The groups reached floor 15. Jim turned to them. “Floor 16 is down the hallway to the right. You are free to do whatever you want but we might attack you by instinct if we hear you rounding the corner without knowing it is you.”

  Victor shook his head. “We’re going to remain on this floor. I marked the other floors by scraping a rock on the ground with my shoe at random intervals.”

  Teresa looked at him. “That’s what that was? I guess it’s smart but that was annoying.”

  Brice shrugged. “It’s fine I remember the way.”

  The Fur Fellows departed. The group looked at a path to the left and a path ahead of them both stretching into the distance with doors dotting the walls. Victor turned around. “Thoughts?”

  Serena turned left. “We should stay close to the left wall when possible. It’ll make it easier to get out of here later if something happens.” She crouched down on the floor. “Besides. This route has at least six active traps, all pressure plates. I don’t think anyone has gone this way. The center has no traps at all. Stay here.”

  “ Vitality Boost, Speed Boost .” Serena began carefully calmly tapping at edges of tiles keeping her body as far away as possible. Serena backed up scratching her chin before sliding over to the wall and tapping at it for a moment before she heard a hollow sound. She peeled up a rock on the wall slicing a rope. A heavy stone block fell down crushing 4 tiles. She paused for a moment standing up to survey the remaining 5 traps.

  She scanned the ceiling. “Cawthorn can you fly up that hole and see if the other blocks are visible?”

  “I WILL HELP THE BEST SCOUT IN VERDAN!” Cawthorn proclaimed flying up the hole. A few moments passed and he returned to her. “THERE ARE 5 MORE! I CAN SEE THEM!”

  “Can you cut the rope?” She asked.

  “I CAN SLICE ANY ROPE WITH MY BEAK!” Cawthorn disappeared. Victor cast speed boost and vitality boost as he did all 5 blocks fell to the ground crashing into the tiles. Cawthorn flew down back to Serena. “I HAVE DISABLED THE TRAPS!”

  “Thank you Cawthorn, I appreciate it.”Serena stroked his head causing him to nearly fall asleep on her shoulder before she stopped. She took a deep breath. “Now for the hard part.”

  “Wait didn’t you get them all?” Victor asked.

  “There’s another problem. I noticed it when they crashed down. The floor is unstable. If we all cross it will collapse. This pathway is far better protected than the other ones. Give me regeneration Emilie. I’m going to check something.” Serena jumped up on the first stone block then leapt from one to another before reaching the end of the hallway and looking around the corner left and right.. She returned sitting on the first stone block. “It’s stable enough for one person. There’s the door halfway down this hallway and there is a place to stand at the end of the hallway but it’s really suspicious.”

  Brice scratched his chin. “Elaborate.”

  “There’s no traps I can find but there is a gargoyle statue at the end of the hall has an open mouth.” Serena pondered. “It almost seems too obvious.”

  Brice snapped his fingers. “It feels too obvious because it is. That probably is the actual trap what would you normally do to avoid it? If I was making a secure path I’d actually think about something like that and I’m a lower level mage.”

  Serena pondered. “Well normally I’d just have people wait behind the wall, but that isn’t possible. You could dodge it by crawling if it’s a flamethrower but if it’s a fireball it would be hard to avoid. It might just be defeating the first trap leads to the second trap having nowhere to stand.”

  Brice nodded. “Take me over. We’ll use my high rank barrier to make sure we don’t die and see what it does.” Serena awkwardly picked up the massive elf and leapt from rock to rock. “ Barrier Sphere .” The two of them rounded the corner and stood for a moment. Nothing happened.

  “Do you see any magical ruins on the gargoyle?” She asked.

  “I don’t see any.” Brice cautiously stepped forward.

  Serena motioned to them. “Jenora you first.”

