393 - Further Exploration

The expedition team continued their exploration. They reached a set of massive mechanical stone doors that led into the heart of the eastern complex of the gigantic subterranean temple.

Standing in front of the door was the deadly guardian... an enormous Rock Lizard.

It was the size of a small house. Clad in thick, granite-like scales that looked very tough. With a heavy spiked tail that lashed against the floor. Cracking the stone slabs easily.

The Rock Lizard let out a low, guttural roar. One that rattled the teeth of everyone present.

Reina stepped forward and used her [Absolute Blink]. With a puff of mist, she vanished and reappeared directly above the lizard's head.

Her dual handguns, Meteor and Comet, barked in rapid succession. The bullets, infused with heavy mist and explosive runes, struck the lizard's eyes. Exploding the tissue and blinding the beast.

Reina used the recoil of the gunshot to somersault backward on air. And then, surprisingly, her mist hawk animal companion flashed and fused with her. Turning into a huge mist wings that kept her floating on air.

The lizard thrashed in pain.

Baroness Artheim didn't waste the distraction. She summoned three lightning wolves which instantly charged toward the thrashing beast. Biting and tearing through its scales. And then, bursting into a deadly explosion whenever they gained a chance.

The Rock Lizard gave one violent shudder. Its thick tail fell limp. And then, the gigantic beast crashed onto the stone floor... dead.

As Jack and the other crew harvested the lizard's body, Leon walked over to the massive runic stone doors behind the dead lizard. He placed his [Arch-thief Seal] against the central keyhole once more.

Complex internal mechanisms clanked and turned inside the walls. With a heavy, grinding sound, the colossal doors slowly slid apart. Revealing a massive corridor that split into dozens of different branches and deeper subterranean levels.

Jack walked up to the threshold and looked down the vast, dark passageways. The temple was big. Far bigger than what he had thought. It was like an entire underground city complex.

He took out his pocket watch and clicked it open. The hands indicated it was past eight in the evening. Outside, night had already fallen completely over the island.

"We've been moving for hours." Jack said. His voice echoed slightly in the vast hall. "This place is too big to clear in one day. Let's stop here for the night."

"Making a camp here?" Leon asked. Looking around at the dusty, stone floor littered with monster blood and broken rock. "Are you sure, Captain? The environment quality isn't great, you know?"

"Who said anything about camping here?" Jack said with a sigh.

He took his hand mirror out and activated his [Mythical Mirror Realm] power. A shimmering ripple appeared once more on the mirror's surface. Its reflection now showed the Mirror Mansion instead of the current hall.

Everyone in the team could see it. Beyond the glass frame, a warm, soft glow illuminated a luxurious mansion foyer. Elegant velvet carpets, crystal chandeliers, fully furnished bedrooms, and clean air. It was heaven compared to the cold, dusty dungeon around them.

"Get inside." Jack said bluntly. Gesturing toward the mirror surface. "Get washed up and rested. We'll continue the exploration tomorrow morning."

"Now that's proper exploration service." Leon chuckled. "I forgot you have this convenient mansion, Cap."

He stepped through the mirror portal first. The other crew members filed into the Mirror Mansion one by one.

Jack couldn't see clearly what they were doing in the mansion. But he could guess that Don must have headed toward the mansion's vast kitchen to prepare dinner, and Aella must have moved to the ranch to check her stag mount.

Reina stood beside Jack near the mirror threshold. Watching the last of the crew step inside.

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"You're not coming in yet, Dear?" She asked softly.

"I'll need to prepare a safe hiding place for the mirror, and set up a few protective wards outside the mirror frame first," Jack replied. "It would be troublesome if something happened to it when we were inside the mansion."

Reina smiled. Leaning in to kiss his cheek gently. "Don't stay out too long, Love. I'm sure Don is making something good with that wine we found."

"I won't be long." Jack replied.

Once Reina stepped through, Jack moved to one corner of the room and placed the mirror in a pretty hidden place. He set a quick defensive runes and cast the condensed [Sanctuary Field] spellcard around the mirror.

Satisfied with the security, he stepped into his dimensional sanctuary. Letting the mirror portal close smoothly behind him.

...

When morning came, the expedition team had completely refreshed themselves. They stepped back through the mirror portal into the corner of the stone hall.

Jack retrieved the mirror and put it back to his [Spatial Belt]. "Alright, everyone. Time to get moving. The temple is massive, and we have a lot of ground to cover."

