Gargoyle Supremacy-Chapter 69: Sometimes, I’m Glad I Don’t Have Flesh and Blood. It Makes Haunted House Exploration a Lot Easier.

Both gargoyles landed at the bottom of the spiral staircase. Carn remained in the same posture from his descent, arms crossed over his chest. However, he found himself rooted in place as countless eyes were staring at him from the shadows.

Gawain, on the other hand, dusted off his helmet before stepping forward. His gaze shifted ahead.

Surrounding them were a dozen 3-meter-tall spiders with smiling human faces. Their bloody teeth gleamed as they grinned at the two intruders. Hovering ominously around the spiders were rusty swords, floating in midair like spectral bodyguards and emitting purple aura.

Gawain scoffed as recognition dawned on him.

"Smiling spiders and cursed swords. Is Demon Lord Drath here?"

Carn exhaled deeply as he thought of his dead friend.

"Probably his offspring. Drathis was turned into an undead during the coalition war, and I purified his soul myself."

Gawain didn’t know about Carn and Drathis relationship. He kept delving into the topic, "I see. Then the humans of this world must have found his lair."

As the two conversed, the tunnel’s atmosphere grew heavier. More monsters appeared, crawling along the spiraled walls and emerging from the yawning dark cave at the bottom of the pit. Yet, none of the creatures made a move.

The spiders inspected them. The staring contest dragged on for ten long seconds before the spiders turned away. One by one, they dispersed, disinterested and retreating into the shadows.

Gawain chuckled, breaking the silence. "Who’d have thought gluttonous spiders had intelligence?"

"More like we’re not on the menu. We’re just two pieces of rock to them. But if we come here in our human form or Kirin form, they would have pounced on us without hesitation."

Gawain shook his head, "I guess being a gargoyle has its perks. If I told my past self this, he would call it nonsense. Now I know why you and Demon Lord Drath, whose lair was barely a kilometer from yours, never attacked each other. It all makes sense now."

"It’s called coexistence and mutual benefits. My dungeon was a tomb, and we wanted to be left alone. Drath needed organic food and invaders to feed his children, but no one wanted to invade his lair. We used to chat and intentionally spread rumors that his dungeon was a shortcut to my father’s tomb. Then we linked our dungeons together and confused the hell out of the invaders. Good times."

"…Yeah, that little stunt nearly wiped out my entire diplomat squad. We were bringing Mother Tree’s branches to show respect to your father, and we ran into those stupid spiders! It was your fault all along!"

"Who told you to waltz into my dungeon uninvited? I even left a signboard to warn you to ’Ring the Bell’ first!"

Both men laughed briefly, a rare shared moment of levity. But the laughter faded as a sobering realization hit them.

Gawain turned his gaze back to the spiders, who clung to the walls. "That was the past. What about now? Without Aether, how are these spiders still alive?"

Carn snorted, "What else? Someone must have been feeding them. These things will eat anything. Flesh, bones, you name it. They’re natural scavengers… perfect for getting rid of unwanted bodies or evidence."

Gawain froze mid-step as the implications of Carn’s words disturbed him. His brow furrowed, and he glanced back toward the sealed door they had broken earlier.

"But the entrance was sealed when we got here. No one’s been in or out, right?"

Carn frowned, piecing together the inconsistency. His gaze drifted toward the tunnel ahead of them, which was a passage, wide enough for three of the giant spiders to crawl through side by side.

"That might be the thing that’s been feeding these children," Carn looked at the tunnel.

Gawain turned to look, scanning the ominous hole. The cavern was too cleanly cut, too deliberate. Whatever its purpose, it wasn’t built to contain the spiders. Carn suspected an accident had occurred here, and the humans had sealed this place in haste, marking it as an ECD entity.

"I’m going ahead," Gawain volunteered, unsheathing his sword and stepping forward.

Carn didn’t move, still pinned by the lingering stares of a few spiders clinging to the walls. "Go on. I’m stuck here for now. Some of them are still watching me."

Gawain nodded, stepping confidently into the cavern. As for Carn, he waited outside, having a staring contest with local spiders.

.

Gawain brushed past the massive spiders as he made his way deeper into the cavern. The tunnel stretched nearly a kilometer before abruptly ending in a collapsed wall of earth and stone. At first glance, it seemed like a natural landslide had blocked the path, but the debris in front of him felt deliberate as if someone had caused the landslide to seal away something hidden beyond.

The temperature dropped drastically as he approached the blockade. Stepping closer until he was a mere breath away from the dirt and rubble, he reached out and placed a gauntleted hand against the cold surface.

The moment he made contact, a shiver ran through his arm, and he recoiled.

He sensed Aether. It wasn’t just faint traces either. This was a concentrated presence of Aether, radiating from the other side of the debris.

Before he could fully process the discovery, the earth beneath his boots trembled. The entire tunnel groaned, and tiny dust began to fall from the cracked ceiling above. Something on the other side had sensed him as well.

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Not good.

The shaking intensified. Cracks spider-webbed across the ceiling near the landslide.

Gawain wasted no time. With a sharp inhale, his form brightened, and he vanished, teleporting 100 meters back down the tunnel. The instant he reappeared, a thunderous crash echoed behind him. The ceiling near the collapsed wall caved in, adding another impenetrable layer of rubble to the blockade.

Gawain studied the collapse from afar. As this matter involved an unknown being with high Aether, he couldn’t teleport to the other side and take risks. Thus, he returned to Carn.