Chapter 92 - Unseen Trap

As he passed by one of the towering, crimson-petaled flowers, he swore it moved out of the way to purposefully avoid him.

…It's hard to focus in this place. All of the sides of this domain are distracting–it all feels like it flows into one ground, he thought.

"Gyaaah–!"

While they were trying to carefully and quietly walk around, he found himself and Yeong-Un quickly spinning around at the sound of a scream from none other than Sol.

"What's wrong–?!" He instantly drew his daggers as he called out.

Though as he turned to see what the meaning of the scream was, he looked to see a verdant set of roots wrapped tightly around Sol's left leg.

"Something's got me! It got me!--It's squeezing! It's squeezing! Help, Jeong-Hui! Yeong-Un!" Sol panicked.

"Just cut it with your spear, ya' idiot!" Yeong-Un yelled out.

For some reason, it seemed that simple idea slipped the frantic mind of the amber-eyed coward, who nodded vigorously before beginning to use the tip of his spear to slice the thick roots from his leg.

"...It's tough!" Sol called out.

From all of the noise Sol was making, he felt it was necessary for him to help as he begrudgingly moved forward, "Here, let me help–"

Just before he could aid his friend, the roots suddenly protruded from the soil in full, pushing it up as they revealed a lengthy, heaping amount of the verdant tendrils, causing Sol to be lifting high into the air.

"Aaaaaah—!"

Sol yelled out, being held upside down by the towering, sentient roots as he dangled far out of their reach.

"Dammit! Ya' clumsy idiot!" Yeong-Un huffed.

Though the blue-haired, heterochromia-eyed man said such sharp words, he moved forward swiftly with both of his blades drawn, running alongside the curly-haired man in an effort to cut down the roots.

"Wah–!"

"Grrh–?!"

Before they could attempt to help, more roots sprouted in a massive bulk, shooting up from the soil as they whipped around violently to force them back.

As Yeong-Un forced himself forward anyway, going for a swing of his blades, the roots came from beneath his step, rapidly shooting up and entangling his arms.

"What the–?! Ya' have to be shittin' me!" Yeong-Un yelled out, being bound by the thick, powerful roots.

"Yeong-Un!" He called out.

Again, it was impossible to go on the offense as he had to flip backward to avoid a swarm of the sentient roots from ensnaring him just the same as his two companions.

As he squinted at the roots, he attempted to decipher their identification as enemies, but nothing showed up.

What's going on…? Is this not an enemy registered with the System? He thought.

He had to continue backpedaling, leaping back and sprinting away as a wave of the verdant, intertwined limbs shot towards him in such a great mass that they cast a shadow over the immediate area.

"Ghh…!" He gritted his teeth, having to swiftly bounce off of the trunk of a silver tree before it was slammed into by roots not a moment after.

They're so aggressive! He thought.

"...Lemme go, you dirt-eating fucks!" Yeong-Un growled.

Though his arms were completely bound by the roots, that didn't stop the wild adolescent from opening his mouth and beginning to bite away at the natural tendrils–tearing away at them like a ferocious dog.

The entire time, Sol was still being swung around in the air as he attempted to stab the roots with his spear, but from his upside-down position, being constantly moved in a stomach-churning manner, he was less than battle-readied.

"Put me down! Put me down–!" Sol repeated, thrusting his spear to no avail.

After biting away at the roots, spitting out a hefty serving of severed plant life, Yeong-Un lightened the burden on his arms enough to tear through their hold with his raw strength, roaring out as he did so.

"Ha-ha! Ya' can't bind me, ya' weak sauce!" Yeong-Un smiled wide, wielding his blades as he began rapidly cutting away at the roots in front of him now.

As Yeong-Un went on a complete rampage of slashing his blades wildly and frantically, the large intertwining of nature began to weaken its hold on Sol, who noticed this, looking down.

"--Yeah, yeah, yeah! Keep that up, Yeong-Un! It's working!"

"Don't gotta tell me!" Yeong-Un replied in a yell without looking, continuing to mow away at the roots.

While those two were handling that side, he was still on the run from the swarm, looking back as they continued to viciously reach out towards him.

