Chapter 128 - Haunted (End)

While everyone was mining Mana Crystal, Sylvia who was still unconscious was left on the ground, on top of a sleeping bag, where everyone could see her.

Thompson had explained what had happened to her. Therefore, no one worried too much about her.

Steven turned his head to Thompson. "Hey, I can't see anymore passage after this. Does this mean this is the end of the Exploration." Thompson turned his head to Steven, then frowned slightly. "I don't think so. We haven't found the cells yet."

Cell was another term for torture chamber. It was the room every Kinslayer spent the rest of their life in. They ate, slept, getting tortured, and died there.

Of course, right now, the cell was empty. While most of the Kinslayer entrapped in Dungeon had died, the surviving Kinslayer could already roam the Dungeon freely. It was because Dungeon was left unmanaged nowadays.

"Does this mean we have to go back to the way Basil has pointed earlier?"

"That's the only option, I guess." Thompson shrugged.

Effie was not far away from Steven and Thompson. Therefore, she could hear what they were talking about. Although she didn't want to admit it, what Steven had said was true.

She didn't see anymore way to advance. Therefore, they had to go back to the way Basil had pointed earlier. An Exploration couldn't be finished until the cells were found.

Effie focused her attention back to the Mana Crystal in the wall. Although she didn't really need them, she didn't mind to mine them. She could increase her wealth with them, after all.

Infusing her energy to her hand, she closed her fingers up to each other, and stabbed the wall.

Puk!

Her hand was deeply embedded to the wall. Upon feeling the Mana Crystal with her palm, she quickly grasped it within her hand. The structure of the wall didn't obstruct her in the slightest. Her Reinforced hand was too strong for the wall to obstruct her.

This was the method every Knights of Hauler used to mine the Mana Crystal from the wall. Their absurd physical prowess allowed them to do it.

In the other side, the Mages used their Spell to extract the Mana Crystal from the wall. They came out if the wall, and flew straight to their hand. Although it took a little bit some time to happen, their method was more orderly than the Knight's.

In Basil's case, he used both methods to mine the Mana Crystal. He detected the Mana Crystal with his Mana Sense, punched the wall with his Reinforced hand—freeing them with his punch—before putting them inside his Spatial Bracelet

Weirdly though, no one could hear the sound of Basil punching the wall. No one questioned it, as it was common for Mage to make a Barrier around them. They were naturally individualistic, after all.

On the ground, Sylvia's hand twitched, and her eyes fluttered ever so slightly. It didn't take long until she completely opened her eyes. Squinting her eyes right after she opened them, she took a moment to realize what happened to her.

Upon understanding her situation, she quickly sat herself up. Looking down, she noticed herself had been lying on a sleeping bag. Yes, she was on top of it; not inside it.

Blinking her eyes once, she tuned her head to her right, toward the direction of the sound she was hearing. She found every Knights of Hauler were looking at her, while still mining the Mana Crystal from the wall.

"You are finally awake! Took you long enough!" Thompson exclaimed.

Jake laughed with his heavy voice. "Ha-ha-ha. She can't help it, can she? She has just advanced to Yellow Core, after all." He ended his sentence with a wink.

"Congratulations!" The Knights of Hauler said in unison.

Sylvia was momentarily confused. However, upon checking her Core, she finally remembered she had advanced to Yellow Core in the critical moment. She had even used her Aura Ability right away.

It had been a novel experience to her. She didn't know anything about Aura at all, prior to her advancement. However, upon stepping her foot on the realm of Aura User, she instinctively knew what to do with Aura, and anything related to it.

A small smile adorned her face. Although she was still the weakest member in her party, she wasn't that weak anymore. She could already protect herself without any help from the other members.

Aura had drastically changed the game for her.

As she was also reminded about another thing, she turned her head toward the person who was distancing himself from everyone including his friends, Basil.

Although Basil had saved her life in the last moment, she slightly resented him for leaving her alone. She believed checking the treasure chamber had been only his excuse.

Still, she could do nothing about it. Being weak was her problem. Furthermore, she had reaped an unexpected boon from the ordeal.

She had advanced to Yellow Core! Therefore, she let the matter slide this time.

"Although I won't mind to share with you, I won't share that much," Thompson shouted at Sylvia. "So, get on your feet, and mine your part!"

Sylvia stood on her feet, and head toward the wall that contained Mana Crystal in it. Inhaling the air deeply, she exhaled it softly. Then, she drew her Qi.

Her Yellow Core was utilized.

...

The mining process didn't take that long. At most, it was half an hour.

They concluded the mining simply because three fourth of their Spatial Storage, that was allocated to store Mana Crystal, had been filled with them.

They couldn't fill it anymore, lest they wanted to break their Spatial Storage. It couldn't store too much Mana containing things, after all.

