"Riddles?" Aldred frowned. "It's like Mount Fargon all over again."
"Are you ready, treasure hunter?" the gargoyle asked, its voice boomed and echoed.
"Tell me. What is the riddle?"
The gargoyle tilted its statue head down.
"What begins, but has no end, yet ends all that begin?"
…
A 20 meter long titanoboa flicked its tongue as it looked around in the cave. It sensed a lake nearby and slithered its way towards the water.
The snake looked at the body of water, making sure there was no threat. After it was sure, it dip its mouth in.
"HAAA!"
The snake turned its head to face the threat, but it was too late. The blade already chopped its head off.
The head crashed to the ground and rolled onto a woman's feet.
Mary let out a breath. "Where is everybody?"
Mareona approached the snake and cut a chunk of it. "This snake should last us for a few weeks."
"Food should not be a concern. This place is packed with monsters."
"I am not eating goblins or ghouls for breakfast, thank you very much."
"We have a much more pressing matters at hand."
"Aldred will find a way to find us. He always does," Mareona said as she struck an iron rod on her sword, creating fire to roast the meat.
"Do you want some?" She looked at her.
Mary sighed. "Sure."
…
Ivette flashed through a monster's body, and it exploded. Black goo splattered everywhere.
"I cannot believe it was an illusion… Aldred, everyone. Where are you guys?"
She cleaned her clothes of the black goo, and making sure she did not step on them.
"Hoo. What do have here? What do a girl like you do in this cave?"
Ivette looked around for the source of that voice, but found nothing. And then she looked up, and saw a giant centipede with a human face.
"Hello, my dear." The centipede smiled.
…
Krista held tight on Mira's shoulders as she pointed her staff at the ghouls.
"Holy Light!"
Golden light beam blasted towards the ghouls, making them screamed in pain as their whole body turned to dust.
"Krista, where do we go from here?"
"Over there." She pointed.
Mira nodded and sprinted towards the direction Krista pointed.
Ghouls ran at her like a bunch of hungry predators, eager to tear her apart.
"Holy Aura!"
Golden energy burst from her body, throwing all the ghouls away.
"Wait for me, Aldred. I will come for you."
…
"Hahaha! Die you foul creatures! Your tough scales is nothing against my weapons!" She fired her gunblade at the humanoid reptilian.
"I'll kill you all! Hahahaa! I will eat your children, so be wary of me!"
She dashed forward and slashed, killing five reptilian at once before she fired, blasting the heads of three monsters.
More monsters came from the tunnels. She frowned and fired a grappling hook towards the ceiling before pulling herself up.
"See you later sucker!" she shouted before throwing a few steel balls.
The steel balls landed on the ground, with a burning fuse. Apparently, they were bombs.
BOOM!
"Hahaha!" She laughed as she swing away like a tarzan.
…
In the deep cave where darkness was eternal, a small dot of light came to be. Then it ballooned, shining light upon this cave, revealing Rachel's face.
"Where am I? Aldred? Mary? Hello! Is there someone here?"
Despite the light ball, the cave was still dark. The light ball that she created was supposed to lit the entire cave, but for some reason, the light was absorbed by mysterious power, and she could only see 2 meters in radius.
She summoned another light orb, and sent it forward as a probe.
It bounced against something, and then rows of sharp teeth appeared.
…
The half-broken sun disc floated in front of her. Star particles poured out of her fingers, and the disc projected an image of star constellation.
"Did you see anything?" Sophia approached.
"No. Not yet. This cave is interfering with my power."
Zafrina crossed her arms with scorn. "Aren't you a Diamond Rank? Why can't you find Aldred with your power?"
Stella frowned. "Sorry to say this, but this challenge is managed by the world power. Even an Adamantite Rank would be a mere insect if it wished to."
"Cih, so being a Diamond Rank isn't so great after all."
"I have lived for thousands of years, so I know you are not in the right mind right now. I suggest you to shut up if you don't have any solution to our problem."
"You shut up."
"No you."
"Guys." Kiara stepped in between them. "We need to look for the others. Chirping at each other like birds won't solve anything."
"It's her fault." Zafrina pointed at Stella. "She could have prevented that dark demon from teleporting us away, but she did not."
"How dare you put the blame on me!"
Kiara sighed as she looked at Sophia helplessly.
Sophia sighed and shrugged.
…
Bartrem stepped on a corpse of a giant eel. His men slashed and stabbed the other eels as he looked around with narrowed eyes.
"Keep going forward."
"Yes, sir!"
The giant eels kept popping out of the muddy terrain. They opened their circular mouth, revealing their vicious teeth that they used to grip on the flesh of their target. In the center was a triangular mouth with a digging teeth, used to penetrate the skin and literally bore through the flesh before sucking their blood.
"Disgusting creature they are," Bartrem said before cutting a giant eel in half.
"Sir, we found a tunnel nearby."
"Let's go there."
…
Maverick breathed heavily as he ran inside a narrow crevice. He looked behind and saw monsters chasing him.
He punched the wall, cracking it, and causing the rocks to fall. The rocks crashed onto the monsters and blocked the crevice.
The monsters screamed echoed.
Maverick smiled before he looked at the front and stopped. "You gotta be kidding me."
A snake with six legs slowly crawled towards him. "I won't hurt you, darling. Stay here, and I will make love with you."
"Shut up, you ugly demon! Get out of my way or I will kill you."
The snake licked her lips and then she transformed into half-naked beautiful woman with glittering scales on her knees and shoulders. The rest of her skin however were smooth and pristine.
"Please come with me, dear. I wouldn't bite you. I promise."
"Crazy demon. I am going to kill you!" Maverick pulled his blade and slashed at her shoulder.
"Ahh." The woman screamed in pain. She looked at him in disbelief and teary eyes. "Please don't do this. I won't hurt you."
"Just die!" He drove his sword towards her chest, but suddenly, she transformed into a small snake, slithered around his blade, onto his arms, and then wrapped his body tight.
Maverick could not move as he gritted his teeth. "Let go of me."
"Now, my dear. Let me show you the nest." The snake flicked her tongue as her tail caressed his cheek.
"NO!" Maverick screamed as the snake dragged him away.
…
Aldred halted as he heard someone shouting. "Who's there!"
There was no reply.
"This dungeon is a lot trickier than I thought."
He looked at the gargoyle. "Wait here. I am going to find some clues to solve your riddle."
Aldred recalled that he could find clues to solve any riddle or puzzle in Mount Fargon. He figured it would be the same here
