Clack. I can feel the magic crystal key hitting the wall in the hole. I can’t see what’s inside, but I can faintly see a magic circle activating.
“Grab my shoulder!”
I tell Taula.
I feel a slight weight being gently put on my shoulder, as Taula crouches and grabs it with her left hand.
The next moment, the light of magic elements bursts out of the hole and engulfs us.
The world around us changes.
I’m used to it by now, but it’s Taula’s first time in a dungeon. She seems wary, as she grabs her sword with her right hand, and looks ready to unsheathe it at any second.
I slowly get up and smack the pebbles off my clothes.
I see the dungeon really wasn’t affected by the tremors. Everything is exactly as the shaman’s memories tell me.
The walls are black and damp, and I can see what looks like many stalactites coming down from the low ceiling. The floor however betrays the feeling that we’re in a natural cave, because it’s flat as if it were covered in tiles.
There are what looks like crystals here and there emitting a faint light.
“The ground is wet in some places, so be careful not to fall. It gets very slippery very quickly when it’s wet. Also, we should rely too much on this faint light.”
“Yes, I understand. There are many of those types of traps.”
I warn Taula based on the shaman’s memories, and she immediately understands. There are many places in this dungeon where the light looks faint to trick us into falling for traps.
“Do you know the way, Rust?”
“Well, we were thrown into a random place when we first got here. If we keep walking, I’ll eventually figure out where we are.”
“That sounds difficult, but we have no choice. You lead the way.”
Taula unsheathes her sword and cautiously moves forward.
I take out and activate a 《Transcribe》 scroll. I hold another scroll in my left hand, and leave my right hand free as I walk behind her.
◆◇
“What do you think, Rust?”
Taula asks after cutting down yet another monster.
Maybe it’s because this dungeon is based on an actual space, but the monsters don’t disappear, which means I can harvest materials.
I collect only what I can easily rip from them, but it’s still a nice haul.
The materials I got are feathers from a monster that flies out of dark corners and looks like the lovechild of a bat and a leech, and liquid from a subspecies of water slime that disguised itself as water dripping from the ceiling.
I can’t wait to see what I can transmute with these materials.
If we know what to watch out for, we can deal with them without much issue. Taula seemed a little stressed before we entered the dungeon, but it looks like this was a nice way to vent.
I look over at the 《Transcribe》 scroll to answer her question. It’s been transcribing automatically as we walk around the dungeon, and making a map of sorts of the places where we’ve been.
I contrast this map with the shaman’s memories.
“Hm… It’s not enough. But I think I’ll figure out where we are if we walk a little more.
But then, even though we’re in a dungeon, the ground, walls, and ceiling start creaking.
The ground shakes as we’re assaulted by a tremor.
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