In Spatial Bracelet's case, the Mana exuded by the thing it contained would be suppressed. This leads to the increase of Mana pressure. When it became too high, the Rune carved on the Spatial Bracelet would break, thus destroying the thing stored inside.

In Spatial Ring's case, the reason was much simpler. It was forged with a special ore that had its own energy, which somehow only Knight could use.

Therefore, exposing it too much to Mana would cause an energy clash that would eventually leads to the destruction of the Spatial Ring, thus also destroying the thing stored inside.

Three fourth of the existing space was the limit for storing Mana containing things.

"Kuhum!" Thompson cleared his throat. Looking at all of the gathered people, he continued, "Since we have filled our storage to the brim, it is time to explore this place further. We will search for the cells."

Everyone accepted it without a fuss. Thompson turned his head to Basil, and said, "You'll become our Pathfinder this time." Basil nodded lightly. "We'll be in your care," Thompson continued.

Everyone lined themselves up wordlessly, and Basil took the lead once again. This time, they returned to their initial position. Thompson and Whitney were side by side, right behind Basil.

They walked to the place where they previously met each other, and threaded the path Basil had pointed before. Light Jade was activated once again, as the place was too dark for them to see.

As expected, Basil also didn't need anything to support his vision this time.

The walk was silent, as nothing occured in the way. The only sound they could hear were their footstep, and their suppressed chattering. They couldn't bother the Pathfinder's concentration by talking too much, after all.

20 minutes into walking the path, something finally occured.

Whoosh!

However, it wasn't a pleasant occurrence. Thompson and Norman were really familiar with the wind. It was the same wind they had felt in front of the door that had separated them from Steven and his team.

Gulp.

This time however, the aura was much worse.

"Are we still going to advance?" Basil turned to Thompson.

At Basil's question, everyone turned their widened eyes to him. They were exceptionally surprised someone as quiet as Basil would ask them that question.

He had never hesitated in front of all of the dangerous things they had encountered before, after all.

Everyone turned to Thompson, the decision maker. However, they found he was silently looking at Basil.

Thompson felt something strange about Basil's question. Therefore, he couldn't help but asking. "You... What if I said we would stop the advance here?"

"I will still keep going."

"..."

Thompson sighed. He knew Basil was up to something. As he had expected, Basil had been asking for confirmation whether he should travel by himself earlier.

Thompson turned to Whitney, but Whitney immediately nodded his head. As Basil's senior, he and Cray would still accompany Basil. He also believed Cray was excited about it. Therefore, he didn't bother to convince Basil otherwise.

Thompson nodded back, then turned his body toward his party members. "I am not sure about you guys. But, I am curious to what lays there." He pointed his thumb behind him.

"I am not going to influence you or force you to advance. Be honest to yourself, and we will do what the majority of you agreed."

His members looked at each other, before nodding their head resolutely.

"Let's advance!"

Thompson faintly shook his head. "Are you sure?" This time, Jake laughed loudly, and represented everyone. "Ha-ha-ha! We have promised we will go everywhere you go, Thompson! Well, everywhere except the toilet."

The Knights of Hauler laughed, and Thompson sighed helplessly. However, a small smile decorated his face. Straightening his body up, he turned to Basil.

"I believe you. Lead us!"

Basil squinted his eyes slightly, before turning his body to the front. He didn't want to convince the people otherwise. Once again, he led them wordlessly.

Although Thompson looked sure, he was slightly anxious inside. He was betting on Basil's luck and intuition in making the decision. He strongly hoped he didn't make a wrong one.

It didn't take long until they met another gate. It was twice bigger than any gate they had encountered inside the Dungeon, and the aura the gate exuded was second only to the aura the wind they had felt not long ago carried.

Basil took Kusanagi out, and buried the tip in the slight gap between the gate. Without turning his head, he said, "I hold no responsibility over the decision you made. This is your last chance." It was audible enough for everyone to hear them.

He waited for a few seconds. Detecting no reaction from the people, he infused his Qi inside Kusanagi, then exploded it.

Boom!

The gate trembled, before each side retracted themselves into the wall. Soon enough, the scenery behind the gate was full on display.

It was a vast room that had many niche in the wall with door. It was dimly lit, and bigger thrice of the Dungeon Hall. However, this wasn't the thing that caught their attention.

It was the person with long hair, and ragged appearance; who was standing in the middle of six bodies dressed in white tunic that attracted their attention.

All of the bodies were drenched in blood, and all of them had been undoubtedly a Priest.

The person standing in the middle of the bodies turned his head toward the nine people. His menacing eyes shone in the dimly lit room, and they seemed to penetrate the people's soul.

"Well, well, well. Look what we have here."

A raspy but strong voice was heard from the man. Everyone instinctively tensed their body, and Thompson started regretting his decision.

He didn't need to think twice. Someone of the man's caliber would never visit a Dungeon.. If this was the "Ghost" everyone had mentioned, then this Dungeon was definitely haunted.