Recreation

Darkness, like a heavy curtain, closed in behind me.

The daylight at the entrance was quickly swallowed up, but the maze thoughtfully lit fires for everyone.

Footsteps echoed in the narrow passage, sounding somewhat noisy. Duncan walked at the very front.

He walked steadily, stopping occasionally, his cloudy eyes carefully examining certain inconspicuous corners, or running his fingertips along the engravings on the wall.

"Watch your step." His voice was exceptionally clear in the silence. "In the labyrinths of these Unified Dynasties, the ground sometimes hides secrets. Especially the seemingly flat central area... try to avoid it."

He pointed to an area in front of him that was slightly darker in color, where the gaps between the stone slabs were almost invisible.

"That kind of construction usually means that the bottom is hollow, or connected to a trigger mechanism. Once the load exceeds a certain limit, the rock ceiling above may collapse."

Following their instructions, the group walked close to the walls on both sides. Sure enough, as they passed through that area, they could feel a very subtle, unsteady tremor under their feet.

After walking for a while, the passage widened, and a fork in the road appeared ahead. Three almost identical roads stretched into the darkness.

Duncan stopped at the intersection, frowning as he examined the wear and tear on the ground and walls, trying to determine which road was more frequently "used" or which was a trap.

Just then, Frieren's voice came from the middle of the group, calm and indifferent.

"Go to the left."

Duncan turned around.

Frieren didn't look at him; her emerald eyes were fixed on a seemingly ordinary, protruding rock brick above the entrance to the passage on the right. The brick was a slightly different color from the surrounding bricks, and its surface was too smooth.

"If you step on it, arrows will shoot from both sides of the wall. Lots of arrows."

Duncan followed her finger, squinted to perceive it carefully, and after a moment, slowly nodded.

"I see... an extremely well-hidden magic circuit. Thank you for reminding me, Frieren."

Fern walked beside Frieren, glanced at her with his pale purple eyes, and said softly.

"Lady Frieren is quite skilled at dungeons."

Upon hearing this, Frieren's lips curved upwards, her hands on her hips, and her chin slightly raised, revealing a hint of smugness.

"Hmph~" she snorted lightly, "How many mazes do you think Lowell and I have conquered together?"

Duncan glanced at her, then walked into the left-hand passage first, saying as he did so.

"Indeed. If you, Frieren, were willing to lead the scouting, with your experience, we could definitely save more effort and avoid more trouble."

Frieren followed behind him, blinking her emerald eyes as she looked at Duncan's retreating figure.

Do you know me well?

Duncan didn't turn around, but his tone was somewhat wistful.

"The most wonderful thing about magic is the process of pursuing it, understanding it, and ultimately mastering it, isn't it? As for how much you can master, that's secondary. I think you, who can say that 'the greatest pleasure of magic lies in the process of exploration,' understand this better than I do. The pleasure of exploring a labyrinth is the same."

Frieren smiled.

"You know a lot."

Without another word, the group continued its silent march forward.

At the end of the passage was a heavy stone door. There was no handle on the door, only a complex magic lock in the center.

"Looks like it'll take some time." Duncan stopped in front of the door, carefully examining the lock's structure. He stretched out a finger and pressed it lightly against the stone door, carefully sensing the flow of magic within.

The others also stopped and spread out slightly to observe the relatively spacious stone chamber. The rock walls were rough, and in the corners were piles of broken bones and decaying wooden remnants, left behind by intruders some time ago.

Lichta leaned against the wall by the door, her dead fish eyes scanning her surroundings, her expression unchanged. Laufen squatted a short distance away, wiping the thick layer of dust off the ground with her finger, sniffing it, and then looking up at the ceiling.

"It's Gargoyle!"

Laufen noticed something, sprang to her feet, and shouted a warning! Her gaze, which had been fixed on the ceiling, caught something unusual—several protrusions that she had initially thought were natural rock formations suddenly cracked and peeled off their thin stone shells the moment Duncan's magic touched the lock!

"Crack! Crack!"

Pebbles rained down. Three gargoyles with bat-like wings, long, curved horns, and Gargoyle faces broke free of their disguise and silently swooped down! Their eyes were two dark red points, leaving afterimages, and their sharp claws pointed directly at the crowd below!

Laufen reacted the fastest. While issuing the warning, she ducked and rolled several times swiftly to the side, avoiding the first Gargoyle's swooping claws. The claws grazed her back, carving sparks in the hard ground.

She continued rolling, bracing herself with one hand while drawing her staff from her side with the other, and without even looking, swung it backward! A solid Ordinary Attack Magic flew from her hand, striking the Gargoyle's wing membrane with a dull thud like leather tearing. The Gargoyle swayed, its attack trajectory deviating.

Almost at the same instant that Laufen rolled over, Lichta released magic from the hand that was pressed to the ground.

"Boom!"

A thick earthen wall suddenly rose up beside Laufen, blocking the second Gargoyle's follow-up attack. The Gargoyle crashed headfirst into the earthen wall with a dull thud, sending rock fragments flying.

Kanne and Rabiñe stood back to back. Kanne manipulated a puddle of water in the corner of the stone chamber to create a water whip, while Rabiñe Frozen the end of the water whip to increase its power, temporarily restraining one of them.

Länge erected Defensive Magic, protecting herself and Methode around her, while Bly and Dunster shielded Edel in the middle, using magic to repel the approaching Gargoyles.

"Whoosh! Whoosh!"

Fern and Methode's staffs lit up almost simultaneously. Fern's Ordinary Attack Magic beam was swift and precise, shooting directly at the eye socket of the second Gargoyle, which was momentarily disoriented and blocked by the earthen wall. Methode's beam, on the other hand, drew an elegant arc, blocking the path of the third Gargoyle as it attempted to climb.

On the other side, Wirbel did not draw his short staff. He simply raised his head, his dark red eyes locking onto the first Gargoyle wounded by the Laufen wind blades, which was trying to adjust its posture.

The Gaze Restraint Magic is activated.

The Gargoyle froze instantly, plummeting straight down from the low sky.

"Bang!"

Ehre's staff was already raised. Along the trajectory of the Gargoyle's stiff fall, several stones hardened by magic were launched like cannonballs, striking its head, chest, and joints with pinpoint accuracy!

"Bang! Crash--!"

The muffled thud of shattering stones mingled with the sound of rocks crumbling. The Gargoyle was smashed to pieces in mid-air, turning into a rain of stones that crashed to the ground with a crackling sound.

From the Gargoyles attacked until all three were dealt with, the entire process took only a few breaths.

Duncan didn't even turn around. His fingers, which were resting on the stone door, paused only slightly. Sensing the burst of magic behind him that quickly subsided, he continued to focus on opening the door. Only when the last piece of stone landed did he slowly exhale, withdraw his hand, and turn to look at the crowd.

"Hmm." He nodded, a hint of satisfaction flashing in his cloudy eyes. "Good teamwork. That's the advantage of numbers. A few Gargoyles, if prepared, really don't pose much of a threat."

"The lock is on." Duncan said no more and faced the stone door again.

A rumbling sound came from inside the heavy stone door, which slowly opened a crack inward.

Duncan took the first step and crossed the threshold.

The crowd filed in.

However, just as the people in the middle of the group stepped into the new area, and before those behind had completely left the stone chamber—

Duncan, who was walking at the front, paused for a moment.

What appeared before me was... "Laufen".