Inside the biggest pirate spaceship that was in the middle of the fleet formation, three individuals were sitting in the cockpit while eying the tiny yellow dot in the far distance.
“Captain Roger, we will reach the planet in under 30 minutes if we kept the same pace.” A humanoid lizard with a black collar informed.
He was sitting before the cockpit’s dashboard, clearly implying his job as the spaceship’s operator.
“Should we increase our speed?” A dignified woman with a muscular body and a lean jaw bone suggested while looking behind her.
She was staring at their bearded captain, who had spider tattoos all over his face and neck, making him horrifying to look at. God knows if he had inked his entire body as well.
“No, we don’t know if that weasel had already sold or shared the map to other parties before we took it from him.” The captain spoke with an imperative voice.
“Indeed, the planet could be infested with other pirates or bloodline clans. If we increased our speed we will get picked up by their radars.” The spaceship operator agreed.
“Heh, I do hope to find a group or two in there.” The dignified woman licked her lips and said, “It will save us months of efforts to scan the entire planet for the ruins.”
It seemed like Felix had made a big blunder as he always assumed that the Bloody Mary pirates were going to find the ruins a month later from now if the timeline stayed the same.
He was a bit confident that his actions shouldn’t have changed the pirates’ behavior since they rarely use a bracelet or give a crap about the SG news.
That’s because they couldn’t wear one lest the Queen report their location to the authorities due to them breaking multiple contracts.
Felix was right in this part as the Bloody Mary pirates didn’t even care about the existence of the Phantom Organization or Felix and simply focused on their own things.
However, even though they were following the same timeline, Felix had failed to account for the notion that the pirates might have reached the ruins months earlier than the date shown in the documentary!
But he shouldn’t be blamed since the documentary had been edited to show that the pirates went straight from space to the ruin’s location completely opposite to those three’s discussion!
Right now, they were coasting towards the deserted planet, seeking the riches of the ruins, not knowing that they were about to experience their first change in their timeline!
…
While the pirates were left to discuss the ruins, Felix and the rest had already reached the pyramid without getting swarmed by those Tombscreamers.
The spray was effective alright as the Tombscreamers kept avoiding the party at all cost. During their journey, they realized that nothing here was actually made out of gold.
Everything was due to the Tombscreamers’ golden dust covering the entire ground and pillars.
They even started to wonder if the pyramid was also golden due to the dust or not.
‘Boss, what now?’ Erik asked while lifting his head, narrowing his eyes at the peak of the pyramid that reached almost 200 meters.
The rest also were surveying the area around them while standing still above the last staircase. None of them dared to step forth without Felix’s approval.
‘Since everything that we experienced is almost the same as the other party in their own ruins, it is fair to assume that the traps and conditions to access the pyramid should be the same as well.’ Felix fed them some bullshit to calm their nerves before adding, ‘I want you to create a tight triangle formation and take one unified step each time.’
‘What?’
Everyone was either confused or surprised by the order. But seeing that Felix wasn’t laughing made them understand that he was dead serious.
‘Form up.’ Malak didn’t waste time by asking Felix to explain himself as she knew that the sprays could last them for only two hours.
At the start, there was some confusion about the placement but Malak took care of it by starting to appoint them their positions.
Momo was placed at the helm of the triangle while Erik and Pualani were placed at the other two corners.
The rest were left to fill the inside. They made sure to leave enough space for them to take a step forward without tripping each other.
When Felix saw that they were ready, he explained himself, ‘The other squad had found out after multiple failed attempts, that to open up the pyramid, you need to walk in this formation as a single unit. There were probably sensors on the ground that react to only this unique method.’
‘If there are no traps here why can’t we brute force ourselves in?’ Erik wondered.
‘Because the pyramid is made out of Strucrase, one of the top ten strongest minerals in the entire universe.’ Felix debunked his idea.
The others didn’t dare to underestimate the pyramid after hearing so.
‘Alright, Malak start leading the squad forward and make sure to keep moving forward no matter what.’ Felix informed while hovering above them.
‘What’s going to happen if we aren’t synchronized?’ Malissa inquired.
‘The pyramid won’t open up.’ Felix comforted them, ‘There are no limited chances just keep doing it until you nail it. Though, do remember that the sprays have a limited duration so you can’t take more than 15 minutes to open it up if you want to gather the treasures within.’
