Chapter 71: Sixty Nine

The clanging of steel and shouted battle cries drifted towards us as we crept down the hall towards a set of heavy stone doors. 

“Those bastards are stealing our boss fight.” Pia hissed in outrage as we peered into the large room.

A group of seven armored men and women were inside the room, surrounding a twelve foot tall mummified creature that wore an ornate golden headdress, that identified the creature as the unnamed Pharaoh whose tomb had become the dungeon we stood in. 

“Ain’t they from The Primordial Brotherhood?” Kip questioned softly, a hand pressed to his wounded chest as he tried to lean around Victoria for a better look into the room. 

Eyes narrowed, I stared at the man directly in front of the mummified Pharaoh. He was the same man who’d been mocking Darius about losing our encampment. 

“First, they steal our encampment, and now they’re stealing our boss fight.” Pia huffed, sitting back against the wall with a pout. 

“They aren’t stealing our boss fight, they were here before us.” Rainy corrected, getting an eye roll from the Faun in response. 

“We should find somewhere to wait until the fight is over, and they either vacate or die,” Victoria said, gesturing for us to move and stand away from the door. 

I didn’t budge from my position, eyes still intently focused on the man at the center of the room as my mind swirled with half thought out plans for revenge. Fingers delving into a pouch, I pulled out two clay spheres and lit the fuses before bowling them one after the other into the room towards the fighters. 

“Steeeeeerike!” I crowed in delight as both rolled into the midst of battle.

BOOM!

A thunderous sound filled the air when the fuse on the first sphere burnt down. Simultaneously, the second clay sphere began spewing out plumes of smoke that obscured the vision of the disorientated fighters. Even my own ears were ringing from the explosive sound. But, I didn't pay it any heed as I ordered Pyr into the room, and started to pull the ornately carved doors closed just as a woman came rushing out of the smoke. As I struggled with the heavy doors, a pair of red hands reached past me to finish yanking the doors shut.  

“Damn Foxy, warn us next time.” Kip grumbled, rubbing at his ears with a pained expression on his face. 

“Was that one of those not-for-Tink sticks?” Pia asked excitedly, and I shook my head. 

“No, I only had a few tubes I was allowed to keep which I used on the wall. The rest of it is with Darius and Noctus, respectively. That was my version of the Chinese Zhèntiānléi, otherwise known as a thunder crack bomb, and a smoke bomb.” 

“Oh, I thought maybe you’d killed them.” Pia sighed, looking disappointed. 

“The smoke bomb is made with a poison secreted by the Pozania vine, so it will be a rather painful death. The Pozania poison will cause a person's internal organs to rupture and hemorrhage. Taken orally, death is observed within the first twenty to thirty seconds, inhaled in this manner the poison can take as long as a minute. The smoke and air dilute the effect of the poison, so it’s a little slower to affect the body.” I informed the Faun matter-of-factly. 

“Here, you’ll need to put these on. The remnants of the poison will be on any surfaces in the room, so try not to touch your face, no rubbing your eyes, or putting fingers in your mouth.” I instructed, handing out black cloth masks to my team. 

“I don’t think a bit of poison is going to be enough to take out the boss.” Kip joked as he took one of the masks. 

“It was already weak. If Foxy’s wisp didn’t finish it off then we will.” Victoria said, reaching out to ruffle a hand over my hair, much to my annoyance.

“Normally I’d scold you for kill stealing, but I’m willing to overlook it this time.” The team captain declared with a chuckle, pulling on her mask. 

“Course you’ll overlook it, we’re about to cake walk our way up to silver ranking,” Pia chimed in with a snicker. 

A gentle poke to my shoulder brought my gaze away from the most vocal of our team and I turned towards Rainy who stood beside me. Holding the book I’d given her about the plants found in Salvia at the page describing the Pozania vine. 

“Tell me you’ve got some on you,” the Dryad pleaded, her eyes holding a fervent gleam as she gazed at the drawing of a vine with pearlescent spines, some of which were up to three inches long.  

“I’m sorry Rainy. But I don’t have any unrendered Pozania vines. It is on my request list, so someone may have brought some back to the lab at Caruan.” 

“What do you mean by rendered?” the dryad asked, her lips turning downwards as she closed the book, though not before giving the vines one last longing glance. 

“Well, I plucked off the spines, and then extracted the liquid from the vines by crushing them. Then, I dried the leftover pulp and ground it into a powder. The leaves were also dried and ground, along with the seed pods.” 

Sighing, Rainy gave a small nod before putting away her book. “I would greatly appreciate a seed pod if you acquire the vine again.” 

“Sure, I-oomph.” 

A wave of power rushed over me, cutting off my words as I shuddered in response to the overwhelming stream of power that consumed my body. Unlike when Trismegistus used me as a conduit to build the encampment, the flow of power did not move through me, but rather settled in my core, which strained to hold the power streaming in. 

Unable to squeeze itself into my core, the power overflowed through my body, shooting down my spine and congregating at the base of my tailbone. 

“Damn,” Kip exclaimed, letting out a low whistle. “Guess wispy did the boss in.”  

“Woo-hoo, check it out! Foxy got her second tail,” Pia cheered, and wide eyed, I craned my head back over my shoulder to see that I did indeed have a second tail. 

This is so weird, I thought as I watched both tails swish in synchronized arcs. Reaching back and catching the newer second tail, I pulled it around to inspect the crimson fur.

The sound of the doors to the boss room creaking open drew my attention away from my new tail, and I looked up to see Victoria striding through the doors with Pia close behind her, spear held at the ready. Not that she needed it, as a quick glance around the room showed it to be consumed by fire, with a happy-looking Pyr zooming around the room in circles. 

Is it me, or did he get bigger? Did he also get stronger from killing the boss, or is it because I got stronger? 

