The bard fantasized again.

Chapter 160 Crystal Labyrinth (10,000 words)

After escaping from the bunker, he devoted all his attention to the Dragon Treasury.

Especially after entering the fifth floor, Hope led the way all the way to the entrance of the sixth floor, so the fifth floor was not explored much, and they didn't even step into the caves they passed through.

Aside from the patrolling crystal golems, they didn't encounter anything unusual along the way.

This almost made him forget that before begging for mercy, the witch Kana had revealed that the Flail Snail was crawling towards the fifth level.

Now that it's so close, he can't help but feel troubled:

"As an elemental creature, the flail snail doesn't seem to be afraid of salt crystals like the giant snail?"
However, its shell seems to be harder than that of a giant snail, so it shouldn't be so easily damaged..."

The dawn reminded me:
"It's heading deeper into the valley; perhaps we should act sooner rather than later."

Tang Qi peeked out again and found that the flail snail was facing away from him, and its magnificent shell, which looked like a rainbow of colors, was shimmering with starlight and was fully exposed in front of him.

Tang Qi hesitated and said:
Where did the "Wealth Footprint" go?

Flail snails will eat sand and crystals as they pass by, producing a layer of glassy substance.

But Tang Qi did not see this footprint wherever it went.

Could it be that this flail snail has indigestion?
"Let's make a move first; we can't miss out on this windfall."

Due to the shell's anti-magic properties, casting a magical effect on the shell might cause the magic to rebound with interest.

Therefore, Tang Qi did not wake Hope and Kulu. Instead, he drew his scimitar and, together with Chen Xi, hid behind the snail as much as possible, slowly approaching it.

From a distance, not many clues can be seen.

But the closer Tang Qi got, the more he could sense that it was a colossal creature.

It was twice as large as a giant snail, so much so that when Tang Qi saw the patterns on its huge shell, his eyes were almost drawn in by its deep and mesmerizing colors.

Chenxi exclaimed in surprise:
"Wait, something's not right."

The two stopped in their tracks, and Tang Qi asked, "What's going on?"

"It has spores on its body."

"Does that mean—it actually became a [spore servant]?"

Tang Qi suddenly realized why the flail snail no longer had the glass layer of "Wealth Footprints" behind it.

These underground spores, residing within the corpses, form entirely new neural networks, gaining control over the bodies and becoming [spore servants].

But this actually changed the nature of life, transforming the snail from a large earth elemental creature into a plant life.

It no longer follows the same course of action it took before it died, such as eating and excreting.

Thus, it became a flail snail that neither goes in nor goes out.

But that's actually irrelevant—

After all, all Tang Qi needed was that anti-magic armor.

Its anti-magic properties are preserved intact on the snail's shell even after it dies, and will gradually disappear over a month until it is split and shattered.

"Then why don't you try to use spores to establish a connection with them and get them to give us their carapaces?"

The dawn paused for a moment, seemingly searching for tiny spores floating in the air, then shook its head:

"It seems that because the fourth-level home was extensively exploited by adventurers, they now appear to be looking for a safer territory."

They won't give up this snail unless we find them some new bodies.

"A new body, that is, a biological corpse?"

Tang Qi couldn't help but gasp, after all, he had no interest in collecting other people's corpses.

"Can you do it?"

“There are many of them. Moreover, if they were to reside in my body, they would probably have to control my body to pave the way for them.”

"Does that mean we have to go back to the fourth level and kill some creatures on the way back?"

It seems to be taking up too much time.

"Forget it, let's ask them which direction they want to go. If all else fails, we can collect some creature corpses for them to control when we explore the next level of the dungeon."

Tang Qi did not want to have a conflict with these spores.

As a species that only seeks its own development, they will even deliberately release their population to allow adventurers to collect mushrooms in order to find a stable place to live.

However, greed is hard to control. Constant concessions only lead to more escalation, which is why they even had to abandon their homes on the fourth level.

Killing snails like that, depriving them of their 'path' to finding a home, is somewhat cruel.

Since communication is possible, it's better to make some mutually beneficial transactions that bring happiness to everyone.

Although he was an adventurer, he was more of a bard.

Recording things like 'depriving mushrooms of their right to habitat' in a log might spark some moral debate, so it's best to avoid that.