  Jenora jumped up on the rocks and jumped across one jump at a time. She landed and nothing happened. “Emilie next.” Serena motioned her forward. Emilie hopped carefully from one to the next and landing next to the other 4. She then motioned for Victor to come. “Your turn.” Victor leapt from one to another easily landing on the 4 th block when the door in the hallway opened. A Skeleton leapt out.

  Victor instinctively swiped at it with his Frigid Foil which formed a mace. The skeleton shattered into a thousand pieces without reaching him. “Wow.” He audibly conveyed his shock against his will. “That was way more than I expected.” He looked for the experience message. He didn’t see one. ‘I guess it was too low level, 10 levels or more must be too much.’

  “Come on.” Serena insisted.

  He looked into the door which was little more than a closet for the skeleton. He dropped down next to them as the Frigid Foil would have melted if he didn’t focus keeping the mana flowing through his hand. “Keep the barrier up if you can Brice. Frost bolt.” Victor shot at the statue hitting it dead center.

  The gargoyle roared charging them. Jenora leapt in front of them. “ Barrier shield! Reinforce !”

  The gargoyle bounced off the shield weakly crashing to the ground. Victor smashed down on it with his ice mace only for it to roll away recoiling. Brice dropped his shield. “Fire bolt!” Everyone could feel the heat rush past them as it connected with the Gargoyle punching a hole through it clean enough to see behind it. It sizzled for a moment before clattering to the ground and falling apart. “I may has put in a little too much effort there.” It was at that point the entire group noticed he scorched the wall behind it. “I also might need to wait a couple of minutes for mana.”

  Emilie looked at him in disbelief and disgust. “You only cast 2 spells.”

  “At maximum rank!” He cheerfully clarified.

  Stone Gargoyle 6: Experience Increase 0.1%

  Current Exp to level 14 3.3%

  Jenora turned around slowly then looked at the devastation directly. “Well it’s good to know we’ve got him. That’s a lot of firepower.”

  Brice smiled and pressed his thumb to his chest accidentally standing all the way up. “I’m really good at dealing with a large single threat. I can use fireball against waves but it’s hard to use that with allies about.”

  Emilie just dropped her jaw. “I need to get every one of my skills to rank 4, especially regenerate . My Goddess.”

  Victor sifted through the gargoyle finding nothing of value. “It seems that this area is way lower level than I anticipated.”

  Swordie irritated added. “He absolutely, positively does this on purpose.”

  “Why do you comment on it?” Serena asked.

  “Because it’s funny, and it’ll always be funny. Watch.” Swordie noted. A couple seconds passed and they heard stomping around the corner where the gargoyle came from. A much larger gargoyle rounded the corner glaring at them with large sapphire eyes. “It really is uncanny how on point his instincts are.”

  As it rounded the corner with a massive stone axe in hand Victor and Serena darted toward it. They slid under the wide sweep in unison putting a pair of cracks on its knees. They snapped back to their feet after hitting it in sync. “I don’t have another fire bolt yet!” Brice shouted.

  Jenora charged at the gargoyle aiming for its hand but hitting the axe hilt as it blocked. The axe broke off its handle. The gargoyle attempted to punch her but only bounced into another “ Barrier Shield !” The blow resoundingly stopped right at her barrier cracking it slightly. Victor and Serena took to the back of its legs with another two cracks resounding through the hall. Jenora brought down her weapon on its knee. The knee shattered. The gargoyle reached for its leg in pain losing its head to her next blow.

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  Stone Gargoyle 10: Experience Increase 1.9%

  Current Exp to level 14 5.2%

  She took a deep breath and smiled before Victor said. “See!” Serena reached for his lips and prevented him from continuing to speak.

  Swordie piped up in a comical tone. “No no. Let him speak. I want to watch the walls or floors become a mimic and attack.”

  Serena looked to Cawthorn. “Are the walls or floors mimics?”

  Cawthorn looked around carefully. “No…”

  She took a deep breath. “Cawthorn.”

