Under the terrifying strike from the undead Storm Tyrant, the serpentine creature fell dead after three blows.

Thoren looked at the lifeless serpent and creased his brow. This serpent was different from any snake he had ever seen before.

It did not resemble a traditional snake at all. Instead, it looked like a strange combination of desert and serpent.

Touching its body felt like running his fingers over smooth desert sand.

From the serpentine’s stats, he finally learned its name.

[Dust Naga]

[Level: 26]

Since the creature was already dead, he did not care about its other details. Still, he had noticed some of its important traits before the battle ended.

Shaking his head, he averted his gaze from the Dust Naga. He looked at the chamber carefully instead.

The strange symbols and patterns seemed to foretell some ancient tale, but he could not understand their meaning.

Even though he did not know what these symbols and patterns meant, that did not stop him from examining them closely.

He even spotted a few symbols that looked like mathematical equations. This discovery further piqued his interest.

’This must be an astrological research chamber,’ he thought while staring at what appeared to be astrological charts.

He stared for a full minute before he finally looked away. Then he scrutinized the entire chamber carefully, trying not to miss any part of it.

Who knew if any of these symbols or patterns might provide clues regarding his trials?

Thus, he could not afford to overlook anything.

Once he was certain he had missed nothing, he left the chamber.

This time, he did not return the undead Storm Tyrant to his undead space.

As they walked deeper into the ruin, he pushed his perception to its absolute limit. He also commanded the undead Echo Scarabs to search for any potential threats.

After walking for a few minutes, they arrived before what looked like a bridge. But it was not a bridge in the traditional sense.

It was a narrow bridge connecting the two sides of the ruin together. Beneath the bridge stretched a bottomless crevasse. Staring into that endless void, Thoren could hear deep, terrifying howls rising from below.

Powerful and strange echoes reverberated from the depths.

Huh!

He sucked in a cold breath and quickly averted his gaze. "How could such a bottomless crevasse appear in the middle of this ruin?" he muttered.

Various questions flooded his mind. He knew this was not a natural pit but something man-made. But what purpose would drive someone to create such a bottomless chasm?

The more he thought about it, the more he realized the ruin was far more complex than it first appeared. Although he had not faced any lethal threat since entering the ruin, now things felt different.

He realized that perhaps he had not yet crossed into the territory of the ruin’s true master. With this thought, his brow tightened, and a solemn expression settled on his face.

"I should not put unnecessary pressure on myself," he whispered under his breath. "I might be overthinking things."

He took a deep breath for the second time and stared at the bridge made from bones. Then he raised his boot to step onto it.

Crack!

A sharp cracking sound echoed through the air, and a thick tension hung all around them. For a second, Thoren did not move at all. He waited for a few agonizing seconds before he took his second step.

But this time, nothing happened.

Slowly, he walked carefully along the bridge without looking down. Yet he felt a strong impulse to look into the abyss.

That impulse grew stronger with every step he took, which confused him greatly. More importantly, the howling from the bottomless crevasse grew louder and more intense.

It sounded as if some beast was stirring below, but he did not detect any lifeform. Even his undead Echo Scarabs sensed nothing, so he decided not to dwell on it.

Thud!

His boots sank deep into the sand on the other side of the bone bridge. This sand was entirely different from what he had seen before. It felt smooth and appeared darkish brown.

However, he did not think too much about the sand. Instead, he focused his attention on the scene before him. Ahead stood a destroyed building, but what truly caught his eye was the small set of steps at the center of the structure.

Those steps descended straight into the smooth, darkish brown soil.

’This is getting stranger by the minute,’ he thought, his expression turning grim.

Even though the situation was growing more dangerous with each passing second, he still pressed forward. With every step, his boots sank deeper into the strange ground.

He arrived before the steps and began his careful descent. He placed the undead Storm Tyrant in front of him while his two elite undead servants stayed behind him.

With this formation, he could react instantly to any sign of threat.

As he descended the stairs, Thoren realized they were far longer than he had initially thought. The air around him felt thick and mucky.

All around him pressed a thick, suffocating darkness that would send shivers down anyone’s spine. Yet his steps never faltered. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

While Thoren descended deeper into the stairs, something stirred from the bottomless crevasse.

The situation had changed completely.

Heavy filled with suffocating atmosphere.

Hundreds of serpentine creatures, each longer than twenty feet, had already emerged from the bottomless crevasse.

The previous quiet atmosphere vanished completely. It was replaced by a grating, terrible hissing sound. Slowly, the serpents slithered toward the stairs.

Their slit mouths, filled with sharp serrated teeth, hung wide open. Quickly, they descended the stairs as if pursuing a specific target.

And of course, they were indeed chasing a target.

As for Thoren, he remained completely unaware of the incoming danger closing in from behind.

****

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