"This place is larger than I initially thought"
I strolled behind Haruto, who had wrapped his wolf fur coat around his bag to use it as a shield and walked with it raised at all moments. Above us, the eye of detection I conjured was shifting its gaze in all directions to spot traps before they activated.
The eye of detection turned out to be more useful than it seemed at first. Even though I need to close my eyes to use it which does make me somewhat vulnerable, I can still see through the eye and it can see through objects or living organisms. Thanks to it we have been able to block or dodge all incoming arrows and bolts.
I already knew of this place, the encyclopedia mentioned it. The fourth floor is a place devoid of monsters but full of traps, there should be an exit at the end but it didn't mention distance as well as other important details. I don't know where Nayuta and Sophia are, but if they're somewhere in here then they're in a bad situation, since I didn't expect us to be separated I didn't inform anyone of the nature of this place since I thought it would only create unnecessary worry.
While advancing I spotted an arrow trap about twenty meters ahead, located on the ceiling. Trying to guess their trajectory is useless since they somehow change direction mid-air and point at a specific body part, but even just knowing when will a projectile fly at you is useful.
"There's an arrow trap about twenty meters ahead, be careful"
"Got it"
He already had his makeshift shield raised so he just became extra cautious, he needs to be able to adjust the shield correctly in order to block the arrows efficiently. Moments later a hard impact resonated through the hallway as the arrow bounced off his shield and fell to the ground. The tip was flattened and the shaft broke, so it was clear that even such improvised equipment was enough to survive in here.
"If there's an arrow trap here...that means we are going into another full set of traps"
After being in this place for what I think have been two days, I noticed a pattern. After a small amount of traps, there is a large amount of them that go off in succession about thirty meters ahead, after which there is some time were no traps are present. The weird part is that when I say time instead of distance is for a reason.
Instead of there being a predetermined amount of distance where there are no traps, there are thirty minutes where somehow all traps just seem to disappear, which means we can travel fast and safely for that amount of time, and once the clock is finally down me slow down and wait for the next set of traps. Of course between the end of that time and the next trap, there is a certain distance where we are safe of the arrows and bolts reach, but this one seems completely random.
Since we were going into hell once again, I unsheathed my sword and prepared to defend myself if necessary. Soon we were bombarded with large bolts that even Haruto had trouble dealing with, by now the items in his bag must have been all broken, it was mostly food so thankfully no water had been wasted but it was still a sad loss.
As I thinking about this the eye of detection noticed the arrow trap that had shot us before repositioning itself somehow and pointing at me. A distinguishable sound resonated and the arrow was shot at my back, but I didn't need to block or dodge it, instead, I just turned my body a little to avoid the strike from possibly damaging my spine and let it hit my shoulder. The arrow wasn't able to penetrate the coat and bounced off, but my shoulder went stiff for a second, after shaking off any dust that could have fallen on my clothes I kept on walking.
While trying to warn Haruto about the bolts is futile since I can't predict their trajectory, that's not the case with the swords that come out of the walls and the floor.
"Sword to the right"
As soon as I uttered those words he stepped back, just a second later the sword came out of the wall and stabbed the place where he had been a moment ago. Leaving those things there could prove dangerous if we need to run back for any reason so he quickly broke the sword in half with one swing of his mace.
"Thanks for the warning"
"Don't worry about it"
The amount of hidden swords is not high no matter how much we advance, but we still need to be careful, the first time we encountered one of those Haruto got his leg impaled by it.
After a while the bolts stopped coming and we decided to relax for a bit. Traps don't appear during that thirty-minute gap, and neither do they appear on the distance we covered during that time after it's over, so now is the best time to rest. Since we already covered a long distance before this, it's in our best interest to recover before continuing. We don't know how much time we will be trapped in here, so food and water have to be rationed carefully, but sleep is something we can't afford to lose, a mistake on my or Haruto's part caused from lack of sleep could end up in a serious injury or even death.
I sat down and cast off the eye of detection before pulling out the grimoire of eyes from my bag. This whole magic thing is weird and complicated, not to mention scary, but if is something that can help us survive then learning more is a must. Before I opened it I looked at Haruto taking out the food that got smashed from his bag, since almost all there was inside was dry wolf meat and some personal items, even if the food got smashed to bits it was still edible.
"We packed things like mosquito repellent but not camping equipment because the school gave it to us...if only they didn't make us give it back"
He complained as he took out sunscreen and mosquito repellent from the bag. Sleeping on the hard floor is uncomfortable, so the memory of the sleeping bag the school gave him came back to torment him...not that is not the same for me though. A sleeping bag might not be the most comfortable option but is convenient and offers both warmth and softness, and while it doesn't offer much protection against the environment like a tent does is way more portable than one...
"I should stop this"
I decided to stop thinking about the commodity of a sleeping bag and opened the grimoire. The moment I did I felt my consciousness leaving my body and my head hitting the book before I completely lost myself to the sudden feeling. When I woke up I was back in the white space, but it was a little different now.
Where there had originally been absolutely nothing now there were multiple hard to identify translucent objects that seemed to flicker in and out of existence. When I focused on them they became a little more visible and flickered less but I could only concentrate on an object for so long before my eyes got tired. On the sky far higher than where I am, the gigantic eye was watching me with its multiple pupils without uttering a single word. The sound of breaking glass was produced every time a pupil moved even if just slightly.
