Announcement: Greeting everyone! I'm happy to be back on the platform. For those who have questions about my disappearance, please read the 'Author Letter in the Auxiliary Volume or Note Below!

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That's because only one or two of them owned an AP bracelet. They were the cleanest of the pirates in terms of crimes and contracts, making them free from the Queen's chains.

There was no way in hell, those pirates would sign a contract that would put them all in danger.

So, there wasn't any way to make this go away diplomatically unless Felix and the rest were a bunch of morons.

"Guys, who's willing to touch those rocks?" Felix clarified, "I believe the key must be under an illusion so we can only rely on other senses."

"I will do it." Malak said

"Count me in as well." Erik added.

"I have been feeling quite useless the entire time." Jones said firmly, "I will take this task no matter what."

"Me too."

One by one, they agreed to take part in such a risky plan.

Not one of them chickened out. Felix didn't know if this was due to feeling worried that he might get a bad impression of them if they refused or they truly wanted to help.

Whatever it was, he was glad by their agreement.

'You guys don't need to do anything.' Nicci proposed, 'I will be using my vines to touch everything from a safe place.'

'That's even better.' Felix agreed and gestured for the rest to leave the area.

After everyone left, Nicci extended her fingers, allowing each vine to emerge from the tip.

Those vines were slightly different as they had a bulgy tip, appearing like a mace.

Whoosh! Thud Thud!

Nicci used them to strike the walls, the ceiling, and even the ground.

Only the sounds of the vines colliding against them kept echoing in this dimly lighted corridor.

Seconds went by and the squad's agitation began building up after neither the traps activated nor the room's door had been discovered.

Their state of mind merely kept worsening with each failed strike.

'I think it's a bust.' Khodri shook his head.

'Yea, that little shit just had us wasting time here by his lie.' Malissa said

'Did Sir Felix kill him yet?' Khodri asked

'I don't think so?' Malissa replied 

'What is he waiting for then?' 

'Probably to catch up to him and ask him personally on the reason of his peculiar betrayal.' Malissa guessed.

'Well, he better kill him now to let hear some good news at...'

RUMBLE!!

Before Khodri managed to finish his sentence, the ground of the corridor shook abruptly, making everyone's hearts sink to the depth of despair as they believed that the pirates had fired off at the hole!

However, their assumption had been removed before it took roots as the cause of the shake was right in front of them!

Part of the ground was slowly sinking down, like an elevator!

A few seconds later, the shaking stopped so as the descending of the ground, making Erik and the rest glance at each other with wary expressions.

'Stay alert! It might be a trap.' Malak warned while gesturing for them to take a step back.

Meanwhile, Felix swiftly went to the hole and couldn't help but grin widely after seeing that it was small and empty, matching the exact description of Momo.

'Where is the door though?' Felix stopped grinning at once after noticing the tiny air pocket on the bottom right of the room but no door like Momo mentioned.

'Did he lie about it?' Felix was slightly weirded out as he could see that everything matched except the door.

So, lying about it wouldn't really do much. With the blue line leading to him, it was obvious that this was the mentioned room.

There was no doubt in that.

Hence, this drove Felix to believe that Momo didn't lie and he truly saw the entrance of the tunnel.

'He is immune to illusions, so he was telling the truth! The fault is in our eyes.' Felix concluded with a faint smirk.

'This is the room guys, let's get the hell out of here quickly.' Felix informed them.

'Haha, right away!'

'Thank god!'

The squad rushed towards the room in excitement but when they reached it and saw only four walls below, they were left a bit bewildered.

'Nicci use your vines to touch the walls.' Felix said, 'Make sure to have a feel for a doorknob.'

'On it.'

Obediently, Nicci did as he asked while the rest kept their confusion to themselves.

After waiting a few seconds, Nicci yelped in surprise, 'I touched something round on the right wall. It must be it.'

Felix sighed in relief after hearing so. 'Good, now turn it.' 

Creeeek! 

When Nicci did so, an ear-piercing noise resonated in everyone's ears but instead of getting irritated, they felt like it was the most heavenly noise in the universe at this moment. 

Why? Because of the dimly-lighted stairs exposed after the invisible door was opened!

'Boss, you f*cking rock!' Erik laughed in delight while trying to hug Felix who was hovering beside him.

'Without you accompanying us, this exploration would have gone in a totally different route.' Pualani said with a serious tone.

