Hearing Jacob's lamented voice, the One Fist Team was bewildered as they looked between Jacob and the wall where the entrance had been a moment ago, and now there was nothing but water splatter on the floor.
"Are we trapped here?" Oply questioned grimly.
Jacob shook his head, "Not for long, we just have to open this door."
"What if you can't open that door?" The only troll in the team asked with a hint of fury.
Jacob nonchalantly replied, "There is no 'if.' Just give me some time, and I'll open the door."
"I hope you're telling the truth for all of our sake." The troll coldly stated as he clearly no longer trusted Jacob's words entirely.
However, Jacob didn't mind as he was expecting this much when he decided to blow the entrance. Now that the entrance was gone, unless someone could destroy those runes, it would be nigh impossible for anyone to enter this place.
He just had to do it to ensure his own safety, not to mention he knew this wasn't the only exit from this place.
But he didn't need to tell them that as he went back to seriously decrypting the array while the One Fist Team was still finding it hard to believe what just happened, and Jacob appeared too calm.
However, with the only exit gone, they can only trust Jacob, or they will be trapped here since they just saw themselves just how powerful those runes were. They still had rations for about two months, so they'll be fine.
After this small incident, things turned silent again…
But when eight days passed and Jacob still seemed to be comprehending the runes while walking all over the room, some of them started to panic slightly. However, they remained silent and held to the hope that Jacob could bring them out of this place.
However, on the 34th day, everyone started to get impatient as they saw Jacob sitting cross-legged in front of the door.
"What should we do? I think he wants to kill us all by trapping us here!" The troll sitting in a then gravely revealed his worries to Oply since she was now the leader after Bryan's mysterious disappearance.
"He's also trapped with us." Oply frowned.
"I don't think so. He's simply too mysterious. First, the leader vanished after going with him, and then his own captains in the way. I think he killed them all so he could hoard all the treasures!" The orc grimly stated.
Oply showed a hesitant expression as she also suspects this much after so many days had passed. But the problem was, just as the orc said, Jacob was simply too mysterious, and if they took one wrong step, they might lose their only hope of getting out of there.
Right at this moment, another orc barged into Oply's private tent and excitedly said, "Something is happening! I think Leader Viper has finally deciphered the array!"
The five senior members of the One Fist Team in the tent instantly reacted with elation as they quickly ran out of the tent to see if this was true!
Outside, the runes on the entire space were glowing in pale yellow light and slowly shifting in a particular pattern as if the entire array was rearranging itself.
Standing in front of the door, Jacob's fingertips lit in a blue haze were stroking rune after rune like some musical instrument, making the shifting rune move more violently.
Everyone seemed to be mesmerized by his mysterious yet graceful movements.
After three minutes or so, Jacob removed his hands as sweat was beaded on his face while his body was drenched, but his eyes shone with ecstasy. After thirty-four days of comprehension, he finally figured it out and decrypted the sealing section of the array.
Not only did he gain deep insights into magic runes, but he also became a true Basic Elder Grandmaster Rune Artificer and even found a way to reach the next stage.
If he could have more time to comprehend the entire space, he might be able to reach that stage. But time was a luxury he didn't have because of the Slave Rune. Not to mention, he knew the One Fist Team was starting to get agitated and suspicious of his true intentions.
So, he had to act, or things might turn nasty for him, which he absolutely wanted to avoid.
At this moment, the rune shifting suddenly stopped, and the symbol on the door lit up a section of the door suddenly revealed itself in the center.
It was exactly a keyhole, just as he suspected, and the moment the keyhole appeared, everything turned to normal again.
The five senior members, including Oply, the troll, and three orcs, quickly snapped out of their stupor and approached Jacob with elation.
"Is that a keyhole?" Oply questioned with anticipation, "Do you have the key?"
Jacob looked at the approaching members impassively before he nodded, "I have it. Let's get out of this damn place."
Flipping his hand, a 1'4-meter-long antique bronze key appeared, and he inserted it into the keyhole, which it fits perfectly.
Thereby, the entire door lit up in the runes again before the symbol on the key head shimmered brightly, and thereafter, the key started to turn on its own
'Click…'
A crisp voice of something clicking rang in the space before some mechanism seemed to have stirred. The door, which seemed to be closed for who knows how long, suddenly moved with a creaking sound and started to slide inwardly.
Jacob's hand moved, taking the key out and stowing it away since it served its purpose here.
The One Fist Team watched the door open with ecstasy as they could finally move forward from this damn place. Moreover, they knew there were treasures waiting for them on the other side.
When the door fully opened, the pathway behind it was fully revealed. It was a hallway made with some mysterious stone, and there were columns of black pillars on both sides, and its end couldn't be seen because of darkness.
At this moment, Jacob turned around and sternly commanded, "Alright, I want the scouts in front, and we will follow behind. Don't take any independent action, or I can't guarantee your lives. This place is a maze, so follow my lead if you don't want to die!"
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