  Cawthorn whispered to her. “At the far end of the hall where this gargoyle came from an invisible creature is waiting for us.”

  She turned to Brice. “Hey Brice come here. I have a question for you.” Brice hurried along. She whispered in his ear. “Fireball the end of that hallway with all you’ve got.”

  “I just got enough to cast another spell. Should I really?” He asked. She nodded and he extended his hand “ Fireball .” The fireball raced down to the end of the hallway exploding and incinerating the creature at the end of it.

  Skeletal Assassin 11: Experience Increase 0.4%

  Current Exp to level 15 5.6%

  Victor looked at his log. “Skeletal assassin? What is that?”

  Emilie and Jenora immediately put up barriers around Brice and themselves. Jenora looked to him. “Are you sure that was a skeletal assassin?”

  Victor didn’t know how to answer without outing himself as a delusional Void Lord cultist. “It was a skeleton and it was invisible until that fireball hit it so it was an assassin right?”

  Serena nodded. “It probably was a skeletal assassin. An invisible skeleton is really a problem we have two party members that might die to one before we see them.”

  Victor formed an ‘oh’ with his mouth. “That’s why they reacted like that.”

  “We’ll have some problems here if we continue without a plan.” Serena backed up behind Jenora. “I’m open to suggestions.”

  Brice noted. “If we wait here for a few minutes my mana should be recharged. After that I can just fireball in a room and we can search it after.”

  Emilie shook her head no. “If we do that we’ll destroy a ton of valuable loot and likely artifacts too.”

  Victor stepped forward “Frost bolt!” He hit the ground with frost bolt coating it with ice. He cast it again and again.

  They all turned to him confused. “What are you doing sweetie?”

  He continued shooting until the entire hallway was iced. “Give it a few minutes. It’ll melt. They have to walk right? So we’ll hear them even if they approach.” They all looked at him like he was an idiot. “Does… that not work?” He had read stories about invisibility being weak to doors and powder on the floor but assumed water would work just as well.

  Serena raised an eyebrow. “That’s really clever. Where did you learn that?”

  Victor just scanned them. “I just thought it up.”

  Swordie noted. “In this land flower is the main way people track invisible creatures if they don’t have a higher level Eagle Eye skill.”

  Victor avoided smiling with every muscle in his face. “Well it will work if there are any more invisible creatures. They’ll splash in the water.”

  Jenora, Emilie, and Brice put down their defenses for a moment. Jenora took a deep breath. “Emilie put vitality boost rank 1 on Brice. We will need to be careful and protect Emilie. I will hang back generally and stay by her.”

  “I’ll be fine as long as Jenora is nearby.” Emilie gave thumbs up and smiled.

  Victor nodded in agreement. “Well given how hot it is down here that should melt in a minute or two. Then we can head down that hall to the first door on the left.”

  Serena turned to Cawthorn. “Cawthorn do you see anything else down the hallway?”

  Cawthorn looked for a moment. “There are 5 doors. At the end of the pathway a path to the left and right branch off.”

  The group waited vigilantly for a couple of minutes before the ice melted into puddles on the ground leaking under the doors. “I have one more idea but if it fails we’ll need to wait a couple more minutes. Is that alright?”

  The group collectively shrugged. He pointed his hand at the ground. “Jolt!” The second door on the left opened as a creature sizzled.

  Something stumbled out and Brice wasted no time. “Fireball!” Once again the creature was vaporized. “Sorry. I wasted all my mana to avoid this one.”

  Skeletal Assassin 11: Experience Increase 1.3%

  Current Exp to level 15 6.9%

  Emilie shook her head. “Nope, I’m satisfied. That was great. Waiting a few minutes with careful scouting and instantly killing the target is safe. We should do this all day every day.”

  Victor looked to her. “Isn’t it typical that people do things like this? Doing things safely seems important to everyone.”

