From Human to Skeleton: Revived with Infinite System Crystals

Chapter 153: A hidden passage

"He doesn't seem to have noticed us yet. Do you think he's like the captain of the guards in this section?" Ty whispered into Nana's ear, observing the guard intently.

"It's possible, but he seems to be lost in writing his notes. We should proceed with caution," Nana responded quietly, her eyes fixed on the guard.

Suddenly, the guard's voice boomed out, "Lenard! I told you not to come down here until you learn not to fall asleep on post, damn it!" He slammed his fist on the desk in frustration and looked up towards the entrance where Nana and Ty had entered. However, his gaze found nothing but the long empty hallway filled with the snoring noises of the other guards.

"What the hell? I know I heard the cellar door open," he murmured, rubbing his eyes, questioning whether his exhaustion was playing tricks on him.

Seizing the opportunity, Ty moved silently behind the guard and placed his skeletal hand over the man's mouth. "Shhh, sleep," he whispered, using a force field to cut off the guard's exhaustion. The effect was immediate; the guard's feathered pin disappeared into thin air as he slumped into a deep sleep.

"Huh, I wonder why his pen disappeared," Ty mused, gently aligning the sleeping guard against his desk to avoid suspicion.

Nana, looking thoughtful, suggested, "Maybe it was his weapon or something?"

"A pen as a weapon?" Ty chuckled softly. "Kind of sounds like a quote I heard back home."

"We can think about that later," Nana said, shifting her focus. She deftly grabbed a key from the guard's waist. "I think he was some kind of captain, so let's make this quick and move on."

Holding the keys she had taken, Nana pushed open a door, revealing a staircase leading downwards. The stairwell was dimly lit by fire sticks, each traced with a line of blue that connected them all, casting an eerie yet guiding light.

"You're right, he might wonder about the keys when he wakes up," Ty admitted, considering the potential consequences of their actions.

Nana, however, seemed less concerned. "With how heavy his eyes were, I doubt he wakes up until the sun comes up, to be honest," she said, reasoning that the guard was too exhausted to notice the missing keys anytime soon.

"You probably did him a favor, if anything," she added with a hint of jest, suggesting that their intervention allowed the guard some much-needed rest.

Ty nodded, accepting Nana's point. "I guess that's true," he conceded as they finished descending the staircase.

Gently pushing the door open at the bottom, they found themselves in a massive corridor that branched off in many directions. The corridor was adorned with a giant red carpet that covered the stone ground, adding a touch of grandeur to the otherwise empty space.

Ty looked around and assessed their location. "I think further east is where the main entrance is," he observed, trying to orient themselves within the vastness of the castle.

"It really is dead here, though, with everything that's going on," Nana remarked, her voice echoing slightly in the vast corridor. The quietness was eerie, especially considering the recent events and the usual hustle and bustle one would expect in such a place.

Ty and Nana, clad in their dark attire, stood out against the opulent red carpet and the pristine white stone walls of the corridor. Ty, noting the contrast, remarked, "Maybe we should have worn something a bit different."

Nana, however, didn't dwell on their choice of clothing. She was more focused on their mission. She hurried down the corridor towards a giant wooden door, located opposite the entrance door. "This is probably normal for most castles," she mused, "but the entrance and the King's throne are usually easy to reach.

If we move through this door, we should be able to find some clues about the Cross Link Blade."

With a mixture of caution and curiosity, Nana gently pushed the doors open and peered into the room. Her face lit up with astonishment as she whispered, "I was right." Inside, the center of the room was dominated by a massive chair, elaborately adorned with crystals and other shiny objects.

But what caught their attention most were the seven swords encased in stone, standing prominently behind the throne.

story source mvle-mp|y|r

As Ty and Nana entered the room, they were struck by the grandeur and significance of what lay before them. The throne room, with its majestic chair and the mysterious stone-encased swords, held an air of ancient power and secrets.

Ty, taking in the grandeur of the throne room, remarked to Nana, "Not much different than a normal throne room, don't you think?" His gaze then followed her pointing finger toward the swords behind the chair. "But those swords seem odd. Seven of them, and all turned to stone. They might be the legendary blades, but they're not much use like this, huh?"

Nana nodded in agreement, her curiosity piqued by the swords' mysterious appearance. Ty added, "I was told these would remain as stone until the king did something specific. So, there's not much else we can do about these right now."

"I see. It was good to check it out for ourselves," Nana replied, a hint of disappointment in her voice. She had hoped for something more exciting, perhaps a secret or a creature to confront. "Darn, I was hoping to find something a bit more thrilling, I won't lie. Or maybe some secret creature to fight," she said, crossing her arms. her skinned hand slightly bigger than her red extension hand.

In the serene quiet of the throne room, Ty stood still as Nana stretched and remarked, "Well, at least we gave it a look. I guess next we can go get that missing finger of yours."

Ty, however, had a different focus. "Not yet," he said, tapping into his unique abilities. Though he couldn't close his eyes as a skeleton, he focused inwardly, engaging his soul wheel. He connected with the beast soul fragment, a source of his heightened abilities.

As he activated this power, his skull flame eyes ignited with a bright green flame, signaling the enhancement of his senses. The world around him shifted in perception, details becoming more pronounced, colors shifting to a yellowed tone. A distinct scent trail, perceptible only through his wolfkin soul's heightened senses, emanated from the fifth blade among the stone-encased swords.

Drawn to this discovery, Ty approached the sword. Upon closer inspection, he noticed a hidden button on the hilt. Pressing it, he triggered a mechanism, and the ground began to tremble. The stone wall behind the throne room started to shift, revealing a previously concealed passage.