The Sound of Time

Shane led the way, his longsword occasionally brushing aside the weeds along the path.

Frieren followed behind him, unfolding the old map provided by the Adventurer Guild and beginning to sketch in new information.

The riverbed where the map originally indicated a river had long since dried up; Shane scraped at the silt at the bottom with his hand, estimating how long ago the water had vanished.

This was crucial information, as it determined whether adventurers in the wild could locate a water source in time.

Frieren recorded the findings faithfully.

The pair continued onward, passing a patch of brambles that had been burned to a crisp.

Frieren stepped forward to inspect them, confirming they were poisonous brambles that had been thoroughly destroyed by magic and could no longer regenerate.

It must have been cleared away by some kind-hearted adventurer passing through.

After confirming there were no lingering hazards, she crossed out the danger marker on the map.

Near the entrance to the dungeon, Shane discovered a strange type of stone.

These stones looked like potatoes but were entirely dark brown, and they made a hollow sound when tapped, leading him to suspect they were empty inside.

Frieren tried striking one with Basic Attack Magic.

To their surprise, the entire stone exploded, spraying a cloud of black, smoke-like powder that shot two or three meters into the air from such a small object.

It was fortunate that Shane had moved quickly, or he would have been covered in soot.

After checking the map, they realized these weren't stones at all, but an aggressive type of spore plant.

If one were to accidentally step on them, they would be launched into the sky.

He quickly kept a wide distance from those stones.

Frieren, however, suddenly became interested; she waved her staff, and pop-pop-crack, the surrounding stones all began to spray high plumes of black smoke, one after another in a rhythmic sequence.

Bang, bang, bang...

After walking for two hours, they arrived at the entrance of the dungeon before they knew it.

The original temple had long since collapsed, leaving only a few thick pillars standing lonely amidst the wild grass.

Shane stroked the intricate carvings on the pillars.

These carvings had long been eroded by wind and sand, becoming mottled and unclear, yet one could still faintly discern their former glory through the delicate patterns.

"Frieren, can you tell what story these carvings are trying to tell?"

"It seems to be the story of a dragon bestowing blessings upon the dwarf race."

Frieren also stepped forward, reaching out to touch the weathered patterns as she continued, "I once heard Ize mention the legends of his dwarven kin; many dwarves to this day believe they are the descendants of dragons."

Descendants of dragons?

Dwarves?

That is truly hard to imagine...

After a brief investigation into the stability of the surrounding entrance, the two followed the temple's remaining stone steps and descended inside.

The entire Ancient Dragon Temple was divided into two parts: the surface ruins and the underground chambers.

The surface ruins were relatively simple; the adventurer party had successfully wiped out the "Three-Headed Lizard" monster that had once occupied the area during their initial raid, and no other low-level monsters had appeared since.

The underground chamber section, however, was much more complex.

It split into two directions, left and right; the left path led to the "Dragon's Grave," while the right led to a dead end filled with traps.

Shane looked at the notes on the map and couldn't help but chuckle.

"The dwarven line of thinking is really simple and brutal—just a straight choice between two."

If this were any other dungeon instance, wouldn't they have designed eight or ten wrong paths to trip you up?

"Let's go, we'll head straight to inspect the Dragon's Grave."

"Wait a moment..."

"?"

Frieren looked at the old map in her hands, which had already been updated with quite a few new records.

She pondered for a moment before suddenly asking, "The labels for the left and right passages on the map... they shouldn't be wrong, right?"

"!"

Shane was stunned.

Is it possible that these could be wrong?

Now that you've said that, I'm suddenly feeling a bit less confident...

He looked at the two pitch-black tunnels again; his previous nonchalance vanished in an instant, and his expression turned serious.

A choice between two.

If one were to choose incorrectly, the end of the path would lead straight into a dead end filled with traps.

Left or right?

"Shall we follow the map and check the left side first?" Frieren suggested.

Shane hesitated; should he trust the map or his intuition?

Taking a deep breath, he decided to leave it to [Strong Luck]. At a time like this, nothing was more reliable than luck!

He pulled a coin from his pocket, balanced it on his thumb, flicked it high into the air, and caught it. He silently chanted: heads for left, tails for right.

He opened his hand to look, and the result was actually the right side!

"Since we've already started doubting, let's begin our exploration from the right."

Frieren nodded, and the two of them entered the right-hand corridor one after the other.

The corridor was dim, obstructing their vision.

Frieren channeled magic into the gem at the tip of her staff, and the entire staff lit up like a lightbulb.

Everything in the corridor became clearly visible.

After walking cautiously for a distance, Frieren suddenly stopped.

"Wait."

"There is another mage hiding nearby."

A single sentence sent Shane's heart into his throat.

"How many?"

"One."

A single mage, appearing deep inside a low-level dungeon that had already been cleared?

No matter how one looked at it, this couldn't be a good thing.

Shane gently drew the longsword at his waist, held it in front of him, and swapped positions with Frieren. Using the light from the staff behind him, he slowed his pace and continued forward.

After only a few steps, they saw a pile of scattered refined iron arrows.

Clearly, someone had triggered a trap.

Some of these arrows were embedded in the walls, others were stuck in the ground, and some seemed to have been knocked aside by external force, lying strewn across the floor.

Shane crouched down to touch the temperature of the arrows.

The shafts were cold, proving that the battle here had ended a while ago.

He scanned all the arrows and found no traces of blood or scraps of clothing. He could generally conclude that the other party was quite formidable.

He gave Frieren a look to be cautious.

The two continued forward, and at the next corner, they saw many strangely shaped stone fragments scattered on the ground.

"It's a Gargoyle," Frieren whispered from behind. "It's been shattered."

Shane nodded.

Having reached this point, he could roughly judge that the unknown mage hiding elsewhere was indeed a very powerful one.

He sincerely hoped that the person was well-intentioned.

Otherwise, fighting in such a narrow underground space would easily result in mutual destruction.

Just as he was thinking this, a flash of light suddenly streaked through the corridor ahead, accompanied by a distinct tremor of the earth.

At the same time, there came a hoarse, muffled roar filled with rage:

"Foolish humans! Look at what you have done!"

The two exchanged a look of shock.

Frieren instantly teleported, vanishing from where she stood.

Shane also activated [Dash], turning into a blur as he sped forward.