Chapter 22: Chapter 21- The Tombs of Nazlock (4)

“I cannot be blamed for this! There are no round handles in anywhere else in the tower. Besides, look at my size, it is hard for me to twist the handle.” Levi wept behind me.

“Yes. Yes. I believe you.” I said absentmindedly. I did not care about this brief incident and was now focusing on the empty corridor. The corridor was short and narrow; there were only another door and a stone stele on the other side.

As before, I proceeded carefully, using my spear to probe at the floor tiles and stone walls. ‘It is safe so far.’

I slowly made my way to the other door but this one did not have any knobs or handles. The only clue to continue ahead was the stone stele. There were no words or instructions written on it, but I knew how to recognise a puzzle when I saw one.

A large square was drawn on the stele; in it, were several stone blocks able to move in only one direction; either horizontally or vertically. One stone block was dyed black while the others kept their original grey colour. There was only a small opening in the large square; the gap was just large enough to allow one stone block to come out and coincidentally, the gap was found on the other side of the dyed block. The concept was pretty clear; I needed to slide the dyed block out of the square. The challenge was to move the other blocks lying between the dyed block and the exit.

‘It does not look too complicated, but this is also the first puzzle I am encountering. The question is, will the door open itself after I solve this puzzle? What if it is a trap designed to have the intruder face the stone stele for an extended period of time?’

“Isn’t this a little bit too easy?” Levi pondered as he watched me poke the stone stele and move the blocks with the shaft of my spear.

“It is just the first door and for the lowest class too. My guess is that we will encounter several doors like that with puzzles getting increasingly harder. I just hope that there will be good stuff lying around.”

“Click Click.”

As soon as the dyed block fell out of the square, a sound came from the door. I jumped back in fright, raising my spear. Fortunately, I was just too nervous. The door slid open with a loud rumble, revealing another corridor.

This one had another door and a stone stele at the end but also one more door on the side.

‘Is this where I will find my reward?’

As before, I carefully tested each floor tile I was stepping on. When I reached the door, it was easily pushed open, revealing a creepy dark room. There were a couple of firestones lighting up the place, but the dim light added to the scary atmosphere. There were countless bones scattered around the room. My nostrils were assaulted by the strong smell of rotten flesh.

‘What a bad smell.’

I carefully entered the room and started exploring. I poked a few skeletons around, looking for any forms of treasures. The skeletons looked like they belonged to a hybrid species; one I had never seen before.

After a while, I finally found something different, but it was not a treasure. Instead, it was the source of the pungent smell.

‘Are these the corpses of giant rats? Their hide has been damaged. They seem to have been scratched by claws or bitten by something.’

I suppressed the feeling of disgust in my throat and poked at the corpses while my expression gradually darkened. ‘Giant rats… So there are other monsters that I can hunt in this tutorial. Since they are still smelling so bad, they should not have died too long ago.’

“What a delightful smell!” Levi said sarcastically. He chuckled behind me, happy that I was suffering.

I ignored him and went on my guard. The presence of the corpses put me on alert; there may be monsters lying in wait nearby. “Be careful. There may be monsters nearby. Do you detect any?”

“None in this room but there is a faint air current coming from the wall over here. There should be a hole or something that allowed the killers to put the corpses of the giant rats here.” Levi said.

“Help me look for treasures so that we can get out of here faster. Also, warn me in case any enemies come nearby.”

“Hmmp!” The fairy unhappily left my side and started exploring another side of the room. After greasing his hand a little bit over the past few days, Levi had become much more willing to assist me in such tasks as he knew that at the end of the day, he would be receiving something for his work.

All the fairies had put their hosts in debt and would gain a significant amount of points. Only Levi did not manage to earn any points the way the fairies usually did. However, Levi was now earning points every single day. At the rate of fifty points per day, it would not be long before he would collect enough to surpass what all the other fairies managed to get. Levi did not mind lowering his head if it meant that he would later drown in points.

We combed through the room carefully and met in the corridor that the pungent smell of the corpses could not reach.

“What did you find?” I asked, taking out a few coins from my storage belt. I did not hide anything from Levi as I knew it was pointless to do so.

“Four coins.”

“I got five of them. But what exactly are these coins?” I muttered as I took a closer look at the metallic coins. There was “Nazlock” written on one side of the coin in their language and on the other side was the engraved image of a mountain.

“It should be the currency of the Nazlocks before they perished. I don’t know the value of these things, but I suppose that they can be exchanged at the merchant tower. If you don’t mind, I will keep the coins on me for now.” I said carefully.

“Sure. You won’t be able to hide any treasure you find from me anyway.” Levi answered casually.

Together, we moved on to the next stone stele which presented the same puzzle as before. The only difference was the arrangement and number of blocks. I was not great at solving puzzles, but I did not mind messing around. After a few tests, I found out that there were no consequences for failing. I was free to move the blocks as much as I wanted and as a result, the puzzle turned into a series of trial and error. It took me a few tries but eventually, the familiar rumble sounded as the door slid open. It gave onto yet another corridor with more rooms to explore.

