Inside the dark, humid dungeon, Lu Mao suddenly wrapped his arms tightly around himself, curling his entire body into a ball.
That piercing chill still seemed impossible to shake off.
“Lu Mao?”
Misha was the first to notice his abnormality—his breathing had suddenly grown rapid, his pupils losing focus for a split second, and his entire body froze in place as if enduring some invisible impact.
She instinctively reached out to steady his arm, able to feel the chill radiating from his skin even through his cloak.
It was the coldness of sweat that had suddenly broken out all over his body and just as suddenly chilled.
“What's wrong?”
Rayne also turned around, his brow furrowing slightly.
“It's nothing. Just an old condition. I get heart palpitations once in a while.”
After recovering his wits, Lu Mao casually made up an excuse and left it at that.
What followed was no different from before.
The party once again arrived at the tavern to drink the stinky water.
【Resistance +1】
While the other members of the party drank themselves into a stupor, Lu Mao began tracing characters on the bar with his finger.
Chen Jiu had long since noticed that Lu Mao looked heavily weighed down by worry. The moment the other youth began tracing his first word, the tavern keeper focused his attention there.
After “listening” to Lu Mao's explanation, Chen Jiu's voice rang out in Lu Mao's mind.
“Interesting. It seems that as long as you figure out this person's identity, you'll know who wants to destroy the altars—so, how do you plan to explain this to them?”
Lu Mao shook his head. There was no way he could convince the rest of the party to give up on collecting their quest reward from their employer.
Besides, it was no longer a matter of whether they got paid or not; the key issue was whether they could survive.
“I can set up a one-time teleportation array on the path you must take to leave the dungeon, helping you escape that person's tracking range. However, setting up a teleportation array in such a short amount of time is quite troublesome, so we'll count this as an advance on your reward for the second quest.”
Lu Mao: “...”
“But only this once. If you get instantly killed again next time, figure it out yourself.”
The corner of Lu Mao's mouth twitched.
What did he mean by “instantly killed again”—as if he wanted to die.
But he didn't talk back, only tracing two more words on the bar with his fingertip: “Location.”
“The dungeon entrance. The trigger condition is the magicule signatures of the six of you.”
Chen Jiu placed a polished glass back onto the shelf, his expression completely unchanged, but the voice transmitting into Lu Mao's mind didn't stop for a second.
“It will activate the moment you step on it; you don't need to do anything. The destination is an abandoned watchtower three miles outside Rhode City's north gate. That's far enough.”
Lu Mao estimated the distance in his mind and nodded.
“Don't mention it.”
Chen Jiu took another glass from the shelf, inspecting the water spots on the bottom against the light of the moss lamp. “The second quest—find out who wants to destroy the altars. If you fail, I can take back the reward for the first quest at any time.”
Lu Mao opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but in the end, he remained silent.
He slid down from the barstool and was about to walk over to his teammates when he realized Gerak was standing two paces behind him, though he had no idea when the other had arrived.
The beastkin held half a cup of stinky wine in his hand, his ears slightly tilted as if listening to something.
“You've been sitting there by yourself for quite a while.”
Gerak set his cup down on the bar, his voice low. “There's no wine on the bar, yet your finger keeps tracing around, looking just like a tavern mistress keeping accounts.”
“I was just asking the boss about Rhode City.”
Lu Mao seemed to have prepared for this. “Since it's my first time going, I need to know which way the city gates open.”
Gerak grunted in response, asking no further questions.
This beastkin had one major virtue—he was quite taciturn. If others didn't offer up their secrets, he wouldn't pry.
Balen was already snoring face-down on the bar, the bubbles coming out of his nose expanding and contracting with his breaths.
Elliot had pulled out a parchment notebook at some point, muttering to himself as he stared at the wine cup on the bar, his quill tip leaving a small smudge of ink on the paper.
Misha leaned back in a corner, resting with her eyes closed.
Rayne stood at the entrance.
“It's time to head out. Judging by the time, it will be pitch black if we wait any longer. It's still a ways back to Rhode City from here, and traveling at night isn't a wise choice.”
The six of them gathered their gear and bid farewell to Chen Jiu.
As Balen was dragged up from the bar, he was still muttering, “Another cup.” Blown by the night breeze, he let out a loud alcoholic burp and blearily opened his eyes.
“Are we in Rhode City yet?”
“We haven't even left the dungeon yet.”
Rayne set him down on the ground.
The exit had arrived.
It was a half-collapsed archway. The setting sun shone in at an angle, painting the gravel floor of the corridor a rusty red.
The final straight stretch before the exit lay directly ahead. The stone walls on both sides were steep and smooth, and the rock ceiling pressed down low, making the entire passage feel like a squeezed stone corridor.