“Foxy, can you put out this fire?” Victoria asked, and I hesitated for a moment, focusing on the flames. 

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Could I put out the fire? No, I didn’t feel like these flames could be extinguished in the same manner I could with a normal fire, but a part of me knew Pyr could absorb them. Sensing my intent, the burning blob that was my wisp dove into the fire, and became an even larger burning blob as he appeared to suck up all the fire from around the room. Finished with his task, the gluttonous wisp shot up towards the ceiling, his flaming legs crossed as he floated in apparent meditation. 

I really need to talk to someone who knows about wisps. 

Ignoring Pyr’s strange behavior for now, I walked further into the room after making sure each of my team were wearing masks and had donned gloves. The last thing I wanted was to accidentally poison any of them, especially not now after we’d finally reached our goal. Sure, we didn’t technically fight the boss ourselves, but it was dead and once we brought the looted headdress back to Darius, we’d be bumped up to a fully fledged silver ranked team. Thus, our need to enter the dungeon would be nil, and I could focus more time on my research. 

“Damn Foxy, there isn’t even anything left to loot. That little bugger burnt their bags to ash, and they can’t be accessed, even the weapons aren’t worth taking,” Kip complained, standing from where he’d been crouched beside one of the Primordial Brotherhood fighters. 

“We don’t need any of their crap anyway,” I said dismissively, walking over to where Victoria stood in the center of the room. 

“Oh, well, that’s not good.” I muttered, seeing the melted lump that was once the Pharaohs golden headdress, that let off plumes of steam as the Kijo poured water over it to cool the heated metal. 

“Hopefully, the guild leader will still accept it as proof that we located the boss,” the captain said, frowning down at the damaged headdress. 

“Well, if not we’ll just have to come back and fight him properly.” Pia chirped, bounding over from where she and Rainy had been inspecting the Pharaohs sarcophagus. 

“The gold and jewels all survived the fire, so we can use that as proof,” Rainy suggested, and like a shot, Kip was rushing over to where the Dryad stood. 

Burying his hands in the gold, the Dwarf gleefully began scooping it into a leather bag, and I shook my head in amusement, wondering what kind of expression would be on Kip’s face when the guild took their cut of the loot. Most loot gathered by hunting teams, and money earnt by crafters, would go to the guild. How much was kept by a team, and how it was divided among them, depended on rank. As a Bronze ranked team, eighty percent of our loot would go to the guild, with the remaining twenty percent being split between the team. Victoria being captain would take five percent, while the rest of us split the final fifteen percent. 

“I’m surprised there isn’t more,” I commented, eyeing the piles of gold coins and jewels that filled the sarcophagus. 

Why in the sarcophagus? That isn’t usually where the treasures of a Pharaoh are kept. There should be a treasury somewhere around here. I mused, leaving the dwarf to fawn over the gold as I walked towards the walls of the room. 

It will probably be hidden, and I’d wager the treasure in the sarcophagus is a diversion. If one does not know of the greater treasure room, they would think that is all there is to be found. 

“Watcha doin?” 

“Looking for a treasure room,” I replied absentmindedly to the Faun’s question as I eyed the hieroglyphs carved into the walls. 

These are not traditional Egyptian hieroglyphs, but there are a few scattered among these unfamiliar ones. I pondered, retrieving a notebook and fountain pen from my bag so I could copy down the symbols. 

“There isn’t one, everyone’s tried finding it, but according to the rumors even the Whispers weren’t able to find it.” Pia said, reaching out to trace a finger over the hieroglyphs. 

“The Whispers even brought in Kemet tribesmen to translate the hieroglyphics, and apparently they don’t even mention treasure, but state the pharaoh buried here was a heretic who turned away from Anubin, the Kemet patron god.” 

“Even a dethroned pharaoh should have a treasury, it is more likely the Whispers have spread such rumors to dispel would-be treasure hunters.” 

 Turning away from the wall I was examining, I scanned the room with my alchemic sight, searching for anything of interest. 

Where are the Canopic jars? 

Golden lights flashed around the sarcophagus, and walking back to where Kip had finished packing away the treasures from within, I peered down at the empty sarcophagus that was laid out in the center of the room. There was something there, my alchemic sight showed several things with alchemic properties, yet my natural sight showed only an empty sarcophagus.

“Kip, have you searched for hidden compartments? Levers? Buttons?” I asked, running my hands over the ornately carved sides of the sarcophagus. 

“Of course I did,” the Dwarf responded defensively. “I wouldn’t have shoved my hands in if it wasn’t safe, regardless of how much gold was in it.” 

“There's something more here, something beneath.” I told him, pointing to the bottom of the sarcophagus. 

“People have tried moving it before, even smashing it and the like. There’s nothing beneath.” Kip said, shaking his head. 

“I’m telling you there is. Who says those aren’t rumors to dissuade people from finding things they don’t want to be found?” I snapped, glaring at the dwarf who held his hands up in surrender. 

“Alright, alright, no need to get your tails in a twist.” 

“Do you want to leave this dungeon alive?” I asked venomously as Victoria strode over to join us, a malformed headdress tucked under one arm. 

“Enough, you’re both squabbling loud enough to re-awaken the dead,” the captain snapped, giving us both a stern glare. 

“Foxy says there is something beneath the sarcophagus,” Kip said, rapping his knuckles on the side of the golden  painted stone coffin.

“So? Why aren’t you searching for a way to see what it is?” she demanded, looking at Kip as I stuck my tongue at him in a petulant display of triumph. 

Letting out a dramatic sigh of defeat, the dwarf looked down at the sarcophagus. 

“We could really use some of those explosives of yours right now Foxy, because I don’t fancy our chances of smashing our way through the stone before ol’ kingy over there is back on his feet.”