V2 Chapter 3
As the group of four proceeded forward, they were assaulted by a large amount of Goblins, suddenly jumping out from every direction.
Although the darkness didn’t matter at all for the Lamians, much less for Rain who had [Seismic Sense] and [Night Vision], for humans this would have been a very difficult adversary. No wonder, they would easily lose their lives in this place. Not to mention, he had noticed that the Goblins inhabiting this place seemed to be quite intelligent, as they had clearly dug out the green stones that should have been placed in the walls to provide lighting. Thus, the corridor was dark.
For humans, it would be the worst. As the darkness itself had also become their enemy.
Caved walls on the right and left side could be seen, and Goblins settled there waiting for an ambush. For a human adventurer who needed a torch to light up their way, it would be easy to make mistake, such as not noticing that small cave tunnels had been hidden in the dark. Hence, being easily ambushed by monsters.
That must have been what happened with the other human adventurers they have seen along the way. It was a simple and easy tactic. But for humans who always underestimate these little demons, they are basically an incredible strategy.
The winding network of the Dungeon—effectively a maze— was the monster’s ally. Especially the Goblins. The party was attacked repeatedly at irregular intervals, and the search went on and on; they could never let down their guard.
Rain’s boots slowly stepped on the stone steps which were completely covered with moss, issuing a ‘Pa Pa Pa’. He stepped on the moss with all his strength and regained his balance before he took another step. If he didn’t take more caution in the air, he might actually slip. The corridor was now a downward slope and reflected on the Phone’s map, it was actually going down in a spiral.
Inside the Dungeon, there was no winter or summer, there was no cold, no heat: always the same even chill, a little damp, changeless. It was a contrast difference with the Desolate Cave's temperature, which was always plagued by a suddenly frozen wind of winter, then one moment became hot as summer.
The Dungeon’s corridor was shadowed and eerie, lit only by some green stones that were left flickering along the base of the wall. These magic stones were leading the party to its destination or so he hoped. Still, although they were in reach, why do the Goblins didn’t touch some of the green stones and let them shine in the walls?
Most of the green stones were already broken and unusable, but there were still some who were still left behind. Though they only give little light, and somewhat dim. Perhaps because of that? Because the monsters know that it hardly helps anything. And that it would just give a false impression for the path?
If that's the case, then these little devils are surely very intelligent.
Fortunately, they have the Smartphone that automatically updated the area’s map. And although it’s draft, the smartphone was able to measure and analyze the area’s structure within five meters from him, as long as they passed it. Though, it’s just a rough draft and so the structure looks very incomplete.
With incredible control of his body, Rain didn’t have any problem with sudden elevation and downward slope that might disrupt the balance. Obviously, the Lamians and Scarlet didn’t have such issues as well. In fact, they were even better than him in terms of adaptability. But for normal humans, this would have been as worse as riding a roller coaster. Not to mention, trying to fight in this kind of environment double the difficulties.
The deeper they advanced, the darker it got, to the extent that any normal humans almost wouldn’t be able to see any of their fingers in front of them.
While they walk, Rain never lets his guard down. Much less, the others. All their senses turned to their surroundings, their vigilance sky high.
Twigs and rocks cracked as he shifted his position. There was a rich smell of moss, lichen, and earth in his nose, his mouth. He looked at the surroundings. They’d arrived in an empty, winding cave. Looking left and right, it was around 6-8 meters wide. It seemed to continue to zigzag downwards.
Killing the slimes and giant bats that were there, they entered to take a look. There were passages in every direction and many natural bridges that crossed deep chasms. Luckily it wasn’t too complicated. But nevertheless, it was still troublesome if one didn’t have a map because it certainly looked like a maze.
“I’m afraid this Dungeon won’t be small…”
And just how many floors are there?
Rain looked around and although he couldn’t tell how big the place was, it was definitely not small. The fact that there were four of them, with Granite and Laffeti as Lamians, their tails are quite big and long, as well as Scarlet’s lower Ant-like lower body, which looked as wide as two people, they could still stand and move together without making the place seem crowded proved it’s scale.
While they walk through the dim corridor they chatted as if they were just in a stroll. They followed the path that was lit by the Green stones. Suddenly, Rain stopped. His eyes narrowing at the dark side of the corridor where the Green Stones was unusually over five meters apart.
“There’s a secret room on the right side,”
He concluded immediately. If this was a game, then surely, he wouldn't be mistaken.
"A secret room?"
“…yes, there is probably a secret room there.”
