Upper level.
Noah grabbed the male tomb guard by the head, his pupils glowing faintly blue.
'Anchor complete.'
He entered the man's corridor of the soul and read even more information from him.
"I see. The most special existence among the tomb guards, the Elder, is deeper inside."
Once he learned that the tomb guards' "Elder" was in the depths of the tomb, Noah immediately decided to abandon the other samples and make the Elder his target instead.
According to the memories inside the man's soul, ordinary tomb guards—or rather, every tomb guard aside from the Elder—could only transform into normal animals and plants.
But the Elder was different.
The Elder possessed a very special power.
Through secret arts, he could transform himself into the ancient divine beast worshiped by the tomb guard clan.
And the true identity of that so-called ancient divine beast was an extremely unique Super-Class Danger Beast that had already gone extinct in the present age.
"Nubis."
It was the sacred beast from ancient Putra legend, and just like the Forest Dragon, it was not a species, but a single unique individual.
Airmanda, for example, was not the name of one Danger Beast, but an entire species.
However, existences like the Forest Dragon and Nubis were unique.
Perhaps that had something to do with the way they were born.
Whether it was Nubis or the Forest Dragon, they shared one thing in common: their origins seemed to come from some kind of faith.
The Forest Dragon came from faith in the forest.
Nubis, perhaps, was born from the worship of a particular image held by its believers.
After transforming into the divine beast Nubis, the Elder's strength surpassed human limits, and he could also wield the divine beast's authority.
However, when it came to that authority, even the members of the tomb guard clan did not know much about it.
They only knew that the Elder would never lose in battle.
Souls could not lie to him. Because of that, Noah knew that in the eyes of these tomb guards, the Elder was truly invincible.
If he could inspire trust so deep that it was engraved into the tomb guards' very souls, then his strength had probably reached a truly terrifying level.
"Mm, that's a little troublesome."
Could he defeat that Elder?
Should he ask Esdeath for help?
There was also another possibility: the opponent might be so powerful that even Esdeath could not deal with him.
If that were the case, then obtaining the Elder's secret would require using the Empire's strength.
For example, sending an army to wipe them out.
The Elder's strength could be estimated. It was not absolutely unfathomable.
At the very least, the Empire's power should be enough to deal with him.
After all, if he were invincible enough to fight the Empire by himself, why would he have obediently holed up in this place?
Even after so many of his subordinates had been defeated, he still had not immediately appeared on the front line to meet the enemy.
Most likely, that was because he did not have enough strength to kill all the invaders on his own.
There was some risk.
But not enough to make Noah give up.
At the very least, he had to see the man with his own eyes first.
Having made up his mind, Noah headed straight toward the lower levels.
Right now, he possessed the memories of someone who had lived in the royal tomb for a full twenty-seven years.
The structure of the entire building was like a three-dimensional model of points and lines inside his mind.
He would take the shortest route.
Noah used Weaver to directly manipulate the walls and floor, easily tearing open and punching through the stone slabs between levels.
...
Lower level.
Five minutes had passed since Guy shouted his defiant line.
Kurome, Gin, and Remus were all lying on the ground, covered in wounds.
They could not even crawl back up, and could only stare in frustration.
Their faces were blank, unable to understand what had just happened.
Just a moment ago, the reinforcement named Guy had clearly been suppressing the enemy.
Yet after he delivered what should have been the finishing blow, the one who collapsed was the attacker himself.
At that moment, Guy was sprawled on the ground, completely unable to comprehend what had happened.
He had fought fiercely with the man called Venegu for some time and had finally found an opening.
Then, using every ounce of strength in his body, he had thrown a liver blow that should have killed the enemy outright.
But now, the one with a huge hole in his abdomen was him?
'Hey, hey, was this some kind of joke?'
'Am I… going to die?'
Cough!
Blood surged up his throat and spilled straight out.
Damn it.
His stomach felt so hot.
His arms and legs had no strength at all, his eyelids were heavy and his consciousness was fading.
'Damn it, how did I screw up all of a sudden?'
'Was Akame's little sister all right?'
He was starting to lose his hearing.
'Damn it, what was going on right now?'
"I shall give you… the final blow. Be grateful for… this mercy."
He could vaguely hear a blurred voice, but he could not make it out clearly.
The sound was so far away.
"Stop!"
Kurome struggled, trying to stop Venegu, but her body refused to move.
All she could do was watch helplessly.
Remus was completely terrified, frozen stiff.
Gin was gritting her teeth so hard they nearly cracked, her eyes bloodshot as she too could only watch.
Venegu walked up to Guy, whose pupils had already begun to lose focus, and raised the staff in his hand above his head.
"You were excellent, boy. To be this strong at such a young age is impressive. Unfortunately, you doomed yourself. In the past, there were many tomb robbers as powerful as you who drove me into desperate situations, yet all of your endings were so similar that I cannot help but overlap your miserable appearances in my mind."
"This is the punishment for trespassing into the royal tomb. From the moment you stepped into this place, you were already cursed."
"There is nothing left for you but death—hm?"
Venegu, who had been speaking grandly, suddenly stopped halfway through.
Because he heard a very loud noise.
And that noise was coming from directly above them!
He raised his head and looked upward.
The royal tomb was visibly shaking, and the sound was drawing closer and closer.
"What?" Venegu frowned and muttered to himself, "What exactly is happening?"
Boom!
All at once, the ceiling cracked open.
The entire ceiling suddenly collapsed, making Venegu cry out in shock on instinct.
"Impossible!"
The royal tomb was collapsing?
He glanced at Kurome and the others nearby.
After only a moment's consideration, he moved to their side and swung his staff, smashing apart the falling stones and protecting them.
If the man was crushed to death, that would be no different from him killing the boy himself.
