They would soon reach the boss gate which was also where Samuel's showdown with the irregular monster had occurred. Felix had also reported suffering his loss in that location suggesting that the area was its respawn location.
In the end, this information mattered little given that its actions suggested it was used to roaming the dungeon. It had also been previously spotted fleeing from a location deeper in the dungeon by the scouts which also advocated this point.
"As you can see we are dealing with a smart monster." Samuel said as he threw another glance at the revealed corridor.
"Treat this as a high ranked dungeon from this point forward." Their strength couldn't be overestimated as they were all human in the end. A well-hidden trap, a perfect sneak attack. These types of things could prove fatal to them.
It was possible to reinforce one's weaknesses through mana but that obviously required mana expenditure and concentration, although minimal.
That meant that when encountering sneak attacks one would usually reinforce the targeted location. If the attacker was too quick or the victim had been caught off guard it would be too late to perform this action.
It was rumored that surpassing the A-class could lead one to become a higher being essentially removing such weaknesses but these rumors were completely unfounded as no one in this era had ever reached such a level. As a matter of fact, most of these rumors originated from cults which also took away from their credibility.
As none of these adventurers were rookies, with the sole exception of Felix who only had a handful of missions under his belt, they knew when to get serious. Even the ones that thought he was exaggerating earlier tightened the grip on their weapons or mentally prepared themselves to cast spells.
Seeing that they were all ready, Samuel entered the corridor. The walls on the side seemed to have been dug out and made to block the entrance but it was only their exterior, their appearance.
'Where did all that earth come from?' Although Samuel had managed to blowback the wall with ease it wasn't because it was brittle. As a matter of fact, there was a substantial amount of dirt reinforcing it.
But aside from that first detail, nothing else seemed out of place.
"What!?" Screamed out Felix after feeling his feet leave the ground. No, the ground left his feet.
After 10 or so people crossed this specific part of the corridor the floor caved in on itself. It was a pitfall!
Drake, Clarys, Felix, and a handful of adventurers felt themselves start to plummet towards the ground. Samuel who was in the lead had been further ahead from the rest allowing him to cross safely.
The hole was fairly wide but for the experienced Drake, this was nothing. He reinforced his body with mana and grabbed the edge of the wall. His hand dug into the soil effectively slowing his descent.
But before that, he made sure to grab Felix who was following him and attempted to reach Clarys as well. Unfortunately, since she didn't like him very much she actually maintained her distance from him.
Samuel hadn't been standing idly by as the others fell either though. As soon as he noticed the ground caving in on itself he decisively jumped into the hole.
He increased his speed of descent with the wind element and easily grabbed Clarys.
"Ah!" Who let out a short scream of surprise from being dragged down with Samuel who was descending much faster.
Samuel then used his other free hand to grab a B-class magician who was along his path of descent.
The magician was clearly not used to such traps as he could barely even try to cast a spell, whether he had managed to reinforce his body with mana during that time was also unknown.
And it also didn't matter, Samuel had no plans to take on such a heavy drop with his bare body.
Before they could fall on the ground which seemed to be filled with sharp earthen spikes, Samuel released a large burst of water along with a strong gale of wind.
He spent a significant amount of mana on this move since it was performed quickly but he didn't mind, he didn't even have time to think of something like that anyway as all of this happened very quickly.
The burst of water destroyed the spikes and the wind softened their landing allowing Samuel to land safely with Clarys and the magician.
Multiple loud and consecutive splashes were then heard as the other adventurers who didn't have the wind to lower their momentum fell into the water. They had managed to reinforce their bodies however and thus landed safely in the water.
Drake didn't fall into the water as he managed to skip around the hole and reach the surface with Felix in tow. It may seem selfish or uncaring at first glance but his skills were limited to close-quarters, there wasn't much he could do to help the others who were falling faster than him.
Plus, once he saw Samuel take a dive he knew that they would all be fine. Although he could beat Samuel with arguable ease it was mainly because of his superiority in close-quarter combat. Samuel could overwhelm him in the long-range if he wasn't careful even though he was stretched thinner with his focus on magic and swordsmanship.
"Are you all alright?" Asked Drake from atop the hole.
"We are wet but alive." replied one of the B-class adventurers.
"We should head up then" Samuel told them.
The magicians who could do so, cast spells to get themselves and others out of the hole now that they had the leisure to do so. Samuel obviously did the same quickly getting Clarys and the magician out of the hole before taking a couple of turns to bring up anybody else that was left.
"That was devious" Said one of the B-class adventurers from the top as he looked down the dark hole. The visibility hadn't been the best but some had managed to notice the spikes as they fell.
Even with reinforced bodies, such a fall coupled with the spikes could lead to some broken bones or more serious injuries.
They had all taken the situation rather lightly but that was truly dangerous. Some of the more feeble people ended up throwing up from the sharp decline and sudden crash.
"Anybody who is an expert on earth elements please step to the front" It was the calm voice of Samuel. He was currently soaking wet just like the others but he didn't waste any time when adjusting the situation.
A middle-aged mage stepped forward and even bowed respectfully. While he hadn't been part of the people that fell he still felt admiration towards Samuel.
"My name is Don, a pleasure to make your acquaintance" With his short words of introduction over, Samuel asked him to use magic to help sense any future pitfalls.
Don hesitated for a bit since if they took too long he would be drained of mana but Samuel reassured him that the distance they had to walk was rather small which expelled his worries.
They encountered two more pitfalls on their path but with Don helping out they managed to easily cross them. The reason why they first fell victim to the pitfall was because of the way they had been made,
Once the top of the trap reached a certain weight threshold the floor would collapse and the group would fall to their doom.
They could have simply spread out more but that carried its own risks, like what if it became a one-person trap? Then they wouldn't be able to help the person that fell if that situation were to occur.
They then entered a curved corridor, it was slowly merging with other corridors. Samuel knew this signaled the end of their journey through the third floor.
"The real fight is up ahead. Don, you and Clarys get to the back." Seeing that they were reaching the gate, Samuel re-arranged the group formation.
The corridors continued to merge eventually forming a wide-hallway.
The group stopped shortly after exiting it as they were simply stunned. Where did this come from?!?
***
Ed tried his best to redirect the traffic of the dungeon based on his memories by blocking off certain hallways.
If they were routed properly then the adventurers would fall victim to the five pitfalls traps he planted on that route. Since the dungeon dictated that it was a group and not one or two adventurers he also made sure that the pitfall traps would work on a party of adventurers.
The most important work was not that, however. It was the structure on which he currently stood, a fortress of earth.
Thanks to his previous experience with the mana manipulation skill and all of the effort he put trying to move the earth around the dungeon, the skill managed to level up a couple of times.
He didn't have time to move around furniture and all of the previous ones had been smashed apart. Ed was forced to improvise and he came up with a simple yet effective plan.
He would raise the ground to gather the skeletons. But as he built more pitfalls, hid more entrances, and the skill leveled up he realized that he could do much more.
He reinforced the wall of earth that covered the wide corridor and gave it a strategical purpose to effectively create a fortress. And it was just in the nick of time too as he soon noticed the presence of intruders in the distance.
Ed looked back at the 200 or so skeletons hidden inside the fortress and formed a wry smile. This should be a good enough resistance, right?