Tale of the Red Dragon Without Dragon’s Might
Chapter 267 - 264 Various Possibilities

Chapter 267: Chapter 264 Various Possibilities

"I’m heading out first." Salovis said, excitedly flapping her wings as she ran toward the pyramid.

Although Su Ausis had beaten her up badly earlier, leaving her quite humiliated, in the grand scheme of things, treasure was far more important than Su Ausis. She desperately needed wealth to establish her nest; living under someone else’s roof was unbearable... Of course, she’d rather die than leave the Volcanic Island—her nest would definitely be built somewhere on the island.

The pyramid wasn’t going anywhere. Leon wasn’t in a hurry to dismantle it, as he hadn’t calmed down from the earlier fight yet. He still couldn’t quite accept that Su Ausis had just escaped like that.

Salovis had only just reached the pyramid when she ran back, complaining, "Why aren’t you guys moving?"

"Why do you care if we move or not..." Leon cast a sidelong glance at his sister.

"You guys sitting here chatting while I do all the work, and the money ends up being split the same anyway—doesn’t that make me look stupid?" Salovis retorted self-righteously.

"You sure have some nerve to say that... When we were fighting Su Ausis, all you did was nearly get yourself killed. If it weren’t for me helping you, you’d be dead by now, let alone doing anything else." Leon grumbled, "Fine, then let’s distribute the spoils based on effort—how much you contribute determines how much you get. We’ll see how much you end up with."

"I was just joking, don’t take it seriously." Salovis immediately backed down.

Leon looked at Salovis’ retreating figure, wondering how much time it would take to properly educate his terrible-tempered sister. It was a long road ahead.

Now that Salovis had interrupted him, Leon no longer felt like reminiscing about the fight. After all, there was bound to be a day when they’d cross paths with Su Ausis again. He said, "Let’s start dismantling the pyramid. The sooner we finish dismantling this pyramid, the sooner we can head back... This place has terrible food and worse accommodations."

"Why are we dismantling the pyramid anyway? It’s mainly dangerous for humanoid forms to enter the pyramid, but now that Su Ausis is gone, we could totally explore the pyramid in humanoid form." Cecilia interjected, "Instead of going to all the trouble of dismantling it."

"By dismantling the pyramid, we can ensure we don’t miss a single room—even hidden chambers—and not a single piece of treasure will escape us." Tassera paused, "Now are you sure you want to explore the pyramid in humanoid form?"

"Better keep dismantling the pyramid then." Cecilia didn’t argue further—treasure trumped everything else.

Tassera and Cecilia were climbing; Leon alone was walking, wagging his tail like Godzilla as he caught onto a sudden thought and asked, "So Su Ausis escaped, right?"

"That’s right." Tassera confirmed.

"If he could leave, why was he staying inside the pyramid all this time instead of leaving?" Leon asked.

"Great question, Master." Cecilia chimed, contributing only emotional support, not solutions.

Tassera, being the problem-solver, explained: "A Mummy Lord typically oversees a group of lower-level undead creatures and various traps, guarding an ancient temple or tomb. They rarely wander about. Most liches are solitary, only interacting with their minions and defenders within their lairs... Su Ausis staying inside the pyramid is perfectly normal."

Leon nodded in agreement but still sensed something amiss. He said, "I remember him constantly mentioning life energy and reclaiming youth... Life energy is everywhere outside, isn’t it?"

"He’s probably like many liches. With the erosion of rationality and memory over time, they forget how to harvest souls and turn into demiliches, waiting for someone to enter their secluded place." Tassera said, "Normally, liches must periodically sacrifice souls to their Life Box to sustain their physical form and consciousness."

Tassera suddenly stopped walking and said, "There are a lot of possibilities."

"You should’ve noticed—although he looks like it, Su Ausis isn’t actually an undead creature; he’s still alive." Tassera explained.

"I did notice." Leon said, having deduced it mainly from the ineffectiveness of Hand Palm Bomb, which was supposed to be highly damaging against undead creatures.

"Undead creatures tend to have no desires, but the living don’t. Su Ausis’s unwillingness to leave might mean he’s relying on the pyramid to prevent aging. Unless absolutely necessary, he wouldn’t want to leave." Tassera analyzed.

"Anything else?" Curious Cecilia prodded.

Though the two often clashed, Tassera merely glanced at Cecilia before continuing: "Su Ausis might not be staying there voluntarily; perhaps he was sealed inside the pyramid. That male-faced Sphinx wasn’t his guardian but his jailer."

"That’s possible." Leon agreed.

Tassera suddenly tilted her head back, looking at the sky: "Even with the pyramid dismantled and Su Ausis gone, the sandstorm hasn’t abated. It might just need more time, or maybe those sandstorms weren’t caused by Su Ausis after all."

"No doubt Su Ausis is immensely powerful, but he likely isn’t powerful enough to create eternal sandstorms while simultaneously reanimating all the dead creatures within tens of kilometers." Tassera said cryptically, continuing, "There might be something else under that pyramid. Su Ausis might have stayed there to study this thing, hoping to gain immortality from it."

"What kind of thing?" Cecilia asked.

"Perhaps a dead god." Tassera said, "From the Ancient Fallen Empire to now, animal gods are almost unheard of anymore. It’s possible many gods have reinvented themselves to survive, but equally possible that many gods have died. Dead gods can influence the living world."

"Furthermore," Tassera’s gaze dropped, "The Withered One is an incomplete, horrifying creation of an evil deity. Having never truly lived, it cannot be revived by any means. The Withered One’s shriveled umbilical cord connects it to the Negative Energy Plane, granting it dominion over death and undead creatures."

"Don’t be scared." Tassera suddenly chuckled, "The Withered One sounds impressive, but it’s honestly not much. I’ve beaten one myself."

Leon nodded, familiar with The Withered One’s lore—it was overpowered in the third edition but just mediocre in the fifth.

"Whatever the reason," Tassera said, "let’s just finish dismantling the pyramid, take the treasure, and leave. Whether there’s a dead god or The Withered One, it’s of no real use to us."

Leon agreed wholeheartedly.

It turned out dismantling the upper half of the pyramid took them three days. Although the lower half was larger in scale, it had less of interest, so it only took another three days. Finally, they left, loaded with the treasure they had scavenged.