After journeying for hours and hours into the tomb, ducking through semi-collapsed terrain, squeezing through tight walls, and even jumping three meters across a black abyss, the whole adventurer group finally arrived at the supposed last room of the tomb.
They knew that this was the last obstacle from the treasure room because the large, gigantic, double doors were intricately carved with depictions of a man's heroic triumph against a whole army of monsters.
"This is it. General Grievous' final resting place."
Sir Jon's words were directly transmitted to Michael's shadow, courtesy of none other than Fudge, the good ninja.
Meanwhile, another voice came through the shadows. This time, the voice was more commanding.
It was Butch, the leader of the HammerStone adventurers.
"Remember. We care not for the treasures inside, but the triumph of its first exploration. The HammerStone group's reputation rests solely on our shoulders. We shall make them proud."
Fudge had eyes and ears everywhere inside the tomb, allowing Michael to hear everyone's strategies and preparations for the upcoming final door.
This was a little bit strange for Michael to hear because he thought that everyone would push themselves to try and be the first ones to open the door. Yet from the look on their faces, it seemed like they were all hesitant to be the first ones in.
"Oh look, Master! All the leaders are gathering in one spot."
Sir Jon, the representative of the Knights, took charge and gathered all of the other large names in the group. Butch joined him, as well as two other leaders from the most prominent adventuring groups in the campaign, the Infernal Adventurers and the Bears Group.
These four leaders talked amongst each other and planned their respective roles in the upcoming event.
Sheina walked up to Michael. "Shall I insist that you be included in their meeting, Lord Michael? It is only fair."
She sounded a bit upset at the others for neglecting to include Michael, as if they knew he was even here in the first place.
"It's fine," he said. "I don't want to interfere in their plans. After all, I've got plans of my own."
Michael scanned the whole chamber, with his normal eyes seeing stone brick walls swallowed up by mud and soil.
It looked like everything was normal.
Yet, with his supreme sensitivity to mana, Michael was sensing that there was some sort of spell hidden inside this very chamber itself.
All he should be seeing was Earth mana randomly present in the walls, but curiously, he saw unnatural crystallized formations that should not be naturally made.
Someone manipulated the walls of the chamber to make it look like a normal room.
ChatJK3, can you decipher the magic theory behind this mystery?
Michael even went to the wall and physically touched the recessed stone brick wall, feeling the wetness of the moss growing on its cracks. It certainly did feel real, yet Michael knew it was all an illusion.
[The result of the abnormality in mana is due to the effects of a high-star magic spell casted a thousand years ago. It will take approximately 10 hours to analyze the structure.]
[Progress: 0.1%]
Meanwhile, as ChatJK3 examined the abnormality within the room, the four leaders began their discussion.
Michael listened to their conversation through Fudge.
In short, the reason why they were all hesitant in opening the final door was because they were expecting monsters to welcome them inside.
It had been known through different expeditions of Ancient Era tombs that the final door to the treasure room was guarded by creatures of varying degrees of difficulty.
Nobody knew if these creatures were purposefully placed there by its creator in order to deter any grave robbers, or they were just naturally occurring monsters born from the bountiful mana present inside.
Either way, they were not something that a single adventuring party could fight alone.
Sir Jon expected there to be four high-level monsters hiding inside. He shared this guess with the other leaders and hoped that each of their parties would deal with one monster.
Whoever finished their monster the fastest would be able to reach the treasure room first.
It was an equal responsibility for all, so this decision was quickly accepted.
Even the normal adventurers who just tagged along with the four big groups, accepted the fact that they would never be able to compete with them. They would have to be satisfied with fighting off the small fry monsters and harvesting their materials.
After about an hour of preparation, Sir Jon finally pushed the double doors. It only took a slight bit of force before the whole thing swung wide open, revealing the hidden creatures lurking on the inside.
Red eyes flashed in the darkness of the room as large Jaguar-like monsters pounced towards the adventurers, snarling their sharp black teeth to the rude humans who awakened their sleep.
These monsters were large, about the size of an adult elephant, with tusks not that much smaller than that of a wooly mammoth.
Their bodies radiated necrotic energy, as their whole bodies looked to be on the brink of decay. Their gray and black bodies blended well with the dim lighting of the tomb, almost making them disappear into the darkness if not for their shining red eyes always staring at the small humans.
The Knights and the adventurers readied their weapons and cast their defensive spells.
Everyone had put on a serious face, except for a few Dragonborn on the back who shouted WOOO in excitement.
As they planned from the start, Sir Jon and his medley of Knights took on one of the large undead Jaguars. He did not hold back as he used a 5-star Physical Art spell called [Mountain Crushing Axe], cleaving a large part of the monster's shoulder.
The rest of his Knights followed suit, brandishing their swords and distracting the Jaguar while the rest attacked with coordinated moves.
Their well-practiced teamwork allowed them to systematically dismantle the giant undead Jaguar.
"Woah! As expected of Sir Jon! That's the reason why he's one of the best!"
"Damn. I wish I was a Knight. Their spells are so cool! I want to know the Way of the Axe too!"
"But look! They're not the only ones showing off!"
On the other side, Butch and the rest of his HammerStone comrades fought their monster using their advantage in equipment. They may not be as coordinated as the Knights, but they could take a hell of a lot more beating, especially with the Fiery Armory Sets they were all wearing.
Butch, in particular, bullied the monster through an unrelenting barrage of punches. With every connected hit, his gauntlets glowed with a red aura, making the giant undead Jaguar flinch in pain.
"I told you his gauntlets were special! It has a Mithril Relic embedded in it, I promise you!"
"Damn. I'm envious of them too. I guess that's one of the perks of being a sub-company of the Hephastues group."
The other two adventuring groups held their own against their undead Jaguars, but they were clearly a step below the Knights and the Hammerstones.
But as they were all distracted, a pair of red lights suddenly emerged from the dark room past the double doors.
Another creature came out of the shadows.
And this one was bigger and badder than the rest of the monsters.