At last, they found their way towards the cave. A big, hollow entrance with broke steps that lead downwards was what looked like an intimidating abyss of darkness. Left and right, made out of metal, were a few withered support beams that had some of their material collapse on the stone floor below. It was a mixture of modern and ancient architecture, being given away by the materials used but the different styles and markings that were carved onto every step and around the field straightened walls of the entrance. The rocky scape of the cave was black at certain spots, setting off an eerie, hair-raising feeling compared to the rest, normal grey-looking rocks, emitting periodical red sparks as if they were pulsating hearts. The tip of the entrance looked like an actual mouth, stalagmites handing both above and below it, but engraved with more messages and symbols that betrayed another cryptic language, some actually being more readable than others. On metallic-like cones that were placed on the tip of the stalagmites, one could read words such as, "Safe", "Guard", "Legacy" and "Weapons", "Text", "Traditions", "For the people". With them both combined, the unique feeling of it all felt as if one walking down there would have the feeling of being swallowed alive by a monster. A big warning sign was placed right at the very center of the entrance, nowhere near the architectural style or with the same materials used in the rest of the construction, but completely white with black text that wrote "KEEP OUT AT ALL COSTS", signed by a multitude of entities as well as having official marks on it, making it loud and clear for all who stood nearby to focus the sign.

"So, so...this must be it. Let's see...big ass gate, glamorous looking entrance hall...yep! This is definitely it!" Anya wagged her tail.

"Yea, you also missed the big ass sign that says 'KEEP OUT AT ALL COSTS'." Lass folded his arms. "What the hell kind of secret, treasure-filled dungeon has a sign that says 'KEEP OUT AT ALL COSTS'?"

"Hey, I did say that it was infamous for a reason. It's actually quite a tourist attraction... a tourist attraction for teens who used to trespass in order to check it out. The sign was put up by command of the Reingard and Vardard governments after the...1000th death confirmed tomb raider, or so? Some of those deaths, again, were from really smart people with no experience jumping in here."

"So you're telling me we are entering a place where just about 1000 different people died, some with abilities like flight for easier navigation, and we are just about to head in? What kind of experience separates us from them?"

"Yeah, you got that much right! Now if I can only find the entrance trap..." Anya started to mess around with the entrance stepping back and forth.

"My god, mutt. You're dead-ass trying to get both of us to commit suicide, aren't you? What do you think the other people before us who went in didn't have compared to what I said before, hmm? Not to mention those who are lucky enough to float because of gravity fulgurations caused by themselves instead of flying as well, being ten times more capable! Not to mention those marks up there, the black, red sparking spots...they must be pockets of active Obsulyte Ores, making this even worse if we get overloaded or explode on us! Just tell me one, solid thing we've got!" he still tried to warn her in vain, stepping closer to the entrance's stalagmites to take a look at the black, Obsulyte Ore pockets.

Anya both saw and quickly grabbed onto a big but hollow log of a dead tree nearby, having figured something out, "Oh, that's an easy one to answer!" she raised the log upwards, "Indispensable plot armor baby!"

"We what?" Lass paused.

Before Lass could say another word, Anya smacked the log at the entrance, full force, causing massive spikes to be raised from the ground around the stalagmites, all the way up to the ceiling of the entrance. The spikes were rusted with the tainted blood of those fallen before them, but their glaring sharpness could still be seen from afar. A most ingenious design, the big stalagmites at the entrance would force anyone to go around the in a certain pathing, allowing for the pressure plates bellow to activate the spikes that were precisely placed to intercept the pathing of those who tried to walk in without noticing what lied beyond the few narrow ways around the stalagmites. It was as if there were multiple lanes of tolls crafted to perfection, trap doors holding them shut and completely out of sight until they needed to do their job. Tolls that those foolish enough to ignore the warning of would pay with their lives. Thankfully for Lass, it was but a few millimeters that the spikes activated from his body, running across the front of his face as his reflexes forced him to stop and freeze on the spot. The tip of the spike's shadow stopped clear on his forehead that shadow being lit by the moonlight as the bit of clear, non-rusted or bloody tip of that spike's tip shone brightly to signify its sharpness.