Having made up his mind, Tang Qi decided to have Chen Xi relay the message back to him.

But then Chenxi said:

"Need not."

She then turned around and went into a nearby cave.

This was a place they had explored when they set up camp. It resembled a long-neglected workshop, except that the cabinets and desks had rotted from the moisture, and the room was completely empty, with no relevant documents to be seen.

Stepping inside again, Tang Qi could smell a faint stench of decay:
"This is--"

Tang Qi saw more than a dozen piled-up corpses. From their standardized flying squirrel suits, he could tell that these were probably pursuers who had arrived using the fast passage.
“While you were sleeping, I sensed a gang member who had infiltrated our ranks. But with my spiritual senses, he wasn’t careful enough—so I killed him and dumped him in this cave.”

Chenxi explained what Tang Qi hadn't noticed while he was asleep.
"It seems that because his communication was interrupted, a steady stream of people began to rush here. I used him as bait to lure out these pursuers."

"Indeed, after all, the force field bead can only block it for a short time. A few hours is enough time for them to catch up."

Tang Qi nodded knowingly.

“I lured these pursuers out,” Chenxi repeated.

"Oh, of course I know."

Tang Qi patted the paladin on the shoulder.

"You not only gave us a strong sense of security, but you also provided these spores with a suitable host."

Honestly, Dawn, you have no idea how important you are to me—without you, these things would be an insurmountable problem for me!

Although his tone was somewhat exaggerated, Chenxi felt very appreciated.

Because she knew that Tang Qi would definitely record this in his log and let everyone know about it.

After using the spores to communicate and replacing the flail snail's corpse with the gang members' bodies, Tang Qi reluctantly took out a giant snail shell worth 200 gold coins:

"I just regret that my dimensional bag isn't big enough."

But being able to easily remove a complete flail snail shell without breaking a sweat was still a pleasant surprise.

"But these gang members are definitely sounding the alarm; we need to get to the sixth floor quickly."

If the Red Scarf Gang realizes that they are not heading to higher floors, they will inevitably block the exits on the fifth and sixth floors.

If he were to encounter that Masked Lord again, Tang Qi didn't think he would have any chance of escaping. Fortunately, with the help of the stress potion, his only two spell slots had been fully restored, so Tang Qi hurriedly woke up Kuru and Hope, packed his bags, and climbed into the downward well.

It was still dawn that first stepped into the well, and it took about five minutes before she finally touched the bottom.

Immediately afterwards, she uttered her first warning:
"Please close your eyes when you get down."

Tang Qi initially didn't understand the significance of those words, until the light pierced through his feet and stung his eyes—

"Why is it so bright?!"

This is quite different from the fifth layer, which consists of only earthen walls and stone walls with a few crystalline mineral veins.

This so-called sixth layer is constructed directly from man-made crystalline walls.

As a result, the ground, the walls on both sides, and the ceiling were all shimmering with a milky white and dazzling halo, exposing Tang Qi and his companions to the bright light source.

It's not just about being glaringly bright.

Because there are no particularly obvious dividing lines between the crystallized brick joints, the entire room becomes completely white.

Suddenly, Tang Qi even felt as if he were in an open field of white, rather than a closed room.

Not to mention that it shines before crystallization, and the glare can make your vision particularly tired.

Although the walls are not smooth, they contain many angular crystalline blocks.

But with eye strain, it's sometimes hard to distinguish between walls and corners, so I have to glance at Hope every now and then—

Her rosy skin serves as a reference point to alleviate eye strain.

So what's our next step?

Tang Qi rubbed his eyes and put on a hood to block some of his vision, which would also relieve the discomfort in his eyes.

"Step by step."

"Aren't you the guide?"

"We've already reached the fifth floor."

"What about the sixth floor?"

"I didn't write it down."

Tang Qi couldn't help but grit his teeth: "You didn't memorize the most important floors? How are we supposed to find the treasure then?"

"It's not that I don't want to remember, it's that I can't. I've seen the map of the sixth floor, but this is a man-made maze. Do you understand what I mean?"

I know the treasure vault is right in the center of the maze, but what's the use? Every three steps there's a turn, and every now and then I run into a dead end.

Even if I were to take a pen and meticulously draw the route, it would take me hours to complete the game.

She then drew a complex route with her hand.