They entered a colossal hallway Leon had already opened the day before. The stone ceiling was very high. Reaching more than twenty meter tall in height. Thick stone pillars, carved to look like twisting vines, supported the roof.

Within ten minutes, Jack stopped. His danger sense tingled. At the same time, Rune also glowed in faint red color.

"Wait!" He muttered. He pulled two spellcards from his holder. [Trap Detection] and [Revelation Light].

He activated the [Trap Detection] spellcard first. It dissolved instantly into specks of light. A faint crimson pulse swept out from Jack's body.

Instantly, red geometric grids appeared on the floor. Glowing and highlighting tens of pressure plates on the floor and hidden arrow slots in the walls.

Following right afterward, Jack activated the [Revelation Light].

A bright light burst forth from his body. Shattering the optical and spatial illusions that lined the corridor. Some parts of floors and walls that appeared solid suddenly disappeared.

"Leon!" Jack called.

"On it." Leon quickly replied. He stepped forward and summoned his [Arch-thief Seal]. A small, metal stamp appeared his hands. He knelt, pressing the seal against the glowing stone tiles one by one.

With a series of soft clicks, the pressure plate traps were disrupted. Turning them into ordinary, harmless stones. Leon did the same to the traps on the walls. Disabling the mechanical arrows.

"All clear." Leon said afterward.

They repeated this process several times as they traveled deeper. The temple was a literal death trap. Designed to keep intruders out. But with Jack's high-level detection spells and Leon's master thief artifact, they bypassed every trap without a single scratch.

Soon, they reached another series of larger chambers. Here, the traps were replaced by natural hazards... the monsters.

In an enormous stone chamber, a pack of twelve Blue-scaled Raptors emerged. These were fearsome ancient predators. Each was about the size of a horse. They had with metallic, azure scales covering their bodies and sharp claws that seemed to be able to tear through steel armor.

They hissed. Their yellowish eyes were locked onto the intruders... Jack and his crew mates.

"Clear them." Jack ordered calmly. He didn't intend to take part in the battle. It was a good chance of combat practice for the other crew members after all.

Chloe Chase was the first to act. "Sparkle, light them up!" She commanded.

She summoned a shadow sword and pointed it forward. And her shadow extended rapidly. Splitting into multiple tendrils that wrapped around the legs of three raptors. Pinning them to the ground.

Sparkle, the kirin cub, leaped into the air. Its horn glowed with blinding crackle of lightning. The cub's whole body was covered with lightning armor. It then moved with incredible speed. Striking the pinned raptors and turning them into charred corpses instantly.

On the other side, Aella, the tiny faewitch huntress, giggled. She raised her custom voidfire handgun and fired two rapid shots. BANG! BANG! The bullets erupted into dark purple flames upon impact.

Two raptors shrieked as the voidfire punched smoking holes over their flesh. Bypassing their tough metallic scales easily. Two more raptors fell. Dead.

Mirella opened her sketch books on a page filled with fiery naval battle. Three small, cute chibi sprites. A flaming sprite, a liquid sprite, a lightning sprite, and a metal sprite.

"Go and beat them." She pointed to the raptors and ordered.

The sprites worked quickly. Turning into deadly little elemental warriors that charged into the monsters without fear. Very quickly, two more raptors fell... dead.

Barnaby also joined the battle. Strumming his lute eagerly. Using his recently acquired fire controlling ability to wreak havoc against the charging beasts.

Ned played the role of the cleaner. His magic beads entered his steamrune rifle. Turning into different types of spell infused rounds.

He aimed at the surviving raptors and pulled the trigger. BANG! BANG! Lightning and fire bullets struck the beasts accurately. All headshots.

The battle was over very quickly.

"Good job." Jack noted.

Don went to work immediately after the battle. Using a butcher knife to harvest the highest-quality meat from the raptor legs.

"This is prime beast meat. Delicious and full of natural energy." He said as he worked. "It will make a spectacular roast later."

The others quickly helped him. Harvesting the meat, blue scales, and monster cores from the beasts' corpses.

They kept moving once they were done.

In the next hall, the air was even colder and damper. From the darkness above, two massive figures dropped down silently.

These were Jade Mantisapes. Standing almost three meters tall. They had ape-like builds. But the heads, chitin armors, and bladed arms were obviously derived from giant jade-like mantises.