It has been almost an hour, Larry and James were both working hard to decipher the language in the room, and Arthur was also helping to arrange the material. The other men were taking turns sifting through their gear.
The once cheerful atmosphere is now filled with relentless sounds of computers working and complex discussions between the men, if one does not realize that this is a group of explorers, they may be mistaken for seasoned white-collar professionals at a stock-trading company.
Several lamentations converged in the minds of the explorers
'Jesus Christ, the client must be crazy when he told us to do a massive extrapolation work under the capability of a whole research organization in ruin. He also asked most of the explorers to get back. Arthur is looking like he's having a hard time as well, I don't know why he's still complying with that.'
Complexities and problems from the avalanche of unravelling work also lead their flustered look to flee from their faces.
Only Larry and James maintained their professional endeavours and composed demeanour.
Pan opened his handbook, he stared at the flag with the purple sunflower embroidery streaks at the same time skimming through the handbook. Pan closed his eyes and carefully memorized the symbol.
'The morning glories and the sunflowers turn naturally toward the light, but we have to be taught, it seems' -Richard Roh-
Pan returned his attention to the handbook and pondered aloud to himself: 'Purple threads and sunflower? The ineffable humans in the eyes of the sun god Antares? Sunflowers were primarily employed as medical plants in Ancient Mayan times, particularly as pain relievers for blooded Mayan warriors. According to Antares's will, blooded warriors were the higher-ups in the Mayan hierarchy who had undergone a blood ceremony, the warriors may have the honour of becoming a monarch.'
Pan rapidly scanned through the flags on the walls. He turned to Larry.
"Sanderson-san, which of the flags here resembled the sun and war?"
Generally, if a man's full concentration was disrupted by a casual question in a situation as such. It is only fathomable that the man would peer at the inquirer with contempt. Larry, on the other hand, positioned himself neatly and fixed his collar.
"If I may say, it would be the one with the white siren symbol on the left side at the end of the hall."
Pan instinctually locked his eyes at the end of the corridor. A black flag with a naked humanoid bird stood at the centre, the closest flag to where the emerald throne was embedded.
"'The strongest warrior stood where his liege reigned'….This is part of an extract that we were able to translate just now from the characters that we've been gathering."
James voiced his thoughts towards Larry.
".... 'And the guardian of the warriors stood at the centre of the world wasn't it?"
Pan continued to what James left off. A moment of silence came from the remaining explorers, James was shocked by Pan's words as if he was able to read these ancient languages effortlessly.
"That is true, Tsukamoto-san. I don't intend to ask how you were able to read that but would it be possible to tell us what is it that you truly wish to achieve in this ruin?"
James, Larry and Arthur understood why Pan only desired a few men to accompany him when they had reached the only room that was the sole reason why this ruin was constructed. The rest of the explorers were picked by Arthur intentionally as he had contemplated that they were the most suitable people to be retained, and they were also befitting Pan's standards.
Pan browsed the explorers standing before him for a short moment.
"The guardian of the warriors was the exceptional person who had raised the warriors from mere young blood to blooded warriors. The modern amazon citizens had viewed the guardian as a cooker or a chef, as the only related impact from the guardian was only outdated methods of processing food which had been improved by the later generations. I as a chef simply want to endorse something from a connoisseur like that."
The explorers apart from Larry, James and Arthur had dumbfounded looks on their faces after hearing Pan's words.
Archie, a young explorer who was also an enthusiast of the ancient Mayan culture, raised an indeterminate statement.
"Bruv, you could have just gathered the flags around here and brought them back to your place then hired experts to do the extrapolation work instead of just a few of us. Aren't those flags the only things that were suitable to write and prolong something like cooking methods? After all, no one will chase after a restricted ruin apart from us, no?".
A hazy question that had captured Pan's interest. He approached the centre of the room. The statues from before stared at him, Pan carefully examined every statue stationed around him, and the white siren flag suddenly protruded from the statue that bore a demonic mask. Pan neared the conspicuous statue, a crest of valour was incised on the chest of the statue, a front face of a barbaric yet heraldic lion snarling and bearing its deadly fangs.
Pan turned his head to the purple sunflower flag whilst standing beside the guardian statue, 'The morning glories and the sunflowers turn naturally toward the light...' Antares the sun god, was the light, and the centre of the world was where the light shone.
"Sanderson-san, can you measure the distance between this statue and the pole with the purple sunflower flag that is hanging on top, please? Also, find the midpoint of the distance as well."
As he was informed, Larry carefully estimated the distance between the statue and the pole. He made a simple mark to display the midpoint.
Pan came up to the tile where the mark was placed. A gentle click resounded throughout the room, followed by a torrent of forceful clangs indicating a complex mechanical movement. At the end of the hall, the once glorious emerald structure of the throne was now embosomed with numerous Mayan symbols.
The explorers were stunned by the transformations, and some of them felt a sense of dismay when the emerald was transposed into valueless symbols. However, one person did not carry any emotions other than the great share of excitement that completely clutched his sanity, like a youngster receiving a toy for the first time after years of waiting.
