Chapter 43: Only One Shall Last

After Raive and Hazel learned there was a stat-cap on the stat-up candies, their priority became bringing everyone’s stats up to that ceiling. All to raise their chances of surviving the second trial as much as possible.

Counting everyone on their team, and leaving Raive himself out of it, that meant they’d need a thousand of those candies, if not more.

Just imagining how long it would take to farm all of them was a headache on its own.

But now, they had a shortcut.

With Reinhardt’s skill, they could "reset" a dungeon, forcing everyone inside it back outside in one go, while returning the dungeon to its initial state. The only catch was that there was no way to communicate between the clearing team and him.

That’s "normally," though.

But with Raive’s ability included in the equation, everything changes.

After lunch, and a bit of rest, the entire team set off for their target dungeon. The Orange dungeon, second only to the red one in difficulty, sat about 300 meters from Hershey’s home.

For this dungeon challenge, though, they were missing one key member.

Shymine.

It had been over 12 hours since her last contact. She should’ve reached her destination by now, but she still hadn’t contacted them back.

With that much time, she should’ve reached her destination already, or even began the search for her family.

As such, everyone, even Raive himself, was starting to worry.

And that was the reason he decided not to touch save-slot 2.

That slot held the checkpoint from "before" clearing the red dungeon. If Shymine had run into real trouble, loading back to that old save would let him prevent it.

It would cost him a lot of effort, sure, but still far better than losing one of their strongest fighters outright.

That could wait, though.

For now—

"We’re clearing this Orange Dungeon now!"

Raive stood before it, raising his voice.

"To keep everyone safe, Therese will stay behind. Hershey, Khamish, Hazel, and I will go in. The rest of you hold position out here."

Not everyone could come along, after all.

For one, Reinhardt’s wife, Sheila, had a skill too weak for combat—she could only warm whatever she touched, nothing more. Useless in a fight.

Their son and daughter couldn’t come either.

Patricia was clearly too young, and too weak, for now.

Kenny was much the same. His ability had its uses, but it’d serve better protecting the group staying behind than joining the clearing party.

If he could, Raive would’ve left Hershey behind too, but—

Her skill as their only healer was far too valuable to leave out.

Once the groups were settled, Raive turned and pressed a hand to the Orange Dungeon’s surface, making sure to overwrite slot 1 without fail, before turning back to Reinhardt.

"Try resetting the dungeon after an hour’s passed." He said.

Unless this dungeon shared the red one’s quirk of hidden pathing rules, an hour should be more than enough.

And with his stats already past 100, Raive felt confident they’d clear the orange one in under an hour.

"Got it." Reinhardt nodded firmly. "Then I’ll leave my daughter in your hands, Raive."

Raive smiled and shook his head.

"If anything, we’re the one being looked after by her." He said. "But yes, I will ensure she returns here safe and sound."

With preparations done, and no information on the dungeon ahead of them, the delving team stepped in.

Raive went first.

With his stats, he figured he could handle even a surprise attack right at entry. To his surprise, though, there was none.

"This place is..."

The moment he stepped in, he scanned the surroundings.

No sky was visible overhead, only solid, flat ceiling.

The dungeon was indoors.

Mortar pillars rose toward the ceiling, several of them cracked or broken. Stone walls surrounded them, and shattered statues lay scattered everywhere.

The moment they entered, Raive felt uneasy.

’This doesn’t match the pattern at all.’ He thought.

The pattern should’ve been a maze filled with plant-type monsters. Even the Tree Knight counted as a plant-type, humanoid form or not.

But here, there was nothing but rock and stone.

A place where nothing could possibly grow.

"This place is strange..."

Even Hazel, entering behind him, frowned at the sight.

Raive nodded, then shook his head lightly. "No idea. For now we just move forward. Khamish, hand me a notebook and pen—I’ll sketch section maps as we go."

"Yes, yes."

Once he had the notebook, Raive quickly drew a rough map of the area, noting even the smallest details—the pillars’ positions, their number, their condition, even the statues scattered around.

They might have nothing to do with the maze, but until he could rule that out, he needed it recorded. No telling what might end up being the key to solving this place.

The team pressed forward, Raive in front, Hazel just behind him, and Khamish and Hershey further back.

It was the safest formation they could manage.

After a while, Raive stopped.

"Hmm?"

Ahead stood a massive door, leading deeper into the half-ruined temple. What caught his eye wasn’t the door itself, though—it was what was carved into it.

The letters belonged to no earthly language, yet somehow he could read them fine, as though the words translated themselves inside his head.

"When the wind blows, the mountain bows."

"All intruders shall cite the ancient vows."

"Stand tall, run fast."

"For only one shall last."

"O’ one filled with greed and might."

"Challenge the darkness and prove what’s right."

Everyone read it through, but no one spoke.

They understood the words, yet the meaning stayed just out of reach.

"Brother..."

Hershey tugged nervously at Raive’s clothes.

"Is this... a puzzle?" Hazel murmured, confused. "It mentions ancient vows—does that mean this writing? Are we supposed to memorize it?"

"No." Khamish cut in, sure of himself. "This isn’t a puzzle. It’s a warning. It called us intruders, after all."

Raive frowned.

If anything, he agreed with him.

The words named them intruders, not challengers—meaning this trial wouldn’t be kind to them. Not that he’d expected an easy one either way.

But what worried Raive most was the fourth line.

’Only one shall last...’

If it meant exactly what it said, then—

’Bringing a big group in here was a mistake.’