Free Web NovelChapter 564: Suspicious Guide
Gabriel stood at the entrance for some time, watching the exact point where the formation gathered its force.
The center of the chamber sank by a hand’s length, and the black nails all snapped toward the doorway at once without warning.
Gabriel felt the force gather at the entrance.
BOOM!!!
The blast smashed through the ice wall and threw broken chunks down the corridor. VV took the front of the force with their sword, and two shallow cuts opened across their armor where black fragments slipped past the blade.
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Gabriel moved through the broken ice before the dust settled. His sword flashed once, cutting three fragments out of the air before they reached the injured members behind VV.
IceQueen caught another piece with a thin shield of ice. The fragment drilled five centimeters into it before stopping, and her wrist bent slightly from the force.
"Focus," Gabriel replied. "The trap has a delay after each release. We cross during that delay, or we stay here until it gathers enough force to kill us in the corridor."
IceQueen looked at the chamber again. "Where is the path?"
Gabriel pointed toward the right side without hesitation. "Step only on the gray stones. Avoid blood lines, broken weapons, and the hands of the dead."
He glanced at the closest corpse before adding the rest. "The formation uses contact to pull qi from the body."
Several ChaosKnight members looked at the bodies again with clear discomfort. One injured man lowered his gaze to his own boots, and his breathing became uneven.
Gabriel did not give them time to think too much. Fear slowed people down, so he took the initiative, stepping forward.
"I go first. IceQueen follows after five steps. VV covers the rear, and ChaosCleric keeps his staff dead unless someone loses a limb."
ChaosCleric opened his mouth, paused, and closed it again. He gave a weak nod instead, which was probably the smartest thing he could do.
Gabriel entered the chamber, and every eye followed his first step. The moment his boot touched the first gray stone, the black lines under the bodies turned faintly toward him. He kept his qi drawn close to his body and moved to the next stone before the formation could lock onto him.
A corpse near his left foot jerked suddenly. Its hand snapped toward his ankle with two fingers bent the wrong way.
Gabriel cut the wrist before it could touch him. Black fluid leaked from the stump in a thin stream, and the floor line under it lost light for a second.
"The anchors weaken if damaged," IceQueen said while stepping behind him. Her eyes had caught the change immediately.
"Only briefly," Gabriel agreed. "Do not stop to destroy them unless they block the path."
The group followed in tense silence, with IceQueen five steps behind him. Every step had to be placed carefully. The gray stones were uneven, some barely wider than a foot, while the red black lines between them pulsed each time living breath passed above them.
A ChaosKnight member near the middle slipped when a stone shifted under his heel. His hand reached toward a broken spear for balance, and Gabriel saw the blood line under the weapon brighten.
"Do not touch it," Gabriel said, and his voice stopped the man faster than a shout. The man froze within a millimeter of the shaft. IceQueen caught the back of his armor and pulled him upright before the formation could react fully.
The far door was only fifteen meters away, but the chamber made the distance feel longer. Gabriel could sense dead qi gathering again beneath the central circle, and the delay was almost over.
"Faster," he said, keeping his gaze on the gathering dead qi. The bodies around them began to rise again. Black nails slid out of flesh and armor, pointing inward this time instead of toward the entrance.
ChaosCleric’s face tightened. "Why are they aiming at the middle now?"
Gabriel looked at the floor ahead and saw the answer too late to be comfortable. The path itself was leading them around the chamber, but the formation wanted to pull them into the center with the next burst.
"Brace low," Gabriel ordered. "When it pushes, do not fight upward. Let it pass over your shoulders."
The air compressed around them, and dust lifted from the blood lines. Gabriel lowered his stance before the release came.
BOOM!!!!
The force struck from every side and dragged loose dust toward the middle. One ChaosKnight member was pulled off balance, but VV caught him by the back of the armor and slammed the tip of their sword into the floor.
Gabriel lowered his body and drove his blade into the gray stone beneath his foot. The blast passed above him, tearing two long cuts across the shoulder of his clothes without touching skin.
IceQueen dropped to one knee and spread ice across the feet of three members behind her. The ice held them down long enough for the pull to fade.
The formation weakened after the second release. Several corpse anchors fell back to the floor, and the red black lines flickered unevenly instead of glowing in one clean pattern.
"Move," Gabriel said while pulling his blade free. "It will not give us a third chance this easily."
They crossed the last stretch quickly, and no one looked back at the bodies. Gabriel reached the far door first and pressed one hand against the stone beside it. The surface carried no active mana, but a thin smear of black residue rested near the handle. ƒreewebηoveℓ.com
His eyes grew colder, and his thumb stopped over the smear. The residue felt wrong in the exact way the alchemist had described. It was not normal dead qi, and it did not belong to the Tianlan guild or the tomb itself.
IceQueen stopped beside him and noticed the change in his posture. "Someone passed through after the trap killed them."
Gabriel looked at the black smear for another second. "Yes."
ChaosCleric reached them last and leaned on his staff without letting mana flow into it. His eyes moved between the smear, the bodies behind them, and Gabriel’s mask.
"You know what this is," he said, though his tone made it clear he did not want the answer.
Gabriel remained silent for a moment, and the silence made ChaosCleric lower his gaze first.
"Not enough," he replied at last. "But I have an idea."
At those words, the guide’s eyes narrowed slightly.
