Free Web NovelChapter 42: The God Of Protection
Maeve stared at the dark passage ahead of her with obvious hesitation. Even though Ikarus had managed to light their makeshift torches, the tomb still looked unsettling.
As a rookie police officer, she had entered her fair share of suspicious places before, like abandoned buildings, dark alleys, and rundown houses were one thing.
However, an ancient tomb was another story entirely.
"Are you scared?" Axan’s voice broke through her thoughts.
He had already noticed that Maeve had been standing directly behind him the whole time, clutching the back of his clothes like a lifeline.
Maeve slowly lifted her head to look at him. She was a bit—maybe not a bit—scared, but admitting that out loud felt a little embarrassing.
"Well..." she mumbled. "It’s kind of dark."
That wasn’t the only problem, but it sounded better than saying she felt like something would suddenly jump out of the shadows.
"Do you think there might be wild beasts in there?" she asked without thinking.
Axan tilted his head slightly. "I don’t think so."
His answer came without hesitation. "This place has been sealed for a very long time, so I doubt any wild beasts could survive inside."
"I see..." Maeve nodded slowly, and then she immediately asked, "But there’s still a chance, right?"
"Maybe." His answer came so quickly that Maeve almost regretted asking. "But we’re not weak," Axan added calmly. "So I don’t think it would be a problem."
Judging from the look on his face, he wasn’t trying to act tough, but he genuinely believed it. To him, a wild beast was simply another problem to deal with.
Meanwhile, Ikarus and Cerus had already gone ahead to check the entrance because neither of them wanted Maeve walking into a trap.
A few moments later, Cerus’ voice echoed through the dark corridor. "It’s safe!" His cheerful voice bounced off the stone walls. "You can come in now!"
Maeve took several deep breaths and tried to convince herself that nothing bad would happen inside the dark tomb.
Unfortunately, her feet refused to cooperate. They stayed firmly planted on the ground.
"How about I carry you instead?" Axan suddenly suggested. "That way, you won’t get separated from me."
The triplets and their obsession with carrying her really needed to be studied.
It felt like they were always competing to see who could carry her, but honestly, it wasn’t exactly a bad thing.
"On your back?" she asked.
Just imagining it made her nervous. If a monster suddenly appeared behind them, she would be the first thing it grabbed.
What if some monster suddenly reached for her from behind?
"If you don’t want that, I can carry you in front instead," Axan said.
Maeve immediately nodded. "In front sounds much better."
"Alright, then."
Before she could say anything else, Axan lifted her effortlessly with one arm, just like Ikarus often did.
The torch remained in his other hand, its flame casting warm light across the dark corridor.
Unlike Ikarus, however, Axan carried her lower against his side so that her head rested near his chest instead of over his shoulder and Maeve secretly appreciated that because at least this way, she didn’t have to keep looking behind them.
"Are you doing alright?" Ikarus asked the moment they entered the tomb.
Maeve nodded quickly. "I’m fine."
Once he was sure nothing was wrong with her, Ikarus turned his attention back to the path ahead.
"How long has this tomb been sealed again?" Cerus asked as they continued walking.
"I’m not sure," Ikarus replied. "Two hundred years at least. Maybe more. It’s been a very long time since someone from our tribe found a mate from outside."
Axan hummed thoughtfully. "Around two hundred and fifty years, I think. Father used to keep track of it."
Cerus looked back at him. "Really? I don’t remember him ever counting something like that."
"That’s probably because you never paid attention."
Cerus immediately looked offended. "I pay attention."
"No, you don’t."
While the two brothers bickering, she turned her attention to the walls around them.
The corridor stretched deep into the darkness ahead. On both sides, the stone walls were covered in countless carvings, like people, animals, strange symbols.
They looked like pieces of a story left behind by the tribe’s ancestors, waiting for someone to read them again after hundreds of years.
[Ding! Ding!]
"Damn it!" Maeve cursed secara reflex tatkala Pinky’s system voice muncul.
