Red thought at first that these creatures were all dead, as they didn’t even blink. Upon closer observation, however, he could see their midsections rising and falling as the lizards breathed. They were anything but dead.

These lizards seemed even larger than the ones Red met earlier. They were well over 5 meters long from head to tail, covered in grey scales, with a crest running down their backs. Unlike their siblings, though, these lizards seemed to be bulkier and had a large midsection that exuded brute strength the likes of which the boy had seen in very few monsters. Their claws, close to short swords in size, also looked extremely sharp, and multiple scratch marks could be found around the room as a testament to that.

What caught his attention, though, was their white, pupilless eyes. He guessed this pointed to some kind of blindness, but he wasn’t keen on making a premature judgement.

Red and his companions all stood still as they observed the creatures.

“How many do you two see?” Narcha asked Red and Reinhart in a low voice.

Reinhart shook his head. “Too many to fight.”

The boy didn’t respond, instead taking a few more careful steps forward so he could enter his crimson sense detection range. It didn’t take long before he felt a fluctuation from one of the lizards.

Red frowned at what he felt, though. “There’s something weird about them.”

Narcha frowned. “What do you mean?”

The boy hesitated. “I don’t know how to explain. They don’t feel like normal monsters, though.”

Red had arrived at this conclusion after examining the fluctuation of one of the lizards. Just like humans, monsters had rather vibrant fluctuations in his crimson sense, and each different individual person and creature had their own peculiarities that the boy could detect with enough observation. Things like undead, on the other hand, invoked a strange feeling of stillness in his crimson sense.

These lizards’ fluctuations were very similar to an undead’s, but they didn’t seem like zombies judging by the fact they weren’t decomposing and could still breathe. This revelation left Red at a loss, though.

“Is this something to be worried about?” Reinhart asked.

“I don’t know.” Red shook his head.

His reply didn’t seem to satisfy the man. He looked over at Eiwin. “Any idea about these monsters?”

Eiwin gave him a helpless smile. “Please, don’t take me for a monster expert. All I can tell you is that they are probably from the Great Serpent Canyon.”

Reinhart grunted in disappointment. “So, what do we do?”

Narcha glared at him. “We should be asking you. You’re the one who can see in the dark. What does the rest of the room look like?”

The knight turned over to examine the place. “It seems very long for a room. Probably hundreds of meters long. I can’t see the end of it. There are also no other exits from what I can see.”

“Is there a way to sneak through without a fight?”

“Without them noticing? Seems almost impossible. They’re everywhere.”

“They seem to be blind, though.” Red said.

The man shook his head. “Doesn’t mean we can sneak by them. Blind animals tend to develop their other senses even more. They might spot us just by smell or sound.”

Narcha frowned. “So what you’re saying is there is no way through without a fight?”

Reinhart nodded. “Seems to be the case.”

“But you just said there are too many to fight.”

The knight shrugged, making Narcha even angrier.

“There’s no need to jump to conclusions yet.” Eiwin said. “Every trial we’ve gone through thus far has always had a solution, so why would this one be any different?”

“We could test their senses.” Red said. “They might not necessarily be as developed as we think.”

The younger woman nodded with a smile. “It’s a good idea.”

She picked a small rock off the ground, looking over at her companions.

“Be ready if anything happens.” Eiwin said.

Everyone nodded. Then, she leaned back and threw the stone towards the lizards.

The pebble flew through the air like a bolt, shattering against a pillar. Almost immediately, the lizards moved. At first, it was just the creatures close to the stone that sprung into action, blindly charging towards the place where they heard the noise. However, just like a ripple travelling through a pond, this agitation spread to the surrounding creatures, and soon enough, the entire room was shifting around in agitation.

The creatures moved extremely quickly on their four legs for beasts of their size. To make matters even weirder, none of them made a single call, and all Red could hear was the sound of their claws scratching against the stone floor. The creatures all bumped into each other, even climbing over one another’s body in alarm. This agitation didn’t last for more than ten seconds, though, as one by one the creatures seemed to calm down upon realizing there were no intruders and they once more fell still.

The way they all moved in almost complete silence, their sudden burst of speed, and how quickly they fell still again - this scene was extremely eerie for Red. These creatures didn’t seem to behave like any monsters he ever saw before, and his companions shared his distress.

“I guess you were right.” Reinhart said. “There is something weird about them.”

Red nodded. “I think we can also confirm they are blind.”

The chaos that ensued once they started to move was more than enough evidence of it.

“They do seem to be sensitive to noise, but it doesn’t seem to approach the level of super hearing.“ Eiwin said. “That rock sound should have reached pretty far, but only the lizards near it reacted.”

“So they’re blind and their hearing is not even that good either?” Narcha frowned in suspicion. “This doesn’t seem right. What about their sense of smell?”

“We can test that too now.”

Eiwin took out a piece of dry meat. The smell of the food wasn’t too strong, but it was very distinct and could be felt from quite a few meters away by a normal human, not to mention monsters which usually had a superior sense of smell.

The woman leaned back and threw a sizable piece of meat towards one of the lizards. She wasn’t aiming to make noise with it this time around, so she didn’t put as much force into her throw, but Eiwin was more than strong and precise enough to reach her target.

