Mr. Death in the Steam World

"There's something behind here." Phils leaned closer, her fingers lightly tracing the rock face.

She took a piece of chalk from her small bag and drew a circle along the edge of the unusual area.

Then he opened his hand, and an orange flame lit up in his palm, illuminating the entire inside of the circle.

The light of the flames finally revealed the secret hidden on the surface of the rock wall.

It was a stone door, its surface covered with densely packed runes.

The stone gate and the rock wall are made of almost identical materials, and with the rust formed by years of weathering, they are indistinguishable to the naked eye.

Moen frowned and subconsciously took a step forward.

He had seen these runes written in the same way before.

Between the pages of that book, "An Explanation of Ancient Myths," lies the vision of Hesfield descending upon the desolate winter plains.

The symbols that people of that era carved around the campfire to pray for the protection of the fire god are exactly the same as the runes on these stone gates.

"This symbol..." Moen crouched down.

"Representing fire, the one next to it—should be guardian."

"How did you know?" Emily peeked out from behind his shoulder.

"I read it in a book." Moen stood up, his gaze sweeping across the entire stone door.

In Chapter 8, Section 3 of the "Comprehensive Explanation of Ancient Myths," Hesfield distributed fire to twelve tribes, and each tribe received a rune symbolizing fire.

"These runes were later standardized and included in the ritual texts of the fire god, becoming the standard inscription format for all fire god temples."

Phils looked at him with a look of admiration, while Moen coughed twice to hide the smugness on his face.

"In short, this stone door is indeed related to the god of fire, and it is very ancient."

"Since it's related to the God of Fire," Fils gathered the flames in her palm, illuminating the cracks along the edge of the stone door.

"That makes things easier. Fire magic should be able to activate these runes—I'm also a fire elementalist."

She placed her burning hand on the center of the stone door.

The orange light spread outwards along the rune patterns, slowly filling the recessed grooves like flowing water.

The stone gate emitted a low rumble and slowly opened.

Arthur put the compass back in his pocket and walked to the cave entrance first.

He raised his hand, and a ball of silvery-white light shone from his fingertips, illuminating a small area inside the cave entrance.

Behind the door is a narrow passage paved with stone slabs, which extends downwards and disappears into the darkness at its end.

The four lined up in a single file, with Arthur leading the way to provide light, Phils following closely behind to keep the flame ready at any moment, Emily protected in the middle, and Morn bringing up the rear.

The passage was much deeper than expected, with a steep downward slope, as if it were leading deep into the mountainside.

After walking for about fifteen minutes, the smooth stone pavement began to change.

On the walls on both sides, you can occasionally see some broken murals, most of which are so faded that the specific content is no longer visible.

Emily was very curious and kept lighting up the murals on the wall with her magic lamp. Suddenly, she let out a soft scream.

"Ah, what is this!"

The three of them stopped in their tracks and followed her gaze.

The mural depicts a bizarre scene:

A group of people knelt before a huge ball of flame, from which semi-transparent arms reached out as if to drag them into it.

"It looks like some kind of sacrificial ritual." Arthur raised the holy light in his hand, allowing it to cover a wider area.

"The followers of the fire god offer sacrifices to Him or pray for His protection."

Fils shuddered: "This doesn't feel like a shelter at all..."

"Let's keep going, watch your step." Arthur took the first step.

The moment his boot stepped onto the next stone slab, a circle of runes suddenly lit up on the ground.

With quick reflexes, Phils grabbed Arthur by the back of his collar and pulled him back.

At the same time, the entire passage in front of them made noises, and the stone bricks on both sides of the wall flipped over, revealing rows of dark holes.

Moen activated "Eye of Death," and countless dark red trails appeared in the air, covering the entire passage like a spider web.

"This is troublesome." He frowned. "No matter which way we go, as soon as we step into the trap area, all the mechanisms will be detonated at the same time."

Arthur raised his hand and drew a cross in front of his chest, condensing holy light into a beam that shot into the trap area.

The beam of light sizzled as it passed through the passage and touched the magical trails, but had no effect whatsoever.

"It seems that forcing a breakthrough won't work either." He withdrew his holy light, his brows furrowed.

"If we take a detour, there are no other forks in the road nearby, so we'll probably have to go back the way we came and find another entrance."

Just as the three were deep in thought, Emily peeked out from behind Phils, carefully examining the runes on the ground and the holes in the wall.

She took out a pair of oddly shaped monocles from a small bag at her waist, put them on her right eye, and the edge of the lens was inlaid with a circle of tiny gears.

"Manluo, step back, there might still be..." Arthur reached out to stop her.

But Emily had already crossed the safety line.

She crouched at the edge of the trap area, her monocle slowly moving as she aimed at the runes on the ground, muttering incantations:

"I see... This rune is the trigger unit, this is the connection circuit used for magic power conduction, and this is the energy storage unit for storing magic power..."

She suddenly stood up, a bright smile spreading across her face:

"Everyone, I understand how this works now!"

As soon as she finished speaking, a phantom image suddenly appeared behind her.

It was a huge gear.

Unlike ordinary gears, it is not pure gold or pure copper, but is made up of countless tiny metal parts.

Each part was slowly rotating, making a regular clicking sound as they meshed together.

At the core of the gear, several thin metal wires are woven into the pattern of an open eye, facing the direction of the trap area.

This is Emily's Destiny.

Gears symbolize mechanics and construction. This perfectly matches the young lady's personality, who fills her house with mechanisms.

Emily extended her right hand, placing her palm against the runes on the ground.

Her magic transformed into countless fine silver threads, extending from her fingertips and seeping into every node of the rune.

"Miss Manro's magical attribute is 'Analysis'."

"Her magic can deconstruct the internal structure of any mechanism, magic circle, or magical tool, and figure out how it works."

"In addition, she herself has genius-level craftsmanship, so any mechanism is useless in front of her."

"Indeed." Moen looked at Emily's retreating figure. "It seems that although her combat strength is not great, she is a first-rate support."

Emily quickly flicked her finger, and the silver thread tightened simultaneously.

In just a few breaths, the entire trap area completely lost its magical reaction.

Emily turned around, and the silver threads at her fingertips turned into specks of light and disappeared.

"Done!" She took off her monocle, clapped her hands, and gestured with her chin toward Moen.

"How was it, detective? Pretty good, right?"

"Yeah, that's pretty impressive."

"What do you mean 'pretty good'!" Emily puffed out her cheeks. "It took me a lot of effort to learn this move!"

"No, no, you're really amazing." Moen raised his hands in surrender. "Wasn't I praising you too?"

Emily snorted and ignored him.

"Let's go." Arthur walked back to the front of the group. "Although the traps have been disarmed, there's still a long way to go. Stay alert."

Moen responded and quickened his pace to catch up with the group. The four continued along the passage deeper into the mountainside.