[Haa… So hooot… This much was expected, but this place is sooo big.]
[*drinking sounds*, puhaa….. The inside is built like a maze, and there are Mummies everywhere.]
We continued exploring the Ruins, and we’ve mostly finished exploring the large zone we’re currently in.
We are taking a break right now, drinking water from our bottles as we summarized what we have seen so far.
As the Ruins are situated in a desert, the interior is still considerably hot despite there being no direct sunlight.
It’s important that we hydrate regularly, so we don’t collapse from heat stroke due to the heat….. Let’s not forget the salt intake too.
[Estel and Luna, are you two okay? We can stop to rest if anyone is tired, so don’t hesitate to let the others know, aight?]
[Certainly… It’s just a little hot for me, but I think I’m faring better than Onii-san and Noru.]
[My body temperature doesn’t change all that much. Heat of this level doesn’t bother me.]
I was trying to be considerate to the girls who are smaller in stature, but inversely they were more worried about me and Noru.
I am really feeling the heat, most likely due to the helm and armor. I have a full face helm plus the cloth wrapping too, I was probably the one packing the most heat.
Luna was chill as ever without even a single drop of sweat on her.
Her vampiric race really stands out at times like this.
[Y’know the thing about this place being suited for C ranks, do they really plow through all the mummies in here?]
[Hーmm, the abnormal number of monsters might be one of the issues.]
The explanation was that this is a place for C-rankers to earn income, but the number of mummies we have encountered made me think if that was really the case.
We’ve cleaned up more than 40 mummies up to this point, can C-rankers really handle so many? That’s not counting the Fraum Mummies.
This is likely one of the reported problems. A drastic increase in the number of strong monsters… There’s so many it almost feels like a Prime Subjugation.
=============
[Nn? This spot… have we gone there yet?]
[Hmmー, I don’t think there’s a room over there though?]
After resting up, we began exploring the deeper areas within the Ruins.
We were about to descend the stairs leading down, but a section displayed on the map app caught my eye before we did.
There was an isolated space that wasn’t visibly connected from any side, shown on the map app.
The map app updates automatically as I move, so hidden sections like this are also displayed. I haven’t had the chance to explore indoor places like this before, so this is a new discovery.
[This is… a wall though. Maybe we are supposed to access that section from somewhere else?]
[Perhaps we need to solve some puzzle to gain access to the room! Now it’s starting to feel like an actual exploration!]
We tried to go to the secluded room by checking every adjacent room, but there were only walls as expected.
This is what some call the thrill of exploring ruins, where “you have to do something to open the door to a hidden room”.
Noru was flexing her arms around excitedly. Well sure, I find this kinda stuff exciting too.
…..Now’s not the best time though as we’re in a bit of a hurry right now.
[So? Find anything?]
[Muu… Nothing here.]
[Nothing on my side either.]
I had Luna keep watch over the area, while me and the other girls searched the surroundings and checked the walls but to no avail.
Typically there’d be a tile on the wall to push, or a lever to pull which opens the wall.
We should just bust a wall and get it over with….. Nah, I’m scared of the ruins crumbling on us so let’s not.
[Okura-sanー, there is a hole over hereー.]
As I was musing over what to do, Shisuha finds a hole in the far corner.
I went over to where she called me, and sure enough there was a hole there that someone with a small enough body could probably squeeze through.
When I counter checked with the map app, I couldn’t see everything but it was a long narrow path leading to the hidden room, this seems to be the entrance to the hidden room.
With how narrow the hole was and its location in the corner, it didn’t show up on the map app… I’ll have to walk to every corner properly from now on.
[It’s not quite visible too since it’s behind a stone statue.]
[That wasn’t much of a puzzle…]
Noru pouted and sounded disappointed, likely due to the simplicity of the “puzzle”.
The hole was hidden behind a stone statue, which Shisuha shifted away to find.
It’s a 2m tall stone statue… but she still moved it away anyway.
[I guess we are supposed to enter that room through this hole?]
[It seems so. But…only Estel or Luna could probably fit through that hole.]