The piece of dried meat slid across the ground, landing not too far from one of the closest lizards to the group. Then, they waited for a reaction.

However, even after a minute had passed, the lizard showed no sign as to whether it had smelled the meat. This left the group very confused.

Reinhart frowned. “So, they can’t smell very well either?”

“Either that, or they have no interest in the meat.” Red said.

The knight grunted. “That seems strange for a monster.”

“We know by now this is not a normal monster.” Eiwin shook her head. “It might have been specially prepared for this trial. In any case, this is favourable towards us.”

Reinhart looked at her. “So you want to sneak through?”

“Indeed.” she nodded. “If combat is not an option, this seems to be the only way to pass through the chamber.”

Narcha, however, seemed hesitant at her suggestion. “Are you sure about this? If we get caught up in the middle of those monsters, we’ll have nowhere to retreat.”

Eiwin gave her a comforting smile. “We already have nowhere to retreat, Miss Valt.”

The warrior frowned, looking around. “We could try breaking the walls. This place doesn’t look that sturdy.”

“First thing I tried when I came here.” Reinhart said. “Made some scratches on the stones, but it would probably take a long while to get one of these walls down, even with your strength.”

Narcha sighed in defeat. “I guess sneaking through it is, then.”

“There is still a problem, though.” Reinhart interjected. “Even if these creatures don’t have good hearing, we’ll still be moving right by them. There is a lot of dust and pebbles in the ground, so it’s likely they’ll be able to hear our steps.”

“We can use the thunder as cover.” Red said. “As long as it’s loud enough, it should mask the sound of our steps.”

“And if we have no thunder? Are we just supposed to wait in the middle of those lizards without moving a muscle?”

The boy nodded. “As long as you don’t panic, it should be fine.”

The knight smiled. “You really are insane.”

With their plan settled, the group started to make preparations. It was decided that Red would lead the party, with Reinhart and the rest right behind him. The boy’s detection abilities would be of extreme importance in this place, since they would need to determine their route in advance and they couldn’t really tell whether some creatures would be hiding behind some giant rock or pillar, and they wouldn’t really be able to communicate during it.

Narcha had some reservations in Red giving his back to Reinhart, but there was nothing they could do in this situation. Not to mention, if the man tried something, he would probably die with them.

Red took the first few steps towards the monsters, already having a mental image of his route in mind. Thankfully, the lizards all remained still, so he wouldn’t need to improvise on the fly.

He approached the monster minefield with silent and measured steps, prepared for a scenario where all their testing was for naught and for the beast to react as soon as they came close. It didn’t happen, though, and the lizards seemed oblivious to their presence.

Once he was within twenty meters of the creatures, he stopped in his tracks and looked back at his companions. He pointed up, as to show he was going to wait for the thunder.

The others nodded at him, and they waited in absolute silence. It took fifteen seconds before a loud enough thunder rolled in, and Red took a few quick steps towards the lizards, getting right up to them before coming to a stop.

His companions followed his steps perfectly, advancing and stopping with him. Not that Red expected anything less from three seasoned cultivators.

The next thunder came faster this time around, and the boy pushed forward, now completely within the lizards’ midst. In fact, one of the creatures was no farther than three meters from him, and the boy was afraid of even breathing too loudly in case it would disturb it. No such thing came to pass, and soon enough the next thunder came, allowing the group to proceed.

The entire process went smoothly over the course of the next ten minutes. On some occasions, Red had to stop and turn around as they came upon a dead end or if too many monsters blocked their path forward, but this was as close as to a nuisance as they came across. Even when they had to step over the lizards’ long tails, the creatures showed no reaction.

It was slow going, but it was safe and steady. Soon enough, they had made significant progress.

At this point, Red could even see the other end of the long room that seemed to lead into another corridor. He got ready for the next thunder, and once the rumbling sound came in, he advanced. However, he had taken only a few steps forward when he felt something with his crimson sense.

The boy froze, raising his hand up to stop his companions. They were able to come to a quick stop, staring at Red in confusion.

‘What is it?’ Narcha mouthed the words to the boy.

Red had a frown on his face, though, as he focused on the new fluctuation he felt. It stood out amidst the sea of strange lizard fluctuations, as it seemed to belong to an ordinary monster. It wasn’t at the Lesser Ring Realm from what the boy could tell, but its presence here gave him a bad feeling.

What was it doing amid these strange creatures? Could it see them?

However, when the boy looked around, all he saw were the grey giant lizards and ruined stones, and no sign of anything out of the ordinary. If there was another creature here, it was hidden.

Red tried to focus on the direction he sensed the fluctuation coming from, hoping to spot the possible hiding place of this creature before it spotted him. There was a lizard there, right by the side of a pillar - a blind spot for the group where another monster might be hidden.

Right as Red was considering how to tell his companions about this, he noticed movement out of the corner of his eyes. The boy squinted, focusing back at that spot with the lizard. He saw nothing out of the ordinary at that moment, but he maintained his gaze steady, hoping to catch what had made that movement.

Then it happened again, and this time Red was able to spot it.

The lizard had blinked.

Something like this wasn’t cause for alarm in any normal animal. Yet, amidst the sea of dozens of similar lizards, this was the only one Red had seen blink.

At that moment, the boy felt the monster’s pupilless eyes were staring right at him.

His blood ran cold.