Leveling Up by Executing Monsters

Chapter 105: Chapter 105: The Forgotten Archaeological Expedition

Lloyd found Elolo’s story hilarious. ’Is she here to do a comedy routine?’

It seemed to be the case. She was the weakest among the group; the others were Tier Four or Tier Five, while she had only just completed her Enlightenment, making her seem somewhat out of place.

’But on second thought,’ he mused, ’given how timid and cautious she is, isn’t that just human nature?’

After Elolo finished her icebreaker, it was Jenkins’s turn.

As a Tier Five Powerhouse and a renowned archaeologist, he naturally had plenty of stories to tell.

Yet, after some deliberation, he chose a story from decades ago, back when he was still very young.

"I was only twenty at the time, not yet divorced from Milly... oh, no, we weren’t even married yet... Back then, I was fascinated by history, and after passing a whole battery of exams, I became the student of a leading authority in archaeology."

"I remember that authority’s name was... no, he no longer has a name. I’ll just call him my Mentor..."

"My Mentor held me in high regard, and it wasn’t long before I joined a large archaeological team as his assistant to excavate the ruins of a pre-catastrophe civilization. The site was located in a remote, dense forest, yet it was unusually devoid of Demons, making it an ideal location for an archaeological dig."

After saying this, Jenkins paused, furtively glancing at the Supreme One’s reaction.

There was no reaction, so he dared to continue.

"I’m sure you all know that before Demons ran rampant, humanity had a glorious age. But for various reasons, that period of history was buried by time, and its secrets have yet to be unveiled to the modern world."

"The ruins we were excavating were believed to be a tomb, perhaps belonging to an Extraordinary Powerhouse from the pre-catastrophe age—a Mage. Or maybe it belonged to a powerful local warlord... In any case, the site was enormous, filled with mystery and the unknown."

"Although our excavation progressed slowly, we made considerable gains, unearthing many old-era pottery jars, statues, armor, and weapons. But we also lost several lives to various accidents..."

"But no one backed down. We firmly believed the ruins held immense historical value, that they could help us unveil that part of history."

"However, a year later, the sponsor funding us suddenly grew impatient. They demanded we excavate the core of the ruins within two months, locate the tomb’s owner, and preferably, find his sarcophagus."

"Under financial pressure, we had to resort to some destructive excavation methods, even using dynamite... And in the end, we found the sarcophagus, just as they’d wished..."

"It looked... No... I’m sorry, I can’t find the words to compare or describe its appearance. It was like... No... Forget it..."

Jenkins shook his head forcefully at this point, as if trying to banish a certain memory.

"Anyway, we mustered our courage, broke open the sarcophagus, and found a desiccated corpse inside that was barely human-shaped. It might have once possessed a human form; some of its skeletal structure was still human. But its overall appearance... I apologize, I still can’t find the words to describe It."

"The sarcophagus contained a staggering treasure: gold, jewels, exquisite vessels, and magnificent jewelry. Per the sponsor’s request, we removed the treasures, carefully sorting them. A day later, only that indescribable desiccated corpse was left in the sarcophagus..."

"Everyone was caught up in the joy of finding the treasure, eager to rush back to the city and claim the handsome reward promised by our sponsor. No one paid any mind to the fact that the sarcophagus was still lying open."

"I forget what my reasoning was, but I went over by myself and, with great effort, closed the sarcophagus."

"Then..."

"I heard a voice say to me, ’Thank you’..."

"I assumed it was an auditory hallucination brought on by exhaustion, so I didn’t think much of it. Soon, I was packing up with the others, preparing to head back. Barring any mishaps, our long archaeological journey was finally coming to an end."

As Jenkins spoke, his game piece of a body swayed from side to side, as if he were reliving a truly terrifying experience.

"But, of course, things went wrong on the journey back... At first, it was just one person spouting gibberish, unable to get their bearings. He wandered off into the dense forest and never returned."

"Then, an experienced team member, without any warning, slit his partner’s throat. He hoisted the body onto his shoulders, walked over to us, and proudly showed off the ’reindeer’ he had just caught..."

"We were forced to restrain him, tying him up securely. Yet he showed no resentment, merely smiling gently and inviting us to his home to try his wife’s smoked venison."

