And that was before considering the forks that could appear after every passage.
The layout of the entire underground maze was, one might say, incredibly convoluted, even more intricate than a spider’s web.
After the party entered the fifth fork, the surrounding scenery had once again changed in subtle ways.
The corridors, originally built from yellowish-brown bricks, had possessed a certain sense of historical weight.
But now, those same bricks were stained with a touch of gray.
This lent the entire underground maze an even more lifeless feel.
This grayish-white wasn’t paint. It was more like the graying hair of an old man, a product of natural decay.
’But stone... does it age, too?’
From this point on, there were no longer any traces of other parties having passed through.
Ahead lay a region no one had ever set foot in.
Which meant new rewards... and new dangers!
The party members all came to a halt in a silent, mutual understanding.
With practiced synchronicity, they began to check their gear.
Marcus slid his Short Spear back into its sheath on his back.
He gripped his Shield tightly and lowered his helmet’s visor, encasing himself completely in the protection of steel.
Gray and Valles checked each other’s Armor as well.
They weren’t the party’s main tanks, so they wore lighter Leather Armor.
However, for this expedition into the third level of the ruins, they had commissioned a blacksmith to add a layer of protective metal plates to the more vulnerable areas of their Leather Armor.
Valles had even, uncharacteristically, put on a Chain Armor Lining for an extra layer of security.
Zelir used to wear Leather Armor, but he’d stopped wearing any armor after acquiring his Trigger Skill.
However, his Intelligence Attribute was still only high enough for his Trigger Skill to anchor a Magic Barrier providing both physical and magical defense.
Otherwise, Zelir would have definitely swapped it for the Ring of Repulsion for better security.
Hill stepped forward, taking charge of the situation.
She began to inspect the path ahead for any potential dangers.
Before the party stood a corridor, roughly a dozen meters long.
A few load-bearing pillars stood on either side, the once deep-yellow stone now tainted with the same grayish-white.
At a glance, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
But then again...
First, Hill observed the corridor’s structure and the pattern of the stone bricks, looking for any obvious abnormalities.
Then, she used a stone ball to probe the area repeatedly, ensuring there were no pressure-activated traps on the ground.
Placing a peculiar, mechanical listening device against the wall, Hill closed her eyes and began to listen for the faintest of sounds.
’The meshing of gears?’
’None.’
’The hum of a ready mechanism?’
’None.’
’Any other unusual sounds...?’
’None of those either.’
After a long moment, she finally opened her eyes.
"This path is clean."
She might have said that, but given the cautionary tales of all the others who had sprung traps, the party members couldn’t help but feel on edge.
They stood their ground, making no rash moves.
In the end, it was Marcus who gritted his teeth.
Steeling himself, he repeated the words he’d said before.
"I’m the leader, so I’ll go first!"
"Now I see why you let Marcus be the leader, Zelir," Gray chuckled under his breath.
Marcus kept his body on high alert, held his Shield protectively, and advanced step by step.
One step, then two, landed in succession.
He reached the end without incident.
Only then did the others follow suit.
Since every section required them to clear the path, the party’s pace slowed considerably.
Hill meticulously scouted ahead with her professional techniques.
Marcus put his powerful body on the line to test it.
Then the rest of the party would follow, tossing in a few words of praise about how amazing their leader was.
They repeated this process, pushing ever forward.
After crossing three corridors this way, nothing unexpected occurred.
Zelir and the others, who had been on high alert, gradually began to relax.
Gray raised an eyebrow as he watched Hill roll several more stone balls across the ground, and once again, everything was perfectly safe.
"Looks like these ruins aren’t as dangerous as I thought."
"Shh..."
Hill, who was pressing her listening device to the wall, made a silencing gesture.
The others immediately fell silent.
Hill’s eyes narrowed slightly.
She moved the listening device a few times before it finally settled in one spot.
Hill’s gaze fixed on a spot on the right-hand wall up ahead.
"Is it a Crossbow Arrow trap?" Valles whispered.
