The seventh floor.
Serafina led the Red Rose team across the freezing desert, exploring the level under the light of the stars.
Because they were exploring at a depth second only to Manfred's group—who had cut off their own retreat to push forward—they were still unaware of the major events occurring on the upper levels of the dungeon.
Currently, under Serafina's leadership, they were following the guidance of a tattered map in search of potential treasure.
This was the treasure map Serafina had obtained from the monster merchant by spending all her dungeon coins plus two hundred gold coins.
Logically, it shouldn't be a fake.
According to the map, their destination should be this exact spot.
However, there was no sign of treasure here at all, only a stretch of peaceful desert.
"Captain, could we have been swindled by that monster merchant?"
Caspar, a priest of the Harvest God, couldn't help but speak up.
Serafina shook her head.
She continued to examine the worn map in her hands.
Isolde, a second-rank heavy warrior, and Leoward, a peak first-rank mage, remained on high alert nearby.
Remel, the blonde who was now penniless, stood to the side with an air of indifference.
If he could see this woman make a fool of herself, it wouldn't be a total waste of time.
The map in Serafina's hands seemed to be made of yellowed parchment.
Its contents weren't a sloppy mess; in fact, they were quite exquisite.
The edges of the parchment were marked by a ring of charred blackness.
It looked like the marks left by burning fire.
Serafina frowned as she looked at the parchment, flipping it back and forth and thinking hard.
A desert, parchment, a map, and charred burns.
The ring of charred marks around the edges hadn't damaged the map's contents at all.
It seemed like a deliberate act.
Purposely burning the map with fire...
Purposely burning the location on the map with fire!
Serafina's eyes lit up as she looked at the peaceful desert before her and rolled up the parchment.
"Leoward, use fire magic to burn the area ahead."
Leoward had no objections to his captain's order; he nodded and stepped to the front of the group, raising his wand to begin a chant.
Serafina and the others formed a defensive circle around him.
"Caspar, set up the protective tethers."
Serafina spoke again.
Caspar nodded quickly, using his oak staff—the symbol of the Harvest—to summon a vine that wrapped around everyone's waists.
Then, he extended the vine into the distant desert, where its roots pierced the sand and anchored themselves firmly into the rock beneath.
Once this was done, a fiery red magic circle had already expanded at the tip of Leoward's raised wand.
"First-rank magic, Flame Calamity!"
In an instant, a massive amount of mana surged into the magic circle, and flames spat out, scorching the sand in front of them.
However, the desert showed no reaction.
Serafina didn't tell Leoward to stop, but kept her eyes fixed on the desert.
It wasn't until Leoward had consumed half of his mana and the sand before them was nearly melted that the surface finally shifted.
The sand began to collapse without warning, forming a quicksand pit.
Prepared for this, the group was held firmly in place by the vines.
The desert continued to cave in until a stone ruin buried underground was revealed.
Serafina glanced at Isolde.
Understanding the signal, Isolde untied the vine from his waist, raised his shield, and jumped toward the ruin.
As a second-rank heavy warrior, his defensive power was the highest in the Red Rose team.
Therefore, he was responsible for clearing any dangers at the front.
Serafina and Remel followed close behind, dropping into the ruin.
Only after they had organized their formation and cleared any immediate threats did Leoward and Caspar finally enter the underground ruin.
In the pitch-black underground ruin, the group quickly fell into formation and took out coal lamps to hang from their waists.
The underground ruin finally became visible.
"I can't believe it's real. The map sold by that monster merchant actually worked."
Remel couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.
Serafina shot a glance at Remel, and the latter quickly shut his mouth, not saying another word.
The ruin took the form of a long corridor stretching forward beneath the desert.
Under the light of the coal lamps, they could see carved patterns on the walls.
The carvings seemed to depict flowing lava and a scene of a molten hell, looking like the end of the world.
Interspersed among them were pieces of ancient text.
Leoward, being a mage, quickly translated the ancient script.
"A forbidden power with the strength of destruction..."
"A taboo that melts mountains, evaporates lakes, and destroys the environment..."
"Sealed within the Well of Eternal Imprisonment, guard the seal, create sentries..."
Leoward whispered as he translated the obscure, difficult characters.
Everyone's breathing became quiet.
"It seems these carvings recorded something that the Well of Eternal Imprisonment was meant to imprison and seal away."
"At the same time, some kind of guard protects the seal from being broken."
The group soon saw a familiar carving.
It depicted the very Wellmouth Sentry they had already defeated.
Was the mission of the Wellmouth Sentry to guard the seal of the Well of Eternal Imprisonment?
Past the Wellmouth Sentry, the marks became increasingly blurry and difficult to identify; they could only see a vague figure carrying a scimitar, looking like a beast.
'A Fire Guardian?'
The text below also became more and more illegible.
As they walked further in, the carvings on the rock walls became completely blurred and impossible to distinguish.
As they went deeper, the atmosphere became increasingly oppressive.
The Well of Eternal Imprisonment was the name of this dungeon.
Why was it called that? Could it be that this dungeon was like a prison, sealing away some dangerous existence, some forbidden thing?
The thought sent a chill through their hearts.
They were desperate to know what lay at the end of this ruin and if it could answer the questions in their minds.
Suddenly, several arrows shot out from the darkness ahead.
Isolde quickly raised his shield, blocking the arrows.
But then, even more arrows were fired.
"It's undead lizardmen!"
At the end of the darkness, pairs of flickering blue flame eyes appeared one after another.
Because the passage was too narrow, it was difficult for the team to maneuver.
"Hah!"
Isolde gave a sharp shout and immediately launched a charge.
In this narrow space, he barreled forward like a tank.
As his teammate and captain, Serafina followed almost instantly behind the charging Isolde, using his cover to advance rapidly.
This was a level of coordination they had honed over a long time.
Remel's reaction was noticeably slower before he remembered his duty as a swordsman in the team and hurried to follow from the other side.
After crushing several of the arrow-firing undead lizardmen, Isolde stopped and held his greatshield high.
Serafina and Remel rushed out from behind the shield, their blades releasing Sword Qi that sliced several skeletal lizardmen to pieces.
At that moment, above them.
Several lizard monsters that had been lurking against the vaulted ceiling suddenly pounced, opening their sharp teeth to bite down on the two below with lightning speed!
Rate on N.U.
