103 The Third Wave

"The third wave begins now." the ghostly voice announced.

Van opened his eyes and his expression turned solemn. He scanned the area around him. The other participants were doing the same.

Their surroundings… had changed!

The black mist had been pushed back by several hundred meters. The cause was probably the increased brightness of the giant crystal in the sky above them.

The strange objects Van had journeyed passed earlier were now exposed to the light. Ghostly wails and moans filled the air.

The participants waited tensely, but nothing happened. No demon beasts jumped out of the dark and swarmed them. It was bizarre.

Van narrowed his eyes and examined the structures that had been exposed. In just the area that he was looking at there were half-opened coffins, gargoyle statues, giant broken vases and a collection of shredded tapestries.

"I will go and investigate," Van said, "You guys stay here and watch your backs."

Van used Scattering Smoke Steps and lightly appeared on top of the half-opened lid of the largest coffin he could find.

A glowing skeleton lay at the bottom of the giant coffin. The skeleton was perfectly intact with no signs of damage on the shining white bones. The skeleton was humanoid in shape, but the strange protrusions in the legs and arms showed that it had not been human when it was alive.

The skeleton was grasping a dull-looking key in one hand and an ancient tome in the other. A softly shining locket lay innocently against its neck.

Teng!

Van was not surprised to hear that he had been joined by others. Lightly twisting his neck, he saw the Star-Cutting Sword Sect disciple that looked like he had wanted to fight him earlier.

The Star-Cutting Sword Sect disciple looked at him arrogantly and pointed his finger at his own chest.

"My name is Richton; you better remember it!"

Van picked his ear. Looking down at the skeleton, he speculated that it was about 20 meters below them. These treasures all had a powerful spiritual aura. Despite their allure, both Van and Richton stood still.

[Jet!]

Van called out in his head. He wanted to consult the treasures expert. When the ring didn't respond instantly, Van sent a strong mental poke that caused the ring to splutter awake.

[What on EARTH are you interrupting my beauty sleep for?!] The ring said snidely.

Van focused his gaze on the treasures below.

[What do you think?]

The ring was curious despite himself.

[Hm, the age of the skeleton is at least a few hundred years old. The pristine condition means that they were quite highly ranked when they passed, maybe even in the Sea Establishment Realm. The treasures are genuine.]

Van's eyes started to glitter. Hm, treasures sounded mighty fine to someone who still had the mentality of a poor country bumpkin at his core.

Teng! Teng!

"Hmph! Move aside!" A young girl's voice said sharply.

Van was annoyed but not surprised that Cordelia and Daphne had now turned up. Like Van, they had decided to target the largest looking structure that had appeared since the third round started.

The four disciples stared at the shining corpse and its treasures down below. Greed showed in their eyes but they stood still. None of them were idiots; who would casually put out priceless treasures without there being some kind of trap!?

Van started to inspect the sides of the coffin. Richton started mumbling to himself.

"If that skeleton was in the Sea Establishment Realm when it was alive, then that manual must contain at least an Apex-Rank skill…With my skills and talents, I would be at least second or third-ranked in another sect, but in the Star-Cutting Sword Sect, I am like tumbleweed drifting by. No one cares. If I got that manual for myself; I would be much better off than If I performed well in the Mausoleum for the sake of the sect…!"

Richton looked at the ancient book with greedy eyes.

[The amulet around the skeleton's neck looks powerful but is the most useless treasure. It only has an ornamental value. However, it is pretty enough that it has some value for those who enjoy collecting beautiful items. You could probably sell it for a few tens of thousands of silver taels,] Jet commented.

Van gulped. Tens of thousands of silver taels could be in his pocket if he took that amulet and sold it!

Jet continued to speak in Van's head.

[It's hard to say what skill the ancient book contains, but if we go by the skeleton's cultivation, it's probably at least a Apex-Rank skill. Nothing special, really.]

An Apex-Rank Skill!

Van's eyes glowed. An Apex-Rank skill was a skill that inner disciples competed viciously over!

[Actually, that little key is the most interesting thing here. The material it's made of is quite unique, I can't place it.]

As the four disciples stared down at the precious treasures, they couldn't help but start to feel that the items in the coffin surpassed even the rewards they might get from excelling in the Monster Mausoleum. Afterall, getting points for the Sect would allow the Sect as a whole to withdraw items from the Mausoleum, benefitting the Sect's coffers but none of the disciples directly!

Van saw the other's hands twitch by their sides. They stared at the treasures with conflicted expressions.

[What is the trap!?] Van asked Jet anxiously.

The ring spun.

[Each of the items is cursed. The person who touches it will immediately be chased by a demonic beast until they and their entire battalion is eliminated from the Mausoleum.]

Van narrowed his eyes. The stakes were high!

