Ali stuck to the darkness while he waited for Tian’s signal. The air serpent had flown up to the cavern ceiling so he could get a better view of the patrolling paths of the guards. The cavern had many stone structures lined up in an orderly fashion that gave the location the feel of a village. By keeping in the shadows as he dashed from alleyway to alleyway, the teenager got from one end of the cavern to the other end without getting detected. However, he still had no clue where the exit was and had to explore blindly, hoping he got lucky. Several minutes later, he found himself in a cavern where he couldn’t even see the ceiling. Tian flew up but returned shortly, stating that he likely needed several minutes of flying to touch the ceiling. Deciding that they got little return from finding the ceiling, the duo took a look around them.

There aren’t any guards here, are there?

No, that’s very odd indeed. I also feel a powerful presence somewhere here. It’s best we don’t encounter it.

Ali trusted Tian’s instincts on such matters. He stuck to the walls as he took a look around. The cavern had nothing notable along its outer perimeters and all the paths led towards the center. Initially, the teenager thought there was a smaller cavern in the center. As he got closer, he realized what he assumed to be walls were actually some organic material in a cubic shape.

You don’t know what this is, right?

I don’t and I don’t think I ever want to know.

This was something the two of them could agree upon. When he walked towards it, Ali felt something resembling heartbeats coming from the thing. He wouldn’t be surprised if everyone in the coffins were to be sacrificed to this thing. A part of him wondered how much longer before the thing hatched.

Is there nothing I can do?

The teenager tried his air slash ability but, like earlier, it no longer worked. He looked through his ability list through the prompt, hoping to see something he missed earlier. As he scrolled through it, he noticed something he missed earlier. After his trap setup was sealed away, it had a [Sealed] beside the ability name. As he stared at the ability, the [Sealed] was replaced by [Temporarily Unsealed]. He didn’t know what caused the change as he hadn’t paid enough attention to see it sooner. What he did know was that the ability was his key to escape.

Tian, my trap setup ability is available now. Let’s find a place to hide before I unleash hell on this place. If I don’t know of a way out, then I might as well fight my way out of here.

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The air serpent immediately went exploring the cavern to find all the entrances. An hour later, Ali finished setting up many layers of traps at the entrances. The duo then headed down a tunnel Tian explored while the teenager was setting up traps. According to the air serpent, the tunnel was only lightly guarded but it did lead to storerooms filled with food and water. Ali was worried about the lack of supplies but, if he could stock up using the storerooms, then he could remain in the darkness indefinitely.

Isn’t it odd how the tunnels are so lightly guarded? They must be really confident no one outside can get in and no one inside can escape.

If my prisoners cannot use any abilities, I’d be confident too. As for their whereabouts, I did find these...cult members gathered around a statue.

Statue? Let me pack up some food and water first.

The duo soon found themselves in another massive cavern. The denizens all wore purple robes that covered everything including their heads. They knelt before a giant statue of something neither Ali nor Tian could identify. What the two of them could agree on was that the statue was hideous. It was made in the shape of something too grotesque to be described, let alone released in the world.

While they are busy, I should start laying traps along the entrances of this cavern.

Ali trusted that the darkness concealed him pretty well. In one of the storerooms, he found a random robe his size. The black color helped make his conceal further and, if chaos did ensue, he could mix into the crowd. As the ritual was performed by the cult members, the teenager activated his trap setup ability whenever he had enough MP. With Tian’s help, he succeeded in setting up trap in all the entrances leading into the cavern. Seeing that the denizens were still busy, he merely added more layers of his traps until a good portion of the tunnels were also trapped.

Looks like their ritual is done.

Let’s head back to the cavern with the thing. We must stop them summoning that thing.

Tian took the lead as the two of them made it back to the cavern with the thing in the center. As he entered the cavern, Ali was almost certain the heartbeat sensations had grown stronger since he was last there. Whatever ritual performed must have achieved the desired effect. As the teenager got into a nice hiding spot, he heard bells echoing in the cavern followed by shouts. Peeking over a rock, Ali watched as several of the denizens entered the cavern only to trigger many of his traps. Chaos ensued and the teenager added to it by placing more traps to replace the ones that were triggered. With a clear line of sight of the chaos below, he didn’t need the air serpent’s help in laying down what could only be hell for the cult members.

The group might be done for but I’m sure more will be coming. I must keep laying traps to take advantage of this situation.

Hoping the cult members were foolish enough to keep flooding in, Ali wasn’t going to stop until every inch of the cavern had a trap on it.