…

About two hours later, I was now facing the fourth puzzle. I collected a total of 86 coins from the tombs so far. As we went deeper inside, the rooms contained more corpses and coins. Fortunately, I had yet to encounter any monster.

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The puzzles were getting harder, but I had all the time in the world. At some point, even Levi got bored of waiting and decided to lend a hand to hasten the process. The door slid open and this time, what awaited us on the other side was a large dark room.

“It seems that we have already emptied the portion of the tombs dedicated to the slaves.” I pointed out as I started my routine of checking for the traps in the new room.

However, to my surprise, Levi did not comment on what I said but instead warned me. “Be careful. There are monsters in there.”

I became vigilant. I did not feel the presence of any monsters, but I knew Levi would not lie about something like this. I froze in place and focused my attention on the darkness of the room. The firestones only lit up the entrance of the room, the rest was completely concealed by the darkness.

I forced myself to calm down and listen. My hearing was the only sense I could rely on in the darkness. And as I did so, I heard something move in front of me.

‘Annoying giant rats. They know how to hide themselves well. They are waiting for an opportunity to strike.’

I gulped down as I recalled the information I knew about the giant rats. These monsters were commonly found on the first floor of the tower. They hid in dark caves and abandoned mines. They were fast but not necessarily strong. However, giant rats could infect their target by biting them; their teeth carried a virus that could kill a healthy man in a few days if he was not treated properly. It was not an issue on the first floor as healers could already learn the Cure spell.

Compared to Heal that helped the target recover from his injuries, Cure worked on expelling foreign substances from the target’s body. Its main use was to cure poison, but it also worked on diseases and viruses.

“How many?” I asked as I took a few steps back, returning toward the lighted corridor. Being close to the light would give me more time to react as the giant rats would emerge from the shadows.

“I will really need a good reward for all the work I am doing… Three giant rats but only two are moving toward you right now. I would say one is at one o’clock and the other at nine.”

“Anything coming from the corridor behind me?”

“No. No signs of monsters there.”

“Good. Keep an eye out for me.” I firmly held onto my spear, pointing the spearhead at the shadows. I could hear the fur of the giant rats rubbing against the floor. I noticed myself trembling a little bit under the pressure. It was nerve-wracking; I could feel my heart running inside my chest.

Unfortunately, the ones who held the initiative were the giant rats. I could not fight them as long as they hid in the darkness. In my past life, it was an easy task to simply create a few flames to light up this place, but I did not have this luxury right now.

I waited and waited. Soon, I noticed two red pupils staring at me in the darkness.

‘It’s about to begin.’

“Squeak!”

As I expected, the giant rats grew impatient and coordinated an attack. The two giant rats rushed together from different directions. All I could hear was their footsteps and tail rubbing against the ground.

I took a step forward, leaning my body slightly to the side before swiping my spear in a giant arc in front of me. My spearhead connected with one of the giant rats. Unfortunately, because of my cutting motion and the thick fur of the giant rat, the monster suffered from no direct injuries. Its body was thrown back into the darkness, but it rushed back toward me as soon as it landed.

The other giant rat aimed for my left leg, opening its mouth, ready to bite its teeth into my flesh. I reacted quickly, spinning my spear and blocking the giant rat’s bite with the shaft of the spear. The giant rat reached my leg but was unable to close his jaw with the wooden shaft in the way.

I had a small window to act. I raise my foot and mercilessly stepped onto the giant rat, pressing it onto the ground. I pull my spear and spun it quickly. I could feel the giant rat struggling; its slippery body easy escaped from under my foot but fortunately, I managed to keep the giant rat in place by stepping onto its tail.

I activated Static and without hesitation, stabbed my spear toward the giant rat. I felt the spear pierce through the giant rat. But at the same time, I heard Levi’s warning.

“Careful! The other rat is attacking!”

I immediately shifted my body and rolled to the side, dodging the giant rat’s bite. Having missed its target, the giant rat landed ungracefully on the cold floor and hissed. My eyes quickly travelled between the two giant rats; one was injured, paralysed and possibly dead while the other had yet to be hit.

“Come at me. If it is just you, it should be fine.” I raised my spear and charged at the giant rat. It had nowhere to run; behind it was a stone wall with an embedded firestone.

Static!

The giant rat did not stand a chance. Once cornered, it could only be stabbed by my spear. I stood at a safe distance from the infected teeth of the giant rat thanks to the long range of my spear. After confirming the death of the giant rat, I turned my attention to the already paralysed giant rat and slew it.

I faced the dark side of the room cautiously.

“Is the third one still here?”

“No. It ran away after you killed the first giant rat. There’s a chance that it went to alert the other giant rats.” Levi warned.

“I don’t think so but the sound of the battle might have attracted the attention of the nearby giant rats. I think we can stop this exploration for now. We can always come back. I will need to make some preparations to deal with the giant rats.”

I collected the two corpses and quickly left the dark room.

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