For a while, there is nothing, just darkness, damp air, and the sound of our breathing and steps as we continue to touch the walls once in a while to send mana through the lines that light them up. It's calmingly quiet, and there is something that I can't identify that improves my mood. Maybe it is the unknown in front of us, the mystery to be solved, the expectation of a strong enemy.

Or I'm just excited about this expedition that is something akin to a treasure hunt.

After a while, attacks start. Small, annoying monsters pass through the walls only to throw an attack at us and then disappear back into them without leaving anything behind, no mana or heat signature to follow.

Curiously, I observe other people dealing with them.

Maya, for example, calmly calculates the direction of an attack, dodges it, and shoots a mana projectile at the monster, often quick enough to kill it. Her projectiles are getting quite good, something I forced onto her, having a feeling that her ranged attacks are severely lacking.

Isabella does something similar, but instead of mana, her attacks are made of small blue flames that burn extremely hot, melting the monster and pieces of the wall, all observed by a white snake coiled around her arm.

Biscuit also once in a while uses a thin mana tentacle that catches a monster. The tentacles move extremely quickly and bend and twist in a way that clearly shows mastery over them. The best doggo of the fourth floor then expands the tentacle, crushing any monster dumb enough to attack our group.

The tunnels continue on and on; they are surprisingly vast and the ever-present darkness seems to disturb some people. The network has multiple ways we can use and twists, and as we walk deeper, I notice that Sophie is also leaving marks made of mana behind me, in a similar manner to me.

However, even after a few hours, there seems to be no end to them and slowly they become rougher, more ancient feeling, and the air becomes colder as well as more humid. Some parts of the walls are crumbling and some mana lines start flickering and blinking, not working properly. All to the point where we start using our own skills and items to light the way.

The monsters also become stronger and more sneaky. Humanoid creatures without any eyes and with big mouths full of ragged teeth are now behind every corner, the echo of their screams filling the tunnels as they continue to attack.

At this point, I also start helping so group 4 can save their mana and not waste it on such mobs. Unlike them, I have much more of it, so it's not a problem.

[You have defeated Hollow Stalker - lvl 91]

[You have defeated Hollow Stalker - lvl 101]

[You have defeated Hollow Stalker - lvl 88]

Precisely aimed mana orbs made of [Regalia] continue to one-shot them, and I'm barely using mana, always only creating a small orb, that isn't even that dense, that I shoot at their heads.

Soon enough, I also learn to detect them with the help of my [Perception] and shoot them before they let out any sounds.

[You have defeated Hollow Stalker - lvl 102]

[You have defeated Hollow Stalker - lvl 82]

When we reach the first cave, the attacks nearly stop, either the monsters are avoiding us or just waiting for a better opportunity.

Filling the orb with thermal energy and changing it a bit to let out light rather than heat, I send it towards the ceiling, revealing the impressive size of the cave we are in, surely as tall as some higher building and multiple times wider.

That's also when we see them; monsters clinging to the ceiling. Most are humanoid and with unnaturally large heads. Their limbs are thin and reminiscent of spider legs rather than human ones. They immediately start hitting the ceiling they cling to, accurately dropping stalactites as big as cars on us.

Min-Jae and Tess, with the use of their respective skill, redirect some bigger stones while stopping the smaller ones and throwing them back at the monsters clinging to the ceiling.

Unsurprisingly, that makes even more stones start to fall down, but they just continue to grab them and throw them back at those weirdoes at the ceiling. It quickly gets out of hand, and dozens and dozens of pieces of stones as big as a fist or as big as a small motorcycle are annihilating the monsters.

Once in a while, I also redirect some or explode them with kinetic energy, but I don't do much more as Min-Jae is smiling for the first time since we entered the mines.

When we start moving again, there are no monsters around, and we enter another tunnel, this time even older looking, the ground covered in debris and dust.

Three of Obelia's people start monitoring the tunnels even more than before. They are sending their mana or using their skills towards the stone all around us, something done in worry of tunnels breaking and swallowing us all.

So far, it appears safe; they only use their skills occasionally to strengthen the tunnel while I observe them doing so.

I slow down a bit, until I walk by Tess's side, "So, what attribute did you upgrade? Mana and Potency?" I ask her.

From my point of view, Restoration and Potency would fit her nicely. Potency would be most likely nice to improve her Primordial lightning, while Restoration would work nicely with [Psychokinesis] and allow her to quickly regenerate her mana for longer fights.

"Potency, and I will start investing more stats into mana," Tess says after creating a barrier around us to make sure no one listens, "During the Beyond trial, I found out that my damage is lacking," she looks at me, "maybe you are not that wrong saying that the best defense is to quickly kill your enemy."

"Right? I always say that, but you guys don't listen," I shake my head, "Upgraded already?"

"Yes, before the expedition. The effect is more terrifying than I thought, even after listening to you about how significant attribute upgrade is."

"Doesn't that make it even better? If even you are scared of your own skill, imagine your enemy." As a reward for sharing my wisdom, I get an amused look.

"We are here," Obelia says simply, her voice strengthened by mana spreading to everyone.

Her eyes meet mine and I nod, moving closer after gesturing to Sophie to join. There I find a few of her guild members standing in front of a smooth stone wall covered in inscriptions and teeming with mana.