The green stones had always been just three meters apart from each other. Rain had never forgotten anything once he had seen it. And this ability had been enhanced the moment he had arrived in this world. Furthermore, he had always eyed his surroundings with a scrutinizing gaze.
But this one didn’t match the pattern, for this place to be just the only area that is roughly far from each other, much less the opposite wall didn't break such pattern—whether it was a mistake in construction, or it was done intentionally, for some purpose.
And Rain prefers to think of the latter.
Everyone looked over. And with their excellent vision, all they saw was just a wall, nothing more. Lafetti looks at him, somewhat confused. However, Rain has already started walking towards it.
“Wait, Rain, you need to be careful,” she anxiously cried out, while hurriedly chasing him.
“Let’s see, a puzzle?”
Rain’s eyes twitched when he saw something embedded on the wall. Although the wall had indeed looked like just a normal wall, at the far left was actually a small square frame. It seemed to be a part of the wall, however, but the interior of the frame was made clearly of wood.
At the top side of the frame was a riddle, or at least, Rain felt so. And below that were polygons containing single English letters, which was arranged quite randomly as it was not following any pattern, much less the familiar Qwerty pattern.
Rain touched the surface of the polygons and felt them smooth, like a keyboard. Perhaps, this is indeed like a keyboard, a way to give an answer to the riddle above it.
“Rain, what is it?”
Lafetti who couldn’t read the English alphabet asked in interest, as well as a curiosity while looking at the strange frame.
“It’s…a riddle,”
Rain replied while furrowing his brows.
“A riddle?”
Rain nodded his head.
“It says, “What is he that builds stronger than either the mason, the shipwright, or the carpenter?””
““What is he that builds stronger than either the mason, the shipwright, or the carpenter?””
“I don’t understand… a question?”
“A Mason, a Shipwright, a Carpenter?... A Blacksmith?” Lafetti said after thinking.
“I think it’s a blacksmith as well?” Granite agreed.
“A King?”
On the other hand, Scarlet answered as such which earned her strange gazes from the two Lamians. Scarlet’s face blushed and averted her eyes; “I just, I think it’s a King…after all, he builds a kingdom that would last decades, centuries, or more…”
...that was her dream. To create a colony that can leave a mark on history. Be it infamy or not, she hopes to create the strongest Colony that would not let anyone- no matter the race, belittle the status of the Killer Ants!
“So you do have a brain,”
Lafetti grinned mischievously.
“I do have one!!” Scarlet shrieked.
Rain smiled wryly; “Although I think you all had some good answers, sadly… I think this not it. Actually, I recognize this riddle… I think it’s from Hamlet,”
“Hamlet?”
“A literature masterpiece by a renowned person…and with all that I had seen in this Dungeon, and most of all, the words are written in that stone tablet with my name on it, I think this is from Hamlet.”
Rain said with a sigh. He felt a little bit depressed and upset that he actually found something that coincides with him and this strange Dungeon. Not to mention, it was his name, as if someone had purposely brought him here. That awareness, like acting in someone's script annoys him.
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“…then, what do you think is the answer?”
“That’s the problem,”
Rain frowned.
“I forgot, not like I am an avid fan of Shakespeare—but if I had to guess, I think it's gallows maker, or was it?” he tilted his head with a somewhat doubtful expression. He was not sure about it, though, as the memory of it had been buried a very long, long, long time ago.
“Gallows Maker?!” the three women look at him with strange gazes.
“I’m not certain- but I think, it’s something like that. After all, it was said that its small frame had seen the passing of thousands or millions of lives- or so, that's what I had heard,”
“One that had died, yes…well, that could make some sense,”
Granite chuckled in amusement.
“You could try,”
“I will…......on the second though, let's think about it clearly,"
Rain shook his head as he was not certain of the answer. Although he has some knowledge about Hamlet, he had never read the book before. Not like he had time and interest. He had just heard about it when some of his colleagues are joking and throwing riddles at each other. So he was able to remember it.
But it might not be the answer.
“This type of thing can only be done once, or at least that’s what happens in movies…”
... if not, then a sudden trap will appear. Whatever it is, it’s best to just avoid it.
Wait, could it be...?
Suddenly something struck him. After that, Rain hit his own head and cursed himself. Why did he forget about it? He smiled helplessly. Under strange gazes of the group, Rain took out his smartphone…that’s right if he doesn’t know about it, can’t he just ask Mr. Always-so-reliable Go*gle?
Without hesitation, Rain immediately turned on the mobile data and searched about the riddle, word for word. And, in just a few seconds, he was able to have hundreds and thousands of search results. He then pressed the first search result, and the riddle along with the answer appeared.