Lu Mao walked in the middle of the group, his boot soles stepping on the stone tiles, feeling the solid sensation underfoot.
Nothing unusual could be seen on the surface of the stone tiles, but he knew that beneath this layer of masonry, a magic circle was quietly waiting for them.
The footsteps of the six echoed and overlapped in the corridor.
Rayne, walking at the very front, was the first to step on it—nothing changed beneath his feet, and he kept walking forward.
Then came Misha, Elliot, Lu Mao himself, and Gerak.
Balen walked at the very back, still muttering about wanting to drink strong dwarven spirits when they got back.
The moment the dwarf's boot stepped into the range of the magic circle, Lu Mao felt an extremely faint warmth rise from beneath his feet.
The stone walls and archway before them blurred for an instant, as if viewed through a layer of air distorted by a heatwave.
By the time their vision cleared again, the direction of the setting sun had changed—where it had been directly ahead just a moment ago, it now hung at an angle to their right.
The stone tiles beneath their feet had turned into moss-covered gravel, surrounded on all sides by half-collapsed stone walls, with the ruined dome of a watchtower overhead.
Looking out from the window, the city walls of Rhode City lay sprawled on the horizon, the orange-red sparks of torches at the city gates flickering in the twilight.
“What's going on?!”
Balen snatched the axe from his back in an instant, looking left and right. Realizing he was inside a watchtower instead of the corridor, he froze in bewilderment. “Weren't we just at the exit?!”
Elliot had already crouched down, his fingertip hovering over a golden line in the gaps of the stone tiles that was rapidly fading.
His brow furrowed slightly as he stared at the pattern for a moment, then he stood up and brushed the dust off his mage robe.
“A residual teleportation array,” he said. “It was likely left behind by a powerful adventurer who explored the dungeon in the past. Its magical fluctuations were very weak, usually remaining dormant, and it only temporarily activated when stimulated by our magicules.”
“Looking at the speed at which this pattern is dissipating, it will completely lose effect in one or two breaths at most—we were lucky to have stepped on it just in time.”
He added another line:
“This kind of residual array isn't uncommon near dungeons. The magic turbulence of the dungeon itself interferes with the stability of spatial magic, so many teleportation arrays don't completely disappear after use, instead leaving behind a semi-defunct remnant.
“Every year, there are incidents of adventurers losing their lives because they accidentally triggered a teleportation array. We're considered quite lucky.”
“So where were we sent?”
Gerak leaned against the stone wall to peer outside, his ears twitching as he immediately recognized the landmark outside the window. “...Rhode City's north gate?”
Misha withdrew her gaze from the watchtower window, pointing the tip of her staff toward the city walls. “An abandoned watchtower outside the north gate. I've passed by here before; it's less than three miles from the city gate.”
“That saved us half an hour of walking!” Balen immediately slipped his axe back onto his back, his expression shifting from vigilance to relief in the blink of an eye. “That means we can save enough time to drink three cups of wine every time!”
“The probability of triggering a residual array is less than one in a thousand.”
Elliot interrupted him expressionlessly.
The six of them stepped out of the abandoned watchtower and walked along the old post road on the wilderness toward Rhode City's north gate.
The twilight deepened, and the torches on the city walls flickered in the dry evening breeze.
Rhode City's north gate drew closer and closer. The warm yellow light shining from the city gate passage illuminated the stone road in front of it. Seeing six people emerge from the twilight, the guards on duty jolted awake and stood up straight.
“Where are you from? Coming at this hour—”
“Adventurers' Guild. Returning from the Blood Fiend Dungeon,” Rayne took out his badge and handed it over. “Handing in a quest.”
The guard took the badge and glanced at it, then looked at the wet bloodstains and battle scars on the six of them, his expression shifting from sleepiness to solemn respect.
He returned the badge to Rayne, stepped aside, and tapped the city gate frame with the shaft of his spear.
“Let them through! Six adventurers—thank you for your hard work.”
The city gates slowly closed behind them with a heavy thud.
Rhode City's night market was just beginning.
Oil lamps hung in front of the shops on both sides of the street, and a general store owner was carrying crates to his storefront.
Intermittent sounds of string music and laughter drifted from the taverns, and the aroma of wheat wafting from the bakery mixed with the scent of hay from the stables, forming a lively bustle of the living that was completely different from the decayed, damp air of the dungeon.
This was the otherworld he actually wanted!
Lu Mao sighed with emotion.
Unless absolutely necessary, who would want to trade blows with monsters day after day?
Soon, they arrived at the Adventurers' Guild branch closest to the north gate.
Located in the north of the city, the Adventurers' Guild was a three-story stone-and-wood building. Hanging above the main entrance was an iron plaque that read: "Adventurers' Guild - Rhode City - Steel and Fire Adventure Band - Sixth Hall."
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