Caiman struggled to explore the palace.
The map he was drawing of the palace was covered in dense, illegible scribbles from constant revisions.
Based on the vertical rotations, Caiman had determined that this dungeon consisted of seven floors: five above ground and two below.
The location of the boss should be on the deepest floor underground.
Unfortunately, the walls were constantly shifting, making it impossible to find the correct path.
Or rather, there was no single correct path within this palace; the only passage leading to the bottom floor was in a state of perpetual change.
However, Caiman's efforts were not entirely fruitless.
He had identified two new types of monsters inside the palace.
One was the stone ball monster, which could mimic a spherical falling rock and change its direction while rolling.
The other was the wall monster, which could camouflage itself as a wall to block passages.
Indeed, it was because the passages were filled with wall monsters that they were constantly changing.
But wall monsters and ordinary walls were nearly impossible to distinguish.
Not only did the wall monsters themselves possess incredible mimicry abilities, but the entire palace also exuded a strange power that helped them conceal their presence and merge seamlessly with the structure.
Furthermore, the wall monsters could influence their surrounding environment.
A single wall monster could often create several fake walls to block an existing passage.
One had to attack the real wall monster to make all the fake walls disappear.
However, attacking a wall monster would not kill it; one had to strike its fragile core.
To reach the core, one had to cut an opening in the wall monster's body and enter it.
This meant you had to attack the wall first before going inside.
Entering a real wall or a fake one would result in being randomly teleported by spatial power.
Therefore, one had to gamble.
Caiman was currently facing this exact situation, staring at a dark hole in the wall before him as he tried to mentally prepare himself.
According to his chaotic map, there should definitely be a tunnel here.
But was the wall in front of him a fake, or was it a wall monster?
Was the one on the left a wall monster, or was the one in front a fake wall created by a wall monster?
Or perhaps the wall monster was the ceiling of the vault.
The various stealth-specialized monsters of the Well of Eternal Imprisonment loved to hide on ceilings and cave roofs.
Caiman had already gained some experience with how they would suddenly pounce when one got close.
Time to take a gamble!
Caiman charged into the dark hole in front of him, and as luck would have it, it was a real wall monster.
A core beating like a heart was growing right before his eyes.
That was it; this was the correct path!
Caiman quickly swung his sword, slicing through the core.
In an instant, several surrounding walls vanished along with the wall monster.
As Caiman turned his head, his pupils constricted.
That was...
"A treasure chest!"
After his luck had hit rock bottom, was it finally rebounding!
Caiman rushed toward the treasure chest, only to find that it was locked and required a key to open.
As for the key, he would likely have to return to the upper floors and buy information from the monster merchant to find it.
"Damn it!"
In a fit of rage, Caiman swung his sword at the treasure chest.
The wooden chest was split open by the sharp Sword Qi, shattering with a loud crash.
However, nothing dropped from it; instead, a surge of spatial power instantly teleported the contents away.
The spatial power that had transported the contents did not vanish; instead, it continued to expand, suddenly enveloping Caiman.
It was that familiar sensation of spatial travel.
When Caiman opened his eyes, he saw the massive palace standing before him.
His exploration progress had been reset to zero; he had been teleported back outside the palace.
He gripped his notebook so tightly it seemed he might tear it apart.
But thinking of his knight order still trapped within the palace labyrinth, he could only swallow his anger and charge back into the palace.
He felt as if he had jumped into an endless cesspool and was forced to swim through it.
...
Unlike Caiman, the elves who possessed spatial magic items were having a much smoother time.
By relying on their spatial magic items to resist the palace's spatial power, they were not teleported at random and could explore the palace with composure.
At this moment, the elves unexpectedly encountered two knight squires.
"Who goes there!"
The two knight squires, seeing the elves hiding their faces, quickly raised their swords.
They retreated warily, knowing they were at a numerical disadvantage; their knight order's formation had been scattered by the spatial power, and they had no idea where Commander Caiman had been teleported.
However, these five people before them were actually able to stay together as a team without being separated by the teleportation.
Or had they managed to reunite within the palace labyrinth after being scattered?
No, that was impossible.
The two knight squires who had been teleported into the labyrinth knew exactly how complex it was; it was impossible to meet up again in such a short time.
These people were able to resist the spatial power of the palace labyrinth.
The leading elven priest took a step forward, raised a hand, and launched an attack!
The two knight squires looked at the elves in disbelief.
"We are knights of the Grey family! You are provoking the Grey family!"
The plant power from the third-rank priest instantly grew to fill the entire passage.
The elf race worshipped the World Tree, and they represented the power of nature.
What elven priests excelled at most were plant-attribute attacks!
The two knight squires raised their swords and began to resist using Sword Qi.
As first-rank swordsmen, they were naturally not so easy to take down.
But realizing the gravity of the situation and knowing they were far from a match for the elves, the two actually tried to exploit the labyrinth's mechanics by attacking the walls, hoping to be teleported away by the spatial power.
However, the walls were now covered in thick plants that surged toward them, obstructing their movements.
The elven second-rank swordsman then lunged forward, swinging a sharp blade toward them.
That refined Swordsmanship felt as if it had been tempered a thousand times.
The two swordsmen parried quickly and retreated in coordination.
As members of a knight order, they worked together seamlessly, yet they were still no match for the second-rank swordsman and were completely suppressed within a few exchanges.
Yet the second-rank elven swordsman still seemed to be holding back, not aiming for their lives.
Were they trying to take them alive?
Just as the two swordsmen were distracted by fear, the plants had already grown beneath their feet.
Thick vines quickly coiled around their legs, and a sharp sword strike followed, cleaving through their Sword Qi.
The vines on the walls grew further, binding their arms.
"Second-rank holy art, Absorbing Vines."
As the third-rank elven priest activated the holy art, the power of the vines began to shift.
The two restrained men felt as if they were wrapped in cotton; no matter how hard they struggled, they could not break free, as if the very strength of their struggle was being absorbed by the vines.
Absorbing Vines was a binding-type holy art.
Once it entangled an enemy, it grew by absorbing the strength they used to struggle.
In other words, the more they struggled, the tighter the binding became.
"Who exactly are you? Do you know the consequences of offending the Grey family?"
The third-rank priest strode forward and pulled back his hood, revealing an androgynous, handsome face and long, pointed ears.
If not for his physique under the hood confirming he was male, the two would have found it difficult to determine his gender.
"An elf?"
"You're one of Zeno's people!"
The two knight squires lost their earlier forced composure, their faces twisting with terror.
Zeno, that elf Zeno!
If it were any other faction in the Northern Territory, they would still have some confidence.
After all, the power of the Grey family was known to everyone in the Northern Territory, and no one dared to face them head-on.
But if it was Zeno, that powerful, legendary, and mad female elf...
She really would kill them.
The members of Caiman's knight order had personally experienced that night, witnessed Zeno's power with their own eyes, and seen the birth of a legend.
"You really do know."
"Where is Lady Zeno now? What clues did you find when you tracked her that night?"
"Is the Grey family still pursuing Lady Zeno?"
The elven priest asked several questions in rapid succession.
The other elves nearby also watched them like tigers eyeing their prey, their presence full of overwhelming pressure.
Rate on N.U.
