Even without looking, Liz could tell that Aster was doing his part. "I can't fall behind!" She gritted her teeth as she held her mace tight, shouting out loud. "HOLY SMITE!"
The mace glowed, almost blindingly so, as she swung it at the same statue's knee. As soon as the mace hit, a powerful wave of mana and shockwaves spread. The entire leg was pulverized into sand soon after, making Liz smile.
"This one works!"
With her attack proven to work, she quickly moved on to the next one.
"Tertie Noxis Tiroe Consorie fen Nura Racht! Great Swamp Curse!"
Lory didn't stop chanting and cast her second spell, turning the floor into a swamp magically, which hindered the statues' movements.
"TAUNT!"
To support Liz by preventing the statues from attacking her, Tina cast her taunt skill, gathering the attention of half of the golems on the left side. Thanks to this, she was able to freely wield her mace, and cast Holy Smite several times, destroying the legs of those who didn't get caught in Lory's Swamp Curse.
"Done!" Aster shouted after he destroyed the legs of all the statues on his side.
When he saw that Liz was almost done with half, and Tina's spell had already immobilized another half of those, he quickly proceeded to the next stage. Of course, it's nothing but killing off the enemies!
Aster waved his sword, clad in mana, and sent a wave forward. Since he had already immobilized them, they had little chance of dodging it. The Mana Slash flew and destroyed the heads of two statues simultaneously.
With almost no delay, he sent Mana Slashes one after another, and soon enough, he cleared all 20 of the statues from his side. Right after killing the last one, his body got covered in a flash of light, indicating a level-up.
"...!"
Gaining experience meant that the enemy was a "monster" and not a simple gimmick! Seeing this as a chance, Aster rushed to Liz's side after adding one point to his WIS stat. He ended up sharing the kills 50/50 with Liz, with both of them killing 10 each.
"Now, I wonder what's going to happen..."
They had cleared all the statues—golems from Kali's inspection—so all they had to do was wait for the entrance to the next level to open. However, nothing happened, even after a minute passed.
"Weird... Don't tell me, they wouldn't open it for intruders? Or is it a puzzle after all?"
It covered not only their mouths and noses but also their eyes, making it possible for them to ignore even the nastiest stench there could be.
After wearing the mask, the girls visibly became comfortable. Now, they wouldn't need to mind the smell in the air!
"Alright, I guess we're ready?" Aster asked to confirm, checking everyone's face hidden behind a mask, and nodded. "Then, let's go!"
The path that opened was dark, so they flipped their flashlights on once more.
"This is..."
But as soon as they did, they realized that the path was no simple path. The walls of it were filled with images, like large murals, capturing a snippet of history. Since it didn't use any symbols or letters, only drawings, even Aster could somehow try to interpret the mural.
"This looks like a... sacrificial tomb." Find more chapters on m_v l|e-novelhall.net
The mural showed people moving forward, with a few of them tied in chains. Then, they were kicked off, dropped to the ledge where the cave entrance was, and entered.
"And it's for some sort of deity or god," Kali added, seeing the continuation.
There was a gigantic humanlike figure that was most likely a depiction of a heavenly being, like an angel or something, watching over the humans from a higher point of view. From how many wings it got, it seemed to be a high-ranking one, at least.
"Hmm... does this mean this path was meant for the sacrifice to take?" Cassy asked, a little confused. "Then are we following the steps of a sacrifice right now?"
"..."
Aster stopped for a moment and began to think.
"That sounds possible. However, the fact that we're treated as intruders instead of a sacrifice means that we're at least following a different path."
If they continued onward, not as an "intruder" but as a "sacrifice," he was worried that the god-like being in the mural would end up taking them.
"Still, we should be careful," Aster warned. "As soon as we find an enemy that is obviously beyond our powers, then we'll leave whatever we're doing and retreat."
Everyone nodded firmly to his words, aware of the danger that awaited them if they were careless.
After taking pictures of the entire mural, which covered both walls and the ceiling, they continued onward.