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Despite his stinging face, Nicodemo considered himself genuinely thrilled to be climbing into a potential nest of snakes if it meant getting out of that antechamber as fast as was wizardly possible. The definition of his job was poking around in ancient detritus, salvaging the value of years, more often centuries, past. He'd encountered tombs, caves, ships, you name it, stacked high with bodies, valuables, and curses, and it had never once bothered him. The story of what happened was always laid out for anyone willing to read it. To have it all just… disappear, like the tomb's neat little way of cleaning up after itself, spooked him beyond belief.

Being that Larkin hadn't appeared in danger, he didn't fear meeting any snakes when the three of them clambered up there, but he was interested to know if it was where they had originated. When he gave it a quick look around, however, there was no evidence that this had been their nest. No one had touched one of the smaller specimens, so perhaps they had been a spectre, but the monstrous one was absolutely corporeal. Nicodemo had a sneaking suspicion that the network of tunnels and chambers was much more complex than previously believed, and the antechamber had been a dead-end with no way out. There must be a hidden passageway in one of the outer rooms to get to the heart of the pyramid, and at least several chambers on a magical rotation, such as wherever the oversized cobra had come from. This tunnel either led them to the heart of the pyramid or out of it. Or to a trap, but he was really hoping not. Given his low supplies, the way out would have been the best option, really.

As one half of the tunnel was entirely black, the foursome opted to head in the direction that was lit, albeit dimly. Larkin produced a flint-lit torch, but they lit their wands anyway as they moved. Nico thought his eyesight was failing, but further down the tunnel, the lights began to wink out at certain intervals. Uneas,y with good reason, they still pressed forward until they caught up to the last of the lit sconces. Nico still held his breath as it extinguished itself, but that had been expected. They still had their torch and four wands, anyway.

Or they did, until he'd taken a step forward and all the lights flared into blinding brilliance before plunging the group into utter darkness. Not one wand remained lit, but spots still swam in front of his eyes, playing tricks on him, making him think he'd seen all kinds of shapes, shadows, and spectres in the black.

"Grab on to somebody," he barked, reaching out to his side for Larkin to form a chain. "We've gone through way too bloody much to get separated now."

When linked, they edged forward cautiously for what truly seemed to Nicodemo like an eternity, but may have been anywhere from a few minutes to an hour when there was a sudden booming echoing up and down the tunnel.

All at once, the lights blazed even stronger, causing him to throw his arm up to shield his eyes. When he dropped it, his eyes widened, and not only because it looked as if they'd reached a dead end, but because of what was waiting in front of it, a mere ten feet away.

A sphinx was definitely not something he'd ever encountered before, no sir.