3 days later....
Its been 3 days since we went into this hell hole. I can't even count the number of times we triggered some trap or another. The first one was fine. I casted a Mana shield on each of us before hand and it blocked off the fire from the ground just fine.
The next one was arrows coming out of the walls. A bit of wind magic and it was fine. But it just got worse. In one case I triggered a wire trap on accident and it shot out fire in a straight line in the small hallway maze type floor. The fire was fine. But it triggered a second trap which shot out arrows from the walls next to us. Then a gush of wind pushed us back to a crossway where a boulder almost crushed us.
Naturally we dodged it but then the boulder triggered the final and most annoying trap I have yet to see. A pitfall. Yes the entire floor opened up for us to drop down into poisonous spikes as Patrick inspected them after we barely survived. Then I had to use Earth magic to make a walkway for the rest of the place because the entire floor opened. At one point I considered to break down all of the walls but Patrick advised me that they could be trapped as well.
Well 3 days later and 5 floors fully explored I'm sick of the place now.
"You think we're near the final bit of this place?"
"Maybe. Its been five floors already." answered Patrick trying to get my hopes up.
Well I did kinda destroyed an entire floor before...it wasn't my fault! I was pissed off and I had to blow off some steam one way or another so I kinda made a dust explosion that almost killed us while laughing like a madman.
"Well I hope so." I let my head drop from my exhaustion.
I finished scouting the area for traps with my light balls. I think my magic control skill increased in a level due to the massive and constant use of the light balls. It was getting easier to make and control more and more of them with time. Obviously my concentration stat got increased as well during this trip. And my level...well there weren't any monsters so there was no change in that.
Anyway I found the stairs to the next floor. Hopefully this is the final floor.
"Stairs that way." I pointed to where by light balls were.
As always I walked first being the one who faced the most danger in this place anyway. The moment we reached the sixth floor there were some writing one the walls. It was a nice change but it was in a language I didn't know.
"Patrick, there's some writing on that wall. Can you translate?"
During one of our conversations I found out that Patrick was proficient in several languages, many being ancient and forgotten languages. It was apparently a tradition to at least that much to ensure the knowledge is not lost.
Patrick went to the wall still checking for any traps and read it for a bit before saying, "I have good news and bad news."
Figures. This place always has bad news for me.
"What's the good news?" I asked hoping for this to be the last floor.
"This is the last floor." Yes! The time when I'm back with clean flesh air is coming sooner.
"The bad news is that the traps are worse than the previous floors....its a warning."
What? There are traps worse than the previous floors? Wait did the guy who designed this place not remember the very cruel trap he placed in the third floor? That one pretty much ensured most people would die there.
"So are we still going?" I asked.
I don't want to see the worse traps in this place. It seems Patrick had the same opinion.
He was very hesitant to say "Yes. We have to go forward. Else we wasted a lot of time trying to find this place and actually exploring it."
I have to agree with that but most people would stop now.
"Well lets go." I started walking from the small hallway connecting the stairs to the first room of the floor. I felt a pressure plate move under my foot, pushed by the weight of my body.
Oh..shit. In a split second reaction I said and casted, "Mana Shield."
A log appeared from the darkness and hit my mana shield. Unfortunately while the shield could block physical and magical attacks it did not prevent the force of the attacks going through.
Mana Shield took 214 damage
That was quite a bit for the impact of the log but it wasn't over yet. My body was pushed in the air and into the wall. The log crushed by mana shield with me.
Mana Shield took 2413 damage. Shield has been broken
Damn it hurts! I vomited out some blood out of my mouth when the impact went through my body.
You lost 3386 mana
Impact caused you to internally bleed. Critical Wound. If not treated you will die.
You will loss 5 mana per second due to the bleeding.
Man if it wasn't for the fact that my mana shield absorbed most of the damage before breaking, that would've been an instant kill.
"Eden!" Patrick started to run over to me with some bandages.
Shit. We don't even know if there's anymore traps in the room.
I shouted, "Don't! Wait for me to light the place up first. Light ball."
From my awkward position of having by body crushed by a log then slipping on the wall I casted some light balls which soon moved around the room to give some light. I increased the intensity of the light and it was well lit. When this happened Patrick looked around and ran to me, hopping over what seemed to be pressure plates for people who walked into the room without a light like me.
