Son, remember this… cute doesn’t mean harmless, especially when courting women!

~Conall, Son of Maddox

Crow didn’t believe the signs were a trap. After everything they’d been through over the years they spent in this place, he suspected there were no more trials. That wasn’t to say this place was safe, but he felt the Shrines were hard enough without adding more.

“The only danger I think will come when accepting the legacy,” Crow finally told her, but by that time, they’d already found the exit. It was a set of wide stairs leading upward, but the door at the top was different.

It was like the metal door they went through to enter the lab below, but this one had a cobbled rock wall on the other of the metal. There was a strange concave half-sphere at head height, so Crow put his face into it out of curiosity and realized he had an unobstructed view of the hall on the other side. He could see in both directions just by turning his head.

“What is it?”

“Heh, it’s a secret door, and this strange contraption allows me to view what’s on the other side. I assume I can see anyone coming, but they can’t see me.

“I don’t think it is. I don’t think there is anything too serious to worry about here until it comes time to claim the legacy.”

“Oh, let me look!” Hooligan said while clapping her hands.

“You know, the concept of stealth is new to you, isn’t it?” Crow chuckled. Just because we can see out doesn’t mean there are formations preventing sound.”

“Are there formations?” Hooligan said with a flushed face.

“No. This is entirely a mundane gadget, except for this sphere thing. I don’t see any formations, but it’s filled with mana. But don’t worry, the hallway is as empty as everything else.”

Hooligan pushed him aside, put her face into the recessed part, and turned her head both ways. “Oh, we can focus the magical vision thing and see even further. Magical mirrors at the end of the halls allow you to see around the corners.”

She slammed the door open, thinking it’d be heavy and she needed to use some strength. However, it moved so smoothly that she couldn’t stop it from slamming into the wall. The loud crash echoed up and down the hallways.

Her shocked face was very amusing, and Crow burst out laughing. “What was it you said earlier? Can’t take me anywhere?”

“Jerkface, you aren’t allowed to laugh,” Hooligan growled and punched him on the arm out of reflex.

Once in the hallway, Crow shut the door behind them and watched how it shut so cleanly that it all but disappeared. If he hadn’t come through that door, he wouldn’t have known it existed, and weirder still, his Mana Sense could get past the stones, so he wouldn’t even have sensed it.

He felt around, looking for the method of opening it again, and after five minutes of searching, he pressed on a stone.

Click!

The door cracked open, revealing the stairs below. And it turned out that spy sphere thing was a mounted beast head. It had the fur, face, and ears of a cat but the eyes of a spider. It looked creepy in this dark hall, but it stood out so much that Crow would’ve never thought it was a spyhole. He closed it and opened it a few more times, noting its location and setup.

“That’s neat. Let me try!” Hooligan clapped in excitement.

“You are like a little child,” Crow laughed. “Go ahead. You got a minute.”

Hooligan kept opening and closing the door, fascinated by how it seemed to disappear once they shut it. She ran her hands all over the wall and couldn’t tell the difference. Unless she knew where to look and which stone to press, this door would’ve remained hidden for eternity.

“Which direction?” She asked after she finished playing with the door. Crow didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at Hooligan’s childlike innocence. Despite everything that happened to her, she kept her curious nature and some naivete. Although he thought that, he knew her experience tempered and filled her with caution. An aggressive rabbit described her well.

The halls curved around in either direction, and he thought about the temple’s layout. Sanctuary had a painting that showed a bird’s eye view of the temple. The most striking feature was the tall building on the back part of the temple. It was like a square tower, with the central part of the building being hollow and exposed to the elements.

That square tower should be where the main legacy was. Out of all the places on the map, it was the only one that made sense. However, Crow wouldn’t underestimate the eccentricity of a cultivator. Still, if he was right, either direction would lead to the same place. That was because he assumed there was only one hall that circled the hollow tower, and rooms were on either side of it. It certainly made it harder to have secret chambers and stairs.

“Pick. Either direction is fine,” Crow told her, and Hooligan went left. There were plenty of doors, but most were locked. The ones that fell or rotted away revealed rooms that were picked clean. No… not picked clean—decay. Everything rotted away just like the doors. He noticed thicker piles of dust near the walls and believed those were once tapestries.

Two turns later, they pushed open a set of double doors to find the stairs leading upward. Both were stunned by what they saw. Thick stone pillars lined a massive stone patio. On the other side of the pillars was an enormous wall, and the manicured grass had long turned into prairie-like conditions.

That was all fine, but the square tower rested on those pillars, and in the center of the space was another courtyard, but this one still had trees growing as well as exotic plants growing unchecked. It almost had jungle-like conditions, and the only thing that stopped its spread was the cobbled stone patio that separated it from the grassy areas between the square tower and the wall.

“What is all this? Is there a need to be so grand?” Hooligan asked.

“They often used towers as prisons for specially privileged people. I’m not sure I’d have built a prison this way, but there are no gates on the wall, and it’s probably protected above, so no flying over. The only way out is the way we came up. C’mon, the stairs going up are on the other side of this… garden.”

“You think we can grab some of those golden fruits on that tree over there?”

Hooligan pointed toward a tree much taller than everything else, with fruits hanging from some of the higher branches. Crow wasn’t sure what they were or if they were edible, but he didn’t think it’d be a problem.

Using his falcata, he cut through the shrubs and overgrowth. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something moving, but when he turned toward it, he saw nothing. Instead of moving forward, he cut out a large circle around him, and Hooligan realized something was wrong.

Crow waited and tried to sense what was hiding, but there was a lot of interference here. Eventually, the grass parted, and a large, sad-eyed squirrel stepped out. By large, it was the size of a small house cat. It had a puffy tail almost as tall as it was.

“Pfft,” Hooligan laughed. “This is what you were afraid of? Look how adorable it is.”

As she approached, it chittered and revealed a mouth filled with sharp fangs. It pounced, spreading its little arms and legs, and its flesh spread out as it glided right toward her face. She was so startled that she fell backward instead of attacking.

Before she could hit the ground, Crow caught her, and his blade flashed in front of her as it cut the squirrel in half. Blood splattered on her face, and Hooligan huffed in annoyance.

Crow chuckled. “See, that right there was karma.”

Before he was done teasing her, that chittering sound came from everywhere, and both took a step back. Hundreds of those little rodents were appearing out of nowhere, surrounding them. Other than announcing their presence, they stopped once they were visible and stared at the two humans.

“Fuck those apples,” Crow muttered. “Run!”