Chapter 16: Chapter 16: Layered Traps

Rowan and His Contingent’s Perspective

The moment of respite had all but come to an end.

Rowan assembled his remaining able-bodied men to make the last strike on liberating this dungeon. Now or never. The food reserve they brought inside the dungeon almost ran out, and he didn’t wander in the thought of pulling back.

On the one hand, he didn’t dare to take the risk of breaking the earthen wall that had been set up in blocking this room and the cave behind; the fire might still burn wildly. On the other hand, the heart of this dungeon — a Dungeon Core — was likely to be at the end of this hallway as expressed by Erick with his Vocation a moment ago.

This time, however, Rowan left the three injured and weakest people behind to secure a path out while also protecting the treasure chest. Among them was a wounded swordsman with burns to his left limbs, a badly injured archer, and the thin hooded man — Timmy, if he got his name correctly.

Although there were a couple of people in the group that had self-recovery Vocations, and even one that had Vocations to heal others, they weren’t that powerful.

The long, narrow hallway was dark and eerie, one couldn’t imagine what dangers it contained within...

“Sir, we’re all ready,” informed one of the shield-bearers. In spite of his face being half-covered by a helmet, Rowan could tell that he looked dead set on conquering this dungeon.

Only two shield-bearers were remaining alive; it appeared that the business of being the vanguard always led to premature death.

“Good, we advance now!”

The formation had been thought out carefully while taking a moment of break: two shield-bearers at the forefront; Erick behind them to detect dangers and give support with his bow; then one elementalist guarded with two swordsmen; he himself; and lastly the rest of the group to cover the back — exactly twelve people. It was a “well-rounded” formation if he were to offer his opinion.

As they traversed the dark hallway, Rowan found that the floor was made out of ceramic tiles and the surrounding walls composed of stone. These stones layered together proved to be a good place to set hidden buttons that would trigger traps.

“Be careful of your steps! Don’t put your hands on the protruding stones around here! Hey! Ranger. How ‘bout your sense? Are you detecting something?”

“No worry.” The ranger, Erick, playfully sneered. “It’s all clean here… at least two dozen or so steps ahead of me — I didn’t sense danger.”

When they were some distance in, one of the shield-bearers hesitated. “There’s a door up ahead. Should we check its inside?”

“Erick, you go with him to check the room. I will keep the perimeter safe.”

“Tch. Fine. Just don’t call me by my name.” Albeit reluctant, Erick, following one of the shield-bearers, opened the door cautiously before strolling inside after seeing no danger.

“It’s all empty insi— Wah! Fuck!”

“Stay away! Stay away from me—! Ugh. Blergh!”

“What’s happened?” To him, the last voice sounded like something got into his mouth.

While the scuffle with unknown foes went about inside, there was suddenly a faint burbling of water echoing deep within the hallway. Getting clearer by the moment.

“Bugs! Small bugs everywhere—! Nghuh!”

Erick, along with the shield-bearer, leaped out of the room they were just in. Almost immediately, a swarm of small flying insects chased behind them in an outwardly unending tide, there were also other crawling creatures on the ground, but the number was much smaller.

“Calm down! Just a swarm of mere insects — a paltry trick. Elementalist!”

The Anemo elementalist in front of Rowan nodded his head. “Combine, O compressed wind, block all assailants before me — {Wind Barrier}!” he chanted, and not even a second later, the surrounding air condensed into a transparent wall of wind that repelled the incoming bugs.

“Are you shittin’ me?” Rowan mocked, stepping on one crawling insect that approached him, “Scared of bugs? Aren’t you two beyond pathetic?”

“Dammit! Be in my shoes then! It’s dark inside! With this one measly lantern… Do you know what it’s like to be surrounded by these disgusting bugs? Ugghhh.” Erick frantically scrutinized his clothes in search of bugs that were sticking to him.

Rowan snorted. At which point, a small brown creature with six legs and a pair of antennae crept between his eyes without prior warning. “Eeek!!” he screamed like he just met his biggest nemesis, grabbed the horrible thing, and tossed it away with all his might.

“Pfft. ‘Scared of bugs is pathetic,’ he said. Yet he screams like a little gi—”

“Shut your trap!” He glared at Erick but soon switched to the elementalist before him. “Why did you let one pass?!”

“S-Sorry. I’m almost out of mana.”

“Curses! Then cast fire or somethin’.”

Being out of luck, they had long since run out of any spare torches to be used to deter the flying insects and therefore limiting them to magic only.

“Can’t, sir… I’m not a dual elementalist, not that I know any fire spell,” the Anemo elementalist meekly answered.

He had brought one elementalist that mastered Pyro Elemental Magic, but he died from getting scorched by hot air after escaping into the room. How ironic. Although some of them could use “Elementary Magic” to cast small fires, it wouldn’t be of much use right now.

For once, Rowan remembered that elementalists from the western kingdom could master multiple elements; despite this kingdom being more advanced, the knowledge of magic and the way of casting thereof fell short. Regrettably, these elementalists he brought were of the lowest rung — those that joined because of wealth and whatnot.

“Sir! I may have a solution to this.” The guy at the rearmost raised his hand. “My Vocation — [Sedative Air] — could put any living being to sleep. E-he… Eheheh.”

Ignoring the strange way the guy laughed, Rowan beckoned. “Good, good. Then come forward.”

The guy squished ahead and used his Vocation once he was in the place, yelling “[Sedative Air]!” before a transparent pink air spread toward them. The bugs touching the air immediately fell and plunged to the ground, looking dead if not for their twitching legs.

However, it wasn’t enough to encompass the whole swarm of bugs; it was just endless.

“Hey, cast another spell to help spread the air!”

