Chapter 124 - Haunted (2)
It had been 20 minutes of walking through the passageway with normal speed, and Sylvia couldn't shake the skin crawling aura she was feeling off.
The passageway was slightly brighter than the hall they had been before. However, it was incomparably spookier than the hall.
"Huuh... Am I the only one feeling this?" She turned her head to Norman. Without glancing at her, Norman replied, "No. The closer we get, the stronger the aura is." He even had an unusually normal face—which means, he had no scowl on his face.
Sylvia turned her head to Basil. He was still leading them in the front, completely unfazed by the aura the passage was exuding.
Surely, she knew not to compare herself with him. The stunts Basil had displayed were enough indication they were in a whole different level.
Suddenly, Basil raised his hand. As everyone saw that, Thompson didn't bother to shout it out.
Stepping forward to Basil's side, Thompson asked, "What is it?"
"Secret Chamber," he answered without turning his back
"Secret Chamber?" Norman frowned. "Do you think this is an Obelisk?" He sneered.
Thompson was about to reprimand Norman for his rather aggressive tone. There was also indeed a Secret Chamber in every Dungeon. However, even before he reprimanded Norman, Basil did something that stopped him from doing so.
Bam!
Basil briefly smashed the wall in his left with his hand. The sound was reverberated through the whole empty passageway, before the wall trembled and a rumbling sound was heard.
Click.
A rectangular shape appeared on the part of the wall which Basil had just smashed, then it submerged itself to the ground.
The whole process was clearly observed by the three Knights. Their mouth turned into a thin line. Then, they turned their head to Basil's direction, and hummed to themselves.
'Was he born in this Dungeon?! He seems familiar with this Dungeon. Not even Effie can do that easily.' All of them had the same thought.
At this point, their attention was still focused on Basil's back. Therefore, they hadn't noticed there were also another three doors opened beside the door on Basil's left.
Hearing no sound of movement behind him, Basil lightly frowned. Turning his body toward the opened door, he glanced at the people. "Well, have you chosen your room?"
"Huh? Room?" Upon looking around, Thompson found there were four doors opened in a row. He nodded his head, before turning it to Basil. "I will check two rooms by myself. Can you bring Sylvia with you?"
"Fine," Basil replied simply.
Sylvia quickly scurried over to Basil, while the other two entered the room they had chosen. She didn't want to be suddenly left behind by him. Basil was that type of a man, after all.
Thompson entered the second room, and Norman entered the last room.
Sylvia turned her head to Basil. "Umm... Should we go?" Basil quirked his brow faintly, before gesturing his hand toward the room. "Ladies first."
Sylvia bowed her head gracefully, before replying, "As a gentlewoman, I will gladly let you to have the opportunity to be the first." She ended it with a small smile.
With a completely unamused face, Basil pushed her in with his left hand. Due to her bewilderment, she fell on the ground like a clueless toddler.
"Kyaa!!! Ghost! Ghost! Help!" Her loud scream was reverberated through the room. Even Thompson and Norman, who had delved quite far, could faintly hear her.
...
In the other room, Thompson facepalmed. "That girl really doesn't suit to be a Knight."
The room he was in was vast and empty so far. He didn't see anything aside from darkness, and the wall on each sides of the room.
When the darkness was getting unbearable, he took a Light Jade out from his Spatial Ring, and infused his Qi in it.
Although his eyes had long transcended the realm of human, the room was increasingly getting darker. Apparently, the room had [Shadow Entrapment] Rune set in it. Therefore, the darkness started to overwhelm his eyes.
By the time the Light Jade was lit, he could finally see his surrounding clearly. Only then, could he notice the wall was getting closer to him.
It doesn't mean the wall was moving closer to him. It's the room that was getting narrower.
"Interesting. I'm curious to what lays in the end of this room." Thompson attached the Light Jade on his chest, before moving forward with it lighting his path.
A few minutes passed, and the wall was closer than ever. There was not much space left between his shoulders and the wall.
Thompson frowned. "If I am forced to flatten my body to move forward, I will call it a quit."
His shoulders were close to touching the wall. The probability of this room being a trap was quite high. If he were to insist to move forward, even after he was forced to flatten his body, he would definitely be dead if something decided to attack him
He wouldn't be able to properly defend himself, if the wall completely sandwiched him from each side.
Luckily, by the time the wall touched his shoulders, he had reached the end of the room. There was a small chest right in front of him. However, he was hesitant to open it.
"Dungeon is a place used to entrap Kinslayers. It is the only jail in this world which guarantees suffering and death. At place like this, will there be a treasure?" Thompson tapped his chin. "Yes, surprisingly, there is."
