Free Web NovelChapter 77: The Traps Laid (3)
The potion that Boldred drank created a miraculous effect. A thin layer of redness appeared around his entire body, and a fiery aura clung to his skin like a second layer, faintly shimmering, like heated air above a forge.
"Protection against Fire..." Thane identified the effect that surrounded him. Through his eyes, he could tell that the spell was quite formidable.
"That’s one expensive potion you got there..." Thane observed, his voice turning wary.
Boldred charged forward once more, knowing that to preserve his allies he needed to stop the root, and charged ahead.
"Let’s see your fire stop me now!"
With a powerful dash, Boldred charged faster and faster towards Thane.
His steps slammed into the wet stone with such force that the ground itself quaked. His shoulders lowered. His axe tightened in his grip.
STOMP! STOMP! STOMP!
Each step was forceful. He intended to reveal if there are any other traps around the area.
"Welp! Time’s up! I doubt my fireball’s gonna do any good on him." Thane chuckled and ran together with Esau.
But as he retreated, he began to look at his inventory and went over the boulders he had.
"Hehehe... It’s perfect. I thought I could use this to buy some time, but let’s give that barbarian a hurting..."
He looked over to his Item Storage and went to a sorted tab in his menu.
The miners had dug deep as they found more of the precious magical minerals, and soon found the wide molten region and met a room full of lava creatures. Alas, no one understood that the walking lava golems were simply part of a dungeon core that was steadily growing and fed off the beasts in the cave.
Soon, their mining ended, and the path that they left behind was a deep slope, only wide enough for several people to rush in. Some rail tracks were even present on the ground. The tracks were old now, useless for carts, but the tracks were perfect places to set his traps.
As for the stones, there was an abundance of them! Large stones that were tossed towards the side due to the mining were there. And there were several flat slabs of stone that once covered the walls that were removed.
And all of these were useful for the traps that Thane had prepared.
STOMP! STOMP! STOMP!
Thane did not worry about the sprinting sounds of Bodlred that was drawing closer. In a few seconds, Boldred would catch up to him!
But Thane watched his Item storage.
[Item Storage (Stones and Boulders Tab)]
Stone Slab A- A large rectangular slab of stone. Heavy, durable, and extremely effective when dropped in inconvenient places.
Stone Slab B- Nearly identical to Stone Slab A, though slightly more chipped around the corners. Still perfectly capable of stopping a charging warrior who suddenly discovers the concept of momentum.
Stone Slab C - A broad, stubborn piece of rock that refuses to be anything other than a wall-shaped problem. Particularly useful for surprising enemies who expected an open path.
Stone Slab D - Thick, flat, and structurally honest. It does not pretend to be anything fancy. It perfectly accepts what it is, and what it is, is a rock.
Stone Slab E – Unlike the previous slabs, this slab is not unlike the rest but is most similar to all of them. Except Stone Slab B. It hates Stone Slab B. ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom
The jagged rocks he had were long and flat. It was similar to the one he used to create the lava trap. But aside from that, he could still use his Item Storage to do things that could not be done.
The items that he brings out ’appear’ as if warping. This allowed him to put any items in a position that could not normally be placed by carrying things. He could make items appear in between the gaps and make them fit perfectly like a missing puzzle piece!
Boldred drew near, and though the darkness before him shrouded everything, he could only see a few paces from the torch in his hand. The passageway became narrower and narrower, but he could hear the footsteps of the Groundling and the mage before him.
"You’re mine, mage!" Boldred roared.
FWIP! FWIP!
TAP! TAP!
"You can’t even make a proper crescent!" Boldred bellowed.
With a simple shift of his sword, the arrows were blocked!
At that moment, Boldred caught a glimpse of Thane standing as the light illuminated!
A powerful stomp occurred as Boldred used Power to once more perform his deadly leap!
"Die!"
But then, they brought out the stones!
Slab after slab, stone after stone, suddenly appeared and were placed in between the wedges of the rail tracks and the large stones that were fixed on the ground.
