Chapter 122: Too Easy?

  Parth looked at the final obelisk in the distance. Just like all the other monoliths, this one was solid as well. And continuing with the theme, this one was most definitely made with a very smooth and shiny material that demanded their attention. Marble, ice, obsidian, and now some sort of crystal. It looked almost transparent, just like air. But it was not exactly hard to spot because of how it glittered in the light.

  Five more minutes, and the trial of fire would end. This was the seventh day. If Parth wanted to, within those five minutes, he could reach the monolith. A part of him wanted to. He could reach the dungeon heart in no time, even if he took his teammates. They were not exactly near the entrance of the dungeon after all. They had five days to move through it. But going to the heart just now was not advisable.

  The Tavans had records of previous such cases where voyagers wanted to finish their dungeon run fast before the fourth trial even began. The trials were spaced out in a certain way for a reason. If someone was going to escape this soon, three weeks ahead of schedule, then the dungeon would immediately escalate. It would try to kill everyone, so that nobody escaped at all. He didn’t want to bring about doom on everyone just because he was antsy.

  But antsy he was. This was a good turn of luck after all that they had to go through this past month.

  Yet it left him unsatisfied. He had craved a challenge, but the third trial hadn’t been one. And their subsequent stay in this final level of the dungeon hadn’t been one as well.

  In his mind, he had already beaten the dungeon. He didn’t know how else to say it. Because that was the truth. They had made it to this floor on day two, and for the next five days, they had just been moving around at a very low speed, trying to find the optimal camp for the final trial. If they wanted to, they could have escaped the same day they came in. They hadn’t because of the potential consequences.

  At that time, most of the remaining voyagers would still be in the previous level, and the dungeon’s focus would be on them. But right now, half an hour before the end of the third trial, Parth was pretty sure that most who could make it through would have made it through to this level.

  A reckless part of him wanted to be cheeky. To just make it to the heart and escape seconds before Byrone’s boon triggered and teleported everyone else out of this level. But he tempered his impulses. The consequences of it would be catastrophic when everyone else jumped back in later on. So he held his hand.

  Sure, they had made it to the fourth level in record time. And they just had the occasional monster disturbing them inside this layer. But they were just pests, no huge swarms, no massive beasts, no true challenges. And obviously, they hadn’t come across any voyager as well, given their head start.

  It felt too good to be true. It made him uneasy. As if something big was coming. It felt like the calm before the storm.

  This entire layer was a testament to that as well. It hadn’t fully ramped up because most likely the dungeon was wrapping things up in the previous layer. It would start here soon, but they’d be extracted to lull it into some rest again.

  And as always, before the dungeon began its bullshit, this floor of it did look beautiful.

  Currently, they’d made camp on an island. Not just any island, but a floating island. Because that was all the landmass that this level of the dungeon had. Floating islands galore. Copious floating amongst a sea of clouds.

  One wrong step, and they’d go pummeling beneath the clouds. Nobody knew where the drop led to, but obviously, it was lethal. It was recorded as such. People who fell through the clouds immediately died, and their artifacts returned to Tava.

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  When calm, this level was just tricky. Those who could not fly would have to hop from island to island. Many islands had floating rocks acting as bridges connecting them. So people on foot could make their way through as well.

  They just had to chart a proper path. But the problem was, each time the dungeon deployed, these formations changed, so there was no set route to follow.

  And once the turbulence started, those who could fly would not have an easy time as well. This time, more so because this was the final level of the dungeon. So, the dungeon being such a tryhard, would do its best to end them.

  It wouldn’t matter this time, though. There were no artificial storms that it could brew before they’d finish the dungeon run once and for all. The moment the fourth trail started, the plan was to blitz it.

  Parth turned back and joined his teammates again, helping them pack the camp and put everything away into their spatial containers.

  This was a relatively good spot. A very small floating island. So, there was no chance of any monsters having made their nest here. They had already checked. The only dangers would be from outside. And it had an outcrop of rocks which could act as a buffer against the winds. The winds in this level were in no way weak. Right now, they could be classified as somewhere below the lower end of gale-force winds. And right now, the dungeon wasn’t doing its best to kill them over here.

  “There, all done,” Moira said as she put away her tent. It was the last item to go.

  “Three more minutes. Then we can finally go home,” Kwame said.

  Parth hummed in agreement. Home. Tava was their home now, wasn’t it? They no longer had a way to return to their worlds.

  This back and forth between the dungeon and Tava was atrocious. But Tava did feel like home. Maybe it was due to their experiences inside the dungeon. Or maybe it was because they had gotten stuck here for about a month without reprieve. But he couldn’t wait to be back in Tava.

  “Yes. Warm showers, good food, and a proper bed. I can’t wait,” Moira said.

  “We are pretty much done, aren’t we? I mean, when we come back, we’ll immediately be running out once again. It’s over. We’re kind of free,” Parth said.

  “Don’t jinx it, captain,” Moira groaned.

  “What’s there to jinx? The moment we return, we are going to shoot out of here. We already saw it. This thing could predict our trajectory, but it couldn’t react fast enough. And we are not near the edges of the dungeon anymore. We have already made our way through. In fact, we are very close to the pillar. It’s barely ten kilometers away,” Kwame said in agreement.

  The only reason they hadn’t camped right outside the gate was, once again, just to be safe. To avoid any sudden retaliation. But they were very close to the finish line as it were, even without their new subsonic mode of transport.

  “I agree, but it’s best not to tempt fate,” she said.

  “I’d say it’s pointless. Fate will do with us what it wants to. Temptation or not,” Parth said.

  “I hope it doesn’t. And we get to leave in peace. That’s all,” Moira said, exasperated.

  With that, the time was up. All three of their signet rings beeped in unison, signaling the end of the third trial.

  The next moment, they were wrapped in the familiar golden light. The one that they had missed the last time around. The light engulfed him completely and blinded him for a short moment.

  For a second, he expected to be back in a vision, inside that burning settlement that he had gotten too familiar with in its collapsed state. But this time, there was no vision, no weirdness. He blinked the spots out of his eyes. It didn’t take more than a second for his eyes to readjust, given the effect the mana had on his body.

  When his vision cleared up, he found himself back in the theatre, amidst a crowd of fellow voyagers. He was back in Tava, he was back home.

  His heatmap was active the moment the transfer happened. And there was a second of disorientation that he felt with his new sense. One second, the entire domain of his range showed the dungeon. The next moment, his heatmap was completely empty. It then expanded from him once again. Dealing with abrupt space-time switches caused the sense to technically reboot because it had to map the new place.

  Now active, his heatmap already told him what was about to happen. And he didn’t resist.

  Before he could look around or greet anyone, three children crashed onto Parth’s team. Parth, Moira, and Kwame found themselves holding on to the crying kids. The triplets didn’t say a word; they just cried happy tears. Moira’s eyes had welled up with tears as well.

  So would Parth’s, but he quickly spiked a little bit of heat into his eyes and got rid of the tears. He had to show a strong face in front of their enemies. Not everyone here was a friend, after all. He’d cry in relief later when he was alone.

  He looked up to see Emilia, Andrea, and Stefan making their way towards them. All three of them were sporting bright smiles on their faces. They were back with friends. They were back home.