“Understood.” The elementalist cast {Wind Gust} with the same chant before a gust of wind blew the pinky air all around the swarm, incapacitating a big patch of them.

But despite that, as though having a conscious mind, the swarm of bugs and insects retreated back inside the room.

“They retreated?” Rowan’s eyes constricted, unsure of what was going on. “No matter. Hey, close the door of the room!”

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The shield-bearers at the forefront obeyed and quickly closed the door of the room, sealing the amalgamation of horror for good.

Finding that the door was secure, they soon continued advancing. All the people avoided the room full of disgusting insects like avoiding a deadly plague.

As he moved his step, Rowan felt that the ground was all splashy, so he looked down. He didn’t know when, but murky water had superficially overflowed the whole floor. It wasn’t a problem to him, nor was it for the others, but this raised a certain doubt and déjà vu within his mind.

He put his finger into the water puddle and inspected it; other than being a bit thick and greasy, it was rather odorless like any murky water. Definitely not flammable at a glance.

“Brothers, be careful of the water below.”

They all nodded, most gulping their saliva; the horror of what happened in the cave prior was still clear in their heads.

“Sir. There are four openings in front of us — two on either side.”

“Just check from outside with a lantern. Ranger, hey, you’re fine with another check, right?”

Erick harrumphed and said, “Of course.”

Several people went and checked the four openings that led to separate rooms. Rowan could see that the rooms were empty except for the single furthest one where a little hairy creature with a protruding nose and teeth were looking his way.

“A rat? No, somethin’ ain’t right.” Rowan took out his lantern tied to his hip and pointed it at the inside. To his horror, there were easily dozens, if not hundreds, of rats staring at him from all directions, squeaking and chattering. “FUCK!! Fall back!!”

The rats, seeming frightened by Rowan’s shout, scattered about on the floor, and then ran outward to the hallway in bulk, like a tsunami of gray mass.

“Rats! Ahh! Gahh!”

“Take this! Ngh! My sword… So cramped!”

“Just a bunch of mice! I’ve killed and eaten a great many. Die!”

“…”

It was utter chaos.

Many stood to fight back the incoming rats with bravery, but the space was too narrow, they couldn’t move like they used to. To add insult to injury, the murky water on the ceramic tiles made the ground very slippery, causing many to fall from slipping and getting swarmed by endless rats.

Rowan swung his ax left and right, with each swing killing at least five rats. He managed to come to the rescue of many of his brethren; however, there were bound to be those that were too far away for him to save.

“Stay away from me! Stay away!!” A desperate guy, secluded from anyone else, swung his short sword indiscriminately at the incoming rats in an attempt to scare them. But the rats didn’t care and pounced at him from every direction, biting and tearing him with their sharp teeth. “It hurts! They’re EATING me!! Arghhhhh!!”

“Save! Save ME!! SA—” Another got dragged into one of the rooms before being swallowed into the gray tsunami.

“Dammit!” Rowan was pretty sure it was the voice of the Anemo elementalist.

Without delay, before Rowan and his henchmen could kill all the remaining rats, there was a sound of rolling stone coming from deep within the hallway; the rats must have triggered some kind of trap after messing around the place.

While trimming down the rats, Rowan glanced at the sound’s origin and saw a large boulder, enough to almost fill the hallway, rolling down in his direction at extreme speed.

“Hide! Hide into the rooms!” Rowan screamed, scrambling to the nearest hole he could find.

“Aarrghh!!”

Intense screaming echoed outside, but Rowan didn’t bother to look and focused on killing rats with two others that managed to get into the same room.

When most of the rats in his room got slaughtered, Rowan swiftly ran outside and searched for the others. It appeared that all that were left alive managed to trim down the rats as well, as seen by their clothes that were full of bloodstains and innards of the rats. He realized that only eight people were remaining alive — most of them the elites of the group.  

“Ugh, eurrggh!” One guy vomited as he saw the three mangled corpses lying on the floor — there was one flattened paste-like corpse in the midst of the hallway with countless dead rats in similar conditions along the track.

The murky water didn’t help in covering the dead bodies as they were mixed together, turned all dirty brownish red, and spreading a stinging nausea smell, so bad that it felt more like poison than simply filth anymore.

“Watch out! Behind you!” Erick, still alive, suddenly shouted at Rowan.

Rowan turned around only to find that another boulder was rolling his way. Finding that this one was unavoidable, in haste, he spread both of his hands wide and shouted, “{Great Strength}!” Swiftly, his muscles became ripped, and he met the rolling boulder head-on.

“Gahhhh!” He could feel his bones creaking, but he pressed on and stopped the boulder in its tracks. “Shield-bearers! Come here and help!”

“Roger!”

“Right away!”

The two shield-bearers who were still alive responded to Rowan’s calling and held the boulder. They were shield-bearers for a reason as they were the ones with the highest strength among the group.

“I’m gonna crush this stone! Break!” He hoisted his ax and chopped downward with all his might. The strike cracked the boulder hard, but it wasn’t enough to sunder it in half.

Still, if one strike wasn’t enough, then two, then three, then four! Finally, the boulder cracked apart and burst into pieces. In the wake of Rowan’s relentless strikes and his incredible strength, the stone couldn’t last long and was broken into rubbles.

Luckily his ax was made of hardened steel, else, it would have crumbled to pieces from the extreme pressure it was subjected to. In spite of his success, Rowan wasn’t happy and felt weak in every part. Prolonged and excessive use of his Vocation had sapped his stamina dry, leaving him extremely exhausted; he’d need to rest for a bit to have the energy to use it again.

“Argh!”

“Ahh! Golems! There are golems everywhere.”

“What is it right now?!”