The cheating reality through storage and summoning them out of nowhere and locking them into impossibly tight spaces created a barrier that didn’t exist a second ago.
CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!
Boldred broke through two slabs of thick stone from the force of his leap.
His face was like a battering ram that struck and broke through it.
On the final stone slab, he smashed it and made a large crack, but he fell back and stumbled.
The impact was brutal. Stone dust burst outward. Boldred’s torch flared, and the fire died out.
The dazed Boldred fell back, and blood was rushing down his face.
"Stones...?!" the confused barbarian snarled.
He was sure the path was empty! How else could the two shoot arrows?
Each slab of stone was fitted perfectly into place, so that colliding against it did not make the stone fall, but he actually broke through it!
He got up and gave the stone a push, and could feel that the stone was miraculously in place and was lodged with equal support all around it! The wall didn’t wobble at all!
"How...?!" Boldred muttered, rage and disbelief mixing.
"You can’t slide the stone in place here, there’s no space... He can’t...! Unless!"
His eyes widened.
And the stone was lodged in with key footholds and stoppers at the back and front! How could one put it in, unless...
"An Item Storage!" Boldred snarled.
"That brat has the legendary Item Storage!"
It was all starting to make sense now! The boulders between the stalactites! The lava pit! The sudden stone walls that appear! The lack of time required to have prepared these elaborate traps, and how it was seemingly impossible if done alone!
Only one explanation connected everything! A storage ability that bypasses space!
"Boss!" The Battle Mage commander caught up, panting, staff raised, eyes wide as he saw the stone barriers, and he could tell his boss had run his head into it.
"Lugrin and Lorke are dead. They... burned to death. We managed to save Victor and Brash, but the potions they drank can only restore so much..."
"That brat has an Item Storage!" Boldred spat out, tapping the stone wall that covered their path like it had personally insulted him.
"What?!" Many who heard Boldred exclaimed.
"Think! He made all those traps by himself! How could he have brought all those stones up those Stalactites? Any combatant with high strength stats could scale the heights easily. But carrying stones of such size is impossible. I ran into three slabs of thick wall a few seconds after being attacked by arrows. And the manner in which he placed these stones made it immediately stuck where it is. Also... there’s that lava pit!"
"But... boss! Item Storage can’t carry water! Much so for lava!"
"Well, he can! Everyone, this Item Storage is quite powerful! A legendary item! We must take it! Who knows what other treasures he has! If we kill him, I won’t just be a general, I could become aking!"
BOOM!
Boldred punched through the stone slab and broke it down.
VOSH!
A fireball shot straight towards them and caused panic, but Boldred slapped the fireball.
BOOM!
"We kill him now, no matter the cost! Come! Everyone, use Potions of Might! The more we delay, the more traps that brat can set!"
"So you blockheads finally figured it out. And you made your decision to face me regardless? I have more treasures of the True King! Come! If you’re brave!" Thane’s voice could be heard at the far end of the tunnel.
"You brat!" Boldred cried out.
"Esau! Keep pressuring them! Let’s see if we can whittle down their number even more!" Thane smiled as he took out the Dungeon Core from his inventory.
The Groundling Core appeared, and the magical energies it released were thick and potent. A vast magical force could be felt emanating towards them.
The bright glow illuminated where Thane was standing
Thane sensed an incredible amount of Mana flowing through it and was surprised.
"Oh? You’re... giving it to me?"
He could sense the power being bestowed upon him, and Thane could not help but smile. He only meant to use this as bait, but the Dungeon Core reacted.
"Interesting... Very interesting... I forgot that I am the owner of this core." Thane chuckled.
When Thane brought it out, the Dungeon Core sensed Thane’s intentions and began to release its own magic.
Thane smiled and held the fire staff which began to glow a powerful shade of red.
"That’s...!" The Battle Mage Commander identified the strange object and was amazed. freēwēbnovel.com
"A Dungeon Core!" Boldred was amazed. The Core was also full of mana and life, and it was feeding Thane with mana!
