New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Chapter 993: Trapped Tunnels



Further down the hall, Alex felt a burst of mana coming from behind them, and he chuckled.

'I knew he was holding back, but that is more than I expected. The kid's got almost as much mana as me. His growth is scary fast,' Alex thought, smiling to himself.

He wasn't the only one to feel the burst of mana, Violette and Kary frowning slightly before a fire grew inside them.

'I can't let him surpass me,' they both thought, simultaneously.

David could feel it as well, but he just smiled, his thoughts focused on what was to come.

As for the others, their mana senses were weaker, and the burst only brushed against their senses like an oppressing feeling. But given its direction of origin, they brushed it aside and focused on in front of them.

Kary was already signalling them to a halt with her raised fist, her eyes turning to slits as she saw something weird on the tunnel walls.

Everyone skidded to a stop, Alex walking up to her side along with Jin-Sil.

"What is it?" he asked, following her gaze but not seeing anything.

"That wall... There's something strange about it," Kary said, pointing directly at what she was seeing.

Jin-Sil walked forward, her perceptive eyes noticing what Kary was talking about, and she got closer to inspect it.

There, inside a small hidden overlap of stone, she saw a small tube, and at its tip, a droplet of a pungent liquid.

Looking at the other side of the tunnel, and further forward, she saw more of these hidden nozzle-like outcroppings, and she let out a chuckle.

"I think those are nozzles to shoot out oil or some other flammable liquid. There are at least thirty that I can see, over the next fifteen feet of tunnel. I think this is one trap they set," she said, pointing at the nozzle.

Alex scratched his chin, wondering how the trap activated and how do disarm it.

"Do you see a mechanism to activate it?" Kary asked, her reasoning following Alex's. "I don't, and that is what worries me," Jin-Sil said, taking a step back as a precaution. Kary nodded, taking a moment to think of their options.

But it was Aapo who came up with a solution first.

"If there is liquid, then that means there are containers. Can't we just force their ignition and wait them out?" he asked, the others looking at him.

Alex frowned.

"We have no idea how much these containers would hold, or how dangerous forcing them to burn would be, Aapo."

But Kary put her hand on Alex's shoulder.

"No. He's got a point. This tunnel doesn't look like it was heavily altered. I doubt whatever is holding the liquid is too big. Burning out the trap would most likely be the quickest solution. We can take a few steps back and trigger it with magic," she said, smiling.

Aapo grinned, his face showing happiness for the first time since they'd met him.

Alex looked at her and shrugged.

"Alright, then. Everyone back up," Alex said, pushing the group back, as Kary stood at the forefront.

"Do your thing, love," Alex said, once he estimated they were far enough.

Kary nodded, conjuring fire above both her hands.

With a quick movement, she extended her hands forward, and the fire shot out, licking the tunnel walls on all sides, making it look like the mouth of hell itself, before a conflagration erupted, pushing hot wind into everyone's face.

Around forty jets of fire suddenly shot out the walls, floor, and ceiling, turning the tunnel into a death trap, the bright orange, almost white, jets of flames melted the stone.

The jets burned for about four seconds before sputtering out, running out of fuel, and extinguishing completely. All that was left was the smouldering stone of the tunnel, as it glowed red from the heat.

Violette quickly pushed mana out of her body, making water appear all around her as she pushed it further into the tunnel.

Steam erupted, washing over the group and making them cover their faces from the heat, but it wasn't enough to hurt them.

In an instant, the tunnel walls were cooled down enough to stop glowing, and the steam vanished, leaving behind wet walls and floors, as well as sweating people.

Violette and Kary were the only dry ones, as they had both protected themselves with magic, while the rest of the group looked at Violette with pouting or angry faces.

"Sorry... I didn't think it would steam that much," Violette apologized, lowering her head.

"It's fine. Speed over inconvenience," Kary said, looking at the group.

"Let's keep moving," she added, turning back to face the tunnel.

Some of them grumbled under their breaths about their now damp clothes and uncomfortable

heat, but they didn't dare voice their complaints too loud.

The group resumed running forward, hoping they wouldn't have to deal with too many of those traps before catching the fleeing kobolds.

"This is ruining my hair," Jin-Sil commented, eliciting a giggle from Violette.

"Better curly than burnt, right?" Killian replied with a smirk.

"Right," Jin-Sil said, smiling back at him with a fake smile.

In her mind, she was wondering why he even spoke up, but refrained from telling him to shut

up outright. They needed to stand united right now, and it was not the time to act with

hostility between each other.

Their respite from the trap was short-winded, as Jin-Sil forced them to a stop with a shout barely a minute later.

Grinding to a halt, Kary felt a tug on her robe as Jin-Sil pulled her back.

A clicking sound echoed in the tunnel, as a metal pole passed an inch from Kary's midsection,

going from one side of the tunnel to the other and piercing the stone wall.

Another dozen similar spears of metal stabbed into the stone over the next twenty feet in all directions, making Kary sweat in shock.

She turned her head toward Jin-Sil, nodding at her.

"Thanks."

Jin-Sil smiled in response, looking at the tunnel before them.

"If we'd kept running, a few of us would have gotten impaled. Good thing I spotted the pressure plate when I did..."