(Morcster Chef) A strange arch - Ch. 92 (Patreon)

Malissa grabbed the rope and gave it a slight tug. It held firm. She slowly lifted her feet off the ground. When the rope continued to hold her weight, she clambered up. The rope barely budged as she shot up and, within seconds, the tall woman was standing beside Ming.

Belmont went next. He was considerably slower than Malissa, and his climb was full of grunts and irate muttering, but he eventually joined them as well.

All three of them held the rope as Arek grabbed it. He pulled himself up, swinging back and forth in the air with every motion like an orc shaped pendulum. The rope strained and scraped against the edge of the hole, but it had been well waxed and held firm. Malissa and Belmont helped Arek over the edge once he reached the top.

Ming’s description of the room had been apt. It was small and made smaller by the large hole in its floor. There was enough room for all of them to stand, but it wasn’t comfortable. The ceiling was low enough that the top of Arek’s head nearly touched it.

An obsidian arch sat against the wall. Glowing green glyphs pulsated with bright green light. Arek raised a hand in front of his eyes and squinted through the cracks in his fingers.

“Somehow, I don’t think this is the normal monster exit,” Arek said.

“I agree,” Belmont said, drumming his fingers on the hilt of his staff. “The monster exit should just be a small tunnel that leads to the surface. This arch is clearly more ominous.”

“Then we better figure out what it does soon,” Malissa said. Her tone was strained. “We’ve only got so long before the situation actually dawns on me and I get scared.”

“Hold on,” Belmont said. He inched towards the glowing arch, probing the floor with the balls of his feet and leaning as far back as he could. Once he was close enough, he pulled a shirt out of his travel bag and held it over one of the runes on the arch to dim the light coming out of it. He made sure to avoid actually touching the stone with his hands.

“These aren’t normal enchanter runes,” Belmont said.

“It sounds like you recognize them,” Arek said, raising an eyebrow in question.

“Very vaguely,” Belmont said. He moved the shirt to look at a different rune and sucked on the inside of his cheek. “I believe I’ve seen some of these in a library while I was researching the runes for the enchanters to use on my nostrils.”

Despite their situation, Ming couldn’t keep a laugh from escaping her mouth. Belmont shot her an irritated glance, but continued talking.

“Again, I can’t be certain, but parts of the shape seem similar. I was looking for a method to undo the runes if the enchanters made an error, and I think those runes are called ‘travel’. They certainly aren’t used, though,” Belmont said, pacing around the room with his arms crossed. “The book I found them in was quite old and antiquated. There are much better runes in circulation. And, to reiterate, these runes only resemble the travel rune. They’re slightly different.”

“How can you even remember that?” Arek asked. “There are easily thousands of runes that are currently used, and an ancient repair rune hardly seems worth your time.”

“He’s got a perfect memory,” Ming said.

“A selective perfect memory,” Malissa corrected, rolling her eyes. “Can you remember the last time he didn’t forget our birthdays?”

“Let’s stay on topic now,” Belmont said, clearing his throat. “We can worry about other things once we survive this dungeon.”

“So, we think this arch may or may not repair something,” Arek said. “Why would that be in a sealed room, and what could it even do?”

“You’re the most experienced adventurer here,” Malissa said. “No thoughts on the matter?”

Arek grunted. He paced around the arch, copying Belmont’s method of holding a shirt up and letting the light shine through it. The arch was seamlessly connected to the wall, almost as if it were part of the rock. Aside from the glowing runes, nothing implied that it was magical.

“It just looks like a fancy rock,” Arek admitted. “I’m sure it does something, but I’ve got no idea what or how to activate it.”

“Let’s backtrack,” Belmont said, still walking circles around them. “I found a secret tunnel and activated it, causing a possible rockslide that might have accidentally killed the boss and entombed our exit. The damage somehow broke the ceiling, revealing a chamber containing a strange glowing arch with what could be a travel rune.”

“Sounds about right,” Ming said. “Although it seems more like a series of random events now that you say it out loud. How did you find the only room with a secret entrance that causes an earthquake? And why would that room even exist?”

“What if it wasn’t just that one room?” Malissa asked, peering over the edge of the hole and into the boss room below them. “What if every room had something similar?”

“Let’s say they do, just for the sake of argument and for my sanity,” Arek said. “What then? That just means that every room has a kill switch. What’s the point of making a secret level that you kill yourself with?”

They fell silent as they thought for several moments. Belmont turned away and studied the wall. He covered his eyes with one hand, and Arek caught a hint of a pained grimace on his face.

“Are you okay?” The orc asked.

“I’m fine,” Belmont said, blinking hard. “Sudden headache, but it’s gone. We need to stay on topic. What if it wasn’t the fishmen who made this? I don’t think they’re intelligent enough to use runes, but dungeons can change. The previous inhabitants might have been much more intelligent.”

“How does that explain having a suicide switch that’s so easily accessible? Not to mention a trident was used to activate it, and the fishmen all had tridents.” Malissa said, giving Belmont a worried glance.

Belmont’s brow furrowed and he gave a helpless shrug.

“Wait, Belmont might have a point,” Arek said, tapping his lip with a clawed finger. “Maybe it wasn’t a suicide switch. It was an emergency escape of some sort. Whoever made this arch clearly had access to magic, so they were intelligent. What if they were worried about getting attacked by adventurers or other monsters that were too powerful to fight? They could activate the kill switch, run into this hidden room, and somehow activate this arch to teleport them somewhere. Then the boss room caves in and there’s no normal escape, so the attackers starve to death.”