"Endure it for a bit."
Patrick started to rapidly wrap my body in bandages. After a minute and several rolls of bandages a message appeared.
You have regained 315 mana. Bleeding has stopped.
You have regained 642 mana.
Well I couldn't get back to full mana but that can be done with some mediation.
"Is your health back to normal?" asked Patrick.
I still didn't tell him that I didn't have any health anymore. It might lead him to believe that I was more durable than he originally thought. Well its nice to continue a lie for so long.
I replied, "Yeah."
I tried to get up but there was a sudden and sharp pain in my stomach.
"Don't move so quickly. By bandages can't heal those kinds of wounds quickly. You'll need some proper treatment by a priest later and some rest."
"True but we're in a tomb right now. I don't think I can get some medical attention."
"In that case let me apply some herbs on you."
Patrick opened his backpack and pulled out some herbs and a bowl. He placed some of the herbs in the bowl. He grinded it quickly into powder. Then he splat in it.
"Why did you spit in it?" I asked a bit concerned about the hygienic application of doing such a thing.
"We can't waste water here and don't wine mister I'm going to go first without a plan or light."
"Damn yo-ouch! Be careful. Injured man here. Its strange how you know all of this."
Patrick pulled my shirt up and started rubbing the mixture onto my body. When it touched my skin, the pain started to go away to some extent.
"I believe its more strange how your a man not a woman with your looks. Anyway, I'm done."
Patrick stopped rubbing and slapped me there.
"Ouch! Stop that!" I complained.
Patrick placed all of his stuff in his backpack again while I was trying to get up without some pain coming from inside of me. When I finally managed to Patrick offered his shoulder but I refused. The light balls were still around so I guided some of them to the next hallway making sure I check where each one went.
"Anyway lets go. You lead now."
"....you got hit on purpose didn't you." retorted Patrick.
"Why would I get hit intentionally?"
Seriously didn't you see all the blood I coughed up because of it. Why would I, out of all people want to be caught in a trap after everything we experienced before.
"The traps will get worse...." Yes that is true. But still, I'm in no condition to lead the way right now.
"If I get hit by another trap like that...I'll probably die."
With that Patrick lead the way. Thankfully the second room of god knows how many rooms did not have any traps in it. We searched around and found some stuff that we could sell or donate to some noble later. It seems Patrick didn't actually care about anything in the tomb of his ancestor. There were a couple pieces of old pots amongst other things but nothing much of value.
73 rooms later.....
"Well we almost finished this 75 room floor....." I said sighing at the fact that there so many damn rooms to clear.
"Not to mention the countless traps that came out of nowhere." sighed Patrick.
I don't blame him. He had to endure all of those traps with the help of my mana shield. I was kinda glad that I was injured near the beginning. Well I did have to take over leading us when Patrick fell and almost drowned.....but he recovered.
Eventually we decided that it was best to make some 'dolls' that had looked kinda human in terms of shape and weight. It helped a lot after the room 15 where we were certain there were instant kill traps. It done with Earth and Wind magic. It costed only a bit of my massive 5000 mana. Well they triggered most of the traps before hand so we a mostly trap free run except for a couple of them...like the times the traps activate for a second time which was very bad for me who was leading.
"Okay lets finish room 74 quickly now." I said that but I was exhausted already. I moved my light balls around again....oh found the exit.
"This way..." I pointed to the exit and started walking sluggishly there.
I walked through the hallway and found that the next room was really small. Was there some sort of trap here? I checked and found there was none that activated at least right now. I saw there was the same unknown language like the start of the floor ad a couple other rooms.
"Patrick. There's more ancient writing stuff."
"Right."
Patrick ran over and quickly translated it for me.
"Rest now for there a foe beyond the doors. Let your courage take over your fears. For you will die either way."
That's a nice message to the people who survived bloody 74 rooms. Perhaps we should rest. Unless this was a trap itself.....I wonder what Patrick thinks of this. I looked over to him and he already dropped his bags and started sleeping. That was fast! Man he really can relax well in these situations.
"Hey don't go to sleep just yet. There still may be traps around."
"Don't care...zzzzzzz"
Damn you. Its not my fault if you die later on. Well might as well get some sleep before we finish this place off. I sat down next to the wall and shut my eyes trying to get some sleep.