Twists and Turns in Sellia Crystal Tunnel

I'm numb.

Te Pi was numb both psychologically and physiologically.

The Zane Dungeon had a knack for understanding people's minds was just right. The appearance of the rat monster just now was perfectly timed, which dispelled his doubts and allowed him to successfully activate the Teleportation Trap.

The Zane Dungeon is cunning enough that this bastard even mixed high-level paralysis powder into the mist generated by the Teleportation Trap!

Forget about retreating to avoid the Teleportation Trap; the moment he touched the powder, his body went numb as if he were embracing a stinging jellyfish.

His vision spun, and he watched helplessly as he was gradually swallowed by the smoke, his body being transported to some unknown place filled with demons and monsters.

Based on his understanding of the Zane Dungeon, anything that appears after Teleportation Trap is definitely not a good thing.

Just before he was about to be teleported away, his gaze happened to glance at the entrance to the basement, the very place where he had initially rolled down.

The Flying Dragon Agheel was bringing its mouth close to the narrow entrance, and raging flames were brewing at its mouth. The next second, it opened its mouth and spewed them out!

Just as the intense heat and flames swept into the basement, Te Pi was teleported away.

If you look at it that way, the Teleportation Trap actually saved his life.

But is the aggro range of your Flying Dragon Agheel legal?

I don't know how much time has passed.

"Bang! Bang!"

A clanging sound, no, it sounded like mining, reached his ears, and Te Pi opened his eyes.

The moment he opened his eyes, a chilling aura pierced his body like sharp needles, making him shudder and immediately sense the malice lurking here.

"Small, cabin?"

He was captivated by the sight before him.

I was in a dilapidated wooden hut that was probably less than ten square meters in size. It was more like a shed that was just randomly pieced together from logs. The gaps between the logs were ridiculously large, and there was no door. It made me feel unsafe all of a sudden.

What's even stranger is that the wooden house appears to be located in a place similar to Underground Mine.

The sound of Mining Pick striking rocks came from all directions, not very frequently, and you could tell that the miners were moving slowly, probably slacking off.

Just by looking out from the doorless entrance, you can see pale blue crystal clusters protruding from the rock wall, and baskets and Mining Pick scattered on the ground, as well as some broken crystal clusters that have been knocked off.

An ordinary person would probably seek help from any available miners at this point, but Te Pi wasn't stupid. He knew that the miners in the Zane Dungeon might be a bit strange, or even monsters.

"Shall we go out and explore?"

He muttered to himself as the pale blue crystal clusters emitted a faint blue light, which was the only source of illumination. The blue light almost made the place seem like a ghostly realm filled with phantoms, and coupled with the surrounding silence, it created an indescribable eeriness.

They practically had "I'm extremely dangerous" written all over their faces.

No normal person would want to put themselves in danger, but Te Pi had no choice. He couldn't just cowardly commit suicide in the cabin and then be resurrected by the Blessing, could he? That's something only a coward would do. Even if there were no bystanders around, he would despise himself if he did it.

"My son wouldn't commit suicide, let alone his father."

He pounded his chest to encourage himself and strode towards the door of the cabin.

However, just as he reached the door of the cabin and before he could even stretch his leg out, he suddenly stopped, as if he had suddenly remembered something, and his expression gradually became serious.

The surroundings were completely silent, a quiet environment perfect for contemplation. But now, this silence gave Te Pi a suffocating feeling, as if he were sinking into a gradually solidifying, sticky mud.

What suddenly came to his mind was...

When will the mining noise stop?

He turned sharply to look at the crack in the wooden house wall, and the middle-aged man's body stiffened like a stone.

Through the gaps, large and small, pairs of eyes, gleaming with a faint phosphorescent light, were silently watching him.

"!!!"

Te Pi immediately bristled like a kitten seeing a data cable, goosebumps erupting all over his body. When exactly had he caught the attention of these eyes? How long had he been stared at? This was terrifying to think about!

Upon being discovered, the eyes stepped back a few paces, revealing their true forms.

These creatures have human-like forms, but their entire bodies are covered in stone-like minerals. They carry Mining Pick or similar tools, like miners who have become one with the minerals due to long periods of mining.

After seeing the whole picture, it wasn't scary anymore, but the lingering sense of horror from that fleeting glimpse still haunted Te Pi's mind.

Just then, the miners also moved, their Mining Pick smashing violently against the wooden house. They used all their strength to try to push down this unsafe safe house, and a feeling of being besieged by zombies rushed over them.

Te Pi reacted quickly and dashed out, bumping right into a crystal miner. His ornately decorated knife slashed at the miner's neck, but the sensation of the blade cutting into flesh was not like cutting into blood; it felt more like striking stone.

His strength was not incapable of splitting mountains and rocks, but he was caught off guard and the recoil caused his knife to slip from his hand. Just as he was about to pick it up, a large number of miners rushed over, and he immediately turned and ran.

After escaping, he discovered that the mine was much larger than he had imagined.

Looking at the numerous tunnels of varying sizes before him, Te Pi had no idea where to run. Every path seemed to offer a chance to escape or lead to his death.

"Never mind, I'll just pick one!"

As the miners drew closer, he steeled himself and ran toward the nearest tunnel.

Very good, very good. The crystal miners can't keep up with him at all. They're just too tough. He can ignore them and run out on his own. It seems this tunnel isn't so difficult after all.

He smiled and winked.

When Tepi opened his eyes again, Te Pi was stunned. He was back in the hut, surrounded by the sounds of mining.

