272 Entry into the labyrinth?
White Labyrinth Exploration Arc.
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(POV: Lumiere)
Just when I thought our noisy elf was about to snap, we were saved.
Stellaria yawned and hovered towards us.
"Alright, I'm ready," she said.
Although she was the last to get here, by "Stellaria Time" she was early.
"Wow, Stellaria, you actually managed to wake up early!" I said, shocked.
Stellaria's tired voice replied, "Huh, you sound surprised."
"Well yeah, I mean, it's you after all."
"You said it was important to you, so of course I put effort."
I thanked her, partially taken aback by her commitment, to which she replied with a nonchalant, "It's cool," before letting out another yawn.
Stellaria can be Stellaria sometimes... But when it mattered the most, she always came through.
Ophelia, gripping the paper in her hand, gritted her teeth and demanded, "Are we ready?"
The entire clearing erupted in a chorus of shouts, affirming our readiness.
Grome charged forward in his armor with his sword in hand.
"Alright, let's go!!"
However, Ophelia's skepticism couldn't be contained as she sarcastically asked, "Do you even know where you're going, Grome?"
His confident stride came to an abrupt halt, and he sheepishly admitted, "Ah, no not really."
"So, Lumiere." Ophelia face me.
"Yeah?"
"Where's this labyrinth you've been talking about..."
I took a deep breath and replied, "Alright, follow me."
With that, we set off on our journey.
...
We traversed the terrain, exchanging banter and stories along the way.
Half an hour later...
We finally arrived at the colossal door that guarded the entrance to the labyrinth.
「Wind Cannon!」
I placed my hand out and summoned a powerful gust of wind, dissipating the trees and bushes that obstructed our view of the door.
"Alright, this is it..."
The intricate engravings of a majestic dragon adorned its surface, eliciting a gasp of admiration from Luna.
"It's beautiful," she said.
She was right. It looked a lot Iike those eastern dragons' monument from the "other" world.
Lance, never one to miss an opportunity to boast, chimed in, "Not as beautiful as me," while admiring his own reflection on the mirror.
Grome was more amazed by the size, he muttered, "It's so big."
"Yeah," said Stellaria. "Almost as big as your c—"
"Not here Stellaria..." I sighed.
Her eyelids closed half-way. "You're no fun."
Ophelia turned to me, curiosity apparent in her eyes, and asked, "How'd you find it?"
"My [Magic Detect] picked it up."
"Hm, makes sense, yours should cover a really wide range."
She folded her arms and returned her gaze back to the door.
Anastasia broke the silence and posed the question:
"So, who's gonna open the door?"
"Before we do that," Ophelia stepped forward. "We should check for traps."
"Check... For... Traps..."
Aidan pronounced each of these words separately in as he wrote them down into a small book he had in hand.
There was always that student who loved to take notes.
He was that student.
"Professor, anything else...?" Aidan asked.
"Just be careful about the traps thing, again. Because it's not funny, you could get sucked into the labyrinth and then get caught in an anti magic device that drains all your mana. And if you're lucky... I mean unlucky, you'll be stuck with a guy who you may or may not like and just ke—"
Her cryptic advice left everyone baffled.
Blink. Blink.
We all stared at her, confused.
All of a sudden, Ophelia?s cheeks turned red. She cleared her throat and said, "But the bottom line is to check for traps before proceeding."
Seeking a volunteer, I turned to Stellaria and implored her, "Could you check if there's any traps around?"
"Can do," she casually replied with a simple nod.
After some few seconds, she said, "Looks like it's safe."
She didn't move, however, she didn't need to. Thanks to her grasp over her Apex Skill, it was easy for her to use spatial sensors to scan the entire area from where she was.
It was like [Magic Detect], however, it worked on non-magical existences as well.
A collective breath of relief escaped Ruri's lips as she quipped, "Well, at least we're safe from getting sucked into the labyrinth."
Luna chimed in, a warm smile illuminating her face.
"Perhaps Ruri, you're overreacting just a tad."
Aidan added his concurrence while adjusting his glasses. "Agreed."
"Hah~ I guess," she said.
My eyes wandered, landing upon Elise, who quietly observed the conversation without participating.
