The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)-Chapter 631: When entering a game-like structure, always remember all game-like scenarios

Chapter 631: When entering a game-like structure, always remember all game-like scenarios

For a while, we stood there in silence while staring at the body of water in the dim light.

There was no path. There was something like a gate or a door on the other side, but between that and where we were, there was a lake as wide as the one in the Lord Castle. Maybe slightly more.

Almost simultaneously, we were all looking at Shiny. Could a mole swim?

...maybe they could, especially the magical one; but shouldn’t this one tell us beforehand about this? Shiny, however, looked as surprised as us.

Screeching in panic, the mole jumped to my hand and pulled on my sleeve, shaking its head, and pointing at the gate across. It pointed at the lake and shook its whole body, before holding its head with the metallic claws from the shaking.

"Okay, okay--so you were saying there was no water before?" I asked, and the mole nodded fast, making it dizzy again. "You don’t know why there’s a lot of water now?"

Again, Shiny nodded--not as wild now. Hmm...

"Shiny...did you go through this path when you ran away to the mountain?"

The mole tilted its head for a few seconds before gasping and shaking its head.

"When was the last time you went through this path?"

The mole grabbed its head again, rolling its head and...chii...

Ugh--yeah. We didn’t have the same concept of time, so I wouldn’t understand. It wasn’t like Shiny could know the difference between day and night in these ruins, so even if it knew how to count, the mole still wouldn’t know how many days it was.

Oh, well...

"Do you think it’s artificial?" I muttered curiously. "By the look of it, the whole surface of this place was made with stone or ceramic tiles--I don’t think this was caused by a natural underground river."

"Maybe..." Renna bit her lips in hesitation. "Maybe when the Goddess sent the mole to the mountain, the relic activated the water gate?"

"Yeah, maybe..."

"Umm...Sir," she bit her lip harder and fidgeted with the hem of her clothes. "I...I can’t swim..."

"Neither can I!" I laughed and patted her shoulder.

I mean...I could transmorph, but I didn’t think Jade and Heraz would let me--although I was kind of tempted to try the clothing relic that I had never managed to test. Then again, it would only solve my problem and not Renna’s.

[Papa! Can Jade make water go poof?] The little bird hovered over the lake and flapped its wings, excited for some answer.

I couldn’t help but smack my forehead, prompting the other to flinch in surprise.

[Papa?]

Chii?!

"Stupid Val!" I shook my head in disappointment--at myself. Pulling Alveitya from my left arm, I let out a sigh. "Am I not a druid?"

I struck Alveitya to the ground and raised my hand toward the lake, moving the water. The surface waved and swirled, and I pushed the water to both sides, leaving the middle empty.

"Oh--it was a maze?"

I stared at the supposed ’path’ we should take. Well, it was only a maze if we took it from below. From above like this, the walls looked like platforms being placed randomly. We could walk on top of the walls to get across, though. All we had to do was jump from wall to wall.

"Wow..." Renna moved her head back and forth between the two walls of water, but then stopped and squinted her eyes at one point.

Oh--did she find something? I sent a ball of light in the direction she was staring at so she could see better.

"Oh--as I thought; there’s another trap," she said. "I’m not sure what it is, but it seems to trigger if we touch the water."

Oh--perhaps once someone jumped into the lake, the maze would come up and create a cage filled with water? Phew~

I pulled Alveitya and let it hover forward before turning toward the other two. "Let’s go."

The distance between wall to wall might be too much for support and magician-type, but it didn’t matter to us three. With Jade chirp-leading us with colorful wings like pompoms, I grabbed Shiny and jumped from wall to wall to cross the maze.

Thanks to Alveitya, I could hold the walls of water while still concentrating on my movement. The key was to not stop, because I might trip with my luck. Fortunately, the distance that felt so far when it was still covered by water seemed shorter traversed by jumping, so it didn’t take long for us to safely reach the other side.

[Go! Go! Papa go! Yaaay]

Jade energetically gave us an adorable cheering performance, filling the eerie big room with happy chirpings. At least someone was in a good mood. I laughed and patted the little bird before turning toward the lake again once Heraz landed on this side. Swinging Alveitya once more, I gently let the water fill the maze back, returning the lake to whoever came to this place later.

The audience behind me clapped and cheered as if I was just making a performance--even Heraz. Did he get too influenced by Jade? I looked at him suspiciously, and he immediately stopped before clearing his throat and lowering his head in embarrassment.

