Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

Looking at the loads of carts that have now become rusted at the corner, it seemed that the mine was used for excavating something.

"Let's follow the track, we can use it to come back here in this place in case we get lost," Simon said taking a step forward.

"You all should be careful. Although the message on the door did not say anything about it, but from the eeriness and the faint smell of iron, there, might be monsters lurking inside this place" Lucine warned.

Simon stopped in his tracks and deliberated over her words, though she did not say it clearly, he who was aware of her origins knew more than just to simply ignore her words. Since she had put it like this, there might really be monsters inside.

"Why don't we do it like this. Instead of spreading out and going our individual way, we can group up and scout the place together. The trail this time does not have that annoying snow nor are we on a countdown. If there really are monsters lurking inside, it would be foolish to divide our strength" he reasoned looking at the two people.

Perhaps, they too felt like his reasoning was plausible, Lucine and the little boy agreed with him. The group had just taken a few steps in when the heavy metal door automatically closed with a bang.

When Simon turned around to see if there was anything out of ordinary with the door, from the corner of his eyes, he spotted something that looked like shallow claw marks on the backside of the door.

Presuming that it was made by some monster lurking here, he increased his gaur and spread his senses while proceeding forward.

The cavern was truly deep and gigantic just like a catacomb. Even after walking for over more than an hour, Simon and the others couldn't find anything out of ordinary that marked the start of their trail.

Simon opened his [Mental Map] skill, by now he had marked quite a large portion of the cavern and was in the midst of mapping more. The place somehow reminded him of the cavernous floors of his dungeon which was similarly also designed like this to confuse the sense of the intruders and brimmed with monsters that finish off the ones stranded behind. 

However, unlike his dungeon, this place showed no signs of monsters even after they entered the place for so long. His [Detect Presence] and [Heightened Senses] skill that was on high alert, couldn't even find a single hostile or foreign presence near them.

'Were they mistaken in thinking that there would be monsters here? Or was the trial about something else entirely?'. As these thoughts hovered up in his mind, Simon suddenly noticed a large room ahead of them.

An invisible barrier just like the one in the hall back during the second trail, enveloped the entrance and the entire room within it. The moment the group spotted the entrance, they immediately knew that once they stepped through it, the trial would start immediately.

Another noticeable thing was the rail track that they have been following up until now, ended at this point. There were also marks and hints of being used left behind a long time ago.

The group stopped in front of the entrance, looked at each other before entering in.

ZZzzz… a static sound echoed within Simon's mind and before he knew it, his entire vision was enveloped with a white light. When the Light settled, he found himself in the very same place with his two teammates beside him.

However, what preoccupied his mind was not this but the illusory state of their body. At this moment, the three of their bodies were in an incorporeal and ethereal state like a ghost with no form.

He wasn't the only one who was amazed by this scene as the little boy beside him was gawking and touching his body with a stunned expression.

'What was going on?' before Simon could think further, he felt voices of people coming from behind him and hurriedly turned around. The moment he did, his eyes widened beyond their limit at the scene that lay in front of him.

Seated not very far from here on top of a large boulder, was a group of children wearing ragtag clothes. They each had a loaf of bread and a cup of water in their hands as they hastily ate it. One could say that the food that they were having was extremely bland with no taste whatsoever.

Nonetheless, with the way these children were eating them so happily, told otherwise. Loud clatter of laughing and chatting came from them as their voice filled the room.

"Mister is so good, he not only saved me from starving in that alleyway and brought me here, he is also providing us with food," said a boy with a bob cut hair.

"Hehe, Bell is right, mister is the nicest person in this world," a thin girl with black hair said.

The boy who was called as Bell, glanced at the tall guy in the middle of their group and asked "What do you think Glenn, isn't Mister very nice? I heard from Chloe that you were left behind by your parents in a monastery because you have some illness. Did the mister bring you here to also treat your illness?".

Glenn the tallest boy amongst the group of children, nodded his head a little shyly. He was brought here not too long ago and hence felt a little embarrassed to talk in front of them.

The black-haired girl named Chloe kept on throwing furtive glances at Glenn and would immediately break it away when their eyes met like a frightened rabbit.

Noticing this Bell made a silly smile and poked fun of her "Don't tell me Chloe that you like Gle… gugh".

However, before he could continue, a punch came digging his abdomen from the girl.

"Hey, why did you do that?"

"Hmph". 

The silly back and forth quarrels of the trio attracted the attention of the other children as they laughed merrily and made fun of each other. The other children just like the trio, were wearing ragtag clothes which indicated that they were similarly brought in here by the mister they were talking about.

In this gloomy space, where not even the rays of the sun could reach them, their carefree and pure laughter brightened the surrounding.

Simon and Denzel wore stunned looks in their eyes as they gazed at the children who seemed unaware of their presence.

"What is going on" Simon couldn't help but utter the words he previously said once again. No matter how he stressed his senses, he couldn't detect even the slightest presence from them.

Contrary to their stunned looks, Lucine made a distressed expression, her eyes held a slight trace of sadness within them.

"Chronos Magic- [Historia]" she silently mumbled.

Maybe her words reached him, Simon turned around and questioned her with his eyes as to what she meant.

"[Historia], a powerful advanced tier time magic that recounts the tale of what had transpired in the place a long time ago. It is a highly complex spell that only a handful of people in this world can cast".

"Remember, not to mix reality with what is going to happen next. You must absolutely stay away from the time rift and not get caught up in the endless flow of time or else you will forever remain here" Lucine took a deep breath of air and cautioned everyone with a serious stone.

It was the first time Simon had seen the woman who always had a playful character, make such a serious face. That in itself told him how grave of a situation they were and cannot afford to make even the slightest mistake.

The scene played on as the three of them were caught up in a situation, a group of men wearing a white bloated suit that covered their bodies from head to toe walked in. The children delightedly began lining around them as these men did a headcount.

"Alright, there are fifteen of them. Inform cardinal Royce that we can start the experiment once again" one of the men said to his colleague near him.

"Say, when is that good mister gonna come?" Bell asked trying to find the person who had saved his life and his friends amidst the group of men.

"Cardinal Royce is a little busy but he will make sure to come and visit you all. So you all should also do your best and help us okay?" One of the men in white suit said.

"Un" all of the children delectably nodded.

"Alright now, those who will do as we say, will be given new sets of clothes. Make a line and those numbers that we call out will come with us".

When the group of men called out '3153', '3167' and '3172', three children two boys and one girl stepped forward before being escorted towards a different section of the room that led further in.

It was only now that Simon and the others noticed that all of the children were imprinted with a number on their shoulders.

"Are they being taken away to get treated? Will they come back again?" Chloe asked, one of the two boys that were called, was her friend Glenn who was brought here not too long ago.

"Yes..yes, they are going to get treated so that they won't have to suffer from illness anymore" one of the men in white suit patted her head and said smilingly.

Simon glanced at the smiling expression of the men and narrowed his eyes. For some reason, he had a bad premonition that something was going on over here.