In a fleeting moment, I caught a glimpse of her smile.
However, as our gazes interlocked, she startled and panic washed over her countenance.
Hastily, I redirected my attention elsewhere, discreetly concealing my surprise.
"Enough sidetracking, how're we gonna open the door?" Lumila questioned.
Luna pondered for a moment before suggesting, "Maybe there's a hidden trigger, perhaps a small rock that can open it?"
Anastasia nodded, agreeing with Luna's conjecture.
"I mean, given the percentage of adventurers that get stuck in places like these, it's usually through a rock."
"Hm?" Luna's eyebrow raised. "Wait, it really is?"
"That's what I heard at least..."
Ophelia strode towards the massive stone door, her steel glove transforming into a jagged golden dagger.
Carefully, she cleaved out a piece of stone, the resounding scrape causing some ear discomfort.
Grome watched her closely, "What'd you plan to do with that piece, souvenir?"
"No, you idiot..."
Grome frowned a bit. "That was a bit harsh."
"I wanna take a good look at it using [Appraisal]."
After the use of [Appraisal], Ophelia relayed her findings to the rest of us.
"This door is likely made from Lenseng stone," she revealed.
"Hmm," Luna placed a finger on her chin and looked up a bit. "Isn't that stone found on the Dragon Continent?"
Lumila adjusted her glasses and nodded.
"Yes, and they're pretty rare to come by nowadays."
Grome reached out and touched the stone door.
"That means this door costs a lot," he mused aloud. A mischievous grin spread across his face as he continued, "We could sell it and make some big bucks."
Before he could make a move, Ophelia swiftly sent a powerful knock with her fist to the back of his head, causing Grome to collapse on the ground, cradling his head in pain.
"Don't do that, you idiot," she scolded him.
Grome, looking up at her with confusion, mustered the word, "Why?"
I stepped forward, placing a hand on my hip.
"Dude, that door's like an antique in its own right. It'd be best to keep our hands off things like this. Hmm... Wait... I guess it's more like national treasure but on a continental scale...? Yeah, that?s it."
Grome soothed his head as he watched me speak.
"Besides, what's inside the labyrinth should be worth more than the stone door, right?" Ruri asked.
Ophelia nodded in agreement with my statement. "It's likely," she responded. "However, there're some dungeons that have a tendency to disappoint adventurers like us nine out of ten times."
Grome, now back on his feet, couldn't help but bring up an example.
"Like that Palkis dungeon," he said, already annoyed.
Ophelia sighed, folding her arms. "Don't remind me," she muttered.
She went on to explain that the dungeon seemed promising, with its appearance of brimming with valuable items. Yet, to their shock, they barely found anything worth sixty silver.
"That sucks," I couldn't help but comment.
"Definitely," Ophelia agreed. She continued, much more frustrated than annoyed. "But your Grygan dungeon, on the other hand, was way better. We found lots of airships, magic cores and crystals."
Grome snapped his finger. "Also, don't forget about those rare metals you brought along with you.."
"Oh yeah, didn't we sell them the day after...?"
"Yeah, everything we sold cost about five gold."
"That was a good month..."
"Tell me about it," Ophelia slouched and sighed heavily.
Stellaria stretched her arms and let out a loud yawn.
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but we've got more important things to do," she said, pointing towards the door.
Ophelia quickly interjected.
"Destroying it is out of the question. We don't even know if it's permitted to be explored."
Sure, every dungeon/labyrinth could be explored but it was best to inform the AGA if the party wanted to "raid" the dungeon.
"Still, It'd be so much better if we brought this door down," I urged them.
Ophelia crossed her arms, a thoughtful expression crossing her face.
"I think we should wait a bit," she finally said.
Slightly frustrated, I let out a sigh.
"Wait for what, Ophelia? It's not like we can just sit here and expect the answer on how to open the door to magically appear," I argued.
I plopped down on a nearby boulder.
Unexpectedly, the boulder depressed slightly beneath my weight, causing a low rumbling sound to occur.
To everyone's surprise, the stone doors began to slide apart, revealing the mysterious depths of the labyrinth. All eyes turned towards me, disbelief written across their faces.
"Well, would you look at that. It actually worked," said Stellaria.
Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om