The whole chamber was silent as the group stared at these words. All of a sudden, though, Rog broke out in laughter.

“Haha, I knew it!” the hunter had an expression of joy Red had never seen before. He looked at Rimold with a smug grin. “See? I told you! I told you this was an inheritance ground!”

“Y-You don’t know that yet!” Rimold shook his head. “It could be entirely unrelated!”

“Really?! So they just put these types of messages in any cave these days?! You’re in denial! This is the tomb of a great cultivator!” Rog turned around to look at the kids. “And do you know what that means?”

Red ignored the man, still examining the message on the wall. Thus, the task of replying to the eager hunter fell onto Allen’s lap.

“Uhh…” the young master hesitated. “… Treasures?”

“Yes!” Rog clapped. “And not just any treasures, but cultivation treasures!”

“No! Absolutely not!” Rimold interjected. “We’re not taking part in any trials! We don’t even know the level of danger involved in this inheritance! What if it was made for cultivators at the Lesser Ring Realm?! We’d have no chances of walking out of it alive!”

“Rimold is right.” Red nodded in agreement.

“You’re finally starting to see reason, you little devil!” the rogue said with a smile. “We should-”

The boy, however, wasn’t done talking. “We might have no choice but to partake, though.”

Rimold’s expression worsened. “What do you mean by that?! Of course we have a choice! We just need to walk… We just need to…”

The rogue trailed off, quick to notice the issue Red raised. The chamber only had one exit, and it was right next to the foreboding message. Anyone would assume that walking into that wouldn’t lead them to anywhere safe.

“Even if there’s a way to leave, we might only find it after passing through whatever this place has in store for us.” Red said.

Rimold gritted his teeth, unconvinced. “We could just wait here, right?! Maybe something will change, or Hector will come looking for us!”

The boy shook his head. “If we have been teleported, we might be in a completely different place and Hector might be unable to find us. Besides, do you want to risk staying here? Our supplies will run out eventually, and by then we might not have enough food to make it out of here.”

Once more, Red’s reasoning stumped the rogue. He remained silent, but it was clear that he was coming to terms with their situation by his expression.

“Hah! You heard the kid, Rimold!” Rog took the opportunity to mock the man. “We should get a move on before our supplies run out! The earlier the better!”

This time, Rimold didn’t offer any protest. He nodded with a look of defeat, and Rog’s smile only widened at the sight.

“You don’t need to worry, my friend!” the hunter patted his back. “We have Red’s ability to help us! He’ll be able to detect any monster or traps that this place can throw at us!”

Red frowned. “I didn’t say I could detect tra-”

“Anyways, we’re all counting on you, kid!” Rog turned to look at him. “So lead the way!”

The boy sighed, but he knew the man was right. Just by virtue of his detection power, no one was more suited than him to guide them through whatever waited for them ahead.

Rog and Allen were staring at him with expectant gazes, while Rimold was frowning from the side. It was clear to Red they were now relying on him and that did not make the boy thrilled.

“Fine.” he nodded. “Follow me.”

Red walked into the exit holding a torch to illuminate the way, with the rest of the group in tow.

…

The tunnel looked very similar to the illusion they had just been in, straight and artificial. So much so that after 5 minutes of walking had passed with no changes in their surroundings, apprehension came to the group.

“A-Are we in an illusion again?” Allen asked with a concerned expression.

Red frowned. “That would be a strange turn of events. But even if we are, we now know how to leave it either way.”

The boy looked down at his arm where he had cut himself earlier, the injury long since scabbed over. His wound in the illusion had indeed happened in real life, and Red still remembered the strange sensation he felt once he saw blood pouring down his arm.

His words seemed to assuage Allen’s fears, and the group continued to walk forward.

A few minutes later, they finally noticed changes in their path. The rugged cave walls and ceiling around them gave way to neat stone bricks, and the irregular tunnel transformed into a square corridor. Ahead of them, the darkness also receded under the light of white lamps hanging on the wall every few meters.

The first clear signs of human constructions since they got to the underground.

“We seem to have arrived at an important juncture.” Rimold said, examining the surrounding corridor with a frown.

“I-Is this what an inheritance ground is supposed to look like?” Allen asked in confusion.

Red understood his question. The stone bricks that composed the underground corridor looked very rough, and not something that they would expect out of a mighty cultivator. This looked more like something the bandits would build. Granted, the path seemed to extend for a long distance, and building even something like this in the underground was no simple task to begin with.

“That lanterns seem to be lit up with flarestone.” Rimold said upon close observation. “It’s just… Who could have lit all of these?”

Indeed, there were dozens of these lamps that they could see, and probably far more down the path. Even in town, Red rarely saw these many flarestones lit up in one street.

“Do you feel anything, kid?” Rog asked him. Even though he was eager to move forward, he didn’t throw caution to the wind just yet.

“No.” Red shook his head. “I have noticed no one since we left the illusion.”

“What about you, Rimold?” the hunter looked at the rogue. “Notice any traps?”

Rimold scoffed. “Hmph, if I noticed anything, do you think I would have kept silent?”

‘Rimold can detect traps?’

This surprised Red, but then he recalled one of his conversations with his Master Goulth. The blacksmith had told him Rimold was a specialist in lock-picking, so it would make sense he knew something about traps, too.

Rog nodded. “Then let’s move on. Tell me if any of you noticed anything out of the ordinary.”

Red continued to lead the way forward. Not surprising any of them, the stone corridor extended for a long while, and the appearance of their surroundings remained unchanged. To their surprise, though, a few minutes later, they came face to face with a wall, and the path split in two.