'I concur.' Malak nodded her head in agreement.

She had experience in ruins exploration and knew that it shouldn't have been going as smoothly as this. Especially not with their numbers, strength, and the high tier of the ruins.

Without Felix, they would have lost members in the underground world by those Tombscreamers.

Even if they survived and used the sprays, they would have taken days to find out that unique method to enter the pyramid.

That was a death sentence due to the limitation on the spray.

Felix believed that the Bloody Mary pirates had actually ended up with heavy casualties in those ruins. Casualties reaching up to tens of pirates who met their fate.

He knew so because after each stage, he sees newer faces and lost ones. This meant, they were exploring the ruins with a group after another.

They learn from the mistakes of the previous group continuously until finally, they cleaned up the ruins! As for the hieroglyphics language?

He believed that they had contacted someone with high access to the network's database and helped them translate the riddles and even solve them!

After all, the hieroglyphics language shouldn't be lost like Jörmungandr's language since Lady Sphinx didn't die, allowing her descendants and legacy to prevail.

But Malak and the rest of the squad couldn't copy the pirate's method.

'Okay, okay, stop kissing my ass and just get in the tunnel. We still aren't in the clear yet.' 

Upon hearing so, everyone jumped inside the room and jogged down on the staircase while pointing their flashlights in front of them.

As Momo said, the tunnel was as dark as a black hole, making it almost impossible to see anything without a flashlight.

Because of that, they were able to see a tiny bright spark at the limits of their line of sight.

'That must belong to that traitor.' Erik said while gritting his teeth, wanting nothing but to head there and beat the shit of out Momo.

'I told him to stop earlier.' Felix smiled coldly, 'Move quickly, he is waiting for us.'

Sure enough, Momo was leaning against the wall while staring at nothingness with an expressionless face.

He had already noticed the bright lights of tens of flashlights entering the tunnel. Yet, he didn't seem nervous or scared at all.

He was simply waiting for them naturally like he did absolutely nothing wrong.

Meanwhile, Samir and Declan had been just updated that the party was in the tunnel and they needed a couple of minutes more to reach the end of the tunnel.

"Captain Roger, let me run your proposal with the captain." Declan clarified, "I am just a slave and I can't make those decisions on behalf him."

"Tell him that he has five minutes to make up his mind." Captain Roger said coldly, "My patience is running thin."

"Will do." Declan closed off the connection and reported to Felix, 'I have bought five minutes at maximum.'

'That's should be sufficient.' Felix looked at the squad and said, 'Start moving at your fastest speed!'

The instant they heard so, everyone popped out their abilities and began moving rapidly towards the end of the tunnel.

Since Jones was the slowest of them, he was thrown to Pualani who let him sit on his back as he sprinted while morphed into a bear.

With this speed, it took them only two minutes to reach Momo.

'Malak pick him up.' Felix ordered without glancing at Momo.

Though she disliked it, Malak did pick him up and took him with them.

The rest knew that Felix did so because he didn't want to waste time dealing with him now. It was much better to take care of him in the spaceship.

Before long, they arrived at the end of the tunnel, where a squad-shaped platform was placed on the ground.

It was big enough to hold them all only if they squeezed inside. The ceiling above it was completely dug from the bottom to the surface of the planet.

They could easily guess that this was an elevator since it had a handle at the side.

'Drink your advanced invisibility potions and anti-deduction potions.' Malak ordered while beaming two small spherical bottles.

One was empty and the other had a thick blue liquid within.

They didn't know how exactly they were going to appear on the surface and how far it would be from the ruins. So, those two potions were a must to avoid getting deducted by the pirates.

'Samir, bring the spaceship above us exactly. You have our location.' Felix ordered.

Samir glanced at the hologram that was showing stacked red dots below the ground and operated the spaceship to get closer slowly.

He didn't want to attract too much attention when Malak and the rest had yet to reach the surface.

'Everyone ready? Do I pull it?' Erik asked while having his hand on the handle.

'Do it.'

The moment he got their confirmation, he pulled the metallic handle toward himself with a moderate force, not wanting to break it.

Cluck Cluck!

The metallic handle kept making irritating noises while being lifted slowly towards Erik.

When it finally touched his chest, the platform shook slightly then began ascending under the cheers of everyone on board!

While they were cheering, Felix had only one question coursing on his mind as he glanced at the dark ceiling, 'How exactly are we going to emerge outside?'