Early the next morning, before the mist over the Dark Continent had fully cleared, the expedition broke camp and pushed onward.
After last night's one-sided slaughter show, the atmosphere in the group had turned strange.
The mercenaries who had strutted around like hotshots now snapped to attention whenever Luo Ye passed, their backs ramrod straight, barely daring to breathe.
Ging Freecss led the way, stopping on a stretch of black earth several dozen kilometers from camp.
An unmistakably artificial pit marred the terrain.
Ging crouched and scraped away the thick black soil with his hands, exposing the corner of something cold and metallic beneath it.
"Found it."
Ging's voice brimmed with barely contained excitement.
He directed a few combat engineers to clear the site. In less than half an hour, a magnificent metal pyramid ruin, previously buried entirely underground, stood revealed before them.
Its craftsmanship and sophistication were thousands of years ahead of modern human technology.
The expedition descended the excavated slope and finally stopped in front of the ruins' main entrance.
The metal door stood a full ten meters tall, as massive and heavy as a mountain of iron.
Not a single seam marked its surface, which was densely covered in dark red, indecipherable scrawls.
Stare at those symbols too long, and they seemed to writhe and crawl across the metal, making bile rise in the viewer's throat.
"This is an encrypted lock from an ancient civilization."
Beyond stepped forward, narrowing his eyes as he examined the door.
"Brute force will definitely trigger its defense mechanism."
One mercenary, impatient to claim the first achievement, ignored the orders and rushed forward on his own, reaching out to touch the dark red symbols on the door.
That light touch alone cost him his life.
The dark red symbols erupted in blinding