The bard fantasized again.

Chapter 161 What a coincidence (5k1w)

"I'm starting to believe you now, that someone in this underground city is helping us."

Shattered Stone tiptoed, gazing at the extremely detailed map in Wendy's hand. It not only outlined the general contours of the entire fifth level but also marked several encounters and pathways leading further down—

The maze route map for the sixth floor is also displayed.

"According to the information we got from the fourth level, we should be able to reach the Dragon Treasury by going down this shaft, right?"

"That's how it should be."

Covered by the steel helmet's visor, Wendy's expression was somewhat strange.

This dungeon adventure seems a little too easy.

Upon entering the first level, they first encountered bandits from the Red Scarf Gang. Although they eventually escaped, they obtained a simple stone slab and a map showing the traps on the second level.

This allowed them to avoid most of the difficulties and find an open space based on the location of the traps. There, they discovered several lizardmen, obtained secrets about the [Dragon's Treasury], and set their sights on the lizardman tribe on the fourth level.

They encountered many obstacles along the way, but given their team's capabilities, they were able to easily defeat any "ghost gatherings."

Finally, it was learned effortlessly that the lizardmen had glimpsed the dragon's vault on the fifth floor, and now they had even obtained a detailed map from a stone statue...

"This reminds me of when I was a child, participating in family hunting trips with my father."

Wendy chuckled softly and sighed.

"My father would have the hunters exhaust the prey beforehand and then herd them into a very small circle."

All I need to do is draw my bow and shoot an arrow to easily hunt an exhausted prey.

This always excites me, and I excitedly pull my father aside to show it off—

'Look, I've caught such a big prey!'
And my father would always pat my head at this time and say, 'Wendy is already a child who can stand on his own.'

When did I realize that all of this was arranged by my father?
It was probably after I grew up and discovered that yaks don't actually live in forests.

How boring.

She wanted to escape this boring life, which is why she wanted to become an adventurer.

Regardless of whether everything before us was done by my father.

She could no longer feel the novelty that came with embarking on the adventure:

"This is not as interesting as the 'Morning and Dusk Forest Guide'."

They rearranged their formation—

With the gravel leading the way, Wendy and Rumi flanked her, surrounding Miss Star who was sleeping on the Floating Disc to prevent her from encountering any accidents.

This spell can create a disc-shaped force field that floats up to 3 meters high and can support a weight of up to 500 kilograms. You can curl up on it, put a pillow on it, and it can barely serve as a bed.

The group had all gotten used to Miss Star's heavy sleeping. Rumi knew that unless there was some danger, even if he sang loudly at the top of his lungs, he wouldn't be able to wake her up.

And so he continued on, chattering incessantly:

"So you mean all the adventures we've encountered were arranged by your father? Good heavens, he's a complete control freak. Parents like that are subject to discussion by the elders in our Sandalwood Forest, since what we in Sandalwood Forest value is happiness and freedom. Being passively deprived of the right to choose is no different from the death penalty."

"I'm so sorry that I ruined your adventure," Wendy said sincerely.

"Adventure? Ha, I'm just getting paid to do things, what adventure am I looking for? It's just playing house with this rich kid, I've been in this situation before, as long as I get paid."

Gravel swung the nail-headed hammer in his hand, wishing he could relax more so he could get back to the sewers and enjoy a good beer.

This made Wendy blush.

She desperately wanted to argue that this wasn't a 'game,' but the facts were undeniable:

"Mr. Stonebreaker, is your reason for taking risks just for money?"

"What else? More money, more drinks. What could be more worth the risk?"

"Yes, after all, you always spend all your money at the tavern as soon as you get paid. But living this kind of life day after day must get boring, right?"

Wendy is 24 years old this year, and she even feels the repetition of her life.

And this dwarf man, who is ten times his age, wouldn't he get tired of making money and drinking?

"Hey, are we getting to some kind of heart-to-heart talk during an adventure? Little girl, we're not that close."

Shattered Stone shook his head, took out a bottle of beer from his bag, and drank it down.

The joy of adventure ceased to exist years ago when we emerged from the desert.

Think about what the black snake did after it got boring?
Yes, he secretly raises a daughter.

But he had no daughter, nor did he ever think about marriage or having children—he had never met anyone he liked in his entire life!

So what else can he do besides drinking?
That's why we should drink even more!

The numbing effect of alcohol would make him forget the boredom and enjoy the pleasure brought by the confusion.

Unfortunately, he was a dwarf and needed to drink a lot of alcohol to numb his brain, which would drain his money and trap him in a vicious cycle of making money.

Wendy felt sorry for the dwarves' indifference; perhaps she truly lacked the ability to connect with others.

"It's alright, little girl. Dwarves always have that sour look on their faces. Don't think you said something wrong and start doubting yourself. Be confident, so confident that even if everyone thinks you're wrong, you'll still stick to your path. Honestly, I think you already have excellent leadership skills, and I'd love to be in your adventure team for life!"