Trying to touch the objects was futile since they disappeared when I tried to approach them. Most people would give up in trying to discern the nature of these objects, but not me, I decided to try something else.
"Eye of detection"
As I closed my eyes, concentrated, and recited the name of the spell, a familiar pain assaulted my eyes, forcing me to close them. With my eyes closed, the sharp and loud sound of breaking glass coursed through my body as a rift appeared in the space above me, from where an eye peeked.
The eye of detection and the giant eye on the sky stared at each other for a second before they both looked away, uninterested in each other. Through the eye, I could see the objects clearly without any flickering, but that didn't mean I could identify them all, some of them turned out to be pretty common items or pieces of furniture, but others were strange artifacts that looked like they belong in the laboratory of a crazy alchemist or pieces of glass that looked like abstract art that I simply couldn't understand, pretty much like those boring abstract art museum that are nothing but scams.
I can feel my eyes sting just because I was looking at those things, but I didn't want to look away. Although I'm not sure how to explain it, I feel that if I keep on focusing I might be able to learn something new, I'm aware of how ridiculous it sounds and honestly, it probably won't bear any results, but I'm still trying.
The first time I opened the grimoire, the eye said that I was too weak, so it could only grant me the eye of detection. I already confirmed the fact that whenever we kill monsters, we absorb part of their power, for example, killing the guards granted strength, meanwhile killing the knight granted speed.
"The amount of damage seems to determine who gets the most of it..."
Nayuta became much quicker than any of us after killing the knight, maybe because she's the one that dealt more damage, but that didn't mean the rest of us didn't gain anything, on the contrary, we became much quicker and swift than any athlete I know of.
Strength, speed, and both the wolf and the centipede snake granted endurance and hardness. There wasn't any exceptional upgrade in those last two in any of us, maybe because it was a team effort, but it was still useful, even though it wasn't enough to protect us from the arrows and bolts alone, it made our bodies hard enough so it wouldn't penetrate or break the bone.
Another thing I confirmed, although I already kinda expected since killing that giant guard on the first floor, is that Haruto obtains more gains from killing monsters even if he did the same amount of damage as anyone else, as an example, while I'm sure that if an arrow struck it would pierce my flesh until it reaches the bone when one struck Haruto in the leg it halted much quicker.
If by weak, it meant my body, then maybe now I'm strong enough, but if it meant it in a different way, then I guess that it was referring to my mind. Since even after killing the snake, the eye didn't mention anything about granting me another spell, then I'm either still too physically weak for its standards or it's the mind, and I think is more logical to think the answer is the latter.
"Let's focus on these objects instead of formulating theories"
All the strange objects had one thing in common, they were all made of glass or a similar material, even those that were furniture. This seems to be somewhat related to the nature of the eye of detection, which allows me to see through things, while some were perfectly translucent, others were not, and I could see something strange but distorted through them, but walking around them always revealed nothing behind.
After looking closer I realized something else, all of these distorted objects had the symbol of an eye carved in there, which was pretty hard to see due to the material it was made of. Making a theory behind this weird occurrence is hard, but if I had to guess...
"Whatever appears on the other side of these glass objects exists in another plane...or something similar"
It's a hard guess, but is the only one I can make, and is based on fiction logic. At first, I thought that maybe it was an invisible object that could be seen through the glass, but when approaching the place where it seemed to be, I didn't feel anything. Hence the object is both invisible and intangible, or it's not even there to begin with, and since an illusion that can only be seen through a certain glass seems useless, I bet for it not existing in this plane of existence, but in a completely different one.
As if saying my conjuncture was correct, all the glass figures shattered in an instant as if they had exploded from the inside. I looked up only to see the eye staring intently at me.
"This means that I need to find the correct answer to be granted the spells?"
There's probably more to it, since saying that I'm too weak wouldn't make sense if that was the case, probably expanding my knowledge is the answer, or maybe killing an intelligent monster would make my mind stronger and allow me to unlock the spells, the reality is unclear, but I can always theorize.
As all of the pupils of the space-defying entity focused on me, that feeling of dread that I felt the first time returned.
"THE ANSWER WAS FOUND"
The loud and deep voice reverberated inside my head like a marble bouncing in a confined space. My brain hurts like it was being pierced by needles, even though brains don't have pain receptors I'm certain that this pain was originated in my brain and not in the surrounding tissue like normal headaches.
"STILL WEAK, BUT NOT FEEBLE ANYMORE, ANOTHER SPELL I SHALL GRANT"
The pupils shone red and a sharp pain, as if someone had stabbed my eyes with an icepick struck me suddenly. A scream came out of my mouth as I covered my eyes in pain and knelt on the floor. The eye of detection which I had maintained until now shattered into pieces as the pain broke my concentration, with the eye dispelled and my own eyes in horrible suffering, I was completely blinded.
"THE HIDDEN EYE SHALL AID YOUR JOURNEY, GRIMOIRE HOLDER"
Without being able to see, the voice of the entity became even more monstrous and heavy on my mind, it felt as if I would be crushed under its weight.
"AN INTERESTING GRIMOIRE HOLDER. WHAT EYE WILL YOU MAKE ONCE YOU DIE, I WONDER?"
With those words piercing my head, I felt my mind slip away as I slowly fell into unconsciousness.