"Candelabras?"
Caiman's eyes widened, and his heart pounded with excitement.
However, Origami Mane merely lowered his head in disappointment, dragging his heavy chains as he rode his giant skeletal lizard away.
Caiman, whose mind was now sharp, quickly realized the issue and took out a dungeon coin.
Yet Origami Mane did not react at all.
Caiman gritted his teeth and took out a magic crystal coin instead.
Origami Mane turned around.
"Your curiosity is indeed quite strong. If it is you, perhaps you can help me atone for the mistakes I have made."
"There are three candelabras in total. They burn with the lingering embers of the Forbidden Fire and also serve as the surface seal for the Forbidden Fire's power."
"After I committed my crime, one candelabra was taken by a swordsman who had been tainted by the Forbidden Fire and driven mad."
"One candelabra maintains the final seal, protected by a loyal guard, even if that guard has been driven insane by the burning of the Forbidden Fire in the depths of the palace."
"As for the last candelabra, its whereabouts are unknown."
As he spoke, Origami Mane used his shackled hands to take a red oval gemstone from a pouch in his inner lining.
"I only hope to make amends for my errors. This gemstone is the one I stole from the candelabra back then; it can absorb the lingering embers of the Forbidden Fire."
"I hope you can clear all the remaining lingering embers of the Forbidden Fire within the palace."
"This kind of madness-inducing power should have been imprisoned forever."
"If all the remaining Forbidden Fire in the palace is cleared, this gemstone will be your reward for taking action."
Caiman took the gemstone and felt the power within it, his excitement nearly impossible to hide.
He had not expected such an unexpected windfall.
Not only had he obtained information, but he had also gained a special clue item related to the Forbidden Fire.
After being unlucky for so long, was his fortune finally turning around?
As expected, luck and misfortune never favored the same person forever.
"What will you do next?"
Caiman put away the red Forbidden Fire gemstone and looked at the monster merchant before him.
"One who has committed such boundless sins is only fit to wander this desert forever."
"No one can redeem this sin."
"I shall forever remain as the Well of Eternal Imprisonment's..."
"Prisoner."
This time, Origami Mane turned around and, dragging his heavy shackles, completely vanished into the desert.
A prisoner?
Caiman felt it was a bit strange, but with the Forbidden Fire gemstone in hand and information about the fire secured, he did not bother with it further.
However, at this moment, Caiman still had not realized the true meaning behind the name of the Well of Eternal Imprisonment.
These were prisoners actually imprisoned within the Well of Eternal Imprisonment.
He simply felt he had gotten a great bargain.
The palace on the tenth floor was not hard to find; the massive structure stood like a pitch-black mountain peak against the cold desert under the night sky.
Entering the labyrinth inside the palace was the true beginning of this stratum.
"There is the scent of mana; someone has beaten us to it!"
Just as they arrived at the palace entrance, Caiman heard the voice of the mage among his subordinates.
"Manfred, or the Red Rose team?"
Caiman's eyes flashed with a sharp killing intent.
On the ninth floor, Manfred had snatched the candelabra, and the Red Rose team had taken the drops from the Desert Sword Attendant.
Only his group had fought a major battle, suffered losses, and gained absolutely nothing.
"Go in."
Caiman led the knight order into the palace gates.
In an instant, he felt the world spin around him. By the time he realized something was wrong, it was too late.
This was a spatial ability!
Caiman and his knight order were completely scattered and teleported to various locations within the palace labyrinth.
The very next second after being teleported, a skeletal lizardman raised a heavy club and swung it down at his head!
Caiman quickly raised his sword to block, absorbing the blow before shattering the skeletal lizardman with a kick and letting out an angry curse.
He took a step forward, but the dizziness from the teleportation was so disorienting that even as a peak third-rank swordsman, he failed to notice the abnormality of the stone floor beneath his feet.
As his foot landed...
Click.
The stone brick sank, emitting a crisp sound, and poisoned arrows shot out from the gaps in the walls on both sides.
Caiman quickly gripped his sword, relying on a Sword Qi barrier to block the arrows.
The arrows clattered to the floor, triggering a series of transparent silk threads.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Under Caiman's gaze, the walls on both sides began to close in toward the center.
"Are you kidding me!"
Caiman could only turn into an afterimage, rushing forward.
At the same time, relying on his powerful perception, he precisely detected the surrounding traps and dodged them.
As he burst through the closing walls, before Caiman could even breathe a sigh of relief, he saw a corpse floating directly ahead.
The corpse was his own knight squire, a first-rank extraordinary being.
A strong sense of crisis made Caiman quickly roll to one side, but he had already fallen into a trap.
In the air, slender strands of spider silk appeared out of nowhere as if emerging from space itself, surrounding him.
He tried to swing his sword, only to find his body firmly stuck to the spider silk, unable to move.
What!
What kind of trap is this!
Then, several undead lizardmen brandishing blades rushed out from a dark corner to stab Caiman.
Caiman quickly activated the lesser magic grade longsword in his hand.
Invisible Sword Qi burst forth, severing the spider silk.
Freeing himself, Caiman quickly blocked the surrounding attacks with a furious roar.
Having dealt with the undead lizardmen, he wanted to clear the surrounding silk, but he found that the silk had already hidden back into space, making it impossible to attack.
At the same time, all the passages in the entire space had been sealed off, turning it into an absolutely airtight room.
From the vaulted ceiling above, scalding lava began to flow down.
The corpse hanging in the air by the spider silk was quickly consumed by the lava.
Caiman hurriedly dodged the lava, gripped his longsword, and began to attack a weak point in the wall.
After struggling to pierce through the wall, Caiman entered another wide, sloping corridor.
Before he could react, a spherical boulder rolled down the slope.
He quickly dodged to one side, but to his surprise, the boulder suddenly veered when it reached him and slammed into him.
Caiman hurriedly raised his sword to block, but the force carried by the rolling boulder was staggering; caught off guard, he was sent flying.
Only then did he notice a hideous, massive mouth on one side of the boulder.
This was actually a monster mimicking a boulder!
Caiman summoned his Sword Qi and sliced the boulder monster in two.
This series of traps had given Caiman no chance to catch his breath.
Now that he had a brief moment of respite, he quickly adjusted his condition.
This palace was too dangerous, and it even possessed spatial power that had completely scattered his knight order.
The passage he had just carved out had also vanished; the interior of this palace labyrinth could even repair its own damage.
"I have to map this place out first."
Caiman took out a small notebook and began to avoid traps while drawing a map.
It felt as if he had returned to the upper floors.
However, after drawing for a while, he realized there was an error in his map.
What was clearly a passage in front of him had been replaced by a wall.
The terrain of this palace was changing!
[Name] wall monster of the Well of Eternal Imprisonment
[Level] LV9
[Skills] Mimicry LV3, Presence Concealment LV3, Silence Step LV3, Environmental Influence LV2
[Description] A monster servant created by the unknown existence Dalun Li. It possesses the ability to mimic walls and move unknowingly, allowing it to blend into and alter the surrounding environment.
Rate on N.U.
