Shane led the way, his longsword occasionally sweeping aside the weeds along the path.
Frieren followed behind him, unfolding the outdated map provided by the Adventurers' Guild and beginning to update it with new information.
The river marked on the map had long since dried up. Shane crouched down and scraped at the silt beneath the riverbed, estimating roughly when the water had disappeared.
This kind of information was crucial—it determined whether adventurers could find water sources in ti while out in the wild.
Frieren recorded everything faithfully.
The two continued forward, passing by a patch of thorny vines that had already been burned to ash.
Frieren stepped forward to examine them, confirming they were poisonous thorns that had been completely destroyed by magic, leaving no chance for regrowth.
Most likely, so kind-hearted adventurer passing by had cleared them out.
After confirming there were no lingering dangers, she erased the hazard marking from the map.
Near the dungeon, Shane discovered a strange kind of stone.
It looked like a potato, but its entire surface was a dark brown color. When tapped, it made a hollow "thunk" sound, as if it were empty inside.
Frieren tried striking it with [basic attacks].
To her surprise, the entire "stone" exploded instantly, releasing a thick cloud of black powder like smoke, shooting up two or three ters high.
Luckily, Shane reacted quickly—otherwise, he would've been covered head to toe in black.
After checking the map, they realized it wasn't a stone at all, but an aggressive spore plant.
If stepped on accidentally, it would launch soone straight into the air.
Shane imdiately put so distance between himself and those things.
But Frieren suddenly grew interested. With a swing of her staff, crackling sounds rang out as one "stone" after another burst, sending columns of black smoke rising in succession.
Boom. Boom. Boom…
After walking for two hours, they finally arrived at the entrance of the dungeon.
The original temple had long since collapsed, leaving only a few thick pillars standing alone amidst the overgrown grass.
Shane ran his hand over the intricate carvings on one of the pillars.
Though the carvings had been eroded by wind and sand, becoming worn and indistinct, traces of their forr grandeur could still be seen in the delicate lines.
"Frieren, can you tell what story these carvings are depicting?"
"It looks like a story about a giant dragon blessing the dwarves."
Frieren stepped forward as well, her fingers brushing over the weathered patterns.
"I once heard Eisen ntion the legends of the dwarves. Many of them still believe they are descendants of dragons."
Descendants of dragons?
Dwarves?
That's… hard to imagine.
After a brief inspection of the stability around the entrance, the two followed the remaining stone steps of the temple and entered.
…
The entire Ancient Dragon Temple was divided into two parts: the surface ruins and the underground chambers.
The surface ruins were relatively simple. When adventurer parties first cleared the place, they had already wiped out the monster known as the "Three-Headed Lizard" that once occupied it. Since then, no other low-level monsters had appeared.
The underground chambers, however, were far more complex.
There were two paths here—left and right.
The left led to the "Dragon's Tomb," while the right led to a dead end filled with traps.
Shane glanced at the explanation on the map and couldn't help but chuckle.
"The dwarves' way of thinking really is simple and direct. Just a straight-up two-choice path."
In any other dungeon, there'd be ten different wrong routes designed to ss with you.
"Let's go. We'll head straight to the Dragon's Tomb."
"Wait…"
"Hm?"
Frieren looked down at the outdated map in her hands, which now had quite a bit of new information recorded on it.
After a mont of thought, she asked, "The left and right paths marked on the map… they should be correct, right?"
"…!"
Shane froze.
Wait—was that even a possibility?
The mont she said that, his confidence wavered instantly.
He looked again at the two dark, gaping tunnels ahead. His earlier ease vanished, replaced by a serious expression.
A two-choice path.
If they chose wrong, the destination would be a trap-filled dead end.
Left or right?
"Let's follow the map and check the left side first?" Frieren suggested.
Shane hesitated. Should he trust the map… or his instincts?
Taking a deep breath, he decided to trust [Great Luck]. At tis like this, nothing beat luck.
He took out a coin, placed it on his thumb, flicked it into the air, and caught it. In his mind, he decided: heads ant left, tails ant right.
When he opened his hand—
It was right.
"Since we're already doubting it, let's start by exploring the right side."
Frieren nodded, and the two entered the right tunnel one after the other.
…
The passage was dim, visibility limited.
Frieren channeled mana into the gem at the tip of her staff, causing it to glow like a lamp.
Everything in the tunnel beca clearly visible.
After proceeding cautiously for a while, Frieren suddenly stopped.
"Wait."
"There's another mage hiding nearby."
Those words instantly sent Shane's heart racing.
"How many?"
"One."
One mage, appearing deep within a low-level dungeon that had already been cleared?
No matter how you looked at it, that didn't seem like a good sign.
Shane quietly drew the longsword at his waist, holding it in front of him. He switched positions with Frieren, slowing his pace as he advanced under the light of her staff.
After only a few steps, they ca across a scattered pile of fine iron arrows.
Clearly, soone had triggered a trap.
So arrows were embedded in the walls, others stuck into the ground, and a few had been knocked away by so external force, scattered across the floor.
Shane crouched down and touched one of the arrows.
It was cool to the touch—aning the fight here had ended so ti ago.
He scanned all the arrows and found no traces of blood or torn clothing.
From that, he could roughly judge that the other party was quite strong.
He shot Frieren a cautious glance.
The two continued forward. At the next corner, they found many oddly shaped fragnts of stone scattered across the ground.
"Gargoyles," Frieren said softly from behind him. "They've been shattered."
Shane nodded.
At this point, he could already tell—the unknown mage hiding sowhere nearby was definitely powerful.
He sincerely hoped that person ant no harm.
Otherwise, fighting in such a narrow underground space could easily lead to mutual destruction.
Just as he was thinking this, a sudden flash of light burst from the tunnel ahead, followed by a noticeable tremor shaking the ground.
At the sa ti, a hoarse, muffled roar filled with fury echoed through the passage:
"Foolish human! Look at what you've done!"
The two exchanged a shocked glance.
Frieren instantly teleported, vanishing from where she stood.
Shane activated [Sprint], turning into a blur as he rushed forward at full speed.
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