Solar Mage

Chapter 42: Third Room

As Tin and Rachel walk to the next room, I stay behind, next to the Homunculus' body.

If I remember correctly, the first message engraved onto the wall in the first room said that in the third room, there would be a trap in the third room. It seems a lot less underwhelming than the one in the first corridor since, if it's just a trapdoor, I can easily jump over it– but I should still be cautious. From all the contraptions he created in this Hidden Dungeon, I know that he is no idiot. There's likely something else that he didn't mention about the trap in that message.

I put my hand on the homunculus' body.

Inventory.

The Homunculus' corpse immediately disappears out of existence.

Being able to add something into my inventory that quickly, is terrifying– the terrible acts I could do with it that is. I should never show this power to anyone so I can steal anything I want from anyone! And even if they search me, they will never find it hahaha!!

"Nameless, hurry up!"

Rachel shouts from afar.

Tsk– so annoying. ... I should hurry up though...

In an instant, I disappear from the monolith, and appear in front of Rachel and Tin, flames rising, and dissipating from my legs.

"Greetings, my lady, I'm sorry for making you wait."

I say, professionally while I take a low bow.

She strikes me on the head.

"Stop wasting time with your games, so what if you're a little faster? We still lost precious seconds waiting for you to arrive in the first place! Now come on!"

They make their way to the entrance as I hold my head.

"Oww–"

The speed increase that Flame Claws give me is insane, it costs a lot of mana to use it, but I only need to use it for a millisecond or even less than that, in order to gain that speed boost. The depletion of mana from using Flame Claws is constant throughout usage, which means it will deplete at the same speed every second regardless of whether it's activating it, or just keeping it active. The problem with abruptly deactivating Flame Claws while going at its max speed however, is the fact that I can't control my speed or direction anymore.

I can, however, use Swift Wind, which costs me no mana, to increase the air resistance around me, so that I will naturally be able to slow down. This combination of skills is really efficient despite my weak mana circuits, I only have to expend one mana if I react and deactivate it fast enough. It's weird though, even though I've increased my knowledge of how Swift Wind works, I still feel like I'm missing the most important thing.

I enter the room and see a massive corridor, the exact same as the first one.

Damn, another corridor? And what's with the massive outline of cracks in the ground that covers half of the entire corridor?! Was Zinc even trying to hide the fact that there was a trap in this room?!?!

"Nameless, I think this room is trapped."

"Same, but let me try to disarm it."

I walk up to the massive trapdoor.

"How do you know how to disarm these traps like the one in the first hallway? And why did you always look at the monoliths and the engravings written on them as if you can read them?"

Why does she always have to question me about everything? Have we not gone through multiple life-threatening situations in the past week alone? Actually– it's not right for me to assume she had a good upbringing, where she could trust everyone she met. Seeing as how she is working as an adventurer despite being a girl as young as me, it's more probable that she grew up in rough conditions. If she doesn't trust me now, then I'll just have to make her trust me.

"First off, I'm not a Syogol, I am fully human. I just happened to learn about this in my history class."

I look and wait for their response, but neither say anything.

Looks like neither of them believed me. Tin seems to be trying hard to act like he believes me, he isn't doing a great job.

"Sigh–"

Looks like I have to tell them a little more about myself.

"My name is Arthur Ventrike,the disciple of the Grandmaster and you might not know because it was decided the day we entered the dungeon, but I am also the Apostle of Pyro."

Tin's jaw opens wider and wider as I continue to speak.

Rachel stays still, her face shadowed by darkness, resulting in her expressions being indiscernible. Though, I notice her slightly trembling.

"Both of you know many of my secrets now, and I have many enemies who I can't afford these secrets being revealed to them, that is why..."

They both take a step back in fear but suddenly begin to shake more.

"I beg you, please keep my secrets safe. I have many more secrets but I hope that telling you this is enough for you to trust me now."

I say while bowing on the floor.

"Uh-um sir apostle? Pl- please get up, you are the will of the goddess herself, you can't bow down to mortals like us!"

Rachel says weakly while stuttering, as I raise my head and see her nervously shaking.

Wow, I never knew she could make such an expression– just like Dustin, she seems to hold the position of Apostle akin to the incarnation of the goddess herself.

I slowly rise from the ground, with a charm of divinity radiating from my body, emanating even stronger divinity as I fully stand straight Rachel gasps

What the hell is this feeling? I don't remember my blessings ever doing this before! Could it be– is Pyro watching me from her Realm of Flames and seeing the perfect moment to show her divinity, she gave it to me?

Haha, what are you even talking about Arthur? There's no way that's the case, just get out of this dungeon quickly, heal Dustin, and get some rest.

After the divine light disappears, orange light suddenly shoots out like a ray out of my left eye and stigma on my arm.

Why did they suddenly activate as well? Is Pyro really watching us and controlling me? How creepy... but if she was watching me before, why didn't she do anything about that Demon that stopped time?

Rachel drops to the floor, then raising her arms, she prays.

"Oh- Ooooh– praise Pyro, praise the Apostle!!"