Lass gazed at the spike, "Wow...holy shit." he said with a frightened face.

"Honestly, quite the good trick." Anya touched one of the spikes, "Big enough to be honest. Wonder how many idiots they retrieved the bodies off from here, must've been a few with these rusty bits of blood here. Should've tried Victoria's ruins first, those things are easy mode, to say the least!" she spoke all relaxed, looking back at Lass as she threw the now hole-filled log away, "Hey, are you just gonna sit there and look at the spikes all day? Come on, let's get going!" she rushed inside the dungeon-style ruins.

"There's a lesson to be had when we set off in our own little adventures...something, something, almost got killed at Kaci. But damn...what is it that she does to me to make me act this way?"

"You tell me. I thought you had grown up as well, but little did I know, you'd have a hunch for repeating the exact same mistakes over and over, with such little span between said mistakes. Hopefully, this time, you won't have to regret it as much, assuming your Obsulyte-based skin keeps you both alive...but something tells me when it's a demon demi-human making this, the blood on the spikes won't entirely be that of a normal human anyway." Mellistar commented on the situation.

"Most fun I had in years anyway...but we do need to be careful. One thing Kaci taught me is caution, so I'll at least use that to stay alive."

"For fun...hmm." Mellistar resisted from making any further comments almost as if he was showing understanding about something, "Just be careful. Less you want to die a miserable death or watch her doing so. Something about her feels off, anyway...not in an evil way, but something else I can't point to. There's enough Obsulyte flow here for me to intercept if you need, so stupid, idiotic, childlike bet aside, you have a safety net. Now, go."

The two of them quickly dove headfirst into the ruins right after, trying to catch after Anya. Despite its outside looks, the ruins were indeed more modern than they looked, being made not at ancient times, but eroded by time still. The steps they went down two by two at a time were white, feeling as if they were layered with concrete and filed until smoothened out, with each step's tip being layered with what looked like gold. Going down, as the moonlight from the outside became unable to light up the descending depths, lamps were placed all around each side of the walls that closed in more and more as if they were going down the "monster's" throat. Each lamp seemed to be connected to numerous plating scattered at seemingly random spots around the cave, the plates themselves glowing a faint red color as they realized that the Obsulyte Ore spots were cleverly used as a form of natural, recyclable energy source that would keep the lights on for eons to come, maintaining the area built lit up.

Going further down, once they reached the bottom, they came across Anya once again, her standing around and curiously looking at the floor, it was made up of what looked like more pressure plates for them to be unfortunate enough to step on. Before they could even realize what was going on, Lass ran full speed from his rush to get to her, momentarily ignoring what was laid on the floor below his feet, going right for the trap. However, despite his rush, Anya's expertise and reflexes did not fail to shine through once again.

"Nope." Anya grabbed Lass, pulling him back as she stopped his momentum, "And you call Risa foolish for running into things while doing the same."

"Wah!", Lass was surprised, before standing back up, "Thanks for that...trap, I suppose?", Lass looked around.

If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

"Eh, kinda. Some traps in the ruins are either meant to hurt you or hurt the end price. End price being destroyed is honestly the worst, as some would rather destroy what they store than have it taken. Hell, this place feels more like a dungeon similar to the pyramids down at Anosit than good old Insinian ruins...and someone really loved their pressure plate technology, it feels like I'm playing a crappy version of MountBuild. Look." she pointed at the pressure plates.

Anya pointed to the ground. Several tiles were randomly placed on the ground, each with a different color, and some with specific writings on them. Pulling back Lass, both of them had gotten themselves a moment to think about their next move before stepping forward, Anya trying to find a way around the puzzle before them. On the other side of the room lay a massive corridor leading to darkness, them realizing that there was also some sort of mechanism besides the door itself, long pipes expanding from both the left and right side eventually connecting to the tiled floor in the front.

"Hmm, what do you think?" Lass asked.

"I'm open to any ideas."

"What do you mean, mutt? You dragged me into this. Where's your expertise?"

