sealed door emitted a dull 'thump' and then opened to both sides.
A gust of wind rushed out impatiently, as if even the air in the room had grown tired of its confinement and was fleeing without a backward glance.
When the wind dissipated, Audel couldn't wait and was the first to step inside.
Beyond the door was an extremely spacious area.
It was less like a room and more like a plaza.
The light of the flames spread rapidly along the walls, burning in a line around the room's perimeter.
Audel looked up and saw a vast array of runes faintly glittering in the darkness of the ceiling.
She could recognize runes for 'Prevent Teleportation,' 'Defend Against Detection,' 'Defend Against Scrying,' and 'Defend Against Peeping'—all designed to stop this place from ever being found.
One by one, tall humanoid figures emerged from the darkness.
At first, they were thought to be statues, but it quickly became apparent that they were not decorations.
The flames shone upon them, revealing the unique reflection of metal.
Their menacing curves still gleamed, completely untouched by the passage of time.
They were golems.
Moreover, they were golems that specialized in combat.
The golems typically used by mages were humanoid, complete with details like fingers, to facilitate them in handling miscellaneous tasks.
But the golems before her had their left arms fashioned into shields and their right arms into swords.
On one of their shoulders, a dark gold Pentagram Holy Emblem could be seen.
They had no components meant for production; they were pure fighting machines.
What was even more frightening was the number of golems.
It was difficult to count how many there were at a glance.
Audel estimated there were at least a hundred.
They were arranged in neat phalanxes, standing there like a terracotta army.
And behind the rows of golems was a golden throne, flanked by piles of gold and silver objects and gemstones.
But on the throne itself rested a small, exquisite box, the size of a palm.
It was like the king of the golems, looking down on the world with disdain.
Audel immediately recalled the Ancient Language carved on the main gate before they entered the ruins.
As she wasn't very proficient in this language, she had only been able to recognize a few words.
But seeing this scene, she understood.
The words written in the Ancient Language were actually, 'The army of the Demon King God is sealed here.'
This also explained why the rest chambers on the Path of Pilgrimage they had seen earlier were converted into rune rooms.
The things that had been mass-produced back then were now right before their eyes.
However, this didn't seem to be good news.
The Ring of the Demon King was a divine artifact, and divine artifacts could not be destroyed by mortal means, only sealed.
Under the influence of the Ring of the Demon King, these golems had been maintained in their Mythic Era state, showing no signs of aging whatsoever.
As Audel walked in to observe, a faint buzzing sound started in her ears, and it grew progressively clearer.
The golems standing between her and the distant throne all emitted a low 'hum' as they began to operate.
A red light lit up on each of their heads, indicating that they had been activated.