“Are these prisoners held in the dungeon?”
Nephalian swung her sword qi, wanting to cut through the iron cage.
She intended to slash the iron cage and the twisted mummy inside into fragments.
When exploring a dungeon, one must treat everything with reverence and caution.
“It seems to be just an ordinary corpse. And there seem to be more ahead.”
Eomer lit the lantern at his waist.
The lantern was made of brass and shaped like an owl perched on a branch, named “Owl's Form.”
It was a magic item imbued with mana; once mana was injected, it could project a bright light that illuminated a large area.
Under the lantern's light, the darkness ahead was revealed.
Cages, either hanging or deformed on the ground, densely packed the passage ahead.
Inside the high-hanging iron birdcages were mummies bound in shackles.
This macabre scene made everyone hold their breath.
“Could this be the dungeon cells of the palace labyrinth?”
In a dungeon, the weirder a place was, the more likely it was to hide treasure.
Faced with this terrifying sight, the elves did not retreat. Instead, under the wide light of the lantern, they continued to explore inward.
A gust of wind blew occasionally.
The dense cages hanging overhead swayed, making a creaking metallic sound.
The mummies inside the cages also made a cracking sound like dry wood.
A cold chill coiled around their feet, as if wanting to pierce through their boots and seep through their marrow into their brains.
Continuing forward, they passed the hanging cages and mummies, and individual cells appeared on both sides.
The cells were separated by iron bars, arranged in two rows of eight.
Inside the cells, one could see mummies of various forms, all bound in shackles.
“There are inscriptions here!”
Nephalian was the first to discover a row of finely arranged ancient inscriptions beside an individual cell.
Traveling elves had long lifespans, allowing them to master a vast amount of knowledge and scripts.
Although the ancient inscriptions were in an ancient human script, the group of elves could still recognize them.
“Crime: Releasing prisoners, murdering guards. Punishment: Eternal imprisonment here.”
“This describes the charges.”
“This place really is a prison!”
Beside each cell holding an individual prisoner, their crimes and punishments were listed.
Those imprisoned alone had mostly committed murder—murdering guards, stealing treasures, or releasing prisoners.
“Crime: Stealing the Forbidden Fire Longbow, subsequently causing it to be lost and sink into the lava, its whereabouts unknown.”
“This one committed the crime of theft!”
The name of the Forbidden Fire Longbow, involving the Forbidden Fire, immediately caught the attention of all the elves.
Inside the cell of the thief who stole the Forbidden Fire Longbow, the mummy had four arms, its withered skin was somewhat purple, and there were several recessed slits on its head.
They seemed to be withered eye sockets.
“The Forbidden Fire Longbow should be related to the Forbidden Fire. This clue is very important.”
Eomer memorized the appearance of the four-armed, purple-skinned monster in the cell and continued deeper.
After passing the two rows of individual cells, the passage reached its end.
There stood a pair of doors made of mahogany inlaid with red copper. Beside the doors stood exquisite stone statues.
The statues depicted what seemed to be heroes, clad in armor and holding spears, standing on either side.
Their bodies bore the mottled marks of time.
They stood as if they had been there since the other side of a long age, waiting until now.
Eomer did not let down his guard. With a wave of his hand, two vines grew out and bound the statues on both sides.
Nephalian also turned into a blur, shattering the statues.
The two hero statues crumbled into a pile of rock fragments, showing no reaction from beginning to end.
Only then did Eomer control two thick vines to press against the doors and slowly push them open.
Creak—
The heavy sound of the doors opening rang out, and a wind filled with an ancient aura blew through.
What came into view was a row of stone soldier statues equipped with plate armor.
They held spears and stood on both sides behind the doors, their spears raised and crossed.
As the doors were pushed open, the statues' mechanism seemed to be triggered, and they retracted the crossed spears that had been blocking the path.
A stone-paved path carved with exquisite patterns extended ahead until it reached a stone pedestal.
Flanking the pedestal stood another pair of ancient hero statues, identical to the ones outside the doors.
The two hero statues held greatswords, their heads bowed in a quiet posture.
At that moment, with a swish...
An iron ball encased in openwork black iron popped out from the base of the pedestal and floated above it.
A yellow-red firelight, like an oil painting, illuminated the pedestal and the statues.
“Forbidden Fire!”
All the elves spoke in unison, recognizing at a glance that this was the forbidden fire countless adventurers in the Well of Eternal Imprisonment now longed for.
However, they immediately realized it was impossible and sensed that this was a blessing of power, just like Manfred's.
It was a Forbidden Fire Blessing!
This palace labyrinth actually hid another Forbidden Fire Blessing.
Under the light of this blessing, they could not feel the insane power of the Forbidden Fire.
All they felt was the warmth of the flames.
Eomer stepped forward quickly. As the captain, there was no need for him to be overly polite.
He would take the responsibility, obtain the power, and maintain the team's stability.
Elves who had lived for a long time knew better than anyone that the most suitable person to receive the Forbidden Fire Blessing right now was the strongest among them, Captain Eomer.
As Eomer approached, the light of the Forbidden Fire grew warmer and warmer.
Upon reaching the pedestal, he extended his palm.
The power of the Forbidden Fire surged out from the openwork iron ball toward Eomer's arm.
The power of the Forbidden Fire Blessing flooded into Eomer's body.
That warm fiery power filled his entire being, yet it did not conflict with the plant-based life-attribute mana within him.
On the back of Eomer's hand, a yellow-red flame mark slowly emerged as if branded there.
The Forbidden Fire Blessing was the entry ticket to obtaining the Forbidden Fire.
Every Forbidden Fire Blessing in the entire Well of Eternal Imprisonment was a one-time occurrence.
Once one was obtained, there was one fewer in the world.
Just as Eomer stood up while feeling the power of the Forbidden Fire, the hero statues on either side of the pedestal suddenly swung their greatswords without warning.
They seized the moment of mental relaxation when Eomer obtained the Forbidden Fire Blessing and launched their attack without hesitation!
How could this be!
In an instant, all the elves wore expressions of disbelief.
This was...
A gargoyle!!
But the hero statues outside the doors were clearly just ordinary statues!
How could the identical statues in here be monsters—gargoyles!
And how could there be mimicry gargoyles that looked exactly like statues!
They had never seen anything like this on the surface levels of the Well of Eternal Imprisonment!
As it turned out, were the statues merely feigning sleep to lure the enemy?
Rate on N.U.
