Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 495 - 59 Hundred Layer Box_1

Chapter 495: Chapter 59 Hundred Layer Box_1

"Lina, in the teachings of most churches, what’s the name of the sin for damaging the Holy Image?" Pannis asked. "Is it very serious?"

"Holy Images cannot be destroyed by common people." Lina said, "Unless you draw on the power of a more potent deity, ordinary beings can’t harm the Holy Image at all."

"What if I knock it over?" Pannis continued his questioning. "Not damaging it, just deliberately tipping it over."

"Are you talking about this Holy Image? Well, it would depend on the circumstances." Lina walked up towards Pannis, saying as she did, "In serious cases, it could be treated as sacrilege, which is not protected by any law. However, in most cases, it’s only...Eh? What happened here?"

The white jade Holy Image was lying sideways on the ground, broken into three parts. It was impossible to identify the cause of the fractures. But this was not as interesting as the fact that Lina had found two white leg bones beneath the statue. The two bones, a shinbone and a fibula, were not intact; at the upper end where they should have been connected to the knee, they were neatly chopped off. Podiatry and footwear were nowhere to be found; instead, two lonely leg bones were firmly pressed under the Holy Image, deeply buried in the mud and sand and impossible to extract.

"It seems someone wanted to move the Holy Image or even tip it over." Pannis pulled out a small knife and began to excavate the mud and sand around the leg bones. "However, he seemed to have bad luck. The Holy Image fell and happened to land on his leg. Hmm, if it happened as such, he didn’t intend to tip the Holy Image over but just to move it. If pushing something could lead to hitting your leg, then this person must be at a ridiculous level of stupidity."

"This can’t be the guardian chief." Lina agreed with Pannis’ speculation. "He doesn’t have a waist, let alone legs to be hit. Therefore, it must be the archbishop who came back with him. But according to our previous guess, even the lowest-level person who can fight against the deep-sea pressure here should be of Legendary Rank. No, Legendary Rank could only barely sustain a short time under the seabed, to have a normal battle, he must at least be a demigod. Is it possible for a demigod to have his leg trapped by a statue and eventually have to amputate his leg to escape? This doesn’t make much sense."

"Perhaps he was severely injured to a degree where he could hardly support his companion." Catherine too came over and pointed to the half-body behind her. "Of course, maybe he wouldn’t waste energy on a doomed companion. But, I believe any normal person wouldn’t just watch his companion crawling on the ground. Therefore, it makes sense that his leg was trapped and unable to be removed. However, what compelled him to move the Holy Icon in such a situation?"

"Obviously, it’s to validate your previous speculation." Pannis said as he dug out the two leg bones and started to excavate where the Holy Image previously stood. "Clearly, there’s something that can only be obtained by moving the Holy Icon. Indeed, beneath the Holy Icon should be the safest place on the whole boat. It’s a good idea to hide the most important thing here."

Everyone gathered beside the toppled Holy Icon and began to dig together. As the whole wall had been destroyed, half of the room’s deck was piled up with a lot of mud and sediment. It was not easy to find any valuable clues from this. As they dug, the deck in this area was gradually revealed from beneath the sediment. After expanding the excavation area several times, they finally located the position of the Holy Image’s pedestal. As soon as Lina’s shovel was inserted into the soil, a series of bubbles emerged from the gap she had created. Everyone simultaneously rolled backward, avoiding these bubbles and watching them with caution as they floated to the ceiling and shattered upon impact. Only then did they return to where the shovel had been thrust into the ground.

When the bubbles stopped coming, they brushed away the mud and sand layer by layer with their shovels and quickly found a hidden compartment about sixty or seventy centimeters in length and width, located beneath the base of the Holy Image. Precisely placed within the compartment was a metallic box. The surface of the box twinkled, showing no signs of rust.

"Hmm, this seems to be made of Magicsteel." Pannis took the box out of the compartment. The box was surprisingly heavy. Even underwater, it still groaned when placed on the deck. Touching the surface of the box, Pannis said, "But if it were made of Magicsteel, it should be heavier."

"It’s probably more than Magicsteel." Vivian offered, dredging up a memory. "I remember a way of preserving magical items. It doesn’t have a specific name. We call it the Hundred Layer Box. It’s said to be developed to hide magical items discreetly, preventing other mages from detecting them. The making of such a box is complicated—essentially forged by alternating layers of Magicsteel and Mithril. And on both sides of each Mithril layer, a lot of Arrays are inscribed that can shield the fluctuation of magical energy. The simplest Hundred Layer Box consists of only ten layers. The better the crafting technique, the thinner each layer can be forged, which allows more layers. The most I’ve ever seen is an eighty-layer box, a container used for storing Divine Artifacts. The craftsmanship of this box seems very like a Hundred Layer Box, though I’m not sure how many layers it has."

