"What do you find?" asks Mira while they run to the location where one of Ben's clones gets destroyed.
"The boss, maybe," says Ben.
"So you're not sure," says Mira disappointedly.
"Hey, at least we get a clue. This thing is strong enough to destroy my clone. So it is far stronger than the Etheriouses that we've met so far. Even if it's not the boss, it might lead us to the boss," says Ben.
"Sigh, alright, let's just hope that it's the case," says Mira.
They arrive at the location in a short time because all the traps and enemies on the way have been destroyed by the destroyed clone. The other clones are still exploring their routes and Ben also made 1 clone to explore his route after 1 clone gets destroyed.
Just like what Mira said, there's no guarantee that the Etheriouses that destroyed one of Ben's clones is the boss. So they still need to explore the other routes. Besides, there are still a lot of Etheriouses that need to be slain in this dungeon.
However, there is nothing in this place, no trap, no Etherious. It's just an empty corridor like the others. Ben & Mira are confused because they also can't sense anything around them, so there's no magical creature nearby.
"Just where-!?" says Ben before he suddenly gets alerted.
Another clone gets destroyed but now, there's no clue at all from the destroyed clone's memory. The previous clone has seen a glimpse of the creature that destroyed it, but the new destroyed clone hasn't even sensed anything that destroyed it.
"What the hell happened?" asks Ben while frowning.
"Have they started attacking us?" asks Mira.
"I think so, but why's there nothing here if that's the case? Wait! Don't tell me they are aiming my clones because the clones are far weaker than us," says Ben with widened eyes.
Mira is also surprised, "That means the enemies are smart enough to aim for the weaker ones first and made this strategy which used the split paths to their advantage."
"Damn! Attention to all clones, mark your locations with teleportation marks, so I can teleport there immediately," says Ben to his clones through their connection.
The clones immediately do as Ben says and they are right on time before another clone gets destroyed. Ben grabs Mira and teleports them to the destroyed clone's location. He is ready to attack, but whatever it is that destroyed his clone has disappeared.
"Shit, they're fast," says Ben in frustration.
[Suggestion. Make the clones explode right when they get destroyed to injure the enemies.]
'Oh, that's a good idea,' replies Ben at A.I Chip's idea in his mind.
Ben sends his command and the clones execute it. They wait for some time, but the enemies aren't attacking yet. It makes them realize that the enemies know they are wary of them because of the destroyed clones.
"Keep going, I think they won't attack because we are on high alert," says Ben.
They all walk forward while trying to look as if they're letting their guard down. But they are still on high alert, it's just a strategy to fool the enemies, and it works. Some minutes after they walked again, one clone gets destroyed, and it explodes.
Ben teleports there immediately with Mira but they are still late to catch a glimpse of the enemies. However, they find a trail of blood on the floor & walls, which shows that the clone's explosion has injured the enemies.
With all his attempts failing, Ben decides to dispel his clones. Now the enemies can only target him & Mira without the clones here. So both of them just stay there and get ready to fight, but nothing comes even after some time.
"I think we need to move," says Mira.
"Alright, staying here won't help us," says Ben in agreement.
Both of them walk forward while looking around carefully. Ben maximizes all his senses to find the enemies' position if they come to them. But even after 2 hours, no enemy is coming toward them.
"Sigh, how long have we explored this place?" asks Mira.
"Almost 4 hours since we entered," says Ben after checking his watch.
"This isn't looking good. Time will be our biggest challenge if we can't find the enemies. We don't even know how big this place is," says Mira.
Ben thinks for a while before saying, "Then, let's continue our search for 2 more hours before we rest."
Mira agrees and they continue their search while going through many paths. These paths are more challenging than the traps or Etheriouses that they need to find. But before they can find the Etheriouses, they need to find the way there first.
This maze just has too many paths. They split and then connected to each other. Many paths are also just made circling routes that make them return to their previous locations. Finding the correct paths is the most difficult part for them.
That's why Ben used his clones to explore many paths at once so A.I Chip can map the maze. But each time he sent his clones, they will get destroyed by unknown things one by one, and Ben still failed to catch whatever it is that destroyed his clones.
So after 2 more hours, Ben & Mira decide to stop for now because they still can't find anything. Ben teleports them out of the dungeon easily using a mark he placed before entering the dungeon. He prepared it because he knew this is a maze from all the information they gathered, so they might not succeed in one go.
"Damn, it's almost dark already. I think we should call it a day for now and resume it tomorrow," says Ben as he sees the sun is about to set.
Mira agrees and they make a camp in front of the dungeon. The night passes quickly and both of them didn't do their nightly couple activity. They are in the middle of a job and it will just tire them out.
Ben & Mira enters the cave again after breakfast using teleportation. They teleport to where they were before leaving yesterday. They look around first and find that there's no enemy here, so they walk again.
But then, Ben realizes something is wrong, so he stops. Mira also stops and looks at Ben who is looking around the place while frowning. She asks him what he's doing but Ben just asks her to stay silent for a moment.
"This place is different than yesterday," says Ben.
"Do you mean we teleported to a different place?" asks Mira while tilting her head.
"No, I teleported to the correct mark, but this place is different. It's slight, but there are some changes here," says Ben while looking at the differences that A.I Chip found.
The dungeon interiors have a similar appearance so it will be hard to realize if there are some slight changes. But A.I Chip's supercomputer ability can find those differences easily. Without A.I Chip, Ben won't find these differences even though he felt something is strange.
"What do you mean changes? Does someone do something last night? Or does this place move by itself? Haha, there's no way, right? I think you are just being oversensitive," says Mira jokingly.
"Sigh, I'm serious, and you know it too," says Ben.
"We-well, I'm just trying to lighten up the mood. But really, what do you think happened?" asks Mira.
"I don't know. But I do think that someone or something was doing something here. We need to be very care-," says Ben before he pauses because something big happens.
A dark magic wall suddenly comes out of the floor and separates him from Mira. He still can sense Mira behind that wall and he moves to break the hall. But suddenly, another wall appears behind him, and he feels the whole place is moving randomly at high speed.
Ben gets thrown around and hit the walls, floor, ceiling, or the magic walls. So he uses his gravity to stay in one spot while the place is still moving around. It finally stops after some time and the dark magic walls disappear.
Ben stands up again and looks around before he gets confused. Mira isn't here, there isn't any bit of her presence near him. But he isn't too worried because he knows what Mira is capable of.
Besides, he can just teleport to her using the mark on her body. But he won't do it now because not only Mira can take care of herself, he also has something to do. There is a strong creature near his location, so he needs to do something about it first.
"Finally, I was about to get bored," says Ben while grinning.
______________________________________________________________
You can read up to 35+35 chapters ahead of my fanfics on my Pa_treon page if you are interested.
Voting for this book is highly appreciate.
I've uploaded:
1. Chapter 325 of Fairy Tail: Sun Eater
2. Chapter 336 of Transcended as Lord Buggy
https://www.pa_treon.com/CaptMermain
(the web didn't use _underscore_, it's to avoid censorship)