Cray was the first person who regained his composure. He cackled, before clapping his hand in amazement at Basil.
"That was amazing! But, I won't do it your way!" He grinned.
Cray, who was the last person in the row, kneeled, before thrusting himself forward. He chanted a Spell, and wind gathered behind his back, creating a pair of wings. He flew, and passed the trench like a bullet.
He was so fast, not even the needles shot by the wall could hit him. With a speed even faster than Basil, he arrived at the other side of the tunnel.
He stood beside Basil, then waved at the others.
"I'm safe!"
Whitney clicked his tongue. He was slightly irritated. He brought only two guys with him, and none of them had heard his instruction so far!
He chanted something under his breath, and the earth below his feet shuddered. Then, it shot forward to the other side of the tunnel, while carrying him in the process. Soon enough, he arrived beside Basil. Just like the other two, he was harmless.
Whitney turned to Cray. "Haven't I told you to follow my instructions?!" Whitney clasped Cray's head, lifted him by his head, then shook him vigorously.
"Ah! You muscle freak! Let go of my head!" Cray tried his best to peel Whitney's hands of his head.
Steven stepped forward, then stood beside Thompson. He had been looking at the entire scene in interest.
Rubbing his chin, he said, "What a unique bunch they are. All of them have the guts of a Knight. Especially that kid." He pointed his finger to Basil. "If not for the uniform, I would have thought he was a Knight."
Thompson turned to Steven, and smiled wryly. "Despite how chaotic they are, they managed to lighten up the mood." Steven shrugged at his word.
Steven touched his sheathed sword on his right side. Drawing it slowly, the sword hum in a high pitch the more he drew it. When the sound stopped, a shiny double-edged sword was revealed.
He pointed the sword forward, before drawing his Qi. The blade instantly shone in Green light, showing his level of Body Forging. With one sentence, he activated his Aura Ability.
"[Gravity Center: Inversion]!"
Then, Steven shot forward like a bullet, as if there was something pulling him. He literally defied gravity. Or to be exact, he controlled the gravity around him.
When he was already close to the other side of the tunnel, he deactivated his Aura Ability, conveniently stopping his launch on the right place. He looked at Cray, and Cray looked at him back.
"Awesome, mate!" Cray's eyes lit up.
Steven made a v-sign, and smiled brightly. "I am, aren't I?"
Thompson swiftly turned his head to his other members. "Don't show anything off. Understand?" His gaze was frightening enough to make them instantly nodded their head.
As a leader, Thompson went first. Although technically he wasn't the first, he would be the first person who passed through the trench normally. After he had passed through the trench, the remaining people followed suit.
Soon enough, everyone had finally reached the other side of the tunnel. Looking back to their previous position, a low gasp came out from their mouth.
The scene they were seeing currently was very different from the scene they had seen before.
The 50 wooden pillars they had seen earlier were actually only two. The steppingstone on the wall were gone, and they were replaced with metal spikes.
The only part of the wall left uncovered without metal spikes was the vertical line of holes that shot needles through it.
"Hmm... The obstacles are pretty easy. But, this level of Bewitchment is..." Whitney trailed off.
He was mind-blown. This Dungeon had existed for at least two thousand years. However, the [Illusionary] Rune set on it was still working good enough to fool his eyes, a Fourth Circle Mage.
"As expected of Dungeon, it is as fearsome as the history portrayed. I wonder how fearsome it was in the past," Thompson muttered.
"It's the same." At Basil's word, everyone turned to him.
"What do you mean?"
Thompson was genuinely curious. Not many things known about Dungeon, and every tidbit of information was worthy of a curiosity.
"Every Kinslayer trapped in Dungeon had their power stripped off. Knight had their Core destroyed, while Mage had their Circle crippled. This level of obstacles were enough to slow their movement."
At the new information, everyone, without exception, nodded their head. They had thought every Kinslayer had been sent to Dungeon with their power kept.
All they knew about the function of a Dungeon was the place of punishment. They didn't know the real function of Dungeon was a literal place of torture. Every Kinslayer sent to Dungeon had died of either physical torture or mental torture.
The obstacles they had passed, and the Dungeon entrance that randomly popped out of nowhere were all an attempt to give the Kinslayers entrapped inside a "hope". Seeing a chance of getting out of the hellhole, they would definitely grasp on to it.
Surely, none of them had managed to get out. The obstacles set in Dungeon had been enough to completely stopped the crippled Kinslayers' advance. The "hope" given to them was nothing more than a twisted mind game.
