Chapter 151: Book

Unlike what Aurelius initially expected, even a double dose of Edward’s blood was not enough to activate the slab’s mechanism and force it to open.

Every time the blood dripped onto the stone, the slab seemed to transform into a gluttonous beast.

Although the patterns would revolve and get closer, slowly completing the outline of the symbol at the center, that was impossible to accomplish with one, two, or even a dozen attempts.

After the umpteenth time Aurelius drew Edward’s blood, he no longer had the patience to do it one by one.

He simply moved the Thief near the stone slab and let him bleed directly onto the stone.

This made the process far easier and quicker. The only one who suffered was the victim.

Aurelius ignored Edward’s unwilling expression and continued watching the patterns move.

By now, he had a rough idea of what the symbol they were trying to complete was.

It was a book!

Shaped like a tome with tens of thousands of pages, it looked like the carrier of all knowledge.

Under normal circumstances, such a symbol would have signified knowledge, intelligence, and the spirit for research.

Yet that was not the case from Aurelius’ point of view.

The smell of blood, combined with the crimson sheen along its outline, made the book look eerie and terrifying, as though it did not belong to the mortal plane but had come out of Hell.

Aurelius’ eyes narrowed. By now, he knew perfectly well that whoever had died here was far from kind and approachable.

The Undead Evil Spirits outside were already evidence of that. After all, for so many of them to be born from the Awakener’s resentment, the deceased must have held an enormous amount of hatred before their death.

Similarly, the method to open the cave was also...

Evil.

That was the only way to describe it. Requiring a person to offer their blood in order to open the door was obviously that.

When one considered that it seemed that only a single bloodline could work, things became even more complicated.

Despite knowing this, Aurelius didn’t let Edward stop. He let him continue the bloodletting no matter how pale the Thief’s face became.

Until finally, there came a change.

Click! Click!

Bang!

The earth beneath their feet suddenly shook.

The crimson sheen enveloping the stone slab finally faded away.

Likewise, the patterns stopped moving again.

This time, not because there wasn’t enough blood to supply them with energy, but because they had disappeared forever.

In their place now stood a book.

Completely crimson and exuding a bloody aura, it looked like a bloodthirsty Relic, no less eerie than the Blood Crown in his possession.

Before Aurelius could do anything, though, the sound of pages rapidly turning rang out.

The book opened until it reached the middle. Then, it stopped abruptly.

An image was outlined across its two revealed pages.

A humanoid skeleton surrounded by shadowy mist, with black liquid writing beneath its feet. It looked like a Necromancer surrounded by an aura of death.

The skeleton was extremely vivid and lifelike, as though it would step out of the page the very next moment and appear in reality.

Aurelius even had the illusion that its pitch-black eyes were looking straight at them.

Unfortunately—or fortunately—he didn’t have the time to confirm this feeling.

The skeleton only appeared for a brief moment. The next instant, the book closed again, having served its purpose.

It then retreated into the stone slab.

Boom!

The trembling of the earth became even more apparent.

Without Aurelius or Edward needing to do anything, the stone slab began to move.

It didn’t move to the side as he had originally expected. Instead, it opened in the middle like the two sides of a stone gate parting.

A bottomless darkness was revealed hidden beneath it.

Even with Aurelius’ extraordinary sight, he found it difficult to see what was going on on the inside.

The interior did not seem like a cave but more like the mouth of a terrifying monster. Even the danger he would have felt was there.

Clearly, opening the cave was not the end of their troubles. Entering it was as troublesome, if not even more.

’However, that is not surprising at all. The person who perished here must have been extremely bloodthirsty while alive. Most likely, they belonged to an evil cult.’

’For such a person, anything left behind following their death will be accompanied by danger. Even if they left the inheritance of their own accord, there was no way they would make it easy to obtain.’

That was assuming they had left an inheritance at all.

It was just as likely that the entire inheritance was a trap, trying to lure innocent Awakeners here. Although this seemed meaningless, no one could understand how lunatics thought.

Despite knowing all of this, Aurelius didn’t back down.

Had he learned of the bizarreness of the cave before coming here, he would likely never have come. At the very least, he would have waited until he advanced to Rank 3 before investigating further.

However, having spent so much effort and witnessed how difficult it was to reach this place, he was no longer as hesitant.

He knew very well that if there was an inheritance left behind, it would be extremely valuable.

It would be similar in value to the Sea God’s Trident. Perhaps even more precious.

Such a thing was enough to make even him greedy.

With that in mind, Aurelius didn’t show any fear.

He stared at the bottomless darkness, then at the dense mist and the Undead Evil Spirits outside this paradise-like domain.

Then... he glanced toward Edward.

Before the Thief could react, Aurelius’ hand moved and shoved him into the cave.

"AAAH!"

A terrified cry echoed continuously. It gradually grew more distant, as though Edward was falling into an unending hole.

It was only several seconds later that the cry finally stopped. A booming noise replaced it, as though a meteor had crashed down.

Edward had landed!