Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

. Now that those memories that he locked up deep inside his heart flooded out, he couldn't help but regret. A friend who genuinely cared about your health and wellbeing, was hard to come by but no, the him at that time had to adopt a personality that pushed others back and shun one of the few people who showed him kindness.

The more he thought about how he fell into that pathetic state due to his own negligence and denial, the more the regret welled up within him.

Simon took a deep breath, a strong musty scent of the ruins went inside through his nostrils and calmed his beating heart and dissipated that wistful feeling. He cannot right the wrongs that he committed back on earth now that he was dead.

However, he can still make up for his regrets now that he had a fresh new start in this world. Never again would he fall back into that state where he rejected the world and shut himself to his work.

Simon made a resolve that he would pay kindness back with kindness and ill intent with a hard fist. At that instant, after that declaration, he actually felt changes occurring to his mind and body which felt refreshed for some reason. 

Simon explored his surroundings in the meantime while he waited for his companions that had entered the portal together with him. It didn't take long for the first person to arrive and seeing them land, he finally understood how he entered these ruins.

A one-way tunnel that connected these ruins to the snow world, formed on the ceiling and spat the person out before disappearing.

The person who had arrived first, was none other than Lucine, her beguiling body landed gracefully as she stared at the unknown place she found herself with curiosity.

"To think that the mechanism was hidden inside the snowstorm, what kind of lunatic created this place" she lightly commented and waltzed towards Simon.

She observed him for a while before speaking with a smile "Great job finding this place".

He nonchalantly nodded his head and accepted her words since he could feel that she was genuinely praising him. After all, to discover this place, one must first conquer their fear and even gamble with their life.

The snowstorm at the centre was so frightening that had it not been for the pressure of getting cornered, he would have definitely not chosen to dive inside.

The woman after praising him, started observing her surroundings and investigated the peculiar writing on the wall. Since his [Language Comprehension] couldn't decipher it, he believe that those writing were so ancient that it was beyond the level of his skills.

"Can you read those?" Simon asked without expecting and reply in return.

To his surprise, Lucine, vaguely nodded her head "I can somewhat… but my comprehension is nowhere near complete and I can only understand a sparse few words".

Simon glanced at the wall which depicted strangely dancing letters and pictures. Thinking that the letters might mean or indicate something like a clue, he was just about to ask her what did it say, when the tunnel that brought the two of them here, suddenly opened and threw another person out.

THUD… with a heavy thud, that person crashed onto the ground and lost consciousness immediately. Simon's eyes twitched when he looked at the little boy sprawled on the ground.

​ He finally understood why he was unconscious and lying on the ground when he entered the ruins, it turned out he had experienced a similar fate like that boy. Shaking his head off the thought, he turned towards Lucine and asked her what the letters said.

"Hmm~  let see it says… [Every hour, every minute, every second counts… directions are never-ending flowing like a river yearlong… go right or left… right or wrong?]" She iterated locking her brows.

Simon too frowned his brows when he heard those words, the words sounded like a clue but was very vague and written in an ancient language very few people in this world can read.

At this moment, the boy finally woke after getting knocked unconscious from that fall and immediately ran towards them in high spirits. He looked all around him with wide eyes and asked.

"Are we inside a dungeon?".

He had heard his master telling him about how dungeons were the best place to increase ones skills, level and a place where riches can be found. Denzel had been travelling with his master to different kingdoms and forests to increase his level and mastery over the sword.

When he heard his master mention that over one of their trips, he couldn't help but get curious and decided that he would one day dive inside a dungeon just like those adventurers and challenge himself.

Simon was just about to deny him when he thought that the possibility of this place being one, wasn't zero. His suspicions of this place being some kind of trial made him unable to not consider this possibility.

However, it seems that his suspicions was for nothing since Lucine who was clearly much more knowledgeable and experienced about the place than them, shook her head at those words.

"This place is not a dungeon… but hmm it can be considered a little similar in that it is one of the few Forbidden trial grounds that was once part of this world. It was connected to Eastarth but had disappeared due to certain events in history and pulled into a different plane".

"Although I said disappeared, they do surface sometimes and choose suitable inheritors. The other way to enter it is by using the coordinates."

Lucine said looking at Simon, she knew from their blank faces that if she were to start explaining from the start, even a few days of time wouldn't be sufficient.

"Anyways, what I'm saying is that this place is not a dungeon. You guys have already experienced the first trial so do not mistakenly think that our path ahead is going to be easier than before" She warned them before walking forward.

Simon who was looking at her back, caressed his chin. Was he overly conscious when he felt like he saw Lucine smiling excitedly as she stepped forward? Was she enjoying this trip to this so-called lost trial ground?

Shaking his head, Simon cleared his mind, one of his suspicions was finally cleared, this place was indeed a trail ground, one that was designed during the ancient times.

The three of them walked for a while before a large passage that led deeper towards a hall lit by huge torches appeared. Even from this distance, the three of them could sense the smell of danger that permeated every corner of this passage.

Huge statues that were made of what looked like dark indigo stones carved astutely, stood on two sides of the hall overlooking two doors.

"There is something written over there?" Denzel said squinting his eyes, the place where his finger pointed, was below the statues and near the torches. Inserted inside the wall was a stone slab with neat writings drawn on them. Right after pointing it out, he hurriedly dashed towards the hall.

Simon wanted to stop him; however, he was a step too late. The moment the boy ran, he had stepped on a switch which activated something and they all clearly heard the sound.

Suddenly, the entire passage started shaking violently, it was not only the passage but the entire ceiling felt like it would come crashing down.

At this moment, Simon regretted not having a [trap Detection] skill, he hurriedly shouted everyone to run towards the hall. Fortunately, his decision was right as the entire passage collapsed down revealing a bottomless hollow ground below.

How did they know it was bottomless? Because no matter how much time passed, there was no sound of the rocks hitting the ground. From a distance, it just looked like a huge dark pit with no end.

Additionally, due to some interference from the ruins, skills such as his [High-Speed flight], was unusable here. That is to say, had they not run away in time, they would have fallen into that…

Simon sighed a breath of relief before looking all around him. For some reason, he felt slight similarities between this place and a dungeon.

'Those people in the ancient times couldn't have thought about recreating the dungeon exclusive to demon nobles could they?' he laughed at the silly notion that supposedly popped up in his head.

"It's here" Denzel said leading the group towards the tablet in the middle of the hall.

[The two were once brothers, fighting and protecting the empire side by side, their powers unparalleled. Until one day, one of the brothers was led astray by his powers and slaughtered hundreds of thousands of innocent lives until the other brother had to step in].

[The Jury was angered and sentenced the two brothers to engage in a life and death battle. The crowd watched jeering at the two brothers killing each other. The two doors depict the path that they have taken up until now and the convictions they hold].

[ELIGE PLUDENTER] 

Lucine scrutinised the writing before telling them the gist of what it said.

Simon calmly observed the stone tablet, the two statues and his surroundings. Only now did he notice that the place they thought was the hall, actually looked like the arena of a coliseum.

"So what big sister is saying that we need to find out who the brother that committed the crime was and ignore that door?" Denzel asked.

Lucine nodded before falling into contemplation. The trial cannot be something as easy as finding the correct door, there definitely has to be some implications, something that they can't see right now.

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