"Do you really think so, Mr. Rumi?"

"Of course, I've joined many adventure parties and met countless captains with vastly different personalities. But you're the only adventurer who didn't kick me out of the party after we came out of the dungeon. I think you have a very sharp eye!"

"..."

The stars, their soft snores mingling with breaths, drifted through the silence of the crowd.

"Let's keep moving forward."

Wendy secretly dismissed her idea of ​​subtly persuading the dwarf to leave the dungeon after she departed.

"Wait, I smell something rotten, a foul stench with a hint of sourness, like someone vomited on Brina's flowerbed."

The monks' senses are always extremely sharp, which allows Rumi to perceive details that ordinary people cannot.

Wendy asked curiously, "Who is Breena, and what is the flowerbed?"

"The dwarf woman from Dragon Tail Pass, the flower bushes—she's in the sex trade." That was the only explanation the gravel could offer.

The young lady realized she had asked an unnecessary question:
"Isn't he a martial monk? Do the temple rules in the Sandalwood Grove allow him to do this?"

As a 'minion' of that forest, Shatterstone did know some inside information:
"Sandalwood Grove is a place for pursuing spiritual fulfillment and joy. Who says that doesn't count as joy?"

She realized that she had been ignorant.

Perhaps she should leave Longjincheng and venture out into the world.

Meanwhile, Rumi, hidden in the shadows, had already reached a cave. He crept deeper, his steps light and quick.

If it weren't for that extra mouth, no one would have noticed his existence.
"Damn it, where did all these corpses come from?! They've been rotting for at least three days. Who wiped out the entire Red Scarf Gang? These people have multiple fractures, and their faces are uneven, clearly marks from being forcibly chiseled with a blunt instrument—or perhaps punched? How strong must that guy be? Some of them even have ligature marks on their necks. A crystal golem that big couldn't possibly do such delicate work; their arms are thicker than my head!"

Although he talked a lot, he at least conveyed the information clearly, so Wendy and the others no longer needed to specifically observe the condition of the corpse:
"So someone reached the fifth floor before us?"

"Hey, what a 'black eight' in the racetrack. I saw most adventurers collecting mushrooms on the first few floors, and I thought we were the first to arrive in this area."

The gravel muttered something.
"He's ruthless; he's definitely not a novice."

A sudden sense of urgency washed over Wendy, and she finally became somewhat interested:

"Have they found the entrance to the lower level?"

"That's right, the well nearby is blocked by sand and gravel. Damn it, we have to hurry, or we'll end up with nothing left."

"With a map, we might not be slower than them."

No one wanted to leave empty-handed, so they quickened their pace and ventured deeper into the sixth level of the maze.

Since the map only marked the route to the treasure vault, they felt very purposeful as they wandered through the Crystal Corridor.

However, because there is only one correct path to the center of the entire maze, they discovered that the further they went, the denser the symbols marked on the white crystal walls became: "No wonder we haven't encountered any traps or monsters along the way. It turns out they explored the maze little by little by exhaustive search—we still have a chance to catch up."

Upon glimpsing a room whose door had not been closed, they also discovered the corpses of some creatures:

"Those two six-legged cats must be Displacement Beasts, right? They even have two tentacles on their shoulders—those things can refract light, projecting their illusions far away to distract prey and launch sneak attacks from behind! You occasionally encounter these cats on the edge of the Sandalwood Forest. These two, however, look rather pathetic; their skin has been peeled off, and their tentacles and fangs have been hollowed out. Collecting teeth? There's definitely a ferocious orc in that group!"

As I approached a bend in the road, my gaze was drawn to the powder scattered on the crystalline floor:

"Hey, this stuff feels way softer than sand, it's practically an 'unwanted relic', I mean, it's kind of like ashes."

Lao Tzu often touched this thing when he was in the desert, because some unlucky souls encountered eye demons—those eyeballs with tentacles that release a "dissociation ray." Anyone who couldn't withstand it would turn into this dust.

Of course, not everyone cares about these things:
"Huh...huh..."

The remaining conscious individuals tried to remain relaxed during conversations.

This actually implies that one's mood is gradually sinking to the bottom as one observes.

Wendy stopped in her tracks:
"They must be an experienced and powerful adventure team. There's a ferocious orc who likes to collect teeth, and a spellcaster who can cast [Disintegrate] or break this sixth-circle spell?"

Rumi spread his hands, trying his best to remain optimistic:

"Relax, they probably just defeated a beholder... Well, I can't relax."

"So should we retreat now? It's not too late to stop now." Gravel looked at his employer.

"We...we're just going to take a look? We've come this far already, if we don't even see what the treasure vault looks like, wouldn't it be a wasted trip?"

"Listen to you."

After removing the tower shield from its back, Shatterstone began to move forward with extra caution with every step.

But even after they reached the end, a double door made of two white crystal slabs, they couldn't find any trace of the other teams.

