Chapter Nine: The Lair

The underground lair was damp and chilling. Torches flickered along the stone walls on either side, but the four companions felt not a trace of warmth. Mars glanced down at his watch—it was nine in the evening. On this first level, apart from their group, there were no other adventurers.

Monsters were scarce here as well; at this hour, the silence was eerie, almost unsettling. Even the faintest sound of their footsteps echoed clearly.

Suddenly, a lizard the size of a child slithered down from the shadowy stone wall, its crimson tongue flickering as it prepared to spring. Before it could leap, a metallic ring cut through the quiet—a spear hurled by Atreus pierced the creature’s skull with unerring precision. The lizard crumpled without so much as a groan.

Atreus retrieved his spear from the stone, drawing a handkerchief from his pocket to wipe the blood from its tip.

“So this is the combat technique of the Martial Spirit Hall? As expected—swift and decisive,” Mars remarked with genuine admiration. He and Xu Nan were both walking behind Atreus, and they had seen the strike clearly. Mars considered his own martial skills decent, but achieving Atreus’s level seemed a daunting feat.

Xu Nan agreed, “The Martial Spirit Hall’s techniques are far superior to the hand-to-hand skills taught at Tiding Academy.”

Atreus was about to respond humbly when Ye Ran, who had been silently carrying their bags, spoke up. “That’s not necessarily true. Tiding Academy’s martial disciplines include similar methods. Theirs may be faster, but they lack power. Ultimately, it depends on the user’s skill.”

Xu Nan scoffed, “Nonsense. Do you even understand what martial techniques are? Or what differentiates combat arts?”

Ye Ran replied calmly, “They are both merely the art of combat.”

Xu Nan was about to retort, but Atreus laughed. “Ye Ran is right. There’s no inherent superiority between martial skills and combat arts—it’s all in how they’re wielded.”

Hearing Atreus say so, Xu Nan was displeased but refrained from further mockery.

Atreus cast a brief glance at Ye Ran, then turned and continued forward.

Along the way, several more giant monsters appeared, but each met its end under Atreus’s formidable spear. Mars, Xu Nan, and Ye Ran had no chance to intervene.

Soon, they reached a fork in the passage.

Three tunnels stretched into the darkness—left, center, and right—each equally deep and impenetrable to the eye.

Mars hesitated. “One of these leads to the second level, another will confront us with a guardian, and the last is a dead end. I’ve never been here. Atreus, have you?”

Both he and Xu Nan were venturing into the underground lair for the first time. They’d skimmed through a few guides beforehand, but found those tips of limited use in practice.

According to the guides, they should choose the eastern passage at this point, but in the dim gloom below ground, it was impossible to distinguish east from west.

Fortunately, Atreus was experienced. He pulled a compass from his jacket, about to indicate the direction, when Ye Ran stepped ahead, entering the rightmost tunnel. “This way,” he said.

Atreus glanced down. The compass needle pointed precisely to the right.

He looked at Ye Ran with some surprise. There were no markings here, and Ye Ran carried no compass. How had he known?

“Ye Ran, are you sure?” Mars was still uncertain.

Atreus showed him the compass. “He’s right. Ye Ran, do you come here often?”

Ye Ran nodded. “I know this place well.”

Xu Nan sneered, “So you’re always risking your life for a mere twenty gold coins? Or would you do it for even less?”

Her words were as sharp as ever, but this time she did not finish.

Ye Ran, leading the way, turned back. His gaze was calm and indifferent, yet carried a chilling force of intimidation.

There was no aura emanating from him, but the killing intent forged through countless battles was far more terrifying.

“Ye… Ye Ran…” Mars, alarmed, stepped between him and Xu Nan. Atreus, too, became wary. It puzzled him—there was no discernible energy emanating from this man, yet his presence alone was enough to make one’s skin crawl.

Ye Ran did nothing threatening. He simply said, “Miss Xu Nan, no one is willing to risk their life for twenty gold coins. But for some, at certain times, there is no other way to survive except by risking their life.”

He turned, hoisted Xu Nan’s large pack onto his back, took Mars’s small bag in hand, and strode ahead alone.

Only when he was five meters ahead did Atreus and the other two exchange glances and follow.

Xu Nan’s expression was sour; she was reluctant to admit that Ye Ran’s sudden aura had truly shaken her.

Mars and Atreus also deliberately kept some distance from Ye Ran, recalling the gruesome tales of adventurers being murdered by their own porters.

Soon, however, their worries faded. Ye Ran remained the same—he showed no exceptional martial prowess, nor any hostility toward them. He was simply intimately familiar with the layout of this labyrinth.

Mars, finding it convenient, left the task of leading the way to him, while Atreus, Mars, and Xu Nan handled the fighting.

The giant rats on the second level were not particularly formidable, just numerous and densely packed. With focused attacks, the three managed to break through, entering the passage to the third layer without mishap.

Ye Ran, in turn, observed the martial skills of Mars and Xu Nan.

Mars was slightly less skilled in hand-to-hand combat and had yet to awaken his primal power, but his energy had reached the fourth level—a standard for upper-level students at Tiding Academy.

By contrast, Xu Nan was stronger; her primal power had already awakened, bearing the common attribute of water. Her energy was likewise at the fourth level, and she had some proficiency with water-based spells.

Of course, the strongest among them was Atreus. His primal energy was the explosive force of thunder, which, combined with his combat techniques, made his attacks exceptionally fierce.

Mars struggled somewhat, but Ye Ran, Atreus, and Xu Nan managed without great difficulty.

“Ha! I think if we can, we should challenge the guardian of this floor—the Flame Rat. If we defeat it, we’ll make a name for ourselves!”

The second level had only two passages. They all knew that if they retraced their steps and tried the other passage, they would encounter the massive Flame Rat, the creature that had wiped out countless adventuring parties.

So far, the guardians from the first to the seventh layers of the underground lair remained unbeaten; every challenger had met with failure, a testament to their strength.

Even Mars, on his first expedition and already swelling with confidence, was tempted.

Atreus shook his head. “The Flame Rat is far stronger than you imagine. Every guardian here is formidable. Even the elite teams from the Martial Hero Hall wouldn’t be certain of victory.”

“Well… all right, then.” Mars wasn’t sure of the exact rank of the Martial Hero Hall, but he knew the Martial Spirit Hall was just below it. Atreus’s warning dispelled his ambitions.

From ahead, Ye Ran called back, “Be careful. The monsters on the third level are giant man-eating ants.”