"A few years ago, we tried to dig a tunnel around the door, it took us months to dig just a short distance. Then the tunnel fell, and it took us a year to clear all the rubble while stopping it from falling further," Obelia says.

She continues to talk as I send my senses toward the door. “The only reasonable option seems to be going through the door, but none of my people were able to do it, and even a few people from the city were unable to do anything, and Elydor…”

“He was a big piece of shit,” I say, sending even more mana at it, observing its movement and how it interacts with the mana of the door.

“Yes, a huge piece of… shit,” Obelia confirms. “And you don’t even know half of…”

While I send mana towards what feels like the center of the door, something clicks inside of it. Right after, an almost imperceptible pulse of mana is sent from the door.

Huh?

I wait a bit and nothing changes, so I examine the place where it came from and then, slowly, I realize what has happened.

My mana fires up at full power.

[Mana Domain] activates, bigger than ever before.

[Mana Domain - lvl 15 > Mana Domain - lvl 16]

[Regalia - lvl 7 > Regalia - lvl 8]

Within that domain, I turn and change all of the mana with the help of [Regalia], creating a spherical barrier all around us, big enough to cover both my and Obelia’s group.

A few questions are thrown at me and surprised shouts fill the room while I create something like pillars within the barrier to strengthen it even more.

Then the others notice what's happening as well and dozens of skills activate at the same moment.

I infuse my barrier with kinetic energy and then watch as the entire tunnel, the cave around us, comes crashing down, tonnes of stones crumbling all around.

A minute that feels impossibly long passes, and finally, a silence ensues. The lights that flickered up until now stop shaking and light up the faces of the expedition members. Some of them terrified, others scared, all of them looking at the barrier around us, supported by something like pillars and preventing it from crashing down on us.

“I will solidify the rocks around us,” one of Obelia’s men shouts.

“Quickly, create a secondary barrier…”

“What was that? How did it happen!”

“More lights, we need more lights!”

Everyone becomes busy, movements urgent, and faces and bodies are covered in the dust from the crumbled stone. One after another, they start examining the situation we ended up in.

Meanwhile, I continue to stare at the door, probably our best option to get out of this situation, Obelia steps closer, and I can see her trying to catch my gaze. She is literally drilling holes into the side of my face.

“Anyway, my barrier should last for quite a while,” I tell her.

I didn’t even touch my Mana Reservoir yet, and Arcane Resilience made using this amount of mana so quickly a fairly painless process, so I’m not even hurt at all.

As I send more mana inside the door with extreme care, even more extreme care than before, I feel a movement at the edge of my [Perception].

Monsters are drilling through the tonnes of stone above us and heading towards the barrier. Without anyone stopping them, they reach it, and an attack starts, this one even more taxing to endure than the weight of the stones. Some monster with a somewhat disruptive skill?

I don’t even have to say anything as Sophie turns to me, connecting to my mind through her web, (I will carefully deal with them. Obelia and some others might sense my skill, but I will try to do it in a way they won’t have suspicion of mind manipulation.)

(I will open the door in the meantime,) I send back and return to the door.

The inscriptions here are extremely dense and beautiful. What feels like miles of circuits all over the door, creating pretty ornaments while staying functional. They are nothing in comparison to what I saw on the mountain-tall door during Beyond’s second trial, but they are still nothing to scoff at.

Multiple circuits strengthen the door, more of them lock it, then there are some detections and a few more that I identify as very nicely hidden traps.

I mean, anyone could have missed them. The person who created these traps must have been extremely skilled. Most likely some sort of master.

As I said, such a trap is super easy to miss even by someone examining the door extremely carefully.

I myself know I would never be angry if someone tried to open them and triggered one of the traps.

Yup.

Could have happened to the best of us.

I touch the door and [Focus] on both the barrier and the locked door in front of me.

A few hours pass, and I have a feeling that I'm close to opening the door. I have already locked the “keyhole,” and now I keep constantly using my mana to infuse the door, sending it through the same circuit as the defenses in attempts to learn them. I already have a few ideas on how to improve the door into my room, and soon they might really be able to endure Lily’s [Disintegration].

At some point, I don’t even perceive the people stuck there with me, and it all starts feeling like fun.

On purpose, I trigger a few more traps but cut off the signal they send as well as destroy the circuits they use. This reduces the amount of mana I have to decipher, as well as removes annoying obstacles. Obelia and Sophie have sensed that as they are also partially following what I’m doing, trying to be helpful.

When I destroyed the traps, they became a bit worried and started preparing for another attack. Then, when I told them there would be no attack and the traps I triggered were on purpose.

For some reason, that made them even more worried.

But slowly and surely, I get through all of this, and when I finally etch the circuits into one of the expensive mana stones I get from Obelia, I’m almost regretful. It was really fun.

“Ready?” I ask.

After checking, I hear confirmation from both Tess and Obelia, and I put the mana stone against the door and activate it. The door splits vertically, a red glowing crack appearing across their entire length while the circuits dim out. On their own, the doors slowly open inward, a terrible stench hitting us.

A dozen of my thermal orbs float inside, lighting up what seems like a room. The walls are expertly carved, and beautiful pillars support the enormous room. There, all around this room, corpses lie. Dozens, hundreds of humans and even some lynthari all across the ground, bodies terribly torn, limbs missing.

And all of the bodies look only a few days old.