Volume 2 Chapter 11: Unveiling the Mysteries of the Stone Spike Room

[Author's Note: For bonus chapters, the goal every week is:

- 25 Power Stones

- 50 Power Stones]

Volume 2 Chapter 11: Unveiling the Mysteries of the Stone Spike Room

Tria: "Impatient, aren't we? I was just about to get on to that. To complete this trial, you'll need to defeat three level 5 enemies that I'll summon for you to face in combat."

The trio was taken aback upon learning that they only needed to battle three level 5 enemies. They had expected to face a formidable boss, given the powerful artifact at stake.

That's when Carmilla remembered the panel that had appeared some time ago, indicating that she had completed some kind of hidden quest and it seemed that she have received a new quest that time too.

So she opened the notification logs to check what it said, as she had simply ignored it at the time.

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[Ding! You have completed the hidden quest [Secrets of the Cave].]

[Ding! You have received a chain quest [Vampire Progenitor's Inheritance 1/?].]

After seeing the two panels, she further investigates the details of the finished hidden quest and the new chain quest.

[Secrets Of The Cave] [Hidden Quest] [Completed]

[A secret dungeon that only the vampire race knows about.]

[Requirements for quest completion:

1. Have a [Vampire] bloodline.

2. Clear each of the initial trials in a single try.]

[Rewards: [2x Incomplete Light Orb] [Entrance to the true Inheritance trial]]

After seeing the details of the finished hidden quest and learning that one of the requirements to complete the hidden quest is to clear each of the trials in a single try.

It seems that her decision not to skip the stone spike room, where the entrance is covered with darkness that only functions to block their vision to the passage and nothing else, was the right choice back then.

At first, they thought that the darkness covering the entrance was a dangerous, but, in fact, the darkness was rather harmless. The only danger in that trial room is the floor, which is filled to the brim with stone spikes. For a vampire with the [Bat Transformation] skill, the stone spike floor is a breeze.

Without that skill, falling could lead to instant death, or if they're lucky enough, they might survive by falling into the gaps between the stone spikes.

Upon remembering that trial room and her inquiry about the darkness covering the opening, she plans to ask about it.

And with Tria, the dungeon master of this dungeon, she must know about that particular room, even though she was not the one who personally created this dungeon. She is still a clone of the one who made this dungeon, and she has been the dungeon master of this dungeon for who knows how long.

Carmilla: "Before we begin, may I ask a question about one of the trials?"

Tria: "That would be alright, considering your question pertains to the dungeon and is not something trivial. Also, as the dungeon master of this dungeon, I am obligated to answer all questions from those who have cleared all the trials and managed to arrive here. So, what is your question?"

Carmilla: "I have a question about the stone spike room. How does it function?"

Tria: "Are you referring to this trial room?"

After saying that, Tria brings out a crystal ball from where she had been observing Carmilla and her clone.

The crystal ball starts to float in the middle of the four of them so they can see the appearance of the crystal balls clearly.

The crystal ball begins to display the opening of the stone spike room. This time, there is no darkness covering the opening; it appears like a plain, ordinary opening, similar to the others.

Then the image shifts to the inside of the straight passage until it reaches the middle, which is a small circular room. The image continues to move through the straight passage.

The image changes into a bird's-eye view of the entire room before zooming in toward the now empty platform. All of this imagery is being projected from the crystal ball. Carmilla spoke to Tria.

Carmilla: "Yes, this is the one."

Tria: "So, what's your question about it?"

Carmilla: "How did the darkness obstruct our vision of the whole passage?"

Tria: "Oh, that's easy to explain. You three were under an illusion back then."

Carmilla: "What? When were we affected by an illusion, and we didn't even notice being in one?"

Tria: "When the three of you entered that trial room, a simple illusion was cast upon you. It made you think and see that the entrance was completely covered by darkness, along with the entire passage. It also gave the illusion of walking in a straight line, but in reality, you were not. The illusion would only be dispelled when you left that passage."

After saying that, the crystal ball stops displaying the image of the stone spike room, and it starts playing a video of the three of them when they entered that trial room. Similar to the image, the opening was not covered in darkness.

The video also captured their conversation about their hesitation to enter the opening, but it looked rather comical since they couldn't hear any of the conversation. This was especially evident when it showed Pepper's reaction when she lost the game of rock, paper, scissors.

Pepper, seeing her own mischief, couldn't help but blush in shame. The video continues to play, and this time, the playback speed is 2x faster until the part where Pepper reached the middle of the passage. There, she circled a few times before resuming her straight walk, then the video play speed up again.

The video returned to normal playback speed when Pepper was about to fall.

The video stopped playing when Pepper was about to transform into a bat.

Then crystal ball played the part where the three of them entered the opening.

Carmilla and Eve also saw themselves circling around a few times when they entered the middle circular room, while Pepper watched the two of them.

Just like the last time, the video also stopped when Carmilla and Eve were about to transform into bats.

After that, the crystal ball became clear again before returning to Tria's hand.

Tria: "Is there anything else?"

Carmilla shakes her head in response to what Tria has said.

Tria: "Great. Now that everything is out of the way, let's start the round one of the trial, shall we?"

After saying that, a magic circle appeared on the ground in front of Tria, and a figure started to emerge, similar to how Carmilla summoned a clone.

Tria: "This is 'Daniel,' if I am correct, and he will be your first opponent for the first round. Just like you, Daniel also prefers to use a bow, so I thought it would be fitting for you to fight him…"

Tria paused for a moment as Daniel's summoning emitted a bright light, temporarily obscuring their vision with white light.