Chapter Eight

Ambrose could not pull the lever. As he pulled on it, with considerable strength, the length of the lever lit up with golden orange glyphs, casting shadows along the walls. A sound accompanied the glyphs, rumbling earth that echoed all around. Three statues shimmered into existence, a stone table between them. Parts of the rock around the cave vanished, falling away in a golden orange mist, revealing tunnels that led somewhere unknown.

The rumbling ceased, leaving all in silence. Ambrose stepped away from the lever and over to the statues. The first statue was a noble king with the fine, strong features of a warrior. The statues looked to be carved from marble, and in exquisite detail. The next statue was a noble knight with similarly strong, handsome features. The third looked very much like the one before it. As Ambrose regarded the first statue, and used [Insight] on it, words echoed throughout the chamber.

“I am the symbol of sovereignty, drawn from stone, by the hand destined for the throne. In battles of lore, my gleam did glow, with sheath as precious as the blades might show. What am I?”

“Well now, that’s a riddle if I ever did hear one,” Thomas muttered, his eyes darting to the tunnels.

Andrea snorted,

“Thanks for stating the obvious.”

Thomas glowered at her,

“Now that’s just rude, young lady.”

Andrea rolled her eyes. Ambrose paid them no mind, rubbing the bridge of his nose and thinking through the riddle.

“Stone..stone…” He muttered.

“It’s excalibur. King Arthur's blade.” Darren stated.

Ambrose shot him a glance.

“You sound certain of that. How do you know?”

It was little Jenny that piped up.

“Daddy loves King Arthur and his knights! He used to read me bedtime stories about him before the System ruined things. Mean System.”

Darren ran a hand over his daughter's hair and she pressed into him, hugging his leg tightly.

“That sounds right. Excalibur was in a stone, yeah?”

Thomas snorted,

“Seems too easy, if you ask me.”

Ambrose turned to look at a tunnel.

“I’m willing to bet that we have to retrieve a replica or something with the answer down one of these tunnels that just opened up,” Ambrose said.

Darren drew his eyebrows together,

“You’re probably right. Probably dangerous, too.”

Ambrose shrugged,

“Whole place is dangerous. Even so, I’m the only one who can fight. Or at least has a weapon. You all stay here, see if there’s anything around that will help.”

“I can go with you, sonny!” Thomas called as Ambrose began walking towards a tunnel.

Ambrose turned as he walked, lifting an eyebrow.

“Really? Darren isn’t wrong, it’s probably dangerous. Something tells me answering these riddles isn’t going to be easy.”

Thomas jogged to catch up, and as weathered as he looked, he had little trouble, his face calm, beard bobbing as he fell into step beside Ambrose.

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“All the more reason to have someone watching your back, sonny!” Thomas cackled as we entered the tunnel.

“I was quite the scrapper back in the day, you know! Had a vicious right hook, I was told. I think I can still get in a couple good one-two’s where needed.”

Ambrose grunted as they walked the tunnel. As they walked, Ambrose sniffed. The air had changed. What is that? It isn’t just putrid anymore. Ambrose sniffed again. A metallic scent had joined the putrid dankness of the cave that was the area’s normal scent. Ambrose paused, eyeing the mouth of the tunnel.

The ground before them had taken on a dark reddish hue. Littered here and there were piles of white. It took Ambrose a minute for his brain to figure out what it was. Thomas sucked in a breath in the same instant Ambrose figured it out.

“Mother Mary, those are bones!”

The old man was right, they were indeed. White bones, stained red by blood, littered the place like discarded trash. The room exuded danger. It’s like a scene out of a horror movie. I can hear Alice shouting at the TV now. Ambrose knew he would have to go in there, and he knew that whatever he would face had the very real possibility of killing him. He knew it as surely as he knew his own name. He flicked his eyes over to Thomas, who had drawn his eyebrows down, and was tugging at his beard.

“Last chance, old timer. If you come with me in there, you’re going to be fighting. You’re level one, with no class, and likely base stats, however those are decided. You’re an adult, so I’m not going to stop you, but it seems to me that the only business you have in there is dying.”

Thomas leveled his eyes at Ambrose.

“Sonny, I’m going in there with you whether you want me to or not. I’m old, not useless.”

Ambrose shrugged, raising his hands. I tried. He thought as they stepped into the room.

As they did, there was a flash of golden orange light, and Ambrose threw a glance backward, already knowing what he would find. Sure enough, a rock wall blocked the way they had come.

At the same time, a loud, roaring bark emanated from deep within the cavern they found themselves in. A shadow moved from the corner, and a great beast emerged into the open. It had a serpent's head, with gleaming dark green black scales that glittered along the neck and chest. Yellow eyes with black pupils slanted like cats glowered at them with undisguised menace. The scales gave way to a golden furred, powerful body. Cloven hooves were its feet, which clopped on the stone, the sound heralding the danger to come as the serpent's head hissed, barks emanating from it as the chest undulated.

Ambrose used [Insight].

[Questing Beast-Level 45]

Thomas made a gulping sound as he simply stared at the monster.

“Ah, sonny? Think I can take you up on that offer to go back now?”

__________

Ambrose immediately infused his axe with mana and shoved Thomas out of the way as fast as an eyeblink, the Questing beast lashed out with its head, fangs larger than his forearms flashing. Ambrose jumped out of the way as the fangs struck the rock that now covered the entrance with a clang that echoed throughout the cave.

Ambrose did not wait to strike, he brought the axe to bear and swung downward in a vicious swing that he intended to cut the Questing Beasts head off with. The blade clanged off the scales like it was armor. Ambrose tugged his lips downward, drawing his brows together as he leapt back to create distance between him and the beast.

Not even a mana infused strike? Ambrose thought as the beast shook its serpentine head and hissed. Thomas for his part didn’t delay, either. The old man had acquired a sharp piece of bone the length of a dagger, the red stain of old blood in spots across its length. Thomas’s weathered hands tightened around it, his skin whitening as he leapt forward with a yell and stabbed the beast in the leg. Dark green ichor fountained from the leg in a spray of jade tears that splattered onto red hued dirt.

The questing beast yowled with pain as whirled and struck out with a hoove. Thomas tried to dodge it, but didn’t succeed as the hoof took him in the chest and a sickening snap echoed as the old man was flung through the air. Thomas’s yell was strained, filled with pain as he crashed into the ground.

Where he did not move.

Ambrose rushed forward, putting the old man out of his thoughts as he activated [Mana Infusion] and cleaved the axe forward, attempting to chop off one of the beast's legs. The Questing Beast opened its mouth and a green cloud began to coalesce in its throat.

Yeah, that’s not something I want to get hit with. I kind of wish I had taken Shield of Conviction, now. Ambrose rolled to the side, bone crunching against his armor as the dark green cloud sprayed outward before him.

Ambrose had managed to dodge it, but the cloud ate at the bone, hissing sounds not unlike the beast's own hiss, filling the air. The beasts barked out a hissing roar, its mouth open, saliva dripping from its mouth. Bones crunched beneath its feet as it picked up speed. The acid cloud dispersed as it ran through it, doing absolutely no damage to the beast's body. Ambrose quickly considered a plan of action. Grimly, he nodded to himself. Yeah, that could work.

It barrelled towards Ambrose, head swaying, fully intending on swallowing Ambrose whole.

Ambrose hefted his axe in preparation of what was to come. The serpent head descended, fangs reflecting Ambrose as he flattened his lips, drawing his brows together and downward.

Alright, beastie. Let’s play. Ambrose thought as the beast's mouth grew closer, snapping around Ambrose in a dark flashing doom.