"Louis taught me these." He said as he hoped they would just look over it.
'Louis? Louis Vandruff?' Noi thought as an image of a robed figure popped into her mind.
"It looks like we will have to go through this dome to reach the next chamber." Ben, who was observing the surroundings, said as others focus shifted to the chamber.
"What are we waiting for? Lets enter." Blake said as he punched his own palm in excitement.
"Wait a minute." Ann interrupted as she turned towards Noi.
Noi nodded her head in understanding as she closed her eyes and started mouthing some words.
Tap Tap
Tapping her staff on the floor twice, a green book slowly appeared in front of her as it opened and started radiating a dim green light.
The wooden staff also started radiating a dim green light.
[Spirit's resistance]
The green light spread from her staff to everyone as everyone started to glow with dim green light.
"T-this should be it." She said this as she looked toward Ann. Ann nodded her head in response as she turned forward.
"Ok, let's enter." She said as they started walking.
'Hmm. So, that's what it was.'
Aiden thought as he looked at a window that automatically appeared in front of him.
[Buff received!
Resistance to any kind of poison increased.]
Whoosh
All of them entered the room at the same time.
As soon as they entered the room, the scenery changed as they found themselves in the middle of a room.
"Huh?"
Aiden heard Blake's confused voice from behind as he looked around. He was also surprised.
'…Dolls?'
…
They were standing in the middle of the room with dolls all around them.
The dolls included all kinds, ranging from plushies of animals to girl and boy dolls.
'Where are we?' Aiden thought as he tried to look for things other than the dolls.
Flip
As he was doing so, a piece of brown paper suddenly appeared in front of all of them.
[Welcome challengers.
The owner of this room has gone out of the house for the time being.
He trusted his lovely pet to guard his house and the lovely collection of his toys.
Be careful not to make a noise.
The pet isn't lovely to robbers.]
Aiden and the others read the content written on the paper. After finishing reading the paper, Aiden looked at others who were frowning or showing signs of worry.
"What is the condit-Umff"
As Blake was about to ask for the condition for clearing the chamber, Kate instantly put her hands on his mouth as she stopped him from talking any louder.
"Shh," Kate said as she looked towards a door in the corner of the room with caution.
…Seeing nothing happening, Kate put her hand down.
"Sorry. The paper said not to make noise; that's why." Kate said.
Blake nodded his head as he looked towards Ann.
Flip
The paper flipped as it revealed new content.
[Rob the key before the time limit reaches zero.]
The content said as a timer started running down.
[00:59:59]
'One hour?' Aiden thought as he slowly understood what was going on.
'So is this what it means to clear a dungeon?' He thought as he looked around.
Ding
[Correct. Dungeons have many challenges that need to be cleared to conquer them. Those challenges range from simple challenges to fighting monsters and sometimes even acting on a story.]
'Where do things even come from?' Aiden thought as he realized what the window meant when it said the dungeon was a bizarre place.
Click-click
Aiden's ears twitched when he suddenly heard a clicking sound as he quickly raised his guard and looked around to see what it was.
Not only Aiden, but the other members of the party had also heard the sound as they were actively looking for the source.
Tap
"I got it."
Kate, whose presence had disappeared, suddenly appeared with a doll in her hand.
Click-click
The doll's limbs were twitching as they were making a clicking sound.
Clack
Without a hesitation in her, Kate snapped the girl doll's head and limbs as the clicking sound finally stopped.
"Looks like these dolls are going to-"
SHRIIIEEEEKKKKKKK
As Kate was telling her theory, an ear wrenching scream erupted from the doll as Kate threw it away out of instinct.
Thump
SHRIIIEEEEKKKKKKK
Even after being thrown, the doll kept screaming from its severed head as black tears dropped from its eyes.
BAM
Ben acted instantly as he approached the doll immediately and punched its head, turning it into dust and pieces.
Everyone, with their hands protecting their ears, looked at the doll with horror as something that was advised not to do just happened.
Flip
[Uh oh.
You broke the rule.
The lovely pet has woken up.]
The paper flipped as it wrote a message that made the situation feel worse.
THUMP
Everyone heard loud and steady footsteps as their heads instinctively turned towards the door, the source of the footstep.
THUMP THUMP THUMP
The before slow and steady footsteps instantly changed as they became more frequent and louder.
Crack
Ben stood in front of them as he snapped his fingers and prepared himself to fight the absolute monster that was approaching them.
BAM
The door that looked sturdy went flying as a huge monster entered the room.
The monster was huge.
Its head was touching the ceiling as it looked down on Aiden and others.
It was on its four legs, but its features couldn't be seen as it was covered in dark mists from head to toe.
Splash splash
But, the only thing they could see was the river of saliva and disgusting liquid that the monster was spewing while looking at Aiden and others and its glowing, four red eyes staring at them from within the dark mist.
Just like Ben, Ann was also standing in front of them as she tried to fight the monster.
Bam
Whoosh
The monster pounded its legs on the ground as the dark mist covered the whole area.
Zzzzz
Ann extended her hand as purple lightning started to emerge from her palm.
Whoosh
Her purple book also quickly appeared.
[Lightning magic: Repulsive hit.]
A purple circle appeared around them as it barely blocked the attacking dark mist.
Whoosh
Ben swiftly ran towards the monster as he clenched his hand and jumped to give the monster an uppercut.
CLICK
But, before he could even make contact with the monster, a familiar sound of clicking resounded to everyone as their vision darkened.
Click
The clicking sound resounded again as all of them blinked and became conscious without even realizing how they became unconscious at the first place.
'…What the hell just happened?'
Looking around, Aiden frowned as he questioned his sense of reality.
A drop of sweat ran down his face as he didn't feel right.
Things were starting to feel uneasy.
The members, who were spread out due to the sudden attack, were no longer spread out as all of them were standing at the position they were originally at.
Looking at his front, the door that was destroyed was no longer destroyed. It had returned to its original state.
And most of all, the cause of it all—the monster was also no longer present.
Flip
[Welcome challengers.
The owner of this room has gone out of the house for the time being.
He trusted his lovely pet to guard his house and the lovely collection of his toys.
Be careful not to make a noise.
The pet isn't lovely to robbers.]
'We are fuc-.'