147 TOMB OF THE GREAT EMPEROR
By the time Yun-Yun finally allowed Petunia to send a message, it was too late. Leo had already vanished from the area.
"You should've let me talk to him earlier!" Petunia complained, frustrated.
"No," Yun-Yun replied sharply. "It's dangerous to interrupt a ritual of this magnitude."
"What kind of ritual is so dangerous?" Petunia demanded.
"The Ritual of Sacrifice," Yun-Yun admitted.
Petunia's breath caught. The implication of those words sank in slowly. "Leo... he's a demon practitioner, isn't he? A demon?"
Demon practitioners are humans who practice demon magic. Whether they are possessed by real demon spirits or not, they are considered as demons by the human community.
"Yes," Yun-Yun said without hesitation. "And that's why he doesn't want you following him. If it's discovered, there will be consequences—not just for him, but for you and your family back in Sodom City."
Petunia's resolve wavered, but she nodded. "Alright, understood."
-----
[In the dark abyss]
Leo found himself enveloped in an abyss of pitch darkness.
He reached for his torch, but no matter how hard he tried, it refused to ignite. The air felt oppressive, thick with the weight of a realm where the laws of nature had been twisted beyond recognition.
"Fuck. Even fire won't work here," Leo muttered, frustration creeping into his voice. "How the hell do I get out of this shitty place?"
Blinded by the suffocating darkness, Leo stumbled forward, hands outstretched in search of something—anything—to guide him.
Then, he remembered, he stopped and concentrated. With a flick of his wrist, he activated his mini-map. An ethereal glow flared in front of him, revealing a detailed layout of his surroundings.
Relief turned to dismay as he examined it.
This wasn't just a pit. It was a sprawling labyrinth, a maze of winding corridors and dead ends that seemed to stretch infinitely.
Leo scrutinized the mini-map which provided him with an expansive view of this twisted maze. With careful deliberation, he plotted a route.
Gripping a makeshift walking stick, Leo ventured into the labyrinth. Every step was a challenge, the darkness amplifying his movements. His clumsy strides created a cacophony of sound that bounced off the walls.
Then, out of the blackness, came a pair of glowing eyes.
They multiplied rapidly, advancing toward him. "Oh, come on. Fucking Bats? Seriously?" he groaned.
But as they swarmed, he realized there was no ordinary means to fend them off. Without a torch, the creatures closed in, their wings brushing his skin like icy whispers.
"Enough of this shit," Leo growled, his voice a low snarl.
Channeling his power, he activated his Dragon Rakshasa Body Transformation Sutra. A golden aura burst to life around him, illuminating the maze in a shimmering light. The sudden radiance of his dragon pushed back the swarm, revealing their true form.
"Gargoyles," Leo muttered, narrowing his eyes.
The creatures were no mere bats, but stone figures animated by some malevolent force.
He surveyed the area now bathed in the light of his dragon. The high walls of the labyrinth were adorned with intricate carvings and countless statues, their grotesque shapes frozen in mid-motion.
It was clear these weren't just decorations.
"Wonderful. If those statues can move, this entire place is a fucking death trap," he muttered.
Wariness soon etched into his every step, as Leo advanced slowly, careful not to provoke more guardians to wake up.
The gargoyles flitted around him, their claws raking ineffectively against the golden scales of his dragon transformation. Realizing their attacks were futile, they retreated one by one, returning to their perches in the walls and ceilings. As they turned back to stone, the oppressive silence of the labyrinth returned.
Leo knew now why the gargoyles attacked him. "Damn, I was too fucking noisy."
He continued through the labyrinth slowly making sure he made no noise at all. The statues above were not triggered.
Finally, he reached an enormous chamber. Large stones appeared here at the entrance engraved with hieroglyphs of an ancient kind.
"Should I go in?" Leo asked himself but decided against it.
"I must read the instructions on the stones first", he warned himself.
Leo doesn't understand the strange writings on the stones. "Damnit if only Yun-Yun was here" he complained.
Then he remembered something.
He summoned his control panel and scanned the hieroglyphs on the stones. "I hope there are enough hieroglyphs that my program can translate."
In their spare time, Yun-Yun forced Leo to learn the ancient languages of the land. But Leo was too lazy to study. Instead, he wrote a program, copying all the runes and letters that Yun-Yun taught him into a translator program. He's using the translator now.
"I'll remember to learn this whole stupid language when I get back to Yun-Yun", Leo pledged.
What he meant by learning was to copy Yun-Yun's books into his translator program.
The translator translated the stone writings. The translation wasn't perfect but basically, it goes like this. The stones were written instructions and protocols for approaching the tomb.
"Before you is the tomb of the Great Emperor.
Proceed with reverence, head bowed.
Hands raised above your head palm facing upwards.
Kneel before the emperor nine times."
"So, this place is a fucking tomb", Leo muttered to himself.
Although he was usually rude to people, he respects the dead. So, he followed the protocol on the stones even if it was apparently stupid.
"Who the hell will know how I walk towards the tomb?" Leo muttered but he walked slowly with his head bowed, his hands over his head like instructed. "I'm the silliest idiot in the world."
Nothing much happened as he walked but then he realized there were bodies around him. From their armor and skeletons, these people were decapitated as they approached the tomb.
Their bodies strewn haphazardly.
Then something struck Leo. The realization hit him like a lightning bolt. These people hadn't followed the protocol.
"Damn it. If I don't follow the exact protocol to approach the tomb, the magic in this place could kill me," he muttered under his breath.