Chapter 119: A Cult

The entire subterranean palace rumbled...

Fine dust and debris drifted down from the vaulted ceiling.

Something cataclysmic was unfolding in the depths of the labyrinth.

"Is the tomb collapsing?!" Cassius exclaimed.

Everyone’s expressions shifted instantly. T

hey were unimaginably deep underground.

If the cavern collapsed, even an Archon would be crushed into paste, let alone them.

"It will not collapse," Theo stated gravely, his eyes glowing slightly.

[Primary load-bearing arrays remain intact. Tremors are localized to secondary corridors.]

Theo had seen no death flags for a cave-in...

Liana furrowed her brow, resting a hand on her Frostblade. "Someone has triggered the execution mechanisms of the Celestial Board."

"The Crown Prince and Hierarch Malakor both have Archon-tier escorts," Sylvia deduced instantly. "They are using brute force to break the labyrinth’s walls."

"We need to accelerate our pace," Theo said, exchanging a glance with Liana.

Theo turned to the Academy disciples. "Remain here. This Scriptoria is a verified safe zone. If you follow us into the core, I cannot guarantee your survival."

For the first time, the proud heirs of the Empire felt like total small fry. But they understood.

"Go, Sovereign," Marcus nodded solemnly. "We can manage."

"Do not wander off," Theo warned one last time before turning away.

Liana and Sylvia followed him, taking the golden light of the karmic fire with them.

The trio vanished into the passage.

The moment the light faded, the silence rushed back in.

The once-confident swordsmen suddenly felt very small and very cold.

"We... we can manage, right?" Titus whispered in the gloom.

"I am suddenly icy," Cassius whimpered.

In the total gloom, the elite swordsmen huddled together, shivering like a children.

...

Theo led the vanguard, moving through the correct spatial pathways.

As Liana unlocked one puzzle gate after another, the thunderous rumbling of the Archons’ demolition echoed around them, sometimes distant, sometimes alarmingly close.

"Liana, how much further?" Theo asked.

He received no response.

Theo turned back.

Liana was standing perfectly still before a gate, her silver eyes vacant, staring blankly at the dial.

"Liana? Are you alright?" Theo asked, stepping closer and gently taking her hand. Her fingers were icy.

Liana blinked, snapping out of her daze.

She pressed her lips together and shook her head slightly.

"The labyrinth’s layout is shifting swiftly under the bombardment. We are fine."

She reached out and twisted the dial to the final coordinate.

This time, there was no shifting of the palace, only the sound of the door retracting into the wall.

Theo stepped in front of Liana, shielding her with his broad frame. "I will take point. Follow closely."

The walls here were covered in murals that continued the historical epic they had seen in the Scriptoria.

After the Primordial Beings were chained into Totems, humanity divided into two warring factions.

One tribe was painted in crimson, the other in obsidian.

Behind each faction stood the towering figures of the Nine Primevals.

Four Primevals backed the Crimson Dawn.

Five Primevals, led by the Primeval Aurora and the Primeval of Nightmares, backed the Obsidian Covenant.

The final murals depicted the Obsidian Covenant’s victory.

The Crimson tribe was absorbed.

The Primeval Aurora transformed into a colossal divine bird, shielding the unified world beneath her wings, while another Primeval donned a crown and ascended a golden throne.

An empire was born...

"The Solarian Mandate," Theo murmured. "The founding Emperor of the First Empire was one of the Nine Primevals?"

"It appears so," Sylvia replied. "Though much has been lost to time. We must hurry."

As they approached the end of the corridor, the murals faded, replaced by densely packed rows of ancient runes carved into the stone.

Sylvia frowned, running a hand over the wall. "I cannot decipher them."

*Great Sage*

[Translation impossible.]

Liana stepped forward, her eyes tracing the ancient strokes. "It is a diary."

"A diary?" Theo raised an eyebrow. "Who carves a diary into the wall of a tomb?"

Liana ignored him, reading the translation aloud:

"Today marks the fourteenth year since I began overseeing the construction of the Sanctum of Somnus, and the eighty-second year since I was crowned Pontifex of the Devourer Cult."*

"When construction began, I believed I could simply follow the traditional burial rites. But as I built, I realized I could implement the Celestial Strategy Board here... a lethal labyrinth designed to challenge the heavens."*

"Even if the Ancestral of Nightmares were to awaken, He would not be able to solve it..."*

Liana’s voice grew slightly tense as she continued reading.

"I can feel the changes within me growing clearer each day. Every morning when I wake, my own reflection feels increasingly foreign."*

"If I were still a Primeval, would a simple wave of my hand not be enough to finish this labyrinth...?"

The handwriting at this point devolved into feverish, jagged slashes, as if the author had been seized by sudden panic upon realizing what he had just written.

"He was the Pontifex of a mortal cult," Theo noted, his eyes narrowing. "Why did he refer to himself as a Primeval?"

Liana’s voice dropped to a whisper.

"I am Pontifex Valerius. I am constructing this tomb... I must hurry, or else He will fully awaken within me. The dream will overwrite reality."*

"When that happens, my existence will become nothing more than a passing dream within His eternal slumber."*

"Am I still myself right now? I do not know. I truly do not know."

The text ended, just steps away from the final chamber.

Theo stared at the feverish carvings.

He had built it as a prison to lock *himself* away before the Primeval of Nightmares could fully possess his body.

The ancient descended by consuming the identities of their mortal vessels. It was a frightening concept.

Yet, Theo felt a distinct sense of security. His own *Parasite* class operated on the exact opposite principle.

He did not become the vessel; he consumed the vessel, integrating the power while retaining his own ego.

The System ensured he would never be overwritten.

"The main burial chamber is just ahead," Theo said, gripping his hammer.