“3. 2. 1. Go!”

Baldie did a little countdown before we finally walked into the room.

We walked alongside the wall to make sure to not fall into the Bloody Quicksand. I used the Light Pearl to light up the path in front of us.

We walked for about 20 meters, so I knew we were almost at the door.

“We're almost there.” I said.

“Okay.” Responded baldie who was behind me.

*Slip*

As baldie said that, Domo somehow managed to slip and ended up falling in the Bloody Quicksand.

“Help!”

“Olan!” Esclamated baldie while reaching his hand towards Domo.

Domo took his hand and pulled himself towards baldie, but as he was just about to get out of the Bloody Quicksand, the Black Shadow detected him.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

Domo's expression was full of terror and fear.

“Throw the bread, now!” I shouted at the villagers who stayed at the entrance.

They threw a piece of bread, but since they were too scared to come inside the room, it didn't land too far from the entrance.

The Black Shadow began moving, but Mia immediately threw her rake at it.

The monster parried the attack, making the rake fly away, but fortunately Mia's attack was powerful enough to partially injure the monster.

The Black Shadow tried to attack again, but right as Domo was about to get hit, baldie caught it by jumping into the Bloody Quicksand and restraining the monster with his body.

The only reason he wasn't one shot by the monster is probably because of his passive skill, [Muscular], which granted him more defense and slightly higher strength than the stats indicate.

I swung my hoe at the Black Shadow, and it finally died.

At that moment, its body vanished in a small cloud of tiny black particles.

We then got Domo and baldie out of the quicksand.

“Thank you, guys, and sorry… Because of me, Adam is injured and both I and Mia don't have a weapon anymore…" Said Domo with a sorry face.

“We can only hope to get our weapons back when we conquer the Floor.” Said Mia with an emotionless expression, as always.

“I'm fine, and this situation is much better than letting another person die!" Said baldie, trying to reassure Domo.

“Let's open the door and conquer this damned Floor.” I said while reaching for the door with my hand.

I opened it, and the torches in the room lit up.

The bad feeling I had from before was finally gone, just like the Bloody Quicksand trap.

We called the others waiting down in the First Floor.

As soon as the last one entered the new Floor, that strange mechanism activated again, but this time the secret passage contained a whole lot of weapons and three full metal armors as well as two light armors made of leather.

It was an armory full of equipment.

“Lucky, just what we needed.” Said Mia, immediately taking one of the swords, a katana, and one of the two light armors.

“Yeah, it will be easier to complete the Trials now.” Said baldie, looking more relieved now.

“Since I'm injured, we'll have to stay here until I recover enough, right?” Asked baldie, about to get to the point.

“Then we'll have some time to talk. Why don't you tell me a bit more about that “Empire” and “Dungeons” you talked about on the first floor?" Asked baldie while looking at Domo.

“Oh right, you still have to explain how you don't anything about them.” Responds domo.

I'm interested too. Who knows, maybe I'll be able to remember something after hearing about it.

Chapter 8-End.