"That was close. The mothers of my descendants must not be harmed."
The only reason Venegu protected the girls was because he intended to use them as breeding tools.
Of course, there was no other sentiment behind it.
Kurome opened her tightly shut eyes, and the first thing she saw was Venegu's face.
He smiled and asked, "Are you all right, my young and beautiful wife? If something happened to you, I would be quite troubled."
At that moment, a voice rang out.
"Whoa—"
Within the smoke and dust, a standing silhouette was hidden.
Seeing that figure, Venegu narrowed his eyes.
"More reinforcements for the tomb robbers?"
His eyesight surpassed that of humans, and even surpassed most living creatures.
At that moment, he saw something strange.
The dust was clearly thick, yet it seemed to be guided by something, flowing in one direction and forming something like a sandstorm barrier.
Faced with that bizarre phenomenon, he quietly raised his guard.
Whoosh—!
A sudden gale swept through the enclosed chamber.
With Noah at its center, the violent wind blew away all the dust, revealing his figure to everyone present.
For some reason, the moment they saw that figure, Kurome, Gin, and even the terrified Remus felt a sense of relief.
Even though none of them knew who the person before them actually was.
It was a very strange feeling.
When Venegu saw that the newcomer was wearing a mask, he took half a step forward.
Before he could speak, Noah had already ignored him and crouched down.
Looking at the dying Guy, he calmly said, "You got beaten pretty badly, Guy. Your eyes are wide open. You must be furious about losing like this."
Shaking his head, Noah took a recovery potion from his coat.
He did not bother feeding it to Guy and instead poured it roughly over his body.
A faint green glow rose from Guy's body, wrapping around him like a soft veil.
"Your luck isn't bad. If your head had been cut off too, even I wouldn't have been able to save you."
Noah put away the empty bottle, stood up, and looked toward the shocked man before him.
'His name was Venegu, right?'
'This was the one.'
'The Elder of the tomb guards.'
Meanwhile, Venegu was staring at Guy, whose breathing was gradually stabilizing after being on the brink of death.
The shock on his face was completely undisguised.
Then he looked at Noah with delight and asked, "What was that just now? What did you use to bring that dying boy back from the edge? Incredible!"
Venegu had a hobby of his own: food development.
With his knowledge of secret arts, he had a unique understanding of genetic combinations.
Although he could not combine things freely, he was capable of distinguishing genetic traits.
The foods he developed all had miraculous effects.
Among them was a liquor that could accelerate wound healing and restore stamina.
But compared to the liquid in that little bottle he had just seen with his own eyes, that liquor was nothing but trash!
A miraculous water capable of bringing the dead back to life.
He had to obtain it!
"Answer my question! What was that thing you just held? Hand it over!"
After saying that, Venegu paused slightly.
Then, as if suddenly realizing something, he patted his own head and laughed.
"Haha, look at me. I got too excited! Why bother asking? I only need to kill you and take it, don't I?"
He pointed his staff at Noah, issuing a death sentence.
Noah tilted his head, feeling that this enemy's confidence was truly something else.
'Appraisal complete.'
It seemed his earlier worries had been a little excessive.
He would finish this before Esdeath killed everyone else.
Noah spread his fingers.
"Smelt iron."
Arcs of electricity flickered between his palm and the ground, linking together and tangling with one another.
In the next instant, cracks spread across the floor.
Metal particles gathered into Noah's hand and quickly condensed into the shape of a sword.
Once the sword took form, a torrent of flame mixed with purple lightning surged outward, swallowing the entire blade.
A phenomenon beyond common sense unfolded before their eyes, leaving everyone stunned.
Venegu remained fairly calm, but even he now looked as if he were facing a dangerous enemy.
Flame and lightning.
Both were among nature's most terrifying powers.
They were also powers he believed humans could never control.
Faced with such unknown power, he felt some awe, but not the slightest panic.
No matter who the enemy was, weak or strong, the final winner would only be him.
Noah gripped the sword in his hand and swung it hard.
The flames wrapped around the blade were instantly split apart and scattered.
"A black sword? How ominous." Venegu slowly spoke as he looked at the blade in Noah's hand.
Hearing that, Noah gave a small laugh. "What, are you religious?"
"Are you calling me superstitious?"
"No. Although it's a little different from religion, I have faith too."
"Hahaha. A mere tomb robber, talking about faith? Don't you find that ridiculous?" Venegu laughed loudly.
"Then tell me, which cheap god does a tomb robber believe in?"
Noah's gaze darkened, and the smile on his face quietly faded.
He did not answer Venegu's question.
He simply tightened his grip on the sword.
The next instant—He vanished.
He disappeared from where he stood.
Then, in the blink of an eye, he appeared behind Venegu.
Venegu swallowed hard.
The smile on his face had frozen completely, his pupils trembling violently as sweat poured from his forehead.
He tried to move his left arm, but the moment he made even the slightest motion, the wound burst open.
A cut bloomed across his left shoulder.
Blood sprayed out like a crimson sword, shooting five or six meters away before splattering across the ground.
"H-How… How could you be so fast that I couldn't see you at all…"
Venegu staggered, closing his left eye from the pain in his shoulder.
He clutched the wound and dropped to one knee, his thoughts in complete chaos.
In short, he could not believe it.
At that moment, Noah slowly walked around him and came to stand in front of him.
His voice was soft as he said, "Raise your staff."
Then he swung his sword downward.
Clang!
The blade collided with the staff and was stopped.
Venegu had hurriedly raised his staff in front of himself at the critical moment.
Sparks burst between sword and staff.
Noah was swinging his sword with only one hand.
Venegu also only had one hand with which to grip his staff, gritting his teeth as he struggled to hold on.
After just a single exchange, the Elder of the tomb guards seemed to have already been driven into a dead end.