Ale Bon's eyes flickered toward the sound of a dull thud behind him. "What was that?" he asked, glancing at the big man standing guard at his back. "A heavy stone?"
"No idea," the big man muttered, gripping his sword as he stared towards the source of the noise. "Could be a guardian."
"Maybe a mummy tripped a trap." Ale Bon frowned, debating whether to summon his Axiom. "Mummies are so—"
Pain. Cold. Silence.
The moment his lips parted to speak, a rusted blade speared through, shattering his teeth and tearing through the soft tissue of his throat into his stomach. His words died in a gurgle of blood. His bronze-like skin, a mark of his strength, had been utterly useless against the precise strike.
Who was it? What—attacked me?
A rusted blade. That was all he saw before his body went slack. His strength meant nothing. If the attack was perfect, even the mighty fell.
The last thing Ale Bon saw was the horrified face of his butler and childhood friend—Benzei—before everything turned dark.
He didn't even get to see his murderer.
—
Benzei's skin crawled. What just happened?
The sound of gurgled breathing made him spin. His breath hitched. Ale Bon stood rigid, impaled by a blackened, rusted sword.
"Who?!" Benzei roared, eyes burning red. "Where are you?!"
Silence. No answer. No shadow.
Tak. Tak. Tak.
A stone tumbled somewhere behind him. He whirled—nothing. Gritting his teeth, he spun back, keeping his sword leveled. He wouldn't be caught off guard. Not again.
Then, movement—a flicker of a shadow near the wall's edge.
A hidden figure. He knew it.
Shame. Rage. Fear. It all boiled in his chest. With a guttural roar, he charged.
The shadow darted away, vanishing around the corner. Benzei's fury only grew. If they ran, they feared him. He turned the corner, sword poised to strike—
And stopped.
A woman. Naked. Her luminous skin glowed in the tomb's eerie light. She ran, arms crossed to cover herself, looking back with wide, terrified eyes.
Cold dread coiled in his gut.
Bizarre. Too bizarre.
A naked woman, alone in a cursed tomb?
Benzei's instincts screamed as he kept chasing. But before he could act, something coiled around his legs. Tight. Unyielding.
Linen.
Bandages.
Mummy wrappings.
His eyes widened. He crashed forward, his helmeted head slamming against the cold stone floor.
No.
Something sharp and merciless slid through the slit between his helmet and armor—his wood-like skin was broken into by sheer force.
He looked down in agony to see the same rusted sword.
Ha… hahhaaha…
He turned, rigid with horror, and met the cold gaze of a mummy.
Then, Benzei was no more.
—
The two people, who Sett didn't know the names of, were now corpses. Sett discarded the last of the stones in his hand, eyes locking onto Zarah.
She stood at a distance, shivering. Fear. Disgust. Awe. All painted across her face. Her bare skin glowed like divine marble under the tomb's light, her curves a masterpiece of mortal beauty.
He wanted to call out to her.
But then—
Warmth.
The corpses around him withered, shriveling into husks, their essence pouring into him. Strength surged through his veins, wrapping him in an embrace both intoxicating and alien.
It was warm—so embracingly warm. As if he had reached his home from an icy weather, as if he were embracing a wife, in throes of passion, or in play.
As if he were a dead man being embraced—by life itself.
It was ecstasy.
Sett sighed softly. This was different. Killing mummies gave him neautral energy, yes. Whatever that was. But killing the living?
That fed something deeper.
Unlike killing mummies, killing humans—or any living beings for that matter—didn't increase the progression bar for "Limitless Evolution Art". Instead, killing living beings increased the progression for Cryptwalker Pathway instead.
[Absorbed a total of 5 Tomb Hearts]
(Progress: 250 Tomb Energy Value)
[Cryptwalker Progress 6/9]
["Low" Tier 1 Guardian Mummy evolution requirements have been met!]
[Evolution into "High" Tier 1 initiated!]
[Integrating (50) Tomb Energy Value]
One Tomb Heart was equal to 50 TEV according to system terms and since Sett already had one Tomb Heart, he only needed 50 more to complete Tier 1 Low level.