Hundreds of Mayan symbols can be found carved on the emerald layer, symbols that harboured the heart of every culture, and every culture's symbols designated its inner reality. Mayan symbols distinctly manifested in any realm of human endeavour, the perspicacity coupled with sheer indefeasibility created such a gesture, a song, a phrase or an image to the language. Of the hundreds of Mayan symbols, some appear more often on the carved stelae, revealing their prerogative to the culture. Emphatic glyphs animals were dressed near the centre, notably jaguars, eagles and humanoid beasts that the statue warriors rode.
Larry with his composure remaining intact slowly reached out to the Mayan symbols.
Larry had now been more than 30 steps away from Pan, a wildly irregular course of action from an overprotective archaeologist of a chef granted that his notion did not lessen one bit about the chef himself. Conceivably, Larry had entrusted Pan's safeguard to James, the only archaeologist beside him who possessed the ability to complete any duties to a certain degree of quintessence.
The gathered details extracted from the broad symbols around the ruin had become a fresh subject of interest to Larry. Larry glimpsed through the entire Mayan symbols arrayed around the throne.
"...Black herbs from the Madelek colony can alleviate the pain of any man…The purple flower from gods with a subtle element the demonic blood…..!"
As if Larry's intuition had informed him, the slight movement of a withdrawing pistol being roughly 25-26 steps away instinctually encoded to his acoustic store. Larry's accumulated experiences on the battlefield and training periods that were similar to those of the SAS. force had never wronged him.
Larry angled his head precisely at where the extremely soft sound was arriving from. A silver metallic pocket pistol came into Larry's vision, ready to be aimed firmly at the explorers standing behind, the pistol was held in the hands of James, the person whom Larry trusted the most in his team. In the span of split seconds, Larry rushed to Pan at a pace that none of the men presented here would be able to concede.
*Pew* *Pew* *Pew*
Three shots were fired, and each bullet penetrated Barry's expansive and brawny chest, taking away the life of the oldest explorer. Barry collapsed to the floor like puppets whose strings had all broken at once.
Archie was not able to fully comprehend the circumstance before his eyes. Merely an instant ago, his heart was filled with contentment when the Mayan symbols occurred. Archie did not even have a mild interest in cooking, on the other hand, the feeling in his head was a dazzling imaginary scene of Archie himself proposing to his beloved partner. With the beautiful scenery that embraced his mind, the point of a blunt piston protruded on Archie's forehead.
Before Henry could able to reach Archie and assist him, the other recon man swiftly hacked Henry's left ankle and threw him down the hard floor. The recon man promptly broke Henry's head, and the sound of one's head flailing can be heard throughout the room.
Three lifeless explorers lay neatly together. Peculiarity might be able to depict the scenario ahead, the exquisite state of the bodies was identical to the lavish chamber, and the red carpet was unspoiled by blood stains. The explorers were slain so deliberately that one can barely tell that they are dead bodies from a distance.
*clap*
"Oh well, that was a quick, well-organised and tidy scene there, lads…"
Arthur unexpectedly precluded his hands which were clapping wholeheartedly at the effort of his recon men.
"...Told ya already James. That Larry there was literally called "ghost rider" in the past, we should have focused on him initially."
James, who was cleaning the handprints on his pistol, responded calmly.
"Apology for that Arthur, I wouldn't think that my senior would be able to knock out the recon men from your team in such a short time after disarming them. Arthur, are you sure your recon men had been trained well? They should be able to make Larry's life a bit harder."
"Ah, although you're his direct subordinate, you've not seen him in a battle, yeah?".
Arthur and James raced straight towards Larry after Arthur signalled his recon men to stay still. Larry took a step back, his breath was properly regulated, it is undeniable about Larry's skills at managing his breath during a spar. Arthur, a guy of enormous human proportions, rushed at Larry with a strenuous wide left swing, followed by repeated right jabs. Larry realised that confronting Arthur's attacks head-on was more practical than avoiding Arthur since James who charged in before Arthur had not made a move yet, Larry deflected Arthur's fists with his left shoulder, decreasing all of the severe pressure.
Larry feinted and landed a good kick on Arthur's ribs using his left leg, but the follow-up, a knee strike to Arthur's jaw, caught air as Arthur astutely drew his head back. A stupid mistake, Larry thought but was gone from his mind in a moment. Arthur contemplated that if he received a kick like that from Larry several times again, the fight will be concluded. Arthur intensified the pace of his attacks, and countless blows were exchanged between the top explorer and the top archaeologist. Subsequently, Arthur began to lose his breath, his vision was blurred to a certain degree. Conversely, Arthur's martial artist stance was kept consistent throughout the fight, like a Rihnocres charging at its opponent even though its horn had long been shattered. Arthur continued to indulge in an avalanche of heavy attacks toward Larry for a while when he stepped back and shifted to his defensive stance. James took the opportunity to near Larry in a flash, James's attacks were only a fraction of Arthur's strength but if one has had a spar with James and Arthur, no one would be able to declare that their preferred opponent is James.
