"Honestly, young people these days have way too much nerve... Actually planning to shout that guy's name directly in his tomb.
Really gave this old man quite a fright..."
Zoroya, who had been attacked earlier and was presumed dead, stood up calmly while complaining.
His voice was still the same as before, but his manner of speaking had changed completely, from a mild-mannered, polite gentleman to a nagging old man.
That's right, an old man.
The kind who had lived quite a few years and liked to point fingers and offer help to young people.
The kind whose intentions were good, but always made you feel irritated even while thanking them.
Was he like this before?
It could only be said that this manner of speaking created an enormous contrast with his appearance, making Silas feel a strong sense of dissonance.
Silas didn't see what methods he'd used, but the demigoddess suddenly couldn't move, clearly controlled by some ability of his.
And in Silas's own mind, he found himself utterly unable to form any thoughts of resistance, including the impulse to shout Amon's name, which had disappeared completely.
This guy... seems even stronger than a demigoddess!
Was he Sequence 3, or Sequence 2? He couldn't possibly be Sequence 1, could he?
Thinking this, Silas couldn't help glancing at Sharron on the ground, discovering that she looked equally bewildered.
What had seemed like an ordinary exploration team turned out to contain nothing but powerhouses.
A Sequence 4 demigoddess, and a mysterious existence even beyond that, all gathered in this small party.
Sharron, your luck is a bit too good...
Silas thought to himself, while simultaneously feeling a wave of heaviness.
If he still had a chance to fight for his life against a Sequence 4, then with the appearance of an existence even higher than that sequence, he truly had no options left.
Unless he could drag them onto that sea...
While Silas was going through this internal struggle, the demigoddess was also communicating with Zoroya.
"Who are you! How did you do that!"
She panicked, like a small dog grabbed and lifted up by someone.
"You're a descendant of the Jacob family? Your inheritance has deteriorated this badly?
You didn't even notice anything when you heard my name?"
Zoroya just shook his head, looking quite emotional.
In just an instant, he had taken control of the entire situation. It made one wonder why he'd pretended to be dead for so long.
After sighing a few times, he extended his hand and pressed it on the demigoddess.
"Bang!"
"Ahhh!"
Accompanied by a woman's piercing scream, the demigoddess's body suddenly exploded into a blood mist.
Within the blood mist, some tiny thing seemed to shoot out, fleeing in a direction away from the tomb passage and quickly vanishing into the darkness.
"Hm?"
Silas's body shook as he felt some intangible thing return to his body.
The sheep that had been restlessly stirring immediately quieted down, obediently retreating into their respective pens.
With the demigoddess's defeat, his "Shepherd" ability had returned!
Silas couldn't help feeling both joy and worry.
The good news was that he'd regained his most powerful ability.
The bad news was that this "Zoroya" could easily blast a demigoddess into blood mist, meaning his own strength was only more terrifying.
"For Jacob's sake, I won't kill you. Just teach you a little lesson."
Zoroya said indifferently.
He opened his hand and stirred through the blood mist, fishing out a peculiar transparent worm.
The worm was already dead, its body divided into twelve segments.
"Whoosh..."
Zoroya closed his right hand, and when he opened it again, the worm had vanished.
His face showed a satisfied expression as he let out a long breath.
"Now that's a nice reward..."
He nodded in satisfaction.
Then, Zoroya raised his head, his gaze sweeping across both Silas and Sharron's faces.
Here it comes!
Silas tensed his spirit, then heard the other party slowly open his mouth and ask, "Say, young man, would you be willing to help me with something?"
Help?
Silas was stunned, finding it somewhat incomprehensible.
You're already a Sequence 4 or higher existence, and you still need help from a Sequence 5 like me?
"Someone of your level still needs my help?"
That's what he thought, and that's what he asked.
"Heh heh..."
Zoroya chuckled softly.
He pointed toward the burial chamber on the other side of the tomb passage, where candlelight still burned, maintaining its bright state.
"Because the situation in there is a bit complicated."
"Could you explain?"
Silas thought for a moment and asked.
For some reason, this old man-like powerhouse had an unexpectedly good attitude.
He hadn't suddenly attacked to eliminate them like insects, but was communicating with them quite amicably.
This in itself was a form of special treatment.
"Young man, how much do you understand about this tomb and its owner... Don't speak His name directly!"
Zoroya asked in return.
"Uh, I heard that this tomb's owner was a noble family from the Fourth Epoch..."
Silas said, feigning bewilderment, deliberately not mentioning the scenes he'd seen in the hallucination.
While conversing, he walked to the opposite side of the tomb passage and helped Sharron up from the ground.
Using flesh magic, he discovered she had no obvious external injuries, just some mental exhaustion.
This was probably because the demigoddess hadn't had time to use any methods against her before being drawn away by Silas.
"Great noble..."
Zoroya looked at Silas with just a faint smile.
He seemed to guess that Silas was concealing something, but didn't expose it. He simply said, "That family actually consists of only that one guy.
All the others are His avatars... Just like this tomb, it's not his real burial site either, but serves another purpose."
That the tomb was fake was something Silas had already guessed, but the fact that all family members were the same person was somewhat sensational.
Good grief, so what do these clones do normally, play cards at home?
Such thoughts flashed by, and then Silas began to feel confused about this old man-like Zoroya.
Why does this guy have such deep understanding of Fourth Epoch nobility? And judging from his bizarre strength, maybe this old man is also from the Fourth Epoch!
"So, this tomb's purpose is..."
Silas suppressed the thoughts welling up in his heart and asked.
"...You'll find out later."
Zoroya just gave him a meaningful smile. "Alright, let's get back to the main topic."
He walked a few steps to the entrance of the main burial chamber, facing the strange scene inside.
"I need you to enter this burial chamber and destroy its bizarre state."
You want me to go in there?
Do you want me to end up like those people on the ground, rapidly losing vitality until I die of old age?
"Sir, why don't you go yourself?"
"If I go, that guy will notice."
Oh, so after all this, you're also afraid of Amon.
Silas suddenly understood.