Out of our current party, only Estel or Luna can fit in that small hole.
However I’m worried about letting 1 person go somewhere unknown, considering the place we are in.
But, we also won’t know what’s in the room if we don’t actually go in.
If I had to choose, I’d pick the physically stronger Luna. Estel’s not good at dealing with surprises, so it’s just dangerous to send her for such things comparatively.
[Luna, you mind going in to take a look? I’ll get a Beacon ready, contact me with the Transceiver if anything happens.]
[Umu, alright.]
This isn’t a Labyrinth and we’re still on the same floor, so the Beacon should still be usable here.
I handed a Transceiver to Luna, and set up a Beacon near the hole.
I tested the Beacon once myself, and it worked properly.
Now I can warp her back immediately if anything happens, all she needs to do is to call my smartphone.
She got on all fours and crawled into the hole.
[Will Luna-san be alright…..]
[You are worrying too much. We all know what Luna is capable of.]
[B, but…]
After Luna crawled into the hole, Shisuha became restless and fidgety.
It’s not like she’s unaware of how strong Luna is, she herself gets rolled around like a ball by her on a daily basis….. Luna must really mean alot to her.
Her opponent would need to be crazy strong to beat her, so I’m only a tiny bit worried.
A few minutes passed and I received a call on my smartphone, I then recalled Luna with the Beacon without answering the call.
[All good?]
[Hup. Yep, there weren’t any monsters in there. There was this box though.]
The recalled Luna was carrying a large box. The box seemed to be made of some kind of metal, and when she put it down on the floor it gave off a weighty thud.
We had a closer look at the box, it looked to be made out of rectangular slabs of metal, it had a round lid of sorts hinting that it may be a treasure chest.
It had a keyhole on the lid and it was of course locked.
[So there was a treasure chest inside the hidden room! I wonder what’s in it!]
[Ara, but it’s locked up nice and tight though? We’re going to have to find the key for it.]
Noru got all excited when we figured out it was a treasure chest, and made happy noises as she circled the chest.
Estel calmly looked at the box and checked it, and she concluded that we can’t do anything without the key.
Uーmu, I too am curious about the contents of the box, but it’s kind of a hassle to go out of our way to find the key.
These Ruins are quite large, I’m afraid we’ll run out of time if we simply wander around aimlessly looking for hidden passages.
There’s gotta be a better way to do this…..
As I pondered about other possibilities, I had a sudden realization as I looked at my Excali-bar.
I might just be able to… If I used this.
[Noru, can you hold the treasure chest in place for me?]
[I certainly can… but what are you planning to do?]
I asked Noru to hold down the metal treasure chest from above.
Noru gives me a weird look in response to my request.
Fufufu….. There’s no need to go out of our way to find the key. I should be able to do it with my current strength, I’m sure.
[Okay, let’s go. Uorya!]
[Wh, what are you doing Okura-dono!?]
[He really does some crazy things, if it’s for the sake of the Gacha…..]
With Noru holding the chest in place, I jammed the Excali-bar into the gap of the chest’s lid.
From there, I forcefully tried to shift the lid about.
Noru exclaimed in surprise at what I was doing.
I ignored the voices of discontent, and continued shoving it in deeper.
Then, as if it had finally reached its limit, the lid opens with a pop.
…..Success. I’m glad this was just a simple metal chest. I managed to bust it open!
[Aw yeah! This’ll save us time!]
[That was so thief-like…..]
[What a way to ruin the thrill of exploration….]
Estel and Luna, who were watching a slight distance away, gave disapproving comments.
I too agree the thrill of exploration is important. But depending on the time, situation, and Gacha, it can’t be prioritized. I hope they understand.
[Hーmm? There’s another key in the treasure chest.]
[The gold color makes it look luxurious.]
A gold colored key lay inside the chest.
Ehー, why’s there another key in the treasure chest? But considering how gorgeous it looks, it might be an important key.
What if, to get to this key, normally you’d have to search for various other keys first?
I may have skipped a portion of the sequence of events… Well, we’re in a hurry so it’s fine, right?