"I mean...it's a pretty, colored floor with some writing and stuff. Do you really expect me to know what it stands for?"

"You've got to be kidding me. Mutt, I swear to god, if you don't help out, I'm turning right back."

"I mean you could...but the entrance is both locked and probably overlaid with traps right now. It's a thing dungeons do to lock in whoever steps inside."

"Are you f-Ana! You said ruins. 'R-u-i-n-s'. What do ruins have in difference with dungeons? Traps. And these are not just any traps, even the spikes outside, I'm 100% sure were made with Obsulyte ores, capable of killing us very, very easily!"

"Hey, look a few dialogue lines up, I clearly mentioned Anosis's pyramid dungeons and compared them to this, so...you had your chance of backing out.", Anya pointed back.

Lass paused, fuming with rage and looking at Anya, before taking a long breath and starting to calm down, knowing full well from what he had experienced in this short time that angering himself or raising anxiety further will only lead to misfortune. It took him a few minutes before calming down completely, raging in his mind on the side as Anya didn't take her eyes away from the tiles, trying very hard to figure it all out. Eventually, Lass rejoined her as he fully calmed down enough to think, afraid of getting himself stuck in another scenario where their childlike behavior got the best of them and putting all his effort behind the thinking.

"Maybe we need to step on the most or fewer colors? The pattern doesn't say anything...maybe it's a locals' thing? Compared to the ingenuity I saw outside, materials and everything, the inside seems...old? It's like a mix of two eras coming down from up.", Lass wondered.

"Eh, it could be. But try to find out how much we can step across 90 tiles to figure that one out."

"What? Anya, it's just 45 tiles."

"Hmm?" she rubbed her eyes, "Is it?"

"Mutt, its simple math, don't try to nag me about it. Its 9 rows up, 5 tiles across. Where I'm from, 9 times 5 equals 45." Lass got annoyed.

Anya softly burped, "Oh, it is. Man must actually be a bit tired to see things like this."

Lass paused immediately again, "Ana. Before screwing me over by bringing me here, only telling me that the exit to the life-threatening dungeon will be closed after we enter and the fact that 1000 people are having a chat with god because of this place. What. Did. You. Do?"

Anya lowered her ears, "Eat Risa's food? Trust me, food poisoning isn't that far-fetched of a theory."

"Her food was ass, yes, but it wasn't anywhere near food poisoning rage. She made the pasta overly sweet, because she plucked a ton of sugar in there, instead of salt."

"Wait, that's why it was so sweet? Oh...makes sense now. But let's be honest, mixing vodka and sugar was never a good-", she realized very quickly, "Shit.", she completely lowered her ears and tail.

Lass grabbed Anya from both shoulders and brought her up to his face, "How. Much?"

"One teensy, tiny, little, minuscule, like your love lives, 2lt bottle I hid in the case of my chainsaw-sword.", she smiled awkwardly while tapping both pointer fingers in front of her, "S-Sorry.", she lightly tapped the case of her chainsaw-sword behind her waist with her hand.

"What?!" Lass squeezed Anya like a plushie, before referring to killing her and moving away to rage at her, "Why? Why?! Just tell me one solid reason why!"

Anya sprung up with happiness again, "Look. I've had like 1 hour of sleep, one bottle of pure Gardardian vodka, two cupcakes and I'm ready to fight god or become one!"

"Gardardian vodka is meant to be served in no less than one shot per person. How are you alive after a 2lt bottle?! I don't for a second believe that you escaped kidney failure with that!"

"Good question! I'm not alive, I'm drunk!" she happily said.

Lass blacked out from sheer anger yet again, being completely agitated by her answer and extended his full palm to grab Anya straight by her face. With all his strength, taking the form of a professional pitcher and before she knew it, Anya had taken flight, all the way to the other side of the room. Crashing into the wall next to the door, the sturdy concrete material it was made of gave away, cracking under the force of the impact with all of Lass's strength, before she dropped down to the floor, still breathing as her body had endured the hit while expecting it, her being somewhat numb enough to not feel enough pain while also waking up in the process.

