A Fantasy Love Story Across the Warring States Period

Chapter 293 Breaking Through the Desperate Situation, Exploring the Ruins Again

The atmosphere in the sealed chamber was extremely tense. The surrounding walls slowly pressed in, emitting a dull creaking sound, like the approaching footsteps of death. The giant made of rock, though cracked on its back, still wielded its stone club, each swing creating a gust of wind that made the already cramped space even more dangerous.

Looking at his companions' tired and injured faces, Huanmo was filled with anxiety and self-blame. "It's all my fault. I didn't realize there were more traps in this secret room, leaving us all in such a desperate situation." But he knew this was not the time for self-blame; he had to find a way out as soon as possible.

"Everyone, hold on! We can't panic!" Huanmo shouted, trying to drown out the sound of the wall squeezing and the giant's roar. He dodged the giant's stone club attacks while thinking of a solution. "The giant's back has an opening. If we concentrate our attacks, we might be able to defeat it. But this squeezing wall doesn't give us much time."

Ying wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth, her eyes resolute as she looked at Huanmo: "Huanmo, tell me, what do we do!" Wanru also gripped her longsword tightly and nodded slightly. Although the golden light emanating from the guardian had dimmed considerably, it still stood like a small mountain, stubbornly blocking some of the giant's attacks. Yichen and the woman in white, meanwhile, were busy recovering their spiritual energy, preparing to launch a crucial attack.

Huanmo took a deep breath and said loudly, "Yichen, White-Clad Girl, prepare your powerful spells. Once I distract the giant, we'll attack its back to break its defenses. Ying, Wanru, the three of us will attack from different directions to disrupt its movements. Guardian, you continue to hold off attacks for us at crucial moments." Everyone nodded and prepared to act.

Huanmo flashed forward like a black lightning bolt, shouting loudly to attract the giant's attention. The giant was indeed enraged, turning and swinging his stone club at Huanmo. Huanmo nimbly dodged to the side; the stone club grazed his clothes, creating a strong gust of wind that stung his cheek.

At the same time, Ying and Wanru flanked from both sides like ghosts, their sharp blades and longswords gleaming coldly as they stabbed at the giant's legs. The giant roared in pain, trying to kick the two away, but Ying and Wanru were prepared and dodged in a flash.

Yi Chen and the woman in white seized the opportunity, their hands rapidly forming hand seals while they chanted incantations. A dazzling light gathered from their hands, then transformed into a massive pillar of light, shooting towards the opening in the giant's back. The giant seemed to sense the danger and tried to turn to defend itself, but the attacks from Huan Mo and the others prevented it from escaping.

The beam of light struck the crack in the giant's back precisely, causing it to widen instantly and rocks to begin falling. The giant roared in agony, and the entire chamber trembled with its cry. However, at that moment, the walls suddenly accelerated their compression, making the space for everyone to move even smaller.

"Quick, take advantage of its injury and give it another push!" Huanmo shouted. Ignoring the danger, the group launched another attack. Ying leaped into the air, her sharp blade plunging into the crack in the giant's back, prying it open. Wanru's sword energy also continuously sliced ​​at the giant's back. Under the combined attack of the group, large sections of rock on the giant's back crumbled away, and finally, the giant collapsed to the ground, turning into a pile of rubble.

Having just defeated the giant, the group barely had time to breathe a sigh of relief before facing the closing wall. Huanmo was frantic. "We can't be trapped here like this. There must be a mechanism to stop the wall from collapsing." He forced himself to search the secret chamber, despite his exhaustion.

Suddenly, Ling'er pointed to an inconspicuous rune on the wall and exclaimed, "Brother Huanmo, look at that rune! Is it related to the previous ones?" Huanmo's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly ran over to check. After careful observation, he discovered that the rune seemed to be related to the control of the secret chamber's mechanisms.

Huanmo attempted to infuse his spiritual power into the runes, and the runes flickered with light. The wall's compression gradually slowed. Seeing this, everyone rushed to help, infusing their own spiritual power into the runes. Finally, the wall stopped compressing.

The secret chamber was temporarily safe, and everyone collapsed wearily onto the floor. Huanmo looked at the first key in his hand, his heart filled with mixed emotions. "Finding the first key was already so difficult; who knows what dangers the other two keys might hold?" But he knew they had no way back; they had to keep going.

After resting for a while, the group carefully searched the secret room and discovered a passage hidden in a corner. The passage was filled with a putrid smell, and the walls shimmered with an eerie green light, as if countless eyes were watching them from the darkness.

