Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

She couldn't help but glance at his face that had not even an iota of fear of death in them. Unknowingly, a curiosity to know more about the demon, budded in her heart. Suddenly, she saw the demon cough out a mouthful of blood and try to supress the pain by grinding his teeth.

The sword-bearer at some point unable to get away from the grasps of the shield-bearer, plunged his half-broken sword onto the shoulders of the latter. Pain like that could make one flinch or even give up midway; nonetheless, Simon did not allow his stance or his lock to break and steadily carried the sword-bearer towards the edges of the cliff.

"Are you alright?" Lucine asked, her tone had unknowingly become a little softer when she saw him hurt.

"Doesn't matter if I get hurt or not, I must throw him onto that bottomless pit" Simon roared hoarsely in determination.

BANG… BANG… the heavy footsteps of the shield-bearer charging towards the pit rang out across the hall. Even though the shield-bearer only had a single arm remaining, it held on tightly to the other statue unwilling to let it go even when its entire body crumbled from the repeated assaults of the sword-bearer.

Finally, when everything seemed a race against the time, Simon willed the shield bearer statue to jump towards the pit making it to the edges at the nick of time.

SWISH… the last reaming torch that illuminated the small expanse of the hall, finally died down as the entire place descended into darkness. The only sound that resounded in the area was the heavy breathing of Simon and his pained filled gasps that he tried to quash with his breath.

Lucine hurriedly came to his aid and helped him remove the shield out of his hand. Immediately after the shield was taken out, his body that was creaking from pain and exhaustion, collapsed onto the ground.

"Haa.. haa.. did it work, did we win?" Simon asked looking at the dark space all around him.

"I don't know" Lucine shook her head and glanced at the two people sprawled onto the floor after giving their all to clear the trial. According to the message written on the tablet, they had to choose between the way of life walked by both brothers and open the door they thought was right.

As for how to defeat the other warrior statue, there was no such mention in the texts. While Lucine was deliberating if she could save the both of them in the case that they failed, a complex runic circle made of many interconnected circles, suddenly propped up under their feet.

"W-what is this?" Denzel who was resting on the floor, suddenly stood up from his position spooked by the sudden appearance of the circle.

"Relax it is just a high-level multi-layered teleportation circle. It appearing here could only mean that we have… cleared the trial?! We cleared the trial" Lucine who was frowning after looking at the teleportation circle, suddenly squealed in delight.

Her joy-filled words, immediately caused the other two to also get excited. If they were to believe her words, it could only mean that they have successfully cleared the second trial. The multi-layered teleportation circle below them, started glowing bright and bright and before long, its luminance covered the three of them.

Simon felt a slight discomfort and a weightless feeling that arises when one travels through space. When the light settled down and he opened his eyes, he found himself in a totally different environment than previously.

There was no longer a hall, a platform which they were standing on, nor was there a huge bottomless pit below them.

Their current location was a cavernous area with fire torches here and there lightning the area. When he saw the fire torches once again, Simon couldn't help but frown his brows. The trial earlier, created an aversion of troches in him.

Fortunately, this time they were not on a stopwatch and the troches did not blow out on their own. While Simon and the little boy rested and recovered from their wounds, Lucine took it on herself to scout their surroundings.

"As I thought, this place is the third trial ground and is humungous. Even with my senses, cannot chart the entirety of this cavern" Lucine commented coming out of one of the tunnels.

After a couple of minutes of rest, Simon could finally will his body as he wished. He propped his body up and scanned his surroundings. It was just like Lucine had said, the cave was so deep and winding that finding a right way out of this would be quite a hassle.

But the good thing was that, unlike the previous trials, skills that could be beneficial for this trial, wasn't blocked. He could use his [Mental Map] skill to chart out the cavern.

The group sat on a nearby boulder and decided how they would proceed forward.

"Another trial? I don't know how long has passed in the outside world. Is there no way to get out of this place?" Denzel asked.

Although he loved adventuring and wanted to be like those adventurer's, not being able to see and end or exit, he was starting to have claustrophobia.

His question piqued the interest of Simon, he too wanted to know if there was any way out of this. Unlike dungeons which have gates or a way to travel across different floors, the trial they were in, only had an entry point appearing whenever they cleared the trial.

It was normal to worry if they can't see the exit.

When Lucine saw them looking at her, she sighed in exasperation before explaining. Since she was the one more knowledgeable about the place than anyone else, the task of being a guide, fell on her. 

"That is not quite so. While the Trial grounds are different from the dungeons build by demon Nobles, fundamentally they are a little the same. Instead of having exit gates or staircases to the other floors, the trial grounds have something called transit rocks that transports you back to the place you came from. While there might be some spatial turbulence on the way leading you to end up in different areas from where you came from."

Those words finally elicited a good reaction from the listeners as the mood of the group brightened a little. Now that they knew that there was a way to get out, the tension that was gripping their bodies, subsided a little.

"But how do we find those transit rocks?" Simon looked all around the cavern and the numerous rocks and pebbles scattered around. If they started to examine the rocks one after the other, there would be no end to it.

Lucine became silent for a while, she crossed her hands, closed her eyes and glossed through the information she knew about the trial ground.

"Every trial ground has its own way of spawning transit rocks. In the case of this trial ground, I do not know; however, after clearing the previous two trials, they should be starting to spawn soon. A transit rock is very unique than an ordinary rock, so when you are near them, there is no chance that you would miss it".

She recalled, though her words sounded a little unsure because this was her first time entering a trial ground and the information she had, was from the memories of her master and grandfather.

The group nodded before proceeding forward. Each of the cavernous tunnels wasn't big and barely allowed three to four people to walk side by side.

While the group walked, they paid special attention to the walls and ceilings of the caverns in hopes of finding some clues or drawings that might help in their next trial. However, even after walking a long distance, there was no such indication of any drawings or carvings on the wall until they reached a three-meter big metal door that was tightly shut.

"It's not opening," Denzel said after failing to pull the door open.

"Obviously, unless you deactivate the runes or blow it away with a powerful Amalgamation magic, the door won't open," Lucine said examining the complicated runic letters carved on the door.

When she put some of her mana into it, the letters started glowing and becoming more apparent. Simon and Denzel sat near the door while Lucine interpreted the words. Since they had someone who was adept in ancient letters, there was no need for them to open the door forcefully, they can simply enter after decoding the letters.

"How does Mis… ahem big sis know these letters? Even my master would be amazed by your knowledge" Denzel uttered dazedly.

"Hehe, are you by chance impressed? Hmph, this much is nothing for me you know" Lucine flashed a boastful smile, her mood becoming brighter by a little.

Simon blinked his eyes in amazement, this master and disciple were the same in that they get easily flattered even by the simplest of praise.

"Alright, I have decoded the words written on the door" Lucine said turning towards the two of them. Although they found no clue whatsoever about their upcoming trial, it at least gave them a slight idea.

The three of them after nodding at each other, carefully pushed open the door. The heavy metal door that might have not been opened for centuries or maybe even millennias, made a loud creaking noise when it was pushed open.

Darkness loomed over the other side of the door; however, the moment they stepped in, the torches around the walls, started igniting one after the other. The tunnel they were in currently, was broader than the one that had come from.

A rail track that had seen its fair share of use, was laid on the middle and went deep inside the cavern. 

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