Sett took in an effervescent breath.
His whole body shivered, and as Zainah watched, his rotten flesh began to wriggle. Some of his blood vessels that were torn and dry reconnected with its counterparts, then that happened with all of his other blood vessels.
Soon enough, almost all his blood vessels were clearly connected.
But that did not have any other functions than looking better. But still, Sett was much stronger than just seconds ago. He was still a mummy—incapable of feeling touch, smell, taste or lust, but he was stronger.
Sett smiled in deep satisfaction. His earlier body with skin and muscles as solid as strong wood was much stronger now, his muscles felt as if they were made of bronze itself, his skin was the same.
Now, normal weapons could hardly hurt him.
Sett blinked, looking at his wrinkled, pale arms.
He was experienced with having all sorts of physical strength. Having been weak, strong, and average, he had long learned how to evaluate his own strength roughly. Thus, he took a moment to calculate his own strength.
With his current body, he was sure that he could lift more than 1000 kilograms of weight.
He could also move with enough speed to dodge most hand-thrown projectiles.
Sett licked his lips with his dry tongue.
Another notification pulsed.
[Successfully evolved to Tier 1 "Mid" level Guardian Mummy]
(Remaining Tomb Energy: 100)
The system did not stop as it flickered.
["Mid" Tier 1 Evolution requirements have been met]
[Evolution into "High" Tier 1 initiated!]
[Integrating (100) Tomb Energy Value]
He had gotten more Tomb Hearts than needed for a single evolution. So, of course, he wouldn't just be stopping at MID!
100 points blurred and vanished.
Sett closed his eyes while Zainah observed. Dead corpses, no matter how well preserved, have dry organs. Through some of the holes in Sett's body, she could see his organs.
Sett's organs glistened slightly in the ambient Tomb-Light—it was starting to produce some moisture content on its own.
It was slowly, but surely, kicking back into action.
As she watched, everything except his skin and torn flesh seemingly repaired itself.
He seemed like a fresher corpse now.
[Successfully evolved to Tier-1 "High" level Guardian Mummy]
[Progress: 0/100]
Sett's body began to cool down after its many successive transformations, but even as it did that, he could feel his bones harden. No longer wooden, no longer broze. His flesh felt as if they were iron. His bones, skin, flesh—they were all iron now.
His muscles slowly went taut, an explosion of power hidden within them.
And in the see-through hole in the middle of his chest, the Heart Zone, five more Tomb Hearts also appeared out of thin air, floating around each other like happy little marbles.
Six Tomb Hearts!
High Guardian level!
Yet, even as all the waves of energies slowly calmed down and his strength reached a new crescendo, Sett felt disappointment linger around him. He still did not have most of his major senses.
Taste, touch, smell. Without those, wouldn't living be worthless?
What was strength without sensation? What was power without pleasure?
Would he ever reclaim them?
Perhaps, if his body fully regenerated, he would.
For now, he focused.
The two people he had just killed had both absorbed a total of five Tomb Hearts, which he had absorbed all into himself.
Tomb Raiders couldn't do that.
They cannot become stronger by killing other Tomb Raiders.
Only Mummies could do that!
That was a marked advantage of the Crypt Walker pathway. They could become stronger by killing mummies and Tomb Raiders, though they cannot leave the Tomb they were born in.
In that vein, the disadvantages clearly outweighed the advantages.
I hope I can leave…
After all, he was different from other Tomb Inhabitants. He was not here as a true corpse—he was a reincarnator and his soul was intact. He hoped he would be able to leave without any troubles.
And if that were possible, this advantage would clearly outweigh the disadvantages. He had a legitimate way to grow stronger once he left the Tomb—if he could that is—and that was to kill Tomb Raiders.
That was much, much easier than raiding tombs.
He looked at his Pathways silently.
—
[Crypt Walker]
D-Tier (T1)—
"High" Guardian Mummy.
(Progress: 0/100)
Total Tomb Hearts: 6.
—