He bent his body down slightly, before extending his hand toward the chest. "I will keep it first, before opening it." His Spatial Ring flashed, before nothing happened. The thing he had expected didn't happen.
Normally, any objects flashed by the light of a Spatial Ring would be stored inside; unless the Spatial Ring's capacity couldn't accommodate it.
Logically speaking, the chest was too small for his Spatial Ring to be full with it. Therefore, a conclusion formed in his mind.
"There is a Seal put on it." He clicked his tongue. "Should I open it here?" He was genuinely worried. What if he triggered a trap when he opened the chest?
He was considering every advantages and disadvantages of his decision. When he found out it was fifty-fifty, he decided to take another thing into consideration.
It was the escape route.
"There is only around 80 meters to reach the area where I can move freely. I think I can manage, if things turn south." Nodding his head, determination filled his entire existence.
He would open the chest for sure. This time however, he didn't bend his body down to open the chest. He didn't want to use his hands to open it. Instead, he used his foot.
Nudging the chest with the tip of his shoe, he made sure the chest was actually there; not an illusion. When he found it was an actual chest, he slowly opened the chest with the tip of his shoe.
Creak.
The chest was so old, the sound its hinge produced grated one's ears. However, Thompson didn't mind that in the slightest. He was anticipating the content of the chest instead.
Badump. Badump.
The lid was almost completely lifted. However, Thompson didn't dare to look yet. He even did as far as holding the lid in the air with his foot.
"Pheww... That made me nervous. It's time to check the content." Even at this point, his foot was still holding the lid.
Thompson leaned his body forward, and tried peeking in. However, even before he managed to see the content inside, something made his heart jump.
"What are you doing?"
"Ahhh!!! Ghost!" Thompson crouched down, and covered his head in fright.
Norman, who had greeted Thompson, looked at him weirdly. He had thought Thompson was Sylvia's foster brother. It seems, the trait of fearing ghost ran in their blood, despite not being related by blood.
Sensing no malice from the ghost, Thompson uncovered his head, before raising it. He was directly met with Norman's unamused face.
"Bloody hell, Norman! Did you really need to scare me like that?!"
"Tch! It wasn't my fault you are a coward."
"How dare you say I'm a coward!" He looked deeply into Norman's eyes. "You haven't experienced the horror of meeting a ghost yet! Believe me, they are real!" He said conspiratorially.
"Yeah," Norman replied half-heartedly. "Anyway, what are you doing?"
"Oh, that? I was trying to open the chest right there." Thompson pointed his thumb toward the small chest behind him.
Norman quirked his eyebrow, before motioning Thompson to give him way. The latter flattened his body, and gladly gave Norman a way. He was still "shocked" by the earlier event. He didn't even ask why Norman was there.
Norman crouched, then put his hand on the chest. Thompson was intently looking at Norman from the back.
Creak.
Norman slowly pulled the lid up, and the content of the chest was revealed to the people.
"What in the bloody hell is that?" Thompson scrunched his nose up. "They really are called Monster for a reason." Norman clicked his tongue.
Inside the chest was human innards. They didn't know how many people they had belonged to. However, they were sure they had belonged to many people.
"Let's leave," Thompson said to Norman. "This is a Monster's lair. Now I know why I couldn't keep this chest inside my Spatial ring."
"Why?"
"The chest might be small in size. But, it was planted deeply in the floor. Which means—"
"The chest is connected to another room," Norman finished. Thompson merely nodded in confirmation.
In other words, the chest was merely a gimmick. It wasn't a chest but a door to another room. No matter what room it was, they didn't care.
They could see clearly the innards in the chest. That means, the room the chest was connected to was full of them. They didn't want to visit that kind of room.
The two people turned their body around, and was about to move toward the exit. However, a particular sound behind them attracted their attention.
Scratch. Scratch.
Something came out of the opened chest. It was a tall and scrawny figure whose black hair was so long, it touched the ground. Innards covered his entire existence, and they fell to the ground one by one.
None of the people turned their head to the back, but their Qi was quickly drawn to utilize their Technique.
Tap. Tap.
When they heard the sound of footsteps was coming closer, both of them utilized their Movement Technique, and dashed like there is no tomorrow.
Roar!
A roar that sounded like the scream belonged to a torture soul resounded in the room. However, the two running people didn't pay any attention to it. They wanted to get to the area where they could fight properly as soon as possible.
Surely, the Monster didn't stay idle either.. Kicking the ground, it chased the two running Knights.