Chapter: 372

Jay began to ponder over what was going on – why the statues were arranged the way they were, why there were crystal scanners in the passage, why the dungeon was sealed, why the monster didn’t attack them… Piece by piece it all fell into place.

“Anya, I think I understand what this place is…” he said, still looking at the blood dripping off the remaining spearmen statue.

Anya was still looking at the broken giant statues with the pierced creature wrapped around and through the rubble of the destroyed swordsmen statues.

Jay continued, “I think it’s some kind of failed research facility… The statues aren’t arranged backwards because they’re not there to keep us out… they’re here to keep something in.”

Anya had a fearful look. She glanced at Jay before looking back at the rubble.

Everything fell into place.

“The creature grew stronger by eating soul stones, obviously it was a threat to any of the statues. I think those green and yellow glowing rings were scanning us, turning red when the creature ran through. That must be when the giant statues got activated.”

Anya was staring at the giant statues for a moment before she slowly nodded; finally she was ready to talk.

“I see… Should we leave? Do you want to keep going?” Anya whispered, clearly she didn’t think the risk was worth the reward.

Jay thought for a moment in silence, rolling his tongue in his cheek.

It was incredibly dangerous, but It didn’t make much sense for a level three dungeon to have something that could kill them both in one hit.

Furthermore, the creature didn’t attack them at all.

It seemed that the soul eater could only consume filled soul stones, and perhaps that was all it was interested in?

Maybe in the centuries it was down here, it learnt to conserve what little energy it had to achieve its goal to consume – killing some ants like Jay and Anya would be a waste of energy.

Meanwhile, the giant statues only came to life after the scanners turned red, so while they were deactivated, they were not a threat.

“Could this simply be a sort of puzzle…” he raised a brow, piecing everything together before answering.

“I’m gonna keep going. I don’t think it’s as dangerous as it appears to be.” he nodded, walking over to the dead soul eater; the statues could have squashed him easily if they were still active.

Jay watched the giant statues for any signs of movement as he walked. This was a test.

He of course was ready to use the [Asklin] skill of his boots in a split second – not as dangerous as Anya thought it was.

Finally reaching the soul eater, he found that he was right – the statues didn’t activate.

Jay waved his hand and looted the soul eater, pocketing all its soul stones.

[Soul stone] (empty) x 132

“Wow. Greedy little thing.” he smiled at the corpse, not seeing the irony that he was now doing the same thing.

Anya still hadn’t moved forward, still watching the statues. Some sort of fear had gripped her since she entered this place.

“I see… well, maybe you should look at the murals before going on…” Anya suggested, still whispering, “I think I need some time.. Maybe come get me when you finish this pyramid?”