Chapter 74: Treasures!

Chapter 74: Treasures!The cavern still echoed with the ringing silence that followed the monster’s obliteration. Smoke and ash settled like snow, clinging to every jagged surface. The crater where the demon-minotaur had stood smoldered faintly, its fused armor now scattered shards of molten steel and bone. Nothing moved. No breath. No growl. No sound but the crackle of fading fire. They had won. Inigo stood in the center of the wreckage, brushing dust from his jacket. His left sleeve was torn from diving, his gloves scorched from the howitzer’s recoil. Wheeler rumbled forward beside him, the combat drone whirring softly, its barrels cooling down. Its lights blinked yellow—standby mode. Lyra limped over, her leg still wrapped in a torn cloth strip soaked in healing salve. "Well..." she said with a slow grin. "That was something." "No kidding," Inigo muttered, blowing smoke from his Desert Eagle’s barrel before holstering it. "I’d say we should do this again sometime, but that’d make me sound insane." "You are insane," Lyra said, laughing softly. "But in a good way." Behind them, Serina and Elira were still catching their breath. The sorceress sat slumped against a rock, fanning herself with her cloak and blinking in disbelief. Elira, despite cracked ribs and a bruised shoulder, had pulled herself upright. She stared at the remains of the demon, then at Inigo, then back again. "That..." she whispered, "was not ordinary magic." Serina coughed lightly, voice hoarse. "Inigo... what was that?" Inigo glanced back at them. He scratched the back of his head, shrugging. "Just a little thing I call freedom." Sёarch* The ηovelFire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Serina frowned. "No, seriously. That wasn’t any spell I’ve ever read about. It wasn’t even runed magic—it was something... else." Lyra nudged her. "This is normal for him." Elira walked closer, her expression unusually soft. "You didn’t even chant. No sigils. No arcane focus." Inigo glanced at the howitzer, then at Wheeler, then down at his hands. He made a little finger-gun motion. "I suppose I’m just talented." Serina scoffed, half amused, half incredulous. "That’s not talent. That’s reality-breaking. You destroyed a demon reinforced with armor using a cannon that appeared from thin air." "Technically, I bought it," Inigo muttered under his breath. "What?" "Nothing." Lyra leaned on her bow and grinned at the others. "Told you he was a gold rank for a reason." "I thought you were exaggerating," Elira admitted. "But this..." She stared at the massive smoking crater again. "This is something else. This is power on a scale I’ve never seen. Not even from the academy’s." Inigo looked down at the rubble, then at the distant exit deeper into the dungeon. "Let’s wrap this up before something else shows up." They moved carefully through the aftermath. Serina cast minor [Detect Curse] pulses across the remains to ensure the demon’s essence was gone. Nothing stirred. Whatever magic had sustained it was no longer present. Even the mana-rich air felt lighter now—less choked with oppressive weight. The chamber behind the demon’s lair opened into a vault-like room. The walls were smooth, unlike the rest of the cave, with polished obsidian pillars and sigils that faintly pulsed with residual magic. At the far end stood an ancient pedestal, surrounded by four sealed chests and one massive stone sarcophagus, its lid already cracked from age. Elira stepped forward slowly. "This must be it. The treasure room the old reports mentioned." "Or a trap," Lyra added, cautiously nocking an arrow. Serina scanned the area, eyes glowing faintly. "There’s magic here... but passive. Protective wards, not aggressive ones. They’re old. Fading." Inigo stepped ahead and rested his hand on one of the chests. No explosion. No curse. Just dust. With a push, he flipped it open. Inside were rows of gold coins—etched with the mark of the pre-Empire monarchy. A fortune, untouched for centuries. The next chest held magical tomes and scrolls, bound in demonhide and enchanted leather. Another held artifacts—crystal rings, runic pendants, and a circlet of platinum laced with opal veins. The last chest, oddly, was filled with raw materials—mana ore, refined mithril, even two vials of preserved dragonblood. Inigo whistled. "Jackpot." But the true centerpiece was the sarcophagus. They gathered around it. Serina carefully placed her hand on the cracked lid. "It’s... not cursed. Just sealed. Old burial rites." Elira nodded. "Let’s open it together." It took all four of them to shift the heavy lid aside. There were gold coins, jewelry, and ancient relics—items clearly meant for ceremonial offerings, tribute hoarded during forgotten wars, or perhaps the lost savings of a fallen kingdom. But there was no body. No skeleton. Just wealth—piled in layered splendor. Inigo leaned over the sarcophagus and whistled. "Now that’s what I call a payday." Dozens of gold bars lay beneath the top layer of coins, stamped with sigils none of them recognized but gleaming with unmistakable purity. Set among them were gem-studded crowns, necklaces strung with polished moonstones, and bracelets that shimmered with embedded mana threads. Lyra blinked, momentarily forgetting the pain in her leg. "Are we... rich?" Serina knelt beside the loot and gingerly picked up a large sapphire set in what appeared to be a ceremonial goblet. "These aren’t just valuable—they’re historic. Some of these artifacts might date back to the early dynasties." Inigo smirked and crossed his arms, leaning against the side of the sarcophagus. "Guess that makes me royalty now, huh?" Lyra rolled her eyes with a smile. "You wish." The mood, for the first time since entering the dungeon, lightened. Tension drained from their shoulders. The kind of relief that only came after surviving the impossible. Serina tilted her head, still watching Inigo. "Seriously though. You did things I can’t explain. Magic with no source glyphs. Weapons that defy mana logic." "You weren’t the first to react." "You’re something else, alright," Elira murmured. "You saved all our lives today. I thought I’d seen strong adventurers before—but that..." She glanced back at the crater left by the howitzer. "That was war magic. Something from another era." Serina gave Inigo a curious look. "So, are you ever going to explain where you learned to fight like that?" "No, I’d like to keep it a secret. Now, let’s get out of here and go back."