"Can you understand it?"

"Up, down, up, down; left, right, left, right?" Tang Qi asked, frowning.

"There are thousands upon thousands of such bends in the road. How am I supposed to remember them all?"

Hope shrugged, indicating her helplessness.
"Ultimately, this sixth level of the labyrinth wasn't even designed for adventurers to clear—"

It was tailor-made for the 'pre-selected champion.' Only they would receive the map from the Red Scarf Gang, which would guide them directly to the Dragon's Treasury.

"You sound so confident, I thought you could take me straight to the entrance of the treasure vault."

"If you can buy some more time in the bunker, I might be able to find a few more exits for you."

"So, the easiest way now is actually to wait for the [Silver Medal] to arrive and then steal their map?"

Hope shook her head:

"It's impossible. I said there are five entrances. We have no way of knowing whether they have a map or not, let alone which entrance they will enter or whether they have already entered the maze."

"And didn't you see? The Red Turban Gang members are watching us from up there."

Tang Qi narrowed his eyes and questioned:

"Have you ever considered that we might get lost in the maze, run out of our remaining supplies, and starve to death here?"

"Who knows if the sixth floor will be a maze? But we can use the simplest method."

As Hope spoke, she took a quill pen from her pouch and tried to etch ink onto the crystal wall.

Fortunately, the wall wasn't smooth, allowing the black ink to be imprinted on it.
"Because the maze is quite large, it is not very realistic to simply use the 'right-hand rule' to delineate the maze route."

I suggest marking the wall directly: arrows indicate the direction we're going, crosses indicate dead ends, and circles indicate intersections and important nodes.

When you encounter a fork in the road, follow the right-hand rule and check to the right first.

Using an exhaustive search method, although slower, ensures we don't go astray.

Especially since we know for sure that the treasure vault is right in the center of the maze, it will help us avoid a lot of detours.

If we run out of ink, we collect the blood of the monsters we encounter along the way and use it to mark our starting point. If we run out of blood in the end, we can still use the marks to return to the starting point.

Then we'll decide whether to leave or move on.

This is indeed the dumbest method.

However, it is indeed effective for a maze that does not change.

Anyway, the shell of the flail snail was enough to make him rich. As long as he could make sure he didn't get lost, he could always return to the starting point no matter which way he went. Even if the Silver Medal beat him to it in the end, it wouldn't be a loss for him.

Thinking of this, Tang Qi nodded:
"Then use my pen."

"Is there a difference?"

"The nib of this pen won't wear out, it's more durable—and it has unlimited ink."

Tang Qi took out the [Slave Brush], never imagining that this 'slave' would one day take on a job other than writing.

But as the 'first slave in history,' Tang Qi believed it should have no complaints:

"Let's set off as soon as possible, before the [Silver Medal] reaches the sixth floor."

……

"To be honest, don't you guys find it strange? Why is it that since we arrived at the fifth level, the trouble we've encountered on the way has significantly decreased, as if someone is secretly helping us? At least we encountered the Witch on the third level, although she was helping my fellow villagers from the Sandalwood Forest. But on the fourth level, we ran into the Tree Rope Demon and the Multi-Headed Lizard, hey, that was a really big guy..."

Rumi asked doubtfully as he smashed a crystal golem with the stick in his hand.

"That's enough! You've been babbling on and on the whole way!"

The gravel couldn't resist kicking the dwarf in the backside, but perhaps because he'd been beaten so many times, the talkative Rumi remained alert and skillfully dodged the kick.
"It's just exploring a dungeon, where do all these conspiracies come from? It's simply that too many adventurers have been killed in the previous levels, or the monsters living on this level are still resting and haven't shown up yet..."

"You said someone is helping us, so shouldn't they give us a map so we can get straight to the Dragon Vault, instead of wandering around here like headless chickens?"

"Haha, you're right. Maybe I'm overthinking it. This is an underground city, who else would help us?"

Just as Rumi was about to unleash her talkative side, she heard their captain, the young lady Wendy Silver Shield, suddenly say:

"Wait, what do you think is inside those crystal fragments?"

Shattered Stone kicked aside the crystalline fragments, picked up a parchment scroll hidden inside the golem, and fell into deep thought:
"This looks like a... map?"

(End of this chapter)