The door's groan still echoed in their ears as Mia's squad stepped into the dark threshold. Cold air spilled over them in waves, thick with the damp rot of forgotten centuries. Shadows twisted along the walls, curling back into the stairwell that descended before them like a throat waiting to swallow intruders whole.
Mia raised her hand. "Stay sharp. We test every step. No one rushes."
The squad nodded. Even Vance, though his smirk lingered faintly, seemed wary now. His hand hovered near his sword, boots crunching cautiously against the ashen floor.
The descent was narrow, walls close enough to scrape armor if one leaned wrong. Torch sconces dotted the walls, but no flames burned in them. Instead, veins of faint red glow threaded through the stone itself, like blood vessels pulsing faintly beneath blackened skin. The light gave no warmth.
They hadn't descended more than twenty steps when it happened.
The instant Vance's boot pressed on a stone tile, the wall shuddered with a click.
A volley of flame-tipped arrows shot from hidden slits, streaking across the stairwell like angry comets. The squad ducked instinctively—but Lisa's voice rang out.
"Soterei's Blessing!"
A shimmering dome flared into being, pale blue and perfectly spherical, enveloping them all. The arrows slammed against it with violent sparks, flames scattering across its surface before guttering out. The shield hummed, its mana lines weaving like flowing water, soft yet unbreakable.
"Flame arrows," Sylvia muttered, recovering her stance. "Classic trapwork."
Vance chuckled nervously. "Looks like the devils wanted to make this exciting." The rightful source is noⅴelfire.net
"Shut your mouth and watch your step," Mia snapped, glaring at him.
But as they pressed forward, it became clear that every tile Vance stepped on carried a price. Another volley of arrows hissed out—then another. Each time, Lisa's blessing flared and absorbed the impact. Her focus never wavered, though sweat began to bead across her brow.
Zion gripped his spear tightly. "These are meant to kill ordinary intruders outright. Anyone without a shield-bearer wouldn't survive two steps."
"Exactly," Mia said grimly. "Which means this hallway isn't meant for casual use. It's a gauntlet. And we're walking right into it."
The traps never varied. Always arrows. Always flames. Always the same rhythm triggered by Vance's stride, as though his weight or his impatience alone kept offending the hallway itself.
"Why is it always me?" he complained after the fifth volley.
"Because you're the fool who doesn't watch the ground," Misha said flatly.
By the time they reached the end of the hallway, Lisa's shield had deflected dozens of arrows. The floor was littered with charred shafts and burnt feathers, all sliding harmlessly down the curved inner surface of the dome. Lisa's breathing had quickened, but her voice held steady. "We're through the worst of it. The mana woven into the walls fades here."
Sure enough, the final steps opened into a small landing. Before them loomed another door.
This one was different.
Where the first had been etched with spirals and faint pulsing veins, this door resembled something closer to an ordinary chamber entrance. Square-cut, framed with smooth stone, it bore no markings and pulsed with no energy. Just a heavy slab of dark metal, silent and waiting.
Mia signaled halt. The squad froze, tense silence pressing between them.
Hiro tilted his head, studying the frame. "Strange. No glow. No runes. Could be safe… or the real trap."
Zion's jaw flexed. "It feels… final. Like we've only passed the test of endurance, not the real barrier."
Sylvia adjusted her grip on her bowstring. "Or maybe the hallway was it. The arrows were meant to bleed us dry. This door could be nothing more than a threshold."
Vance snorted. "That's what I've been saying. If the hallway was the gauntlet, then the door is just… a door. We wasted enough time already—"
Mia's glare silenced him. She scanned the group, seeing their doubts reflected back.
Misha broke the stillness with a quiet voice. "It doesn't matter what we think. The only way to know is to open it. We can't sit here debating forever. Either it's the end of the traps, or it's where they truly begin."
Lisa, her shield dimming now that the arrow volleys had ceased, spoke carefully. "If the hallway was meant to weed out the careless, then we've already passed. But if the devils built this place with layers… then this door might lead into something designed for survivors."
The implication lingered like frost on their spines.
Mia looked back at the first hallway, littered with broken arrows. Going back was unthinkable—the palace gates still raged with battle, and time was slipping from them. Whatever advantage this route offered, it was theirs alone to seize.
Her hand closed on the door's edge. "We open it. Slow. Shields ready."
Lisa nodded, already weaving the pale shimmer of Soterei's Blessing again. Sylvia raised her bow. Zion set his spear. Hiro's hand rested on his blade, and even Vance straightened, his nerves poorly hidden.
The door creaked open.
At first, nothing happened. Just the stale exhale of air, colder than before, wafting from within. The chamber revealed itself in a dim, bluish glow cast by braziers along the walls. It looked like a room—rectangular, high-ceilinged, with a tiled floor free of rubble or decay.
No arrows hissed. No flames roared.
"It's… clear?" Vance muttered, almost disbelieving.
The squad hesitated on the threshold. Their footsteps echoed faintly as they stepped inside, the chamber's silence pressing around them.
And then the door slammed shut.
The boom rattled the walls, echoing like a thunderclap. Behind them, the slab sealed seamlessly into the stone, no handle, no seam, no sign it had ever been a door at all.
Lisa whirled, pressing her palm to the wall, her runes flaring. "It's gone. It won't open again."
Sylvia cursed under her breath. Zion planted his spear, eyes narrowing. "Then there's only one way left."
Mia exhaled slowly, sword tightening in her grip. Her voice was calm, steady, but the tension in her chest was iron. "Forward. Whatever lies ahead, we face it together."
The chamber stretched before them, another door at its far end. Shadows pooled along the corners, shifting unnaturally, as though already aware of their arrival.
The first hallway had been the beginning.