"Could the treasure be here?" Lina asked. "Given how securely it’s stored, it might still be here."

"The chances are small, otherwise there would be another corpse here." Catherine shook her head. "Pannis, Vivian, could you please help check what’s inside? Whether it’s there or not, we must confirm it."

"Keep some distance." Vivian said, crouching before the box. "I’ll first check if there’s any magical trap."

The box was silver-white, without any lock. The lid was simply placed on top, looking like it could be easily pushed open. But no one dared to underestimate it. Such an important item would naturally be stored with several layers of traps for protection. As adventurers, no one would risk doing something so foolish. Supposedly experienced high-level adventurers dying out on an adventure due to casually opening a suspicious box without checking, that’s definitely a laughing stock and would be taught to younger generations as a negative example.

Vivian didn’t use her hands, but directly used the Puppet Control Spell to manipulate two mithril probes as fine as hair, touching various nodes around the box or stretching the probe into the crevices of the box for inspection. After spending more than ten minutes circling around the box, Vivian frowned and said, "There are seven magic traps, but they are not linked to the opening state of the box. In other words, the traps are currently inactive. Pannis, you take over from here."

"Alright, it’s my turn." Then Pannis leaned over, constantly swapping out numerous unknown small tools in his hand to probe the box and its gaps. Pannis was quick. In less than three minutes, he said with a twitch in his mouth, "Why are the people setting these traps always so cunning?"

"Did you find a trap?" Catherine asked, "Why such a sudden comment, is the trap complicated?"

Pannis didn’t respond but shook his head. Suddenly he exerted force with both hands and directly lifted open the box. Instead of the lid, he lifted it from near the bottom of the box, revealing the inside. The girls just realized that besides the lid, there was a barely noticeable seam a third of the way up the box, where the Hundred Layer Box really opened. The seemingly authentic lid before was nothing more than an illusion. Pannis sighed and said, "If we ventured to open that fake lid, we surely would have activated the trap, no telling what would have happened after that."

"Thanks for the effort." Catherine gave a nod, peering into the box. The inside of the box was made of mithril, emitting the same silver glow, the empty space within, about twenty centimeters deep, was utterly vacant. The desolate void mocked the gathering like gaping maws.

"As expected, it’s all gone," Lina swung her hammer in disgruntlement, "that’s a problem, who knows where that Archbishop took the thing to."

"Let’s not jump to conclusions yet." Catherine said, "There’s something off about this lid."

Indeed, as Catherine pointed out, something was amiss with the lid. A normal lid would have an inward dentation, but this one was virtually flat, not indenting inward at all, instead somewhat bulging outward. If you flipped the lid, it looked more like a small box nested inside.

"This... should be alright to open, right?" Catherine quickly found a crack on the lid, something like a hidden panel that could be opened. She hesitated briefly, then asked, "Would this set off a trap?"

"Magic traps won’t be activated." Vivian shook her head, "I’ve checked thoroughly just now, there are only seven unlinked traps inside. Even if you bash the box, they won’t be set off."

"What about physical traps?" Catherine asked, "Pannis, can you confirm?"

"Can’t be sure." Pannis shook his head, "The crack is too fine, reducing the ability to conduct the most detailed inspection inside. However, we can mostly rule out any powerful traps. If there is any, it would just be extremely simple trigger traps, spring-loaded or pull-type. As long as you’re cautious, it shouldn’t be a problem."

"Then I’m opening it." Catherine positioned the Magicsteel Shield covering her body with her bare arm wearing a gauntlet. She stuck half her face out from the side of the shield, and carefully prised open the concealed seam on the lid.

The box was exceptionally well made. Although it was made of metal, there was no rust at the hinge where the lid opened and closed, and it was quickly opened to reveal a space about thirty centimeters in length, width and height.

Unfortunately, it was also empty within. However, dozens of Arrays were intricately etched on the four walls, indicating that whatever was previously stationed inside, was of significant importance.

No, it wasn’t completely empty. Within five seconds of opening the lid, a massive amount of black fog erupted from within. The black fog dispersed in the water, forming shadowy figures within the cloud of darkness. (To be continued. If you enjoy this novel, you’re welcome to vote for it on qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation! *For mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)