Rog frowned. “Hm, both paths look similar and they seem to go for a good way… Any insights?” he looked over at the others.

“A-Are you asking me?” Allen looked surprised.

“Do you have any insights?”

“U-Uh, not really…”

“Then no, I’m not asking you…” the hunter’s attention turned to the other two. “And what about both of you?”

Red shook his head, while Rimold was inspecting the paths.

“There doesn’t seem to be any traps, if that’s what you’re asking.” the rogue also shook his head. “I don’t know how anyone could fit a mechanical trap beneath these stone bricks, so I doubt we need to worry about that… As for magical traps, well, I can’t help you there.”

Rog nodded. “Let’s go to the left path first, then. If it’s a dead-end, we can come back.”

Everyone agreed, and they were soon walking down the left corridor. This time, it took them far less time before they came to another fork in the road.

This time, though, Rog didn’t give them any time to argue. “Left again!”

Rimold, who was on the verge of saying something, could only swallow his words and nod. They followed down this new path, but once more it split after they walked through it for a few minutes.

“This is nonsense!” Rimold said with a frown. “How many corridors does this place-”

“Left again!” Rog interrupted him, walking ahead.

“Hey, you bastard!”

The man grumbled to himself, but still followed behind the group. This time the corridor didn't split. Instead, it led them to a dead end.

“As I thought!” Rog scratched his beard and smiled. “We’re in a labyrinth!”

“A labyrinth?” Allen asked.

Red, who was also unfamiliar with the term, looked over at Rog.

“Indeed, kid.” the hunter nodded. “It’s an obstacle where you’re supposed to find your way out without getting lost. A cultivator classic! A lot of inheritance grounds in old tales have a labyrinth as a trial.”

“Then do you know how to navigate through it?” Red asked.

“It’s easy.” Rog nodded. “Just stick to one wall and you’ll eventually find your way out!”

“If it was that easy, no cultivators would use it as a trial!” Rimold pointed at the man in anger.

“Then, do you have a better suggestion?” the hunter frowned.

“Y-You- Gah, fine!” Rimold threw his hands up in defeat. “Let’s just do as you say!”

“Very well.” the hunter nodded and looked at Red. “Continue leading the way. Remember, always stick to the left wall.”

The rogue scoffed as he heard the man’s words, and Red was also skeptical. Was it really just that easy? The boy doubted it, but as Rog claimed, they didn’t really have any better options.

They continued to travel through the maze, sticking to the left wall. Most of the time they hit dead ends, and were forced to retrace their steps. However, this labyrinth seemed truly endless, and they always found new paths leading them forward. At that point, Rog started to mark the stone walls with his knife, to show which corridors they had already visited in case they got lost.

Almost an hour passed in these monotonous corridors before something happened.

“I sense someone.” Red put his hand up, calling the group to a stop.

“W-Which direction?” Allen asked, taking out his sword.

“Ahead of us and to the left.” Red pointed out. “Just one signal.”

“Are they moving?” Rimold, who also seemed on edge, was the one to ask this time.

“No, they’re still.” the boy frowned. “It’s not a human, though.”

Indeed, after so much experience with his crimson sense of being surrounded by people, Red had been able to immediately tell whether or not a fluctuation came from a human.

“I-Is it a zombie?” Allen trembled.

“No.” Red shook his head. “It’s not from the demon either.”

“Then that only leaves one option.” Rog smiled. “A monster.”

“Monster?” Rimold’s eyes widened in surprise. “You mean…”

“The monsters in the forest above were led to the underground, right? It would make sense if some of them found their way to this labyrinth too.”

Red hadn’t considered the possibility before, but it made sense. The fluctuation was also stronger than most common animals the youth had sensed before.

“Then what do you want to do?” the boy asked. “The path in front of us seems to split. We don’t really need to go in the monster’s direction.”

“No way.” Rog shook his head. “I need to confirm whether these monsters are the same ones that disappeared from the forest.”

“Are you insane?!” Rimold glared at the hunter. “What if it’s a monster in the Lesser Ring Realm?!”

“It’s not.” Red shook his head. He could tell from the strength of the fluctuation.

The rogue’s glare was redirected to the boy.

Rog smiled. “You heard him, right? Besides, I don’t intend to kill them. I just want to check it out!”

Rimold gritted his teeth again, but nodded in the end. “No fighting, then! We just want to get out of this place alive, not to hunt down the monsters from the forest.”

The hunter laughed and looked at Red. “Let me lead this one.”

The boy didn’t protest and let Rog step in front of them. Since the crimson sense’s detection range was a hundred meters, it didn’t take long for them to reach the monster’s vicinity.

Ahead of them, the corridor opened up into a large room, and in the middle of this room, a large creature was laying down. It had a skin similar to a tree’s bark, and claws that seemed as sharp as knives. It was almost three meters, and it looked to be in a deep sleep.

Red felt like he recognized this creature from the monster books he had read before.

“Tree-bark bear.” Rog said in a whisper.

‘So it is from the forest.’

Red had heard the name before. This confirmed the hunter’s suspicion.

“It’s a big one too.” Rimold nodded. “Anyways, now that we have confirmed it, we should-”

“What’s that behind him?” Allen said, interrupting the man.

Their gazes were all drawn to the other side of the room. There was another passage there, leading deeper into the maze. However, a few meters behind the sleeping bear, almost hidden behind his mountainous body, was an altar. And on top of this altar, an ornamental box stood.

Red immediately thought back to what Rog had said earlier.

‘Cultivation treasure.’