Chapter 359: Chapter 357 – What’s This?

“So, did they decide on a name?”

“Yes, after some back and forth, Bernir wanted a more traditional name but Dyana didn’t like the idea. You know how those people are, even poor Bernir was shunned by them when he was younger.”

“So what did they end up with?”

“His name will be Thordrin. Apparently, there was some kind of legendary hero with a similar name who was closely related to Dyana’s tribe.”

“Hm, interesting.”

Roland nodded while thinking that the name was strangely familiar sounding to something from his own world. Before he could ask about the origins of the name more closely he was shoved to the side by a flaming wolf head.

“Woof!”

“Oh, Hey Agni. Does he look different than usual? Is that some kind of flaming spell?”

“Something like that, I’ll explain it when I’m back.”

“Well, don’t take too long, if we don’t open the shop we will lose all of our clients to the union.”

“I know but I don't think the Union will be much of a problem anymore. I was thinking of hiring some more people to go with the expansion, did you look over the plans?”

“Yes, there are some things I’m not sure about.”

“That won’t be a problem, we can still change it, just let me know what you need.”

Roland and Elodia continued to talk while he was still wandering through the dungeon. He was approaching day three of spelunking and had managed to gather some more treasures. Instead of receiving black mithril gear, he found some potions and more valuables. Even if the monsters were stronger on the lower levels this didn’t always mean that the treasures would be better.

The size of the levels began to increase and sometimes traps or roadblocks got in the way. He decided to stick to the already explored pathways the previous platinum party ventured forth as they were the ones that were mapped out. Being able to predict which monsters he would be facing was maybe his second biggest advantage with the divine spells being the first. With time he wound up close to the stairs leading down to an area with monsters close to his current level, the real grind was beginning.

“Call me back when you are finished and…”

“Yeah I know, I’ll be careful and I’ll be back soon but if there is a problem let me know.”

“Alright, Not much has been happening here while you were gone besides the Union dwarves running around a lot more… I saw those two fixing some fences, do you know what’s that about?”

“Hah, I guess she kept the side of the deal.”

Roland laughed after being informed by Elodia that the two dwarves that caused him some misery in the past were now being relegated to grunt work. There was one thing that those types couldn’t stand and that was to be demoted. The two soon ended the call as he got ready to cross into the next level.

‘It shouldn’t take much longer until I level up, I should at least remain here until then.’

You are reading story The Runesmith at novel35.com

After venturing to the upper levels and back he was now level hundred and seventy-nine. The monsters that he was facing were slowly reaching his current level and with the help of the divine debuff he hoped to hasten the leveling process even more.

‘So this is what they decided to evade but behind it should be a room filled with treasure.’

At the moment he was at the level that Myrtle’s party had ended their adventure. What he was looking at was a wide open space with seemingly not much in it. The only thing of note was the ground tiles which were all square and about one meter long. This whole place had hundreds of them and at the end, there was one large sliding door made of thick rock.

‘It’s a trap but also a puzzle… Those darkened tiles are the break-off points, from what those adventurers reported, a person must make it through while lighting up all the square tiles…’

This reminded him of puzzles from video games that he used to play. The logic behind it was quite simple. When he stepped on one of the squares it would start to glow and activate. He needed to activate all of those squares while only using one path. The black tiles were spots that needed to be walked around and were neutral. They created areas that couldn’t be crossed which made the puzzle slightly harder.

‘They didn’t go through it and took another path but I wonder what’s on the other side.’

He had decided to not endanger himself too much but he was interested in where this trap led. There were a few possibilities so he decided to go along with a small test. First, both he and Agni walked out of the room and waited in the corridor that led them here. Instead of stepping on one of the tiles himself, he decided to use one of his cube turrets.

The tiles were simple pressure plates that even this floating cube could activate. Just as he expected a glow took over the tile onto which he landed the cube on. After it hovered back up into the air, the glow on the tile remained. Slowly he started moving the cube around faster to light up a path forward. The first plan was simple, use the shortest path forward without stepping on every tile.

‘Will it trigger something?’

His first test was unfruitful as it was apparently possible to just go to the other side without completing the puzzle. The only thing that wasn’t possible was opening the large sliding door at the end. It was clear that without the correct path being laid out, the door would not open. Now for the second test, he tried to backtrack which proved to be quite deadly. The moment his floating turret descended on one of the already lit-up squares, everything started glowing red.

“Woof!”

“Calm down Agni, we are safe here.”

After a flash of red light and a lot of noise, all the squares started crumbling. The cube that was able to freely float around did not collapse down along with the floor. Anyone that was attempting to solve this riddle would find themselves falling down.

“What’s that sound?”

The moment the entire room became devoid of a floor some strange sounds filled his ears. Not everything had collapsed as there was still a ledge before the tunnel leading up to this place. Thus to figure out this conundrum he decided to take a peek down without actually going into this place. It was possible that a secondary collapse was triggered if he stepped forth so for the time being, a golemic eye was used to send him some pictures.

“What are those things? Worms?”

At first, he expected sharp spikes or something like lava to be down there, instead, there was a vast quantity of monsters. They were not skeletal in nature but instead resembled the squiggly monsters that caused him to find the mine a few years ago. After examining the situation he realized that it was possible for him to take a step forward. The hole down below had no light source but with the help of his helmet, seeing in the dark was as easy as breathing.

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