"This passage feels eerie; I wonder what dangers await us," Wanru said, frowning. Huanmo took a deep breath and said, "No matter what, we have to keep going. Maybe the next key is at the end of this passage."

The group proceeded cautiously along the passage, where strange reliefs appeared from time to time, their patterns seemingly telling ancient stories. Huanmo carefully observed these reliefs as she walked, trying to find clues within them.

Suddenly, Huanmo stopped and pointed to a relief, saying, "Look, the pattern on this relief seems similar to the runes we saw before. And the thing this figure is holding looks like a key." Everyone gathered around to examine it and indeed discovered something.

Just as everyone was studying the relief, a low roar suddenly echoed through the passage. The sound reverberated in the narrow corridor, sending chills down everyone's spines. Huanmo felt a sense of foreboding and shouted, "Everyone be careful! Something's coming!"

As the sound grew closer, a pack of wolf-like monsters engulfed in eerie green flames appeared before them. These monsters had fierce eyes, green venom dripping from their mouths, and emitted bursts of howls.

"What kind of monsters are these? They look tough." Yi Chen gripped his magical artifact tightly, ready for battle. Huan Mo's expression was grave. He said, "Whatever they are, we cannot back down. Everyone, maintain formation and support each other."

The monsters seemed to sense the group's threat and launched the first attack. They charged towards the group like a whirlwind, moving with incredible speed. Huanmo brandished her sword, unleashing a sword aura that struck the leader of the monsters. The monster, though struck by the sword aura, only paused briefly before continuing its attack.

Ying and Wanru also joined the fray, engaging the monsters in close combat. The Guardian provided support from the rear, his golden shield appearing intermittently to deflect monsters attacking from the sides. Yichen and the woman in white cast spells from a distance, attacking the monster horde.

The battle was incredibly fierce, with monsters attacking relentlessly, seemingly endless. Huanmo felt a pang of worry. "At this rate, our spiritual energy will eventually run out. We must find a way to exploit these monsters' weaknesses and defeat them in one fell swoop." But in this tense battle, finding a monster's weakness was easier said than done.

As the battle continued, the group gradually found themselves in a difficult situation. Ying's arm was scratched by the monster, and Wanru also sustained several wounds. The guardian's golden shield grew weaker and weaker, and Yichen and the woman in white's magical attacks began to falter.

Just when everyone was feeling hopeless, Huanmo suddenly noticed that whenever the monster was hit in the head, it would be briefly stunned. Overjoyed, he shouted, "Attack their heads! That's their weak point!" Hearing this, everyone changed their attack direction and concentrated their efforts on the monster's head.

With everyone's efforts, the monsters' offensive was finally stopped. One by one, the monsters fell to the ground and turned into clusters of green flames that disappeared.

Having repelled the monster, the group breathed a sigh of relief once again. But they knew this was just another test within the ruins, and more dangers awaited them ahead.

Huanmo continued studying the reliefs in the passage, hoping to find more clues about the next key. Suddenly, he noticed a set of runes on the reliefs shimmering with a faint light, unlike any he had seen before.

“This set of runes seems crucial; perhaps it holds the key to finding the next key,” Huanmo said. However, the runes were far too complex for anyone to decipher immediately.

Just as everyone was racking their brains, the woman in white suddenly said, "I have seen similar runes in ancient books. They seem to be related to an ancient formation. Perhaps we need to trigger these runes in a specific order to find the next key."

Upon hearing this, everyone perked up. Guided by the woman in white, they began to try touching the runes on the relief in a specific order. The runes lit up one by one, and a slight vibration emanated from the passageway.

As all the runes lit up, a stone door appeared at the end of the passage. The stone door was covered with runes similar to those on the relief, exuding a mysterious aura.

Huanmo and the others slowly walked towards the stone door, their hearts filled with both anticipation and nervousness. "Could the next key be behind this door? But what dangers will we face if we open this door?" Huanmo's heart was filled with doubt and worry.

When they arrived at the stone gate, they discovered that it was missing a crucial component to open it. This component's shape was remarkably similar to the first key they possessed.

Huanmo looked at the key in her hand, hesitating. "If I insert the key into the stone door, will it trigger some dangerous mechanism? But if I don't do it, I won't be able to open the stone door and find the next key."

Under everyone's watchful eyes, Huanmo slowly raised the key in her hand and inserted it into the notch in the stone door. The instant the key was inserted, the stone door emitted a dazzling light, a light that seemed to conceal countless unknown dangers. After the light faded, would the stone door open? What awaited them behind it? The next key, or an even more terrifying crisis? Everything remained uncertain…