Chapter 112: Cave Exploration 2
TL/Editor: Raei
Schedule: 5/Week Wed-Sun
Illustrations: Posted in discord.
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Our group, including Han Se-ah, didnt pay much attention to the walls of the cave.
There weren't any worm or ghost-type monsters breaking through the cave walls, and it wasn't an underground dungeon filled with traps either.
However, the idle viewers tend to be curious about everything.
Some intently watch the shadowy passages of the cave, while others are strangely fixated on things like Grace's swaying hair or the fluttering hem of Irenes nun robe.
"Theres a pattern on the wall? Why didnt I see it?"
"Hanna? Is something wrong?"
Hmm... Irene, did you notice anything odd on the cave walls?
Han Se-ah's steps began to falter at the sound of the loudly echoing donation notification.
Donations arent as immediate as the chat, so by the time she received the advice, we'd already moved past the mentioned wall with the pattern.
Out of curiosity and slight regret, she throws a glance back, slowing her pace, which makes Irene and Kaiden turn their attention to her.
No, I didnt see anything.
Neither did I. Do you sense something back there?
Of course these two wouldn't have noticed anything.
To begin with, in my decade as an adventurer, I've never heard of patterns carved onto cave walls.
But it can't be entirely dismissed as nonsense either.
From a side quest to gather moss for hair loss treatment to something new possibly appearing on the cave walls, isn't this what games are about?
"I think there might be something on the cave walls. It could be my imagination, but we should be on the look out.
The party looked surprised by Han Se-ah's unexpected comment.
They must've been puzzled since I hadnt mentioned anything about the cave walls before.
But I too was clueless in this case, merely shrugging in response.
The group continued forward, keeping in mind the comment about the cave walls.
From the looks of it, everyone seemed to be carefully observing their surroundings.
The trust that Han Se-ah had built as a player was substantial, so instead of dismissing it as nonsense, everyone was genuinely curious.
Had any other adventurer made such a claim, they'd probably have been ridiculed for talking nonsense after having too much to drink the previous night.
But when Han Se-ah says it, it feels credible.
Hey, whoever mentioned the wall pattern before, speak up now. Give us a clearer explanation. We appreciate the donation, but the timing was off, and we passed that spot already. I can't just ask Roland to go back because of a donation. Hurry up.
-Bro I paid to give advice and got scolded for it.
-What explanation is needed? If somethings drawn on the cave wall, you'll know when you see it, lol.
-Blaming others so smoothly Is this the quality of a top-tier streamer and of a world-ranked mage?
[HanSeAhsActualThoughts donated 10,000 won!]
Honestly, I'm just asking for more donations.
"It's not like that! ...Of course, I genuinely appreciate the 10,000 won."
While bickering with the viewers and searching the cave walls meticulously, Han Se-ah moves forward.
However, after encountering a group of kobolds and hunting vampire bats, we still hadn't found any cave walls engraved with peculiar patterns.
Because of this, the party members began to grow restless, and both Han Se-ah and the viewers started to believe that either the darkness had tricked their eyes into seeing the patterns on the cave wall, or someone had lied to troll them.
That was until Irene called out to me.
"Uh, Roland?"
"What is it?"
"I think I saw something strange here. It seems you can only see it when the baton-shaped magic tool gets close to the wall..."
Irene, who had put unwavering faith in Han Se-ah's words, had tirelessly observed the cave walls and had now found something.
Han Se-ah, whipping her head around so fast that one might worry it'd snap off, and the rest of the curious group approached Irene.
We then pressed the magic tool against the cave wall like we were writing on it.
When the rugged wall caught the faint light, it transformed as if it was an artificial surface, becoming completely smooth.
Instead of revealing patterns, certain parts of the wall became sleek, and the surrounding stalactites and other cave wall irregularities cast shadows, making it seem as though patterns were appearing.
Even someone unfamiliar with adventuring would find this wall suspicious.
It looked as if tiles, each about 30cm in size, had been embedded into the uneven cave, forming a smooth square.
"What is this?"
"Roland, do you know anything?"
"No, this is the first time I've seen anything like this while exploring the tower. I've never heard of something like this in the caves."
