MAZE - The Endless Quest 80 The Halls Of The Tower

Getting closer, Hera could see that there was no actual door there, just the frame. Inside it, there was a large rectangular room with several books and tables spread around. Walking inside, they saw no creatures or traps. The place looked like a library. Excited, Bonnie rushed in and picked up one of the books on the table. As she grabbed the book, it turned to ash in her hands. Alex approached the researcher and grabbed her by the arm.

"Bonnie! Stop doing that. This could have been a trap!"

"But it wasn't. Everything is fine," Bonnie replied.

"That is not the point, Bonnie! I know you are excited or whatever, but you need to be careful. I don't want to have to carry you to the healers again because you were stu...." Hera paused her phrase, remembering what happened when the researcher woke up in the infirmary, "Just because you are reckless. Let's make sure we can touch those things before you go picking it up."

Bonnie looked down, "You are right, this was a mistake, and it won't happen again. I'll make sure not to put the group in danger."

Blue rolled her eyes, "Yeah, she's still dense as a brick. We are more worried about you getting hurt than anything else."

Bonnie stared at the controller, then at the rest of the group, her face turning red.

"Sorry, I'm just not used to this. Thanks."

The group started to look around the room. Large bookshelf covered the walls. All of them had white tomes and books. In the set of tables, some of the books were open, and there was parchment, quills, and dried up ink bottles enough to stock a small store. In the back of the room, there was an ornate desk with a larger blueprint. It looked like the design to create something large that would cover the entire tower. Sadly, it was written in a language that no one in the group could understand. Even the alphabet was different.

After some time, they agreed that the room was trap free and proceeded to check the books. They weren't able to read a single one, aside from the fact that they were all in a different language and when they tried to pick them, the books turned into ash. The ones on the shelves were different. Instead of vanis.h.i.+ng, they were extremely heavy. Even with the whole group trying, they weren't able to make it budge.

They only tried a couple of books before giving up. There were way too many for them to check every single one. Hera was tempted to use Yarnball, just to make sure that they really couldn't get a single book. But it was too soon to use it. If she did, it would take days before she could activate her relic's ability once again.

Making sure they weren't missing anything. The group looked to the door in the back of the room. It was a heavy steel door with various deadbolts and an iron wheel in the middle that seemed to push two blocks of white stone into the wall.

Curious about what demanded such a secure door, Blue approached and started to open it. At the same time, Hera and the others stood by the door's side, ready to face whatever was inside. Blue unlocked the deadbolts and started to spin the wheel. When the two pieced of white rock became loose, the door opened abruptly. The controller jumped out of the way and let the iron hatch slam into the wall.

However, since Blue was now facing the doorway, she felt a powerful gust of wind coming towards her. It was almost like being near a hurricane. The howling sound of the wind was making it difficult even to think. She sidestepped once more to be away from the door.

The wind pushed the books and the papers that were on the tables, making all of them turn to dust. The group started to have trouble breathing through the amount of paper in the air.

"Go through the door, we need to get away from the ash," Bonnie yelled.

Leo went in first, but he only managed to take a few steps. The wind was so strong that was making his feet slide through the floor. Blue grabbed him by the waist and started pus.h.i.+ng. Seeing her friend, Hera did the same with the controller. Soon they were in a single file, all pus.h.i.+ng the one in front of them. Luckily, Leo was the biggest one in the group. That way, he could block more of the wind going to the women.

Step by step, the group pushed through this new hallway, walking steadily towards another circular room.

"When we get to the room, I'll stay in the middle until Bonnie can go to the wall," Leo tried to tell his friends of the plan, but the sound of the wind was so loud that it seemed like they were skydiving.

The corridor barely had 20 meters, yet it took almost ten minutes to reach the end. The moment Leo stepped inside the circular room, he stopped, feeling the wind. He looked back and saw Blue still being pushed back by the gust. Grabbing her hand, he pulled her towards him. As soon as her head crossed the threshold of the room, Leo yelled.

"Grab Hera's hand, or she will go flying back!"

The controller took another step and spun around, grabbing Hera's wrist and pulling her. Giving the same command to the rest soon, they were all inside this new area.

"Ok, any idea what is going on here, Bonnie?" Leo asked.

The researcher looked around and put one hand in the hallway they just left.

"This wind is only affecting the corridor. Maybe it's a way to keep people out."

"So we just beat our first trap? All Right!" Blue cheered.

The group stared at her for a moment and proceeded to look around the room. This area was very similar to the entrance, but there were a few carvings around the walls. Not simple marks but a full blow wall to wall piece of art.

Above the door they had just came through, there was a mage in long white robes with both arms raised, one to each side of the room. Following that, there was what looked like a representation of wind blowing. It started with a few leaves being carried, but as the carving continued, the wind became stronger and more violent. Trees falling, houses being torn apart, animals being carried by the wind. Until, directly in front of the mage, there was a ma.s.sive tornado ripping apart a castle.

