Chapter 115: Three Lairs and Three Tablets 1

As they walked on the tunnel, Ryu was counting the hours with his hands. If he collected antidotes every hour, then they could possibly escape or held Vein captive to give them the real cure to the poison.

There was no way that he didn't carry it with him. Ryu would tell the others later when he got the chance.

Rather, how many antidotes Vein had enough to fill the four of them every hour? Was he bluffing? 

Ryu suddenly felt worried. Vein couldn't keep on supplying them with an antidote. Sooner or later, his supply would run out, and what would happen then? Would he give them the real cure? Or let them die in the end?

Ryu had to think of a way to get Vein between his claws somehow. If talking wouldn't work, they could always resort to torture.

As for now, Ryu focused ahead. He didn't have to worry about ambushes and traps since he already traversed this tunnel before and on the other side. . .

"Oh no. . ." Kai rubbed his head for the impending headache. "Not this again."

At the end of the tunnel lies three arches, but there were carved symbols on top of the archway this time.

"Can you decipher it?" Vein asked Masha.

Since Masha was a hunter and excelled in traps and maps and hunting, be it treasures or beasts, she was required to learn symbols and deferent languages and not just the many beasts roaming the entire Realms. The only problem was, it was her sister, Morgan, who was doing all the research while Masha was just riding her fame.

She knew of it but not completely. Masha scratched her head. She didn't bother to check what lay at the end of the tunnel since she got scared and turned tail when she heard rattling noises.

"L-let me decipher it first," Masha said in a weak voice, and Jane smirked at the side.

Vein sighed at Masha's clueless face. Was it really wise to partner with her? If only it were Morgan. Rather, could she just summon her pet to take a sniff and look?

"Never mind," Vein said and inspected the symbols on each arch. 

Ryu and the other did the same. The four passages were huge. So huge that it was worrying what would come out of it. 

Ryu looked at the intricately carved symbols. It looked like claws carved it with the rough edges and jagged style. He looked at it and looked at it. .. but he got none. He took a whiff, but the smell was the same old moss-covered damp rocks with a tinge of fishy odors.

"It's runes." Seraphina walked towards Ryu, but her eyes were on the symbols on top of the arches. "No one knew what it meant except the Gods and the Queen of Beast."

"It's probably just the name of some of their pets," said Kai.

"O-or. .. name of powerful b-beast guarding the archway," Theodore stammered.

Kai crossed his arms. "Are you really going to go in that line of thinking and wet your pants again?"

"I-I did not!" Theodore shouted with a constrained voice, face red and eyes popping.

Jane looked over her memories, but she couldn't find a single clue about the symbol. "Its. .. I think it's something to do with the treasures we will get from each of the caves."

At least that line of thinking brightened her mood, but then she realized that they were held captive by Vein and her motivation plummeted into the very bottom of the sea.

"Enough." Vein waved a hand and picked the central archway. "We'll go this way."

"Why?" Kai looked over the left archway and saw nothing different about it from the rest.

"Because it had the least symbols," Vein said simply with his droopy face and signaled Ryu to move ahead.

With no other options, they went with Vein's suggestion and went into the center archway. Inside, the tunnel was like any tunnel they came across. Only, it was silent. Too quiet. That not even a drop of water or any little creatures' sounds touched their ears.

Theodore squeezed beside Jane while the latter said at Vein, "Give us the antidote. It's almost an hour."

Vein ignored her, and Jane pressed on, "If you don't give us the antidote, then how are we going to fight if there is suddenly a beast on the other side? Could you defend on your own?"

This got Vein's attention, and he briefly shot Jane a side-eye. Breathing heavily through his nose, Vein flung four vials in Jane's way.

Jane and Theodore immediately drank the antidote before she gave the remaining two vials to Kai and Ryu.

Like before, Ryu pretended to drink his before he stored the antidote in his traveler's ring.

"What do you think lies ahead?" Masha asked Vein as she mapped the tunnel. 

"I don't know since it's supposed to be your job to know."

Masha's face reddened, and her cheeks inflated. She snapped her head away and harrumph. She still refused to summon her pet Griffin to aid her. It consumed mana, and since Kai and the others were there to check for her, she didn't feel obligated to do so.

Eventually, after five more minutes of walking in the tunnel, they finally reached the end. But the glaring beam of the sudden light made them closed their eyes. And when they came too, they were inside another hall. Rocks with layers of corals created its walls. The glowing crystals illuminated its space, and nothing was present in its barren ground.

"A dead end?" Kai said in dismay.

BAM!

The entrance and only exit they had was shut closed, and with it came a loud roar.

RoOAaar!

Their eyes shot from above. A creature was crawling so fast on the ceiling before it came crashing down on the ground. The floor shook and rattled, and everyone held their breath at the creature towering over them. Five meters in height and with a body so long, it occupied almost all the space in the hall. 

Its two thin stick-like legs were smacking the ground, and dust and debris flew everywhere. Its body was that of a serpent, and its four pairs of mandibles were that of an insect-type beast. Its four eyes were obsidian black, and its sharp teeth scattered across its wide mouth.

(Pic)

Masha gasped. "It's a. . ." She forgot!

"A Reaper Leviathan!" Seraphina yelled.