Malak nodded her head and said, ‘On the count of three we will take a step forward with our left foot. Then I will restart the count and this takes to use the right foot. We will keep going like this until Sir Felix tells us to stop. Understood?’
‘Yes.’
Everyone nodded their head but Erik as he lifted his hand and asked bashfully, ‘Are we going to move on three exactly or after it?’
‘The moment you hear me say it, step forward.’ Malak stressed.
Upon seeing that everyone was ready, she took a deep and began counting telepathically.
The instant she said three, all of them took a step forward with their left foot. However, nothing happened, making them glance at each other’s feet.
‘Did someone mess up?’ Khodri wondered.
‘You guys are doing great, just keep going.’ Felix rushed them.
When they heard his approval, Malak started counting again and others entered a focused state, moving exactly on the count of three every time.
They did so seven times in a row, crossing a third of the path, leading to the pyramid. Yet, still nothing much changed.
However, they didn’t stop and question Felix but continued on the same unified marsh. Due to their suburb senses and focus, they were doing great so far, not breaking their unity.
‘One, Two, Three!’
Thud! Creek!
The moment they crossed half of the path, the ground had sunken a little bit, creating ear-piercing creaking noises!
Sshshsshshsh!
The Tombscreamers went ballistic after hearing the noise as they began fluttering their wings towards them!
This created a horrifying picture of a sea of insects, aiming to engulf them!
However, due to the repeller, they ended up hovering five meters around them, creating a living golden dome that would send shivers down the spine of the toughest man in the galaxy.
Noticing that they were starting to panic, Felix quickly stressed, ‘Don’t take a single step! You will ruin your entire efforts and will be forced to restart all over again!’
The moment Nicci heard so, her foot got frozen slightly above the ground! She was just about to take a step back reflexively.
‘I am so sorry!’ Nicci apologized with her head lowered, knowing that she might have screwed it up for them.
Just as Malak wanted to comfort her, Felix shook his head and said, ‘You guys are still in the safe. You just need to lift your foot slightly as well and then place them at the exact moment to restart.’
‘Thank god.’
Upon hearing so, Malak immediately began the countdown, uncaring about the millions of Tombscreamers that were literally five meters away from her face.
Nicci and Malissa even closed their eyes to not see them and just followed Malak’s voice and intuition.
It worked just like a charm as the ground had sunken even further after they took another unified step.
Sshshshshs!
This agitated the Tombscreamers even more but they still refused to cross the five meters mark. Upon seeing so, the squad ignored them fully and continued on their path downward.
By now, they already realized that the entrance wasn’t on the pyramid itself but on the path leading it!
Who would have bothered to check the path itself and not the pyramid? They realized that they were lucky that Felix was there providing them with such crucial information.
If it wasn’t for so, Felix had no doubt that it would take them at least seven days of trial and error to finally luck out on this hidden mechanism unlike the pirates in the documentary.
The bastards opened up the pyramid the moment they reached the underground world. Felix didn’t know if they had information about the ruins or they had edited out the days wasted trying to open it up.
Whatever it was, the same golden gate that appeared in the documentary had emerged before his face after the squad took one final step!
Creeeek!
The path started to raise on its own after the squad had reached this underground room.
When it finally connected with the ceiling, the darkness had consumed the room, not allowing the squad to even see their fingers!
“Are we trapped?” Erik murmured.
Before another wave of panic set in, Felix had ensured them, ‘Don’t worry guys, there is another way out.’
‘You heard him.’ Malak said while turning on her bracelet’s flashlight. A couple of them did the same, illuminating the entire room easily.
The first thing that came from their point of view was the golden gate that was decorated with mesmerizing hieroglyphics and pictures of humanoid creatures!
The image of Lady Sphinx in both forms was predominant in the gate, making the squad believe that the ruins belonged to her!
‘Elder, couldn’t your worshiper be a bit low key in his devotion?’ Felix stared speechlessly at the hundreds of Lady Sphinx’s pictures and drawings on the gate.
He didn’t take a close look at the gate in his previous life, making him miss out on seeing those pictures.
If it wasn’t for so, he would have guessed that the ruins belonged to Lady Sphinx instantly.
As for his squad? They had already pulled up their bracelets and started taking pictures or filming the gate, knowing that they had just struck gold when it comes to information!
