After bypassing the traps at the threshold of the cave, navigating the cavern became effortless. In hindsight, interrogating the overseer was meaningless, but at the same time it would have been a reckless disregard for caution if they didn’t follow protocol.

  Mana Crystals were an expensive resource; it was easy to deduce that they would only be utilized oh leading to something signifit.

  And so, it wasn’t much of a surprise that half a mile into the cavern’s depths, where Mana Crystals adorhe walls like precious jewels, the atmosphere shifted, revealing a hidden sanctuary within the heart of the mountain.

  The crystals, ner and more refined, brightly illumihe path. The rough terrain transitioned into a luxurious setting—a red carpet led the way into an expansive chamber, revealing a meticulously crafted space.

  The cavern’s floor, now smooth cobblestoh lush carpeting, hi opuleapestries adorhe walls, depig picturesque ses of rolling pins and forested valleys. A magnifit delier, casting a warm glow, hung from the ceiling, adding an air of grao the space.

  Within this hidden haven, two men lounged on separate plush couches, surrounded by extravagance. Subservient female Beastki on all fours, their backs providing a fortable surface for the men’s legs. Tenderly massaged and atteo, they were served fruit and wine by two human females, painting an ambiance of indulgend leisure.

  “It’s unusual to find rats scurrying around in this pce,” said one of the men as he stirred the wine in his flute and took a brief sip.

  “Fet unusual,” respohe other man with a scoff. “This has never happened before. So much for your cealment spell and the worthless traps.”

  Ign the reproach, the man narrowed his eyes shrewdly, assessing how the light refracted through the red liquid in his gss. Even the devil’s luck wouldn’t be enough to find this pce, much less to bypass the traps. There’s obviously more to these rodents thahe eye. “I wouldn’t uimate them if I were you.”

  Feeling offended by the warning, the other man jerked his shoulders aggressively, driving away the woman who teo him. Then with a dark scowl, he pushed to his feet and faced the entrance of the chamber from which a flippant voice arose.

  “You guys sure stick out like a sore thumb.”

  “What was that?” the man who was standing spat, a blood vessel throbbing in his temple.

  Daisuke nontly stepped out of the darkness and into the light, hands tucked into his pockets. “You both are obviously warriors, not gentlemen,” he said, assessing the garments and old scars they wore. “So you just don’t quite fit in with all the luxury you’ve got going on here.”

  The man angrily gritted his teeth.

  Milo shrunk back. “Sh-Should you really be provoking them like that?”

  Rexar frowned with pt. “More importantly—”

  “They have hostages,” Elena interjected with a frown, biting her lip furiously wheed the woman who was still being used as a footstool. “I ’t believe the way they’re being treated; it’s so demeaning.”

  “Don’t worry, you’ll be joining them shortly,” were the st words that the man uttered before unfurling his arms that were now aglow with a purplish aura.

  The chamber rumbled and a dark hum followed, apanied by the thunderous shattering of rock. Daisuke retrieved the Lipanthyer’s Fang and assumed a battle stan time to witness as a crude arm made of stone burst upward through the carpet with unbridled veracity.

  Within moments, a rge golem t at least ee emerged from the ground. Its body was fed of rh-hewn and cold, and its round, sunken eye sockets exuded an eerie glow.

  “Wh-What the hell is that?” Rexar excimed.

  “It’s a stone golem,” Daisuke expined in a hushed tone, “which means this guy’s likely a jurer.”

  Elena and Rexar looked fused.

  “A jurer is able to summon spiritual and elemental beings and and them in battle,” Milo expined.

  “At least one of you did your homework,” Daisuke murmured, much to Elena and Rexar’s embarrassment. “You three focus oher guy and find a way to rescue the hostages.”

  “Right!” the trio responded in unison.

  “Imbeciles!” barked the jurer with a smog grin. “Instead of devising a strategy, you fools should have desperately tried to make your escape. Although, it would have been a plete waste of time.”

  Daisuke pivoted his head around at the man’s gesture, only to hat anolem was blog the only passage in and out of the chamber. But he didn’t despair.

  A brief g his feet reminded him that Zephyr was absent, so he was entirely on his own. But that didn’t sully his resolve, nor his speed. Daisuke leaned forward as a rge fist came crashing down with the force of a small meteorite, sending a wave of destru rippling through the chamber.

  The women screamed as debris rained down like hail. As the dust cleared, the golem raised its jagged arm, expeg to see the crushed and skewered remains of its prey, but there wasn’t even a single spec of blood.

  “You wouldn’t be the first to mistake predator for prey,” whispered Daisuke, his back against the jurer’s.

  The man gasped in shock, but it was too te; with a swift, fluent motion, Daisuke spun around, his dagger drawing a bright trajectory toward the bastard’s neck like a beast aiming for the jugur of prey.

  G!

  The bde collided into a clear barrier, which preve from reag its mark. The jurer leaped ba the same beat, his expression a cold twist of horror and exasperation.

  Daisuke noted as the man raised his hand, the precious stoop one of his rings crumbling and falling away.

  “That’s...” Daisuke’s eyes narrowed ptively. Is it some sort of oime-use barrier?

  “He’s fast!” the other man—the less angry one—excimed as he urgently sprang to his feet.

  “Vernie!” called the jurer in a telling tone.

  “I know!”

  When Verarted an intation, almost meically, all eyes shifted to him. Without instru, Rexar, Elena, and Milo surreo their battle instincts and uheir fastest spell to intervene: Magic Missile.

  But it was futile.

  Simir to the jurer, a single ring was sacrificed to erect a protective barrier against the swift assault. As a result, the intation culminated with the jurer receiving a buff that signifitly increased his mana capacity.

  Daisuke’s eyes narrowed, his surprise shifting to annoyance. Shit! Don’t tell me that guy uses support magic! Hey!” he called out to the trio with evident urgency. “You o get rid of that guy pronto, or we won’t stand a—”

  A quake more inteha arrested the room, and the jurer’s prolonged roar made the atmosphere all the more ominous. Veins bulged in his forehead as he summoned his power, saliva drooling from his gaping mouth.

  Before Daisuke could act, the golem guarding the entrance closed in, bringing down a stone mace toward his head with explosive force that sent shrapnel flying in all dires.

  The pair of human women huddled together in a er wasn’t so lucky; a fleeting cry was the st sound to escape their lips before their lives were swiftly extinguished by a lethal projectile. And the other women looked on in horror.

  “Run!” shouted Elena.

  Stirred from their petrified state by the pelling voice, the two remaining females scurried toward their kin. But Vernie wasn’t just about to let them escape with the highly cssified information with which they had been exposed.

  With a flick of his hand, darts made of ice flew on a trajectory toward the back of their necks.

  CRASH!

  They shattered like gss against Rexar’s gaus as he threw himself forward to intercept. L his arms, he leered at the bastard who seemed more disappoihan remorseful about what he almost did.

  “Hurry! Hurry!” called Milo, ushering them toward the exit. “Use your will lead you back to the others!”

  “R-Right!”

  “Thank you!”

  The girls breathed but a single word before disappearing into the void. Therio huddled together defensively and regarded Verh obvious disdain.

  From the er of his eye, Daisuke he women who had been liberated and those who perished. But it wasn’t wise to divide his attention any longer; as the tremrew fiercer, four molems began emerging from the earth as if it were made of cy.

  In but a moment, the oravagant chamber was reduced to the appeal of an average dungeon; broken cobblestones and tattered carpeting cascaded off the impressive mass of the t golems. Furnishes and other décor that were among their ranks were reduced to rubble.