While both Gabriel and Arabelle were learning more and more, Grum was preparing a surprise for the elves that had taken him “captive”. No one would want someone else enter inside your house or property without your permission and knowing that people were going to try to brute force their way in also didn’t help.

Grumbonk had to something in the meantime, so he simply improved the already prepared traps, but also tried to steer the expedition making simple comments, such as that “something smelled funny” from a certain direction or Grum simply remained staring into the distance towards a specific direction and, when asked about it, he would say he “felt” something.

Now the adventurers weren’t stupid and wouldn’t blindly listen to something an old man would sputter, but nonetheless their path diverged always a bit more from the straight line they were going towards. What Grum had first done was experiment and see how their direction changed based on his actions, to see whether they’d follow his advice or rather instinctively reject it and move towards the opposite direction so that he could use this information to drive the group directly into one of his most guarded bases, which he had previously mostly cleared of important objects and information, in case someone used a destructive spell and not only his resources invested into this building, but also the resources stored inside would be lost. Grum did, however, leave a few enticing objects behind so that the elves wouldn’t think that this place had been looted already and, because of that, move towards somewhere else.

When the group finally stumbled outside of his domain, they were stopped by a simple barrier which didn’t let anything go through it. Grum prepared it for two main reasons, see their reactions and test their knowledge. The thing is that this specific barrier is very hard to take down, which means that the creator most likely has a hidden entrance where the barrier has a hole and can go through it, but this knowledge was only known by magicians of medium rank or above, which was the case for one of Elbian’s party members, who quickly realized this and stopped the team from misspending useful energy which would, in theory, be needed later when they had to fend off against the more active defenses of the building.

After searching for a while, they found the entrance, which was high in the air, so the teams wizard helped move people via a magic carpet, while the magician moved them with air currents. Konn wasn’t helped and so he had to cut a tree down and put it diagonally through the hole to get in. Having reached the other side of this barrier they were met with an already seen hedge maze, because the barrier was transparent, but made things on the other side blurry, so they had already seen some green things that looked like plants but couldn’t be sure.

The hedges weren’t made from usual plants, the group quickly realized, instead it was some sort of single being, observed by the way it reacted and it also moved at a quick pace for a plant, changing the maze periodically. The group didn’t have energy to try to walk through the maze, so they started climbing the maze’s wall, but as soon as the second person started climbing, they realized that the wall was sucking them into it, probably to kill them.

The second elf to start the climb could easily escape, but the other member had to be rescued from the maze’s clutches with the help of all the other members and when they saw his state, they realized that climbing wasn’t an option, because his hands and arms, all the way to his elbows, from where he had been saved, had lost all of its armor and had been burnt with some sort of acid. The group could only hope that the plant wouldn’t attack them if they stayed inside the route.

Going around the maze wasn’t really fun. Not only did the maze change, but also every place looked similar to the previous one, making the action of getting lost very easy. The group had to sleep inside the maze, but luckily, no plant had attacked them. One specific night, after they had stopped having a guard role during it, some long screams came from the forest and everyone who was asleep woke up. They all grouped together, lit the bonfire up and made a quick headcount which showed that one of their members was gone.

What Grum had done was to create sounds inside the elf’s ears which made only this specific one wake up and with the help of some misdirection and clever noises directed him towards a specific area of the maze, which he then ordered to close up, so that he didn’t leave. Maybe he’d free him after he had dealt with Elbian, but the man didn’t want to be captured, so he tried his best to climb out of the room, by breaking off his spear and making two makeshift knifes which would help him keep his arms free and they did, but his feet got dragged into the wall, him being slowly killed by acid by it, making him scream before his vocal cords were burnt as well.

Elbian and the elves didn’t want to believe that he had died, so he tried getting some information, but the only person that was awake at that time was the elf they treated as a slave. He had only seen the man move in a certain direction, which he showed them and after searching for a while they found what remained of him. Well, they only found his broken-down weapon, as his whole body had been consumed by the maze. As a memoire for him they built some sort of cross using the parts of the spear, said a few words and continued their “adventure” but at a significantly slower pace.

A few days later they got outside and were finally in the outskirts of the building. The group could only see a single eerie door and even if both the wizard and magician worked together to try to uncover the illusions that covered the windows, they wouldn’t be enough, because not only was Grum better than them, but each important base of his had special magic crystals which would improve the magical defenses even if only for a while. Grum could also control the energy spread of the illusion to make the ones nearby the group harder to crack than the ones on the other side.

After looking around for a while, through all the walls and on top of the roof the group gave up on trying to find an alternative exit, so they entered the building and the first thing they saw was nothing. No lights came out of the building and the one coming in faded quickly, which was part of a trap set by Grum.

The darkness wasn’t natural, instead Grum, alongside his experiments, had managed to make a being that could live inside it and also expand it, even if just a little. Therefore, the magician cast a light spell which immediately let them get more information.

- The building only seems dusty, but it doesn’t seem to be rundown, so the owners probably cast some sort of powerful spell to keep things intact. – The wizard explained – But by the sheer number of things we can see now and the size of this building, it would take more than a hundred times the mana that all the elven countries use yearly to have managed this, if it really is a ruin of 500 years of age.

- Why if? – Elbian inquired, curious to hear the opinion and idea that the wizard had to offer.

- Because the time that a spell lasts for doesn’t increase the mana required linearly, instead it is similar to an exponential curve – He explained – So if instead of being 500 years old it was a hundred, the mana required would decrease as if decreasing from the of a country to the size of a street or even a house. It is an astronomical difference that is very hard to imagine. So, I believe that the age of this building is much less than what you were told. Maybe this is a different building, a newer one, but then why would this one be abandoned 400 years later in comparison to the other one? It simply doesn’t make any sense.

The wizard started walking around while he was thinking, taking a look at the different things he could see. The others had already started, but he wanted to look for clues that could defend either side to make them sure what they should expect.

- And even more, if this is the remains of an ancient civilization, how did we manage to get in? Wouldn’t their security be top notch? Or maybe this is a trap? Or it isn’t ancient, but it is a trap of a political enemy of yours?

The wizard kept piling more and more questions while talking faster and faster, but before the wizard burst the heads of everyone by the sheer number of things he was saying, suddenly the lights inside the building turned on and just a moment later three doors leading to the room they were in opened.