Rise of The Demon General

Amon focused all his senses as he traveled through the cave tunnel. His ears paid attention to any suspicious noise. The cave was dark but his eyes could still see well enough. He brought the Bright Flare Stone with him, but he didn't use it. If there was indeed a dangerous creature still within these cave tunnels, it might attract their attention.

After a while, Amon felt the draft getting stronger. He must be close to the exit.

He finally saw some light in the distance. He didn't run over though, he continued pacing with careful steps. All the while, pay attention to his surroundings.

When he arrived at the exit, he didn't go out immediately. He flattened himself at the edge of the exit and peeked out.

Outside was a large expanse of green field. He saw woods in the distance, also a stream in the other direction. He paid attention to moving things. There was none. No animals. No spirit beasts. Not even a critter.

After observing for a while, he finally came out into the open.

He looked back and saw the cave he came out from was inside a small rocky hill. The sky was bright. It was mid-day, yet he saw no sun, just white clouds on a blue sky. He wondered where was the light source of this dimension.

He didn't dwell too much on the thought. He had limited time here. He needed to find as many treasures as possible before his time was up. He was not even sure how much time he had left.

He climbed onto the top of the hill behind him. Trying to get to a higher elevation to have a better look.

The areas around him were the same green field. Aside from the woods and stream, in the distance behind the hill was a series of mountains. He thought about where he should go.

He closed his eyes. When he fell from the sky after entering this secret dimension. He saw a half of the entire land within this dimension. He didn't know if that fall was real or part of the illusion caused by the spider-beast. Perhaps when he entered the portal, he was transferred directly to the spider beast's lair. Maybe he was unconscious from the transfer between worlds when the spider-beast put him under its influence.

Anyway, only one way to find out if the fall was real. He winded back on his memory. He watched the view of the land again. He remembered seeing some landmarks during his fall. Landmarks that seemed to be unnatural, landmarks that looked like man-made structures. The highest possibility of finding treasures was within such structures.

He first looked for a view that showed the landscape he was on. A rocky hill in the middle of a green field, surrounded by woods, a river, and mountains. After observing his memory for a while, he thought that a small part of the landscape he saw from the sky was similar. He then traced that place to the closest unnatural structure.

After a while, he opened his eyes. He looked towards the direction where the woods and the mountains met. That was where he should be heading. If the fall was real, then he should find the man-made structure there.

He started running.

*

He ran for days. The structure in his mind was situated rather far away. Even with him running at full speed, he estimated that it would take him a few more days to reach the place.

His journey was not without findings. Several times he passed through areas with rare spirit herbs growing. He took his time to harvest these herbs. There were even some herbs needed as supplementary ingredients for concocting the poisons in his 101 Primal Poison Tome. He made sure to grab those as well.

Dangers also existed in his journey. Luckily, there were very few spirit beasts roaming. Amon spotted them from afar. Some large, some small. All of which were alien to him. He didn't find any depiction of these beasts in the books he had read. These beasts must be ones that didn't exist in the outside world.

He didn't plan to approach these unknown beasts. Some of them might be too strong for him to handle. He took the prudent approach and traveled around them.

After roughly one week since he escaped from the spider-beast lair, the structure he was heading to was finally in sight.

"So, the fall was real," Amon said as he watched the structure from on top of a tree.

The structure looked similar to the Aztec pyramid from his past world. There were four wide stairs on its four sides leading to the entrance at its top.

Amon didn't head directly to the pyramid. He first circled it. At first from afar. He tried to glimpse if anyone or anything was occupying the land around the pyramid. He then came closer and circled it another time, trying to see if there was any sign of something coming in or out of the pyramid.

When Amon was sure that the surrounding was truly deserted, he then approached, slowly. All the while continued to stay alert. His swan dagger was ready in his hand.

The materials that formed this pyramid looked like limestone, but its surface was too smooth. There was no visible scratch mark. He touched the stone. It was very cold. He also sensed that the stone had an unusually high content of aether. Even without engraving, this building could probably withstand strong impacts. It's no wonder there was no sign of deterioration to the pyramid despite it being ancient. White Cloud Sects said that this dimension had existed from far before their time, and yet this pyramid still looked as good as new.

He climbed the pyramid via one of the four stairs towards the top. He had seen four door-less openings on four sides at its top. When he almost reached the top, he sneaked to the side of one of these openings. He then listened intently, trying to hear whether anything was moving on the other side of the wall he leaned on.

After not detecting any sound for a while, he peeked through the opening.

Inside was an empty hall. Seeing nothing suspicious, he walked in. Other than the four holes on the walls, there was truly nothing inside. There was no door or anything on the floor that indicate a way to the pyramid below, just incomprehensible drawings.

'Is this place a simple monument? Is there nothing valuable here?' Amon thought.

He didn't want his one-week travel here to be a waste of effort, but such was the uncertainty of searching unexplored land. You could waste your whole time only to find nothing.

Amon didn't let himself be discouraged. He closed his eyes and checked his memory again. See if there were any other man-made structures nearby.

There was none. The nearest one would probably take him around half a year to reach. He opened his eyes. He probably should just try searching the areas around here. See if there were any more valuable herbs he could find in the wilderness.

But first, he wanted to try one thing. He gathered his aether on his fist, before unleashing his full-power Bone Shattering Shadow Fist on the floor. The impact created a shockwave and a loud sound. But otherwise, the floor remained intact. There was not even a scratch. The material used to build this pyramid was indeed special. It's hard to believe this place was just a monument.

Never mind, there was no use lamenting, Amon thought. He stood up and was about to head out when his attention was drawn to the ceiling. Unlike the floor and walls which were full of carvings of enigmatic drawings. The ceiling was filled with words.

And the words took Amon aback. He understood the writings on the ceiling. The reason why he understood the writings, was because it was written using the language of his past world.

During his time learning in this new world, Amon had never seen any record of connection with his past world. He had thought himself to be the only anomaly that linked this new world with his past world. But now, he had found another link.

The words were written in a clockwise pattern. Amon turned himself as he read.

"If you wish to enter the great bowel of the temple, offer your soul willingly. Place your hands on the serpents' mouths. The worthy will enter, the weak will perish."

Such a cryptic message. He was not truly fond of solving riddles.

He read the writings one more time.

"Serpents…" He looked down. The drawings underneath were rather abstract, but there were what looked like the drawings of two serpents' heads next to each other with their mouths opened. These serpents were surrounded by the drawing of a series of mazes. If he crouched down, the positions of these serpents' mouths should be just right to place his two hands.

He didn't do it though. There was a worrying message at the end of the sentence. The weak will perish. How did he know whether he was strong or weak? What is the worthiness according to this pyramid's standard?

After thinking for a while, he decided to not take the risk. Although he was curious, it didn't worth risking his life. He had learned a long time ago to curb his curiosity when needed. The saying, curiosity killed the cat, was not without reasons. He walked out of the room and decided to search for valuables somewhere else less fishy.