[Congratulations! You have completed a side mission: Find the Tomb of Heart using the Lumivale Forest Maps.]
[Reward: Special potions to support your childbirth later.]
[Additional Rewards: 300 Coins]
[Remaining Coins: 1,150]
She had already found this damn tomb a while ago, so why did Pinky have to give her the reward while she was surrounded by darkness?!
"What’s wrong?!" Cerus asked immediately, his voice filled with concern. "Did something happen?"
The triplets stopped walking at once. Even Axan tightened his hold on her slightly, while Ikarus turned around so quickly that the torchlight flickered across the walls.
"N-Nothing!" Maeve answered a little too quickly. "I-I just thought I saw something! For a second, I thought there was something strange over there."
"Like what?" Axan asked.
Maeve swallowed. "I-I’m not sure. Maybe... a face?"
The moment those words left her mouth, she immediately regretted saying them. Why did she have to say face of all things? Now she was scaring herself.
"Like the thing next to you?" Ikarus suddenly asked.
Maeve froze, even every muscle in her body went stiff.
For a second, she wasn’t even sure she had heard him correctly. freewёbnoνel.com
"What?" Her voice came out much weaker than she intended.
She slowly turned her head to the side. The moment her eyes landed on a pale white face with glowing red eyes staring directly at her, her soul nearly left her body.
"AARGHH!" Maeve screamed without a shred of dignity.
Acting purely on instinct, she immediately threw her arms around Axan’s body and buried her face against his chest.
"I want to go home!" she cried.
Her entire body shook dramatically as she clung to him. "Let’s go back! Let’s go back! Let’s go back! I don’t want to be here anymore!"
For a moment, the corridor echoed with her panicked voice. In complete contrast to her reaction, Axan remained perfectly calm.
He didn’t even look surprised. After a brief glance at the thing that had scared her, he replied in his usual flat tone. "It’s not a person, just a statue." freёweɓnovel.com
Hearing that, Maeve slowly lifted her head and peeked over Axan’s arm. Sure enough, standing against the wall was a stone statue.
It was a very creepy stone statue, but still a statue.
"We’re actually looking for this!" Cerus said excitedly. "I thought we’d have to walk much farther! Wife, you’re amazing for finding the main door to the center of the tomb!"
"What?" Maeve asked, staring at him in confusion.
Cerus looked so excited that he was practically bouncing in place. He pointed at the statue and said, "This statue is the key to the main entrance leading to the center of the tomb!"
His eyes were practically shining. "Our father once told us that this statue doesn’t always appear. Sometimes people walk right past it without noticing it. Sometimes it’s said that the statue simply doesn’t want to show itself and nobody really knows why."
He pointed dramatically at Maeve. "But you found it almost immediately! Wife, you’re seriously our lucky charm!"
Maeve pressed her lips together. A while ago, she had only said that she thought she saw a face, that was it.
She hadn’t been trying to find anything, yet somehow, the thing that nearly made her cry had turned out to be the most important clue in the entire tomb.
"T-That sounds... interesting," Maeve said weakly.
Slowly, she looked back at the statue and the red eyes stared back at her. Maeve immediately looked away, thinking, ’Nope! Nope! Nope! Still creepy!’
Even though she now knew it wasn’t a ghost, a monster, or some cursed creature waiting to eat people, she still didn’t want to stand anywhere near it, not if she could help it.
Without even realizing it, she moved closer to Axan, then closer, and a little closer until she was practically glued to his side.
"Why would someone use this statue as the key?" Maeve asked.
Ikarus glanced at the statue before answering calmly. "Because this is the face of the God of Protection."
"Our ancestors believed that Sakar took the form of something frightening on purpose," Ikarus continued. "They thought that if people were afraid of him, they would stay away from the things he protected."
Well, it was working.
If she had come here alone, there was absolutely no chance she would have gone anywhere near this creepy statue.
She probably would have turned around and run in the opposite direction.
"So how do we open the door?" Axan asked at last. He glanced around the corridor. "I don’t even see a door."