However, some treasures could be extracted as long as the beasts' ranks and numbers were too overwhelming.

[Can you tell the rank of the demonic beasts that are cursed to guard each treasure?]

Jet floated up and down.

[All of the treasures in this coffin are cursed with demonic beasts of the 8th rank and above.]

Van immediately felt the blood drain from his face.

Dangerous!

If he was alone, he would have risked battling an 8th rank demon beast on his own. The problem was, he was not alone. He could not protect his entire battalion against an 8th rank demon beast!

Van decisively floated off the coffin; he would not be risking his result in the Mausoleum.

Cordelia and Daphne looked at each other and rotated their movement skill. They were elite disciples and could control their greed; there was too much uncertainty!

Shuah!

Richton leapt into the coffin. His trembling hands grasped the ancient book. Streams of powerful energy seeped into his palms.

Richton laughed happily.

[I will rise now!]

Suddenly – a terrifying aura descended over the coffin.

Growl!!!!

A giant black dog with demonic eyes peered into the coffin.

Richton saw the 8th rank demon beast and dropped the ancient book in his fright. Growling, the giant demonic dog scooped Richton out with its claws and slammed him to the ground.

Richton's screams rang through the crystal-lit space.

Van saw this scene and escaped the vicinity quickly with Scattering Smoke Steps. The rest of the participants watched the scene with growing horror.

Weng!

Only a few seconds later a bright light teleported Richton out of the Mausoleum. He had been eliminated.

But it didn't end there.

The giant demonic dog threw its head back and howled. Suddenly, two dozen demonic smaller demonic dogs appeared from the murky darkness. While the first demonic dog was the size of an elephant, these were the size of a large horse and were in the 5th rank.

Van returned to his battalion and raised his hand – do not act!

The other participants braced themselves, but as they watched, the demonic dogs only targeted the battalion that Richton had been in.

Weng! Weng! Weng!

Bright flashes of light went off.

Less than a minute later, the entire battalion had been eliminated. As the last disciple was teleported out, the 8th ranked demonic dog howled once more. Then it ran back into the darkness. The rest of the dogs followed.

The remaining disciples stared at the darkness with pale faces. An entire battalion had been eliminated just like that…

They stood stiffly in the brightly lit clearing. Many decided then and there that they wouldn't examine the other structures for treasures. They were afraid if they tried something like Richton had, they would cause themselves to be eliminated.

The best way to get through round three was simply to ignore the treasures and wait for the time to be up!

Van shook his head.

These people didn't get the point. If they didn't attempt to grab any of the treasures, they wouldn't be able to trigger a monster wave. If they didn't trigger a wave, then their score in this round would be a big fat zero.

No monsters killed – no points scored!

Van turned around and determinedly investigated the other structures. Inside the giant broken vase, he saw a gold medallion the size of a palm.

[It's an ancient token made of pure gold. It had monetary value only. Triggers a 5th rank beast accompanied by twenty 2nd rank lackeys!]

Van's eyes gleamed. Easy A!

He swooped into the vase without hesitation.

The participants from the other sects watched him with critical eyes.

This fellow was too stupid – didn't he see what just happened to that fellow from the Star-Cutting Sword Sect? Just sit this one out like the rest of us, will you!?

They shook their heads; he was doomed.

A moment later, Van emerged with a gleaming golden coin in his hands. He shot through the air victoriously.

Caawwww!

A large raven in the 5th rank with intelligent eyes suddenly appeared. A few seconds later, twenty smaller birds appeared, forming a cloud of feathers around the first bird. However, they were only in the 2nd rank.

The other participants were in total shock. What was this!?

If the highest leveled demon beast was only in the 5th rank, then wasn't the treasure achievable!? Why did one treasure trigger a terrifying 8th rank monster and one trigger a 5th rank?!

Van rotated Scattering Smoke Steps and disappeared.

The largest 5th rank raven zoomed towards Van, twisting around like a torpedo. As it twisted, the wind force it created was enough to break bones.

Van brought the 5th ranked raven and its cronies to his battalion before he killed the leader raven with a swing of his obsidian battle-axe. The heavy aura allowed the axe to slice through the raven's neck like a knife through butter.

Van killed five more 2nd ranked ravens before leaving the rest to his battalion. He was more than confident that they could handle it.

Whistling, he tucked the gleaming golden medallion into the standard-issue waist pouch that they had been provided upon entering the Mausoleum. They had not been allowed to bring their own dimensional storage items. Instead, they were allowed to bring only a weapon of choice in the standard 2mx2mx2m wait-pouch space. For Van, it was his Mysterious Obsidian Battle-Axe of course.

The groups watched Van cheerfully tuck the medallion away and felt as if they had eaten sour grapes.