Tap, tap, tap.


    The sound of their footsteps echoed around the cave. It was spacious and wide, illuminated by the light coming from the cracks in the ceilings and gems on the walls.


    The footsteps suddenly came to halt when they passed a narrow region of the cave.


    There were two paths before them, one was bright and wide that lead up, while the other was dim, narrow, and has a naturally formed stairs that lead down the cave.


    When he was about to suggest that they should take the safer passage, he felt a raging emotion welling up from his heart. His mouth bobbed up and down, unable to mutter the safer decision.


    [Resonance 1%]


    A system message appeared before him, but it was invisible to his eyes.


    He only felt that he should take the left path, and so, after struggling with the decision, he decided to follow what he considered as his, ''intuition''.


    "We have collected enough light Origin right?"


    Jeemin asked as he walked forward towards the left path.


    "Shouldn''t we go right?"


    Seeing this, Sasaki Seiji couldn''t help but voiced out in fear.


    "Don''t worry, we''ll retreat if we used up half of our light Origin reserves."


    Without adding any more words, Liu Jeemin followed his gut and went inside as the lead.


    "It''s better to encounter an enemy, that way we can train and be able to get used to our formation," as his feet landed on the stone stairs he added, "I know it''s riskier here, but my gut is telling me we''ll get something here, maybe a treasure. If you don''t want to follow, then take the right passage."


    Hearing this, the rest of the party looked at each other. Recalling the rewards they received after leaving the hall when they followed Jeemin, they nodded at each other... except Seiji.


    "No. It''s a huge red flag! Look, it''s dark and narrow, and leading downwards. Compared to the right, the difference is literally between heaven and hell," Seiji shook his head violently.


    Dmitri coldly retorted, "No one''s forcing you, go by yourself, no one cares," he then added a snort at the end.


    Jeemin crushed a light Origin in his hand as he scanned the lit narrow passage in front of him. There were cobwebs in the ceiling, while there were many bones littered on the path continuing downwards.


    "Me? Alone? Hell no!" Seiji said as he hurriedly catch up to them.


    When Seiji entered the passage, the party behind Jeemin suddenly stood rooted.


    When he noticed he couldn''t hear footsteps other than his, he glanced back, making a questioning face


    as he furrowed his eyebrows.


    But before he could ask what happened, a system notice suddenly appear.


    --


    [Hidden zone has been discovered]


    [300 credits has been rewarded]


    [Sub-task has been activated]


    [Sub-task is being updated]


    Information: Tomb of Eleanor la Mili Montse


    Task: Find the forgotten stele.


    Difficulty: ???


    Time limit: None


    Failure: Death


    Rewards: Map of the Forest Labyrinth.


    --


    Death?!


    "Failure is death?!" Seiji shouted.


    Suddenly, a group of skeletons started to appear around them.


    "Throw a punch to your right!"


    Jeemin instinctively shouted at Claire Williams.


    Claire swiftly reacted at his warning and crushed a skeleton''s skull that was about to bite her.


    Jeemin narrowed his eyes and saw that the rear was blocked by a strange black barrier.


    I knew I would regret this! He cursed inwardly as he pointed in front of him.


    "Don''t worry, we''ll survive this. Look, the reward is the map of Labyrinth, that''s definitely very useful. Follow me!"Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    Jeemin shouted as he ran forward while pushing a skeleton''s skull away from him. He almost vomitted when he was punched in the gut by a stray strike behind the skeleton he just shoved away.


    Useless vest.


    [Information bank]


    [Undead Skeleton Lvl. 0]


    Weakness: Brittle


    Characteristics: Hatred for living beings.


    Skill: Reform(reform when broken apart)


    Attributes: Slow


    Seeing that they are not considered strong, he kept on running forward


    as he swung his arm around.


    When he saw a purple light coming behind from the skeletons, he raised his alertness.


    But when he passed the skeletons in front of him, as his feet planted outside the narrow passage, he stood rooted on the ground.