"I don’t know..." Zelir shook his head gently.
Hill took out a small stone ball. This time, instead of rolling it along the ground, she tossed it forward with precision.
Just as the stone ball reached the apex of its arc and was about to fall...
Suddenly.
"VWOOM!!!"
A blinding blue light suddenly erupted from the surface of the corridor’s right wall, about a meter off the ground!
A bowl-sized beam of energy shot across the corridor, slamming violently into the opposite wall.
"BOOM!!!"
The massive explosion shattered the silence of the underground maze.
A powerful shockwave sent shattered rock flying in all directions!
The roaring subsided after a long moment.
The smoke and dust gradually settled.
After the blast, rubble trickled to the floor. The gray-yellow stone was now scorched black and still emitting wisps of smoke.
The opposite wall had been blasted open, leaving a crater half a meter deep and more than two meters in diameter!
Fine sand even trickled down from the ceiling.
"Holy... crap..." Gray’s eye twitched.
’It was a Magic Cannon trap?’
Zelir was also stunned.
’The power of that one Magic Cannon blast surpassed even an Arcane Missile.’
’If that had hit my Magic Barrier head-on...’
’I don’t even want to think about it.’
’And the other members...’
’It was hard to say if the squishy trio would have survived.’
’Marcus would have probably survived, but he’d be severely wounded at the very least.’
"This is a little more advanced than the floor spikes or Crossbow Arrow traps, isn’t it?"
Gray muttered, "Why are we suddenly dealing with Magic..."
Valles swallowed hard, a cold sweat breaking out on his temple.
"Hill..."
Zelir’s expression turned grim. "Are there any more traps like that?"
Hill pressed her listening device to the wall again and listened carefully before shaking her head.
"No more."
"But what if there are..." Valles said, still shaken.
"We still have Zelir’s Healing Skill, don’t we?" Hill said, scratching her head.
’That did make some sense.’
And so, the gazes of Zelir, Gray, and Valles all fell on Marcus.
Marcus felt their intense stares on his back.
’But what else could he do?’
Marcus took a deep breath and silently shifted his Shield to protect his left side.
"I’m the leader... I’ll go first..."
This time, his steps forward were much heavier than before.
Zelir kept his Night Peace aimed at Marcus, ready to begin emergency treatment at a moment’s notice.
"THUD... THUD... THUD..."
Time itself seemed to slow down.
When Marcus’s feet finally touched the ground on the other side, the dust settled. All was well.
There really were no more traps.
"Phew..."
It wasn’t just Marcus who sighed in relief; Zelir and the others felt as though a great weight had been lifted.
’Hill really is a pro!’
’After this expedition, it would only be right to give Marcus and Hill a bigger cut of the money.’
The group gathered around the opening from which the Magic Cannon had fired, observing it closely.
Hidden behind the wall was a bowl-sized metal tube. Its body was already cracked, clearly indicating it was for single use.
Connected to the back of the metal tube was a semi-transparent Prism Crystal.
It was a Source Energy Crystal Stone, its Magic Power completely depleted.
"So Mages can make amazing things like this?"
Gray was astonished.
"You can create an attack this powerful without Casting or Magic Power, just by using this... Crystal Stone and some crafting techniques."
"If I bought one to carry around, couldn’t I use it as a trump card?"
"You could, as long as you can afford it,"
Zelir said.
He had read about similar devices in books.
"Using a Source Energy Crystal Stone to power a device like this Magic Cannon is extremely inefficient."
"The Magic Power contained in a single Elemental Source Energy Crystal Stone is enough for a Mage to cast Aurora Energy Beam several times. But if you use it for a Magic Cannon, it would likely be completely consumed in one shot."
"Then you have to add in all the other miscellaneous costs—crafting fees, production costs, engraving the Rune Circuits, and modifying the shape to make it portable..."
Zelir gave him a number.
"That one shot costs at least fifty Gold Coins, and it’s a one-time use... If you really want one, you’d have to get it custom-made."