Chapter 430: _From the Skeleton

To Ambrose’s absolute astonishment, the Queen Spider still didn’t attack even after over a minute of him just standing there staring at it and the ruins stretching from the wrecked mountain several kilometres behind it.

’What do you mean you’ve got no records? And exceeds every civilisation? H-How?’

[I’m telling you, Rose. Whatever those structures are, they’re far from normal dungeon ruins. My scanners are trying to get clues from the markings on the statues, but we might need to get closer...]

Ambrose gulped.

Get closer.

His eyes lingered on the colossal spider.

Worst case scenario, he’d have to fight it since it seemed so bent on staying guard before it.

With the faintest spatial ripple, he teleported, appearing directly in front of the majestic ruins.

He couldn’t stop his gasp.

Now that he was up close, he felt like an insignificant bacterium that had gotten too near to the highest beings in all creation. The pillars were a blend of gold and polished gemstones, unlike anything he’d ever seen on either Earth or other worlds.

As for the statues—they depicted entities that made his brows furrow.

One was a humanoid with robes that reached ankle level. He wielded a sword dug into the ground, four angelic wings furled behind his back.

Another had six wings and a spear covered in gemstones instead.

Another statue showed something beyond his comprehension even from a closer angle.

Several ring-like spheres connected to form a single mass covered in eyes at the rims. Multiple wings surrounded the structure as well.

"This..." Memories from his last life hit him. "I’ve seen this. Back when I was a kid obsessed with looking up demonology and the heavenly hosts."

[They do oddly look like angels, don’t they?]

Something clicked in his head just then.

He turned around, fingers curling tighter around Grave Keeper.

The Queen spider.

She would’ve clearly sensed him teleporting here if she were truly protecting these ruins. Yet she hadn’t made a move.

Her numerous eyes blinked, the lightning illuminating them enough for Ambrose to see even from this distance. All it would take was one moment of distraction for that thing to come crashing into him like a multi-limbed disaster.

[It doesn’t... appear interested in attacking anymore.]

’I ain’t buying that.’

[No, seriously. Look at its body language. It’s not tense at all. Just... relaxed.]

Before Ambrose could think further on that, a metallic chime echoed from the ruins. His heart lurched straight to his ass as he spun back to them.

Beyond the majestic statues and pillars, there was a gate etched into a giant rock that remained from the fallen mountain.

It screeched open with a grating rumble that made it clear that it hadn’t been touched in aeons.

A sharp, cool wind burst out from the space within, so powerful that he was forced to place an arm over his face and squint.

’Gods, what now?’

Eventually the wind ceased.

He straightened, head tilting as he regarded the darkness the gate had been covering all this while. Spatial awareness picked up what appeared to be a tunnel.

A flight of stairs, too wide and gigantic to have been used by any human-sized beings, stretched within, leading to a place so vast that even he couldn’t accurately picture what could be in there.

Ambrose hesitated for only a second before taking his first step into the tunnel.

The staircase immediately reminded him why the statues outside had been so absurdly massive.

Each individual step reached nearly five metres in height.

Even with his enhanced physique, climbing them normally would’ve been ridiculous.

A flicker of spatial energy carried him from one step to another, his boots landing with hollow echoes that reverberated throughout the cavern. Every sound seemed to linger far longer than it should have, bouncing endlessly through the darkness as though the ruins themselves were listening.

The deeper he descended, the heavier the atmosphere became.

The air possessed an ancient stillness unlike anything Ambrose had ever experienced. There were no insects hiding within cracks. No distant growls. No dripping water.

Even the violent storm raging outside became nothing more than a faint murmur behind him.

Only an oppressive silence remained.

"Aura?"

[Yes?]

"You’ve gone awfully quiet."

The System remained silent for another moment before finally replying.

[I’m trying to understand what I’m

scanning.]

Ambrose frowned. "And?"

[I don’t.]

Those two words made him pause halfway down another gigantic step.

Aura... didn’t know?

Even till now?

Ever since arriving in this world, she’d always had something. A theory. A probability. Some fragment of information hidden away in her endless archives.

Now... Nothing?

A strange uneasiness settled within his chest.

After another minute of descending, the staircase finally ended.

Ambrose stepped onto smooth golden stone, his spatial awareness instinctively expanding in every direction.

"Holy shit."

The words escaped before he could stop them.

Before him stretched an underground world so impossibly vast that he momentarily forgot he was beneath a mountain.

Towering pillars disappeared into darkness thousands of metres overhead. Crystalline veins pulsed faintly through the walls like frozen rivers of light, illuminating rows upon rows of colossal buildings that had long since collapsed beneath the weight of unimaginable time.

Yet despite their age, nothing had decayed.

The gold still gleamed.

The gemstones remained flawless.

Even intricate carvings running along walls the size of cliffs looked as though they’d been engraved only yesterday.

Ambrose slowly approached one of them.

Thousands upon thousands of unfamiliar symbols covered the surface.

Each character seemed almost... alive.

"Can you translate any of this?"

Aura didn’t answer immediately.

When she finally did, there was something dangerously close to disbelief in her usually cheerful voice.

[Negative. The language bears no resemblance to anything currently stored within my archives.]

His brows climbed. "Not even similarities?"

[None.]

That answer alone sent a chill down his spine.

His attention drifted farther into the ruins.

Then... He froze.

What he’d mistaken for another collapsed monument was, in reality, something else entirely.

Bones.

An enormous skeletal hand rested upon the ground, its fingers still wrapped around the shaft of a magnificent spear embedded deep within the stone floor.

The ribs arched overhead like the ceiling of a cathedral.

Fragments of a gigantic skull lay scattered nearby, while rows of vertebrae stretched across the ruins like the remains of an ancient bridge.

Several metres away rested another skeleton.

Then some more.

Some possessed unmistakably humanoid forms. Others bore six skeletal wings branching from their backs.

One consisted of countless circular skeletal rings linked together, each one lined with hollow sockets where countless eyes had once existed.

Ambrose’s breathing unconsciously slowed.

"So... the statues outside weren’t artistic interpretations. They were sculptures of the people who actually lived here."

He cautiously stepped toward the nearest skeleton, unable to tear his gaze away from the flawless spear still clutched in its hand.

Not a single trace of rust blemished its surface.

It looked almost ready to be wielded.

[Ambrose...]

He stopped immediately. "What is it?"

A long silence followed.

When she finally answered, her voice was barely above a whisper.

[I’m detecting residual aether.]

He instinctively looked toward the spear.

"From the weapon?"

Another pause.

[...No. From the skeleton.]