NOVEL NEXT Chapter 291 Underground Chamber
Chapter 291 Underground Chamber
Within the tallest structure of the goblin fortress, Tyler now found himself.
Discovering a secret passage in such a place held great significance, and Tyler was well aware of this.
However, adhering to his usual cautious approach, he did not directly press the brick that served as a hidden switch. Instead, he placed a luminous magic stone at the spot and retreated twenty meters away. Using the skill "Shadow Behind," he summoned a shadow duplicate by the wall.
Following Tyler's command, the shadow duplicate pressed the switch. Accompanied by the sound of stone rubbing against stone, a section of the nearby wall slid aside, revealing the hidden passage behind it.
Up to this point, the shadow duplicate's actions had not triggered any alarms, so it continued to follow Tyler's orders, picking up the luminous magic stone and entering the secret passage.
Tyler stood outside the passage, watching the shadow duplicate advance until its 25-second duration expired and it vanished. The luminous magic stone that fell to the ground continued to illuminate the passage for a few seconds before gradually dimming and extinguishing.
Deeming the passage safe, Tyler made a preliminary judgment and entered it himself, picking up the luminous magic stone and proceeding forward. Whenever he encountered a suspicious area, he would employ the same tactic, sending the shadow duplicate to scout ahead.
After navigating the winding passage for over ten minutes, Tyler finally emerged into a vast underground chamber.
.
Embedded in the walls of the underground chamber were clusters of self-luminous magic stones, which allowed Tyler to immediately spot a massive door, approximately five meters tall, directly opposite him. Above the door, the words "Treasure Vault" were carved in the language of the evilkinds.
(Idiot loli: Wow, Tyler! We've hit the jackpot!)
Tyler, too, felt a surge of exhilaration.
It was only thanks to the people at the fortress entrance who had lured the labyrinth boss away and the massive fireball that had cleared the area that Tyler had the opportunity to sneak into the fortress and reap such a great reward.
However, Tyler quickly regained his composure, as he noticed a dark, pulsating mass in front of the treasure vault's door – clearly, a sleeping creature.
(Sigh…there's no way the treasure vault would be unguarded.)
Tyler felt somewhat frustrated but was not ready to give up.
Having a guard was not the problem; being unable to defeat the guard was the real issue
.
For safety's sake, Tyler did not approach the guard directly to confirm its identity. Instead, he carefully observed the underground chamber from a distance.
The entire chamber was an irregular hemisphere, with an arched ceiling composed of uneven rock formations, and a rocky floor spanning an area roughly the size of two football fields. The uneven terrain posed a tripping hazard for those who did not tread carefully.
In a nutshell, this was a natural, large-scale cavern.
Thanks to the natural magic stones in the walls, shadows filled the cavern, but there were no other conditions that favored Tyler.
After confirming the terrain, Tyler attempted to identify the guarding creature using a binocle, but it proved useless. He had no choice but to approach it himself.
Fortunately, as Tyler neared the distance required for identification, the creature remained fast asleep.
Unfortunately, the guard's strength posed an immense challenge for Tyler.
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Frost Giant Wolf - Zane, Male, 129 years old
Frost Giant Wolf - Lv140
Skills: 4/4
Life Energy: 12118/12118
Endurance: 7021/7021
Magic Energy: 5685/5685
━━━━━━━━━
Before identifying the creature, Tyler had mentally prepared himself, but the tier 4, fully evolved result still made his heart skip a beat.
(Over 12,000 life energy... What kind of monster is this?)
Having seen the guard's stats, Tyler immediately abandoned the idea of confronting it head-on and began considering how to outsmart it.
The first idea that came to mind was to bypass the Frost Giant Wolf and sneak directly into the treasure vault. However, the Frost Giant Wolf was practically sleeping against the vault door, and Tyler believed that a tier 4 creature would not remain unresponsive if approached so closely
.
Thus, the plan to sneak into the treasure vault was abandoned due to excessive risk. To devise a good plan, it was crucial to know both oneself and one's enemy.
While the Frost Giant Wolf was still asleep, Tyler observed it from a distance.
The wolf was enormous; if it stood up, it would likely be as tall as a two- or three-story building. Its massive jaws could easily swallow Tyler whole with a single bite.
The core logic of Tyler's trial-and-error strategy was simple: to draw the tiger(Frost Giant Wolf) from its lair(the door).
If the wolf remained unmoved, it would indicate its strict adherence to its mission, unwilling to leave the treasure vault's entrance easily. In that case, Tyler would abandon his illusions and decisively retreat.
However, if the wolf were deceived by the shadow duplicate, it would present an excellent opportunity for Tyler to enter the treasure vault. As for what to do once inside, he would have to adapt on the fly.
One thing Tyler was certain of was that the colossal body of the Frost Giant Wolf could not squeeze into the treasure vault.
At this moment, the shadow duplicate was running, the wolf was chasing, and Tyler was less than a hundred feet from the vault's entrance. But then, the wolf demonstrated why it had been entrusted with guarding the treasure vault.
A howl echoed from behind, followed by a surge of cold air that reached the vault's entrance before Tyler, freezing dozens of layers of solid ice onto the door.
Without looking back to see what had happened, Tyler decisively drew his Shadow Sword Dragon Steed and immediately unleashed a "Azure Blue Blaze Steed," hoping the high-temperature blue flames could melt the solid ice on the vault door.
However, the confrontation between the blue flames and the solid ice left Tyler disappointed.
The "Azure Blue Blaze Steed" did melt some of the ice, but the ice refroze at an even faster rate.
It was then that Tyler noticed not only the vault door but the entire cavern had entered a state of icy cold storage.
With a bad feeling, he looked back towards the secret passage, which had also been sealed with ice.