"W-what happened?"

He looked around uneasily, wondering why he had come back. Wasn't he supposed to be running into the tunnel?

No, I just died!

He tried hard to recall, and memories flooded back. He saw himself running excitedly toward the nearest tunnel, then heard a whooshing sound behind him, followed by a pain as if his body was being pierced by thousands of needles. He collapsed to the ground and died on the spot.

A strange sense of panic permeated the surrounding atmosphere.

The miners didn't seem like they could shoot needles at him, which meant there were other monsters hidden in the mine that he hadn't discovered yet, and whose attacks were far more powerful and faster than the miners', and even beyond Te Pi's own tolerance.

This mine is not simple.

"No, the most important thing is, why did I come back to life here?"

Looking at the dilapidated wooden house, Te Pi fell into a daze.

After death, one should be resurrected through a blessing, or be directly teleported to the Resurrection Room outside by Teleportation Crystal. Since he didn't bring Teleportation Crystal, the second option can be disregarded.

But by no means should he have been resurrected in the cabin!

There is only one explanation.

"There's a problem with the Teleportation Trap."

He confined that thing inside the mine!

After a moment of silence, Te Pi fell silent once he discovered the cause of the entire incident.

But time didn't allow him to think; he noticed the miners were watching him again.

By now, even a fool should realize that it was his own muttering that attracted these guys!

"Once I get out, I'm going to raze this damn dungeon to the ground!"

Te Pi cursed angrily, quickened his pace, ran out of the cabin, grabbed the knife from the ground, turned around, and sprinted backwards toward the tunnel, looking around. As he reached the tunnel entrance, the familiar sound of sharp spikes cutting through the air came again. Following the source of the sound, he finally found the culprit.

It was a large, humanoid insect perched on the roof of the wooden house!

Rotten Kindred

He couldn't imagine having such a disgusting and terrifying humanoid insect standing on his head while he was inside the cabin; it gave him goosebumps again.

The Rotten Kindred spread their hands, and a large number of sharp spikes called insect silk flew out from behind them, which would automatically track them.

Te Pi seized the opportunity and dodged to the side, successfully avoiding half of the spikes!

The other half of his body was riddled with thorns.

"Once you know the truth, it's not scary anymore."

Despite the pain in his body, Te Pi still managed a smile, a smile somewhat similar to Leon's. He dragged himself toward the tunnel with his still-functioning arm, his eyes fixed on the every move of the Rotten Kindred, his aim being to calculate the intervals between the silkworm's launches.

But just then, a wisp of silk suddenly flew towards him from another direction, piercing him right through the heart.

He then noticed that there was another Rotten Kindred lying on the rock face not far away.

No, there's more than one. There are others in other places as well. There are actually four Rotten Kindred in this dilapidated mine eyeing him covetously!

"Hehe."

I don't know how much time has passed again.

"Shuashuashua——"

The silk threads darted through the mine like homing missiles, while Te Pi nimbly dodged them, managing to handle even two silk threads simultaneously.

He familiarly jumped into any of the tunnels and ran forward.

Inside the tunnel were scattered miners and Bat Monster. By the time he reached the end, he had sustained numerous injuries, and even his knife was dulled.

However, when he emerged from the tunnel and saw the familiar scenery of the mine, his eyes suddenly lost their luster, and he muttered to himself like a broken Doll:

"It's changed again; the tunnel's structure has changed again."

Back in the cabin, the small, dilapidated house was now filled with piles of ore.

Forging Stone, Gravity Stone, and Cracked Glintstone. These are all items that Te Pi collected after countless deaths. Even though many were lost along the way, the amount in the cabin is still considerable.

Regardless of the value of Forging Stone, Gravity Stone and Cracked Glintstone have long been recognized as having considerable value by magical craftsmen outside the mine. They can be used to power magical items and have a range of other uses, and their purchase price has always been high. The fact that they are being produced in large quantities in the mine at this moment will surely attract a large influx of people.

In addition, Te Pi even found a magic page.

[Blast Rock Bed]

[A type of Glintstone Magic from the magic academy Raya Lucaria, which infuses magic power into the end of a staff, pierces the ground, and generates a large magical shockwave around it.]

[During the spell's activation, one can move freely and use the end of a magic-infused staff to stab enemies; this is a high-level mining spell used by the sapphire miners in the Crystal Caverns.]

This thing is incredibly powerful; it could easily crush miners, but it consumes magic power at an alarming rate, so he can barely use it.

The Teleportation Trap really did lead him to a mine full of treasures.

But if we can't get out, it's all for nothing!

He had painstakingly honed his extraordinary agility through his talent and the experience of death, enabling him to dodge insect silk and even slip away like an eel when surrounded by several miners. If he were put back in the past, Leon would probably have a hard time catching him.

He really did become stronger through the trials and tribulations.

But, but—

The mine has several tunnels leading to the outside and several deeper tunnels, the exits of which can change!

The exit changes every time he dies!

To this day, Te Pi has not found a way out and is going to be trapped here to die.

"I was wrong. I will never say such reckless things as flattening this underground city again."

Te Pi sat amidst a pile of ore, completely oblivious to the fact that his mutterings would attract the miners' attention. His hand unconsciously rubbed against a fan-shaped Gravity Stone, a wan smile playing on his lips. He said:

"Such a fun place should be visited by more people!"

He clenched his fists, looked up at the sky, and roared, his hair disheveled.

"I want to bring more people in!"

"Knock knock."

The bells rang as the dungeon neared its closing.