Meanwhile, in another part of the stratum.
The Ash Flower adventure team, led by Thorin, was still searching for the passage to the twelfth floor while navigating the eleventh floor.
Exploring the sweltering Lava Stratum was making the team members increasingly irritable.
"Dagna, can you make a bit more water? I'm about to shrivel up!"
Mora, a second-rank heavy warrior in Ash Flower, couldn't help but speak up.
"I don't have that much mana. Casting water magic in the Lava Stratum is extremely difficult!"
Dagna's mana reserves weren't something she could afford to squander.
Besides, the water she painstakingly created with her mana was naturally prioritized for cooling herself down.
"If Brock were here, making this much water would be—"
Mora's voice trailed off until he finally stopped.
After all, it was Captain Thorin who had kicked Brock out.
"Don't mention him again."
Thorin raised a hand, stopping Mora from saying anything else.
"I already gave Brock a severance payment. I treat all of you equally; making him leave was only for the good of the team."
Thorin spoke with righteous conviction, his tone calm.
The other members of Ash Flower, of course, had no idea that Thorin had already eliminated Brock.
In Thorin's eyes, Brock was already long dead.
Meanwhile, Brock was elsewhere.
He was trudging through the blistering winds, following the guidance of the map in his hand, one step at a time.
He had obtained the map after saving a monster merchant in trouble.
The direction indicated by this map led to a special passage to the twelfth floor.
When he had fallen into the lava canyon, he had survived and received both the Forbidden Fire Blessing and the Summoning Blessing Mark.
However, he had been trapped at the bottom of the canyon, unable to find a way out. He could only move forward along the lava river.
Not only was the temperature incredibly high, but the path was winding, and he couldn't find a way to climb back to the surface.
If the Forbidden Fire Blessing hadn't given him fire resistance, he likely would have been roasted to death by the high temperatures long ago, even with his fireproof suit.
But there was a way out yet. After saving a monster merchant who had fallen into the canyon, he not only replenished his supplies but also acquired a map.
While the map didn't show a way back to the surface, it marked a special secret passage that could only be reached from the bottom of the canyon.
By taking this special passage, he could reach the twelfth floor directly.
However, according to the monster merchant, this path was extremely dangerous.
Moreover, the terrain was rugged, and the map was decades old; no one had used it in years.
No one could say for sure what he might encounter.
To prevent him from dying, the monster merchant had also given him a white-quality monster card.
[wood armor monster lv1].
Currently, it was the most precious monster card in the Well of Eternal Imprisonment.
After being exposed to the heat for so long, the skin under Brock's fireproof suit had turned a scorched red.
He could only press on through sheer willpower, using water magic to dissipate the high heat on his skin.
Finally, he reached the destination marked on the map.
"Have I... finally arrived?"
Brock stopped and gazed at the grotto before him.
The lava he had followed along the way flowed continuously into the grotto.
This made the temperature inside the grotto even higher. Just standing in front of it, the searing heat waves made his face sting with pain.
The passage that no one had traversed for decades was right before his eyes.
Who knew if it would actually lead to the twelfth floor.
If it didn't, given his current exhaustion and the extreme heat inside, he likely wouldn't be coming back out.
To find life, one must walk through the shadow of death.
If he didn't even have this much courage, what right did he have to seek revenge?
He was already someone who had died once.
Facing danger with courage was far better than living in humiliation. If he couldn't even avenge the attempt on his life, what kind of man would he be to live so disgracefully?
Braving the heat that felt like it would melt him, Brock stepped inside.
He would either die inside or reach the twelfth floor alive!
The high heat distorted his vision as Brock moved deeper, one step at a time, shielding his face with his hands.
The grotto seemed to spiral downward, illuminated brilliantly by the flowing magma.
Supporting himself with his staff, Brock followed the map deeper down.
The grotto was a maze of tunnels, but only one led to the twelfth floor.
He had to follow the map exactly; a single mistake would mean being trapped inside forever.
By his thousandth breath inside the tunnel, his lungs stung from the heat, and the temperature was still rising.
Brock spotted a mummified corpse.
The corpse was curled in a corner; it had four arms and a purplish-black body.
A monster?
Brock approached the corpse step by step and knelt to examine it. He found a wound on its neck.
He instantly realized the danger. A chill brushed against the back of his neck, feeling incredibly distinct in the scorching air!
He quickly threw himself to the ground and rolled. With a loud thud, a gargoyle slammed into the spot where he had just been!
The gargoyle was only half his size and gripped a scimitar. Its body was black, blending perfectly with the surrounding rocks. It had been clinging to the ceiling using Presence Concealment, escaping even his notice.
The thick fireproof suit at Brock's neck had been sliced open, and a wound had appeared on his skin. He had come within a hair's breadth of being killed in one strike.
The gargoyle didn't hesitate. Like a nimble gnome, it pounced again.
Though he had been caught off guard by the ambush, Brock was still a first-rank mage—an extraordinary being.
It was just a single gargoyle!
He quickly raised his staff and cast a wind spell, catching the gargoyle in a gust that swept it into the air before slamming it hard against the ground!
Brock kept his eyes locked on the gargoyle and pointed his staff from a distance.
Sharp earth spikes erupted from the ground!
The swirling wind hurled the gargoyle onto the spikes. The creature was impaled, struggling for a moment before falling still. It dropped a stone fragment.
However, the sense of danger did not dissipate.
Sweat poured from Brock's body as he looked around.
Seemingly ordinary stones began to move, and gargoyles charged out from the darkness one after another.
Standing in front of the smaller gargoyles were two others the size of a human.
Those two human-sized gargoyles were burly and clad in thick stone armor. Feather-shaped horns extended backward from the sides of their heavy helmets.
One held a halberd, and the other held a greatsword.
They were the elites among the gargoyles.
[elite heroic gargoyle]!
How could this be!
Brock scrambled backward, but the nimble, gnome-like gargoyles were already swarming from both sides, brandishing short knives as they lunged at him!
So it was a dead end like this.
He no longer had the luxury of retreating!
Brock had already prepared himself to die!
He quickly pulled out two cards and activated his Summoning Blessing Mark!
"Summon, Snake Bone of Eternal Imprisonment!"
"Wood armor monster!"
In an instant, a massive snake skeleton burst through the ground, blocking the two elite heroic gargoyles head-on.
Lightning also erupted from the skeleton, shattering the two gnome-like gargoyles that were pouncing toward him.
Woody vines rapidly grew over Brock's body, forming a layer of inner armor beneath his fireproof suit—the wood armor monster!
The moment the wood armor monster was generated, Brock felt his physical strength jump to a whole new level.
It wasn't just strength.
His agility, reflexes, and stamina all increased along with it!
Rate on N.U.
