Chapter Eighty-Seven: The Magical Trap

But Zane knew that before he made his move, he had to brace the team psychologically; otherwise there would be no way for them to go on.

What could be restored was not frightening to lose.

For instance, so long as there was a priest to restore their vitality, they could take a few cuts and still fight without fear of death.

Looking at Maple, whose face had also gone somewhat pale, Zane comforted him. “Don’t worry. ‘Permanent’ only means permanent if it isn’t lifted. A third-circle divine spell like Remove Curse, or a fourth-circle spell like Break Enchantment, can end this effect.”

“Report this place to the nearest temple afterward. With this merit, they’ll cast it off for you,” Zane said.

What he did not say aloud was that if the underground power’s leader, Isis, wanted to keep this place hidden, she would naturally have to pay enough hush money, including the cost of removing Maple’s curse.

The only trouble was that there was a priest in the party, Yoyo, making it hard to keep anything under wraps.

Hearing Zane’s words and realizing there was still hope, Maple finally let out a breath. The faces of the companions around him also eased a little.

This, too, was a warrior’s fate: to stand in front of everything.

“Among the curses, there’s another effect even more dreadful,” Zane added. “Each round, there’s a fifty percent chance you’ll be delayed and unable to act.”

At that, everyone immediately imagined how disgusting it would be to be able to walk for a moment and then be paralyzed for the next.

Setting aside everything else, they would at least have to turn back now.

“Should we head back and switch someone out first?” suggested the bard, Frog.

They had actually been inside for less than half an hour; they could simply return and let someone else take their place.

“We’re already the team’s top combat strength,” Maple said, standing up as well. “It’s fine. It’s only a loss of three vitality points. Not a big deal.”

After speaking, he even patted his chest, showing that even with only eight points of constitution left, he was still a tenacious warrior.

Zane silently added in his heart that he had also lost three points of fortitude save, making him fifteen percent worse against fortitude checks.

Still, Maple was right. As a first-level warrior, even with those losses, he was still much stronger than the first-level fighters outside.

That was the very confidence of the eleven basic classes.

“Then should we dispel this magical trap now?” the rogue, Rainbow, asked, examining the patch of stone directly behind the altar. It was from there that the yellow light had struck Maple just now.

If his search skill check had been a little stronger, the system might even have warned him that there was a trap here.

Then Maple would not have suffered the curse.

“Wait a moment,” Zane said. He could see that everyone seemed to be caught in a dead end, determined to wrestle with this trap no matter what.

“Let me use Detect Secret Door first. If there’s nothing special, we’ll just leave this place alone,” Zane said.

The two rogues had only been checking the altar itself just now, which was why the trap had not been triggered. Now that it was active, probing for a secret door would be far riskier.

Zane had no habit of seeing a trap and insisting on dismantling it.

Everyone spread out toward the back to avoid disturbing his casting.

Zane directly activated his versatile spellcasting ability, using the two zero-circle divine spell slots he had condensed in his mind as fuel, and began chanting the incantation while moving through the casting gestures.

Once Detect Secret Door was complete, Zane’s eyes perceived something unusual within a cone-shaped area twenty meters ahead.

In an instant, he saw the outline of the secret door.

But Zane continued to maintain absolute concentration. The skill investment he had put into Concentration began feeding back energy, helping him sustain that state.

The Detect Secret Door spell grew more informative the longer it was maintained.

Time slipped by drop by drop. Everyone watched Zane in silence, waiting for the result of his spell.

After spending this time together, Zane had already become the true expert in their party.

A while later, Zane finally ceased his casting motions and let out a soft sigh. Turning back, he said, “There is indeed a secret door here. We’ll have to press that stone block to open it.”

Everyone nodded thoughtfully.

“So the entrance to the dungeon is behind this secret door,” Luo Ya murmured, lowering his head in thought. Gradually, a different light appeared in his eyes. “Hill, are you confident you can disarm this trap?”

On Luo Ya’s side, the rogue Hill had a steel pick for lockpicking clenched between his teeth. He frowned at the front and said, “I’ll try.”

“All right. Be careful,” Luo Ya warned.

Hill patted the tool pouch at his waist and stepped forward, first keeping his distance to observe the magical trap.

Rainbow, the player who had failed to spot the trap earlier, also came over and crouched nearby to watch.

“Did Rainbow learn the Disarm Device skill?” Zane asked Yoyo beside him in a low voice.

“He did. Brother Rainbow’s graduating pretty fast, you know. Among the rogues in Hurricane City, he’s in the top twenty for finishing training,” Yoyo said.

Hearing this, Zane smiled as well.

If it could really be disarmed, that would save him the expenditure of a spell slot.

Suddenly, Hill pressed Rainbow down and immediately dragged him back while saying, “Don’t bother.”

Not understanding what was happening, Rainbow hurried along after him. After seeing Maple’s miserable state, no one dared act rashly around this trap.

The whole party could not help taking several steps back. Yoyo nearly bumped into Zane, and she hurriedly whispered an apology.

Only after retreating nearly three meters did Hill say, “I got lucky just now. I felt my way to the trick and rolled a very high result.”

“Disarmed?” Luo Ya asked loudly, unable to hide his excitement.

Hill, however, shook his head. “That’s exactly how I know I failed. This kind of magical trap is far too difficult. Even if you fail to disarm it, you might not even realize it. So I don’t dare try again, and neither should you.” As he spoke, he looked at Rainbow.

Rainbow also nodded in dismay. For a magical trap with a difficulty exceeding level twenty-five, even if he got absurdly lucky, he might not be able to disarm it.

Zane found that surprising after hearing all this.

If every magical trap could be casually disarmed by first-level rogues like them, there would have been no need to set traps at all.

Zane took a couple of steps forward at this point, keeping his distance while staring at the stone block.

“Leader Luo Ya, are you certain you still want to go in?” Zane asked, turning back.

Luo Ya, who had originally intended to have Maple log off and consult the leader again, was somewhat taken aback by Zane’s words.

Although Hill was only a first-level rogue, his disarm device ability was the highest level in the party, which was why he had brought Hill down here.

A little incredulous, he asked, “Sir Midsummer, do you have a way?”

Zane nodded. “I do. But you’ll have to pay more. It’s a consumable magical item.”

That, too, was the principle of adventuring: using spell slots was his duty, but using a consumable once was different. That had to be counted as a team expense.

“No problem. Even if we can’t get in, Shattered Star will compensate Sir Midsummer fairly. If we can get in, we’ll settle it separately,” Luo Ya promised.

This time he had received the mission on short notice; otherwise, given Isis’s level of importance, not only spellcasters but even magical items would have been fully provided for him.

Shattered Star? Zane thought about it, and he had not heard the name of this faction ten years later, but that did not matter. The extra reward was already in hand.

Zane looked at the magical trap ahead and directly took out the hidden card Antinoya had given him from his backpack.

A staff originally worth sixty-five thousand gold pieces, though now it was uncertain how many charges of energy remained: the Staff of Protection.