This feels like cheating in an exam… he mused.
So I indeed was mistaken.
With a shake of his head, Rain turned his attention back to the alphabet letters and started pressing the letters, following the word’s spelling.
“The answer is… a ‘Grave-Digger’,”
“A Gravedigger?”
Lafetti who was watching from behind him repeated his words with bewilderment.
“Yeah, that seems to be the answer. ‘What is he that builds stronger than either the mason, the shipwright, or the carpenter?’, the answer is a Gravedigger, for his houses last until doomsday,” he read the dialogue reflected on the screen as he inputted his answer on the strange wooden keyboard.
And, as if confirming his answer as correct, the moment he had pressed the last letter for the word, the letter [R], the Dungeon suddenly shook, like an earthquake, and the world trembled. Well, at least the Dungeon did. Lafetti who was startled hurriedly grabbed Rain’s arm, but then suddenly the wall before them, moved.
“What the—?!”
Like an automatic sliding door, it retroceded towards both sides, and an entrance appeared.
“Oh, la la,”
Rain’s eyes shone brightly as the secret room finally opened, revealing a small cavern that looks like an old room.
Suddenly a smell that was capable of choking people burst out. It smelled of rotten flesh, something extremely displeasing. When the door was fully opened, several pupupu sound resounded, then suddenly fiery rays of light appeared inside the pitch-dark room, turn out to be the magic lamps on the walls had automatically lit up.
Rain and his group of four gingerly walked in. When they did, they saw two long shelves with some books, a wardrobe-look alike, both tattered and full of cobwebs.
But what caught his and the other's attention the moment they entered, were the three-meter wide chests sitting at the left corner of the room. Two were open, revealing a chest of gold, and silver, and some trinkets and accessories. Though, one of them had some equipment and items mixed in--like a rusted armor, broken plumes of helms, the buckles and pins and brooches, bronze, silver-gilt, and solid gold. Extravagant!
Though, for some reason the last one was closed--seemingly locked.
“We’re…rich…”
Rain muttered with a slightly dazed expression. He had never seen so much gold before; gold coins, bars, and gold and silver accessories such as necklaces, bangles, and more. Even for some like him who was not really greedy about money, still couldn’t help but get dazzled and felt his eyes turning into dollar sign after seeing so much wealth for the first time.
“Oh my god…”
The other one whose eyes seemed to shone brightly other than Rain was Scarlet. Her mouth opened at the sight of the gold, and almost drooling.
As for Granite and Lafetti, they were not really that excited. It’s just materialistic wealth, something that they would not care about in the Desolate Cave. So unlike Rain, who grew in poverty, Scarlet who innately loves treasures and likes hoarding them, the two Lamians were calmer.
They just shook their heads with wry smiles on their faces. Aside from Scarlet, Rain would realize later in the future that things like this, are not actually that valuable or important, especially in the Desolate Cave. Wealth is not something being surprised over.
As Rain and Scarlet excitedly rushed towards the treasure chests, Granite and Lafetti on the other hand, started inspecting the room closely for any traps.
It’s as if someone had lived here, though perhaps a long time ago. There was a casket, an old wooden coffin at the left side of the room, opposite to the three treasure chests. Granite walks towards it cautiously and then tailed the lid open. A dead person, reduced to a dirty tattered skeleton.
It must be the owner of this room…but why here in the Dungeon?
A survivor trapped inside here?
There were even a desk and a chair, covered with molds, dust, and cobwebs, but certainly still as hard as steel. Lafetti runs her fingers at the surface of the desk, and it looked as if it was newly made from how sturdy it is.
It must have been from an incredible material. If Miyabila is here, or Alta- the furniture maker, they would be able to know what kind of tree was this desk made from. It clearly is wood but it looked as if it was made from iron. Even the chair and the bookshelves were made from the same materials.
Despite the countless years that had passed by in this room, the furniture still looks new and unused.
“Lafetti, take a look at this book,”
Granite who was looking at the books left on the shelf—there were about seven books in total.
Three of them were barely intact; some were already even gnawed by insects. But to think it still lasted this long, these paper must have been made from the same tree as that of the desk and the chair, Lafetti concluded as she inspected the tattered book in her hand. The bookbinding and the cover were almost similar to the surface of the desk.
“This is?!”
But what’s even more surprising was the content of the book.
“It’s a combat technique,”
Granite nodded her head.
“One that I had never seen before.”
“Spear of the Thousand Dragons…it’s a Spear Art.”
Lafetti flipped the pages but frowned as some of the pages were already eaten by insects and can hardly be read anymore. Although it seemed like it was an incredible technique, but with its current state, it would become an incomplete technique, left only with the user to guess or surmise what some of the contents were.