Unlike Arthur, who dominated an opponent under his weight class with raw power, James's martial art approach resembled a venomous cobra with fast movements and lethal punches to his opponent's crucial body areas regardless of their weight class. Larry covered his torso and stiffened the muscles throughout his body since James's pace was identical to his, making parrying look nearly impossible. A barrage of punches, kicks, and hooks landed on Larry's outer thigh and front shoulder muscle. When James thought he had the upper hand, he catapulted himself in mid-air and was about to grip Larry's temple to puncture the nerve points when a straight blow struck his abdomen. James was sent to the ground many metres away by the direct strike.
"D-didn't you wear off his strength? I don't doubt his ability but still, he's the only combatant that we have to deal…."
Arthur was met with an elbow strike to his nostril, he lurched back clumsily. Arthur hastily raised his forearms to his head level.
"Bloody hell Larry! you could have just agreed with me on this and we'll live a happ…"
Without being able to mutter another word, Arthur had to fend for another elbow strike from Larry. James kipped up from the ground only to be greeted with a jab to the face from Pan, James fell face forward to the ground again.
______________________________________
Vovinam, Muay Thai, and Karatedo were exemplified before Arthur, Arthur would have complimented Larry for his outstanding talent in the realm of martial arts if his trembling hands did not have to repel the wave of attacks that came from Larry. Arthur quickly covered his torso when he sensed that Larry was going to land a kick to his ribs, Larry started to lift his knee to give an angle to kick, Arthur grinned in response, Arthur had felt eager to block the kick and launch a heavy counterattack. Larry unleashed the lower part of his leg, he turned the anchor leg more to the direction in which his knee was facing the centre of Arthur, Larry then employed the momentum to bring his body weight slamming down on Arthur's shoulder. Arthur was staggered, his defence entirely worn away, and he collapsed on his knee.
"L-Larry, you're not gonna kill me here with a Brazilian kick yeah, mate?"
"I will not tolerate you any further. I thought that you had been better from the last time. Arthur, your life will be dependent on what you are going to say to the jury, I will also be involved but don't expect me to be consoling at what you've committed."
Pan also bested the two recon men that murdered Barry, Archie, and Henry at the same time.
"Well, you're both mistaken when you said that Sanderson-san was the only combatant."
Pan ridiculed Arthur and turned to Larry.
"Sanderson-san, I appreciate your assistance in this matter. My organisation and I will be taking care of this, I'm also sorry for the other explorers."
Larry looked at the dead explorers, his gaze fixed on Henry. Larry loosened his shoulder and opened his mouth, finally comforted by the poor man's sense of guilt.
"Tsukamoto-san, I will be serving my crime, you were not meant to be here in the first place, it is illegal to conduct any archaeological activities here. The greed of this crew had taken away the lives of 3 explorers and none of us here should be forgiven."
The intuition from earlier once again conjured and merged into Larry's mind when a gun was drawn. Larry turned behind him and saw the silver pistol levelled at Pan, he realised this was a bad situation considering the proximity between the 2 men. Larry dashed in front of Pan without a second thought.
*pew*pew*pew*pew*
An Excruciating pain enveloped Larry the instant the bullets pierced through the flesh on his back, Larry did not pass out immediately, he endured the pain signals transmitted to his brain. A heavy punch was pitched to Larry's face before he could operate his last ounce of consciousness to disarm James.
"Now, I can properly return the favour from before. Allow me to also grant you a death wish."
Arthur used the blunt piston to stab Larry in the forehead. While carefully placing Larry down after he had taken his last breath, Arthur gave Pan a frigid stare.
"I've lost my interest here. Do whatever that Jake guy told you to do so. You 4 come with me, we'll wait outside."
______________________________________
Cigarette smoke levitated misleadingly before his brow, another cigarette was lightened, and the man dragged the entire cigarette unconcernedly. His body was still feeling numbed after being bested, the man nonchalantly gazed at the exceptional medals that he proudly wore in his prime as an explorer. As for now, there was nothing left in his career as an explorer, the weight of guilt and regret did not infect his conscience as the man only awaited a luxurious life ahead. The man's eyes turned to his boss, who stood right beside him, he was going to lend a cigarette to his boss but that thought instantly ceased.
Arthur leaned against the wall, his face darkened, Arthur had been unphased for a while. The mood around Arthur felt unusual, even to his close comrades who had followed him for almost a lifetime.
Another man casually walked out from the pair of double doors, he was elegantly cleaning the stains on his gun. He held a personal handbook from a world-class chef along with a record of Mayan symbols neatly, the man assured that his true client will have an excellent experience reviewing his report.
"We're done here. My client, Mr Tuslee will handle everything, the Tsukamoto culinary association and most of Pan's legacy will be under his control after all. Arthur, if you don't feel very well when you go outside, let me explain what has happened, the people from the Tsukamoto association are following Pan right now but not for long."
"I understand, I won't make a mess so don't worry."
James raised his eyebrows, he was genuinely surprised.
"Hmm? Arthur, you've never talked like this before? I know that Larry did not have to be involved but neither you nor I can help it."
"Larry's cut will be sent to his family, don't you forget that."
"Fine, I'll make sure you can have a word with Mr Tuslee afterwards."