255 It's A Trap! Or Two?

He decided to go upwards instead. 

"We're following the cat?" Marco asked in confusion. 

Vy bit her lip, she had hoped that they would go down the wrong path and disappear. Clearly, these two had not carefully examined the map they had. 

"Yes, we are. Cause it's not down, it's up." Loiden argued. 

"But didn't you just say-" 

"Netiri wasn't just a Queen, she was also Pharaoh. Which meant that she was in a sense, a King. According to their customs and traditions, she would be buried in the Pharoah's chamber, not the Queen's chamber," Vy explained. 

Seeing as how slowly the Blackfire siblings came up to them, Loiden was certain that they did not intend to catch them. But he was not willing to take any chances either. 

"Thank you for the kind explanation, Miss. But I am afraid we will have to say farewell. There simply isn't enough treasure for all of us," Loiden declared with a grin as he reached for a symbol on the wall. 

He might not have memorised what each chamber was for, but Loiden did memorise where the traps were and how to set them off. Most pyramids did not differ much from the other. They used similar traps. 

As he and Marco began to ascend up the stairs, he activated a trap and hurried up the steps. Lycster tensed up the moment he saw a wall coming down to block off the path the grave robbers took. 

But now he was more afraid of what trap had been activated. Vy and Aether, on the other hand, remained calm. They knew what trap it was. It was a tricky one to get out of, but it was not entirely impossible. 

A rumble came first, followed by vibrations that were felt throughout the hallway. It sounded as if something was rolling towards them. 

"What… what's going on?" Lycster exclaimed as his eyes darted all around. 

Vy turned back, listening for the impending arrival of the trap. 

"Stand back, Lycster," Vy instructed as she took up a stance, holding her energy dagger in her right hand. 

Lycster did as he was told and Aether curled around Vy's wrist, waiting for impact. She took in deep breaths, concentrating on her breathing as beads of sweat trickled down her forehead. In the dimly lit hallway, Vy realised she could not rely on her eyes. 

She needed to rely on her other senses. So, she closed her eyes. She listened. She felt the vibrations all around. It seems like two traps had been activated. Vy needed to act fast. 

-The big one is coming first.- Aether informed Vy. She nodded. 

She was only wielding a dagger, yet she was able to cleanly slice through it. It was as if she wielded a hot knife through butter. The boulder crumbled into pieces right in front of their eyes. Vy's eyes were still closed. She quickly kept her dagger. 

With a click of her fingers, she was now wielding blue flames in both her hands. 

-The critters are coming.- 

Lycster looked up ahead. All he could see was that the fire they used to light up the hallway was getting extinguished one after the other. The limestone walls seemed to be consumed by a black shadow that was fast approaching. 

When it finally got near enough, Lycster widened his eyes in shock. It was an army of scorpions coming towards them! Unlike the ones they encountered in the Bleak Lands, these ones were small, with a black exoskeleton. 

There were thousands of them, maybe more. 

As her Kyu form ears appeared on the top of her head, so did her nine tails. Vy's sharpened nails were white in colour. She combined the two flames together. Her eyes flicked upon. She brought the flame close to her lips and blew on it. 

Instantly, a stream of blue flame shot through the air and torched every single scorpion. For those that got too close to Vy, Lycster and Aether took care of them. But the fire was able to take out most of them. 

The smell of smoke and burnt scorpions filled the air, making it difficult to breathe. Aether turned his attention to the blocked pathway leading up to the Pharoah's Chamber. He consulted the map for a while, hoping to find an alternate route. 

With the scorpions taken care of, Vy turned her attention to the wall. Just as Aether was about to suggest an alternate route they could take, Vy placed her hand on the limestone wall. She summoned her blue fire once more, allowing it to spread throughout the wall. 

Cracks began to form and soon enough, it came crumbling down. 

-I guess that's one way to get through it,- Aether chuckled. 

"Efficiency is key right now," Vy replied with a grin. She turned back to Lycster, "We don't have time to waste, let's get going."

Together, they quickly ascended the steps towards the Pharoah's Chamber. On their way up, they noticed even more murals. While these were more well kept than those at the entrance, some of them were still missing important pieces. 

It was difficult to tell a full story with the missing pieces, but some important details were preserved. Aether noticed that in one of the murals, it mentioned that Pharoah Netiri had a companion. 

-She did not take a male mate, her companion was a woman.- Aether explained as they continued up the stairs. 

"A female companion?" Lycster asked.

"Relationships are complicated," Vy lamented, "But love is blind."

-Indeed.- Aether agreed. -But it seems not everyone took it well. It seems like it was one of the reasons for the attack. That, and the death of a nobleman who was to become her husband.-

"Death by?" Lycster asked out of curiosity.

"Poison, maybe? Poison's a woman's weapon, as some like to say,"

Aether scanned through the murals and the writing. When he found the answer he was looking for, he chuckled as he caught up to them. 

-Death by combat.- 

Vy stopped in her tracks, laughing, "Combat?"

Her laughter echoed through the hallway, but she could not help herself.