Chapter 333: Trees, Trees, Trees

Chapter 333: Trees, Trees, Trees

From her storage item, Lola brought out a shovel, and started quickly digging in the snow, then in the dirt, until she had made a small hole just deep enough to fit a foot inside. Sofia didnt expect Lola to drop down on all fours in the snow and stick her head inside the hole, but she did. She quickly looked left and right, she stopped for a few seconds when she looked in Sofias general direction, then again when she looked in the direction of the cabin, then she pulled herself out. Jumping up, she quickly patted all the snow on her away while getting closer to the fire sprite.

Found it, this way, she told them, pointing at the exact direction where Sofia had seen the light.

Oh, I get it. She had that passive.

Sofia summoned the graveyard skeletons and let them bring her in the spirit plane and under the snow. Underground in the immense whiteness of the spiritual plane, she could see countless roots, quite a few animal dens, the vague shape of deep caves, and most importantly, a small but very strikingly different from its surrounding thing in the distance. A cubic form, the foundations of The Cabin.

Really? That has to be at least three or four underground levels under that thing. No wonder she found it so fast. Quite clever, I wouldnt even have thought of the thing possibly having a basement. She even had the shovel ready to use with her [Spirit Realm Vision].Thats five points for Lola and one for everyone else.

Going back up above ground, but still in the Spirit realm, Sofia tried to locate the cabin through the trees. The trees are mostly transparent, but they overlap so much, cant see anything from that far away.

The graveyard let Sofia go, the students were already a few hundred meters away. I shouldnt fall behind like this. Using Pareths position with them as her reference point, Sofia caught up with the group.

I dont really feel any big mana clumps nearby, no monsters here I guess. Everyone looks mostly ready to fight. Topaz has two black steel axes, and Opal some kind of small orichalcum wand. Interesting weapons.

There should be another envelope at the cabin.Ñøv€lRapture marked the initial hosting of this chapter on Ñôv€lß¡n.

The ambiance among the girls was tense, they hiked forward in a tight formation, paying a lot of attention to their surroundings. Instead of using a lot of light, they had opted to rely solely on the dim glow of the fire sprite; the darkness made them harder to spot for a potential roaming monster but it also created unsettling dark shadows between the trees. Night in the forest was silent, the sound of boots in the snow only accompanied by the whispers of the cold wind. The deeper they went, the taller the trees around them were, and soon the faint moonlight that had accompanied them before was only a memory.

After seven long hours of nerve-wracking exploration, alternating between Shailys fire sprite and a fire spell from Opal as sources of light and heat, they finally saw the eerie blue light coming from the cabin streaming through the trees.

The form of the cabin slowly revealed itself. It was a rather large manor-like building lost in the middle of dense trees taller than it was, made of weathered dark wood. The windows were broken and the wooden walls were in large parts rotten and full of holes. The light came from a corner room on the second floor, it shone through the broken walls and the missing tiles of the roof.

Lola broke the silence, It doesnt look very welcoming she complained.

Its a dungeon, isnt it? En added, trying to see where exactly the light came from.

Topaz turned to Sofia who was walking behind them, We found your cabin, what now?

Sofia shrugged. No idea, the letter didnt say much more. All I can say for sure is that its been getting colder since we got here. Lola is shaking even with the fire sprite.

En summoned her flying totem. I will try to see what the light comes from. Shooting upwards, En got a look through the window from a few meters away before landing back in the snow. Its just a shiny rock, theres another envelope there too.

This is where we need to go then, lets quickly find the entrance, Shaily decided.

It wasnt long before they found the decrepit doors of the manor and entered.

[You have entered the dungeon : Old manor of Lakeburg - Lv. 50+]

This whole event must have been planned for a long time. I wonder if they can really get there in one week. At least that should be good training for the level 100 trial.

En had re-entered the manor but Topaz was still outside, frowning. I could swear there was one more window on this wall before.

You count windows?

I just have a good memory, teach.

Well, lets say there really was one more window. What is your conclusion?

Either there is some illusion magic involved, or the mansion changed while we were on the other side.

Or you remembered wrong. But maybe youre right. It is a dungeon after all, that would not be the weirdest thing Ive seen in a dungeon.

Topaz agreed, Father taught us a lot about dungeons. This isnt even close to the weirdest things he has found. According to him there are dungeons hidden under poisonous springs, inside volcanoes and even shrouded in everlasting clouds moving through the sky.

I may have gone to a few of those myself. But get inside already, your nose is redder than a ripe apra.

Topaz nodded and entered the manor.

Sofia was the next to stay outside with a worried expression.

Pareth being in another different direction compared to when I left is already something The window disappearing is another one.

But werent the trees before like A whole meter further apart from the walls?!

Inside, the others had started fixing the first room on the left of the entrance hall. It was a small waiting room, furnished with a table missing three of its four legs, paintings discolored beyond recognition, and three mold-covered sofas. They were all busy hammering broken planks retrieved from the entrance halls floor to the holes in the walls.

Sofia mindlessly watched them work for a good thirty seconds before she could say anything. Where did you get a hammer and a box of nails?

Opal pointed at Lola.

Shaily turned her head to watch, and the hammer she swung at a nail hit just slightly off center.

Ouch!

The frail-looking Exidian girl fell to the ground, holding her left hand. She was trying her best to hold in her scream of pain as the tears rolled down her face.

Surely the academy wont mind if I repair a few bones Arguably it was my fault