The four of them looked up at the wall where they had come down from. Cerezie easily managed to climb back up, but the exhausted Garrett and Min-Tul couldn't manage to get up, neither could the badly wounded Jerten. With a sigh, she slid back down the wall.

Deciding that they couldn't go back the way they came, they began to make their way out the exit of the room. Min-Tul led the way, with Garrett behind him, Cerezie behind him, and Jerten behind her. As they exited the room, the hallway split into three pathways. Above each entrance was a plaque. On the far left was a crude image of a minecart, the middle had an image of a sword, and the right had an image of a cave entrance. Garrett turned around and noticed that the hallway they just came out of had a plaque with a pickaxe.

"So, clearly, we should go to the path with the cave entrance, right?" Min-Tul said, but Cerezie shook her head and pointed to the entrance with the minecart.

"It likely be trapping. Too simple," Cerezie said. "This path seem right out."

This time, it was Jerten to shake his head. He pointed to the path with the sword. "I not remember turns. Middle path no turn, so it way out," Cerezie translated. The three of them all turned to Garrett.

"Well, looks like you're the deciding vote, Garrett. Which path should we take?" Min-Tul said.

"Hmm," Garrett said, pulling out the rock that he marked earlier. He picked up two more similar ones and marked one side of each of them.

"What are you doing?" Min-Tul asked, staring at the rocks.

"When I have a really nervous decision to make, I flip a coin, but I don't have any coins on me, so I have to use these rocks," Garrett explained. "Okay, each rock represents a different path. I'll flip all three of them. Then, I'll go based on whichever one is the odd one out." He took a deep breath and flicked all three rocks into the air. They softly clattered to the ground and the four of them looked at the rocks. "Alright," Garrett said, picking up the rocks and pointing. "We're going down the path with the minecart." The other three nodded in agreement and began to head down the path.

The hallway was illuminated by more crystals growing on the ceiling. Cautiously, they walked until they reached another large room. This one had a huge glowing red crystal in the center and statues adorning the walls, none of which resembled goblins. The ground was covered in bare stone tiles and on the other side of the room was a large door. As they all entered the room, the wall behind them shut, trapping them in.

"Hey! What gives!?" Min-Tul shouted, pounding his paws against the rock, trying to get it to move. "I knew that the Illima who created the Darge were crafty, but I didn't think they'd create automatic traps like this."

"Illima?" Garrett said. Cerezie and Min-Tul gave him a look like he just asked the dumbest question in class.

Jerten spoke, and Cerezie translated. "Oh, maybe there named others for themself."

Garrett closed his eyes and thought to himself. '...When I started being able to understand Cerezie, she said she was speaking Illiman, which must be a language... Presumably, given what Min-Tul just said, Illiman is the native language, or at least associated with, Illimas... Since they gave me that strange look, I guess I can assume that Illima is what this world refers to humans as...'

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"Anyway, the point of being is we trapping and needy escape," Cerezie said, looking around the room.

Min-Tul and Garrett began to walk into the room when Jerten stopped them. "The room maybe having trapped," Cerezie translated. "Walk having caution." They all nodded to each other and carefully began to move around the room.

The four of them surveyed the room, slowly putting pressure on the tiles in front of them as they walked. Jerten managed to walk over to a statue that resembled a cat, Garrett to a statue that looked like a dragon, and Min-Tul to a statue that resembled a deer. Cerezie was the only one who stayed by the entrance, refusing to step onto the stone tiles at all.

"Do you guys see anything interesting at your statue?" Garrett asked, looking over the dragon statue.

"Nothing too out of the ordinary," Min-Tul replied, "Though it is weird to have a statue of a deer."

"No strange here," Cerezie translated for Jerten. "What statue four shaped be?"

Garrett turned around and looked at the fourth statue. "It's the shape of a raccoon," he said, confused. He turned his attention to the door. On it were symbols that he didn't recognize, nor did it directly seem to tie into anything in the room. "Hey, can someone come over and look at these symbols? They might give us a clue as to how to get out of this room."

Min-Tul and Jerten walked over and looked at the door. "Ah, this is written in Elven," Min-Tul said, looking over to Cerezie. She looked down at the floor and frantically shook her head. They hadn't noticed it before, since they were busy investigating the statues and not triggering any traps, but Cerezie was nervously shaking. She was clutching her arms close to her body and had a very tense grip.

Garrett walked over to her and extended his hand again. "Don't worry, Cerezie. I'll keep you safe," he said, trying to reassure both himself and her. She looked down at his hand, smiled, but shook her head. "Oh, does anyone have any sort of paper or parchment? I think I have an idea."

Jerten opened up his backpack, pulled out a large journal, ripped out some pages, and handed it to Garrett. Garrett placed the paper against the door and pulled out one of the marked rocks.

"What are you doing now?" Min-Tul asked, scratching his chin in curiosity.

"I had learned this before. If you do something like this, you can get an impression on the paper," Garrett said, smiling as he began to work.

As soon as he put pressure on the door, the area where the rock was pushed into the door. There was a soft click and the three near the door began to exchange worried glances. The room shook violently and the crystal in the center began to hum. Cerezie screamed and covered her head, running towards the other three.

Min-Tul and Garrett both extended their arms to grab Cerezie, but it was all in vain. The crystal shot out blasts of energy in every direction, one of the first few hitting Cerezie in her back. She collapsed forward, her eyes bleeding with a glazed look behind them.

"NO!" Garrett shouted as he ran to her side. "Come on, Cerezie, wake up!" He could feel how cold and lifeless her body felt and he shook her. All he accomplished was getting her blood on his hands. He had only known her for a few minutes, and their first interaction was her pointing her rifle at him, but Garrett felt a large piece of his heart had been ripped out. "Cerezie, you can't die here!" He clutched her body tightly against him as tears rolled down his cheek.

'...What kind of Hero am I?... Why did I think I could be a Hero? It's not like I've had any training... I'm just an idiot with a sword and a delusion..."

The crystal hummed violently with energy as more blasts shot out from the crystal.

"Garrett! Get back!" Min-Tul shouted. Garrett turned around, trying to carry Cerezie's body. "Leave her! It's too dangero-" Min-Tul was cut off as a blast of energy struck him in the chest. He fell backwards into the wall behind him, his eyes bleeding with an empty stare behind him.

"Min-Tul!" Garrett cried out as he turned his attention to Jerten.

Jerten looked to Min-Tul's body, and then to Garrett. He said nothing but closed his eyes as an energy blast hit him in his forehead. Jerten slowly cried tears of blood as his body collapsed on the ground.

"Jerten!" Garrett slowly turned to the crystal, which was humming even more violently. He held Cerezie's body tight as he saw a blast of energy shoot from the crystal and strike him in his neck.

'...I'm sorry... I wasn't... a Hero...'

Garrett collapsed, his last thoughts being of his companions and his last sight being Cerezie's lifeless body before everything went dark.