Snow focused, drawing her magical energy to her fingertips. She shot a few energy out, completely eradicating the trap’s mechanism. spoke before dismantling the trap, she glanced up towards the two and said, “Look, if something happens to me, I want you guys to keep going on ahead and clear this dungeon.” 

“No!” Angie yelled, “you’re our team mate.” 

“Hear me out.” Snow raised up her hand to stop her from jumping into the conclusion. “I’ll find a way to meet you guys.” She was sure that she would fight her way out if she had too. Being stuck inside a dungeon wasn’t something that she would do a second time. 

“But you’re a native. You don’t get second chances.” 

“Yes, I know.” 

“That’s why you are important.” 

“No, you as a Player only have one life in this world as well. Didn’t you say that once you guys die, the entrance to come back is barred?”

“Well, I guess?”

“So, don’t waste your life so casually. There is no solution if you die in this dungeon. Instead, find your way to take out the boss. This way, it will break apart the illusions and magical energy cast around this castle.” 

Her words made the rest of the group uncomfortable, they knew what Snow was trying to say, but leaving her behind wasn’t something that they wanted to do so quickly. 

“I’ll be fine.” Snow reassuringly stated, she didn’t want to worry the rest, but her smile seemed to string the hearts of her guildmate. 

“Snow…” Angie was about to whine.

Snow snapped her fingers towards her silencing her before she could change her mind. 

“Let’s get this over with, shall we?” 

Snow stood up and headed straight towards the next trap that wasn’t even a few feet away. She bent over and started to tinker away at the traps below her very feet. At first, it was simple, breaking the spells of the trap in one finger snap. Upon opening,  another slide-like passageway appeared before them. 

A few raised up their arms, asking to take the leap of faith to jump in and find out why it would lead, but that was quickly denied and reprimanded for suggesting such outrageous acts of idiocracy. 

Even Snow wouldn’t allow anyone to jump into even if she was curious. She didn’t know what was on the other end of the tunnel, and she needed to quickly check the others. 

For the next couple of hours, they searched around, trying to find the rest of the traps. It was a long, tedious work as the traps were hidden in different locations. Some Snow had wondered how the pitfalls could be there as it was unlikely that anyone would have made their way in. 

But the interesting thing about the traps was that every single one of them was a trap that snatched away the players to an unknown place. There were no traces of blood upon entrance, giving hope to many. Knowing that their guild members were possibly alive was high. 

“How many did we go through?” Dairen asked he had been closely paying attention, taking notes of what trap was where. 

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

They have already made it three times around the same route, ending up in the same place. Dairen had taken the initiative to mark the ground with his knife, showing where each trap was found and how many times they had passed the trap. 

And so far, it has been exactly three times. 

At first, many were skeptical about them going around in a similar space for hours, but the second and the third time they passed through the same route made everyone believe the theory. 

“I can’t believe we just went through the same route a third time.” One of the guild members was slowly panicking, realizing that they were trapped. 

A few even felt uncomfortable at the thought of being trapped. Some even started to unconsciously tapped on the walls a few times, trying to make sure that they weren’t any extra traps. 

Snow had to voice her opinion a few times to the Players to be careful, for they have almost activated the trap again. 

“At the rate this is going, I rather we fight monsters instead of being worried about what traps are under our feet.” Mike dryly stated. He rubbed his fingers between his forehead and trying not to get too frustrated and annoyed. “This gives way too much stress and gets way too tiring.” 

“You and me both.” Angie, who was a slight nervous wreck looked around as if she was going to get jumped very soon. “Snow, is there another one?”

Snow was bent over, getting closer to the bottom of the walls. Her hand raced across the floor lightly, trying to find another. 

Her silence was stifling, some even held their breath unconsciously as they patiently waited. 

They didn’t want to get separated, and the only person who had an inkling of what was going on was Snow. 

So far, the only thing that she found consistent was that the traps were mostly a revolving door if one stepped on it or something flipped it. It was a basic trap that was easily forgotten, but the magic protecting it kept it perfectly hidden away. 

The others weren’t magically strong enough to feel the traps with their magic, making it difficult and annoying to find the source.  

Snow tapped a few more times, the ground creaked. With an ugly groan followed by a vicious snap, the door slipped open with a creak. Another hole was present, but something about the trip was different. 

“This is like the tenth one that we have found,” said Mike. “How many more, left?”

“Three mo-” Snow felt her hand yanked out under her, pulling her into the very trap itself. In a surprise, her hand grasped the edge of the ground, pushing herself up, trying not to get swallowed up and pulled down into the trap itself. 

Mike instinctively pulled out his sword. He swung it downward with a loud clatter, cutting the rope that grabbed hold of her arms. He smashed a few more times, getting rid of the rest.

Everyone held their breath. 

Bringing up her hand, Snow rubbed it a few times. A red welt was present on her wrist, giving it a throbbing pain. 

“Thanks,” said Snow. She gazed towards the open trap, frowning. 

“I think you should pull back and rest for a bit,” Mike said worriedly. 

“No. I’m the only one who can tell if there is a trap or not.” 

“Still, you almost got taken away.” 

Snow shook her head. “That’s why you guys are here to take me out of trouble.” She said with confidence. Even if she was confident in taking herself out of a dangerous situation, she was confident that her new teammates would watch her back when she missed the things that had happened. 

She knew that they weren’t able to back her up all the time. She silently promised herself she would do better. 

Getting up, she started to head towards the next trap. So far, every single one of the traps that she found was the same. She sighed, finding nothing that could help them lead to the missing members. 

The only thing she understood was that it had always been when it was least expected. 

“Could you guys check the ones next to that armor, and the other one is in the middle of the room one more time.” Snow pointed out the last two that she noticed on the third time they went around, which she found a bit late. She went towards the wall, a bit away from the group. She thought she felt a strange energy that bothered her the third time they went around. 

At first, she thought she was feeling things, but that wasn’t the case at all. It was almost as if it was nagging to tell her that there was something hidden behind this wall. 

Closing her eyes, she poured out her magic onto her fingers, letting it linger for a while, allowing her to feel around her. 

It was an odd feeling that tickled her very core. Her mind’s eye saw a strange rectangle door that could fit her through. 

“Guys,” Snow called out. 

No one answered. 

“Mike? Dairen?” Snow turned around, trying to find the two. She saw them hunched over, trying to figure out exactly where Snow had pointed out the trap. 

They didn’t look over nor the others as if they were in their own little world.

“Mike, Dairen!” This time a little bit louder than before, which brought their attention to her. 

“Yea?” Mike called out, he got up from his squat position. 

“I found something different from the rest,” Snow said, her hand reached out towards the door, pointing towards it so he could see. 

“I’ll be right there,”  Mike called out towards her. He patted and leaned over towards the group that he was with, telling them what to do as he started to make his way over. 

Even Dairen, who was at the second magical trap, he too got up to come over. 

When Snow got their attention, she felt a strong force of energy coming from the very wall. 

It was heavy, almost suffocating as the magic snatched her body, wrapping her around in smokeless energy. Startled by her unexpected pull, her magic activated a bit too late. She felt a vicious tug at her as she fell through the wall as it opened. 

With one fell swoop, it gobbled her whole. 

“Snow!” Both Dairen and Mike yelled in shock. 

No words escaped her lips as all she could do was struggle to get out of the bindings that pressured her with dark magic.