The space was limited, so I, clad in large, heavy armor, stepped back, making way for the smaller members of the group to huddle closer.
Their heads clustered together like puppies crowding around a food bowl.
Even Kaiden seemed to forget she was in disguise and joined the huddle it was almost too adorable.
Holding the baton-shaped magic tool close and then pulling it away, knocking on the wall with a sword hilt, rubbing the smooth surface the group tried everything, looking like children conducting their first science experiment.
-There's been a lot more things happening since entering the 21st floor
-I'm not interested in a cave wall, can you turn the camera 180 degrees?
-Lol, seriously, who wants to see the wall? Show us Grace and Irene
-So, what is that, nerds?
-It's certainly out of place, but I have no idea. It seems like a switch, but nothing happens when you press it.
Since it's a narrow passage and I'm blocking the front, and with Kaiden and Irene at the back, there's no worry of an ambush.
So, like people trying to solve a puzzle, the entire party remained focused on the cave wall.
However, even after gently caressing and tapping the unresponsive wall tiles, there was no reaction.
By appearance alone, they looked like a puzzle board from an escape or horror game, but there was no reaction.
Then, an idea suddenly came to mind.
Could it be some sort of switch or button?
And in this fantasy world, such switches or buttons would naturally move by consuming mana rather than electricity.
"Hanna, how about trying to infuse it with some mana?"
"Mana?"
"Instead of just touching it with your hand filled with mana, imagine activating a magic tool and directly channeling your mana into that wall."
I meant for her to treat it like a light switch, and to feed mana into it as if sending electricity through a wire.
I tried to phrase it in a way that would make sense to her, hoping she'd catch the drift.
Regardless of my vague instruction, Han Se-ah immediately aimed her staff at it.
The cluster of mana that floated above her staff seemed to seep into the wall, like rainwater permeating dry soil.
Due to frequently manipulating her mana through her staff to explain the mini-map, her mana control was exceptional.
As she continued to pour her mana in, a visible change occurred on the wall.
"It feels like... the mana is being drained."
"Reacting to a mage? Maybe another mage left something behind?"
Blue lines of mana began to etch onto the smooth surface of the wall.
Whether it was the mana stones of monsters or clusters of unformed magic, this familiar blue color of the fantasy world began to travel over the smooth surface of the wall.
Rather than resembling a switch, it looked more like a circuit board as the blue lines of mana spread out erratically, even reaching the uneven parts of the cave walls.
The blue luminescence of mana stretched out, illuminating the dim cave.
"Ah, it's showing a path."
As the mana began to fade, the appearance of the cave changed, and Han Se-ah's expression turned rigid.
Because, undeniably, the path in front of them was less of a narrow cave path and more like a maze.
From the 21st to the 30th floor of the Tower was a cave terrain.
Well, it used to be.
The narrow, uneven passages housed cave spiders and vampire bats, and sudden expansive clearings were filled with stalactites and stalagmites, with goblins and creatures like kobolds appearing in large numbers.
The safe zones were at the end of dead-end paths, where the ground was flat enough to set up a tent village.
But that was then.
"How many forks have we passed?"
"That was already the eighth one."
Grace, with her darkening expression, scanned the surroundings with even more intensity.
It was because the cave hadn't originally had this many forks in its paths.
Before channeling mana into the wall, there would be a fork roughly every 30 minutes.
Now, there seemed to be two or three forks appearing every 5 minutes.
If it weren't for Han Se-ah's mini-map function, they might have starved to death wandering in circles.
"We have the mini-map, so we're not just going around in circles, but I can't figure out what's going on. Do we need to find all the flat panels in the maze and pour mana into them? Like in those horror games where you go around pressing multiple levers or switches."
It doesn't feel like monsters will suddenly appear, though.
-Left-left-right-right-center-center-left-right, this is driving me crazy. LOL.
-After watching the stream, I don't want to climb to the 21st floor...
-Can they even finish this today? Might have to camp out a few times.
-If they didnt pack enough food, theyd be seriously screwed.
The problem was that no quest window had appeared for Han Se-ah yet.
Turning a cave level into a maze level, what's up with that setting?
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