Chapter 288: Brick and Tile House

Chapter 288: Chapter 288: Brick and Tile House

But the Silver Door was like a magnet, holding her gaze captive.

’No C-level monsters...’ This was the reassurance the prompt had given her before she used the ticket.

D-level monsters, even D+ ones—with her runes and mastered Blade Skill, she had a fighting chance. In fact, her odds of victory were almost guaranteed.

’This door is made of silver, a relic from a survivor...’

Seraphina Sinclair couldn’t help but wonder what was inside.

’Higher-level blueprints? Rare materials? Things I’ve never seen before... or maybe even things that shouldn’t appear at this stage?’

If her theory about different world lines was right, then this might be the only place, at this stage, where she could get her hands on more advanced materials!

’Fortune favors the bold...’

Muttering the phrase to herself, Seraphina Sinclair resolutely chose the door.

That was what she told herself, but the real reason she chose the Silver Door was her belief that she had a fighting chance even against several D-level monsters.

Lucky seemed to sense the turmoil in her heart. It lifted its head, nuzzled her chin with its wet nose, and let out a faint whimper.

She ignored it, pressing her palm against the cold metal door. A chill spread up her arm.

The door was much thicker and heavier than the Bronze Gate, and offered far more resistance as she pushed.

"CREEEAK—"

The sound of the heavy hinges turning was piercing in the silent corridor, carrying the unique, grating friction of metal on metal.

Just like before, the moment the door opened, everything within slowly stirred back to life from a state of absolute stillness.

This time, however, the sight that met her eyes made Seraphina Sinclair’s pupils contract sharply!

This was no mobile cabin!

The space behind the door was several times larger than any cabin she had seen before. It wasn’t a crude hut of stone or wood; the interior resembled the kind of red brick house Seraphina had lived in with her grandmother as a child.

Crimson brick walls, a rough floor of sand-mixed cement...

And what was even more striking were the creatures on the floor—five monsters, some standing, some prone, some curled into a ball!

They had varying forms. One was like a Bone-Plated Greatbear, its fangs exposed!

One was a hybrid of a many-limbed insect and a reptile, its carapace shimmering with a spectral glow!

Another looked like a twisted Treant, its branches gnarled like arms.

What they all had in common was an aura far more dangerous and savage than the D+ Level monster from before. Even in their stillness, the intangible pressure was nearly suffocating.

’Five of them! And not a single one looks weak!’

Seraphina Sinclair held her breath.

In almost the same instant that she took in the scene, the shackles of time were broken once more.

"ROAR!!!"

"HISSS!!!"

"SKREEE!!!"

The five monsters awoke from their stillness simultaneously, their terrifying roars and screeches instantly filling the entire mobile cabin!

A savage aura rushed toward her like a physical wave. The air filled with a thick, bizarre stench—a mixture of rank foulness and sulfur.

The first to react was the creature closest to the door, the lizard-and-beetle hybrid. Its head, covered in compound eyes, snapped toward Seraphina Sinclair. Its mandibles parted, and a bolt of sickly green acid shot out like an arrow!

Seraphina Sinclair’s reaction was lightning-fast; she leaped back and to the side!

The acid grazed the hem of her clothes and hit the dark corridor outside the doorframe, letting out a SIZZLING sound of corrosion, as if it were scorching the very air.

Before she could get a good look at the corrosion in the hallway, more attacks were already upon her.

The Bone-Plated Greatbear reared up on its hind legs, its massive body nearly touching the ceiling, and swiped down with a paw, carrying the power to crush everything in its path! The twisted Treant brandished its branch-like arms, and several sharp wooden spikes shot through the air like javelins!

Another monster, resembling a two-faced vulture, dove from mid-air, its talons aimed straight for Seraphina Sinclair’s head!

The combined assault of five D-level monsters sealed off every possible escape route.

This was the razor’s edge between life and death!

Seraphina Sinclair’s heart pounded wildly, the rush of blood thundering in her ears, but her mind became preternaturally cold and clear.

In that instant, every item in her Silver Moon Earrings flashed through her mind. Then, almost subconsciously, she took out the Holy Tree of the Moonlight Jellyfish.

She remembered!

The item had a trait called [Moon Protection], which could nullify a single attack—any attack below C-level!

Just as the wooden spikes, sharp talons, bear paw, and acid were about to reach her body—

The Moonlight Jellyfish’s Holy Tree in front of Seraphina Sinclair suddenly emitted a soft, silvery-white glow!

VWOOM—

A barrier of light, as thin as a cicada’s wing and clearly imbued with a strange Moonlight energy, instantly expanded out from her, forming a translucent, spherical shield about two meters in diameter.

THWACK! THWACK! SIZZLE! BAM!

The wooden spikes hit the light barrier and sank in as if into a tough, flexible gel, their tips twisting and shattering!

The two-faced vulture’s talons scraped against the barrier, creating a grating sound that set one’s teeth on edge, but they couldn’t penetrate it in the slightest!

And when the Bone Bear’s giant paw, powerful enough to shatter rock, came crashing down, the barrier rippled violently and buckled inward. Yet it held firm, dissipating the full force of the impact into invisible ripples!

The most lethal bolt of acid struck the barrier, and the sickly green liquid slid down its curved surface with a faint FIZZ, unable to corrode it in the slightest.

Moon Protection had worked!

The energy contained within every D-level attack that touched the barrier was instantly erased or neutralized upon contact with the Moonlight.

Unfortunately, the nullification effect was a one-time use.

After withstanding the entire first volley of attacks, the barrier popped like a soap bubble with a soft *pop*, shattering into a shower of light motes that quickly dissipated into the air.

The five monsters seemed stunned by this sudden defense, and their assault faltered for the briefest of moments.

And for Seraphina Sinclair, that pause—less than half a second—was the one and only chance at survival she had bought with her life.

Rune! Blade!

She focused all her attacks on the most hateful of the creatures—the lizard monster. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ

Seraphina Sinclair’s objective was crystal clear.

Among the five monsters, this one was relatively small, but its movements were the swiftest and most insidious, making it an enormous threat.

’I have to take it out first!’

The flash of her blade, like a bolt of white silk, carried the full, ruthless force of her charge. It sliced through the rank air, aimed straight for the side of the monster’s head.

Its compound eyes were clustered there, and the carapace seemed thinner.

As her blade flashed, a thundercloud brewing with destructive energy instantly formed in the air above the monster’s head!

The Lunar Thunder Rune was the perfect choice for this moment.

The long blade split its carapace, and a blinding bolt of lightning tore through the air. Wielding the awesome might of the heavens, it struck with unerring accuracy right on the exposed flesh of the lizard-beetle monster!

The power of a C-level Talisman, fully unleashed, was far greater than Seraphina Sinclair had anticipated.

The bolt of deep-purple, nearly black lunar thunder didn’t create a deafening explosion. Instead, it carried a bone-chilling power of Erosion that burrowed with precision into the wound her Blade had just opened on the lizard-beetle monster.