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Adventurers on a Remote Island – Part 06

As they entered the Maze of Magic Locks, an astonishing sight greeted them. A straight corridor, five meters wide and high, stretched out into the distance. The walls were bare rocks, revealing the stratum in the area.

There was a gentle flow of air. Some kind of air conditioning seemed to be in operation.

One of Jillarte’s companions attempted to stab a knife into the wall, but it failed to penetrate.

“It seems to be protected by magic. Impressive. Is this applied throughout the entire dungeon?”

“Of course,” Esrat snorted, and the Beastman scowled. “Otherwise the whole dungeon would collapse.” He seemed to be bragging about his hometown’s dungeon.

Given its wide space, a whole party should have ample room to engage in combat.

The entire dungeon emitted a faint glow, providing enough visibility despite the dimness. However, they still needed to be cautious of traps. Esrat took the lead, while Michael was at the rear, both holding magic lamps.

The intersections and corners all had right angles. In fact, the map they received from the Adventurers’ Guild depicted precise straight lines.

The map is incredibly detailed. Everything from the first to the fifth floor is there. So we can’t expect to find unexplored areas with treasure chests or anything of the sort.

Jillarte sighed inwardly. Monster spawns were predetermined, and they already had an idea how much elemental magic stone they could obtain. Large monsters appeared every ten days, and the next one was due to spawn in five days.

We need to familiarize ourselves with this dungeon before then. The elemental magic stones we’re seeking are meant to alleviate the water shortage, so the more we collect, the better.

As she braced herself, Jillarte suddenly remembered her savior, Silver Face.

Come to think of it, where is Silver Face now? Wait, why am I thinking about him? Forget about Silver Face. Focus, focus.

Little did she know that Silver Face was also on the same island.

“Anyway, no one else seems to be around.”

As they progressed through the dungeon, they encountered no one and nothing.

“We’re still near the surface. If we go a bit further, we’ll run into them.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. Oh, hey. Speak of the devil.”

A series of clonking sound was coming from up ahead. Esrat raised the magic lamp, revealing a square creature made of brick-like blocks tottering towards them.

“Hmm, a Golem. It’s small.”

The Golem had limbs but no head. Standing at about the same height as Esrat, it emitted a faint blue light from its center. There were four of them.

“Finally I can stretch my limbs. Jillarte, stay back.”

“Whoa, whoa. Are you planning to hog all the action? I’m raring for one right now.”

“What? Let’s see who can take one down first, then.”

“You’re on. Ready, set—”

“Eat my dust!”

“Hey!”

The rowdy Beastmen carelessly charged forward, but the small Golems posed no problem. Golems were magical lifeforms with simple movements.

The physically superior Beastmen swung their heavy, two-handed weapons. War hammers and poleaxes pulverized the Golems in a single blow.

As soon as they became immobile, the Golems’ bodies turned into white smoke and vanished. This was different from the Forest of Deception, where monsters turned to ash instead.

What remained were elemental magic stones.

“Are you serious? These things are tiny.”

The stones were as small as sesame seeds. Their size meant they couldn’t be used to craft magic items, only for experimental purposes. Still, loot was loot, so Michael collected them.

“That’s the door, huh?”

“It’s my time to shine.”

It was a double door, a square divided into two rectangles, completely blocking the path. There was no doorknob in sight.

Anyone knowledgeable in sorcery would recognize that the patterns engraved on the surface resembled magical circuits, and they were glowing. There were keyholes here and there, and when Esrat inserted two wires and fiddled around, the light in those areas disappeared.

“Unlock all six keyholes, and the door will open.”

As Esrat said, when the last keyhole was unlocked, the door suddenly stopped glowing and silently opened away from them.

“So this is what the Maze of Magic Locks is all about.”

“This is just the beginning.”

Esrat, standing beside the door, jerked his chin, urging Jillarte’s party to proceed further into the depths. Michael, the last one in the column, nodded to Esrat, and Esrat nodded back almost immediately.

The exploration was going smoothly. The small rooms that occasionally came in sight were filled with monsters numbering from five to more than ten. To advance, they had to kill them.

“We call them ‘bumps’ in the labyrinth.”

“Bumps, huh? So we can’t proceed without passing through them.”

The locations of the bumps were clearly marked on the map they obtained from the guild, and so far, Jillarte’s party had no trouble defeating the monsters.

“These bumps are nothing!” said the black panther Beastman with a smirk.

“Monsters become more vicious from the second floor.”

“If the first floor is anything to go by, then we have nothing to worry about. It might be a tough dungeon for you country folks, but for us Einbiestians, it’s a walk in the park.”

Esrat was the unsociable type, so it was hard to tell if he was offended by the remark, but he likely was.

Jillarte was about to admonish the overconfident Beastmen, when Michael spoke.

“L-Let’s get going. The second floor is close, and I’m sure you all want some more action, right?”

“Great idea. See, you get it. I need to show Jillarte just how strong I am!”

“What? I’m the strongest one around here.”

“Nah, that would be me.”

The enthusiastic Beastmen immediately started walking. They wanted to prove that the monsters on the first floor did not even count as warm-up.

Jillarte followed them with a sigh, failing to notice the dark gleam in Michael’s eyes.

---

The second floor of the dungeon had the same fundamental structure as the first floor, but the types of monsters that appeared were different—was what Esrat said.

Unlike the first floor, which mainly consisted of small Golems, the second floor featured Golems slightly taller than the Beastmen. Wielding swords, spears, bows, and other weapons, they took formation and launched coordinated attacks.

“These fuckers are working together now!”

The black panther Beastman was frustrated that brute force alone was ineffective. While the enemies displayed coordination, their own party lacked it. Beastmen tended to prioritize individual strength and disliked acting as a group.

Golems’ behavioral patterns resembled those of programmed machines, with predetermined set of movements. However, these Golems were crafted elaborately.

“Shit! Keep your eyes open, man!”

“What?! It’s your fault for coming right in front of me!”

“Oh, the elemental magic stones are bigger.”

Unlike the stones on the first floor, the ones here were about six millimeters in diameter, about the size of airsoft pellets. The Beastmen, pleased with the increased rewards despite the heightened difficulty in defeating the enemies, pressed on through the dungeon.

Other monsters besides Golems appeared as well, such as Slimes, which served as dungeon cleaners, and Specters, remnants of humans who died in the dungeon. The fact that these non-Golem monsters didn’t drop elemental magic stones irritated the Beastmen.

“Next! Let’s keep going!”

Specters didn’t cause physical harm; they only made the Beastmen feel chilly and sluggish. Unable to exterminate these entities as none of them had magical power of the Holy attribute, the Beastmen settled with driving the Specters away, then pressed forward into the depths of the dungeon.

“Wait,” Jillarte said. “It’s been five hours since we entered the dungeon. We only took a small break to eat. Let’s rest for about an hour.”

“What? Come on, Jillarte. If it took us five hours to get here, even if we assume the shortest estimate, we won’t reach the lowest level until tomorrow. We can’t afford to rest. Let’s finish our work quickly and say goodbye to the sticks.”

The Beastmen were already growing tired of the dungeon. Unfortunately for Jillarte, she was the only one among them who had experience delving into dungeons. When it came to dungeon exploration, the first thing rookies learned from veterans was “safety first”. Address even the smallest risks. It could mean the difference between life and death.