"We need to hurry. If the room becomes too small and the monsters keep spawning then we won't be able to take so many on," Buhara said, panic evident in his voice, as for the first time in this dungeon run, he genuinely felt the fear of losing his life.
Rocky's mind raced. He realized that this was no ordinary labyrinth.
The walls closing in, the endless waves of monsters attacking them, it all felt like a death trap with no escape.
The situation was dire, and Rocky understood that he needed a plan – and that too fast.
Looking around, the only notable feature of the room that stood out to him was the area of the wall that Buhara had attacked earlier which now looked like a small creator, as in the entire room, it was the only part which stood out from the rest.
'Just how deep can the wall be? If we keep attacking the same area constantly, just how deep can it really be?' Rocky wondered, as for a second he hoped that if they attacked the same wall constantly it would perhaps break, however, later his thoughts evolved to a secondary plan.
"Everyone, listen up!" Rocky called out, his voice loud and commanding as he came up with a risky solution.
"We are going to focus our attacks on the wall Buhara hit earlier. We will carve out a space inside it, just enough for us to fit and once we are inside, Erin, you cast a barrier to block the monsters.
Once the walls all close in, all the monsters will be dead, whereas we'll be safe inside the cave we carve" Rocky suggested, as he provided an unconventional solution to their predicament.
His plan was to keep hammering the same area in the wall until either one of two things happened.
1)If the wall is not deep enough then it would crumple leading to an exit.
2)If the wall is deep enough, it will accommodate the group in a tight space, which can be sealed off later by Erin using a barrier spell.
In situation number two, Rocky hoped that once the walls all fully close in, the monsters would all be crushed to death and the room would recede later, however, even if the room did not go back to its original size, the group could then continue digging their path deeper into the wall until it eventually broke, as Rocky refused to believe that it was infinitely deep.
"Alright, Kronos, you have infinite regeneration, so you will have to pick up the slack for the group temporarily.
No matter what happens, don't let a single monster hit Erin or disturb us.
"Erin, now!" Rocky commanded, as once everyone was inside, Erin immediately cast the barrier spell sealing the entrance of the crater.
*Swoosh*
The barrier shimmered, holding back the monsters that now threw themselves against it with renewed ferocity, while the room continued to shrink, the walls pressing closer with each passing second.
Inside the small space, the team huddled together, their breaths shallow, as soon the walls compacted to a point where the monsters started to squeeze against each other and die.
*Splat*
*Splat*
The sounds of monsters being crushed against Erin's barrier and the walls closing in filled the air, as despite the intense pressure, Erin's barrier held firm, keeping the team safe.
Seconds passed, feeling like hours, as the room continued to shrink.
The monsters' attacks on the barrier grew weaker, their numbers dwindling as they were crushed by the relentless closing walls, until finally, with a final, bone-crunching sound, the room had shrunk to its limit.
The walls stopped, then slowly began to retract, with the barrier holding until the very end, protecting the team from the crushing forces.
As the walls moved back, revealing a new pathway, Erin let the barrier dissipate, clearly exhausted but triumphant.
"We survived!" Kronos said, sounding clearly surprised as the method they had chosen to survive the room was really unconventional and not something 99/100 adventurer groups could think of.
"Haha, it's all thanks to Erin–" Rocky said, passing all the credit to his team member who had indeed performed extraordinarily under duress.
Little did anyone know however, that they were not supposed to come out of this challenge alive.
The room was programmed to shrink until its limits, crushing everything within or until one team member died.
What Rocky thought of was a loophole in the system and not the right way to pass this stage, however, for now, the team had somehow passed this stage without any member dying.