The passage at the entrance was somewhat longer than they had imagined.
Without a clock, it was difficult to judge the exact time, but by feel, more than ten minutes had passed, and they still could not see the end.
There were quite a few traps along the way, and they had proceeded cautiously because of them, but even setting those factors aside, the passage itself was long enough.
Fortunately, aside from a few harmless traps, there were no other obstacles, and the journey had been fairly smooth.
The overly tense atmosphere from before seemed to have eased somewhat.
"Look ahead..."
Bern suddenly stopped. Everyone followed his gaze, and the narrow passage finally opened up. Before them stood a large black-gray door.
The group exchanged glances and stepped back for the moment. Bern raised his shield before him and slowly approached the door.
The other side of the door was utterly quiet. At least, they could not hear anything from here.
Bern tried tapping the door with his shield. The iron shield struck the door with a crisp clang.
Other than that, there was still no reaction.
Bern was in no hurry. He cautiously used his shield to probe every corner of the door, including the walls beside it. Only after confirming there were no hidden mechanisms did he suddenly shove the door open, then immediately retreat several steps to create some distance.
Beyond the door was pitch-black, and they could not see what lay within.
The next moment, several rats as long as a person's forearm darted out.
Evan jumped in fright and hastily swung his sword. Once he saw what they were, he spat. "Just rats."
Miriam remained calm and kicked away a rat that had darted to her feet.
During the years she had been left to