    As the rest of the party ran and finally caught up to him, their jaws almost dropped to the floor.


    They didn''t even notice that the skeletons chasing after them went back and disappeared.


    What greeted them was an upside down forest with trees, rooted above, hanging in the ceilings of the cave. If that was it, it wouldn''t make their faces show an utter display of dumbfounded awe.


    The trees were not only huge, broad, and tall, but also glittering with various colours. Most prominent was the combination of light purple and violet.


    Vines that hanged loosely from their upside down bodies were dangling in front of them.


    The wide, unending field below the ceiling stood in contrast to the floor they were standing on. Bleak, moist, and littered with human-sized holes and field that stretch far beyond the human eyes could see.


    "Amazing!"


    Sasaki Seiji said as he touched one of the harmless looking vine dangling in front of him.


    But then...


    "AHH!—"


    The vine suddenly wrap around Sasaki Seiji in a blink of an eye without giving them time to react.


    His body was abruptly pulled up as he shrieked.


    Only after he disappeared did the party finally registered happened.


    "What—"


    The question was cut short as a vine darted towards Claire and wrapped around her in a blink of an eye.


    Jeemin reflexively reach for her hand, but before he could reach her, another shout startled him.


    One by one, the dangling vines started to come alive and darted towards the remaining party.


    Even Dmitri with his knife was helpless.


    Jeemin tried to evade the vines heading towards him, but it was futile as a vine immediately wrap around his body.


    As he was being pulled up, his consciousness started to fade away, he felt somewhat dizzy and intoxicated at the same time.


    Fumes were being excreted from the pores all over the vine wrapped around his body.


    The last thing he saw was a scenery of purple fog engulfing him before his consciousness slipped out of his control.


    *


    He felt that his body was being put up in a sitting position while his distorted perception of the world whirled in his eyes.


    His breathing was getting rougher, his body felt heated, intoxicated, and becoming more and more sensitive as time goes on.


    Liu Jeemin felt something soft, brushing and pressing against his back. It felt strangely comfortable and addicting. Then his body was sending him signals that someone was undressing him.


    Before that someone hugging him from behind could take off his mask, his mind suddenly went slightly clear.


    Although dizzy, he regained a bit of control and manage to take a look behind him.


    What greeted him was a woman''s beautiful face, her naked body with her soft plump chest pressing and rubbing against his back while hugging him further accentuated her pristine beauty.


    Her face was so close to his as he heard her rough and ragged breathing. His mind was hovering between the state of consciousness and unconsciousness as her soft lips was gradually reaching his mask.


    After using her teeth to remove his mask, her lips went closer to his lips. But before she could reach it, he regained control of his consciousness.


    Hearing her rough breathing and seeing her intoxicated eyes, he immediately stop breathing in more fumes and turn his whole body to face her.


    Although I might regret stopping this, later, well, what the hell, this isn''t right. There are just those things you regret even if you know what you did was right.


    He forcibly suppressed his desire to go out of control to take things further. He thought that this is not the time for a situation like this. In a completely foreign place, danger might pounce on them anytime.


    As soon as he was about to stand up, her hands grabbed a hold of him which caused him to lose balance and accidentally gasp a mouthful of air as he fell backward.


    His fragile sense of reasoning was nearing on snapping completely as the fumes further circulated inside him.


    Sitting atop him, she buried her face into his neck and started licking it. Her tongue slowly toured around his neck as his hand desperately search for his mask.


    As their faces got closer and closer to each other, he managed to finally recognized her.


    Li Jing!


    He somehow caught a familiar birthmark under her right ear.


    As she rubbed her body against him, his mind already teetering between intoxication and clarity, was on the verge of losing control of his actions.


    When his hand finally reached his mask, he immediately covered her nose.


    He then lightly pushed her away and went to her clothes.


    After getting her clothes, he quickly covered her up with it and finally managed to sigh in relief.