  She agreed. “It is but most of the time this kind of thing attracts large monsters from deeper in. Since this place is a trap hole there are likely hundreds, if not thousands of skeletons which have been given directions to remain hidden until a specific condition is triggered.”

  Victor smiled. “These are still the perfect conditions to level up and search for artifacts.”

  Emilie sighed. “Yeah but It’ll take forever to find anything of value.”

  Jenora stepped forward. “I’m going to open the first door. We won’t find anything here talking.”

  Brice put his hand on her shoulder. “Please wait a few more minutes. I don’t have a spell ready yet.”

  Victor leaned down to whisper to Emilie. “Do most spellcasters have this problem?”

  Emilie whispered back. “Most spellcasters besides priests, and spellswords do. Jenora casts far less magic if you’ve been paying attention. She only casts a spell when she has to.”

  Brice irritated added. “You know these ears aren’t just for show right. I’m sorry it takes several minutes between encounters for me to be prepared.”

  Serena slapped his back. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll find you artifacts to cover your weakness. One day at a time.”

  The group waited quietly on guard for a few minutes before Brice spoke up. “I should be good now.”

  Jenora stepped forward with her shield up and opened the door. The room was filled with books, alchemical items, and furnished as a bedroom. Victor turned to Cawthorn. “Is there anyone in here?”

  Cawthorn diligently scanned the room. “No one is here.”

  The group filtered into the room and shut the door behind them. Serena went to the book shelves. “Jenora, Emilie check the desk and the room. Brice, Victor we’ll check these bookshelves.” The group began checking areas of the room. Emilie and Jenora found little in the desk of value besides an ink and quill. The desk had long since been emptied out. The three on the bookshelves found many books on alchemy, circle spells, and rune magic.

  Brice scratched his chin curiously. “These books look like printing press derivatives. You can see they aren’t hand written.”

  Victor noted. “I bet they gave them out to every skeletal mage.”

  Serena tapped her chin. “Yes but is this room for the skeletal mage in charge of this area or one of many skeletal mages in this area. If Gargrim was hunting one and we found one there are likely many, many more. Most probably fled but we might encounter a skeletal mage down here.”

  Victor clenched his fist punching his hand with a smile. “We beat it once! We’re a lot stronger now too. They wouldn’t last a minute against us.”

  Serena glared at him. Swordie noted. “He absolutely does this on purpose. There is no possibility he doesn’t understand.”

  Victor dumbfounded raised an eyebrow. “What?”

  For a moment they waited in silence. Nothing could be heard. Jenora and Emilie waited before turning to them. “Be quiet.”

  Emilie added. “Or I’ll silence you instead of Cawthorn.”

  Victor raised his eyebrows shocked and continued reading. Serena peaked out into the hallway dead silence and no motion. Nothing in the water either. “We should get going. We aren’t going to find anything important in this room.”

  Jenora drew her shield and walked across the hall to the other room and waited for them to reach her. She quickly flung open the door and much the same as the previous room it had a desk, alchemical supplies, and a bookshelf of the same size. They entered the room and shut the door. Serena instructed. “Same as the last room but make sure you look for identical books and then check to see if any books are different in this room from the last one.”

  The group continued searching. Victor noted something. “This is clearly the room of another skeletal mage, so a better question is why would they be researching alchemy, circle magic and rune magic?”

  Emilie raised an eyebrow. “Does the reason matter? They’re not doing it anymore.”

  Serena looked at her with a clam explanation. “Victor is right on this. Knowing more about why they were here will let us know where, if anywhere, valuables would be located. If we find out this is little more than a barracks portion of the massive necropolis then we’re probably not going to find anything. If this is their research quarters we might find a strange alchemical artifact or nothing. If they all cleared out every single room we’re looking for a single missed item at best. This hall with 4 rooms and a fake door is likely only 1 of dozens, possibly hundreds. If we know what we were walking into we know if it’s even worth our time.”

  Emilie calmly breathed out. “Oh.”