Being forced to one of the walls, he used a [Blink Step] to land on the side of the natural wall, but found his expectations shifted–the left-standing wall he had jumped onto shifted.

"What the…?"

It was now perfectly situated to be the ground floor for him, but he knew he had just leapt onto a sideways wall–yet his senses told him he was on the ground.

As he looked back, he could now see Yeong-Un and Sol, but for him, they were standing sideways on the verdant flooring.

…This is weird. Are all of the walls perfectly travelable? He realized.

Before he could think about it any further, instead of roots popping up from the soil to ensnare him, he was suddenly surrounded by crimson-petaled flowers that bore humanoid-shaped bodies of interlaced stems.

Just great, he thought.

–

[Twenty Minutes Later]

"Eugh…That was fun," he said sarcastically, trudging forward as he pulled limb roots and leaves from his hair.

"I'm going to hurl…" Sol repeated in a whisper, walking while hunched over and holding his stomach.

"Hah! It wasn't so bad!" Yeong-Un smiled.

The endless energy of Yeong-Un was almost too much for the other two, who didn't look back after exiting the head-spinning domain and into the next corridor.

Status, check, he thought.

[Player: Jeong-Hui.]

[Level: 23. EXP: 3700/12000.]

[Age: 17. Class: Luminate Assassin.]

[Health: 2400/3200. Spirit: 2000/3500.]

[Usable Skill Points: 0.]

Though nothing felt terribly imposing so far, little by little, his health was being chipped away at, and the same could be said about his spirit.

We need to find an exit from this place as soon as possible, he thought.

As he plucked all of the flower petals from his hair, he walked into the next chamber without much thought, too distracted by his own thoughts as he wound up walking all the way into the center of the unknown area without looking.

"Ah–"

Bringing himself out of his thoughts, he looked up and turned around, looking back towards his two companions–but something came between them.

"Fire-head!"

"Jeong-Hui!"

For some reason, his two friends called out to him desperately, but he was confused as to why.

Why're they yelling? What's going on? He thought.

–He realized it just then.

Rising from the middle of the room, a grand, thick wall of quartz rose swiftly, pushing up from the floor all the way up to the ceiling in less than a second with a harsh slam.

It completely cut him off from the other two.

"Yeong-Un! Sol!"

He immediately sprung into desperation, beating his fists against the dense, white wall to no avail as it remained unmoving.

All he could hear were muffled calls from the otherside, as the barrier between them stood just that thick in nature.

…What the hell? How did this happen?! He thought.

Stepping back, he looked around, realizing the scope of the chamber he was in: it was built like an arena, structured like a heavenly dome where a soft, seraphic light filled it through golden, glowing crystals placed around the white-and-gold domain.

Panels of glass made up the flooring, showcasing that directly below was nothing but the pale azure of the empty sky underneath the interconnected dungeon.

"Yeong-Un! Sol–!"

He tried again, slamming his fists against the colossal wall that split the room into two halves, but the same, empty result came as sweat clung to his skin.

Suddenly, his assassin-cultivated senses spiked, prompting him to equip his daggers as he turned around with his guard raised.

Something came from the tall, lion-designed doors on the other end of the room, opening only for it, and closing after the being dressed in sleek, silver-and-gold armor entered his half of the chamber.

They resembled a knight, though their stature was unnaturally lanky with the armor seeming as if melded around their figure with a split, golden cape flowing behind their back as they drew two, illustrious blades from the sheaths at its hips.

[Enemy Identified: "Divine Knight: Desolice" | Level: 25]

It silently approached him as its metallic boots echoed off of the glass flooring with each step it took.

A boss…? It has a unique name–crap! Why now?! He thought.

From the sounds of things, behind the wall, his two companions were facing something of their own.

…A trap…I should've known something like this would be waiting in a dungeon, he thought.

Though its level didn't seem unmanageable alone, he was already working with lower resources–both in the health and spirit department, prompting him to keep his guard raised and stay on the defensive.

For now, I'll scope out its arsenal.. It'll be a quick meeting with death if I try to attack blindly, he thought, sweating visibly.