Great, looks like I've gained her trust now. What about Tin–"

I look over to Tin and see his jaw still dropped, looking completely dumbfounded.

I don't need to worry about him, I already knew he was loyal and trustworthy.

I look back at Rachel who has stopped praying, but still bows on the floor and not lifting her head.

This is a little uncomfortable...

"Rachel, you don't need to change the way you act around me just because of my identity, you can just treat me as you always have!"

"But maybe just a little nicer–"

She immediately jumps up, headbutting me in the chin.

"Nope, too late! I will treat you the same as I always have, thank you for your permission, stupid apostle!"

I rub the area of impact on my now red chin.

That hurt! And why do my instincts or Heightened Senses not react when she strikes me?!

"Sigh– let's just finish disarming this trap and get out of here."

Inventory, Homunculus corpse.

The homunculus' bony corpse appears in my hand, my hand unaffected by the weight of the corpse.

Wow, I knew the homunculus has no flesh or blood but, this is way lighter than I imagined, it's about as heavy as a wooden chair.

I throw the homunculus' corpse far into the trapdoor.

Goodbye, it wasn't nice knowing you.

The corpse falls onto it, but nothing happens.

One, two, three, four, five! What's taking so long? Maybe the trap activates on weight placed on it instead of a humanoid figure? Yeah, that makes sense– but where am I going to get something heavy enough to substitute the weight of a corpse?

I look in the direction of Tin and Rachel, who are resting on the wall.

Perfect.

I walk over to them.

"Tin, give me your black iron axe, I need it to disarm the trap."

"Is it a trap that needs to be disarmed with strength again? Here you go."

He quickly takes the axe from off his back and presents it to me with both hands while kneeling, as if this was the royal coronation and he was the Grand Advisor.

This is a bit uncomfortable... maybe I shouldn't have revealed that part to them. Having an ally that's older than me bow down to me is a little unsettling, but what do I say to him after that?

"Ah, thank you..."

I grab the axe from his hands and make my way to the wall, a couple feet to the right of Tin.

Time to demolish.

Using Iron Body, Aura Blade, and Body Enhancement, I strike the stone wall with my Black Iron Axe.

"DRRRRM!!"

A massive cut where my axe sliced is left in the stone, as a few small rocks fall from the wall.

That was a pretty weak cut, a hammer would do much better and my mastery with the axe isn't good. I can't use my full power aura blade otherwise the rock would melt.

"DRRRRM!"

I strike the wall again, this time making a massive cut that intersects the first line. A few rocks fall once again.

Alright, one last strike should do it.

I don't raise my axe this time, but hold it with the edge going downwards, and make a horizontal-diagonal cut that intersects both previous lines, making a triangle. No small rocks fall from the wall this time.

Perfect.

I strike the triangle shape in the wall without aura, not with the intent to cut, but with the intent to lodge it in.

"DRRM!"

Then, with one swift motion, I hold the axe shaft steadily before pulling it above my head, the axe dragging the cut rock out of the wall, throwing it onto the trapdoor as the axe wasn't lodged into the stone far enough.

Perfect.

As the rock falls,

"BOOOM!!"

And the trapdoor swings open, downward.

All of us, myself, Tin, and Rachel run to the trapdoor and stare down.

"Uhh, Arthur, I mean– Apostle, are you sure you disarmed it? It kind've looks like you triggered it instead, doesn't it?"

Tin says while staring down at the extremely visible, gleaming green metal spikes in the deep end of the hole in the trapdoor. And the pale body of the homunculus reflects light as it falls deeper and deeper down the hole.

"Don't worry, this is how you disarm it, probably. It said to wait a few seconds for the trapdoor to close, and it would be disarmed for a few minutes."

"Oh– I see..."

Ten seconds pass as the body of the homunculus disappears and the trapdoor still hasn't moved

Damn it, did that bastard Zinc lie to me again? Or has this trap just stopped functioning due to its age?

I might be able to get over the massive trapdoor, but how will Tin and Rachel?

In the next second, the trapdoor slowly begins to close.

Thank goodness, it was just delayed from how old it was. We're fine. I wonder what the trial in the third room will be, I'm excited for what other monsters Zinc has made for me hehe.

Just seconds before the trapdoor fully closes, Rachel speaks while still looking down into the trapdoor.

"What's that?"

She points at a small white speck inside the hole, between some of the green, likely poisoned spikes.

Huh? What is she talking about?

I squint my eyes, staring intensely at the area that she pointed in.

Oh I can see it now, that's probably the body of the homunculus I threw in, I thought I had lost it in the darkness, her eyes are quite good.

"That's just the corpse of the homunculus I threw in, don't worry about it."

Just before the trapdoor completely closes, an image of the Homunculus' hollow face pops into my thoughts.

Ew what the hell? I don't want to be reminded of that creature's disgusting face.

After that thought finishes in the literal blink of an eye, I return to reality and see the white spec Rachel mentioned, with a hollow face, staring back at me, its body completely disappearing from view.

"TMMMM!"

My face turns fully pale and cold sweat begins to appear all over my body. My Heightened Senses and heart beating intensely as the trapdoor closes.

What?