The only strange thing was that the surrounding light was quite dim, and the walls were pitted and uneven, as if they had been gnawed by something.

"We haven't seen any marks since about half a day ago. That team probably hasn't found the finish line yet?"

Standing in the wide corridor, Wendy could feel a sense of luck creeping into her heart, and her heart began to pound.

A sense of urgency about the unknown situation finally gave her some of the unease that comes with an adventure.

She quickly looked at the recess in the center of the gate, and then took out a stone slab that was the same size as the recess from her package.

After aligning them, he smiled somewhat bitterly:

"Sure enough, the stone slab we got at the beginning was the key prepared to open the treasure vault."

The smile on the pebbles' face also turned mocking:

"Then hurry up and open it to see what birthday present your father prepared for you. Be quick, or the team ahead will find you."

Please stop laughing at me.

As she spoke, she began to embed the stone slab into the groove—

"Wait a minute."

The stars, who had been curled up asleep on the floating disc, finally uttered the first words they had heard that day.

"[Fireball]".

"what!?"

Using the [Invisible Powder], Tang Qi, hidden in the shadows, felt a sharp, needle-like [Alertness] ring out.

He clearly saw a glimmer of light, like the stinging light one feels when gazing at the sun, thrown from the long staff in the distance—

Like the sun falling and turning into a shooting star:
"You're being unreasonable!?"

"Boom!!!"

The roar shook the entire maze, causing Wendy to stumble. She only saw a ray of sunlight fall into a blank corner, followed by waves of heat that swept in with fierce winds and dust, filling the entire corridor.

As the heatwave approached, the group spontaneously rushed into the black smoke, swarming forward.

"Om-"

A crisp buzzing sound echoed in their ears, and an invisible ripple suddenly appeared in the center of the smoke. Only when it extended into the smoke could its vague outline be seen.

It swept away the pungent sulfurous fumes, and the people who rushed forward suddenly felt a repulsive force pushing them backward.

The force was considerable, but it wasn't much of a problem for an excellent team. They weren't seriously injured, and after regaining their footing, they glanced up and saw the origin of the shockwave: a huge and magnificent conch shell.

The 'meteor' from before seemed to have landed right in the center of the shell, causing the spot to turn bright red, but it was quickly covered by a dark purple, appearing to be completely undamaged.

"Flaked snail".

The stars recognized the shell's appearance.

There are no sixth-ring spellcasters.

Instead, this anti-magic shell sometimes absorbs a portion of the magical effect, twisting it into a destructive force field. Sometimes it also reflects the energy directly back at the caster.

They used the shell's properties to reflect the disintegration spell back at the beholder or a trap, which is why they left behind that dust.

"Then smash this shell to pieces!"

Shattered Stone didn't think that the adventurer who was secretly hiding in the side, waiting for an opportunity, was a kind person who could reason with others. He rushed forward again and exerted his strength. The mace seemed to become part of his arm, and he was about to smash it on the armor that was blocking his vision.

A familiar curse suddenly rang in his ears:

"Your arms are as short as you are, and your short legs make you pant when you walk!"

"Go to hell, you foul-mouthed poet!"

Shattered Stone had never seen this ability in anyone else before, so much so that he recognized Tang Qi's identity the moment Tang Qi spoke.

But because of his headache, he lost his sense of direction—

The spiked hammer just missed the carapace, which was about to prove Tang Qi's insult of having "short arms".

Even the second strike, due to his staggering steps, stumbled and hit the carapace.

"Again!"

Under the [Combat Skill - Tidal Wave], he suddenly burst forth with unprecedented energy, adjusted his steps in an instant, and was about to smash two more hammer blows into the armor.

But then he discovered that the carapace seemed to have been swept into a vortex and suddenly disappeared from sight, so that the third hammer blow only produced a gust of wind.

As the fourth hammer blow was about to land on Tang Qi's shoulder, Chen Xi, holding the broken sword in both hands, skillfully placed the hammer handle on the guard, deflecting most of the force.

"[Magic Blast]!"

Two invisible repulsive forces burst forth from behind Chenxi. Shattered Stone hurriedly raised his shield to defend, but was forcibly pushed several meters away when the force field made contact with the shield.

Wendy quickly braced herself against his shoulder to prevent herself from falling to the ground:
"Mr. Tang Qi, I didn't expect to run into you here."

"Haha, what a coincidence!" Tang Qi laughed awkwardly, feigning nonchalance.

"Is it really a coincidence?" Wendy was clearly not going to be fooled like that.

Tang Qi could only sigh regretfully:

"I was planning to wait until you opened the treasure vault before making my move, but who knew this spellcaster would be so perceptive."

"Although Miss Star often dozes off, she is a reliable spellcaster and can always help us discover invisible enemies."

Wendy looked at Tang Qi with some surprise.

"So you knew we would arrive here all along, and thus erased the markings around us—"

Because you don't have the key to open the treasure vault, you can only lurk nearby, waiting for our arrival.

(End of this chapter)