Anya quickly got back up and looked at the cracked wall, "Oh wow that fixed me right up! Thanks, big guy! Also, I'm on the other side of the room, so no worries! Let me see about this mechanism..."

Lass rubbed his forehead, "Same mistake again. I deserve whatever comes my way, honestly."

In front of Anya laid an actual, computer-like device inside a station wired with all sorts of different cables around the back and its sides that connected itself directly with the metal pipes, the station itself build with thick material enough to survive rockfall, as almost no echoing of a hollow inside was heard when she tapped it a little bit hard on its frame. Despite what she thought, there was no password needed to access the device itself, as well as a sweet surprise of everything was written in a readable language, unlike the dialect-like symbols faintly resembling letters that they saw at the entrance and on the floor tiles. Accessing the device itself, she saw a number of options available to her, one of which said "ON/OFF", being easily guided to turning the trap off.

"Alright big guy, I think you can walk over it-", she saw an error pop up, "Wait!"

Lass walked up, "What?" he didn't hear her.

"One step back!" Mellistar momentarily took control and slammed Lass's other leg in front of him, bouncing him back.

One step forward and Lass heard a clicking sound, before the sound of something resembling the firing of a rifle echoed all around the room and outside. The tile caved in as a massive spike launched upwards right after, thankfully being avoided just in time from Mellistar's swift reaction from the sound heard. Lass, recovering as he took control back and realized what happened.

"Yeah, not even funny. Ana, I'm dead serious, screw you. Actually go to hell." Lass got fed up.

"Dude, sorry! I mean it! No way in hell I wanted to do that!"

"Come on Ana, seriously! Being drunk, then this, then everything else, how much more am I supposed to take from you?"

Anya got genuinely sad, looking at Lass's disapproving expression, "Hang on. Let me see what is up with this piece of shit." she went back to the machine.

Looking at the error notification, Anya then proceeded to check the reasoning behind the error. Reading through it, she found out very quickly that there was a deactivated part of the system, it warning for the lack of power in its system. She then went ahead and checked the pipes connected to the floor, them going beneath the ground, before turning around and looking at Lass.

"Hey, big guy, how did the spike go up?"

He sighed, "What do you mean again?"

"Just do me a solid real quick and smack it with something."

Lass drew his sword and smashed it incredibly hard against the spike. From the force of the smack, the spike itself shook around briefly back and forth from the point of impact, before eventually falling back down inside the hole.

"Thanks, that's all I needed. Easy stuff, I've seen this system being used before."

Anya then drew her chainsaw blade after confirming it, carefully placing herself on the side of the pipe going against the right side of the wall and took a swing. Giving in, the pipe broke down and released a massive blast of air outwards, somewhat scraping Anya on the side it was blowing out of. After just a few seconds of pressurized air flowing out of it, the pipe had no more to give, Anya went back to the station. A massive error warning popped up from the damage she had done, seemingly rendering the trap unusable.

"Alright big guy, come from the right side of the room."

"You sure?" he angrily said.

"Yes.", she answered him with a serious look on her face.

Placing his trust in her once more, he hugged the right side of the room as he walked forward, making it to the other side of the room without any issues this time, and meeting up with Anya in the end.

"See?"

"What the hell did you even do, mutt?"

"This place is a weird mix of very, very old technology and very recent one. It's unlike any place I searched in for goods up until now. This panel there was placed very recently, as well as all the other equipment you see. It was meant to disable the traps here. My guess, when the spike dropped, was that there must've been a blast of air that sprung it up when you activated it since anything gun or Obsulyte-like would blow this entire place up if it agitated the Obsulyte ores around here, defeating the purpose of this place existing."

"And why didn't you just deactivate the goddamn trap from the panel then?"

"I tried, but the stupid thing only warned me that it didn't work after a delay. There was a power outage on the pipe system, the pipes obviously being the ones that are forcing the air down to the traps and keeping insane pressure in them until they're activated. Like jacked-up pistons, this system most definitely would just depressurize the spikes down below, but it was simply out of order."