    Her beautiful, serene face has now fallen unconscious as soon as he finished covering her up.


    Then he carried her on his right shoulder like a sack of grains.


    After surveying his surroundings while feeling light-headed, he saw trunks of trees slowly being revealed in the pink-purple fog around him.


    Hmm, am I in the middle of a forest?


    Then he felt the strange ground he was standing on as he stomped on it. It felt soft, like he was standing on a beach.


    What was worth noting was, although it was soft, he felt it was warm. Like the sand on the dessert.


    Since the fog was mostly obstructing his sight, he couldn''t get a clear view of the soil beneath him.


    So he decided to kneel down and look at the ground closely.


    When his face was almost touching the ground, he felt his back creaking from the improper posture he was maintaining, since he was still carrying Li Jing on his shoulder.


    Not bothering at the dull pain emanating from his back, his mouth went dry. He felt cold sweat trickling on his back.


    Fear and shock almost completely took over him. He shivered as he finally caught sight of the ground he was standing on.


    It was a red sandy-like-soil. Bones beyond recognition are littered everywhere. He wasn''t sure if he was looking at a human''s skull, partially buried in the ground, or if it was an animal remain, since it has horns on its forehead.


    Not only that, but now that he was fully aware what the ground looks like, he felt that he was slowly sinking on the sandy soil he was standing on.


    It feels like the ground was trying to eat me.


    He immediately brushed off the plan on finding the rest of the party as he felt a sense of urgency.


    Forget about worrying about them, I should be worrying for myself.


    If he took his time here, he might end up being buried alive.


    As he walked with a single direction, he heard Li Jing muttering something.


    "I . . no. I can''t take it anymore. I''m a failure. Please forgive me mother and father, I couldn''t take it anymore."


    Is she having a nightmare?


    "I''m sorry . . . it''s better to die, I can''t graduate anyway. . . I''m just a dumb girl."


    He shivered when he heard the word "college."


    He unconsciously rubbed her back to provide some comfort. He did try waking her up, but ultimately failed.


    As he continued on walking, he felt something strange, he felt she was familiar but was sure he didn''t know her.


    Maria? Impossible.


    He shook his head and focused on finding a way out of this place.


    After aimlessly walking around for hours, he noticed tiny green lights resembling like fireflies ahead of him.


    It was like horde of fireflies flying around.


    But when he get closer, he noticed that they were heading in one particular direction.


    He narrowed his eyes as the fog around him scattered away when he reached the denser part of the horde of fireflies.


    Looking closely, they weren''t actually fireflies but just a bunch of tiny yellow-green lights floating around that seems capable of repelling the purple fog around.


    He curiously followed where they were heading, instead of walking aimlessly.


    After walking for nearly an hour, his feet felt like it was finally going to give up.


    That was when he managed to see a silhouette of a rectangular rock, standing vertically, surrounded by tiny yellow-green lights.


    When he took a closer look, the tiny lights seemed to be forming words on the rectangular rock. Suddenly, he heard faint indecipherable murmurings. He paused for a moment, but still decided to went closer.


    As he forced his tired feet to walk closer, he finally saw what was written on it.


    [Tomb of the Lost Expert]


    Is this it? Oh, I can''t hear the random murmurings anymore.


    Liu Jeemin thought as he layed Li Jing down. He examined the surrounding with scrutiny, wondering why the system notice hasn''t appeared yet.


    He frowned while checking the task window.


    [Find the Forgotten Stele]


    It doesn''t look like a stele though.


    After walking closer to it, the tiny orbs of light scattered away and so the words written on it too.


    He caressed its rough texture with his remaining hand. The blank, empty, and bleak, dirty stele stained his hand with charcoal like dirt.


    While kneeling down, he gazed at the stele and fell into thought. I wonder what my grave looks like?


    "Ahh!"


    He suddenly let out a yelp as his hand was pricked by something.


    Before he could pull back, the blood dripping from his hand was suddenly absorbed by the stele.