"Okay, Shiny--is it behind that gate?" I pointed at the stony gate in front of us and the mole nodded while jumping at me again. When I picked the mole up, the space above my shoulder flickered and a lizard-shaped flame appeared there.

[Ignis!]

[Don’t shout, Jade. The group just found the stairs to the second floor] Ignis reported. [Can we proceed, or should this girl try something again?]

Hmm...I glanced at the other side of the lake. "It’s fine--just let them proceed."

The mercenaries might get suspicious if something weird happened again. I recalled that we still needed hours to move from that first point--which should be somewhere in the middle--to this one, even while avoiding traps and beasts. Destroying traps needed even more time, not to mention killing the beasts. And they wouldn’t have a guide like Shiny.

In that case, they should take longer than us, right? Hours...probably a whole day, if they weren’t too exhausted. Oh, and they would probably take some rest, unlike us.

"We almost reach the target anyway."

[Alright] the lizard flickered again, but before the flame was completely gone, Ignis asked me. [You’re unhurt, right?]

"Of course!"

I chuckled inwardly when I heard Ignis’s relieved breath before the flame disappeared. What a cute brat.

"They already found the second floor," I relayed the situation to Renna and Heraz. "But well...we only need to take the relic faster, right?"

They nodded firmly and we continued toward the gate. As we approached, I had this thought that we might have to solve a puzzle--which I was poor at--or use a key--which we didn’t have--and felt worried suddenly. It looked big and sturdy and there were all kinda of runes carved there and--

Chii! Chii!

Shiny pulled my sleeve and pointed to the side instead of the gate. Huh? I followed the mole’s direction and we arrived in front of a huge boulder--probably half as big as Vrida.

Wait--don’t say this mole went through a mole-size hole in a gap somewhere to go insi--

Chii!

In the midst of my thoughts, Shiny pressed its claws on the boulder’s surface, and it suddenly disappeared--like melting--and I gasped. "A barrier! Oh! You can make a barrier!"

Now I remembered that the mole was hiding from us with a camouflage barrier shaped like a boulder. There, behind the barrier, I could see a slight crack. When I looked at it better, the crack looked too smooth, like a straight line. Like a door--kind of like a pet door on Earth.

Shiny jumped out of my hands and pushed the center of the rectangle until it was pushed back, showing a neat hole. It would be rather tight, but should be enough for us who had passed through that gap before the secret tunnel.

Chii! Chii chii chiii!

"You hid this because you were worried the humans would come here and find your home?"

Chii! The mole nodded while Jade patted the grey hade in sympathy.

"Well, aren’t you well-prepared, Shiny? Good job!" I gave the mole a praise that made the dark beady eyes sparkle. "Then, can you place the barrier again after we’re inside?"

Chii! Chii!

The mole patted its chest proudly as if declaring that we could trust it. Even Renna couldn’t hold back a chuckle this time.

"Okay. Let’s go the--"

"Young Master, It’ll be better if I go first this time," Heraz said. "We don’t know what lies ahead, and if the path got narrower, I can warn you."

Hmm...I guessed his head would be on a chopping block if something happened to me, so I agreed. Once again, we were going through narrow space--this time on all four and with a reversed order. Ugh--so claustrophobic. Ignis would love this though, so I tried to emulate the Salamander.

Fortunately, it was a short path, roughly around fifty meters, and the space was consistent throughout. We ended up in a huge, huge space that reminded me of a colosseum, with several glowing crystals that finally provided natural lighting for us.

"Phew..."

I stretched my back in relief. Being in such a huge space after crawling in a rat hole--or should I say a mole hole?--was like dunking my head in the water after crossing the desert.

After taking a deep breath, I looked around curiously. As I said, the place looked like a Colosseum without a tribune, and it was empty. Nothing wrong with that usually, except that I was expecting something here--something round and small and glowing.

Nothing of the sort was in sight.

"Hmm...is this not the place?" I muttered while looking around and walking to the center.

Chii?!

But then again, this didn’t feel like a treasure room, more like a boss roo--

Chiii!

I heard the mole’s warning too late--nor its attempt to pull my trousers. Before I could finish my thought, a large shadow loomed over us, and something huge jumped to the center of the Colosseum.

Swallowing in surprise, I looked up at a five-meter golem, whose glowing eyes were staring at us.

Uh-oh.