"Let's move. There are another three traps for you to admire." Basil's word woke the people from their daze. Without waiting for the others, Basil resumed his walk.
Ever since he had arrived here, he had never once paid any attention to the people. He had been focused on scanning the structure of the Dungeon. Despite of his experience, figuring out the trap was rather tricky.
He had visited Death Howl in his past life. However, the structure had been different than the current one. Therefore, he was as clueless as the people behind him.
The people should be grateful to him, as he was the one leading the way. If it hadn't been because of him, they would have long lost their life in the first obstacles.
With Basil's lead, everyone followed behind silently. The walk was smooth, and not a single trap was triggered. Basil was so meticulous in his action, any Rune set for trap was instantly deactivated by the time he saw it.
That was until someone decided to ruin it.
Clack!
At this sound, Basil silently clicked his tongue. An idiot had just triggered a trap. He knew what kind of trap was triggered. Therefore, he instantly dashed forward faster than a bullet.
Rumble!
"A boulder is approaching. You will lose your life in 10 seconds."
Of course, he didn't forget to inform his fellow students.
Upon hearing that, everyone used every Spell and Technique they had to accelerate their speed and catch up to Basil. They didn't register anything in mind, beside catching up to him.
Basil suddenly turned left, and they followed suit. The tunnel had a branch, and they had just turned to it. It took them four seconds to reach there. However, it felt like a lifetime for them.
The moment had slowed down, when they had heard they would lose their life.
The vibration of the ground continued, and very soon, a big boulder passed through the place they had just passed. It was 15 meters in diameters, almost as tall as the tunnel. However, the size wasn't their focus of attention.
"What in the bloody hell is that?!" Cray exclaimed incredulously.
The boulder was filled with countless of [Negation] Runes!
If they had decided to destroy it instead, they would be already dead by now. Their Magic and Technique alike wouldn't have worked due to that particular Rune.
"How could those Kinslayers think they could survive this kind of obstacle?" Thompson wondered.
"They didn't think. Show a thirsty man a bottle of water, and they will do their absolute best to get it," Basil replied simply.
Thompson shook his head bitterly. Kinslayers had been a bunch of immoral people, who had killed their own brethren. However, their fate once they were captured was worse than being killed.
They had been tortured and played for so long, they would do everything to get out of Dungeon.
"Now that the boulder has passed, let us move once again." Thompson wanted to step forward, but Basil held him back.
Looking at Basil in puzzlement, he couldn't help asking, "What is it this time?" It was already the second time Basil had stopped him.
"Wait until the boulder returns."
"Return? What do you—"
Rumble!
At the sound, Thompson's eyes moved to the front. Then, he saw what Basil meant. The boulder was rolling backward. It really returned.
"Th-this is?"
"[Rotation Reversal] Rune. Anything with it can exert the same rotation power it has produced in reversed way. A rolling down stone can return back to the top where it came from with it."
The Knights of Hauler nodded their head dumbly at Basil's short explanation. However, Basil himself wasn't even looking at them, he was still focusing on the way they had come from.
Without even turning his head, Basil warned, "Don't step carelessly this time. I was surprised when I realized there is actually an idiot in this group."
"S-sorry." Sylvia hid her face in shame.
She was the idiot who had triggered the trap. Without any care about her feelings, Basil led them once again.
After seeing the tunnel's branch, Effie frowned by the time she realized every tunnels were actually connected. She gazed at Basil with her eyes that were hidden under her hood, and hummed in amazement.
She had never expected to see someone that good at such a young age. Even Whitney, who had Earth Affinity, couldn't do the same feat. That means, Basil's mastery over Earth Element was off the charts.
The walk kept proceeding. They were met with two other obstacles, and some branches that connected the tunnel they were walking to the other tunnel. Basil was leading them meticulously, and they remained harmless up till now.
Sadly, Sylvia kept triggering traps here and there as if she was intentionally doing it. She had to break down in tears to prove her apology was sincere.
'Ckckck. Poor girl. Forgive my darling, he is wicked in nature.' Vagus shook her head.
Basil lightly frowned. 'I am just messing around. It is not worth to make a fuss with.'
'That is what makes you wicked, darling.'
Basil shrugged inwardly. He was true to his word. He was just slightly annoyed by Sylvia's clumsiness. He had been nearly caught off guard at the boulder incident, because of her.
Therefore, he decided to mess with her a little bit as a payback.