Once we made it through the field, a rocky mountain awaited us, the mouth of Serpent’s Cave yawning open on one side. The cave mouth was about three meters tall, with the interior stretching taller. This was an ordinary cave, all things considered, save for the glowing rocks scattered on the ground, which served as its only illumination.
“What are those?!” Kent blurted out in surprise once we stepped inside the cave and saw the glowing rocks.
Now that I was seeing them in real life, they demanded my attention too. I’d barely paid them any mind when I was in the game, considering them merely part of the background.
“That could be a rare item! I’m going to take one home!” Grinning wide, Lina snatched up one of the rocks. Just as I was about to reach for one of my own...the rock Lina had grabbed stopped glowing. “What’s happening?!” She dropped the rock, which began glowing again as soon as it hit the ground.
“It lit up again!” Tarte pointed out. Apparently, the rocks only glowed if they were on the ground, which made them useless outside of this dungeon. I would have loved to take one as a souvenir, but alas.
“Oh, it only lights up here,” Frey said.
“I wanted one...” Kent grumbled.
“Me too...” Cocoa agreed.
Seeing as Luna and Mio also looked a little dejected, everyone but L’lyeh had wanted a glowing rock to take home.
“There’s nothing we can do about that. Let’s keep an eye out for good loot in the dungeon!” I encouraged everyone.
“Sounds like a plan,” Kent answered enthusiastically. “You want me to lead the formation, Frey?”
“No, I will. You’ve been taking the burden a lot lately.”
“Got it!” Kent answered, taking up his position behind Frey.
Lina would be scouting ahead of us, and Tarte was going to shadow her to learn the ins and outs of the position.
“I’m ready!” Tarte said.
“Be careful, Tarte.”
“Yes, Meowster. Soon, I’m going to be an Alchemeowst who can go anywhere to gather ingredients!” Tarte huffed, perhaps more excited than any of us to crawl this dungeon. Once I cast Holy Maiden’s Boon on her, she went bounding off, effortlessly keeping up with Lina. As a Cait Sith, Tarte was naturally agile and strong.
“Maybe one day Tarte will be an Alchemist who fights all on her own...” I muttered, and everyone looked at me like I was speaking gibberish.
“Icicle Arrow!” Luna’s attack struck a Sand Snake and froze it, allowing Frey to slice it in half with her sword. The snake burst into light and left behind a Snakeskin, which had no use except to earn us a few coins once we sold it.
“So far, so good,” I said.
“These monsters aren’t as strong as I expected...” Frey muttered. “Or do I just feel that way because of how much stronger we’ve become?”
“Probably the latter,” I said.
“Hmm?” Frey turned and stared at the wall...which looked no different than the rest of the cave walls we had passed so far.
“What’s up?” Kent asked, following her gaze.
“I just had a feeling,” Frey answered.
“Was it Hero’s Intuition?” I asked.
Frey clapped her hands in recognition. “Yes, I think you’re right.”
Hero’s Intuition was a passive Skill that remained active without Frey having to consciously activate it. As a prerequisite, her Luck Skill had to be at level 10, but it was a very useful Skill. She’d rarely fall for traps, and it increased her chances of finding treasure chests and other items. It gave her a sort of super luck. Frey had always had the Luck Skill, even before obtaining her Adventure Bracelet, so that had probably saved her skin during her past adventures. Why can’t I have a jackpot Skill like that?!
“Maybe something’s here,” Frey said and knocked on the stone wall with her fist. “Hmm...” She moved her hand a little at a time until the heavy knocks changed to a more hollow sound. “It could be a hidden chamber...with a treasure chest?” Frey theorized, brimming with excitement.
While I watched Frey attempt to break down the wall, I tried to remember if there was some kind of gimmick at this point in the dungeon. After several strikes, Frey managed to demolish the cave wall and reveal the hidden pocket. Before I could even wonder what lay within, a whole nest’s worth of Soldier Snakes slithered out of it. These were serpentine monsters with limbs, who wore armor and carried weapons—their level was high too.
“A swarm?! Moonlight, Starlight, Smiting Light!” I rapidly fired off my Skills while everyone else leaped into action. Kent was drawing the Soldier Snakes’ attacks all to himself, so I was almost continuously casting Protective Light on him. A swarm of twenty plus Soldier Snakes could chip away that defense in no time.
“These snakes are strong!” Tarte yowled. “Purrtion Throw!” Still, she was trying her best to hold her ground while I tripled her Attack with Smiting Light as often as possible.
There were just too many of them. Despite Frey and Lina trying to hold the front line, some of them were slipping through to the rear of our formation.
“Rainbow Rejuvenation! We’ll get through them one at a time!” I directed as I healed them, and everyone called out their readiness to act on my command. A slow and steady approach was going to be more realistic than trying to take out the whole nest at once. “Frey, take the snake to the right!”
“Got it!”
“Luna, hold them off with ice!” I said.
“Okay!”
Even though we hadn’t been working together for long, everyone’s openness to new strategies allowed us to work together decently well.
“Stay asleep, snakey-snakes. Lullaby of Wind and Flowers.” Mio used a Skill that inflicted the Sleep status condition on the Soldier Snakes in the back. They’d wake up as soon as they took an attack, but it was an effective method of stalling them while we took them out one at a time.
“We’re getting close!” Frey announced.
“My turn! Shimmering Chase!” Kent’s one-two combo struck another Soldier Snake and turned it into particles of light.
Before I knew it, fewer than half of the Soldier Snakes remained.
“Purrtion Throw!”
“Dark Arrow!”
With a combination of Tarte’s and L’lyeh’s attacks, the rest of them were wiped out.
“We did it!” Tarte crowed.
“We deserve a snack. As a reward,” L’lyeh said as she and Tarte high-fived.
“I think it’s high time we took a breather... But what is this space?” I peered into the hidden pocket—no bigger than an average bedroom—that had housed the swarm of Soldier Snakes. To be honest, this dungeon had never been that popular in Reas, so it wouldn’t have been strange if some of its secrets had never been uncovered by the players.
“A treasure chest!” Frey pointed.
“What?!” A treasure chest?! I stared into the dark. Sure enough, there was a treasure chest lying there—one neither I nor any of the other Reas players had ever discovered. “Wow...” I breathed. And I felt my elation was warranted. Until now, I’d already known about every treasure chest we’d come upon, so there had been no element of surprise. Now, we’d found a treasure chest I hadn’t even known existed. If someone told me this was what adventuring was all about, I’d have had to agree with them. “Let’s open it! Right now!” I urged as butterflies fluttered in my stomach.
Kent laughed. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this excited, Sharon.”
“I get excited sometimes! Treasure chest! Treasure chest!” I chanted, clapping my hands in time with my words.
We all closed in on the chest. When Frey reached for the lid, I couldn’t stop myself from clutching her wrist.
“Sharon?” Frey asked.