Gourmet Hunter - Chapter 174 (Patreon)

Chapter 174: Conclusion

The roar was so faint that it was difficult to hear unless one listened carefully, but everyone at the top of the stairs heard it.

The source of the unknown roar was unclear, so faint it must have been from a great distance.

Stajy's tomb had a history of over six hundred years. So, how had the human-faced bugs and that roar survived in the tomb for so long?

There were also skeletons in the corridor, and now, skeletons that had fallen on the stairs...

When Luo heard the roar, he inexplicably thought of the unseen monster beneath Golden Lake.

There are still many unknowns in the world, beyond the known data and current understanding of humanity.

The darkness that the flashlight couldn’t illuminate hid unknown things. If one ventured further or kept moving forward, they could unveil the veil of darkness.

No one planned to discuss the faint roar that came inexplicably. Regardless, they had to descend the stairs to the deeper parts of the tomb to seek the legendary treasure.

Click, click...

As they walked down the stairs, their footsteps echoed in the quiet environment.

The thick soles stepped on the stone steps, raising a lot of dust and generating faint sound waves that spread around.

The nearby skeletons were shaken by these almost negligible sound waves into bone dust...

Luo and Bisky were the last ones down, neither wearing a gas mask, and the rising bone dust was clearly troublesome, something no one wanted to face.

God's Hand!

Luo used his Nen to block the floating bone dust in front of him.

"Mr. Imposing...!"

Bisky saw Luo's Nen, a glint flashing in her wine-red eyes, and she quickly moved closer to Luo for protection.

Seeing Bisky's action, Luo had no particular reaction; he let her lean on him and slightly expanded the range of his Nen to make it easier for her to hide.

The bone dust that flew towards them was thus pushed aside by Luo's Nen and drifted backwards.

The stone staircase sloped downwards, and after a certain number of steps, it sharply turned in the opposite direction. The group made about seven turns before reaching the bottom, entering a spacious stone chamber with a doorless exit.

The flashlight beam shone towards the exit but couldn’t illuminate it completely, and from that exit, a stream of fresh air drifted in.

This chamber was different from the stone chambers and corridors they had passed along the way. The stones building this room had been smoothed, unlike the rough stone bricks used elsewhere.

This was the difference between the two.

Thus, the walls of this chamber bore many messages left from ancient times, not reliefs, but murals.

Luo noticed the murals on the walls as soon as he entered and immediately went to examine them, while the others seemed uninterested in these murals and headed straight for the pitch-black exit.

Bisky did not follow the main group but stayed by Luo's side.

Just as the others reached the exit, they noticed Luo and Bisky were not with them.

"Luo, Bisky, keep up," Uncle Li stopped and looked back at the two who were still at the stone wall.

"You go ahead."

Luo didn’t even turn his head as he responded.

The mural on the stone wall seemed to originate from the same source as the reliefs on the entrance stone door, and the double-headed bird from the corridor stone door was clearly depicted here.

This is not Stajy's tomb...

Seeing the mural, Luo had this thought.

Hearing Luo's words, Uncle Li frowned. Honestly, if they didn’t need Luo for Nen exorcism later, he would have decisively entered the door.

"We'll go ahead."

After a pause, Uncle Li made a decision. He realized that Luo seemed more interested in the murals and didn’t want to waste time waiting for him, so he decided to go ahead.

If they encountered obstacles protected by post-mortem Nen later, they would come back for Luo.

The four Nen users of average ability followed Uncle Li’s lead. Seeing that Uncle Li had entered the door, they didn’t hesitate to follow, and Ruby and Aya, who were with Uncle Li, naturally did the same.

Antomu, who was at the back of the group, glanced back at Luo and Bisky, a hint of chill flashing in his eyes before he quickly caught up with the others.

That look carrying ambiguous meanings went unnoticed by Bisky, focused as she was on Luo; otherwise, with her sensitivity, she might have detected Antomu’s glance.

That seemed... to be dissatisfaction born of inconvenience.

The group of eight walked into the dark door, unknowing of what lay ahead.

In the chamber, only Luo and Bisky remained, all around them eerily quiet, and the flashlight’s beam, obviously less practical than a torch, illuminated only a small area.

Luo realized this too, and although he could create a torch on the spot, he thought about

 it and decided not to show off too much Nen ability, making do with the flashlight.

"Are you really here for the treasure?" Watching Luo slowly circle the wall, Bisky couldn’t help but ask.

"Of course," Luo replied without turning his head.

"You seem more like an archaeologist to me," Bisky said.

"I'm just interested in some unknown things. Aren’t you curious?"

Bisky crossed her arms and said seriously, "I’m only interested in jewels."

"Why don’t you follow the main group then? If this is Stajy's tomb, the gem named Stajy’s Tear might be in the coffin."

As Luo dealt with Bisky, he moved to one side.

Suddenly, he stopped, his flashlight’s circular beam pausing on a spot on the mural, his gaze intensifying.

Just a casual sweep of the flashlight around the walls revealed that there weren’t many murals, but they were large and mostly in a state of partial decay.

In just that short time, Luo saw a mural depicting a two-headed bird, its wings flapping as it flew in the sky, its five claws like hooks, grasping a dragon much larger than itself by about a dozen times.

The dragon was corpulent, resembling a Western dragon in appearance.

After passing that mural, Luo saw another that caught his attention more, so he stopped to observe it.

The mural depicted a group of unclothed humans, varying in height but consistent in build, arranged randomly, with nothing else depicted around them, just empty space.

"Yarukaga? No..."

The people in the mural had limbs as thin as bamboo sticks, but their torsos were plump, their necks short, their heads unusually large, their faces without eyebrows, their noses flat with only two holes, and their mouths slightly open, showing widely spaced sharp teeth.

This appearance wasn’t what caught Luo’s attention, but rather the pair of empty black eyes.

Seeing these eyes, Luo initially thought of the Zoldyck family's Yarukaga, but the ugly body and face made him reject the thought.

This place... is definitely not Stajy's tomb, but an even more ancient relic!

Seeing the mural in the chamber, Luo was more certain of his conclusion.

So, on what basis did Uncle Li and the others determine this was Stajy's tomb? And what about Fringe’s self-narrated letter and the matching pair of gems?

"Yarukaga? What do you mean?" Bisky was about to answer Luo's question but turned to ask when she suddenly heard Luo's muttering.

Luo, however, asked back, "Bisky, do you know about the Dark Continent?"

Hearing Luo’s words, Bisky’s face changed.

This kid... he knows about the Dark Continent?

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