"That is not ominous at all," Alex said, staring at the castle.

"Is it just me, or that thing seem to have eyes?" Hera asked, pointing to the top of the tornado," Right there, above the tower, the engraving is deeper, or am I going crazy."

"You know what, I think you're right. But it's creepy. It's like staring into a storm," Leo said.

Bonni walked closer to the carving, "That can be a problem. I read about things like that. Apparently, there are some creatures who are like the condensed form of the elements. Not like a fire-lizard of a wind bird, but sentient fire or wind. Those creatures are said to be very strong and easily require a mid-level party to deal with a single one."

"But, this is the first layer, there wouldn't be something like that here. Would there?" Alex asked.

"I don't know. According to one of the town's legends, there was once a giant invasion here. The devil hunt was also something that went past layers, not to mention the great war," Hera said.

"One thing is being careful, but now you guys are just silly. This is not an invasion, much less something that leads to another layer. It's a dungeon, and being so close to the town, I doubt we are the first ones here. Can we stop worrying so much and keep going? If one of those sentient things shows up, we fight or run away," Blue said, crossing her arms.

Even though Hera was worried about what could happen, she had to agree with the controller. They were taking too much time to decide what to do. During her test, most of her decisions were quicker, and she was alone.

"Blue has a point. So don't think, just answer. Do we go through that door? Yes or no?" Hera said, moving closer to the center of the room.

After a moment, the group agreed to keep going. They had already reached this far. Running away just because of a creepy drawing seemed like a waste. Hera opened the door leading to the next room and opened it, jumping to the side to avoid any possible wind. However, nothing happened. The door was open, and the path seemed clear.

Walking in carefully, Hera moved towards the new room. For a moment, she thought she entered the wrong place. There was nothing magical in the area. Rows and rows of clothes, drapes, and wrappers that were left hanging to dry filled the room. There wasn't a single tome, a single spellbook, a single table. To all effects, this was simply a laundry room.

"Is this for real? All that for a place to dry some clothes?" Bonnie asked, looking around.

"Does anyone have a coin?" Alex asked.

"A coin?" Blue replied.

Alex smiled, "Yeah, we need coins to use the laundromat, right?"

"Oh no, Hera is starting to rub off on you," Blue rolled her eyes.

"Hey! I can hear you," Hera complained.

"Guys, shut up. I think I heard something," Bonnie was walking toward the middle of the room looking to the clothes.

Hera looked around, trying to see if there was anything in the room. Suddenly, she felt something wrapping around her legs and pulling her up, making the explorer fall face-first on the ground. Hera quickly spun around, grabbing Iris to face her a.s.sailant.

Hovering a few meters above her, there was a long white and green scarf. When Hera managed to understand what she was seeing, the cloth jolted towards Alex, warping around her head. Blue and Leo hurried towards the a.s.sa.s.sin, helping her remove the thing from her head. While they separated the creature and Alex, Hera activated her [Observe].

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Minor Wind Elemental (Prototype)

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"That's a monster!" Hera yelled.

The elemental let go of Alex and started hovering above the group once again. Hera warped Yarnball into her Chakram and tried to hit it, using the string to pull her weapon back. At the same time, Bonnie started lobbing spells towards it. The rest kept trying to hit it with whatever they could. Bonnie rushed towards the front of the room and started to cast her Cold Bomb.

"Distract it. If I can freeze it, maybe it will drop!"

The group split off and did what they could to keep the monster near Bonnie. After a couple of seconds, she launched the spell towards it. The elemental was fast, but the Cold Bomb was large enough to hit part of it.

With part of its form frozen, the creature wasn't able to hold its height. It descended into the ground, and the group went towards it, ripping it apart until it stopped moving.

Hera was on the other side of the room and, instead of going towards the creature, used her [Observe] once again. All pieces of clothing in the area had the same name.

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Minor Wind Elemental (Failed - Prototype)

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However, near the back of the room, there was something that looked different. Hera approached a drying rack with a beautiful green sash with a white border and runes inscribed on it. The name was also different from the rest. Hera quickly activated her [Inspect] to be sure it wasn't another creature.

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Spring's Breeze

Rarity: Uncommon

A sash enchanted by the forgotten Arcanist as a byproduct of her research. The sash, imbued with air mana, can lower the wind resistance that affects the user, the lower the resistance, the higher the effect.

Attribute scaling:

Agility x 1.09

Additional effect:

Raises the user awareness of the wind.

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"Guys! I found something," Hera yelled, picking the sash and moving towards her friends.

However, as she reached them, Hera noticed a grim expression on their faces. Looking back, she saw another five pieces of clothing hovering towards her.