444 Unknown Legion (1/2)

Tycondrius stood with his arms crossed, impatiently tapping a finger against his bicep.

The bronze-skinned Ranger was spending an overlong amount of time inspecting a set of ornately carved double doors. The concentrated care and cautiousness he was displaying was... bizarre, particularly for him.

He was being timid.

”I uh... I dunno, Boss...” Lone idly scratched the scar on his cheek, ”Every time I go into one of these rooms, I get really hurt...”

The first two rooms, it was Lone's fault that he blundered into injury. In the storeroom-- notably free of hostiles, he overdrew from his mana reserves. Each instance was his own thrice-damned fault.

”Move,” Tycon ordered, ”If you won't open the door, I'll breach it for us.”

”I mean... if you want. But I really should be the one--”

Tycon rolled his eyes, ”Away, Mister Lone.”

”Aye aye, Boss...”

Tycon smashed the center of the double-doors with his boot, the sound of a thick wooden barricade snapping behind it.

Hm... His knee ached from the impact, but he took no substantial damage. He leisurely leaned over to stretch his leg while observing the open room. Beyond was a chapel-like area, filled with chairs and benches, with various iconography for many gods on the walls. At the end was a carved stone table elevated by a few small steps.

There was dried blood on it-- an unsurprising feature, thus far.

Displayed behind the stone altar was the symbol of the snake god, the most prominent of deific representations... a small venomous snake, inside of and wrapping around a broken human skull.

Finding such a symbol in this Dungeon was... unsurprising.

Also, the snake was not a hooded cobra. It was probably a viper.

There was a single, roughly hewn stone statue in the chapel. A bit over ten fulms tall, it was nothing near the height of the Mosaic Guardians they encountered earlier. Thankfully, this one wore proper armor, as to not purposely offend Tycon's senses.

As mediocre as the craftsmanship was, the armor carried a hint of familiarity.

”Athanasius... is that?”

Tanamar walked to Tycon's side, his arms crossed and wearing an expression of deep loathing, ”It is. It's *his* armor.”

Tycon nodded in thought. The human-shaped armored statue was reminiscent of that of Tanamar's teacher, a Divine Blacksmith named Harkus Mors. As such, the statue was probably Harkus' student-turned-traitor, Orcus... the Oathbreaker, the so-called 'greatest' Champion of the Snake Cult. Tycon spotted an engraving near its base that proved his assumption correct.

Zenon crinkled his mustache... ”You think it'll come alive and attack us, Optio?”

”Likely,” Tycon shrugged noncommittally.

”Agreed,” Tycon nodded, ”Shall we inspect the area or get this over with? Athanasius?”

Tanamar looked back to Athena, who raised both of her hands, lifting both thumbs and smiling radiantly. Nodding to her, the Holy Lancer pointed his left arm forward, raising his right fist adjacent to his ear. Forming a lance in hand, he hurled it at the statue's chest.

Instead of obliterating the stone... it merely cracked, the mana-created weapon shattering and dissipating into residuum. Fragments of stone began to peel and fall off... unveiling dull metal underneath...

--which made absolutely no sense to Tycon.

He threw his hands up in incredulity, ”What kind of MAD wizard encases a perfectly good set of armor inside hardening clay?”

Zenon pat Tycon on the shoulder, ”I uh... I think you just answered your own question, Optio.”

Of course.

As the metal construct began to break free from its prison, Tycon noted two things. First were the red, profane lines of runes that lit up around the chapel, previously not quite so apparent. Second was... the merest glimpse of moving shadows in a darkened corner.

« System, analyze: The first creature. »

⟬ Lesser Steel Golem, Gold-Rank Construct. ⟭

Gold?

...Only?

To Tycon's memory, Steel Golems were costly, thirty-fulm tall, Adamantine-Rank city-destroyers. The golem at the opposite end of the chapel looked like it could threaten a small village, at best. It was a glorified autonomous set of armor, rather than a 'proper' magitech monstrosity.

Concerning the runic script on the floors and walls... and the obvious wafting of fire and brimstone, it seemed a few small portals to one of the seven hells were opening up.

Predictably, Sergeant Salt's squad and the members of Guild Letalis fell into a panic. The large gentleman that was William Lawrence was literally shaking in his boots-- he looked absurd.

Lone looked bored. Korr was staring at a random wall, no emotion apparent. Sorina was playing with her Armor Cube-- not noticing or caring that they would shortly be under attack.