The feeling of being underwater assaulted Gaius’ senses for a moment as he stepped through the forbidding darkness, pressing down on every inch of his body. His body moved on reflex, and his muscles rippled with strength as they moved to resist the crushing pressure on his body.

Gaius stepped onto solid land a second later, and the clothes he was wearing returned from their taut state. Blinking his eyes, he surveyed the area around him, and then sucked in a breath. The walls of the passageway they were currently in was made of what looked like gold bullion melted down and spread evenly across the walls. He could see his reflection clearly, as well as that of the others, and for a moment, the boy thought he was in a hall of mirrors. Crystals that gave off light were placed evenly apart, each of them carved in the shape of candles.

“Wow,” Isabelle murmured. “It’s so pretty.”

“Gold turned into paint, and then splattered liberally over the walls,” Gaius said quietly. “How extravagant.”

“Either that,” said Kenouji, “or the passage was made of gold in the first place. We could, of course, find out the answer by cutting out some scraps of gold, but this is my family’s tomb.”

A few people, who were already whipping out sharp implements, froze at his words, before stowing them into their backpacks. Gaius could see some unwillingness in their face, but it was somewhat disturbing that these people were willing to cut out the walls of their legendary ancestor’s tomb mere minutes after entry. Weren't they afraid of things like traps?

“Is it alright to be walking in such a careless manner?” Gaius asked, directing his question towards Isabelle, who, of everyone here, had the highest chance of coming into contact with something like this.

“Why would that be a problem?” Isabelle asked, confused.

“Traps? To detect tomb robbers?” Gaius replied. “This entire place is made of gold. Wouldn’t the builders at least protect it or something?”

“Why would you do that?” Isabelle asked. “You’re going to kill a lot of descendants like this, no? Just make the entry point inaccessible to outsiders, and that’ll be good enough, right? My family’s old tomb, for instance, was in a windowless building three floors high. There was only one key to it, which is kept by the current head in a secret place.”

“So…no traps?”

“No traps.” She lowered her voice. “Is it an Earth thing? I never heard of it before.”

“I-I see.” Gaius relaxed, and glanced at Nakama, who was still on Isabelle’s back. The little girl looked excited enough, and if there wasn’t any danger…

Isabelle gestured at the golden walls. “And besides, wouldn’t it spoil the aesthetic of the place if dried blood or skeletons showed up every few minutes? Only idiots would—”

Kenouji, who was leading the group, stopped in his tracks abruptly. A few people bumped into each other, sending some ‘ows’ echoing into the depths of the tomb.

“Why have we stopped?” Isabelle asked.

The others fell silent, seemingly in reply to her question, and then parted to the sides to reveal tens of spears pointed at them, their steely heads glinting faintly in the golden light. Gaius could see a whole host of trigger mechanisms chilling openly, from blatantly obvious tripwires to marked out panels, and felt a wry grin creep up his face.

“You were saying something, Isabelle?” Gaius asked.

She looked at the trap-ridden hallway in disbelief, and then slapped her forehead. Nakama, who was still on her back, pouted as the impact of Isabelle’s slap ran through her, before making a cute miffed sound.

“Can I take a look?” Nakama said, her clear eyes blinking.

“No, you can’t,” Gaius replied. “We’ll be turned into mush if you do.”

She pouted again, before burying her face into Isabelle’s back. Gaius tried to pat her head, but he was too short, so after musing for a few moments about an upcoming growth spurt, the boy walked over to Kenouji.

“Need help?” Gaius asked.

“Any suggestions?”

“We’ll just brute force this. I’ll project a barrier, and we’ll take on the hits head-on.”

“That’s…probably the only way,” Kenouji admitted. “Still, laying traps in a tomb…I think we should do that too. Wouldn’t it be cool?”

Behind him, Isabelle slapped her forehead again.

Gaius suppressed an urge to snicker, and then activated his barrier, infusing it with as much qi as possible. Walking into a firing line probably felt like this — if not for the fact that this world was one with mystical powers, the boy would have thought himself insane for even entertaining such a thought.

Taking a deep breath, Gaius walked into the trigger-laden passageway. There was an ear-piercing snap as he broke a tripwire, and everyone froze for a moment. A few seconds passed in fear, and then it hit the boy — perhaps, these things were just for show. Indeed, there wasn’t any reason to actually kill your descendants, like what Isabelle said.

“Is this just a prank?” Someone asked.

“Yeah, I knew it,” Isabelle said. “Why would you set traps in your family tomb, of all places? This doesn’t make any sense whatsoever.”

“Let me activate everything first, though,” Gaius called back, his leg reaching out for a red pressure plate that was placed right beside an opulent door. “We can never be too—INCOMING!”

The Dragoon rushed out of Gaius’ body as he heard multiple clicks from the other end of the passage. At the same time, the air in front and behind Gaius hardened into solid blocks, forming a second layer of defences that would hopefully protect fools that were not covered by his barrier.

Wooden splinters began to fly as the semi-autonomous blade of qi slammed itself into the incoming projectiles. Gaius’ expression faltered somewhat as he received feedback from the Ability he had activated — these bolts were capable of somewhat damaging even the Dragoon…they were on the threshold of being Paragon-rank attacks!

Clicks continued to echo out, and the boy could hear even more spears hurtling towards him.

“MOVE!” Gaius roared. “This is no ordinary trap!”

Kenouji burst into motion, pushing open the gem-crusted door. “Move, move!”

The Dragoon shattered as the first of the group began to enter the passageway. The impromptu defences Gaius had created with Telekinesis brought a few more seconds, and then shockwaves began to assault Gaius as a flurry of spears slammed into his barrier, each of them enough to shake his hardened and tempered bones.

Someone jerked him into the room as they passed by him, and as he landed on his butt, a horde of ten-odd spears streaked into where he was previously, blasting aside his barrier with ease.

Gaius, whose heart was still pumping madly, turned to look at Isabelle, who was the one to pull him in at the end.

“Thanks,” he wheezed.

“No problem,” Isabelle replied, her face looking as bad as he felt. The boy got up, and as Nakama messed with his hair, he glanced at the open door.

The spears were still shooting out.