Volume One: The Infernal Lord’s World Chapter 52: Is This... a Mausoleum?

Lingering for a moment before the gates of the underwater palace, Chen Gu finally stepped onto the threshold. As he crossed into the entrance, a voice echoed in his ear.

“State your name and purpose.”

The voice was chillingly cold, like water dripping from an iceberg.

Just as Chen Gu was about to reply, Allen stepped forward.

“From the Queen’s Guard, the Mishunas family requests an audience with Her Majesty.”

Allen held up an identification token they had found on another island.

Immediately, the voice faded, and along the path leading to the main hall, a series of ghostly blue lights flickered to life.

Witnessing this, Chen Gu and his companions broke into smiles. They understood at once that their deduction had been correct—the underwater palace was indeed accessible.

With that, Chen Gu and Allen, accompanied by only a handful of subordinates, entered the palace, following the line of blue lights towards the central hall.

The palace itself was vast, yet no matter how large, the corridor must have an end. Their passage was unimpeded, and soon Chen Gu and Allen arrived at the heart of the palace complex.

Before them rose a colossal structure, nearly a thousand meters high. The palace was built in the style of ancient Rome, flanked by massive marble columns. From a distance, it resembled the Twelve Gold Palaces of the Saints.

Ascending the steps, Allen whispered, “Sir, are we truly certain about this?”

“There’s no problem. We’re only here to seek clues. And remember, this domain now belongs to the undead—the elven city is without a master.”

As he spoke, Chen Gu strode through the palace doors.

The sight that greeted him upon entering took his breath away.

The palace was suffused with a Western aesthetic, and at the center of the grand hall stood five enormous stone sarcophagi. Each sarcophagus was surrounded by heaps of fresh flowers. Though submerged for countless years, the flowers showed no sign of withering.

Chen Gu had wondered what he might encounter within this palace, but never had he imagined that such a grand hall would in fact be a burial ground.

He counted himself fortunate that the waters of the Sacred Lake were holy, and thus inhospitable to the undead—otherwise, with these five sarcophagi here, who could say how many calamities might have arisen?

Allen had now followed Chen Gu inside. Taking in the scene, Allen finally realized what it was.

“This is the Queen’s mausoleum. Look, sir—these are the deeds of all the queens.”

Chen Gu looked where Allen pointed and saw murals covering the walls. They depicted the first elven queen discovering the Sacred Lake and founding the holy city, the second queen establishing the city’s magic tower and academy, the third planting the Sacred Tree, and the fourth queen’s contact and victory over humans.

“Wait, something’s wrong. There are only four queens depicted, but there are five sarcophagi. Isn’t that odd?” Chen Gu immediately noticed the discrepancy.

Allen, unlike Chen Gu, knew something of elven history. Upon hearing the question, he carefully examined the markings on the sarcophagi.

“Sir, this one’s empty.”

Finally, Allen stood before one of the sarcophagi and called out loudly to Chen Gu.

Chen Gu hurried over. As Allen had said, the sarcophagus was indeed empty. Yet its lid was sealed as tightly as the others, as if a queen herself lay within.

He tried to shift the lid but it didn’t budge. Inspecting the carvings on the stone, he asked, “Allen, do you think this could be the last queen’s sarcophagus?”

“No. Its placement is wrong, and besides, the last queen was the one I served, and this isn’t her emblem.”

At Allen’s words, Chen Gu realized the issue—the sarcophagus in question was the fourth from the left. He suspected it belonged to the fourth elven queen, but for some unknown reason, her body was not interred here and her deeds had been erased from memory.

Instead, the queen depicted making contact with humans on the mural was the fifth.

Chen Gu shared his reasoning, but Allen looked doubtful.

“Sir, how could a queen’s legacy simply be erased?”

“Look closer at the murals. Notice the lifespan of each queen—it’s about fifteen hundred years. The third queen, who planted the World Tree, was already middle-aged then, and she died after living only six hundred more years. The fourth lived for fifteen hundred years. If the last queen was the fifth, then the World Tree should have died from excessive holy water during her reign.

“But from all evidence, the World Tree ceased growing long before, only falling when the Scourge of the Undead arrived. Was that entire period swallowed up? So I believe a queen is missing from the records—very likely the fourth. And did you notice the stylistic shift among the elves?”

He gestured to the murals.

Allen glanced at them. “Jungle, natural style?”

“Exactly. By the third queen, even after moving from the trees, their dwellings remained wooden. But here, suddenly everything is marble. Would you believe there’s no interruption in their history?”

Allen was instantly convinced by Chen Gu’s analysis, though it did nothing to help their immediate situation. They couldn’t open any of the sarcophagi, nor take anything from within.

Seeing Allen’s frustrated expression, Chen Gu was somewhat exasperated. Was this not the same Allen who had been so sharp before? How had he become so dull now?

“Go check the flowers outside—see if there are any offerings from the next queen at the previous queen’s tomb, any tokens of royal proof. And tell me, do you think we could claim this tomb as our own?”

Allen hesitated before replying, “If you were a necromancer, sir, you could certainly take it. But as things stand, I fear it won’t be easy.”

“Never mind, then. Just see if the last elven queen left anything behind.”

With a wave, Chen Gu sent Allen to his task. It had to be Allen—Chen Gu didn’t know the royal emblems of the elven queens. Without Allen, he truly wouldn’t know where to start.

A moment later, after circling the fifth sarcophagus, Allen suddenly called out, “Sir, I’ve found something new!”