13: Guarding the Stone Hall

The arrow rain ceased.

"Hurry!" the old mage's voice was hoarse, like the sound of wind.

He pulled Lavinia up, his other hand, holding his staff, went to help Alton.

I saw the moonstone on the staff illuminate the deep wrinkles at the corners of Wizard Wedell’s eyes.

Alton’s left leg was still bleeding profusely, the blood staining his trousers red and dripping onto the ground.

Lavinia was still crying.

I dropped the crumbling Buckler and quickly ran over, letting Alton lean on my shoulder to stand up.

Lavinia also reacted then, her eyes tear-streaked, and she quickly used both hands to help Alton up.

Fortunately, this narrow bend had only this one trap.

As the Meat Golem behind us was about to enter this passage from the outer stone hall, we entered the next bend.

After passing through another narrow section of the passage, ahead was a larger stone hall.

In the center of one side of this stone hall was an ancient stone coffin, covered in mysterious runes, exuding an ancient and mysterious aura.

I saw that on the opposite side of the hall, there was also a passage entrance similar to where we stood, dark like the mouth of a giant beast, as if it wanted to swallow all living beings in the cave.

"We're here!" Wizard Wedell murmured.

"This is as far as I go," Alton said hoarsely, "Wizard Wedell, Lavinia, put me down and help me pull out the arrows."

His face was ashen, but his eyes revealed determination.

"Okay!" Lavinia choked out.

They helped Alton sit against the wall, and Wizard Wedell asked me to assist Lavinia.

I nodded, squatted down, and firmly held Alton’s left leg with both hands.

Wizard Wedell turned to face the stone hall, took out a spell scroll, and cast a large-scale trap detection spell.

I felt a ripple-like energy fluctuation rapidly cover the entire stone hall.

Among the stalactite clusters hanging from the stone hall’s dome, the activated large-scale detection spell burst into a brilliant nebula.

"Bear with it," Lavinia began to help Alton pull the rusted arrows from his leg.

"Ah!…"

The intense pain made Alton cry out, his forehead covered in fine beads of sweat.

Lavinia cried, but her hands moved swiftly, carefully and quickly pulling out each arrow.

The tails of a few short arrows were almost embedded in his thigh.

At this moment, Alton handed a dagger to Lavinia.

Lavinia seemed to hesitate; she looked at the dagger in her hand, then at Alton’s leg, a flicker of reluctance in her eyes.

"Quick, my dear, there's no time," Alton's face was pale, yet he looked at Lavinia with tenderness, as if what he held was not a dagger but a blooming rose.

Lavinia gritted her teeth and took the dagger; when the blade cut into her husband's swollen leg, Alton's body trembled.

I pressed down firmly on Alton's trembling left leg, feeling the muscles beneath his skin churn like magma.

Lavinia quickly extracted the last few arrowheads embedded in her husband's flesh.

Alton then poured several healing potions down his throat.

Then I watched as the gaping wounds on his left leg healed at a visible rate.

On the other side, Wizard Wedell’s large-scale detection spell also yielded results.

There were no other traps in this stone hall, except for the surface of the stone coffin. The nebulous energy ripples glowed with an eerie red as they swept over the stone coffin.

"Thump, thump, thump…"

The footsteps of the Meat Golem were nearing the last bend, accompanied by a strong putrid smell that made one want to vomit.

At the same time, I heard the footsteps of another Golem approaching from the passage on the opposite side of the stone hall.

If my judgment was correct, several caves here were interconnected, similar to a circular underground passage.

Alton pulled Lavinia and me, and we quickly stood up, as if he had never been injured.

"I still have some Mana Arrows, which should be able to hold back the Golem behind us for a short while. Ryan, goodbye! Stay close to Wizard Wedell! May Youdala protect you!" His words were rapid.

"No!" Lavinia cried out in pain, tightly hugging her husband, unwilling to let him leave.

"Lavinia, the other side," Wizard Wedell reminded her, his voice sounding calm and firm.

Then, he took my hand and led me running towards the stone coffin.

"My dear Lavinia, we agreed," Alton embraced his wife, stroking her beautiful brown long hair, "You two hurry."

With that, Alton abruptly released his wife, swiftly took the bow and arrows from his back, turned, and shot his Mana Arrows into the passage.

As one Mana Arrow after another was fired, the Golem, which had just taken a step, was instantly enveloped by layers of Mana Vines.

When we ran near the stone coffin, Wizard Wedell again took out a prepared spell scroll and began to disarm the trap on the stone coffin.

Lavinia then also arrived in front of the passage entrance on the opposite side. She cast ice magic, preparing to block the other Golem outside the stone hall.

I heard Lavinia’s ice shards hitting the massive Meat Golem with “thump, thump, thump” sounds.

The Golem's footsteps slowed but did not stop.

Wizard Wedell finally disarmed the spell trap on the stone coffin in front of him.

He cast another spell, pushing the coffin lid aside.

However, just then, something unexpected happened.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!"

Three sharp arrows shot out from inside the stone coffin, with such speed that they caught us off guard.

Wizard Wedell only managed to deflect the first arrow with his staff; the other two, however, broke through his magical armor.

Blood bloomed again, and Wizard Wedell's body swayed, but he gritted his teeth, enduring the intense pain.

As he dodged sideways, his cheek and arm each received a cut, and a layer of black mist instantly enveloped the wounds.

"Poison!" the old mage gasped lightly, then quickly poured a bottle of antidote and a bottle of healing potion down his throat.

Wizard Wedell again pulled out a trap detection scroll, this time aiming the spell at the space inside the stone coffin.

Alton's passage was already completely blocked by vines.

Lavinia used Ice Seal again to completely freeze the opposite passage entrance.

"Ryan, stay still," Wizard Wedell swayed and jumped into the stone coffin.

Time seemed to stretch infinitely, each second as long as a century.

I heard Wizard Wedell in the stone coffin pushing some small things aside, and he began to grope around inside the stone coffin.

In the right passage, “snap, snap…” sounds of breaking vines began to emerge, as the Golem was breaking free from the vines’ restraint.

Alton had already shot all his Mana Vine arrows; he threw his quiver and remaining arrows to the ground, drawing his two hunting knives.

The blades cut emerald crescents in the darkness, and he prepared to use his own body as the last line of defense.

In the left passage, with “thump, thump, thump…” sounds of violent wall smashing, I heard the ice wall beginning to crack.

Lavinia adjusted her position, aimed at the center of the left passage, and began chanting a long string of incantations, her voice hoarse and firm.

"Crash… bang…"

A loud noise came from inside the stone coffin, seemingly the sound of stone rubbing against stone.

Then, Wizard Wedell stood up and shouted, "Ryan, come over!"