"After that, the bizarre incidents multiplied. One person slit open his own stomach, saying there was a little rabbit hiding in his belly that he needed to let out.

Another thought the chasm below a cliff was his home and jumped straight down.

Someone else believed he was a bear and tried to get honey from a beehive in a tree, only to be stung to death..."

"More and more people started to forget who they were, even that they were human, and began performing all sorts of incomprehensible acts."

"Only my Mentor, myself, and a handful of others managed to maintain our Rationality. We were terrified. We had no choice but to leave the others behind and flee toward the city alone."

"But then, even my Mentor succumbed... He began muttering constantly, would clutch his head and burst into tears without warning. Then his limbs started to deform, to elongate, and his facial features grew increasingly indistinct."

"The others developed the same symptoms. They began to look more and more like... people sculpted from dough?"

"In the end, I was the only one left. I sprinted madly through the dense forest, abandoning everything, my mind unable to form a coherent thought. I didn’t even know if I was human anymore."

"Finally, after running for I don’t know how long, I reached the edge of the forest. Up ahead was a village."

"I rushed toward it, and then..."

"The ancient ruins appeared before me..."

Jenkins finally let out a sigh, as if a great weight had been lifted, and brought his story to a conclusion.

"I fainted on the spot. When I came to, I was in a hospital. A hunting party had found and rescued me."

"To this day, I’m grateful to them for saving my life. But I still don’t understand why those hunters, who normally stuck to the fringes, would have stumbled so deep into the forest, right to the site of the ancient ruins."

"Oh well... In any case, I survived. That forest was soon overrun by Demons, and no one dared go near the ruins again."

"I’ve actually told this story to many people, but no one would believe it. I also tried to visit the sponsor and other academics who knew about the dig. I discovered that, without exception, they had all been committed to mental asylums."

"That includes the relatives of the expedition members..."

"I tried to find documents or newspapers that chronicled the expedition, but I came up with nothing. Such a massive undertaking, yet it left behind not a single written record, as if someone had deliberately erased it."

"It’s as if I’m the only person in the whole world who remembers it..."

"Later, after I had time to recover emotionally, I decided to take up my Mentor’s mantle and continue his archaeological research, which I have done to this day."

"I eventually married, and under my wife’s guidance, began to delve into the mystical and the Extraordinary Realm. But I lacked their dazzling talent in that regard. I barely managed to reach Tier Five before I became too old and decrepit, so now I get to live a while longer."

"As for my own journey into the extraordinary, there’s nothing worth mentioning. The only unique thing about it is that I suppose I never underwent an Enlightenment ritual; I entered the Redemption system directly."

"And everyone here is just like me. You all automatically entered your respective systems and became Extraordinary Beings without undergoing Enlightenment... I only found out later that over in Radiant City, they have a name for people like us: ’Qualified’?"

After Jenkins finished, he glanced at Balderes beside him, who spoke up to explain.

"That’s right," he said. "We have the lords and masters over in Radiant City to thank for giving us such an intimidating title."

Having said that, the four figures on the chessboard once again snuck a glance at the "spectator" beside them, wanting to see if He would react.

But He remained silent and motionless, a true gentleman watching the game without a word.

In reality, Lloyd was busy carefully considering Jenkins’s story.

Although there was no definitive proof, Lloyd had a distinct feeling that the young Jenkins and his archaeological team had encountered some form of Twist.

The string of misfortunes that befell the team afterward strongly resembled the effects of one’s perception, thoughts, and Cognition being distorted. It was somewhat similar to what had happened to the other seven players in the previous game.

But Lloyd could only speculate, as other systems could produce similar effects. Moreover, according to Jenkins’s account, the Twist the archaeological team had suffered was clearly more potent and more terrifying.

’In any case,’ Lloyd thought, ’I don’t think I could achieve something of that magnitude.’

’Especially since the Twist they endured seemed gradual and precisely controlled, conveniently sparing Jenkins, the only survivor.’

If Jenkins hadn’t mentioned at the end that his Mentor had gradually transformed into one of those noodle-people, Lloyd probably wouldn’t have made the connection to Twist at all.

He had seen such noodle-people before. On the two occasions he had inexplicably completed his Enlightenment, the beings he had witnessed—singing, dancing, and chanting hymns—were precisely those noodle-people.

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