Chương 199: Reborn as the Dragon — Chapter 199 - The Terrifying Maze (1)

To enter the dungeon, you first had to find the entrance. Which was, as it turned out, a rather tricky problem. Dungeon lords throughout the ages had made a tradition of it, not just planting cannon fodder monster tribes across the surface as cover and obstruction, but specifically concealing the actual entrance itself. So this circular stone door sitting in plain sight in the middle of the Dragon's Nest floor? Definitely not real. The real entrance was somewhere else.

Freya was absolutely certain of this, and quietly admired herself for it. These pig-like commoners would never figure that out. They probably thought the door right in front of them was genuine. But she was a kind princess. It was only right that she enlighten them.

"This entrance is fake. Stop wasting your time."

"Don't let the carvings fool you. Yes, they're detailed. Yes, the mechanism looks convincing."

"Try turning it if you don't believe me. It won't budge." Freya watched the players crowded around the stone door with a look of supreme boredom, then found herself a rock, sat down, and crossed her legs. Medraco had no idea what was wrong with this woman. The System had already flagged the door in flashing red letters: [Dungeon Entrance]. This was the dungeon entrance. The actual one. He couldn't be bothered to deal with Freya's particular brand of madness. He stepped forward and started turning the mechanism.

Click. Hmmm, It activated. The mechanism was made of three concentric rings, each carved with monsters of different shapes and faces. As he turned the central piece, all three rings moved with it. Freya stared. So... this really was the dungeon entrance? The silence that followed was deeply, profoundly awkward. She had just finished confidently explaining that none of this would work. Now the mechanism was humming along perfectly, and Medraco hadn't even glanced at her.

The combination of her own words and his total indifference sat in her chest like hot coals. She needed somewhere to put that feeling. She kicked Kayal. It was a sudden, unprompted kick to the stomach. Kayal had no time to react. He cried out, brought up a mouthful of stomach acid, and curled on the ground with his whole body shaking. He hadn't eaten in a day. His body had nothing to give, and still somehow he vomited. Two kicks. Freya felt considerably better.

She dusted herself off and strolled over to Medraco's side, affecting the posture of someone carefully analyzing the mechanism. Then she looked at it, and immediately perked up. Ignorant commoners. Even when they stumbled onto the real entrance, they still needed her to save them.

"The mechanism needs all three rings aligned to the same monster before it'll open."

"There's obviously a pattern to it. Spinning it randomly like that won't get you anywhere."

"You could be at this until nightfall and still not crack it." She looked at them with undisguised contempt. These people really did understand nothing. Even with the actual entrance in front of them, they were just fumbling around blind. That was the fundamental difference between the lowly and their betters. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. Medraco: (￢_￢)... He still didn't speak. Didn't even look at her.

In his vision, the System was running a parse bar. He wasn't sure if it was a perk exclusive to Players like them, but when it came to ancient mechanisms, all they had to do was let the System work through it. A loading bar, a countdown, and the thing opened itself. He twisted the mechanism in no particular pattern. The bar ran down. Then the carved button at the center of the stone door clicked inward, and the three rings spun rapidly, splitting apart to the left and right. Boom. Dust billowed out.

The stone door ground open on its axis. Behind it was darkness, a throat of black so deep it looked like a wound in the world. Cold air poured out in a howl, like a lich screaming from somewhere far below. This... It just... opened? Freya stood there, her face burning. She would have given a great deal for a crack in the floor to fall into. She could not begin to explain how these people had opened a dungeon entrance by randomly turning things. Was the mechanism not as sophisticated as she'd assumed?

Was the dungeon lord that careless? The fury that followed had to go somewhere, so she directed it at the designer. This dungeon lord didn't play by the rules. The entrance had been easy to find, fine, humiliating, but fine. But now the mechanism too? This simple? She swore, with the full force of her wounded pride, that whoever built this place would die badly when she found them.

"Everyone, get your torches out." Medraco got to his feet and raised his voice.

"No lighting inside. It's going to be nearly pitch black." He didn't bother addressing Freya. People who were useful got a degree of patience. She was still useful. That meant her arrogance, her tantrums, her absurd proclamations, he could look past all of it, for now. The day she stopped being useful was the day he'd cut the time bomb loose without a second thought. The group filed in with torches raised.

It was a vertical descent, an obsidian staircase dropping straight down, the walls on either side cold and damp, carved with images that were deeply unpleasant to look at. The kind of imagery that was meant to communicate something about what waited below. It took nearly half an hour to reach the bottom. Nothing attacked them on the way down.

"Damn it all!" The bald, heavily-built man beside Medraco spat on the floor and aimed his launcher at the staircase behind them like he was reconsidering the last half hour.

"I swear on Mrs. Sam's stinky leather boot, that is the longest staircase I have ever walked in my life. I should've just RPG'd the whole thing."

"Shut it, Madry." Medraco shot him a flat look.

"Obsidian defense rating up to level 60. Our weapons might not even scratch it. Don't waste the ammunition." Madry grumbled and lowered his launcher. By torchlight, the space around them resolved into an oval cavern. Raw obsidian ore jutted from the walls like black crystal formations. Further ahead, enormous obsidian walls rose nearly ten meters, pressing close to the rock ceiling and sealing off any upward escape. The cavern had one path forward.

Three irregular semi-circular doorways, side by side, cut into the base of the great wall. Freya stepped forward, studying them. Each doorway had two monster statues flanking it, half a person's height, carved with bared fangs and red eyes. Savage, watchful things.

"Second line of defense," she said.

"A maze. Besides the disorientation, there will be traps and monsters inside."

"Two options. Either you do what that legendary mage did and blow the whole thing to rubble, or you walk through it the hard way and hope you survive." No cracks opened in the walls. No handwritten signs appeared directing them around the maze. Freya exhaled quietly. Finally, something that matched her expectations.

"Don't split up," she said.

"All three doors can theoretically lead through, but that's the trick — the designer wants to divide our strength. Ancient records document this exact tactic. Pick one door, and if it doesn't go through, backtrack and try the next." Medraco looked at her. Then he ignored her. Players had team comms. Splitting up was the obvious move, fastest, lowest time cost. As for the risk of dying? He nearly smiled. They didn't care about death.

"Madry, take half the group through the left door. I'll take another group through the middle. The rest of you — follow Lady Freya through the right." [Stay in contact. All times.] The last line went into the team channel. Freya never heard it.

"You—" She bit down on whatever came next. Medraco had already organized everything and divided the groups without asking her opinion. The blood rose to her face. Her jaw worked. Medraco stepped toward her, smoothing his expression into something warm.

"Lady Freya, time is short. This is the most efficient arrangement. I'd appreciate your cooperation." A measured pause.

"We can talk about the alchemical product distribution later. Properly." That landed. Freya snapped her mouth shut. She hated that it worked. She genuinely needed that product, he knew it, and he was using it, and she couldn't pretend otherwise. The tantrum died before it started. Admitting defeat, though, was another matter entirely. She turned on her heel, walked directly to the center doorway, and faced him.

"Mr. Medraco." Her chin was up, her expression impeccable.

"I'll take my group through the middle. You and yours can take the right. I hope you'll cooperate." She didn't wait for a response. She grabbed Kayal's collar, he scrambled onto all fours and crawled after her like a dog on a leash, and walked into the center passage without a backward glance. Her assigned Players rushed to follow. The Thunder Archmage Salister frowned, but went with them. None of them noticed.

The moment they stepped into the maze, two pairs of burning gold dragon eyes settled on them from somewhere in the dark. The real show was just getting started. ➤ Next: The Terrifying Maze (2)