It’s a troublesome thing to do…not like Lafetti prefers spears. But Drova might actually be thrilled about this.
“Are all these books…?”
“No, only four of them are Combat Arts. Two are Spear Arts, including that one, while the other two were Sword Arts. One has the same state, almost tattered while the other was still in a good condition.”
“Let me see it,”
“[Battoujutsu]…and [Blade Counter]”
Lafetti scanned the contents of the book and immediately concluded that the first style was not for her, as it uses a thin, slender sword. It’s a skill that revolves around the technique on how to quickly draw swords from their sheaths, and then cutting opponents with lightning speed. But this style was clearly not for her, and perhaps only Rain would find it interesting due to the way he fights.
But she was much more interested in the [Blade Counter]. It’s a technique revolving around countering, and reflecting weapons aimed at the user, but with much greater power. Therefore, the stronger the opponent’s attacks are, the stronger the rebound becomes.
It’s like trying to defeat an opponent using their own strength, an intriguing ability. Though, a prime drawback of the said style was that the user can’t use it to initiate an attack. It can only be used when an opponent is attacking you. But nevertheless, it’s an interesting technique that Lafetti wanted to learn.
“Lafetti, look,”
Rain suddenly called out. Lafetti placed down the books on the desk and turned towards him, only to see him and Scarlet inspecting the third treasure chest. It was locked, however, Rain and the Ant Queen have yet to see what is inside.
“Have you seen a key?” he asked, hopefully.
“If there is no key, break it,”
Lafetti simply said.
“It’s unbreakable…”
Rain smiled wryly.
“At the very least for our current equipment, it is. It’s made of an ore that doesn’t easily break. And all chests in this room were. In fact, the treasure chest themselves are also precious treasures. If Miyabila saw this, she would be ecstatic.”
“… …”
“We can only open it with a key, or wait after we returned home and let Miyabila do it. Though, I think it would be hard even for her to open this without a key.”
Rain smiled wryly. Aside from the fact that this kind of ore used to create this chest is almost unbreakable, really, really hard like the fabled metal, orichalcum, but with how it was made and created, Miyabila that metal freak would never have the heart to break it even she had a way to do it. Rain was certain of that.
“Then, there must be a key somewhere,”
Lafetti furrowed her brows and roamed her gaze around.
Rain and Scarlet, Lafetti, and Granite, the four of them started rummaging through every corner of the room.
“Oh? Would you look at that? So this is a girl’s room after all,”
Rain muttered in surprise the moment he opened the wardrobe. Inside were various bright-colored beautiful clothing which was extremely unique in style entered his eyes. And judging from the design, and appearance, it was certainly for women.
He reached out and feel about inside, suddenly his pupils enlarged, as his finger lifted a pink thing, then he inwardly shouted loudly: “Bosom…….bra, this place actually has a bra!”
Just then, Scarlet walked in, then she curiously looked at that semi-circular thing in Rain’s hand and asked: “What is this?” she had never seen this before.
“Why does it look so familiar to those what you called Bra?” she looked at it and felt extremely familiar.
After all, she was even wearing one of them now. Though the design is much better than the one she was wearing, but the form almost looks entirely the same. One that covered mounds on her chest.
Because Rain felt that the Lamians walking around without clothes is…somewhat indecently strange, he introduced brassiere in the Tribe. Although it was not popular at first, as time passed by, almost all women had started wearing it. Even the Antmen and Scarlet were forced to wear it.
“Yeah, indeed this is a bra. It means that this is a woman’s room…or at least, a female human had been living here.
“Hm, I think it looks cute,”
Scarlet muttered as she inspected the brassiere in her hands.
Rain smiled faintly, and then went back inspecting the wardrobe in and out. But there was no key…still; he stored the large wardrobe into his backpack along with the clothes. And the size of the wardrobe almost filled his backpack to full. Hence, he can only take back some things from inside his backpack and moved them into the wardrobe before stuffing them back inside the space-rune engraved Backpack.
In this case, he would be able to save some space.
The wardrobe, despite the dirt and dust, was still in pretty good condition. And even the material used seemed to be quite precious materials as well. Hence, Rain didn’t want to waste it. After that, he went to other places to look for the key. But there was no key. Not even in the books, nor shelves, the wardrobe, or the desk. Where is the key?
“There’s no key, Rain…there’s only a dead guy, no key…we can only open it after we return,”
Lafetti said with a wry smile after searching through every nook and cranny.
Hence, she gave up.