==========
We went down the next flight of stairs, and we reached an even larger open space.
It’s hard to believe this is inside a pyramid, with how high the ceiling was.
Deeper in, pointy stone-like objects that emit a green light appear to be growing on the walls.
Are those the special magic gemstones?
[This is it huh. We got here without any issues. Were there any other noticeable changes besides the Fraum mummies?]
[There’s no boss here like the one we saw in the Goblin Labyrinth, so this should be the end.]
[Is this place really not a Labyrinth?]
In the end we only encountered mummy-type monsters until we arrived here.
The only distinct abnormalities were the number of mummies and the Fraum Mummies, with no sign of the cause in sight.
Since the cause is still unknown, this hunting ground might become off-limits. Well we did confirm that there’s something going on, so we have done enough for our B-rank promotion request.
But this won’t cut it for our Gacha related problem. I find it hard to believe that “We got to the end of the Ruins and collected the magic gemstone!” is going to count as conquering this place.
We won’t be getting the conquered notification until we at least find something similar to the smartphone pedestal in the Goblin Labyrinth.
That would mean this place doesn’t fit the requirements in the first place….. Dammit, do I have no choice but to give up the Gacha?
[Heihachi. That spot by that wall over there, it looks kind of unnatural.]
[Nn? Which one?]
For the time being I collected some of the magic gemstones, and when I was trying to look for anything suspicious, Luna pointed at a certain spot on a wall, saying that it was strange.
When I approached it, I noticed that there was a rectangular area with a slightly lighter color compared to the other walls.
[The map app shows that there is some space ahead too.]
[Maybe there’s something there?]
[Ah, there’s something like a keyhole here.]
The map app updated and displayed a fairly large space beyond the wall when I approached the wall.
There’s definitely something beyond this wall.
Noru also found a keyhole, and she beckoned me to hurry up as she pointed at it.
I don’t know if the key from earlier will open it, but let’s try it anyway. If that doesn’t work, we can just bust the wall down…right?
[Oh, it opened.]
[How lucky could we be that it opens with the key we got earlier.]
[That means what Heihachi did earlier was correct in a sense.]
I was prepared to destroy the wall if we had to, but the wall mechanism worked when I inserted the key and the path forward appeared.
That key was important as expected….. Looks like my decision to wreck the box wasn’t the wrong one.
Upon passing through the entrance, this new place we entered had a different atmosphere compared to the Ruins thus far, the walls around us were glowing faintly.
This is just like…a Labyrinth.
[That thing there, it’s the same as the one we saw in the Goblin Labyrinth, right?]
[You’re right. Would placing my smartphone on it count as conquering the Ruins….. That’s how it worked yea?]
[But, there’s also those doors right in front of us. It feels like there’s still more beyond those doors.]
We moved to the middle of the new room, in the middle was a pedestal-like object like the one we saw at the end of the Goblin Labyrinth.
So I’m supposed to place my smartphone on it, right? Is this really the end of the Ruins?
However, a fairly large set of double doors can be seen at the other end of the room, like what Noru said.
…..I have a really bad feeling about this.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained as they say, and I placed my smartphone on the pedestal.
It would be troublesome if this was another teleport trap like before, so I had everyone stay in physical contact to avoid the same thing happening.
Upon placing my smartphone on the pedestal, the black doors in the back glowed green and began opening by themselves with a heavy creaking sound.
All we could see was the darkness beyond the doors, it gave us no clues whatsoever as to what lies ahead.
[…..The doors opened.]
[This seems like the beginning of something, rather than the end.]
[Muu… I was so ready to head back, guess there’s still more.]
Here I was thinking this would be the end of the Ruins exploration, I certainly wasn’t expecting to find the entrance to a Labyrinth at the end of the Ruins…..
So, the Ruins were nothing more than the entrance to this Labyrinth. That’s quite the impressive entrance.
Luna was apparently ready to go home, so she’s visibly displeased that it’s not over.
I put my best foot forward with the intent to conquer this new Labyrinth, and began advancing towards the newly opened door.